OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Coleridge, James Duke

​COLERIDGE, JAMES DUKE (1788–1857), divine, eldest son of James Coleridge of Heath's Court, Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire, by Frances Duke Taylor, one of the coheiresses of Robert Duke of Otterton, was the elder brother of Sir John Taylor Coleridge [q. v.] and of Henry Nelson Coleridge [q. v.] He went to Balliol College, Oxford, and became B.C.L. on 27 Jan. 1821 and D.C.L. on 5 March 1835. Having determined on taking orders in the English church, he sought and obtained work in his native county, and within the limits of the diocese of Exeter all his curacies and preferments were situate. In 1817 he was curate of the small parish of Whimple, near Exeter, and a year or two later he was working energetically as curate in the city benefice of St. Sidwell's, Exeter. By his diocesan he was advanced in 1823 to the vicarage of the then united parishes of Kenwyn and Kea, Cornwall where he laboured until 1828. During this period the church of Chacewater.with seating for fifteen hundred persons, and the smaller church of St. John, Kenwyn, were built in the parish, and became the centres of separate work. One of Coleridge's printed sermons was ' On the Funeral of the late Mr. William Gill of Chacewater ' (1827), his most active assistant in the erection of that church. From 1826 to 1839 he held the rectory of Lawhitton, and from 1831 to 1841 he was vicar of Lewannick, both of which livings are situate in the county of Cornwall. In 1839 he was appointed to the vicarage of Thorverton, Devonshire, and he died there on 26 Dec. 1857, aged 69. He held the post of official to the archdeacon of Cornwall, and in August 1825 the honour of a prebendal stall in Exeter Cathedral was conferred upon him. Coleridge married on 9 June 1814 Sophia, daughter of Colonel Stanhope Badcock, and at his death he left behind him two daughters.
Coleridge's religious views were those of the old-fashioned high-church school, and he laboured zealously, both by personal instruction and by printed works, to promote the opinions which he had adopted. His publications were numerous. Many of them were ephemeral sermons intended for his parishioners, but some were prepared for a wider circle. In the latter class came: 1. 'Observations of a Parish Priest in scenes of sickness and death,' 1825, the substance of which was reprinted in the sixth volume of the religious tracts of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. 2. 'A Selection of Family Prayers,' 1820; 2nd edition, 1824; 3rd edition, 1831. 3. A Companion to First Lessons for the Services of the Church on Sundays and the Fasts and Festivals,' 1838. The last was dedicated to his brother, John Taylor Coleridge, in language touching from its affectionate simplicity. The titles of many of his publications are printed in the 'Bibliotheca Cornubiensis.'
[Gent. Mag. February 1858, p. 224; Burke's Peerage; Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub. i. 79-80, 313, 1128.]
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Drake, William

​DRAKE, WILLIAM (1723–1801), antiquary and philologist, second surviving son of Francis Drake (1696–1771) [q. v.], by his wife Mary, third daughter of George Woodyear of Crook Hill, near Doncaster, was baptised at St. Michael-le-Belfry, York, on 10 Jan. 1722–3. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on 21 March 1740–1, proceeded B.A. 19 Oct. 1744, and took orders (College Register). For a few years he was third master of Westminster School. In 1750 he was appointed master of Felstead grammar school, Essex (Gent. Mag. xx. 237), and rector of Layer Marney in the same county, 1 Dec. 1764 (Morant, Hist. of Essex, i. 409, ii. 421). He continued to hold both appointments until 1777, when he was presented to the vicarage of Isleworth, Middlesex. He died at Isleworth on 13 May 1801 (Gent. Mag. lxxi. pt. i. 574; Aungier, Hist. of Syon Monastery, &c. pp. 145, 161 (tomb), 183).
Drake, who had been elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 29 March 1770, contributed the following papers to 'Archæologia:' 'Letter on the Origin of the word Romance,' iv. 142–8; 'Observations on two Roman Stations in the county of Essex,' v. 137–42; 'Letter on the Origin of the English Language,' v. 306–17; 'Further Remarks on the Origin of the English Language,' v. 379–89; 'Account of some Discoveries in the Church of Brotherton in the county of York,' ix. 253–67; 'Observations on the Derivation of the English Language,' ix. 332–61.
[Davies's Memoir of Francis Drake in Yorkshire Archæological and Topographical Journal, iii. 33–54; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ii. 87 n.; Nichols's Illustr. of Lit. iv. 620; Lysons's Environs, iii. 108, Supplement, p. 204; [Gough's] List of Society of Antiquaries, 1717–96, p. 23; Alumni Oxon. (Foster), i. 386.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Draxe, Thomas

