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

​MUNDY, JOHN (d. 1630), organist and composer, the elder son of William Mundy [q. v.], was educated in music by his father, and became an able performer on the virginals and organ. He was admitted Mus.Bac. at Oxford on 9 July 1586, and proceeded Mus. Doc. on 2 July 1624, ‘being in high esteem for his great knowledge in the theoretical and practical part of music’ (Wood, Fasti, i. 236, 415). His ‘Act’ was a song in five or six parts (Oxf. Univ. Register, Oxf. Historical Soc., vol. ii. pt. i. p. 147).
Mundy is said to have become organist at Eton College (Wood; Hawkins). He was afterwards appointed organist of the free royal chapel of St. George, Windsor, probably in succession to John Marbeck [q. v.], in or before 1586—the records of the period are imperfect. Mundy held this post until about 1630. He died in that year, and was buried in the cloisters of St. George's Chapel (Wood). Mundy was survived by his only daughter, Mrs. Bennett.
​He published: 1. ‘Songs and Psalms, composed into three, four, and five parts, for the use and delight of all such as either loue or learn musicke,’ printed by Est, 1594, and dedicated to the Earl of Essex. Burney gives ‘In deep distresse’ from this collection in his ‘History,’ iii. 55. 2. Part-song for five voices, ‘Lightly she whipped o'er the dales,’ in Morley's ‘Triumphs of Oriana,’ 1601.
Mundy is named as the composer of: 1. A Kyrie, ‘In die Pasce’ (Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 17802). 2. Collection of Services and Psalms in English (ib. 29289). 3. ‘Sing joyfully,’ a 5, in a collection by Thomas Myriell, 1616 (ib. 29372). 4. Treble part of verse-psalms (ib. 15166; and cf. Clifford, Divine Services, for the words of psalms set to music by one or other Mundy). 5. Six Services, and twelve anthems, at Durham Cathedral—including ‘O God, my Strength and Fortitude;’ ‘Send aid;’ ‘Give laude unto the Lord;’ ‘0 God, our Governour;’ ‘0 Thou God Almighty;’ ‘Teach me Thy way;’ ‘O give thanks;’ ‘Almighty God, the Fountain of all wisdom;’ and (for men) ‘He that hath My commandments’ and ‘Let us now laud.’ 6. Two compositions in the Oxford Music School. 7. Five pieces in Queen Elizabeth's ‘Virginal Book’ (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; see Grove, Dict. iv. 308, iii. 35).
But among the manuscript services, psalms, and anthems ascribed to Mundy, or ‘Mr. Mundy,’ most of those to Latin words were probably composed by William, or by an elder John Mundy.
[Treasurers' and Precentors' Rolls of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, through the courtesy of Canon Dalton and Mr. St. John Hope, F.S.A.; Hawkins's Hist. of Music, p. 499; Burney's Hist. iii. 132; list of Mundy's music in Durham Cathedral, kindly supplied by Dr. Philip Armes.]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Munden, Richard

