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

​POOLE, JACOB (1774–1827), antiquary, son of Joseph Poole and his wife Sarah, daughter of Jacob Martin of Aghfad, co. Wexford, was born at Growtown, co. Wexford, 11 Feb. 1774. His parents were members of the Society of Friends, and he was seventh in descent from Thomas and Catherine Poole of Dortrope, Northamptonshire. Their son, Richard Poole, came to Ireland with the parliamentary army in 1649, turned quaker, was imprisoned for his religion at Wexford and Waterford, and died in Wexford gaol, to which he was committed for refusing to pay tithe in 1665. Jacob succeeded to the family estate of Growtown, in the parish of Taghmon, in 1800, and farmed his own land. He studied the customs and language of the baronies of Bargy and Forth, on the edge of the former of which his estate lay. The inhabitants used to speak an old English dialect, dating from the earliest invasion of the country, and he collected the words and phrases of this expiring language from his tenants and labourers. This collection was edited by the Rev. William Barnes from the original manuscript, and published in 1867 as ‘A Glossary, with some pieces of verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy.’ The glossary contains about fifteen hundred words, noted with great fidelity. The dialect is now extinct, and this glossary, with a few words in Holinshed and some fragments of verse, is its sole authentic memorial. Poole completed the glossary and a further vocabulary or gazetteer of the local proper names in the last five years of his life. He died 20 Nov. 1827, and was buried in the graveyard of the Society of Friends at Forest, co. Wexford. He married, 13 May 1813, Mary, daughter of Thomas and Deborah Sparrow of Holmstown, co. Wexford, and had three sons and three daughters. A poem in memory of Poole, called ‘The Mountain of Forth,’ by Richard Davis Webb, who had known and admired him, was published in 1867, and it was owing to Mr. Webb's exertions that the glossary was published.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Poole, Arthur William

​POOLE, ARTHUR WILLIAM (1852–1885), missionary bishop, the son of Thomas Francis and Jane Poole, was born at Shrewsbury on 6 Aug. 1852, and educated at Shrewsbury school. At the age of seventeen he proceeded to Worcester College, Oxford, at Michaelmas 1869, and took a third class in classical moderations in 1871, and a third class in the final classical school in 1873. He graduated B.A. in 1873, M.A. in 1876, and D.D. in 1883. On leaving Oxford Poole became a tutor. Afterwards he thought of medicine as a profession; but in 1876, having abandoned a leaning towards the Plymouth brethren, he was ordained deacon, and licensed to the curacy of St. Aldate's, Oxford. Early in boyhood Poole had wished to be a missionary, and the old desire was renewed in March 1876 by an appeal for men to aid in educational work at Masulipatam. After some hesitation, Poole offered himself to the Church Missionary Society on 20 June 1876. He was accepted, and sailed for India in October 1877. At Masulipatam, Poole threw himself into the work of the Noble High School, fostered the growth of Christian literature in the vernacular, and made many friends among the educated natives. Early in 1879 signs of consumption showed themselves in Poole, and, after twice visiting the Neilgherry hills, he was invalided home in June 1880. There was little prospect of his being able to return to India, and he resigned in October 1882. At the anniversary meeting of the Church Missionary Society in May 1883 a speech by Poole attracted the attention of the archbishop of Canterbury, who offered him the missionary bishopric in Japan which it had just been resolved to establish. After much hesitation and reassuring reports from the medical board, Poole accepted the offer, and was consecrated at Lambeth on St. Luke's day 1883. He was warmly received in Japan, and at once began to visit the chief missionary stations in his diocese. But, his health failing, he spent the winter of 1884–1885 in California. He did not recover, but returned to England, and died at Shrewsbury on 14 July 1885. Poole married, in 1877, Sarah Ann Pearson, who survived him, and by her he had issue.
A. R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Poole, Jonas

