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

1904 Errata appended.
​CHARNOCK, THOMAS (1524?–1581), alchemist, was born in the Isle of Thanet, Kent, in 1524 or 1525, one of his fragments being dated 1574, 'the 50 yeare of my age.' After travelling all over England in quest of knowledge, he fixed his residence at Oxford, and there fell in with a noted chemist named 'James S., a spiritual man living' at Salisbury, who made him his operator, and dying about 1554bequeathed to him the secret of the philosopher's stone. Through the firing, however, of his apparatus on 1 Jan. 1555 ('the omen worse than the accident,' remarks Fuller), the fruit of his labours perished; and his renewed operations were again frustrated by being interrupted within one month of their (computed) success, when in 1557 he was impressed for the relief of Calais; whereupon he took a hatchet (as he tells us) and
With my worke made such a furious faire,
That the Quintessence flew forth in the aire.
Charnock married, in 1562, one Agnes Norden, and settled at Stockland-Bristol in Somersetshire, whence he removed to Comadge in the same county. There he fitted up a laboratory, and pursued his experiments until his death in April 1581. Charnock was buried in Otterhampton Church, near Bridgwater. He wrote 'The Breviary of Naturall Philosophy,' a fantastic little treatise on alchemy, composed in old English verse in 1557, and included in Ashmole's 'Theatrum Chemicum.' He styles himself in the title an 'unlettered Scholar,' and 'Student in the most worthy Scyence of Astronomy and Philosophy.' In the same collection are contained 'Ænigma ad Alchimiam' (1572), Ænigma de Alchimia,' with a few fragments copied from Charnock's handwriting on the flyleaves of his books. Several others of his works enumerated by Wood (Athenæ Oxon. iii. 1236, ed. Bliss) have remained inedited, among them 'A Booke of Philosophie, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth in 1506.
[Fuller's Worthies (1811), i. 507; Anglorum Speculum, p. 413; Black's Cat. Ashmol. MSS.]
A. M. C.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.63 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 135 | i | 23 | Charnock, Thomas: for 1524? read 1526 |
| | | 24 | for in the Isle of Thanet read at Faversham |
| | | 25 | for 1524 or 1525 read 1526 |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Charteris, Henry (1565-1628)

​CHARTERIS, HENRY, the younger (1565–1628), minister and principal of the university of Edinburgh, eldest son of Henry Charteris, Scottish printer [q. v.], was educated at the university and graduated as M.A. in 1587, having been a student of the first class taught by Rollock, which numbered four future professors, two of whom, Charteris and Patrick Sands, became principals. Ten years after, on the death of Rollock, Charteris was appointed principal, having been recommended to the office by Rollock on his deathbed. To the principalship was then attached the professorship of divinity, and the salary, which had been four hundred, was increased in 1601 to six hundred marks. In 1617, when James I visited Scotland, a disputation was held before him at Stirling Castle by the professors of the university, but the modesty of Charteris led him to decline to take part in it. Among the royal puns on this occasion upon the names of the professors that on Charteris is said to have been, 'His name agreeth very well unto nature, for charters contain much matter yet say nothing, but put great purposes in men's mouths.' On 20 March 1620 Charteris resigned his office, having been called to be minister of North Leith. On 19 April 1627 he was recalled to fill the chair of professor of divinity, with a salary of a thousand merks and a house. He died in July 1628. He is described as a man of much learning, but the same modesty which prevented him from disputing before the king led him to write nothing except a revision of the Latin life by Robertson, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, his master and friend, Principal Rollock, published by the Wodrow Society in 1826.
[Dalzell's and Grant's Histories of the University of Edinburgh; Hew Scott's Fasti Eccl. Scot. i. 93; Wodrow edition of Rollock's Works.]
Æ. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Charretie, Anna Maria