​MUNDEN, Sir RICHARD (1640–1680), captain in the navy, was the elder son of Sir Richard Munden (1602-1672) of Chelsea; the younger son was Rear-admiral Sir John Munden [q. v.] The father is described by Le Neve (Pedigrees of the Knights, p. 476) as ‘ferryman at Chelsea,’ which may mean the owner or lessee of the ferry, if, as seems probable, other well-to-do Mundens were akin to him. One John Munden was captain of a ship in the employ of the East India Company about 1620 (Cal. State Papers, East Indies), and towards the end of the century a William Munden was consul or agent at Alicante (Addit. MS. 18986, f. 399). Richard first appears as commander of the Swallow ketch in 1666, and afterwards of the Portsmouth in 1667. In 1672 he was captain of the Princess of 52 guns; and in 1673, in the Assistance, was commodore of a small squadron sent as convoy to the East India fleet. Touching at St. Helena for water, he found the island in the possession of the Dutch. After a spirited attack by sea and land he captured it on 4 May [see Keigwin, Richard], and three Dutch East Indiamen, richly laden, who anchored in the bay, were seized. With his squadron and prizes and the homeward-bound ships in convoy, Munden arrived in England in August, and on 6 Dec. was knighted by the king, ‘in consideration of his eminent service.’ In April 1677, in command of the St. David, he convoyed the trade to the Mediterranean, was for some time at Zante, afterwards at Scanderoon, and for fourteen months at Smyrna (Addit. MS. 18986, f. 433). He arrived at Plymouth with the homeward trade on 12 May 1680. On 15 June he wrote to the admiralty explaining that he had not sent home the muster-books from the Mediterranean, the postage being extremely heavy, and by no means safe (ib.) Ten days later, 25 June 1680, he died. He was buried in the church at Bromley, Middlesex, where the inscription on his monument still tells that ‘having been (what upon public duty, and what upon merchants' accounts) successfully engaged in fourteen sea-fights … he died in the prime of his youth and strength, in the 40th year of his age.’ Munden married Susan Gore, by whom he had five daughters and one son, Richard, born posthumously. Shortly after his death arms were granted to the widow, her children, and her husband's brother, Sir John Munden, viz. Per pale, gules and sable, on a cross engrailed argent five lozenges azure; on a chief or, three eagle's legs erased of the second; on a canton ermine, an anchor or. Crest: on a naval crown or, a leopard's head sable, bezantée (Burke, General Armoury). The same arms, differing in colour, are given for Munden simply.
[Charnock's Biog. Nav. i. 243; Brooke's Hist. of St. Helena, pp. 57-63; a Relation of the retaking of the Island of St. Helena and three Dutch East India Ships, published by authority, 1673, fol., 816, m.${\begin{matrix}{\frac {23}{17}}\end{matrix}}$; information from the vicar, the Rev. G. A. M. How.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Powys, Horatio

​POWYS, HORATIO (1805–1877), bishop of Sodor and Man, born on 20 Nov. 1805, was third son of Thomas Powys, second baron Lilford (1775–1825), by Henrietta Maria, eldest daughter of Robert Vernon Atherton of Atherton Hall, Lancashire. He was educated at Harrow and at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. in 1826, and was created D.D. in 1854. His father presented him to the family living of Warrington, Lancashire, in 1831, and he was for some time rural dean of Cheshire. Strongly impressed with the necessity for improved education, he succeeded in establishing the training college at Chester and the institution for the education of the daughters of the clergy at Warrington, both of which proved permanently successful. On 5 July 1854 he was nominated to the ​bishopric of Sodor and Man. He made successful endeavours to uphold the rights of the see, and involved himself in much litigation. He printed two charges, ‘A Pastoral Letter to the Congregation at Warrington,’ 1848, and two sermons. He died at Bewsey House, Bournemouth, on 31 May 1877, and was buried at Warrington on 5 June. He married, on 21 Feb. 1833, Percy Gore, eldest daughter of William Currie of East Horsley Park, Surrey, and had issue: Horace (d. 1857); Percy William, rector of Thorpe-Achurch, Northamptonshire; Henry Lyttleton, lieutenant-colonel of the Oxfordshire light infantry; and five daughters.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Powys, Littleton

