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

​BERCHET, PETER (1659–1720), painter, was born in France in 1659. He studied under Charles de Lafosse, and at the age of eighteen obtained employment in the royal palaces. He came to England in 1681 to work under Rambour, a French painter of architecture, but after a brief stay returned to France. On paying a second visit to this country he received a commission from King William III to assist in the decoration of his new palace at Loo in Holland, and laboured there for fifteen months. On his return he finally settled in England, where he found extensive occupation in the houses of the nobility. He painted the staircase of the Duke of Schomberg's house in Pall Mall, and the picture of the Ascension on the ceiling of the chapel of Trinity College, Oxford. During the latter part of his life, in consequence of ill-health, he confined himself to small easel pictures, which were chiefly of a mythological character. He died in Marylebone, where he had long resided, on 1 Jan. 1720. There are engravings from Berchet's pictures by John Smith, Simon, and Vertue, and he also etched a few plates from his own designs, amongst them 'St. Cecilia in the clouds playing the violin,' a ticket for a concert, 1696.
[Walpole's Antecdotes of Painting (Wornum), p. 604; Strutt's Biog. Dict. of Engravers (1785); Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists (1878); MS. notes in British Museum.]
L. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Berenger, Richard

​BERENGER, RICHARD (d. 1782), a man famous in his day for his charm in social life, held for many years the position of gentleman of the horse to George III. His father was Moses Berenger, a rich London merchant; his mother was Penelope, the fourth and youngest sister of Sir Richard Temple, first Lord Cobham. Both of his works in literature dealt with the horse and its rider. The first, entitled 'A new System of Horsemanship,' appeared in 1754, and was a translation from the French of Monsieur Bourgelat. The second, 'The History and Art of Horsemanship,' was published in 1771 in two volumes, and contained considerable historical information still not without interest to the student. Several minor poems by Berenger are in Dodsley's collection (vi. 271–6); and three essays, with a small poem on the 'Birthday of Shakespeare,' were contributed by him to the periodical called the 'World,' which has been included in many editions of the 'British Essayists.' Dr. Johnson once styled him the 'standard of true elegance;' but the assertion was met with the remark that Berenger resembled too closely the gentleman of Congreve's comedies. Hannah More styled him 'everybody's favourite,' and summed up his character as 'all chivalry, and blank verse, and anecdote.' Distinction in society has its pains as well as its pleasures. Berenger outlived his means, and was obliged for some years to confine ​himself to his official residence in the King's Mews, then a privileged place against the attacks of bailiffs. Chiefly through the assistance of Garrick, who sent him back his securities for 500l. with a donation of 300l., a composition was effected with his creditors. Berenger died in the King's Mews, London, 9 Sept. 1782.
[Gent. Mag. 1782, p. 455; Boswell's Johnson (1835), iii. 83, vii. 100. viii 68-7; John Taylor's Records of my Life, i, 325-8; Roberts's Life of H. More. i. 74. 77. 175; Garrick's Correspondence. ii. 297-8. 364-5.]
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Berdmore, Samuel

​BERDMORE, SAMUEL, D.D. (1740–1802), master of Charterhouse School, received his education at Jesus College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1759, was elected a fellow of his college, and proceeded to the degree of M.A. in 1762. He was elected master of Charterhouse School in 1769, and resigned that office in 1791. Archbishop Cornwallis conferred on him the Lambeth degree of D.D. 7 June 1773. Dr. Berdmore was a member of the Unincreasable Club. He died at his house, in Southampton Row, London, on 20 Jan. 1802, and was buried in the Charterhouse on the 30th of that month. He wrote 'Specimens of Literary Resemblance in the works of Pope, Gray, and other celebrated writers; with critical observations: in a series of letters,' addressed to the Rev. Peter Forster, rector of Hedenham, Norfolk, London, 1801, 8vo; and edited 'Lusus Poetici ex ludo literario apud Ædes Carthusianas Londini. Quibus accessere orationes binæ in Suttoni laudem in Ædibus Carthusianis habitæ,' 1791, 8vo.
[Gent. Mag. lxxii. (i.) 94, (ii.) 605, ccxvi. 638; Graduati Cantab. (1856) 31; Nichols's Illustr. of Lit. vii. 56, viii. 446; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ii. 72, 538; Carlisle's Endowed Grammar Schools, ii. 16.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bereford, Ralph de