Her father was John Pratt Kenwell (ODNB) or (?) Kennell.
​CHARRETIE, ANNA MARIA (1819–1875), miniature and oil painter, was born at Vauxhall on 5 May 1819. Her father, Mr. Kenwell, was an architect and surveyor. At the age of thirteen, on quitting school, she began to study drawing under Valentine Bartholomew [q. v.] Her earliest effort in art was in flower-painting, and she exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy in 1843. In 1841 Miss Kenwell married Captain John Charretie, of the Hon. East India Company's service. She had at the Royal Academy in 1852 two portraits in oil-colours, which were named 'Emily' and 'Sara.' In 1868 her husband died, when Mrs. Charretie, thrown entirely on her own resources, took to the serious study of oil-painting, and made copies of several pictures in the National Gallery, London. She died suddenly from heart disease at her residence, Horton Cottage, Campden Hill, Kensington, on 5 Oct. 1875. In the course of her artistic career Mrs. Charretie sent to the Royal Academy forty miniatures, &c.; to the British Institution four; and thirty-two to Suffolk Street. She was also a constant exhibitor at the Dudley Gallery and frequently in the provinces. In 1870 appeared 'Lady Betty' and 'A Stone in her Shoe;' in 1871, 'Lady Teazle, behind the Screen;' in 1878, 'Lady Betty's Maid;' and 'Mistress of herself tho' China fall,' her last work, in 1875.
[Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists, 1878; Clayton's English Female Artists, 1876; Graves's Dictionary of Artists, 1884.]
L. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Chary, Chintamanny Ragoonatha

​CHARY, CHINTAMANNY RAGOONATHA (d. 1880), astronomer, was attached to the Madras observatory nearly forty years, during seventeen of which he occupied the position of first assistant. He took a chief share in making observations with the transit-circle (to the number of 38,000) for the star catalogue in progress from 1862, and was a prominent and useful member of expeditions fitted out to observe total eclipses of the sun, 18 Aug. 1868 and 11 Dec. 1871. On the first occasion he was in independent command of a party stationed at Vunpurthy, in the nizam's dominions; on the second the post assigned him was at Avenaski in the Coimbatore district. He was zealous for the diffusion among his countrymen of enlightened ideas about astronomy, and of late delivered frequent lectures on the subject before native audiences. But a manual of astronomy for Hindu readers, to the preparation of which he devoted much labour, failed of completion, probably through deficiency both of health and means. The progressive infirmity of some years terminated in his death at Madras 5 Feb. 1880.
Chary's skill in the use of instruments, rapidity in computing, and honesty in recording, rendered his astronomical services of high value. He discovered two new variable stars, and edited, during twelve years, besides a native calendar, the astronomical portion of the ‘Asylum Press Almanac,' He published in 1874 a pamphlet on the ‘Transit of Venus,' which appeared in six Indian languages as well as in English, and was largely subscribed for. Appended to it was an address delivered by him 13 April 1874, with the object of securing support for his intended work, in which he proposed the foundation of a native observatory, offering his own instruments as the nucleus of its equipment. He contributed three papers to the ‘Monthly Notices’ of the Royal Astronomical Society, his membership of which dated from 12 Jan. 1872. They were severally entitled: ‘On the Determination of Personal Equation by Observations of the Projected Image of the Sun’ (xix. 337); ‘Occultations visible in the month of August 1868 at Madras, and along the Shadow-Path of the Total Eclipse of the Sun in India' (xxviii. 193); and ‘On the Total Eclipse of the Sun on 11 Dec. 1871, as visible in the Madras Presidency’ (xxxi. 137). Extracts from his observations during the eclipse of 1868 were included by Mr. Ranyard in vol. xli. of ‘Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society’ (pp. 129, 190).
[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, xli. 180; Madras Mail, 7 Feb. 1880; Athenæum (1880), i. 382.]
A. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fisher, David (1788?-1858)

​FISHER, DAVID, the elder (1788?–1858), actor, one of the managers of Fisher's company, which had a monopoly of the Suffolk theatres, was the son of David Fisher (d. 6 Aug. 1832), manager of the same circuit. Fisher made his first appearance in London at Drury Lane, as Macbeth, 3 Dec. 1817. This was followed on the 5th by Richard III, and on the 10th by Hamlet. The recovery from illness of Kean arrested his career. On 24 Sept. 1818, at Drury Lane, then under Stephen Kemble, he played Jaffier in 'Venice Preserved.' Subsequently he appeared as Lord Townly in the 'Provoked Husband,' and Pyrrhus in 'Orestes.' He was the original Titus in Howard Payne's 'Brutus, or the Fall of Tarquin,' 3 Dec. 1818, and Angelo in Buck's 'Italians, or the Fatal Accusation,' 3 April 1819. He failed to establish any strong position, and discovered at the close of the second season that his presence was necessary on the Suffolk circuit. On 7 Nov. 1823 he appeared at Bath in 'Hamlet,' and subsequently as Shylock, Leon, and Jaffier. He was pronounced a sound actor, but with no claim to genius, and failed to please. Returning again to the eastern counties, he built theatres at Bungay, Beccles, Halesworth, Eye, Lowestoft, Dereham, North Walsham, and other places. About 1838 he retired to Woodbridge, where he died 20 Aug. 1858. He was a musician and a scene-painter, and in the former capacity was leader for some time of the Norwich choral concerts.
J. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fischer, John George Paul

