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

​SHERLOCK, PAUL (1595–1646), jesuit, was born at or near Waterford in August 1595. His name is latinised as Sherlogus. He went to Spain in early youth, and was educated at the Irish College at Salamanca. At seventeen he sought admission into the Society of Jesus, taking the fourth vow in the end, and was for twenty years superior of the Irish College at Salamanca and Compostella. His profound patristic learning appeared in the controversies which engaged him for years, and he taught scholastic theology and divinity with success. Sherlock injured his health by flagellation and hair-shirts, and especially by fasting and praying in honour of the Virgin. Some believed that he received direct communication from heaven while praying and writing. He died at Salamanca on 9 Aug. 1646, having never returned to Ireland. ​Sherlock was thought much of in France and Spain, and testimonials from many learned men are printed with his works. One of these panegyrists, a French Benedictine, exclaims in Latin iambics that Sherlock had given many variegated (murænulatas) and embroidered (vermicellatas) gifts to his bride, the church; and he also sings his praises in Hebrew and Greek.
His principal work is a vast disquisition on ecclesiastical history, with the Song of Solomon as a text, which appeared in three folios between 1634 and 1640 (‘Anteloquia Ethica et Historica in Canticum Canticorum,’ Lyons, 1634, fol.; Venice, 1639; ‘much augmented,’ Lyons, 1640, fol.; ‘Commentarium in duo priora capita Cantici Canticorum,’ Lyons, 1637, fol.; ‘Commentarium in reliqua capita Cantici Canticorum,’ Lyons, 1640, fol.). He also wrote, under the pseudonym of Paulus Leonardus, ‘Responsio ad Expostulationes recentium quorundam Theologorum contra Scientiam Mediam,’ Lyons, 1644, 4to; and ‘Antiquitatum Hebraicarum Dioptra,’ Lyons, 1651, fol.
R. B-l.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sherley, Thomas

​SHERLEY or SHIRLEY, THOMAS (1638–1678), physician, son of Sir Thomas Sherley of Wiston, Sussex, by his wife Anne, daughter of Sir George Blundell of Cardington, Bedfordshire, was born in the parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster, and baptised on 15 Oct. 1638. Sir Thomas Shirley [q. v.], the adventurer, was his grandfather. He lived with his father in Magdalen College while Oxford was garrisoned by the king's troops, and was educated at Magdalen school. He afterwards went to France, studied physic, and obtained the degree of M.D. On his return he acquired a good practice, and was appointed physician in ordinary to Charles II. He was heir to his father's estate at Wiston, worth nearly 3,000l. a year; but it had been granted during the civil war to Sir John Fagge, and, although Sherley had recourse to law, the case was decided against him in chancery. He appealed to the House of Lords, but, Sir John Fagge being the member for Steyning in the House of Commons, the house maintained that he was entitled to exemption from lawsuits during session, and Sherley was ordered into the custody of the serjeant-at-arms on 12 May 1675 for bringing an appeal in the lords against a member of the lower house. The matter occasioned a dispute between the two houses, who were already embroiled over the case of Skinner and the East India Company. The difference was only terminated by the king proroguing parliament (Journals of House of Lords, vols. xii., xiii. passim; Journals of House of Commons, ix. 337 &c.). Disappointed by his ill success, Sherley sank into a morbid condition, and died on 5 Aug. 1678. He was buried in the vault of St. Bride's, Fleet Street, London.
He was twice married: first to Hannah, daughter of John Harfleet of Fleet in Kent, by whom he had two daughters, Anne and Margaret. He married, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Richard Baskett of Apps, Isle of Wight, on 5 June 1667, by whom he had Thomas, Richard, and Elizabeth (Chester, London Marriage Licenses, ed. Foster, p. 1219).
He was the author of ‘A Philosophical Essay, declaring the probable cause whence stones are produced in the outer world,’ 1672, 12mo; and of the following translations: 1. Molimbrochius's ‘Cochlearia Curiosa,’ 1676, 8vo. 2. ‘A Treatise of the Gout’ by Mayerne Turquet, 1676, 8vo. 3. ‘Medicinal Councels’ by Mayerne Turquet, 1677, 8vo. 4. ‘The Curious Distillatory,’ from the Latin of Johann Sigismund Elsholtz, 1677, 8vo.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sheringham, Robert