​POOLE, JONAS (d. 1612), mariner, made a voyage to Virginia in 1607 in the employment of Sir Thomas Smythe [q. v.] In 1610 he commanded the Amity, set forth by the Muscovy Company ‘for a northern discovery,’ which sailed in company with the Lioness, commanded by Thomas Edge, under orders for Cherry Island and the whale fishery. In May the Amity made Spitzbergen, which Poole named Greenland, and continued on the coast during the summer, examining the harbours and killing morses, with the blubber of which they filled up, and so returned to England, carrying also the horn of a narwhal, or ‘sea-unicorn.’ In 1611, again in company with Edge in the Mary Margaret, which was to fish ‘near Greenland,’ Poole sailed in the Elizabeth of sixty tons burden, with instructions from Smythe ‘to see if it were possible to pass from “Greenland” towards the pole.’ Accordingly, parting from Edge near Spitzbergen, he stood to the north, but in lat. 80° he fell in with the impenetrable ice-field, which he skirted towards the west, never finding an opening, till he estimated that he must be near Hudson's Hold with Hope on the east coast of Greenland. A westerly wind then carried him back to Cherry Island, where, through July, they killed some two hundred morses, and filled up the Elizabeth with ‘their fat hides and teeth.’ On 25 July Edge and most of the men of the Mary Margaret arrived with the news that their ship had been wrecked in Foul Sound, now known as Whale's Bay (Nordenskjöld, 1861–4). Edge ordered a great part of the Elizabeth's cargo to be landed, and the vessel went to Foul Sound to ship as much of the Mary Margaret's oil as possible. There the ship, owing to her lightness after her cargo was removed, filled and went down; Poole escaped with difficulty, with many broken bones. They afterwards got a passage to England in the Hopewell of Hull, which Edge chartered to carry home the oil. In 1612 Poole again went to Spitzbergen, but apparently only for the fishing, and, having killed a great many whales, brought home a full cargo. Shortly after his return he was ‘miserably and basely murdered betwixt Ratcliffe and London.’
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ponton, Mungo

​PONTON, MUNGO (1802–1880), photographic inventor, only son of John Ponton, farmer, was born at Balgreen, near Edinburgh, on 23 Nov. 1802. He was admitted writer to the signet on 8 Dec. 1825, and was a founder and subsequently secretary of the National Bank of Scotland.
Ill-health caused him to relinquish his professional career, and he devoted his attention to science. On 29 May 1839 he communicated to the Society of Arts for Scotland ‘a cheap and simple method of preparing paper for photographic drawing in which the use of any salt of silver is dispensed with’ (Edin. New Phil. Journal, xxvii. 169). In this paper he announced the important discovery that the action of sunlight renders bichromate of potassium insoluble, a discovery which has had more to do with the production of permanent photographs than any other. It forms the basis of nearly all the photo-mechanical processes now in use. The developments of Ponton's method are stated in ‘Reports of the Juries of the Exhibition of 1862,’ class 14, p. 5. In 1849 he communicated to the ‘Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal,’ xxxix. 270, an account of a method of registering the hourly variations of the thermometer by means of photography. A list of his papers, which mainly relate to optical subjects, is in the ‘Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers.’ He became fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1834. He died at Clifton on 3 Aug. 1880.
R. B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nugent, Christopher (d.1731)

​NUGENT, CHRISTOPHER (d. 1731), soldier, was the eldest son of Francis Nugent of Dardistown, co. Meath, and Bridget, sister of William Dongan, created Earl of Limerick in 1685. He represented the borough of Fore in the parliament of 1689, and was attached to the first troop of Irish horseguards in 1691. After the capitulation of Limerick he elected to go to France, and arrived at Brest on 3 Dec. 1691. He was given a command in the army for the invasion of England in 1692, and afterwards served with the Irish horseguards in Flanders. In 1694 he served with the army of Germany, under the Duc de Lorges, and with the army of the Moselle in 1695. On 25 May 1695 he was appointed ‘mestre-de-camp de cavalerie,’ and continued with the army of the Moselle in 1696–7. On the disbandment of the Irish horseguards on 27 Feb. 1698, he was attached as ‘mestre-de-camp’ to the reformed regiment of Sheldon. He joined the army of Italy in July 1701, fought under Villeroi at Chiari on 1 Sept., and under Vendome at Luzzara on 15 Aug. 1702. In the following year he served with the army of Germany, and in Flanders in 1704. He was created brigadier on 1 March 1705, and, on the retirement of Colonel Sheldon, succeeded to the command of the regiment on 16 Jan. 1706. He changed its name to that of Nugent, and commanded it at Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet. During the winter of 1711–12 he was employed about Calais, was present at the battle of Denain on 24 July 1712, and at the siege of Douay in September. The following year he was transferred to the army of Germany, was present at the siege of Landau (June–August), at the defeat of General Vaubonne on 20 Sept., and the capture of Freiburg im Breisgau in November. In 1714 he served with the army of the Lower Meuse. But having in 1715 accompanied the Old Pretender to Scotland without permission, he was, on the remonstrance of the British ambassador in Paris, deprived of his regiment, which, however, was conferred on his son; and on 13 Sept. 1718 he was promoted maréchal-de-camp or major-general of horse. He died on 4 June 1731. He married Bridget, second daughter of Robert Barnewall, ninth lord Trimleston, by whom he had one son, who succeeded him.
[Pinard's Chronologie Historique-Militaire, vii. 12; O'Callaghan's Hist. of the Irish Brigades, Glasgow, 1870; Lodge's Peerage, ed. Archdall, i. 220; MacGeoghegan's Hist. of Ireland; Capefigue's Louis XIV.]
R. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nuce, Thomas