​FISCHER, JOHN GEORGE PAUL (1786–1875), painter, born at Hanover on 16 Sept. 1786, was the youngest of three sons of a line-engraver, who died very soon after the birth of the youngest child, leaving his family in poverty. Fischer at the age of fourteen was placed as pupil with J. H. Ramberg, the fashionable court painter, by whom he was employed in painting portraits, theatrical scenery, and generally assisting his master. He became capable of earning enough money to support his mother. In 1810 he betook himself to England, and his Hanoverian connection rendered it easy for him to obtain the patronage of royalty. He painted miniature portraits of Queen Charlotte and the junior members of the royal family, and was employed by the prince regent to paint a series of military costumes. He painted the present queen twice, once in 1819 as an infant in her cradle, and again in 1820. In 1817 he began to exhibit at the Royal Academy, and continued to do so up to 1852, occasionally contributing also to the Suffolk Street Exhibition. His works were chiefly portraits in miniature, but he occasionally exhibited landscapes in watercolours. He continued to paint up to his eighty-first year, and died 12 Sept. 1875. Fischer was an industrious but inferior artist. Some sketches by him in the print room at the British Museum show spirit and intelligence, especially two pencil portraits of William Hunt and his wife. He published a few etchings and lithographs.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760-1880; Royal Academy Catalogues.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fishacre, Richard de

​FISHACRE, FISSAKRE, FISHAKLE, or FIZACRE, RICHARD de (d. 1248), Dominican divine, is said to have been a native of Devonshire (Fuller, i. 442, iii. 20). Trivet styles him 'natus Oxonia,' where, however, other manuscripts read Exonia (p. 230). Bale makes him study 'the scurrilities of the Sophists' at Oxford and Paris; but the whole story of the latter visit is probably nothing more than the expansion of a very dubious suggestion in Leland's 'Commentaries ' (Bale, p. 294; Leland, ii. 275). Like Robert Bacon [q. v.], Fishacre in his old age became a Dominican; but as the two friends continued to read divinity lectures for several years after entering the order in the schools of St. Edward, his entry can hardly be dated later than 1240, and perhaps like Robert Bacon's should be placed ten or more years earlier (Trivet, pp. 229-30). The two comrades died in the same year, 1248 (Matt. Paris, v. 16). In their own days they were considered to be without superior, or even equal, in theology or other branches of science; nor was their eloquence in popular preaching less remarkable (ib.) Leland calls Fishacre, Robert Bacon's 'comes individuus,' and adds that the two were as fast linked together in friendship as ever Theseus was to Pirithous. He even hints that the former died of grief on hearing of his friend's decease (Leland, ii. 275; Fuller, ubi supra). Fishacre was buried among the Friars Preachers at Oxford. He was the first of his order in England who wrote on the 'Sentences' (Oriel MS. No. 43, quoted in Coxe). Wood makes him a friend and auditor of Edmund Rich (Hist. II. ii. 740).
Fishacre's works are:
* Commentaries on Peter Lombard's 'Book of Sentences,' four books (manuscripts at Oriel College, Nos. 31, 43, and Balliol, No. 57, Oxford, and, according to Echard, at the Sorbonne in Paris, &c.)
* Treatises on the Psalter (to the seventieth Psalm only according to Trivet).
* 'Super Parabolas Salamonis.' To these Bale adds other dissertations: 'De Pœnitate,' 'Postillæ Morales,' 'Commentarii Bibliæ,' 'Quæstiones Variæ,' 'Quodlibeta quoque et alia plura.' Pits says he was the first Englishman to become a doctor in divinity. The same writer states that Thomas Walden, the great anti-Wycliffite theologian of the early part of the fifteenth century, often appeals to Fishacre's authority while Bale adds that William Woodford (d. 1397), the Franciscan, and William Byntre relied on him for the same purpose. Echard assigns him another work, 'De Indulgentiis.'
[Matt. Paris, ed. Luard (Rolls Ser.), vol. v.; Trivet, ed. Hog (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Leland's Commentaries, ed. 1709; Bale's Scriptores, ed. 1559, p. 294; Pits's Commentaries, ed. 1619, p. 317; Fuller's Worthies, ed. 1840, i. 422, iii. 419-20; Anthony à Wood's Hist. and Antiquities of Oxford, ed. Gutch, ii. 740; Echard's Scriptores Ordinis Prædicatorum, i. 118-19; Coxe's Cat. of Oxford MSS.; Tanner's Scriptores.]
T. A. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fisher, David (1816?-1887)

