OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hope, James (1741-1816)

​HOPE, JAMES, afterwards James Hope Johnstone, third Earl of Hopetoun (1741–1816), born in 1741, was second son and fourth child of John, second earl, by his first wife, Anne Ogilvy (d. 1759), second daughter of James, fifth earl of Findlater and Seafield. He became ensign in the 3rd regiment of foot-guards 9 May 1758, served with his regiment at Minden, and quitted the army in 1764 in order to travel with his elder brother, Lord Hope, who was in declining health. In 1781 he succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father, in 1784 was chosen a representative peer of Scotland, and in 1790 took part in a disputed election for representative peers, he claiming unsuccessfully that he and the Earl of Selkirk had been lawfully chosen (see The Petition of Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, and James, Earl of Hopetoun). In 1794 he was again elected. Meanwhile, in 1792, he had succeeded, on the death of his grand-uncle (of the half-blood), the lunatic George Johnstone, third marquis of Annandale, to the earldoms of Annandale and Hartfell, in addition to very large estates in Scotland. But he never assumed the titles, merely adding Johnstone to his family name. In 1793 he raised and commanded the corps of Hopetoun fencibles, and in recognition of this service he was, on 3 Feb. 1809, created Baron Hopetoun in the peerage of the United Kingdom. For many years he was lord-lieutenant of Linlithgowshire and hereditary keeper of the castle of Lochmaben. Hope died at Hopetoun House, Linlithgowshire, on 29 May 1816, and, in default of male issue of his own, was succeeded in the barony as well as the earldom by his half-brother, Sir John Hope of Rankeillour [q. v.], then Lord Niddry, the barony having been limited to the heirs male of the second Earl of Hopetoun. Hope married, 25 Aug. 1766, Elizabeth Carnegie (d. 1793), daughter of George, sixth earl of Northesk, by whom he had six daughters, of whom Anne Johnstone (d. 1818) married in 1792 Admiral Sir William Johnstone Hope [q. v.]; Georgiana (d. 1797), married in 1793 the Hon. Andrew Cochrane; and Jemima, married in 1803 Rear-admiral Sir George Johnstone Hope.
[Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, ed. Wood, i. 750; Burke's Peerage; Courthope's Historic Peerage; Playfair's Brit. Fam. Antiq. iii. 461; Gent. Mag. 1816, i. 569; Book of Dignities; Anderson's Scottish Nation, ii. 494.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Freeman, John (fl.1670-1720)

​FREEMAN, JOHN (fl. 1670–1720), painter, had some repute as a history painter in the reign of Charles II. In early life he went to the West Indies, and narrowly escaped death by poisoning. He returned to England, and was much employed, although 'his Genius was so impair'd by that Attempt on his Life, that his latter Works fail'd of their usual Perfection.' He was considered a rival of Isaac Fuller [q. v.] He drew in the Academy that then existed, and latterly was scene painter to the play-house in Covent Garden. Some plates in R. Blome's 'History of the Old and New Testament' are probably from his designs. It is not known when he died, but he can hardly have lived till 1747, and be identical with the I. Freeman who drew the large view of 'The Trial of Lord Lovat in Westminster Hall.'
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Freeman, Samuel

​FREEMAN, SAMUEL (1773–1857), engraver, worked chiefly in stipple, and is principally known as an engraver of portraits. Among these may be noted Samuel Johnson, after Bartolozzi, Garrick, and Henry Tresham, R.A., after Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir R. K. Porter, and Miss L. E. Landon, after J. Wright (Freeman's original drawing from the portrait of Miss Landon is in the print room at the British Museum), Thomas Campbell, after Lawrence, Queen Victoria, after Miss Costello, and others. He engraved numerous portraits and other illustrations to the Rev. T. F. Dibdin's 'Northern Gallery,' &c. For Tresham's 'British Gallery' (1815) Freeman engraved the Stafford Gallery replica of Raphael's 'Vierge au Diademe.' He also engraved some of the plates for Jones's 'National Gallery,' and numerous portraits for Fisher's 'National Portrait Gallery.' For Dallaway's edition of Walpole's 'Anecdotes of Painting' he engraved 'The Marriage of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou' from an ancient painting. He died on 27 Feb. 1857, aged 84.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Freeling, Francis