​SHERINGHAM, ROBERT (1602–1678), royalist divine, born in 1602, was son of William Sheringham of Guestwick, Norfolk. He was educated at Norwich under Mr. Briggs, and on 15 March 1618–19 was admitted a pensioner of Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1622–3 (Venn, Admissions to Gonville and Caius College, p. 140). He was elected a fellow of his college, commenced M.A. in 1626, and was incorporated in that degree at Oxford on 15 July 1628. In 1634 he was presented to the rectory of Patesley, Norfolk (Blomefield, Norfolk, x. 28). He became one of the proctors of the university of Cambridge in 1644, but shortly afterwards was ejected from his fellowship at Caius on account of his adherence to the king's cause. Thereupon he retired to London, and, going subse​quently to Holland, he taught Hebrew and Arabic at Rotterdam and in other towns. On the king's return in 1660 he was restored to his fellowship, and led a studious and retired life, being esteemed ‘a most excellent linguist, as also admirably well versed in the original antiquities of the English nation.’ He died suddenly in his rooms at Caius College, and was buried in the neighbouring parish of St. Michael on 2 May 1678.
Hearne describes him as ‘a learned man, and endowed with an accurate judgment;’ but Dr. Percy more truly observes that ‘it is the great fault of Sheringham not to know how to distinguish what is true and credible from what is improbable and fabulous in the old Northern Chronicles.’
His works are: 1. ‘Joma. Codex Talmudicus, in quo agitur de Sacrificiis, cæterisque Ministeriis Diei Expiationis … ex Hebræo sermone in Latinum versus et commentariis illustratus,’ London, 1648, 4to, Franeker, 1696, 8vo. 2. ‘The Kings Supremacy asserted, or a Remonstrance of the Kings Right against the Pretended Parliament. Printed formerly in Holland and now reprinted,’ London, 1660, 4to; 3rd edit. enlarged, London, 1682, 4to. 3. ‘De Anglorum Gentis Origine Disceptatio. Quâ eorum migrationes, variæ sedes, et ex parte res gestæ, à confusione Linguarum, et dispersione Gentium, usque ad adventum eorum in Britanniam investigantur,’ Cambridge, 1670, 8vo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sheriff, Laurence

​SHERIFF, LAURENCE (d. 1567), founder of Rugby school, the son of respectable parents resident in Rugby, appears to have been born in that town, although Brownsover, a village in the neighbourhood, has also been assigned as the place of his birth. He removed to London, where he became a grocer. He lived near Newgate, on the site of what is at present 24 Newgate Street, and was connected with the household of the Princess (afterwards queen) Elizabeth, though possibly only through his trade. He was a staunch adherent of that princess, and when she came to the throne Sheriff was made an esquire and received a grant of arms. He was appointed the second warden of the Grocers' Company of London in 1566, and died on 20 Oct. of the following year. By his will he expressed a desire to be buried at Rugby, but, notwithstanding, he seems to have been interred in the graveyard of Christ Church, Newgate. He had a wife named Elizabeth, who survived him but he left no children. In his will, which was proved at London on 31 Oct. 1568, besides several other bequests to his native town, he left for the foundation and endowment of a school at Rugby the rent of his parsonage and farm at Brownsover, with all his property at Rugby, and one third of his Middlesex estate; together with 50l. for building purposes, and 100l. to be invested in land for the site of the school, and to provide for the maintenance of its headmaster, and the building of four almshouses. The school seems to have been founded immediately after Sheriff's death, but it was deprived of the revenues of the Middlesex property until 1614 by the fraudulent conduct of one of Sheriff's trustees. The school did not obtain full possession of the Brownsover estate until 1653, from which time the rapid increase in the value of the endowment assured its prosperity.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ryder, Richard

​RYDER, RICHARD (1766–1832), politician, second son of Nathaniel Ryder, first baron Harrowby [see Ryder, Sir Dudley], by Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Richard Terrick [q. v.], bishop of London, was born 5 July 1766. Dudley Ryder, first earl of Harrowby [q. v.] and Henry Ryder [q. v.] were his brothers. After being educated at Harrow, he proceeded to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. in 1787. He was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn, 9 Feb. 1788, and was called to the bar, 19 Nov. 1791. Having entered parliament in February 1795, at a by-election, for Tiverton, where his family had considerable influence, he retained the seat for thirty-five ​years, retiring at the dissolution in 1830. He was appointed second justice of the great sessions for the counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan, and Pembroke, in July 1804, and continued to act as a Welsh judge until 1807. He also took office under the Duke of Portland as a lord-commissioner of the treasury, 16 Sept. 1807. He was sworn in a member of the privy council, 25 Nov. 1807, and promoted to be judge-advocate-general, 4 Dec. following. In the ministry of Spencer Perceval [q. v.], from 1 Nov. 1809 to June 1812, he was secretary of state for the home department, and was ex officio a commissioner of the board of control for the affairs of India. He proved himself a useful speaker in defence of ministerial measures. He was elected a bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1812, and served as treasurer in 1819. For many years he held, too, the lucrative appointment of registrar of the consistory court. He died at his seat, Westbrook Hay, Hertfordshire, 18 Sept. 1832. He married, 1 Aug. 1799, Frederica, daughter and heiress of Sir John Skynner, knt., lord chief baron of the exchequer; she died 8 Aug. 1821. By her Ryder left an only surviving daughter, Susan.
W. R. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ryder, Thomas (1746-1810)