​POWYS, Sir LITTLETON (1648?–1732), judge, eldest son of Thomas Powys of Henley in Shropshire, the representative of one branch of the ancient Welsh family of Powys, by his first wife, Mary, daughter of Sir Adam Littleton, bart., was born about 1648, and named after his maternal grandfather. He became a student of Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in May 1671. In 1688 he took the side of William of Orange, read his declaration at Shrewsbury, and, when the new government was established, was appointed a judge on the Chester circuit in May 1689. In 1692 he became a serjeant (Luttrell, Diary, ii. 404, 427) and a knight, and eventually was raised to the bench of the exchequer on 29 Oct. 1695 (cf. Calendar of Treasury Papers, 1697–1702, lvii. 54). He was transferred to the court of king's bench in June 1700 (see Luttrell, Diary, iv. 653, v. 11), but did not take his seat till 29 Jan. 1701. While a member of this court he was one of the majority of judges who heard the well-known leading case Ashby v. White, arising out of the Aylesbury election, and decided against the plaintiff (see Luttrell, Diary, v. 358, 380, 519). At the age of seventy-eight he retired on a pension of 1,500l. a year on 26 Oct. 1726, and died on 16 March 1732.
He appears to have been a dull, respectable judge, not so able as his brother, Sir Thomas Powys [q. v.], but less of a political partisan. His infelicitous way of expressing himself made him the object of much pointless satire (Harris, Life of Lord Hardwicke, i. 82, 84; Cooksey, Lord Somers and Lord Hardwicke, pp. 57, 66).
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pownall, Robert

​POWNALL, ROBERT (1520–1571), protestant divine, born at Barwick in Somerset in 1520, fled from England during Queen Mary's reign. He wrote, in 1554, ‘A most Fruitful Prayer for the disputed Church of Christ, very necessary to be used of the Godly in the Daies of Affliction, compiled by R. P.,’ which was printed in John Bradford's ‘Godly Meditations,’ 1559. In July 1555 he translated (through a French version by Vallerain Pullain) Wolfgangus Muscullus's ‘Temporysour (that is to saye, the Observer of Tyme, or he that chaungeth with the Tyme).’ (see Schickler, Eglises du Refuge, iii. 12–18), to which he appended a rendering (also through the French) of Celius Secundus Curio's ‘Excellent Admonicion and Resolucion.’ In 1556 two other translations from the French by Pownall appeared, viz. ‘A most pithye and excellent Epistol to animate all trew Christians into the Crosse of Christe,’ and Peter Duval's ‘Litell Dialogue of the Consolator comfortynge the Churche in hyr Afflictions, taken out of the 129 Psalme’ (14 July) (cf. ib. i. 73, iii. 40; Bulletin de la Société pour l'Histoire du Prot. Franç. vols. xix, xx). He is doubtless the R. P. who published on 12 April 1557 ‘Admonition to the Towne of Callays.’ Later in the year he was at Wesel, and when the congregation of English exiles there dispersed, he accompanied Thomas Lever [q. v.] and three other English protestant ministers on a visit to their co-religionists at Geneva, and finally settled with Lever and his friends at Aarau in Switzerland in the autumn of 1557 (Troubles at Frankfort, p. 185). On 5 Oct. 1557 Pownall and seven of his companions wrote to Bullinger, thanking him for dedicating to them a volume of his discourses (Original Letters, Parker Soc. i. 167). After the death of Mary, Pownall, with others, addressed a letter to the English church at Geneva accepting that church's proposal that all English exiles should adopt a uniform attitude on points of disputed ceremonies (16 Jan. 1558–9).
Returning to England, Pownall was ordained priest by Grindal on 1 May 1560, being then described as ‘aged 40 and more’ (Strype, Grindal, p. 59). He subscribed the articles of 1562 on 31 Jan. 1561–2 (Strype, Annals, i. 491). In 1570 he was one of the six preachers of the cathedral church of Canterbury (Strype, Parker, ii. 25), and from 1562 until his death in 1571 he was rector of Harbledown in the Hundred of Westgate.
W. A. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Powys, Thomas