​DRAXE, THOMAS (d. 1618), divine, was born at Stoneleigh, near Coventry, Warwickshire, 'his father being a younger brother of a worshipfull family, which for many years had lived at Wood-hall in Yorkshire' (Fuller, Worthies, ed. 1662, 'Warwickshire,' p. 125). His name does not occur in the pedigree given by Hunter (South Yorkshire, ii. 108), nor in that by Glover (Yorkshire, Visitation of, 1584​1585, ed. Foster, p. 342). He received his education at Christ's College, Cambridge, as a member of which he afterwards proceeded B.D. In 1601 he was presented to the vicarage of Dovercourt-cum-Harwich, Essex (framed succession list of vicars in Harwich Church), but, disliking the east coast, he left a curate in charge, and lived variously at Coventry and at Colwich in Staffordshire (Prefaces to Works). A few years before his death he returned to 'Harwich, 'where,' says Fuller, who gives the wrong year of his death, 'the change of the Aire was conceived to hasten his great change' (Worthies, loc. cit.) He was buried at Harwich on 29 Jan. 1618 (parish register). 'A pious man and an excellent preacher,' Draxe was author of:
* 'The Churches Securitie; together with the Antidote or Preservative of everwaking Faith … Hereunto is annexed a … Treatise of the Generall Signes ... of the Last Judgement,' 4to, London, 1608.
* 'The Worldes Resurrection, or the general calling of the Jewes. A familiar Commentary upon the eleventh Chapter of Saint Paul to the Romaines,' 4to, London, 1608 (with new title-page, 4to, London, 1609).
* The Sicke Man's Catechisme; or Path-way to Felicitie collected and contrived into questions and answers, out of the best Divines of our time. Whereunto is annexed two prayers,' 16mo (London), 1609.
* 'Calliepeia; or a rich Store-house of Proper, Choice and Elegant Latine Words and Phrases, collected for the p. 36). most part out of all Tullies works,' 8vo, London, 1612 (the second impression, enlarged, 8vo, London, 1613; another edition, 8vo, London, 1643).
* 'Novi Coeli et nova Terra, seu Concio vere Theologica, … in qua creaturarum vanitas et misera servitus, earundem restitutio, … et … corporis humani resurrectio, in eadem substantia … describuntur et demonstrantur,' Oppenheim, 1614.
* 'Bibliotheca scholastica instructissima. Or, Treasurie of Ancient Adagies and Sententious Proverbes, selected out of the English, Greeke, Latine, French, Italian, and Spanish, 8vo, London, 1633, posthumous publication, the preface of which is dated from 'Harwich, Julii 30, 1615' (another edition, 8vo, London, 1654).
Fuller also states that Draxe 'translated all the works of Master Perkins (his countryman and collegiat) into Latine, which were printed at Geneva,' 2 vols. fol., 1611-18.
[Authorities as above; Fuller's Hist. of Univ of Cambridge (Nichols), p. 137; Newcourt's Repertorium, ii. 220; Brit. Mus. Cat ]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Drake, Samuel (d.1673)