Contains subarticle Sir George Henry Feeling (1789-1841).
​FREELING, Sir FRANCIS (1764–1836), postal reformer and book collector, was born in Redcliffe parish, Bristol, on 25 Aug. 1764. He began his official career in the Bristol post office. On the establishment of the new system of mail coaches, in 1785, he was appointed to aid the inventor,Palmer, in carrying his improvements into effect. Two years later he proceeded to London, and entered the service of the general post office, where he successively filled the offices of surveyor, principal and resident surveyor, joint secretary, and sole secretary, for nearly half a century. In a debate in the House of Lords in 1836 the Duke of Wellington stated that the English post office under Freeling's management had been better administered than any post office in Europe, or in any other part of the world. Freeling possessed ' a clear and vigorous understanding . . . and the power of expressing his thoughts and opinions, both verbally and in writing, with force and precision.' A baronetcy was conferred upon him for his public services on 11 March 1828. Freeling had been a warm admirer of Pitt, but he suffered no political partisanship to affect his administration of the post office. His leisure was devoted to the formation of a curious and valuable library. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1801, and was one of the original members of the Roxburghe Club, founded in 1812. Freeling died at his residence in Bryanston Square, London, on 10 July 1836. A marble monument was erected to him in the church of St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, with an inscription commemorative of his services. He was thrice married. By his first wife, Jane, daughter of John Christian Kurstadt, he had two sons. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by the elder, Sir George Henry Feeling, born in 1789, who matriculated at New College, Oxford, 17 March 1807 (Foster, Alumni Oxon.); was for some time assistant secretary at the post office, and subsequently commissioner of customs (1836-1841); and died 29 Nov. 1841, leaving issue.
G. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Freeman, John (fl.1611)

According to the ODNB, the article contains an incorrect identification.
​FREEMAN, JOHN (fl. 1611), divine, matriculated in the university of Cambridge as a sizar of Trinity College, 26 Nov. 1575. He graduated B.A. in 1580-1, was elected a fellow of his college in 1583, and commenced M.A. in 1584 (Cooper, Athenæ Cantabr. iii. 59). He was for some time preacher of Lewes in Sussex.
He published: 1. 'The Comforter, or a comfortable Treatise, wherein are contained many Reasons taken out of the Word, to assure the Forgiueness of Sinnes to the Conscience that is troubled with the feeling thereof,’ London, 1591, 1600, 8vo. Dedicated to the whole congregation of Lewes. 2. 'A Sermon on Rom. viii. 2-28,' London, 1611, 8vo. 3. 'A Sermon on Rom. xi. 2-8,' London, 1611, 8vo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Freeman, Thomas

​FREEMAN, THOMAS (fl. 1614), epigrammatist, a Gloucestershire man, 'of the same family of those of Batsford and Todenham, near to Morton-in-Marsh' (Wood, Athenæ) became a student of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1607, and took his degree of B.A. 10 June 1611 (Fasti, ed. Bliss, i. 341). 'Retiring to the great city and setting up for a poet,' he published in 1614 a collection of epigrams in two parts, 4to, dedicated to Thomas, lord Windsor. 'Rvbbe and a Great Cast' is the title of the first part, and 'Rvnne and a Great Cast. The Second Bowle' of the second. It is a scarce and interesting volume. There are epigrams on Shakespeare, Daniel, Donne, Chapman, Thomas Heywood, and Owen, the epigrammatist; also an epitaph on Nashe. One of the pieces, 'Encomion Cornubiæ,' is reprinted in Ellis's 'Specimens,' 1811, iii. 113.
A. H. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Freeman, William Peere Williams

​FREEMAN, WILLIAM PEERE WILLIAMS (1742–1832), admiral. [See Williams-Freeman.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Freind, John (d.1696)

​FREIND, Sir JOHN (d. 1696), conspirator. [See Friend.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Freeman, Ralph