​POWYS, Sir THOMAS (1649–1719), judge, second son of Thomas Powys of Henley, Shropshire, and younger brother of Sir Littleton Powys [q. v.], was born in 1649. He was educated at Shrewsbury school, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1673. He became solicitor-general, and was knighted on 23 April 1686, when Finch was dismissed. Burnet (Own Time, iii. 91) calls him a compliant young aspiring lawyer. Having acquiesced in the appointment of Roman catholics to office, and argued in favour of the king's dispensing power, he was promoted to be attorney-general in December 1687. He accordingly conducted the prosecution of the seven bishops in June 1688, and acted with such conspicuous moderation and fairness (ib. iii. 223) as to show his own personal disapproval of the proceedings. During the reign of William III he acquired a fair practice, especially in defence of state prisoners, among whom was Sir John Fenwick, and at the bar of both houses of parliament. He sat in parliament for Ludlow from 1701 to 1713, was made serjeant and queen's serjeant at the beginning of Anne's reign, and on 8 June 1713 a judge of the queen's bench; but as he and his brother Sir Littleton Powys too frequently formed judgments in opposition to the rest of the court, he, as the more active and able of the two, was removed, on Lord-chancellor Cowper's advice, when King George I came to England (14 Oct. 1714). His rank of king's serjeant was restored to him.
He died on 4 April 1719, and was buried at Lilford in Northamptonshire. He was twice married: first to Sarah, daughter of Ambrose Holbech of Mollington, Warwickshire; and secondly, to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Philip Meadows [q. v.] He had issue by both; and his great-grandson Thomas Powys was created Lord Lilford in 1797.
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Powle, George

​POWLE, GEORGE (fl. 1770), etcher and miniature-painter, was a pupil of Thomas Worlidge [q. v.], whose delicate and highly finished mode of etching he imitated, working entirely with the dry point. Worlidge's series of plates from antique gems, issued in 1768, was to a large extent the work of Powle. He at one time resided at Hereford and later at Worcester, where he was associated with Valentine Green, for whose engravings of Lady Pakington and Sir John Perrot he made the drawings. There he also came under the notice of John Berkeley of Spetchley, for whom he etched a portrait of Sir Robert Berkeley, the judge, and one of Berkeley himself in 1771. Berkeley, in his letters to Granger, speaks highly of Powle's character and skill. Powle's other plates, which are not numerous, include portraits of Thomas Belasyse, Lord Fauconberg; the Comtesse de Grammont, after Lely, and ​‘Old Parr;’ two candle-light subjects, after Schalken; and a plate in Dr. Hunter's ‘Anatomy of the Gravid Uterus.’ Two anonymous plates in Nash's ‘History of Worcestershire’ are evidently the work of Powle. He also scraped in mezzotint a portrait of Mrs. Worlidge, his master's third wife. Powle exhibited miniatures with the Free Society of Artists in 1764 and 1766, and with the Incorporated Society in 1769 and 1770; but his works of this class are not identified. James Ross of Worcester engraved a set of views of Hereford from drawings by Powle.
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Powis, William Henry

​POWIS, WILLIAM HENRY (1808–1836), wood-engraver, born in 1808, was regarded as one of the best wood-engravers in his day. Some cuts of great merit by him are in Martin and Westall's ‘Pictorial Illustrations of the Bible,’ published in 1833; in Scott's Bible, edition of 1834; ‘The Solace of Song,’ and other works. A very promising career was cut short by his death in 1836, at the early age of twenty-eight.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Meynell, Charles

​MEYNELL, CHARLES, D.D. (1828–1882), catholic divine, born in 1828, was educated at Sedgley Park, Staffordshire, and at the English College, Rome. For many years he was professor of metaphysics at St. Mary's College, Oscott, and after being attached to the cathedral at Birmingham for a short time he was removed in 1873 to the small mission of Caverswall, North Staffordshire, where he died on 3 May 1882. He was the author of: 1. ‘The “Colenso” Controversy considered from the Catholic Standpoint; being five Letters about Dr. Colenso's work upon the Pentateuch, and the criticisms which it has called forth on either side,’ London, 1863, 8vo, written in conjunction with the Rev. James Spencer Northcote. 2. ‘Short Sermons on Doctrinal Subjects,’ 1866 (two editions). 3. ‘Padre Liberatore and the Ontologists: a Review,’ London [1868], 8vo. 4. ‘Proteus and Amadeus: a Correspondence. Edited by [Sir] Aubrey De Vere, ​London, 1878, 8vo; Meynell sustains the part of Amadeus, the assertor and defender of the God of natural reason in the face of modern infidel objections, while the part of Proteus was sustained by Mr. Wilfrid Blunt. 5. ‘Sermons for the Spring Quarter,’ London, 1883, 8vo, a posthumous publication, edited by Henry Ignatius Dudley Ryder of the Oratory, Birmingham.
[Tablet, 1882 i. 692, 753, 1883 i. 408; Notes and Queries, 8th ser. iv. 451.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Meyrick, William