​FISHER, DAVID, the younger (1816?–1887), actor, the son of David Fisher the elder [q. v.], was born at East Dereham, Norfolk, a town on a circuit established by his grandfather, and managed by his father and his uncle. An accident to his leg disqualified him for the stage, and he appeared as principal violinist at local concerts. A recovery, never perfect, enabled him to join the company at the Prince's Theatre, Glasgow. After a stay of four years he appeared 2 Nov. 1853 at the Princess's Theatre, under Charles Kean's ​management, as Victor in the 'Lancers, or the Gentleman's Son,' an adaptation of 'Le Fils de Famille' of Bayard. During six years he played at this house in various novelties and revivals, including a trifling production from his own pen entitled 'Music hath Charms' (June 1858). In 1859 he joined the Adelphi under B. Webster's management,where he was the original Abbé Latour in the 'Dead Heart' of Watts Phillips. In 1863 he gave, at the Hanover Square Rooms and at St. James's Hall, an entertainment called 'Facts and Fancies,' and in the autumn of the same year rejoined the Princess's, then under Yining's management. In 1865 he played, at the Haymarket, Orpheus in Blanche's 'Orpheus in the Haymarket.' In 1866-8 he was at Liverpool as stage-manager for Mr. H. J. Byron, playing at the Amphitheatre and Alexandra theatre. When the Globe Theatre, London, opened, 28 Nov. 1868, he was the first Major Treherne in Byron's 'Cyril's Success.' He appeared in succession at Drury Lane, the Olympic, the Globe, the Opera Comique, the Criterion, the Mirror (Holborn) Theatre, now destroyed, and the Princess's, playing in pieces by H. J. Byron, Mr. Boucicault, and other writers. His last appearance in London was at the Lyceum in 1884, as Sir Toby Belch. After that period he played in the country. He died in St. Augustine's Road, Camden Town, on 4 Oct. 1887, and was buried at Highgate cemetery. The 'Era' says that not a single actor attended his funeral. Fisher was below the middle height, a stiff-built man, who tried to conceal his lameness by a dancing-master elegance. Concerning his Abbé Latour, John Oxenford said in the 'Times' that 'he came to the Adelphi a second-rate eccentric comedian, and showed himself an able supporter of the serious drama.' He left a son on the stage, who perpetuated the name of David Fisher borne by at least four generations of actors.
J. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fisher, Edward (1730-1785?)

​FISHER, EDWARD (1730–1785?), mezzotint engraver, born in Ireland in 1730, was at first a hatter, but took to engraving, went to London, and became a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1766, where he exhibited fourteen times between 1761 and 1776. His earliest dated print is 1758, and his latest 1781. He resided in 1761 in Leicester Square, and moved to Ludgate Street in 1778. It is said that Reynolds called him 'injudiciously exact' for finishing too highly the unimportant parts of the plate. After his death, about 1785, most of his coppers were dispersed among several print-sellers, and in some cases tampered with. He engraved over sixty plates of portraits, including George, earl of Albemarle, after Reynolds; Robert Brown, after Chamberlin; William Pitt, earl of Chatham, after Brompton; Colley Gibber, after Vanloo; Christian VII of Denmark, after Dance; David Garrick, after Reynolds; Simon, earl Harcourt, after Hunter; Roger Long, after B. Wilson; Hugh, earl of Northumberland, and Elizabeth, countess of Northumberland, after Reynolds; Paul Sandby, after F. Cotes; Laurence Sterne, after Reynolds; and the following fancy subjects: 'Lady in Flowered Dress,' after Hoare; 'Hope Nursing Love,' or, according to Bromley, Theophila Palmer, afterwards Mrs. Gwatkin, after Reynolds; and 'Heads from "Vicar of Wakefield,"' ten plates engraved from his own designs and published in 1776.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; J. Chaloner Smith's Descriptive Catalogue of British Mezzo-tints, pt. ii. p. 485.]
L. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fish, William

