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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Brydone, Patrick

1904 Errata appended.
​BRYDONE, PATRICK (1741?–1818), traveller and author, was born in Berwickshire about 1741. He 'received an excellent education at one of the universities,' and appears to have been for a short time in the army. The study of electricity, to which the discoveries of Dr. Franklin had recently attracted attention, occupied him as a young man, and he travelled through Switzerland, making experiments in connection with this branch of science. In 1767 or 1768, soon after his return from Switzerland, he went abroad again with Mr. Beckford of Somerly and two others as travelling preceptor. In 1770 he made a tour with these gentlemen through Sicily and Malta, the former island being but little ​known to travellers of that time. This tour forms the subject of his book, ‘A Tour through Sicily and Malta, in a Series of Letters to William Beckford, Esq., of Somerly in Suffolk,’ published in 1773. It was favourably reviewed (Monthly Review, xlix.), and so well received by the reading public, that it went through seven or eight editions in England in his lifetime, and was also translated into French and German (Brit. Mus. Cat.) In Italy, nine years after its publication, Count Borch published a volume of ‘Letters to serve as Supplement to the Voyage in Sicily and Malta of Mr. Brydone.’ And the writer of his biography in the ‘Annual Biography’ says: ‘It may be fairly doubted, after the lapse of near fifty eventful years, whether there be any publication of a similar kind so deserving of notice as the one now under consideration.’ Having returned to England in 1771, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in the end of 1772 or beginning of 1773 (Phil. Trans.) He was also a F.R.S. of Edinburgh and a F.S.A. Besides his book, he wrote occasional papers, chiefly on electricity, which were published in the ‘Philosophical Transactions.’ He held the appointment of comptroller of the stamp office The latter art of his life was spent in retirement, and he died, on 19 June 1818, at Lennel House, Berwickshire.
[Annual Biog. iv. 85-111; Gent. Mag. lxxxviii. pt. i. p. 643.]
G. V. B.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.41 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 166 | ii | 17 f.e. | Brydone, Patrick: for 1741? read 1736 |
| | | 16-15 f.e. | for was born . . . 1741 read was son of Robert Brydone (1687?-1761), minister of Coldingham in Berwickshire, by his wife Elizabeth (d. 1764), daughter of John Dysart, his predecessor in the benefice. Patrick was born, probably at Coldingham, on 5 Jan. 1736 |
| 167 | i | 29 | after office insert from 1779 till death |
| | | 33 | after p. 643 insert Hew Scott, Fasti, ii. 431 |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bryson, Alexander

​BRYSON, ALEXANDER, M.D. (1802–1869), medical writer, began his professional studies at Edinburgh and continued them at Glasgow, where he took his doctor's degree and was admitted a member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons. He also became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London. He entered the navy as assistant-surgeon in 1827, and was promoted to the rank of surgeon in 1836, deputy inspector-general in 1854, and inspector-general in 1855. In January 1864, on the retirement of Sir John Liddell, he was appointed director-general of the medical department of the navy, from which post he retired on 15 April 1869. He was appointed honorary physician to the queen in 1859, and subsequently hs was made a companion of the order of the Bath. He was also a fellow of the Royal Society. His death took place at Barnes, Surrey, on 12 Dec. 1869. He was the author of a treatise on ‘The Climate and Diseases of the African Station,’ and of ‘An Account of the Origin, Spread, and Decline of the Epidemic levers of Sierra Leone,' London, 1849, 8vo. For a long time he was the head of the department of naval medical statistics, and he compiled the ‘Statistical Reports on the Health of the Navy.’ He also contributed a valuable article ‘On Medicine and Medical Statistics’ to the ‘Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry.'
[Lancet, 18 Dec. 1869, p. 860; British Medical Journal, 18 Dec, 1869, p. 670; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Times, 15 Dec. 1869.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bryson, William

