OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clerke, Richard

1904 Errata appended.
​CLERKE, RICHARD, D.D. (d. 1634), divine, was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he was created D.D. He became vicar of Minster in the Isle of Thanet on 19 Oct. 1597, and afterwards obtained in addition the vicarage of the adjoining parish of Monkton. On 8 May 1602 he was appointed one of the six preachers of Christ Church, Canterbury (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, i. 53). He died in 1634.
He was one of the learned men employed in the authorised translation of the Old Testament, being one of the class to which the portion from Genesis to 2 Kings inclusive was entrusted. A large folio volume of his 'Sermons' was published at London in 1637 by Charles White, M.A., one of the six preachers of Christ Church, Canterbury.
[Lewis's Hist. of the Isle of Tenet, ed. 1736, pp. 62, 101; Hasted's Kent, ed. 1800, x. 285, 292; Lewis's Hist. of English Translations of the Bible, p. 310; Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, ii. 374; Reading's Hist. of Sion College, p. 41; Harl. MS. 6350, art. 8 f. 16.]
T. C.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.70 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 48 | i | 30-31 | Clerke, Richard: for one of the six preachers . . . . Canterbury read sixth prebendary of Canterbury |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clerke, William (fl.1595)

​CLERKE, WILLIAM (fl. 1595), miscellaneous writer, matriculated as a sizar of Trinity College, Cambridge, in June 1575, became a scholar of that house, and in 1578-9 proceeded B.A. He was soon afterward elected a fellow of his college, and in 1582 he commenced M.A. There was a William Clerke, possibly the same, who was admitted to St. Paul's School on the recommendation of Mr. Malyne, and who received money 3 June 1579 and 20 Feb. 1579-80, on going to Cambridge, from Robert Nowel's estate.
He is the supposed author of: 1. 'The Triall of Bastardie. … Annexed at the end of this Treatise, touching the prohibition of Marriage, a Table of the Levitical, English, and Positive Canon Catalogues, their concordance and difference,' Lond. 1594, 4to. 2. 'Polimanteia, or, the meanes lawfull and unlawfull, to judge of the fall of a Common-wealth against the frivolous and foolish conjectures of this age. Whereunto is added a letter from England to her three daughters, Cambridge, Oxford, Innes of Court, and to all the rest of her inhabitants, perswading them to ​a constant unitie of what religion soever they are …' Cambridge, 1595, 4to. The dedication to Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, is signed 'W. C.' In this very curious and interesting work mention is made of our old English writers, 'sweet Shakespeare,' Harvey, Nash, and 'divine Spenser.' It has been said that this is the earliest known publication in which Shakespeare's name is mentioned; but it occurs previously in the commendatory verses prefixed to 'Willobie his Avisa,' 1594.
[Ames's Typogr. Antiq. (Herbert), 1284, 1483; Bliss's Sale Cat. i. 77; Brydges's Brit. Bibl. i. 274-85; Cat. Libb. Impress. Bibl. Bodl.; Cooper's Athenæ Cantab, ii. 243; Gardiner's Reg. of St. Paul's School, 26; Ingleby's Shakespeare's Centurye of Prayse, 6, 15; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), 480, 1906.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clerke, William Henry