The ODNB gives dates baptised 1622, died 1679.
​DRAKE, SAMUEL, D.D. (d. 1673), royalist divine, was a native of Halifax, Yorkshire, and was educated at Pocklington school. He was admitted to St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1637, and obtained his B.A. degree in 1640–1. In 1643 he was admitted a fellow of that college by royal command, and in the following year proceeded M.A. He was subsequently ejected from his fellowship for refusing to take the covenant. He afterwards joined the royalist army, and was a member of the garrison at Pontefract, and present at the battle of Newark. In 1651 the parliament ordered him and several other ministers to be tried by the high court of justice on suspicion of conspiracy, but the result is unknown. At the Restoration he was presented to the living of Pontefract, and in 1661 he petitioned the king to intercede with the vice-chancellor of Cambridge University that he might proceed to the degree of B.D., as he had not been able to keep his name on the college books, and sent certificates to show that he had served with the army, and that his father's estate had been plundered. In November 1661 Charles II complied with his request, and in a letter of Williamson Drake says the vice-chancellor permitted him to proceed D.D. after ‘long bickerings.’ In 1670 he was collated to a prebend of Southwell, which he resigned the following year. He died in 1673, leaving a son, Francis Drake, vicar of Pontefract, who assisted Walker in the ​compilation of 'The Sufferings of the Clergy,' and whose sons, Samuel and Francis, are separately noticed. Drake wrote: 1. 'A Sermon on Micah vi. 8,' 1670. 2. 'A Sermon on Romans xiii. 6,' 1670. 3. 'Concio ad Clerum,' published 1719.
[Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 150; Southwell Records; Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 511; Calendar of State Papers (Dom.), 1661; Baker's History of St. John's College, Cambridge, p. 535.]
A. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Drapentier, Jan

​DRAPENTIER, JAN (fl. 1674–1713), engraver, was the son of D. Drapentier or Drappentier, a native of Dordrecht, who engraved some medals commemorative of the great events connected with the reign of William and Mary, and also a print with the arms of the governors of Dordrecht, published by Balen in his ‘Beschryving van Dordrecht’ (1677). Jan Drapentier seems to have come to England and worked as an engraver of portraits and frontispieces for the booksellers. These, which are of no very great merit, include portraits of William Hooper (1674), Sir James Dyer (1675), Richard Baxter, the Earl of Athlone, Viscount Dundee, Dr. Sacheverell, the seven bishops, and others. He is probably identical with the Johannes Drapentier who by his wife, Dorothea Tucker, was father of a son Johannes, baptised at the Dutch Church, Austin Friars, on 7 Oct. 1694. He was largely employed in engraving views of the country seats of the gentry, &c., in Hertfordshire for Chauncy's history of that county (published in 1700). Later in life he seems to have returned to Dordrecht, where a Jan Drapentier became engraver to the mint, and engraved several medals commemorative of the peace of Ryswick and other important events down to the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. He also engraved an allegorical broadside commemorating the latter event. An engraving of the House of Commons in 1690 is signed ‘F. Drapentier sculpsit.’
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Drake, Samuel (1686?-1753)

The ODNB gives date of birth 1687/8.
​DRAKE, SAMUEL, D.D. (1686?–1753), antiquary, was the son of Francis Drake, vicar of Pontefract, and brother of Francis Drake (1696–1771) [q. v.], author of 'Eboracum.' His grandfather was Samuel Drake (d. 1673) [q. v.] He graduated at St. John's College, Cambridge; B.A. 1707, M.A. 1711, B.D. 1718, and D.D. 1724.
In 1713 he edited 'Balthazar Castilionis Comitis libri iv. de Curiali sive Aulico ex Italico sermone in Latinum conversi, interprete Bartholomæo Clerke,' 8vo. In 1719 appeared 'Concio ad Clerum, Vino Eucharistico aqua non necessario admiscenda.' Drake defended himself against a reply by Thomas Wagstaffe, the nonjuror, in 'Ad Thomam Wagstaffe . . . Epistola; in quâ defenditur Concio,' 1721, 8vo. Wagstaffe published 'Responsionis ad Concionem Vindiciæ,' &c., in 1725. In 1720 Drake (then a fellow of his college) issued proposals for printing Archbishop Parker's great work on ecclesiastical antiquities. The elder Bowyer undertook the work, and brought it out in a handsome folio in 1729, under the title of 'Matthæi Parker … de Antiquitate Britannicæ Ecclesiæ.' In 1724 Drake published another Concio, entitled 'Ara ignoto Deo Sacra,' Cambridge, 4to. In 1728 he became rector of Treeton, Yorkshire; and in 1733, by dispensation, he also held the vicarage of Holme-on-Spalding Moor. He died 5 March 1753, aged about sixty-seven years, and was buried in the church of Treeton.
Drake has been confounded with his grandfather of the same name, who is noticed above.
[Author's Works; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. i. 171, 193, 204, 243, 414, 420–1, 550; Boothroyd's Pontefract, p. 369; Hunter's Hallamshire (Gatty), 1869, p. 495]
J. W.-G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Crofton, Zachary

