OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, William (1807-1880)

​MARTIN, Sir WILLIAM (1807–1880), scholar and first chief justice of New Zealand, son of Henry Martin, was born at Birmingham in 1807. He was educated at King Edward VI's School, Birmingham, and in 1826 went up to St. John's College, Cambridge, whence in 1829 he graduated as twenty-sixth wrangler and fourth classic, and took the second chancellor's medal. In 1831 he was elected a fellow of the college, in 1832 proceeded M.A., and in 1836 was called to the bar, resigning his fellowship in 1838. At college he had been a great friend of Selwvn, at whose instance in 1841 he accepted the office of chief justice of New Zealand. There he joined the bishop in a determined advocacy of the rights of the - natives ; but he acted with such discretion that no allegation of partiality was made against him by the British settlers. In 1847, when Lord Grey's instructions for the new constitution were received, he warmly supported Selwyn's protest against certain clauses as implying a breach of faith with the Maoris. He gave invaluable aid in the preparation of the early legislation of the colony, and helped the bishop, who always leaned on his advice, to frame a scheme of government for the colonial church. His health was always weak, and in August 1855 he returned to Europe on leave. After passing the winter of 1856-7 in Italy he resigned his office in June 1857. In 1858 the university of Oxford conferred on him the honorary degree of D.C.L., and the New Zealand government granted him a pension by special net. Three years later he was knighted. In 1859 he had returned to the colony, and settled at Auckland. In 1860 he declined, on the score of health, a seat on the new council for native affairs, but he did not ​relax his interest in native questions, and did his utmost to prevent the Maori war of 1861. His pamphlet in that year on 'the Taranaki Question' was admitted by his chief opponents to be 'the fullest and calmest exposition of the views of the friends of the Maoris.' Later he protested against the Native Settlement Acts of 1865, and issued his 'Notes on the best Method of working the Native Lands Acts.' In 1871 he helped Sir Donald Maclean [q. v.] to draft his Native Lands Bill. Having returned to England, he died at Torquay on 8 Nov. 1880. He married in 1841 Mary, daughter of the Rev. W. Parker, prebendary of St. Paul's.
Martin was admitted even by Herman Merivale, then under-secretary of state, to be 'a very remarkable man.' As a judge he was 'patient, just, sagacious, and firm,' and the governor, on his retirement in 1857, spoke in eulogistic terms of his great influence over both Europeans and natives.
Martin was an able linguist, well versed in Hebrew and Arabic and the Melanesian and Polynesian dialects, and in 1876-8 published in two vols. 'Inquiries concerning the Structure of the Semitic Languages,'
[Official records; Mennell's Dict. Austr. Biog.; Rusden's Hist. of New Zealand; Gisborne's Statesmen and Public Men of New Zealand.]
C. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, William (1767-1810)