​BEREFORD, RALPH de (fl. 1329), judge, was of a legal family possessing large estates in the midland counties. He may have been a son of Osbert de Barford, or Bereford, chief gentleman to Ranulf of Hengham, justice of the common pleas, who was probably son of Walter de Barford of Langley in Warwickshire, and brother of Sir William de Bereford [q. v.], chief justice of the common pleas in 1309. Ralph was possessed of land in three Oxfordshire townships in 1315, viz. Bourton, Milcome, and Barford (Parly. Writs, vol. ii. div. 3, p. 526), and in the same year was one of the custodes of the vacant bishopric of Winchester. He was summoned to the great council at Westminster for 27 May 1324.
He was on several occasions in commissions of oyer and terminer in Southampton and Surrey in 1314, in Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Southampton, and Gloucester in 1316, on special commissions to try persons who had spoiled Hugh le Despenser's manors, and Robert Lewer and his accomplices, who had attacked Odiham Castle in 1322, and in 1324 in Oxfordshire and Berkshire. In 1329 or 1330 (Dugdale) he was the second of five justices itinerant, of whom another was Adam de Brome, for Nottingham and five other counties.
[Foss's Lives of the Judges; Ferren and Nicholls's Leicestershire, and Ferrer's MS. of Antiquities cited therein, iv. pt. i. 343; Dugdale's Origines Juridiciales; Baker's Northamptonshire, i. 682; see Collectanea Topographica (Nichols, 1843); Calthorpe's Collections, vii. 205; Parly. Writs, vol. ii. div. 3, p. 526.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elton, Charles Abraham

​ELTON, Sir CHARLES ABRAHAM (1778–1853), author, only son of the Rev. Sir Abraham Elton, fifth baronet, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Durbin, alderman of Bristol, was born at Bristol on 31 Oct. 1778. He was educated at Eton, and at the age of fifteen received a commission in the 48th regiment, in which he rose to the rank of captain. He served with the 4th regiment in Holland under the Duke of York. He was afterwards lieutenant-colonel of the Somersetshire militia. On the death of his father (23 Feb. 1842) he became sixth baronet. He married in 1804 Sarah, eldest daughter of Joseph Smith, merchant of Bristol, by whom he had five sons and eight daughters. The two eldest sons were drowned in 1819, while bathing near Weston-super-Mare. The third, Arthur Hallam (b. 19 April 1818), succeeded to the baronetcy, and died 14 Oct. 1883. His seventh daughter, Mary Elizabeth, married her cousin, Frederick Bayard, fourth son of the fifth baronet, and was mother of the present Charles Isaac Elton, M.P., and author of 'Origins of English History' (Foster, Peerage). The eighth daughter, Jane Octavia, married W. H. Brookfield [q.v.] Elton's sister, Julia Maria, married Henry Hallam the historian. Elton was a man of cultivated tastes. He was a strong whig, and spoke at the Westminster hustings on behalf of Romilly and Hobhouse; but latterly he lived much in retirement at his house, Clevedon Court. He died at Bath on 1 June 1853.
He published:
* 'Poems,' 1804.
* 'Remains of Hesiod, translated into English verse.'
* 'Tales of Romance, and other Poems, including selections from Propertius,' 1810.
* 'Specimens of the Classical Poets in a chronological series from Homer to Tryphiodorus, translated into English verse,' 1814 (with critical observations prefixed to each specimen; reviewed in the 'Quarterly Review,' xiii. 151-8).
* 'Remains of Hesiod, translated... with notes,' 1815 ('by C. A. E.')
* 'Appeal to Scripture and Tradition in Defence of the Unitarian Faith' (anon.), 1818.
* 'The Brothers, a Monody [referring to the death of his sons], and other Poems,' 1820.
* 'History of Roman Emperors,' 1825.
* 'Δεύτεραι Φροντίδες. Second Thoughts on the Person of Christ … containing reasons for the Authors Secession from the Unitarian Communion and his adherence to that of the Established Church,' 1827.
[Gent. Mag. 1853. ii. 88, 89; Foster's and Burke's Baronetages.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elton, Richard