​CROFTON, ZACHARY (d. 1672), non-conformist divine, was born in Ireland and principally educated at Dublin. The unsettled state of Ireland caused him to come to England about 1646, where he arrived with only a groat in his pocket. His first living was at Wrenbury in Cheshire, from which he was expelled in 1648 for refusing to take the engagement. He then came to London, and was for some time minister of St. James's, Garlick Hythe, and then obtained the rectory of St. Botolph, Aldgate, which he held until the Restoration, when he was ejected for nonconformity. Shortly after his ejectment he began a controversy with Bishop Gauden respecting the solemn league and covenant, for the defence of which he was committed to the Tower. Neal (Hist, of the Puritans, iv. 302, ed. 1738) states that this controversy took place before Crofton's ejectment, and that, after lying in prison for a considerable time ' at great expense,' and being forced to petition for his liberty, he was turned out of his parish without any consideration, although he had been 'very zealous for the king's restoration.' Crofton, with his wife and seven children, returned to Cheshire, where, after suffering another short imprisonment, the cause of ​which is unknown, he supported himself by farming, or, according to Calamy, by keeping a grocer's shop. In 1667 he again came to London and opened a school near Aldgate. He died in 1672. He published a large number of pamphlets and tracts, mostly of a controversial character, and a few sermons. He was a man of hasty temper and prejudiced views, yet of considerable acuteness, as his controversial tracts prove, and of more than average scholarship and ability. His more important writings are: 1. 'Catechising God's Ordinance, delivered in sundry Sermons,' 1656. 2. 'The People's need of a Living Pastor asserted and explained,' 1657. 3. 'Sermons of Psalms xxxiv. 14,' 1660. 4. 'ANAΛHΨIΣ ANEΛHΦΘH, The Fastning of St. Peter's Fetters, by seven links or propositions,' 1660. 5. 'Altar-Worship, or Bowing to the Communion Table considered, as to the novelty, vanity, iniquity, and malignity charged to it,' 1661. 6. 'Berith-anti-Baal; on Zach. Crofton's Appearance before the Prelate Justice of the Peace, by way of rejoinder to Dr. John Gauden,' 1661. 7. 'The Liturgica Considerator considered,' c., 1661. 8. 'The Presbyterian Lash, or Nactroff's Maid Whipt. A Tragi-comedy,' 1661. 9. 'The Hard Way to Heaven explained and applied,' 1662. 10. 'ANAΛHΨIΣ, or St. Peter's Bonds abide, for Rhetoric worketh no Release.'
[Calamy's Nonconformist's Memorial; Neal's History of the Puritans, iv. 302, ed. 1738; Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]
A. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Croke, John (d.1554)