​MARTIN, WILLIAM (1767–1810), naturalist, born at Marsfield, Nottinghamshire, in 1767, was the son of a hosier, a native of that town, who neglected his business, went on the stage for a time, and afterwards deserting his family repaired to London, where under the name of Joseph Booth he opened an exhibition of 'Polygraphic Paintings.' He died on 25 Feb. 1797 in Cumberland Gardens, Vauxhall (Gent. Mag. 1797, i. 167). Martin's mother (née Mallatratt) supported herself by acting, and educated her son at the best schools that her itinerant mode of life and straitened circumstances would allow. She quitted the stage after a theatrical career of more than twenty-six years in 1797. Martin when only five years old sang on the stage to the accompaniment of a German flute. When nine years old he delivered a lecture on 'Hearts' to several audiences at Buxton. In his twelfth year Martin began to take drawing lessons from James Bolton at Halifax, and from him he imbibed a taste for natural history. He was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1796. In 1797 he married a widow, Mrs. Adams, an actress who had resided with his mother, and quitting the stage set up as a drawing-master first at Burton-upon-Trent, and shortly after at Buxton, where he bought a fourth share in the theatre. In 1805 he was appointed drawing-master to the grammar school at Macclesfield, where he went to live. He appears also to have given drawing lessons in Manchester. He died at Macclesfield on 31 May 1810, leaving a widow, six children, and aged mother unprovided for. His widow was appointed librarian to the subscription library at Macclesfield. A son, William Charles Linnaeus Martin, is separately noticed.
He was author of : 1 . 'Figures and Descriptions of Petrifications collected in Derbyshire,' Nos. 1-4, 4to, Wigan, 1793, subsequently completed and issued under the title of 'Petrificata Derbiensia,' &c, vol. i. 4to, Wigan, 1809. 2. 'Outlines of an Attempt to establish a Knowledge of extraneous Fossils on Scientific Principles,' 2 pts. 8vo, Macclesfield, 1809. He also wrote an ' Account of some . . . Fossil Anomiæ' for the ' Transactions of the Linnean Society,' 1798, iv. 44-50; while two papers found among his manuscripts were published after his death : ' On the Localities of certain . . . Fossils ... in Derbyshire,' in 'Tilloch's Philosoph. Mag.' ​1812, xxxix. 81-5; 'Cursory Remarks on … Rotten Stone,' in 'Mem. Manchester Philosoph. Soc.' 1813, ii. 31&-27, reprinted in 'Nicholson's Journal,' xxxvi. 46-56.
[Monthly Mag. 1811, xxxii. 556-65; Gent. Mag. 1810, ii. 193; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Roy. Soc. Cat. of Scientific Papers.]
B. B. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, William (fl.1765-1821)

​MARTIN, WILLIAM (fl. 1765–1821), painter, was pupil and assistant to G. B. Cipriani, R.A. [q. v.], and appears to have resided for about twenty years or more in Cipriani's house. In 1766 he was awarded a gold palette for an historical painting by the Society of Arts. In 1775 he exhibited at the Royal Academy a portrait and 'Antiochus and Stratonice,' In the next nine years he contributed portraits, scenes from Shakespeare, or classical subjects. In 1791 he sent 'Lady Macduff surprised in her Castle of Fife,' and in 1797 and 1798 portraits. About 1800 he was engaged on decorative paintings at Windsor Castle, which occupied him some years. He was an exhibitor at the Royal Academy again in 1807, 1810, 1812, and 1816. In 1810 his name appears as 'Historical Painter to His Majesty.' In 1812 he was residing at Cranford in Middlesex, and was still living there in 1821 ; there is, however, no record of his death at that place.
Two of Martin's pictures in St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, 'The Death of Lady Jane Grey' and 'The Death of Queen Eleanor,' were engraved by F. Bartolozzi, R.A., who also engraved his 'Imogen's Chamber.' A picture of The Barons swearing the Charter of Liberties at Bury St. Edmunds,' now in the University Galleries at Oxford, was engraved in mezzotint by W. Ward. 'A Cottage Interior' was similarly engraved by Turner, and 'The Confidants' by J. Watson.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Catalogues of the Royal Academy.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin (d.1336)

Martin Alnwick in the ODNB.
​MARTIN of Alnwick (d. 1336), Franciscan, was a member of the Minorite convent at Oxford in 1300. He became D.D. and regent master of the Franciscan schools between 1300 and 1310. In 131 1 he was summoned to Avignon to take part on the controversy between the conventual and spiritual Franciscans, as one of the four advisers of the general minister. The dispute was tried by a commission of cardinals and theologians, and decided at the council of Vienne in favour of the better section of the conventuals. Martin pleaded the cause of the latter, and was eviuently one of the leading Franciscans of the time. Bale says that he died at Newcastle in 1336. He is said to have written a universal chronicle ; but that which is sometimes ascribed to him is the well-known chronicle of Martin us Polonus, friar preacher, with the continuation by Hermann Gygas ; (Arundel MS. Brit. Mus. 371, printed 1750). The 'Questiones Almoich in 1 et 2 Sententiarum,' now or formerly extant among the manuscripts in Bibliotheca S. Antonii, Padua (see Tomasin, Catalogue, a.d. 1039), are probably by Friar William of Alnwick.
[Monumenta Franciscana, vol. i. ; Wood's City of Oxford, ed. Clark, ii. 388 ; Archiv fur Litterntur und Kirchengesehichte des Mtttelalters, ii. 361, iii. 39, iv. 28 seq. ; Bale's Script, cent, v. 26.]
A. G. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martindale, Miles