​CLERKE, Sir WILLIAM HENRY (1751–1818), eighth baronet, rector of Bury, Lancashire, of an old Buckinghamshire family, was born 25 Nov. 1751, and received his later education at All Souls' College, Oxford. In 1778 he succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his elder brother Francis, who was the favourite aide-de-camp to General John Burgoyne in North America, and was mortally wounded at Saratoga (De Fonblanque, p. 295). When dying, Francis asked Burgoyne to endeavour, on his return to England, to procure preferment for his brother, who had taken orders. The twelfth Earl of Derby, at the instance no doubt of General Burgoyne, who had married the earl's aunt, presented Clerke to the rectory of Bury, to which he was instituted 6 Feb. 1778, taking his B.C.L. degree at Oxford in the October following. He paid much attention to the physical health of his parishioners, vaccinating the children of the poor, and even going to Rochdale once a week for a considerable time to perform the same operation. On the occasion of an outbreak of fever he issued, in 1790, 'Thoughts upon the Means of Preserving the Health of the Poor by Prevention and Suppression of Epidemic Fever,' a pamphlet containing useful sanitary suggestions, and a long letter on its subject-matter by the philanthropic Dr. Thomas Percival [q. v.] At a time when a French invasion was feared he printed 'A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of Bury on the 18th October 1798, on the occasion of the colours being presented to the Bury Loyal Association,' &c.,and 'A Serious Address to the People of this Country.' Appended to the sermon was the speech made on the reception of the colours by the lieutenant-colonel commandant of the Bury volunteers, the first Sir Robert Peel, whose second wife was Clerke's sister. Another of Clerke's publications is his undated 'Penitens, or the Dying Tradesman, extracted from the books of a late pious writer. To which is added Prayers,' &c. Clerke was fond of agricultural pursuits and enterprises, and dealt extensively in corn, malt, and lime, borrowing largely in the course of his undertakings. He was a simple-minded man, was fleeced by his subordinates, and at last his living was sequestered for the benefit of his creditors. He died 10 April 1818, in the Fleet prison, where he was incarcerated for debt. In May 1792 he married Byzantia, daughter of Thomas Cartwright of Aynhoe. His eldest son, William Henry (1793-1861), became ninth baronet, and served in the Peninsula and at Waterloo.
[Barton's History of the Borough of Bury in Lancashire, 1874; Baines's Lancashire; Collins's Peerage, by Brydges; Betham's and Foster's Baronetages; Catalogue of Oxford Graduates; E. de Fonblanque's Political and Military Episodes … derived from the life and correspondence of the Right Hon. John Burgoyne, General, &c., 1876; information communicated by Mr. C. W. Sutton.]
F. E.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cleveley, Robert

​CLEVELEY, ROBERT (1747–1809), marine painter, was twin-brother of John Cleveley [q. v.] Like his brother he painted both in oil and in water colours. It is uncertain whether he was one of the Cleveleys who exhibited at the Free Society of Artists in 1764 and the following years, but in 1780 he appears as an exhibitor at the Royal Academy. At first he is classed among the honorary exhibitors, and is sometimes styled 'Robert Cleveley of the Navy.' It does not appear, however, that he ever held any commission in the navy, and he probably had some dockyard appointment similar to those held by his father and brother. He very soon attained distinction as a painter of naval actions. Among those represented by him on canvas were 'Commodore Elliott in the Edgar leading the British Line under Admiral Kempenfeldt and engaging Monsieur Vaudreuil in Le Triomphant, 12 Dec. 1781;' 'The Relief of Gibraltar by Lord Howe,' 'Admiral Hawke pursuing the French Fleet in November 1759,' 'The Ruby engaging the Solitaire,' and 'The Solitaire striking to the Ruby 6 Dec. 1782;' 'The Marlborough engaging on 1 June 1794; ' 'Retreat of the ​French Squadron into Port L'Orient 23 June 1795;' 'Commodore Nelson boarding and taking the San Nicolas and San Josef;' 'H.M.S. Victory engaging the Spanish ship Prince of Astunas 14 Feb. 1797;' 'The Defeat of the Spanish Fleet on the Evening of 14 Feb. 1797;' two pictures of 'The Battle of the Nile, 1 Aug. 1798;' 'The Defeat of the Spanish Fleet by Admiral Jervis off Cape St. Vincent, 14 Feb. 1796.' In 1795 he exhibited separately in Bond Street two large pictures representing the 'Morn' and the 'Eve of the Great Victory of the British Fleet under Earl Howe on 1 June 1794;' these two pictures were much admired and were engraved by T. Medland and B. T. Pouncy. A series of great English naval victories from Cleveley's paintings was engraved by J. Q. Walker, R. Rhodes, and others. Cleveley also painted numerous views of shipping and coast scenery at home and abroad. He was appointed marine draughtsman to the Duke of Clarence and also marine painter to the Prince of Wales. He was accidentally killed by a fall on 28 Sept. 1809, while on a visit to a relative at Dover. There was a good portrait of him in civilian dress painted by Sir William Beechey, which was engraved by Freeman and published after his death.
[Redgrave's Dict. of English Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760-1880; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. iv. 473; Examiner, 3 Oct. 1809; Catalogues of the Royal Academy and the Free Society of Artists; Registers of St. Paul's, Deptfora, per Rev. H. G. Gundy, D.D.; manuscript information (Anderdon), print-room, British Museum.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cleves, Anne of