​BRYSON, WILLIAM (1730–1815), Irish presbyterian minister, said to have come of a Donegal family, became minister of the nonsubscribing congregation at Antrim in August 1764. Without the pulpit reputation of his cousin James [q. v.], he was a man of more influence in matters theological. He adopted Arian Christology and rejected the tenets of original sin and imputed righteousness. The ground he took was that of a strong scripturalist, and he upheld sabbath observance, eternal punishments, and Satanic agency. Bryson, though a member of the outcast Antrim presbytery, was, as his manuscripts show, a frequent preacher in neighbouring congregations of the general synod. His first publication was a funeral discourse for a distinguished minister of the synod. At the time of the rebellion in 1798 Bryson was a staunch loyalist, in this, as in other matters, following the lead of his co-presbyter, Bruce of Belfast. In September 1809 his age and infirmities rendered him desirous of resigning his pastorate, but as his people could not agree upon a successor, he did not do so till November 1810. He died on 6 May 1815, in his eighty-sixth year. He is said to have been buried at Antrim, but his name is not on the family tombstone. In the vestry of the First Presbyterian Church, Belfast, hangs a likeness of Bryson, copied by his son Patrick from a silhouette taken in his forty-sixth year. When about that age he married a daughter of Alexander Maclaine, M.A., minister at Antrim, 1742-59, and granddaughter of John Abernethy [q. v.], by whom he had six children. His daughters kept school at Antrim for many years.
Bryson published:
* ‘The Practice of Righteousness, productive of happiness both at present and for ever,’ Belfast, 1782, 8vo (funeral sermon, Isaiah xxxii. 17, at Crumlin, 28 July, for Thomas Crawford, ordained at Crumlin, 1723, or early in 1724).
* ‘The Duty of Searching the Scriptures.' &c., Belfast, 1786, 8vo (sermon, John v. 39, at ordination in Ballyclare, 9 Feb. 1786, of Futt Marshall, died 23 Oct. 1813, aged 58).
* ‘Funeral Sermon for Rev. Robert Sinclair of Larne’ (said to have been published, but not known; Sinclair died on 20 Feb. 1795, aged 70).
[Belfast Newsletter, 9 May 1815; Witherow’s Hist. and Lit. Memorials of Presbyterianism in Ireland, 2nd ser. 1880. pp. 256 sq.; Christian Unitarian, September 1864, p. 275; Disciple (Belfast), January 1881, pp. 14 sq., 1883, p. 39; Bryson's manuscript sermons, in the possession of the present writer; manuscript minutes of Antrim Presbytery; tombstone at Antrim; private information.]
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bryghtwell, Thomas

Thomas Bryhtwell in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​BRYGHTWELL or BRYTHWELL, THOMAS, D.D. (d. 1390), fellow of Merton College, Oxford, is chiefly known in connection with the proceedings against Wycliffe’s followers taken at the council of Blackfriars in London in 1382. He appeared before the council at its second session, 12 June, in company with Rygge, the chancellor of the university, to answer, as it seems, certain charges which were to be brought against Rygge by Peter Stokes, the archbishop’s agent at Oxford. The charge in which Bryghtwell was implicated was one of favouring Repyngdon, a notorious Wycliffite; but his action was in all probability due rather to jealousy of the archbishop's intrusion into academica affairs than to personal sympathy with Repyngdon’s opinions. Bryghtwell gave his assent to the condemnation of Wycliffe’s doctrine as declared by the council, and does not appear to have again exposed himself to any similar accusation. Indeed, in this very year (1382) he was appointed dean of the college of Newark at Leicester (Nichols, History of the County of Leicester, i. 338), In 1386 he was granted the prebend of Holborn in St. Paul’s Cathedral (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, ii. 392), and perhaps before this date he possessed the prebend of Leicester St. Margaret in Lincoln Cathedral, which he held at the time of his death (Nichols, i. 561). Nor had he at all relinquished his connection with Oxford; he was elected chancellor of the university in May 1388 (Wood, Fasti Oxon. p. 33; cf. Anstey, Munimenta Academica, ii. 795) in succession to his old friend Robert Rygge, and retained the office in the following year. He died in 1390.
[Wood’s Hist. and Antiq. of the Univ. of Oxford, i. 493; Fasciculi Zizaniorum, ed. Shirley pp. 288, 297-308.]
R. L. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bryson, James