​RYDER, THOMAS (1746–1810), engraver, born in 1746, was a pupil of James Basire [see under Basire, Isaac], and during his apprenticeship established drawings with the Free Society in 1766 and 1767. He was also one of the first students in the schools of the Royal Academy. Ryder engraved a few plates in the line manner, of which the most important are ‘The Politician’ (a portrait of Benjamin Franklin), after S. Elmer, 1782; and ‘Vortigern and Rowena,’ after A. Kauffman, 1802; but he is best known by his works in stipple, which are among the finest of their class. These include ‘The Last Supper,’ after Benjamin West; ‘The Murder of James I of Scotland,’ after Opie; ‘Prudence and Beauty,’ after A. Kauffman; nine of the plates to the large edition of Boydell's ‘Shakspeare;’ and others from designs by Bigg, Bunbury, Cipriani, Cosway, Ryley, and Shelley. Ryder also engraved portraits of Mrs. Damer, after Kauffman; Henry Bunbury, after Lawrence; Sir William Watson, M.D., after Abbot; and Maria Linley, after Westall. His plates are usually printed in brown ink and occasionally in colours. He had a son of the same christian name who was also an engraver, and together they executed the whole-length portrait of Queen Charlotte, after Beechey, prefixed to the second volume of Boydell's ‘Shakspeare.’ Ryder died in 1810.
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Gentleman, Tobias

​GENTLEMAN, TOBIAS (fl. 1614), writer on the herring fishery, was 'borne a fisherman's sonne by the seashore,' and spent his ' youthful time about fisher affaires, whereby I am more skilfull in nets, lines, and hookes then in Rethoricke, Logicke, or learned bookes.' About 1612 he was consulted by John Keymer [q. v. Suppl.], who was collecting information about the herring fisheries with a view to stimulating their development. Gentleman gave Keymer the benefit of his experience, but, nothing having come of his scheme, Gentleman determined to publish his collections himself. They appeared in 1614, under the title 'Way to Wealth and to employ ships' mariners; or, a plaine description what great profite it will bring unto the Commonwealth of England, by the erecting, building, and adventuring of busses to sea a-fishing. With a true Relation of the inestimable wealth that is yearely taken out of his Maiesties Seas by the Hollanders by their numbers of Busses, Pinkes, and Lineboates … and also a Discourse of the Sea Coast Towns of England, … ' London, Nathaniel Butter, 4to; dedicated to Henry, earl of Northampton and warden of the Cinque ports. Nothing more is known of Gentleman, but in 1660 a new edition of his book, with an address to the reader instead of the dedication, and other alterations, appeared as 'The Best Way to make England the richest and wealthiest country in Europe by Advancing the Fishing Trade' (London, fol.); it was also included in the 'Harleian Miscellany,' ed. 1744, vol. Hi., and ed. 1808, vol. viii. Gentleman's scheme was similar to that propounded by Robert Hitchcock [q. v. Suppl.] in his 'Politique Platt for a Prince' (1581), and both Hitchcock and Gentleman are commended by Thomas Mun [q. v.] Gerard Malynes [q. v.] also gives an abridgment of Gentleman's book in his 'Lex Mercatoria' (1622), chap, xlvii.
[Editions of Gentleman's book in Brit. Mus. Libr.; Thomas Mun's England's Treasury by Forraign Trade, 1664, cap. xix.; Palgrave's Dict. of Political Economy.]
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Gibbon, Charles (1843-1890)