​FISH, WILLIAM (1775–1866), a musician of Norwich, was born in that city in 1775. He commenced his musical career as violinist (Grove) in the orchestra of the theatre, and, after studying under Sharp, the oboist, and Bond, the pianist and organist, was fitted to take part in various capacities in the important local concerts and cathedral festivals. He was organist of St. Andrew's, Norwich, opened a music warehouse, and ​became well known in the neighbourhood as a teacher. He died 15 March 1866, a later date than that suggested by the musical dictionaries. Fish's Opus I., a sonata in the Mozartean manner, was followed by a number of less interesting pianoforte pieces, some ballads (words and music by the composer), among which 'The Morning Star' may be singled out, an oboe concerto, and some fantasias for the harp. His unpublished works are said to have included a manuscript cantata to words by Mrs. Opie, and some pieces (presumably for band) played at the Norwich Theatre.
[Grove's Dict. i. 530; Dict. of Musicians, 1827, i. 249; History of Norfolk, 1829, ii. 1283; Notes from Register Office, Norwich; Norfolk News, 17 March 1866; Fish's music in Brit. Mus. Library.]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fisher, Daniel

​FISHER, DANIEL (1731–1807), dissenting minister, born at Cockermouth in 1731, was appointed in 1771 tutor in classics and mathematics at Homerton College, where he was afterwards divinity tutor. He was a rigid Calvinist and staunch dissenter. He died at Hackney in 1807 after a lingering illness, in which he lost the use of all his faculties. Two funeral sermons were preached on the occasion, one of which, by the Rev. Samuel Palmer, was published under the title of 'The General Union of Believers,' London, 1807, 8vo.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Imison, John

​IMISON, JOHN (d. 1788), mechanic and printer, was in business at Manchester in 1783-5 as a clock and watch maker and optician, and also as a printer. Lemoine states that 'among other pursuits he made some progress in the art of letter-founding, and actually printed several small popular novels at Manchester, with woodcuts cut by himself.' He printed 'Drill Husbandry Perfected, by the Rev. James Cooke' (about 1783), ' The History of the Lives, Acts, and Martyrdoms of … Blessed Christians,' with cuts (1785), and a pamphlet on `The Construction and Use of the Barometer or Weather Glass.' His best work was 'The School of Arts, or an Introduction to Useful Knowledge,' 1785. A portion of this was separately issued as 'A Treatise on the 'Mechanical Powers,' London, 1787. Second editions of both came out in 1794, and there were subsequent issues of the 'School of Arts' in 1803, entitled 'Elements of Science and Art,' and in 1807 and 1822. Imison died in London on 16 Aug. 1788.
[Lemoine's Typographical Antiquities, 1813, p.lxxxix; Gent. Mag. August 1788, p. 758; Manchester Mercury, 26 Aug. 1788; Earwaker's Local Gleanings, i. 6, 17, 292, 295; Imison's Works.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Imlah, John

​IMLAH, JOHN (1799–1846), poet, the son of an innkeeper, was born in Aberdeen on 15 Nov. 1799. On completing his education at the grammar school, he was apprenticed as piano-tuner to a local musicseller, and ultimately secured an appointment in the London house of Messrs. Broadwood. He died of yellow fever on 9 Jan. 1846, at St. James's, Jamaica, whither he had gone on a visit to a brother. Imlah had written poetry from his boyhood, and in 1827 he published `May Flowers,' London, 12mo, which was followed in 1841 by `Poems and Songs,' London, 12mo. He also contributed to Macleod's 'National Melodies' and the 'Edinburgh Literary Journal.' His songs are rich in fancy, and show a true instinct for the music of words. Several of them have won considerable popularity, and find a place in all Scotch collections. `Oh, gin I were where Gadie rins' is a special favourite, and its tune was for long the quick-march of the Aberdeen city rifle battalion.
[Rogers's Scottish Minstrel; Walker's Bards of Bonaccord; Aberdeen newspapers.]
J. C. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Image, Thomas

​IMAGE, THOMAS (1772–1856), geologist, born in 1772, was son of John Image, vicar of Peterborough, and rector of Elton, Northamptonshire. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. 1795 and M.A. 1798. In 1798 he presented himself to the rectory of Whepstead, near Bury St. Edmund's, and in 1807 he became also rector of Stanningfield. Image was a very diligent collector of fossils, and the specimens in the museum at Whepstead fully illustrated the geology of the eastern counties (cf. Clark and Hughes, Life of Sedgwick. ii. 320-2). In 1840 he was elected F.G.S. In 1856, owing to the exertions of Sedgwick, the fossils were bought by the university of Cambridge; they are now in the Woodwardian Museum. Image died at Whepstead rectory 8 March 1856. After his death his collection of minerals was sold by auction.
[Gent. Mag. 1856, i. 534, 554; Cambridge Chronicle, 23 Feb. 1856.]
W. A. J. A.