​CLEVES, ANNE of. [See Anne, 1515-1557.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clerke, Thomas Henry Shadwell

1904 Errata appended.
​CLERKE, THOMAS HENRY SHADWELL (1792–1849), major unattached, military journalist, was a native of Bandon, co. Cork. Being intended for the army, a profession also adopted by his brothers, St. John Augustus Clerke, who died a lieutenant-general and colonel 75th foot, 17 Jan. 1870, and William Clerke, afterwards a major 77th foot, he was sent to the Royal Military College, Great Marlow, where he distinguished himself by his abilities, and was appointed to an ensigncy without purchase in 1808. As a subaltern in 28th and 5th foot he served through the Peninsular campaigns until the loss of his right leg in the combat at Redinha in 1811 incapacitated him for further active service, and, on the recommendation of Lord Wellington, he was promoted to a company in the 1st garrison battalion (Gurwood, Wellington Desp. v. 122), with which he did duty until its reduction in 1814. He afterwards served with the 2nd battalion 57th, and on the army depot staff. He was promoted to a majority unattached in 1830. He became editor of 'Colburn's United Service Magazine' when that journal was started in January 1829, and so continued until July 1842. On the death of Colonel Gurwood, he was entrusted with the task of seeing the last volume of 'Selections from the Wellington Despatches' through the press. He possessed a familiar acquaintance with the French, Italian, and Spanish languages, and, although his name does not appear as the author of any scientific or other works, was a very active member of the British Association and of various learned societies. At the time of his death he was a F.R.S. (elected 10 April 1833), a vice-president of the Royal United Service Institution, of which he had been one of the originators, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical and Geological Societies, and for a short time had been honorary foreign secretary of the Royal Geographical Society. He died at his residence, Brompton Grove, of paralysis, 19 April 1849.
[Army Lists; Colburn's United Service Mag. July 1842, May 1849; Abstracts Royal Soc. 1853, p. 888.]
H. M. C.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.70 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| | ii | 10 | Clerke, Thomas H. S.: after 1830 insert and made K.H. 1831 |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edwards, Edwin

​EDWARDS, EDWIN (1823–1879), painter and etcher, born at Framlingham, Suffolk, on 6 Jan. 1823, a son of Mr. Charles Edwards of Bridgham Hall, Norfolk, was educated at Dedham, Essex, under Dr. Taylor. Early in life he studied law, and gave up a large and successful practice as an examining proctor in the admiralty and prerogative courts in order to follow his tastes as an artist. As a lawyer be wrote an 'Abridgment of Cases in the Prerogative Court;' 'A Treatise on the Jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty;' and 'Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, a Sketch,' 1833. From 1860 Edwards devoted all his time and energy to art. First he painted in water-coloure. In 1861 he made the acquaintance of Fantin Latour, Jacquemart, and other well-known French artists, and commenced painting in oil. His pictures of the Cornish coast scenery attracted considerable attention at the Royal Academy exhibition in Trafalgar Square, and his 'Gainsborough Lane' was much admired in 1877. As an etcher his works are numerous, about 371, consisting of scenes of the Thames at Sunbury, English cathedral cities, wild Cornish coast, scenes in Suffolk, &c. He also published a work upon 'Old Inns of England,' profusely illustrated with etchings. He married Elizabeth Ruth, and died on 15 Sept. 1879. An exhibition of Edwards's paintings, water-colours, and etchings was held at the Continental Galleries, 168 New Bond Street, soon after his death.
[Journal des Beaux-Artsillustré, October 1879; Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1 Nov. 1879; La Vie Moderne, 4 Oct. 1879; L'Art, 23 Nov. 1879.]
L. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edwards, Humphrey