​GIBBON, CHARLES (1843–1890), novelist, was born of humble parentage in the Isle of Man in 1843, and moved with his parents to Glasgow at an early age. After receiving an elementary education at Glasgow he became a clerk, but before the age of seventeen obtained an engagement on a local paper. During Charles Kean's visit to Glasgow in 1860, Gibbon contributed to his paper an account of Kean's acting. Kean was pleased, and, calling at the newspaper office, made Gibbon's acquaintance. A year or so later Gibbon migrated to London, publishing in 1864 a three-volume novel, 'Dangerous Connexions,' which reached a second edition in 1875. 'The Dead Heart' followed in 1865, and before his death Gibbon had published some thirty novels, the best of which were 'Robin Gray' (1869; other editions 1872 and 1877) and 'For Lack of Gold' (1871; other editions 1873 and 1877). Gibbon's Scottish novels have been compared with those of William Black [q. v. Suppl.], and though he possessed none of the qualities of a great novelist, his pictures of Scottish life were the result of personal knowledge, and not mere imitation. Gibbon also edited 'The Casquet of Literature' (6 vols. 1873-4), and wrote a tedious 'life' (2 vols. 1878) of George Combe [q. v.], in whose theories he was interested. Ill-health compelled him to spend his later years on the east coast, and he died at Great Yarmouth on 15 Aug. 1890. He was married and left issue.
[East Anglian Handbook, 1891, pp. 191,202; Annual Reg. 1890, p. 178; Athenæum, 1890, ii. 255; Times, 22 Aug. 1890; Gibbon's Works in Brit. Mus. Libr.; notes supplied by Mr. William Freeland of Glasgow.]
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Geddes, William Duguid

​GEDDES, Sir WILLIAM DUGUID (1828–1900), professor of Greek and principal of Aberdeen University, born on 21 Nov. 1828, was son of John Geddes, a farmer of Fenar, Huntly, and his wife, the daughter of Peter Maconochie, farmer, of Keithmore, Banffshire. He was educated at Elgin academy until 1842, when he entered University and King's College, Aberdeen, graduating M.A. in March 1846, when he was only seventeen. In the same year he was appointed parish schoolmaster of Gamrie, and in 1848 classical master at Aberdeen grammar school. He became rector of the grammar school in 1853, and in 1855 was elected professor of Greek at University and King's College. In the same year he published a 'Greek Grammar,' which reached a seventeenth edition in 1883 (new edit. 1888, second issue 1893). In 1860, when the unification of Aberdeen took place, Geddes became professor of Greek in the united university. He held this post until 1885, and was largely instrumental in reviving and reforming the study of Greek in Scottish universities. In 1885 he was elected principal and vice-chancellor of Aberdeen, in succession to Dr. Pirie. He was created LL.D. of Edinburgh in 1876, Litt.D. of Dublin in 1893, was knighted in 1892, and died at the Chanonry Lodge, Old Aberdeen, on 9 Feb. 1900. He married on 28 April 1859 Rachel Robertson, daughter of William White, merchant, of Aberdeen; she survived him, with an only daughter, Rachel Blanche, who married on 23 June 1887 Mr. John Harrower, professor of Greek at Aberdeen.
Besides the 'Greek Grammar' Geddes published in 1878 'The Problem of the Homeric Poems,' which developed a theory similar to that of George Grote [q. v.], and was commended by Gladstone and Freeman. His edition of Plato's 'Phædo' (1863, new edit. 1885) was a scholarly work. He also published 'Principles of Latinity' (1860), 'Flosculi Græci Boreales' (1882), and 'Historical Characteristics of the Celtic Race' (1885), and edited for the New Spalding Club 'Lacunar Basilicas Sancti Macarii Aberdonensis' (1888) and 'Musa Latina Aberdonensis' (1892).
[Geddes's Works in Brit. Mus. Libr.; Anderson's Officers and Graduates of University and King's Coll. Aberdeen, pp. 67, 298, 323; Who's Who, 1900; Burke's Peerage, 1900; Times, 10 Feb. 1900; Athenaeum, 1900, i. 208, 210.]
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Gay, John (1699-1745)