​FREEMAN, Sir RALPH (fl. 1610–1655), civilian and dramatist, who was probably the son of Martin Freeman, first comes into notice as succeeding Naunton in the office of master of requests in 1618. He had married a relation of Buckingham, through whose influence he had also obtained a grant of pre-emption and transportation of tin for seven years in August 1613. In 1622 he had a grant in reversion of the auditorship of imprests, and also the auditorship of the mint. It was thought that through Buckingham Freeman would succeed Thomas ​Murray as provost of Eton, but the appointment was given to Sir Henry Wotton. Freeman unsuccessfully applied to Buckingham to be allowed to succeed Wotton at Venice. In 1626 and 1627 he was on a commission for the arrest of French ships and goods in England. In 1629 he held the office of auditor of imprests, after a dispute as to its possession with Sir Giles Monpesson, and soon afterwards became master worker of the mint at a salary of 500l. per annum. He was one of the first appointed in February 1635 to the newly created office of 'searcher and sealer' of all foreign hops imported into England. On the death of Sir Dudley Digges, Freeman bid high for the mastership of the rolls, which was taken by Sir Charles Cæsar. He appears to have retired into private life shortly afterwards, and to have lived to an advanced age. In 1655 he published 'Imperiale,' a tragedy which he had written many years before, and had 'never designed to the open world;' he was induced to publish it by 'the importunity of his friends, and to prevent a surreptitious publication intended from an erroneous copy.' This unauthorised edition to which he refers had appeared so far back as 1639. The tragedy met with the approval of Langbaine. Freeman also published two verse translations from Seneca, both of which are above the average, the first being the 'Booke of Consolation to Marcia' (1635), and the other the 'Booke of the Shortnes of Life' (2nd ed. 1663). At the last-given date Freeman was still alive, and must have been an old man. He has been erroneously confounded with another Sir Ralph Freeman who was lord mayor of London, and died on 16 March 1633–4.
[Rolls Ser. (Dom.) 1603–10, p. 475, 1611–18, pp. 197, 511, 1619–23, pp. 53, 93, 335, 569, 1623–5, pp. 56, 70, 1627–8, pp. 32, 181, 1628–9, pp. 141, 590, 1634–5, p. 524, 1636–7, p. 445, 1638–9, p. 622; Baker's Biographia Dramatica.]
A. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cromwell, Edward

​CROMWELL, EDWARD, third Baron Cromwell (1559?–1607), politician, born about 1559, was the son of Henry, second lord Cromwell, by his wife Mary, daughter of John Paulet, second marquis of Winchester. His grandfatlier, Gregory, son of the famous Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's minister [q. v.], was created Baron Cromwell on 18 Dec. 1540. Cromwell spent some time at Jesus College, Cambridge, as the pupil of Richard Bancroft [q. v.], afterwards archbishop, but did not matriculate. He was created M.A. in 1593. In 1591 he acted as colonel in the English army under Essex, sent to aid Henri IV in Normandy (Camden Miscellany, i. 'Siege of Rouen,' p. 10), and on his father's death in 1592 succeeded to his peerage. Cromwell served as a volunteer in the naval expedition against Spain of 1597, 'sued hard ... for the government of the Brill' in 1598, and accompanied Essex to Ireland in 1599 in the vain hope of becoming marshal of the army there. In August 1599 it was reported that he had defeated a rebel force of six thousand men, but at the end of the month he was in London again. After futile attempt of Essex in January 1600-1601 to raise an insurrection in London, Cromwell was arrested and sent to the Tower. He and Lord Sandys were brought for trial to Westminster Hall on 5 March. Cromwell confessed his guilt, was ordered to pay a fine of 6,000l., and was release and pardoned on 9 July 1601. On I's accession he was sworn of the privy council, but soon afterwards disposed of his English property to Charles Blount, lord Mountjoy, and settled in Ireland. On 13 Sept. 1605 Cromwell made an agreement with an Irish chief, Phelim McCartan, to receive a large part of the McCartan's territory in county Down on condition of educating and providing for the chief's son. On 4 Oct. following McCartan and Cromwell by arrangement resigned their estates to the king, who formally regranted them to the owners, and Cromwell was at the same time made governor of Lecale. He died in September 1607, and was buried in Down Cathedral. Sir Arthur Chichester, when writing of his death to the council, 29 Sept. 1607, states he regrets his loss, both for his majesty's service and for the poor estate wherein he left his wife and children.' Cromell married twice. By his first wife, who was named Umpton, he had a daughter, Elizabeth; and by his second wife, Frances, daughter of William Rugge of Felmingham, Norfolk, a son, Thomas, and two daughters, Frances and Anne.
Thomas, fourth Baron Cromwell, whom Chichester describes in youth as 'very towardly and of good hope,' was create Viscount Lecale (22 Nov. 1624) and Earl of ​ Ardglass (1646) in the Irish peerage. He was a staunch royalist, and died in 1653.
Edward Cromwell's mother married, after her first husband's death, Richard Wingfield, marshal of Ireland, first viscount Powerscourt.
[Cooper's Athenæ Cantab, ii. 473; Burke's Extinct Peerage; Chamberlain's Letters, temp. Eliz. (Camd. Soc.); Sir Robert Cecil's Letters (Camd. Soc.); Devereux's Lives of the Earls of Essex, vol. ii.; Cal. State Papers (Domestic and Irish, 1603-8).]
S. L. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Crompton, William (1633-1696)