​NUCE, THOMAS (d. 1617), translator, was in 1562 a fellow of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. Sometime after 1563 he became rector of Cley, Norfolk; from 1575 to 1583 he was rector of Beccles, Suffolk; from 1578 till his death, in 1617, he was rector of Gazeley, Suffolk. From 1581 till 1583 he was rector of Oxburgh, Norfolk. In 1599 he was appointed rector of Weston-Market, Suffolk. Besides these preferments he held, from 21 Feb. 1584-5 till his death, the fourth ​stall as prebend in Ely Cathedral. He died 8 Nov. 1617, and was buried in Gazeley Church. According to a rhyming epitaph on his tomb, his wife's name was Ann, and he was father of five sons and seven daughters.
While at Cambridge Nuce published 'The Ninth Tragedie of Lucius Anneus Seneca, called Octavia, translated out of Latine into English by T. N., Student in Cambridge. Imprinted at London by Henry Denham,' n. d. [1561], 4to. This was described in the dedication to the Earl of Leicester as 'the firstfruits of my yong study.' It was reprinted as the ninth play in 'Seneca his tenne Tragedies, translated into English,' 1581, 4to. Nuce was also author of fourteen Latin hexameters, and 172 lines of English verse prefixed to John Studley's translation of Seneca's 'Agamemnon,' 1561, 8vo.
[Hunter's Chorus Vatum, vi. 119 (Addit. MS. 24492); Cole's MS. 1. 207 (Addit. MS. 5851; Tanner's Bibliotheca, p. 554; Corser's Collectanea Anglo-Poetica, ix. 78; Warton's English Poetry, iv. 273; J. Bentham's Ely, p. 251; Blomefield's Norfolk, vi. 43, 193; Suckling's Suffolk, i. 21.]
R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nugent, Charles Edmund

​NUGENT, Sir CHARLES EDMUND (1759?–1844), admiral of the fleet, born about 1759, reputed son of Lieutenant-colonel the Hon. Edmund Nugent, entered the navy in 1771 on board the Scorpion sloop, then commanded by Captain Elphinstone, afterwards Lord Keith. The following year he joined the Trident, flagship of Sir Peter Denis, in the Mediterranean, and in 1775 went out to North America in the Bristol, carrying the broad pennant of Sir Peter Parker (1721–1811) [q. v.] At the attack on Sullivan's Island on 28 June 1776 he was an acting lieutenant of the Bristol, and in September, still as acting lieutenant, followed Parker to the Chatham. In the beginning of 1778 Parker went to Jamaica as commander-in-chief, and on 26 May 1778 promoted Nugent to the rank of commander, his former promotion as lieutenant being still unconfirmed. His name first appears in the navy list as a commander. On 2 May 1779 he was posted to the 28-gun frigate Pomona, and in her took part in the reduction of Omoa (19–20 Oct. 1779), under the Hon. John Luttrell. Previous to the attack Nugent was sent in the Racehorse schooner to procure pilots in the Bay of Honduras, and, in attempting to land at St. George's Key, fell in among a number of armed Spanish boats, and was captured. He was stripped, handcuffed, and confined in a dungeon till the next day, when, on the arrival of the Pomona, which the Racehorse had summoned to his assistance, the Spaniards made off, and Nugent and his boat's crew released themselves. He continued during the war on the Jamaica station, and returned to England with Parker in 1782. In 1783 he was returned to parliament as member for Buckingham, and during the following years was a steady though silent supporter of the government. In 1793 he was appointed to the Veteran, one of the fleet which went out to the West Indies under the command of Sir John Jervis, afterwards Earl of St. Vincent [q. v.] On the surrender of Guadeloupe Nugent was sent home with despatches, May 1794, and in the spring of 1795 was appointed to the Cæsar, which he commanded in the Channel till his promotion to the rank of rear-admiral on 20 Feb. 1797. He became vice-admiral on 1 Jan. 1801, and in 1805 was captain of the fleet off Brest under Cornwallis. He had no further service, but was promoted to be admiral on 28 April 1808, and admiral of the fleet on 24 April 1833. On 12 March 1834 he received the grand cross of the Hanoverian order (G.C.H.), and died on 7 Jan. 1844, aged 85. He was married, and left issue one daughter.
[Naval Chronicle, x. 441, with portrait; Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biogr. i. 94; Gent. Mag. 1844, ii. 89.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nower, Francis