​MEYRICK or MERICKE, Sir WILLIAM (d. 1668), civilian, son of Maurice Meyrick [see under Meyrick, John, bishop of Sodor and Man] of Bodeon, Anglesey, by Jane, daughter of Lewis Evans, was admitted scholar of Winchester College in 1608, scholar of New College, Oxford, on 16 July 1614, and fellow on 16 July 1616; he graduated B.C.L. on 18 April 1621, D.C.L. on 30 June 1627. He resigned his fellowship in 1626, and was admitted a member of the College of Advocates on 2 Feb. 1627–8, and practised before the court of high commission. On 28 Sept. 1641 he succeeded Sir Henry Martin [q. v.] as judge of the prerogative court of Canterbury. In 1643 he joined the king at Oxford, whence on 8 May he issued a notice revoking the powers of his deputies at Canterbury. Sir Nathaniel Brent [q. v.] was appointed to succeed him on 10 Jan. 1647–8. At the Restoration Meyrick was reinstated in the prerogative court, and on 8 Nov. 1661 was knighted at Whitehall. He died on 3 Feb. 1667–8, and was succeeded by Sir Leoline Jenkins [q. v.]
[Le Neve's Pedigrees of Knights (Harl. Soc.), p. 146; Reg. Univ. Oxon., ed. Clark, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 334, pt. iii. p. 403; Wood's Fasti (Bliss), i. 397, 432; Coote's Catalogue of English Civilians; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1634–5 et seq., 1661–2, p. 110; Hist. of the Troubles of William Laud, c. xi; Lords' Journ. iv. 406 a, 409 a, vi. 51, ix. 648; Evelyn's Diary, 31 Aug. 1663; Wynne's Life of Sir Leoline Jenkins, p. xvii; Haydn's Book of Dignities, ed. Ockerby; Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. App. ii.; information kindly supplied by the Warden of New College.]
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Meyrick, John (1538-1599)