​BRYSON, JAMES (1730?–1796), Irish presbyterian minister, son of John Bryson, who died at Holywood, co. Down, on 23 Nov. 1788, aged (according to his tombstone) 103 years, is said to have belonged to a. family originally connected with co. Donegal. His first sermon was preached at Newtownards, co. Down, 26 April 1760. He was licensed by the Armagh presbytery at Clare, co. Armagh, 1 June 1762. After preaching for over a year at Banbridge in 1763-4 he was ordained minister of Lisburn by Bangor presbytery on 7 June 1764, subscribinfg a cautious formulary, in general approval of the Westminster Confession. He soon acquired the repute of an able reacher. A new meeting-house, built for him, was opened 18 May 1766. While it was buildin the use of the cathedral church was ranted to his congregation between church hours. In 1773 he accepted a call to the second congregation of Belfast, stipulating that the congregation should retain its connection with the general synod, a tie which then demanded no express dogmatic bond. In 1778 he was elected moderator of the general synod which met at Lurgan. Bryson was a. freemason, and frequently preached before lodges, both in his own and other meeting-houses, and in churches of the establishment. His printed sermon of 24 June 1782 was preache before ‘the Orange Lodge of Belfast, No. 257.’ The existing Orange Society, an offshoot of masonry, first appears as a distinct institution in 1795. Some scandal arose respecting Bryson’s private life. It does not appear that the matter came before the church courts, but Bryson retired from the second congreation, taking with him a following. His friends set about building a small meeting-house for him in Donegal Street, and ​during its erection, for about two years and eight months, he was allowed to preach in the parish church. It does not appear that his ministry continued to flourish, for on 29 Nov. 1795 he notes: ‘A regiment of Highlanders present, and very few more.’ He died on Monday, 3 Oct. 1796. His portrait was bequeathed by his last surviving daughter to the fourth congregation. He was twice married.
Bryson published ‘Sermons on several important subjects,' Belfast, 1778, 8vo (dedicated to his cousin, William Bryson [q. v.] (the subscription list is of much local interest); and some other single sermons. Thirteen volumes of his manuscript sermons (vol. 1. is missing) were deposited by his grandson Joseph (son of an apothecary) in the Antrim Presbytery Library, now at Queen’s College, Belfast.
[Belfast Newsletter, 22 Jan. 1790, 3 Oct. 1796, 3 Jan. 1800; Witherow’s Hist. and Lit. Memorials of Presbyterianism in Ireland, 2nd ser. 1880, pp. 141 sq.; Christian Unitarian, 1866, p. 337; Disciple (Belfast), 1883, p. 114; parish register, Belfast; memoranda on fly-leaves of Bryson’s Sermons; manuscript minutes of Antrim Presbytery; tombstone at Holywood; information from Rev. C. J. M‘Alester, Holywood.]
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Brydon, William