Date of birth uncertain in the ODNB.
​CROMPTON, WILLIAM (1633–1696), nonconformist divine, eldest son of William Crompton, incumbent of St. Mary Magdalene, Launceston, Cornwall, was born at Little Kimble, Buckinghamshire, on 13 Aug. 1963; was admitted into Merchant Taylors' School in 1647; and became a student of Christ Church, Oxford, by the authority of the parliament visitors, in 1648. He took his degrees in arts and was presented to the living of Collumpton, Devonshire, from which at the Restoration he was ejected for nonconformity. Afterwards 'he lived there, and sometimes at Exeter, carrying on in those places and elsewhere a constant course of preaching in conventicles.' He died in 1696.
Among his works are: 1. 'An useful Tractate to further Christians of these Dangerous and Backsliding Times in the practice of the most needful Duty of Prayer,' London, 1659, 8vo. 2. 'A Remedy against Idolatry : or, a Pastor's Farewell to a beloved Flock, in some Preservatives against Creature-worship,' London, 1667, 8vo. 3. 'Brief Survey of the Old Religion,' London, 1672, 8vo. 4. 'The Foundation of God, and the immutability thereof, laid for the salvation of his elect.'
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss) iv. 626; Robinson's Register of Merchant Taylors' School, i. 180; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Calamy's Abridgment of Baxter (1713). ii. 247; Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial (1802), ii. 13.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cromwell, Oliver (1742?-1821)

​CROMWELL, OLIVER (1742?–1821), biographer, born in or about 1742, was the son of Thomas Cromwell of Bridgewater Square, London, by his second wife Mary, daughter of Nicholas Skinner, merchant, of London. From the pedigree in Clutterbuck’s ‘Hertfordshire’ (ii. 95–8) it will be seen that he was lineally descended from the Protector, being the great-grandson of Henry Cromwell [q. v.], lord-deputy of Ireland and M.P. for Cambridge, fourth son of the Protector. For many years he practised as a solicitor in Essex Street, Strand, and was also clerk to St. Thomas’s Hospital. By the wills of his cousins, Elizabeth, Anne, and Letitia, daughters of Richard Cromwell, he became possessed of the manor of Theobalds and estate of Cheshunt Park, Hertfordshire. At the last-named place he built a house in 1795, and died there on 31 May 1821, aged 79 (Gent. Mag. vol. xci. pt. i. pp. 569–70). By his marriage on 8 Aug. 1771 to Mary, daughter of Morgan Morse, solicitor, he had issue a son, Oliver, who died in infancy, and a daughter, Elizabeth Oliveria, married on 18 June 1801 to Thomas Artemidorus Russell of Cheshunt, who succeeded to the estates. The year before his death Cromwell brought out in handsome quarto ‘Memoirs of the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, and of his sons, Richard and Henry’ (third edition, 2 vols. 8vo, 1823), condemned by Carlyle as ‘an incorrect, dull, insignificant book’ (Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches, 2nd edit. ii. 161 n.)
[Noble's Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell, i. 232–3; Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire, ii. 99, 105; Cussans’s Hertfordshire, Hundred of Hertford, pp. 214, 235; Palmer’s Perlustration of Great Yarmouth, iii. 286–7.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Keith, William (d.1407?)