​MARTINDALE, MILES (1756–1824), Wesleyan minister, son of Paul Martindale, was born in 1756 at Moss Bank, near St. Helens, Lancashire. He had as a youth only a slender education, but taught himself French, Latin, and Greek, the last in order that he might read the New Testament in the original. When quite young he was given to meditating on serious things, and as he grew up passed through various stages of doubt to firm belief. In 1776 he went to live at Liverpool, and in the following year was married to Margaret King. About the same time he became a methodist. From 1786 to 1789 he occupied himself as a local preacher, chiefly at Scorton in the Wirral district of Cheshire, where the people were ‘the most ignorant he ever laboured among.’ In 1789 he was received as a Wesleyan minister, and remained in the regular itinerancy twenty-seven years, when he was appointed governor of Woodhouse Grove School, Yorkshire (1816). In the conduct of that establishment he was eminently successful, and was thanked by the conference for his services.
He died of cholera on 6 Aug. 1824, while attending the Wesleyan conference at Leeds, leaving a widow, who died in 1840, and three daughters, one of whom married the Rev. John Farrar; another was the wife of the Rev. James Brownell; and the third became matron of Wesley College, Sheffield. His portrait is given in the ‘Wesleyan Magazine’ for August 1820.
He published, besides sermons: 1. ‘Elegy on the Death of Wesley,’ 1791. 2. ‘Britannia's Glory,’ a poem, 1793. 3. ‘Original Poems, Sacred and Moral,’ 1806. 4. ‘Grace and Nature, a Poem in twenty-four Cantos,’ translated from the French of the Rev. J. Fletcher, 1810. 5. ‘Dictionary of the Holy Bible,’ 1810, 2 vols. 6. ‘Essay on the Eloquence of the Pulpit,’ translated from the French of the Abbé Besplas, 1819.
[Arminian Mag. January and February 1797; Methodist Mag. 1825, p. 233; Wesleyan Takings, ii. 328; Slugg's Woodhouse Grove School, 1885; Minutes of Methodist Conferences, v. 472; Osborn's Wesleyan Bibliogr. p. 140.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Montfort, Henry of

​MONTFORT, HENRY of (1238–1265), eldest son of Simon of Montfort, earl of Leicester [q. v.], and his wife Eleanor of England, was born in Kenilworth Castle in December 1238 (Matt. Paris, Chron. Majora, iii. 518). Henry III was his godfather (ib. p. 498). He was partly brought up in the household of Bishop Grosseteste (Adam ​Marsh, Epp. pp. 110, 129, 163). In June 1252 he accompanied his father to Gascony (ib. p. 129). When the king's half-brothers were expelled from England in 1258, Henry of Montfort secretly followed them to Boulogne and stirred up his father's friends to besiege them there (Matt. Paris, Chron. Majora, v. 703). On 1 Jan. 1259 he was in France with his father, and with his own hand wrote his father's will (Bémont, Simon de Montfort, App. p. 330). On 13 Oct. 1260 he and his brother Simon [see Montfort, Simon, the younger] were knighted by their cousin, the king's son Edward [see Edward I, king of England], and afterwards went with him to a tournament in France (Flores Hist. ii. 456). In January 1264 Henry was one of the deputies sent to represent the barons at the Mise of Amiens (Halliwell, Notes to Rishanger, p. 122). When the Mise was set aside he commanded a body of troops despatched to secure the Welsh border. On 28 Feb. he stormed and sacked Worcester (Ann. Worc. p. 448), and soon afterwards took Gloucester, but on Edward's approach he made a truce with him and retired to Kenilworth (Ann. Dunstable, pp. 227-8: cf. Rishanger, p. 21). With his brother Guy [q.v.] he led the van at the battle of Lewes, 14 May 1264 (Hemingford, i. 315). After the victory, on 28 May, he was made constable of Dover Castle, governor of the Cinque ports, and treasurer of Sandwich (Fœdera, i. i. 441). In this capacity he gained the nickname of "the wool-merchant," by enforcing the prohibition laid by the new government on the export of wool so strictly that he was accused of seizing the wool for his own profit (Ann. Wykes, pp. 158-9). As constable of Dover he had for some time the custody of his captive cousin Edward (ib. p. 153). He fought and fell at Evesham, 4 Aug. 1265, by his father's side, and was buried with him in the neighbouring abbey.
K. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Montfort, Eleanor of