​MEYRICK, JOHN (1538–1599), bishop of Sodor and Man, natural son of Owen ab Huw ab Owen ab Meyric of Bodeon, Anglesey, and Gwenllian, daughter of Evan of Penrhyn Deudraeth, Merionethshire, became scholar of Winchester College in 1550, was admitted scholar of New College, Oxford, in July 1555, and fellow on 5 July 1557. He graduated B. A. on 12 Dec. 1558, M. A. on 26 June 1562, and served as junior proctor in 1565. In 1570 he was presented to the college living of Hornchurch, Essex, and in 1575, on the nomination of Henry Stanley, fourth earl Derby, elected bishop of Sodor and Man, the queen assenting on 5 Nov. and again on 13 April 1576. He was consecrated at Lambeth on 15 April 1576 by Grindal, archbishop of Canterbury, the diocese of York, in which Man is, being then vacant. Meyrick held the bishopric for twenty-three years, but his position involved many hardships which he detailed in a letter to Lord Burghley. He also furnished Camden with an account of the Isle of Man, preserved in Cotton MS. Julius F. 10, part of which is printed in Camden's 'Britannia,' ii. 390. Meyrick died on 7 Nov. 1599.
Two of Meyrick's half-brothers were also educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford. One, William, was admitted scholar of New College, Oxford, on 9 March 1565-6, fellow on 9 March 1567-8, graduating B.C.L. on 28 Jan. 1573-4, and D.C.L. on 5 July 1582, and was subsequently chantor, commissary, and chancellor of Bangor, when he vacated his fellowship, and rector of Llanvechell. He died in 1605. The other, Maurice (1563-1640), was admitted scholar of New College on 31 March 1582, aged 19, and fellow on 31 March 1584, graduated B..A. on 27 Oct. 1585, and M.A. on 2 June 1589, was subsequently steward of New College and registrar of the university, 1600-8; he resigned his fellowship in August 1595. By his wife, Jane, daughter of Lewis Evans, he was father of Sir William Meyrick (d. 1668), judge of the prerogative court of Canterbury, who is separately noticed.
[Lansd. MSS. lxiii. 81, 982 f. 274; Cotton MS. Julius F. x. 124; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ii. 843; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500-1714; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.; paper by Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick in Gent. Mag. 1825, i. 403; Camden's Britannia, ii. 390; Le Neve's Fasti; Williams's Eminent Welshmen; Kirby's Winchester Scholars; information kindly supplied by the Warden of New College.]
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Meyer, Philip James

​MEYER, PHILIP JAMES (1732–1820), musician, was born at Strassburg in 1732, of protestant parents, and brought up with a view to the ministry. He was early attracted by music, learnt the organ, and coming accidentally across an old German harp without pedals he mastered that instrument. He embraced music as a profession, and introduced some improvements in the harp, which was then in a transition state previous to its perfection by the mechanical genius of Sebastian Erard. He proceeded to Paris in 1765, and was among the first performers on the pedal harp in that city, where, in 1766, he published his ‘Methode sur la vraie manière de jouer la Harpe, avec les règles pour l'accorder,’ a pioneer work of considerable merit. He studied German music during this period with Müthel, a pupil of Sebastian Bach. In 1772 he visited England, and was the first person who publicly played the pedal harp in this country, at a concert at the Hanover Square Rooms. His stay in England was a short one. He returned to Paris, and set to music a dramatic piece by Pitra, entitled ‘Damète et Zulmis.’ Its success procured his introduction to Voltaire, who invited him to compose the music for a serious opera, ‘Samson,’ but died before the work was completed. Meyer definitely settled in London in 1784. He performed little, but wrote a quantity of harp music, and found distinguished patronage as a teacher. In addition to the ‘Methode,’ the most considerable of his published works are: ‘Two Collections of French Songs for the Harp,’ London, 1780; ‘Two Sonatas for the Harp, with an Accompaniment for the Pianoforte or two Violins, Viola, and 'Cello’ [1800]; ‘Irish Melodies arranged as Duets for the Harp and Piano,’ 1811; and ‘A Collection of Hymns and Psalms arranged for the Harp,’ 1815. Meyer died in London 17 Jan. 1820. By the wife whom he married at Strassburg in 1768 Meyer left two sons, Philip James the younger (1770–1849), who was appointed harpist to Queen Adelaide, and wrote numerous works for the harp, and Frederic Charles (1773–1840), who was also a composer and professor of the harp.
[Dictionary of Musicians, 1824; Fétis's Biog. Univ. des Musiciens; Mendel und Reissmann's Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon, vii. 143; Brit. Mus. Catalogue of Music; information kindly supplied by Mr. Sebastian W. Meyer, grandson of Philip James the younger. Brief notices of Meyer also appear in Biographie degli Artisti, 1846, and Dizionario e Bibliografia, Milan, 1826.]
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richard of Cirencester

​RICHARD of Cirencester (d. 1401?), chronicler. [See Cirencester.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richard of Ely (d.1198)

​RICHARD of Ely (d. 1198), bishop of London. [See Fitzneale or Fitznigel, Richard.]