​KEITH, Sir WILLIAM (d. 1407?), great marischal of Scotland, eldest son of Sir Edward Keith, great marischal, who was brother of Sir Robert Keith, great marischal [q. v.], and his first wife, Isobel de Keith, succeeded his father about 1350. He took an active part in the arrangements with the English government in 1357 for the ransom of David II (Bain, Calendar, iii. 302), with whom he is said to have been in much favour. He and Thomas, thirteenth earl of Mar, are reported to have fought a duel at Edinburgh, when the king showed such open partiality for Keith as to provoke Mar into making a public protest. Thereupon David laid siege to Mar's castle of Kildrummy (Scalacronica, p. 203). Keith went abroad in 1358 for a time to seek renown in foreign wars (Rotuli Scotiæ, i. 830). He was employed in 1369 to negotiate a truce with England at London (Rymer, Fœdera, iii. 878), and in March 1371 was present at the coronation at Scone of Robert II.
He married Margaret, only daughter and heiress of Sir John Fraser (son of the chamberlain) and Mary Bruce. Their principal residence was at Kintore until in 1392 Keith exchanged with William, Lord Lindsay of the Byres, who had married his daughter Christian, certain lands in the counties of Fife and Stirling for the Crag of Dunnottar in Kincardineshire. Here he built the celebrated castle of Dunnottar, and made it his chief fortress. Before the works began he had to remove the parish church to another part of the lands, and on the plea that he had invaded consecrated ground Keith was laid under a sentence of excommunication by the Bishop of St. Andrews. He appealed to Rome, and on 18 July 1394 Pope Benedict XIII granted his bull, removing the censure, and permitting the castle to remain on the old ecclesiastical site, on condition of an annual composition being paid to the church (Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. Appendix, pp. 405, 409). Keith died between 1406 and 1408. He had three sons and four daughters; one of the latter married Robert, duke of Albany, governor of Scotland.
H. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Keith, Robert William

​KEITH, ROBERT WILLIAM (1787–1846), musical composer and writer, was born at Stepney on 20 March 1787. He was the son of Cornelius Keith, organist of St. Peter's, Cornhill, and of the Danish Chapel in Wellclose Street, and the grandson of William Keith, organist of West Ham Church (d. 1800). From the latter Keith learnt the rudiments of music, and from Barthelemon and others the violin, harmony, and composition. He kept at 131 Cheapside a musical and musical instrument warehouse, and prepared many of his own publications. He died on 19 June 1846. While organist and composer to the New Jerusalem Church in Friars Street, Keith published ‘A Selection of Sacred Melodies … to which is prefixed Instructions for the use of Young Organists …,’ London, 1816. There followed ‘A Musical Vade Mecum, being a compendious Introduction to the whole art of Music; Part I, containing the Principles of Notation, etc., in an easy categorical form, apprehensible to the meanest capacity,’ London, 1820 (?); ‘Part II, Elements of Musical Composition.’ Keith compiled instruction-books for pianoforte, flute, and Spanish guitar (by ‘Paulus Prucilli’), and a violin preceptor, which has gone through many editions, and still maintains its ground. Some of Keith's sacred music was published by Clementi. He set to music some elegiac verses, ‘Britannia, Mourn,’ on the death of the Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, 1817; arranged the overture and airs from ‘Der Freischütz’ as duet for two violins, 1830 (?); and edited ‘Favourite Airs with Variations, for the Violin.’
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kelburn, Sinclare

​KELBURN, SINCLARE (1754–1802), Irish divine, only son of the Rev. Ebenezer Kelburn, minister of Plunket Street presbyterian church, Dublin, and Martha Sinclare, was born in Dublin in 1754. Entering Trinity College there he graduated A.B. in 1774, and then went to Edinburgh University to study theology and medicine. Having been licensed to preach he received a call from the third presbyterian congregation of Belfast (now Rosemary Street Church), and on 8 Feb. 1780 was ordained there as assistant and successor to the Rev. William Laird. The volunteer movement was then at its height, and Kelburn became one of its most ardent promoters, sometimes appearing in his pulpit on Sundays in the uniform of his corps, with his musket standing beside him. On one occasion 450 volunteers were quartered all night in his church, and he preached to them on the following day. His first publication, ‘The Morality of the Sabbath defended’ (Belfast, 1781), was a rejoinder to a sermon preached by his neighbour, the Rev. Dr. Crombie, in which the volunteers had been recommended to meet on Sundays for drill. He soon acquired a high reputation as a preacher. In 1790 he published ‘The Duty of Preaching the Gospel explained and recommended’ (Dublin, 1790). His largest and most important work was ‘The Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ asserted and proved, and the connection of this Doctrine with Practical Religion pointed out’ (Belfast, 1792). It reached a second edition. In 1797 he was arrested and lodged in Kilmainham prison on suspicion of being connected with the United Irishmen. On his liberation, after a lengthened incarceration, he had lost the use of both legs, and his health had otherwise suffered. In November 1799, at the request of his congregation, he resigned his pastoral charge. He died at Beersbridge, Belfast, on 31 March 1802, and was buried at Castlereagh, co. Down.
[Memoir prefixed to reprint of The Divinity of our Lord; Witherow's Historical and Literary Memorials of Presbyterianism in Ireland; obituary in Belfast Newsletter, 1802.]
T. H.