​BRYDON, WILLIAM (1811–1873), a surgeon in the Bengal army, was descended from a Scotch border family, one member of which had distinguished himself as provost of Dumfries during a siege of that town, while another, who farmed his own land, had horsed a troop of cavalry for the Pretender. He was born in London 9 Oct. 1811, and entered the service of the East India Company as an assistant surgeon in October 1835. After serving in India with various regiments, British and native in the course of which service he was sent on escort duty, first with the commander-in-chief, Sir Henry Fane, and a few months afterwards with the governor-general, Lord Auckland, to the court of Ranjit Singh at Lahore, he was despatched in 1839 in medical charge of a regiment of native infantry to Afghanistan.
On the fatal retreat from Cabul, Brydon with five other British officers managed to escape as far as Fattehabad. In the neighbourhood of this place his companions were all slain, and he alone wounded and wellnigh exhausted by hunger and fatigue, reached Jellalabad, then held by a British and native force under the command of Sir Robert Sale. He served in the subsequent defence of Jellalabad during its siege by the army of Akhbar Khan, and returning to Cabul with Sir George Pollock's army of retribution, accompanied it back to India. Fifteen years later the mutiny of the Bengal army found Brydon at Lucknow, where it was his lot again to serve with a beleaguered garrison, and where he was severely wounded in the course of the siege. In a general order issued by Lord Canning on the defence of Lucknow, Brydon was referred to in terms of special laudation. In the following year he was appointed a companion of the Bath, and retired from the Indian service in 1859. The latter years of his life were passed in Scotland, where in 1862 he joined the Highland rifles militia regiment, now called the 3rd battalion Seaforth (Duke of Albany's) Highlanders. He died at Westfield, in the county of Ross, on 20 March 1873, his health having been previously much impaired by the results of the wound received at Lucknow.
[Kaye's History of the War in Afghanistan 3rd edit. 1874, p. 389; Calcutta Gazette, 8 Dec. 1857; family papers.]
A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bryne, Albertus

1904 Errata appended.
​BRYNE, ALBERTUS (1621?–1669?), organist and composer, was born about the year 1621, and was educated by John Tomkins, organist of St. Paul's. It was probably on the death of the latter that Bryne succeeded him as organist of the cathedral, a post he seems to have held throughout the reign of Charles I. At the restoration Bryne petitioned Charles II for the post of organist at Whitehall Chapel. In this document he stated that ‘yo$^r$ Ma$^{ies}$ late Royall ffather of blessed memory was pleased in his life time to make choyce of yo$^r$ peticon$^r$ to bee Organist of the Cathedrall Church of S$^t$ Paule, London, in which said place hee was by yo$^r$ said late Royall ffather confirmed when yo$^r$ pet$^r$ was but about the age of 17 yeares, And since then hath soe industriously practised that science that hee hath very much augmented his skill and knowledge therein.' This petition seems to have been answered by his being reinstated as organist at St. Paul's, where he remained until the fire of London. After this Bryne was organist of Westminster Abbey. There are no records of these appointments extant at either the cathedral or the abbey, but it is believed that Bryne remained organist at the latter church until 1669, when he was succeeded by Dr. John Blow [q. v.] It has been stated that he died in this year, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey, but the burial registers do not contain his name, A morning and evening service (in G major) by Bryne is found in several manuscript collections; the words of anthems by him are in Clifford's ‘Divine Services and Anthems usually sung in His Majesties Chappell,' and in the Oxford Music School Collection are several dances, &c., by him, besides two ‘grounds,' one for the organ, and the other for the organ or harpsichord. The Christ Church Collection contains a copy of his service, and an instrumental saraband and air. His name is sometimes spelt Brian, Bryan, Brine, or Breyn.
[Harl. MS. 7338; Bingley's Musical Biography, i. 187; Clifford's Divine services, &c. (1664 ed.); Bodl. Lib., Wood. 19 D (4). No. 106; Catalogues of Music School and Ch. Ch. Collections; State Papers (Chas. II. Dom. ii. 91); infomation from Miss Bradley and the Rev. W. Sparrow Simpson.]
W. B. S.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.41 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 168 | i | 1 | Bryne, Albertus: for 1669? read 1677 |
| | | 33 | after name insert He was organist and fourth fellow of Dulwich College from 1671 to 1677 and organist of All Hallows Barking in 1676 |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Brydson, Thomas