ODNB gives date of birth 1489.
​CROKE, JOHN (d. 1554), lawyer and author, was the son of Richard Croke of Easington, Buckinghamshire, descended from the family of Blount or Le Blount [see Blount, Sir Thomas, ad fin.] His mother was named Alicia. He was educated at Eton, whence he proceeded to Cambridge in 1507 as scholar of King's College. He left the university without taking a degree to study law at the Inner Temple. He became one of the six clerks in chancery in 1522, comptroller and supervisor of the hanaper 19 Sept. 1529, and clerk of the enrolments in chancery 11 Jan. 1534–5. Croke became a serjeant-at-law in 1546; was elected M.P. for Chippenham in 1547, and was master in chancery in 1549. He purchased an estate at Chilton in Buckinghamshire, where he built a large mansion, and was granted many monastery lands, including Studley Priory. He died 2 Sept. 1554, and was buried in Chilton church. Croke's wife, Prudentia, third daughter of Richard Cave and sister of Sir Ambrose Cave [q. v.], died before him. By her he had a son, Sir John Croke, the father of Sir John and Sir George Croke, two judges, both of whom are separately noticed. Croke wrote: 1. ‘Ordinances upon the Estate of the Chancery Court, 1554,’ printed in Sir Alexander Croke's ‘Hist. of Croke Family,’ from Brit. Mus. MS. Lansd. 163. 2. ‘Thirteen Psalms and the first chapter of Ecclesiastes translated into English verse,’ printed by the Percy Society in 1844.
[Harwood's Alumni Eton., p. 132; Cooper's Athenæ Cantab., i. 118; Sir A. Croke's Geneal. Hist. of Croke Family, i. 393, ii. 819, 821, 908.]
S. L. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Crofts, Elizabeth

​CROFTS or CROFT, ELIZABETH (fl. 1554), was the chief actor in an eccentric imposture, contrived early in 1554, on the part of the protestants to excite an open demonstration in London against the projected marriage of Queen Mary with Philip of Spain. The girl, who was only about eighteen years old, appears to have concealed herself within a wide crevice in the thick wall of a house in Aldersgate Street. The wall faced the street, and by means of a whistle or trumpet her voice assumed so strange a sound as to arrest the attention of all passers-by. Large crowds constantly assembled, and confederates scattered among the people interpreted her words as divinely inspired denunciations of King Philip, Queen Mary, and the Roman catholic religion. The device deceived the Londoners for many months, and the mysterious voice was variously named ‘the white bird,’ ‘the byrde that spoke in the wall,’ and ‘the spirit in the wall.’ Before July 1554 the imposture was discovered; Elizabeth was sent to Newgate and afterwards to a prison in Bread Street, and there confessed the truth. She said that one Drake, Sir Anthony Knyvett's servant, had given her the whistle, and that her confederates included a player, a weaver of Redcross Street, and a clergyman, attached either to St. Botolph's Church in Aldersgate Street or (according to another account) to St. Leonard's Church in Foster Lane. On Sunday 15 July she was set upon a scaffold by St. Paul's Cross while John Wymunsly, archdeacon of Middlesex, read her confession. ‘After her confession read she kneeled downe and asked God forgivenes and the Queen's Maiestie, desyringe the people to praye for her and to beware of heresies. The sermon done she went to prison agayne in Bred Street. … And after Dr. Scorye resorted to her divers tymes to examin her; and after this she was released’ (Wriothesley, Chronicle, ii. 118). On 18 July one of her accomplices stood in the pillory ‘with a paper and a scripter on his hed.’ No other proceedings appear to have been taken, although seven persons were said to have taken part in the foolish business. The imposture resembles that contrived with more effect twenty-two years earlier by Elizabeth Barton [q. v.], the maid of Kent.
[Stowe's Annals, s.a. 1554; Chronicle of the Grey Friars (Camd. Soc.), p. 90; Wriothesley's Chronicle (Camd. Soc.), ii. 117–18; Machyn's Diary (Camd. Soc.), p. 66; Burnet's Reformation, ed. Pocock, ii. 439, v. 611; Strype's Memorials, iii. i. 214; Chronicle of Lady Jane and Queen Mary (Camd. Soc.)]
S. L. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Crofts, George