1904 Errata appended.
​NOWER or NOWERS, FRANCIS (d. 1670), herald-painter, belonged to a family long seated at Ashford and Pluckley in Kent. Nower was employed for many years in the ordinary avocation of an heraldic painter, especially during the time of the Commonwealth. In 1660 he edited the fourth edition of Guillim's ‘Display of Heraldry’ before the restoration of Charles II, after which event a new edition was issued, omitting certain additions under the ​Commonwealth. Nower resided in Bartholomew Lane, near the Exchange, in London; in 1670 a fire broke out there, in which Nower, with two of his children and two servants, perished. Administration of his effects was granted on 15 Aug. 1670 to his widow, Hester, who subsequently married Francis Turner.
His wife Hester was daughter of Isaac Bargrave, D.D., dean of Canterbury, by whom he was father of Beaupré Nower (or Nowers), afterwards fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge.
[Streatfield's Excerpta Cantiana; information from Mr. G. P. Nowers.]
L. C.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.207 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nugent, Christopher (d.1775)

​NUGENT, CHRISTOPHER (d. 1775), physician, was born in Ireland and, after graduating M.D. in France, went into practice, first in the south of Ireland, and afterwards at Bath, where he had considerable success. In 1753 he published in London ‘An Essay on the Hydrophobia.’ The book begins with a clear account of the successful treatment by him in June 1751 of a servant-maid who had been bitten by a mad turnspit dog in two places, and had true hydrophobia. He treated her chiefly by powders of musk and cinnabar. In sixty-seven subsequent sections he discusses with good sense the mental and physical aspects
​of the disease, its resemblance in some points to hysteria, and the method of action of various proposed remedies. Edmund Burke was his guest in 1756, and married his daughter Jane Mary early in 1757. Nugent himself was a Roman catholic; but his wife (Prior, Life of Burke, p. 49) is stated to have been a presbyterian, and to have brought up her daughter in that religion. Burke called his younger son Christopher, after his father-in-law. Early in 1764 Nugent removed to London, and was one of the nine original members of the Literary Club (Boswell, Johnson, ii. 93). He was constant in his attendance (ib. ii. 129), and was present when Boswell was admitted. In the imaginary college at St. Andrews, discussed with Johnson, he was to be professor of physic. He was observant of the ordinances of his church, and had an omelette on Friday at the club dinner, which is mentioned by Macaulay in a famous passage. One club day after Nugent's death Johnson exclaimed, ‘Ah! my poor friend, I shall never eat omelette with thee again’ (Mrs. Piozzi, Anecdotes, p. 122). His London house was at first in Queen Anne Street, and afterwards in Suffolk Street, Strand; and on 25 June 1765 he was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians of London. In the same year he was elected F.R.S. He died 12 Oct. 1775. Burke was deeply attached to him; Johnson's affectionate regard is shown by his lament at the club; and even Sir John Hawkins joined in the general liking for him (Hawkins, Life of Johnson, 2nd edit. p. 415). Dr. Benjamin Hoadley [q. v.] was one of his medical friends (Hydrophobia, p. 90).
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. ii. 268; Boswell's Life of Johnson, 7th ed. 1811; Prior's Memoir of Burke, London, 1824; Works.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Frendraught, Viscount

​FRENDRAUGHT, Viscount (1600–1650). [See Crichton, James.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/French, William