​ELTON, RICHARD (fl. 1650), military writer, was a native of Bristol. He joined the militia of the city of London, and in 1649 had risen to the rank of major. In 1654 he was deputy-governor of Hull under the parliament, and two years later, being then lieutenant-colonel, he was governor-general. His son, Ensign Richard Elton, held some post under him. A large quantity of official correspondence between Elton and the admiralty is preserved among the state papers. Elton was the author of 'The compleat Body of the Art Military, exactly compiled and gradually composed for the foot, in the best refined manner, according to the practise of modern times; divided into three books, the first containing the postures of the pike and musket with their conformities and the dignities of Ranks and Files...; the second comprehending twelve exercises; the third setting forth the drawing up and exercising of Regiments after the manner of private companies..., together with the duties of all private souldiers and officers in a Regiment, from a Sentinell to a Collonel...; illustrated with a varietie of Figures of Battail very profitable and delightfull for all noble and heroic spirits, in a fuller manner than have been heretofore published. — By Richard Elton, Serjeant-Major,' London, 1650, fol. The volume is dedicated to Fairfax, and contains a number of laudatory pieces of verse addressed to Elton by his brother officers. Prefixed is a portrait of the author, engraved by Droeshout. A second edition, with some trifling additions, was published in 1659, at which time Elton was still living.
[Cal. State Papers (Dom. Ser.), 1653–4, 1654, 1657, 1657–8.]
A. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elsum, John

​ELSUM, JOHN (fl. 1700–1705), was the author of a collection of 'Epigrams upon the Paintings of the most eminent Masters, Antient and Modern, with Reflexions upon the several Schools of Painting, by J. E., Esq.' (8vo, London, 1700). The similarity of initials has caused this work to be sometimes ascribed to John Evelyn [q.v.] Some of the epigrams are translations from Michael Siloa's 'De Romana Pictura et Sculplura.' Elsum also published in 1703 'The Art of Painting after the Italian Manner, with Practical Observations on the Principal Colours and Directions how to know a Good Picture;' and in 1704 'A Description of the celebrated pieces of Paintings of the most Ancient Masters, in verse.' No details are known of his life.
[Brit. Mus. Cat.; Universal Catalogue of Books on Art.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elsynge, Henry

​ELSYNGE, HENRY (1598–1654), clerk of the House of Commons, eldest son of Henry Elsynge, was born at Battersea in 1598, educated at Westminster under L. Osbeldiston, and entered Christ Church, Oxford, as a commoner, 1621, proceeding B.A. 1625. After spending seven years in foreign travel, Archbishop Laud procured him the ​appointment of clerk of the House of Commons, where his services were highly valued, especially during the Long parliament. In 1648 he resigned his appointment to avoid taking part in the proceedings against Charles I (Whitelocke, Memorials, 1732, p. 364), and retired to Hounslow in Middlesex, where he died, and was buried in St. Margaret's, Westminster, 1654. Elsynge was a man of considerable learning and ability and a good scholar. Whitelocke and Selden were among his friends. His works are:
* 'Of the Form and Manner of Holding a Parliament in England,' 1663 (apparently derived from a manuscript in eight chapters, of similar scope, written by his father, 1626; the third edition was published in 1675, and a new and enlarged edition, edited by Tyrwhitt, in 1768).
* 'A Tract concerning Proceedings in Parliament.'
* 'A Declaration or Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom,' 1642 (re-printed in Rushworth's 'Historical Collection,' vol. iv., and in E. Husband's 'Remonstrances,' 1643, p. 195).
* 'Method of Passing Bills in Parliament,' 1685 (reprinted in 'Harleian Miscellany').
[Kippis's Biog. Brit. 1793, v. 586; Wood's Athenæ, ed. Bliss, iii. 363; Wood's Fasti, i. 231; Rushworth's Historical Collection, 1659, vol. iv.; E. Husband's Remonstrances, 1646, p. 195; Watt's Bibl. Brit. 1824, p. 335.]
N. D. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elvey, Stephen