​GAY, JOHN (1699–1745), philosophical writer, born in 1699, was the second son of James Gay (d. 1 June 1720), rector of Upton Pyne in Devonshire, by his wife Elizabeth (d. October 1732), daughter of Nicholas Hooper of Fulbrook, Braunton, in the same county. The poet John Gay [q.v.] was his cousin. He was educated at Tiverton grammar school, and entered at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, on 10 Jan. 1717-8. He was elected Blundell scholar on 12 Jan., and graduated B.A. in 1721 and M.A. in 1725. On 24 Jan. 1723-4 he was elected a fellow. While in residence he held the offices of Hebrew lecturer. Greek lecturer, and ecclesiastical history lecturer.
Gay is remembered on account of the 'Preliminary Dissertation' by him, prefixed to the translation by Edmund Law [q.v.] of the archbishop of Dublin's 'Essay on the Origin of Evil,' which appeared in 1731 [see King, William, 1650-1729]. This short treatise is one of the most interesting and important contributions to the utilitarian principle, which was frequently expressed at a later time by the formula, 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number,' an expression, however, which is not used by Gay. David Hartley (1705-1757) [q. v.] states that Gay's dissertation first suggested the theory of the possibility of deducing intellectual emotions from association, which he afterwards elaborated in 1749 in his 'Observations on Man.' Of more importance is the fact that Abraham Tucker [q.v.] and William Paley [q.v.] afterwards adopted a position almost exactly similar to Gay's. The views of Richard Cumberland (1631-1718) [q.v.] bear most analogy to those of Gay among his predecessors.
In 1732 Gay resigned his fellowship and was presented to the vicarage of Wilshampstead in Bedfordshire. He died on 18 July 1745, and was buried at Wilshampstead on 22 July. By his wife Elizabeth he had ​two sons and four daughters. Gay's dissertation was originally anonymous, but in 1758, after his death, a fourth edition of the 'Essay on the Origin of Evil' appeared, in which it was stated that it was chiefly composed by him. A fifth edition appeared in 1781. An article on 'The Ethical System of Gay' appeared in March 1897 in the 'Philosophical Review' of Boston.
[Information kindly given by the Master of Sidney Sussex College: Vivian's Visitations of the County of Devon, 1895, p. 394; Bedfordshire Notes and Queries, ii. 278; Stephen's English Thought in the Eighteenth Century, 1881, ii. 63, 109.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Woodbury, Walter Bentley

​WOODBURY, WALTER BENTLEY (1834–1885), inventor of the Woodburytype process, was born at Manchester on 26 June 1834. His father dying when he was quite young, and his mother having a prosperous shop to attend to, he was brought up by his maternal grandfather (who was also his godfather), Walter Bentley. Bentley, who was a naturalist and a friend of Audubon and Waterlow, was related to Thomas Bentley (1731–1780) [q. v.], the partner of Josiah Wedgwood. Woodbury was given a scientific education, and was placed in 1849 as an apprentice in a patent office in Manchester, with a view to becoming an engineer. Three years later he sailed for the Australian gold fields, and passed through many vicissitudes. Having worked in succession as a cook, a driver, a surveyor's labourer, a builder, and a paper-hanger, he obtained a place in the Melbourne waterworks. There he resumed his old hobby of photography, the collodion process in which had been invented by Frederick Scott Archer [q. v.] just before he left England. In 1858 with his partner, James Page, he migrated to Java, and there, at Batavia, worked the collodion process with great success, sending home a series of fine tropical views, which were published by Negretti & Zambra. Having married a Malay lady and attained a small competence, he returned to England in 1863. He settled in Birmingham, where in 1864, while experimenting with carbon printing, he conceived a new mode of photographic engraving. The difficulties to be surmounted were very great, but on 5 Dec. 1865 he was enabled to demonstrate and exhibit examples of the beautiful mechanical process that bears his name to the Photographic Society. The main feature of the invention, patented on 24 July 1866 and called the Woodburytype, is that a photograph in gelatine is caused by enormous pressure to indent a sheet of lead. When perfected the invention came into common use, both in Europe and America. Between this date and his death Woodbury took out over twenty patents for photo-mechanical printing processes and for photographic and allied apparatus. Many of the block processes now in use, notably the Goupil photogravure employed by Boussod, ​Valadon, & Co., are modifications of Woodburytype. He also invented a method of water-marking, to which he gave the name ‘filigrane.’ A subscription was started among photographers in March 1885 to enable him to develop his stannotype process. The prospect of wealth unsettled the inventor, and he moved restlessly from Craven Cottage on the Thames to Croydon, and then to Brighton; he died suddenly at Margate, from the effects of an overdose of laudanum, on 5 Sept. 1885. He was buried on 12 Sept. in Abney Park cemetery, his grave being near that of two other photographic pioneers, George Wharton Simpson and Henry Baden Pritchard [see under Pritchard, Andrew], both of whom had been intimate friends. He contributed a number of papers on optical lantern experiments to the ‘English Mechanic’ and to ‘Science at Home.’
T. S.