​CROFTS or CRAFTE, GEORGE (d. 1539), divine, may probably be identified with the George Croft of Oriel College, Oxford, who was elected fellow from Herefordshire 10 Oct. 1513, proceeded B.A. 13 Dec. following, and resigned 4 Feb. 1519 (Registrum Univ. Oxon. i. 82), and with George Croftys of the same college, southern proctor in April 1520 (Fasti Oxon. i. 51). He was instituted to the rectory of Shepton Mallet, Somerset, in 1524, and probably about the same time to the rectory of Winford in the same county, paying a pension of 8l. to his predecessor, who had resigned the living. On 21 Feb. 1530–1 he was collated to the chancellorship of Chichester Cathedral. On 4 Dec. 1538 he was indicted for saying ‘that the king was not, but the pope was, supreme head of the church.’ He pleaded guilty, was condemned, and executed early in the following year. Archbishop Cranmer, writing to Cromwell on 13 Nov. 1538, says that ‘one Crofts, now in the Tower and like to be attainted of treason, hath a benefice … named Shipton Mallet,’ and begs it of the lord privy seal for his chaplain Champion, a ​native of the place, ‘in case it fall void at this time’ (Letters, p. 247).
[Registrum Universitatis Oxon., ed. Boase (Oxford Hist. Soc.), i. 82; Wood's Fasti Oxon. (Bliss), i. 51; Hutton's Registers of Dio. of Bath and Wells, Harl. MSS. 6966–7; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy), i. 271; Valor Ecclesiasticus, i. 151, 185; Burnet's Hist. of Reformation (Pocock), i. 563; Cranmer's Miscell. Writings (Parker Soc.), i. 385.]
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Croghan, George

​CROGHAN, GEORGE (d. 1782), captain or colonel, of Passayunk, Pennsylvania, British crown agent with the Indians, was born in Ireland, educated in Dublin, emigrated to America, and settled in Pennsylvania, where he was engaged as a trader among the Indians as far back as 1746. At this period about three hundred traders, mostly from Pennsylvania, a large proportion of them Irish, used to cross the Alleghanies every year, and descending the Ohio valley with pack-horses or in canoes, traded from one Indian village to another. Some of them roused the jealousy of the French by having, as was alleged, crossed the Mississippi and traded with the remoter tribes. Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia described them generally as ‘abandoned wretches,’ but there were a few men of better stamp among them, and Croghan, who had great influence over his own countrymen, appears to have been one (Parkman). The confidence reposed in him by the Indians, which was largely due to his figurative eloquence in the Indian tongue, led to his employment as government agent. He served in that capacity, with the rank of a captain of provincials, in Braddock's expedition, and in the defence of the north-west frontier in 1756. In November of the latter year he was made deputy-agent with the Pennsylvania and Ohio Indians by Sir William Johnson, who in 1763 sent him to England to communicate with the government respecting an Indian boundary line. During the voyage he was shipwrecked on the coast of France. In 1765, when on his way to pacify the Illinois Indians, he was attacked, wounded, and carried to Vincennes, an old French post on the Wabash, in Indiana, but was speedily released and accomplished his mission. In May 1766 he formed a settlement about four miles from Fort Pitt. He continued to render valuable service in pacifying the Indians and conciliating them to British interests up to the outbreak of the war of independence. Although suspected by the revolutionary authorities, he remained unmolested on his Pennsylvanian farm, and there died in August 1782.
[Most of the above details are given in Drake's Amer. Biog., on the authority of O'Callaghan. Notices of Croghan will be found in Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, 2 vols. (Boston, U.S. 1870), and the same writer's Wolfe and Montcalm (London, 1884), i. 42–203, the footnotes to which indicate further sources of information in England and America. A fragmentary journal of Croghan's was published in Olden Time (Philadelphia), vol. i.; and numerous letters, all relating to Indian affairs, and very illiterate productions, are preserved in the British Museum; those addressed to Colonel Bouguet, 1758–65, in Add. MSS. 21648, 21649, 21651, 21655; to Capt. Gates and Gen. Stanwix, 1759, Add. MS. 21644; and to Gen. Haldimand, 1773, in Add. MS. 21730.]
H. M. C.