​EDWARDS, HUMPHREY (d. 1658), regicide, was, according to Noble, a younger son of Thomas Edwards of Shrewsbury, by Ann, widow of Stephen Ducket, and daughter of Humphrey Baskerville, alderman of London. He is represented as 'having alwaies been a half-faced cavalier, changing his party for his profit.' Disappointed at not obtaining a reward for attending the king to the commons when he went to demand the five members, 4 Jan. 1642, Edwards took sides with the parliament, was elected member for Shropshire, probably in the place of Sir Richard Lee, 'disabled to sit' (Lists of Members of Parliament, Official Return, pt. i. ​p. 492), and on being nominated one of the commissioners of the high court of justice attended each day of the trial, and signed the death-warrant. During the Commonwealth he served on the committee of revenue, and was appointed a commissioner of South Wales 25 June 1651 (Cal State Papers, Dom. 1651, p. 266). He hankered after the chief ushership of the exchequer, then held by Clement Walker, and, after vainly soliciting the committee of sequestrations to sequester Walker during his incarceration in the Tower, persuaded the committee of revenue to confer the office on him 'untill the parliament declare their pleasure therein, by an order dated 1 Feb. 1649–50. On the following 21 March, though the order had not been ratified by parliament, he took forcible possession of Walker's official residence (The Case between C. Walker and H. Edwards, s. sh. fol. 1650; The Case of Mrs. Mary Walker, s. sh. fol. 1650). Edwards died in 1658, and was buried at Richmond on 2 Aug (parish reg.) In the letters of administration granted in P. C. C. to his sister. Lady Lucy Ottley, on 26 Oct. 1658, he is described as 'late of Richmond in the county of Surrey, a batchelor' (Administration Act Book, P. C. C. 1658, f. 270). Although he had died before the Restoration he was excepted out of the bill of pardon and oblivion, so that his property might be confiscated (Commons' Journals, viii. 61, 286). In this way a parcel of the manor of West Ham which had been acquired by him was restored to the possession of the queen (ib. viii. 73).
[Noble's Lives of the Regicides, i. 200-1 ; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1649-50, p. 186, 1651, pp. 237, 266, 1655, p. 80; Wood's Athenæ Oxon (Bliss), iii. 864.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edwards, John (1700?-1776)

​EDWARDS, JOHN (Sion y Potiau) (1700?–1776), poet, born in Glyn Ceiriog in Denbighshire about 1700, was a weaver by trade, but is said in early life to have spent seven years as assistant to a bookseller in London, and during that time is supposed to have gained considerable information. He was a poet of some merit, had two sons named Cain and Abel, of whom some local poet wrote the following jingle: —
Cain ac Abal. cyn ac ebill, Abel a Chain, ebill a chyn.
Cain gained some note as a publisher of almanacs. Edwards prepared his own monument, and inscribed thereon 1 Cor. xv. 52, in Latin. He died in 1776. His translation of Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress' was published in 1767–8.
[Rowland's Cambrian Bibliography.]
R. J. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edwards, George (1752-1823)

​EDWARDS, GEORGE, M.D. (1752–1823), took his degree at Edinburgh University in 1772, and appears to have practised as a physician in London, and latterly at Barnard Castle, Durham. He was an untiring propounder of political and social schemes between 1779 and 1819. The British Museum contains forty-two of his books; the following titles are sufficiently significant: 'A certain Way to save our Country, and make us a more happy and flourishing people than at any former period of our history ' (1807); 'The Practical System of Human Economy, or the New Era at length fully ascertained, whereby we are able in one immediate simple undertaking to remove the distress, burdens, and grievances of the times, and to bring all our interests, public, private, and commercial, to their intended perfection' (1816). Edwards's writings abound in the unconscious humour of the egotist deeply persuaded of his mission. He gives notice that 'the Almighty has destined that I should discover his true system of human economy.' In a petition to the House of Commons (1816?) he prays that the house should carry out the schemes which were the fruits of 'almost half a century's attention.' Among his proposals were the removal of taxes hurtful to industry, economy and reduction of public expenditure, the sale of certain national properties, particularly Gibraltar, the extension of the income tax to all orders, and forbearance for any requisite period to pay off the national debt as 'altogether superfluous with the accession of the new and happy era of mankind.' Government boards were to superintend all the interests of mankind, and everybody was to be actuated by truly christian principles. He published an address 'aux citoyens Français sur la Nouvelle Constitution,' and 'Idées pour former une Nouvelle Constitution, et pour assurer la prospérité et le bonheur de la France et d'autres nations' (Paris, 1793). It does not appear that Edwards attracted any attention, and it may be conjectured that his sanity was imperfect. He died in London on 17 Feb. 1823, in his seventy-second year.
J. M. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edwards, George Nelson