​BRYDSON, THOMAS (1806–1855), poet, was born in Glasgow in 1806. After completing courses of study at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh he became a licentiate of the established church of Scotland. He officiated as assistant successively in the Middle Church, Greenock, in Oban, and in Kilmalcolm, and in 1839 was ordained minister of Levern Chapel, near Paisley. In 1842 he was presented to the parish of Killmalcolm, where he remained till his death, which, after some years of impaired health, took place suddenly, 28 Jan. 1855. He was the author of two volumes of verse, the one, under the title of ‘Poems,’ published in 1829, and the other, entitled ‘Pictures of the Past,’ in 1832. He also contributed to the ‘Edinburgh Literary Journal,’ the ‘Republic of Letters,' a Glasgow publication, and several of the London annuals. This verses manifest true appreciation of the varied beauties of pastoral scenery, and, though simple and unpretentious, have the charm of sincerity.
[Greenock Advertiser, 30 Jan. 1855; Rogers`s Modern Scottish Minstrel, iv. 172; Grant-Wilson's Poets and Poetry of Scotland, ii. 285.]
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bryer, Henry

​BRYER, HENRY (d. 1799), engraver, was a pupil of William Wynne Ryland, in partnership with whom he for some years carried on an extensive printselling business in Cornhill; but, owing chiefly to Ryland’s extravagance, the firm became bankrupt. In 1762 Bryer gained the Society of Arts premium for a large plate representing ‘Mars and Venus discovered by Vulcan.’ He exhibited at the Society of Artists between 1765 and 1774, and engraved several plates after Angelica Kauffmann. In 1778, when living in St. Martin’s Lane, Bryer published ‘Aglaia bound by Cupid,’ from the original picture by Angelica Kauffmann.
[Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists (1878); MS. notes in British Museum.]
L. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hayes, John (1786?-1866)

​HAYES, JOHN (1786?–1866), portrait-painter, born about 1786, first appears as an exhibitor in the Royal Academy in 1814. He continued to exhibit up to 1851; his contributions were chiefly portraits, though he occasionally sent a subject-picture. Hayes had considerable practice as a portrait-painter, and died in 1866, aged 80. In the National Portrait Gallery there is a portrait by Hayes of Miss Agnes Strickland, painted in 1846, and engraved by F. C. Lewis, as frontispiece to her ‘Lives of the Queens of England’ (1851).
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880; Royal Acad. Catalogues.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hayes, William (fl.1794)

​HAYES, WILLIAM (fl. 1794), artist and ornithologist, published: 1. ‘A Natural History of British Birds, &c., with their Portraits accurately drawn and beautifully coloured,’ fol. 1775. Only a few birds are treated, and chiefly those of bright plumage. Three plates of rare Eastern pheasants are introduced, evidently owing to their glow of colour, and a few ducks, of which he probably obtained specimens from some pond where they were domesticated. Short Latin and longer English descriptions are appended. 2. ‘Portraits of Rare and Curious Birds, with their Descriptions, from the Menagery ​of Osterly Park,’ 2 vols. 4to, 1794. Vol. i. is dedicated to Pennant, and vol. ii. to the Rev. G. H. Glasse. The colouring of these plates is usually better than the forms of the birds, but it is frequently too bright and crude. The book is of no scientific value, and contains forty-two plates, mostly of rare exotic species, which offer scope for brilliancy of treatment. There is a curious notice in it of bustards being ‘found frequently,’ even in 1794, on Salisbury Plain, sometimes in troops of fifty or more. The British Museum possesses a folio volume of twenty-nine plates of birds by Hayes, and others, published in 1773. It has neither title-page nor descriptions, and seems to have belonged to Sir J. Banks. It consists of different plates by Hayes bound together. The birds are of unequal merit, and are first etched, then hand-coloured.
Hayes was living in 1794 at Southall, Middlesex, and in 1799 the Rev. G. H. Glasse published ‘An Appeal to the Public’ on behalf of this ‘ingenious artist.’ He states that for some time Hayes had been in great distress, as his income scarcely ever exceeded 90l. per annum. This had proved altogether unequal to support twenty-one children, ten of whom were still living, and, with the exception of the eldest daughter, unable to support themselves, while the eldest son had been a cripple from infancy. Hayes himself was sorely afflicted by illness. The Literary Fund and the dean and chapter of Canterbury sent liberal subscriptions in response to the appeal. Some of Hayes's children helped him in his illustrations.
[Hayes's Works; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. 1815, ix. 228–30; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
M. G. W.