​ELVEY, STEPHEN (1805–1860), organist and composer, was the elder brother and for some time the musical instructor of Sir George Elvey. Stephen was born in June 1805, at Canterbury, and received his training as chorister of the cathedral under ​Highmore Skeats. In 1830 he succeeded Bennett as organist of New College, Oxford, and won repute for his skilful playing. He became Mus. Bac. Oxon. 1831, and Mus. Doc. 1838. He was organist of St. Mary's (University) Church, and from 1846 organist of St. John's College. While Dr. Crotch held simultaneously the offices of professor of music and choragus at Oxford, Elvey acted as his deputy in all professorial matters for some years before Crotch died at the end of 1847. In 1848 the offices were divided. Sir Henry Bishop becoming professor, and Dr. Elvey choragus. He retained his appointments until his death, October 1800, at the age of fifty-five.
Elvey made a few but not unimportant contributions to sacred music. The well-known 'Evening Service in continuation of Croft's Morning Service in A,' since re-edited by Dr. Martin, dates from about 1825, when Elvey was lay-clerk at Canterbury Cathedral. The 'Oxford Psalm Book,' 1852, containing six original tunes, was inspired by the 'increasing attention to music shown by the congregational character of the singing before university sermons,' and 'The Psalter, or Canticles and Psalms of David, Pointed for Chanting upon a Now Principle,' 1856, followed by 'The Canticles,' 1858, have gone through many editions. The author's earnest care and tact in these compilations helped to effect improvement in the conduct of the services of the established church.
[Stephen Elvey's Musical Works, mentioned above; Oxford Calendars: Alumni Oxonienses; Gent. Mag., 1860, ccix. 557; Jackson's Oxford Journal, 12 Feb. 1848; Grove's Dict. of Music, i. 487]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bradley, Richard

​BRADLEY, RICHARD (d. 1732), botanist and horticultural writer, was a very popular and voluminous author. His first essays in print were two papers published in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1716, on mouldiness in melons, and the motions of the sap. He was elected F.R.S. in 1720; and professor of botany at Cambridge on 10 Nov. 1724, the latter by means of a pretended verbal recommendation from Dr. William Sherard to Dr. Bentley, with pompous assurances that he would found a public botanic garden in the university by his private purse and interest. Very soon after his election the vanity of his promises was seen, and his entire ignorance of Latin and Greek excited great scandal : Dr. Martyn, who afterwards succeeded him, was appointed to read the prescribed courses of lectures, in consequence of Bradley's neglect to do so. In 1729 he gave a course of lectures on 'Materia Medica,' which he afterwards published. In 1731 it is stated that 'he was grown so scandalous that it was in agitation to turn him out of his professorship,' though the details of his delinquency do not appear to be given. He died at Cambridge 5 Nov. 1732.
The use of Bradley's name was paid for by the publishers of a translation of Xenophon's 'Economics' solely on account of his popularity, as he knew nothing of the original language. His botanical publications show acuteness and diligence, and contain indications of much observation in advance of his time.
Adanson, Necker, and Banks, in succession, named genera to commemorate Bradley, but they have not been maintained distinct by succeeding botanists.
His works include:
* 'Historia plantarum succulentarum, &c.,' London, 1716-27, 5 decades, 4to, reissued together in 1734.
* ' New Improvements of Planting and Gardening,' London, 1717 (two editions), 8vo, 1731.
* 'Gentleman's and Farmer's Calendar,' London, 1718, 8vo; French translations (1723, 1743, 1756).
* 'Virtue and Use of Coffee with regard to the Plague and Contagious Distempers,' London, 1721, 8vo.
* 'Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature,' London (1721 and 1739), 8vo.
* 'Plague of Marseilles considered,' London, 1721, 8vo.
* 'New Experiments and Observations on the Generation of Plants,' 1724, 8vo.
* 'Treatise of Fallowing,' Edinburgh, 1724, 8vo.
* 'Survey of Ancient Husbandry and Gardening collected from Cato, Varro, Columella, &c.,' London, 1725, 8vo and several small treatises on gardening and agriculture.
Part II. of Cowell's 'Curious and Profitable Gardener, concerning the great American Aloe,' has been attributed with little reason to Bradley.
[Pulteney's Biog. Sketches of Botany (1790), ii. 129-33; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. i. 444-51, 709; Chalmers's Gen. Biog. Dict., new ed. vi. (1812), 415-16; Rees's Cyclop. v. art. 'Bradley'; Seguier's Bibl. Bot. 343-6; Haller's Bibl. Bot. ii. 133-7; Pritzel's Thesaurus, p. 31, id. ed. 2, p. 38.]
B. D. J.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bradley, George