​EDWARDS, GEORGE NELSON, M.D. (1830–1868), physician, son of a surgeon, was born at Eye, Suffolk, in 1830, and received his school education in part at the grammar school of Yarmouth, and in part at that of Beccles. He obtained one of the studentships in medicine endowed by Tancred, a Yorkshire squire, at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.B. in 1851, and after studying at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, obtained the license in medicine then given by the university of Cambridge in 1854, and became M.D. in 1859. He was elected assistant-physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1860, was secretary to the medical council of the hospital from 14 Jan. 1865 to 9 Feb. 1867, and was in 1866 elected lecturer on forensic medicine in the medical school. He also held the office of medical registrar, and was elected physician to the hospital 23 Jan. 1867, but did not long enjoy that office. One day, while going round the wards, he fell down in a uræmic convulsion, was removed to his own house, and went through many of the most distressing accompaniments of chronic Bright's disease. He grew blind so gradually that he did not know when he had totally ceased to see. A physician who had been at Caius College with him used constantly to visit him, and one day found him sitting before a window through which a bright sun was shining on his face. 'Please draw up the blind,' said Edwards, unconscious that the atrophy of his optic discs was complete. He was a small man, who had been bullied at school, teased at Cambridge, and envied at St. Bartholomew's for the success which was the reward of perseverance rather than of ability. He attained considerable practice, and seemed sure of a long tenure of it when his fatal illness began. He bore it heroically, and never complained but once, and then not of his sufferings, but of a remark which made him think a candidate for his office was too anxious to succeed him. He died 6 Dec. 1868. He edited the first three volumes of the 'St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports,' 1865-7, and published in 1862 ​'The Examination of the Chest in a Series of Tables.' He described (St, Bartholomew's Hospital Reports, i. 141 ) two cases of poisoning by mercuric methide, the symptoms of 'which were then new to medicine, and also wrote a paper 'On the Value of Palpation in the Diagnosis of Tubercular Disease of the Lungs' (ib. ii. 216).
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edwards, George (1694-1773)

​EDWARDS, GEORGE (1694–1773), naturalist, born at Stratford, Essex, 3 April 1694, was taught in early years by a clergyman named Hewit, who kept a public school at Leytonstone, and afterwards served an apprenticeship in Fenchurch Street, London. As a youth he had an opportunity of examining the library of Dr. Nicholas, and read incessantly. At the expiration of his apprenticeship he spent a month in Holland; in 1718 went to Norway, and was captured at Friedrichstadt by Danish soldiers, who suspected him of being a spy. He journeyed through France in 1719 and 1720, partly on foot. On returning home he began to make coloured drawings of animals, which fetched good prices. James Theobald, F.R.S., proved a zealous patron; and after an excursion in Holland, in 1731, Edwards was appointed (December 1733), on Sir Hans Sloane's recommendation, librarian of the Royal College of Physicians. The publication of his 'History of Birds' began in 1743, and occupied him till 1764. On St. Andrew's day 1760 Edwards was presented with the gold medal of the Royal Society, of which he was afterwards elected a fellow. He became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 13 Feb. 1762. About 1764 Edwards retired to Plaistow, and died of cancer and stone 23 July 1773. He was buried in West Ham churchyard. A portrait by Dandridge was engraved by J. S. Millar in 1764. His chief work, 'The History of Birds,' was dedicated to God. The first volume appeared in 1743, the second in 1747, the third in 1750, and ​the fourth in 1751. Under the new title of 'Gleanings of Natural History' three additional volumes were issued in 1758, 1760, and 1764 respectively. Nearly six hundred subjects in natural history not before delineated are here engraved. A generical index in French and English was added. Linnæus often corresponded with Edwards, and prepared an additional index of the Linnsæn names. Edwards's collection of drawings was purchased by the Marquis of Bute shortly before the naturalist's death. Edwards's papers in the 'Philosophical Transactions' were collected by J. Robson, and issued with the Linnæan index in 1776. Edwards was also the author of 'Essays of Natural History' (1770) and 'Elements of Fossilogy' (1776).
[Biog. Brit. (Kippis); Nichols's Lit. Anecd. 317-26; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]