​FRENCH, WILLIAM, D.D. (1786–1849), master of Jesus College, Cambridge, was the son of a rich yeoman at Eye in Suffolk. He was sent to Ipswich grammar school, where the Rev. Mr. Howarth was head-master, and he afterwards entered Caius College, Cambridge. After a successful college career he came out in 1811 as second wrangler, the senior being Thomas Edward Dicey of Trinity, the two being bracketed equal as Smith's prizemen. Soon after French was elected fellow and tutor of Pembroke College, and in 1814 took his M.A. degree. He was only thirty-four years old in 1820 when he was appointed master of Jesus College by Dr. Sparke, bishop of Ely, in whose family he had been private tutor. In the following year he was made D.D. by royal mandate, and served the office of vice-chancellor, a position which he filled again in 1834, when he also acted as one of the syndics appointed to superintend the building of the Fitzwilliam Museum. He was presented by the lord chancellor to the living of Moor Monkton, Yorkshire, in 1827, and became a canon of Ely in 1832. He discharged his various functions with urbanity and integrity. His mathematical attainments were of the highest order, and to classical scholarship he added a considerable acquaintance with oriental languages. He took a distinguished part in the translations made by himself and Mr. George Skinner of the Psalms and Proverbs. He managed the affairs of his college so as greatly to improve its finances, and his name is connected with the remarkable restoration of Jesus College Chapel, begun under his direction by his gift of coloured glass for the eastern triplet. His published works are:
* ‘A new Translation of the Book of Psalms from the original Hebrew, with Explanatory Notes by W. French, D.D., and George Skinner, M.A.; a new edition, with corrections and additions, 8vo, London, 1842. ‘A judicious and excellent work for review’ (see British Critic, ix. 404).
* ‘A new Translation of the Proverbs of Solomon from the original Hebrew, with Explanatory Notes by W. French, D.D., and George Skinner, M.A.,’ 8vo, London, 1831.
He died at Jesus Lodge, Cambridge, on 12 Nov. 1849, in his sixty-third year, and was buried at Brockdish in Norfolk four days later.
[Gent. Mag. new ser. xxxii. 655; Luard, Graduati Cantabrigienses; Willis and Clark's Architectural Hist. of Cambr. ii. 151, iii. 199.]
R. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Frere, John (1740-1807)

1904 Errata appended.
​FRERE, JOHN (1740–1807), antiquary, of Roydon Hall, Norfolk, and Finningham, Suffolk, born on 10 Aug. 1740, was the eldest son of Sheppard Frere of Roydon, by his wife Susanna, daughter of John Hatley of London and Kirby Hall, Essex. He belonged to an old family settled in Norfolk and Suffolk. His grandfather, Edward Frere, was a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a staunch adherent of Bentley the master. Frere was scholar and fellow of Caius College. He was second wrangler (Paley being senior), and graduated B.A. 1763, M.A. 1766. He became high sheriff of Suffolk in 1766, was a vice-president of the Marine Society in 1785, and was elected M.P. for Norwich in 1799. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society 20 June 1771, and was an active member. He published, in the ‘Archæologia’ for 1800 (xiii. 204), a paper ‘On the Flint Weapons of Hoxne in Suffolk,’ and showed discernment in assigning these stone implements (some of which, presented by him, are still in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries) ‘to a very remote period indeed, even beyond that of the present world’ (cp. John Evans, Ancient Stone Implements, p. 517). Frere also contributed to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ and other publications. His son, John Hookham Frere [q. v.], used to regret that more of his father's occasional papers had not been preserved. Frere was intimate with Richard Gough. His brother-in-law, Sir John Fenn, left him his library. Frere died at East Dereham, Norfolk, on 12 July 1807. A painted portrait of him is in the possession of Mr. J. T. Frere of Roydon Hall. He married, in 1768, Jane, only child of John Hookham of Beddington, a rich London merchant. This lady, besides a fortune and good looks, had ‘rare gifts of intellect and disposition.’ They had seven sons and two daughters. The eldest son was John Hookham Frere, the author and diplomatist [q. v.] The fourth, fifth, and sixth sons, ​William [q. v.], Bartholomew [q. v.], and James Hatley [q. v.], are also separately noticed. The seventh son, Temple (1781–1859), rector successively of Finningham, Roydon, and Burston, became canon of Westminster 3 Nov. 1838.
[J. Hookham Frere's Works (1872), memoir in vol. i.; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iii. 210, 257; Burke's Landed Gentry, editions of 1868 and 1886, s.v. ‘Frere of Roydon;’ Gent. Mag. 1807, vol. lxxvii. pt. ii. p. 691; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. viii. 58, 159, ix. 475; Nichols's Lit. Illustr. v. 175–7, 181, vi. 821; information from Mr. Frere of Roydon Hall.]
W. W.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.130 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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