​BRADLEY, GEORGE (1816–1863), journalist, was born at Whitby in Yorkshire in 1816, and apprenticed to a firm of printers in his native town. After being for several years a reporter on the 'York Herald' he was appointed editor of the 'Sunderland and Durham County Herald,' and about 1848 he became editor and one of the proprietors of the 'Newcastle Guardian.' He resided at Newcastle until his death on 14 Oct. 1863, being greatly respected, and for a considerable period an influential member of the town council. Bradley published 'A Concise and Practical System of Short-hand Writing, with a brief History of the Progress of the Art. Illustrated by sixteen engraved lessons and exercises,' London, 1843, 12mo. The system is a variation of Dr. Mavor's.
[Whitby Times, 23 Oct. 1863; Rockwell's Teaching, Practice, and Literature of Shorthand, 70.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bradley, Ralph

​BRADLEY, RALPH (1717–1788), conveyancing barrister, was a contemporary of James Booth [q. v.], who has been called the patriarch of modern conveyancing. Bradley was called to the bar by the society, of Gray's Inn, and practised at Stockton-on-Tees with great success for upwards of half a century, he is said to have managed the concerns of almost the whole county of Durham, and, ​though a provincial counsel, his opinions were everywhere received with the greatest respect. His drafts, like Booth's, were prolix to excess, but some of them were, to a very recent period, in use as precedents in the northern counties. He published (London, 1779) 'An Enquiry into the Nature of Property and Estates as defined by English Law, in which are considered the opinions of Mr. Justice Blackstone and Lord Coke concerning Real Property.' There was also published in 1804 in London 'Practical Points, or Maxims in Conveyancing, drawn from the daily experience of a late eminent conveyancer (Bradley), with critical observations on the various parts of a Deed by J. Ritson.' This was a collection of Bradley's notes on points of practice, and the technical minutiae of conveyancing as they were suggested in the course of his professional life. Ritson was a contemporary and fellow-townsman of Bradley. The latter by his will left a considerable sum (40,000l.) on trust for the purchase of books calculated to promote the interests of religion and virtue in Great Britain and the happiness of mankind. Lord Thurlow, by a decree in chancery, set aside the charitable disposition of Bradley in favour of his next of kin. Bradley died at Stockton-on-Tees on 28 Dec. 1788, and was buried in the parish church of Greatham, where a mural monument was erected to his memory on the north side of the chancel.
[Gent. Mag. vol. lviii. pt. ii. p. 1184; Davidson's Conveyancing, 4th ed. i. 7; Marvin's Legal Bibliograph, p. 141; Surtees's Hist. of Durham, iii. 140.]
R. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bradick, Walter

​BRADICK, WALTER (1706–1794), a merchant at Lisbon, was ruined by the earthquake which destroyed that city in 1765. Returning to England he bad the further misfortune to lose his eyesight, and in 1774, on the nomination of the queen, he was admitted to the Charterhouse, where he died on 19 Dec. 1794. He published, 1765, 'Choheleth, or the Royal Preacher,' a poem, and he was the author of 'several detached publications.' A contemporary record of his death affirms that 'Choheleth ' 'will be a lasting testimony to his abilities,' but it may be doubted whether the work is now extant.
[Information from the Master of Charterhouse; Gent. Mag., lxv. pt. i 83.]
J. M. S.