​MONTFORT, ELEANOR of (1252–1282), only daughter of Simon of Montfort, earl of Leicester [q. v.], and Eleanor his wife, seems to have been their youngest child, born at Kenilworth in October 1252 Adam Marsh, Epp. p. 262; cf. Green, Princesses, ii. 104). She went into exile in France with her mother about November 1265 (cf. Ann. Monast. iii. 259, and Green, ii. 149-51). In 1275 she was married by proxy to Llywelyn ab Gruffydd [q. v.], prince of Wales, to whom she had been betrothed before her father's death, and at the close of the year she set out with her ​ brother Almeric [q. v.] for Wales, but their ship was captured in the Bristol Channel on behalf of the English king (Anne. Monast. ii. 121, iii. 259, 266, iv. 266-7; Cant. Gerv. Cant. ii. 283; Cont. Will. Tyr. 1. ii. c. 22). Eleanor was imprisoned for a week at Bristol, and afterwards at Windsor (Green, Princesses, ii. 163-4) till 1278, when Llywelyn submitted to Edward I, and was married to her in Edward's presence at Worcester on 13 Oct. (Cont. Flor. Worc. ii. 219). In January 1281 Eleanor was at Windsor again, on a visit to the English court (Green, ii. 168); on 19 June 1282 she died, at the birth of a daughter, Gwenllian (Cont. Flor. Worc. ii. 226). The child, whose father was killed in battle shortly after, was brought to England 'in her cradle,' passed her whole life as a nun at Sempringham, and died there on 7 June 1337 (Brunne, Langtoft, ii. 243).
[Letters of Adam Marsh (Monumenta Franciscana, vol. i.), Continuation of Gervase of Canterbury, Annales Monastici, vols. ii. iii. iv., all in Rolls Ser.; Continuation of Florence of Worcester (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Robert of Brunne's translation of Peter of Langtoft, ed. Hearne; Mrs. Everett Green's Princesses of England, vol. ii. Three letters from Eleanor to Edward I are in Rymer's Fœdera, vol. i. pt. ii.]
K. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Montgomerie, Alexander de

Alexander Montgomery, first Lord Montgomery in the ODNB.
​MONTGOMERIE, Sir ALEXANDER de, of Ardrossan, first Lord Montgomerie (d. 1470?), was the eldest son of Sir John Montgomerie of Eaglesham, Eglinton, and Ardrossan, by his wife Agnes, daughter of Alexander, earl of Ross, lord of the Isles. His grandfather, Sir John Montgomerie (d. 1398?), is separately noticed. The father was a hostage for the Earl of Douglas in 1408, a hostage for James I in 1423, and one of the jury on the trial of Murdac, duke of Albany, in 1425. In 1425 the son was chosen a member of the privy council of James I. He succeeded his father some time before 22 Nov. 1429, and in August 1430 he was, jointly with his brother-in-law, Sir Robert Cunningham of Kilmaurs, appointed governor of Cantyre and Knapdale. On 30 Nov. 1436 he was appointed a commissioner to conclude a treaty with England (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, iv. 1103), and he was one of the conservators of the truce concluded on 31 March for nine years (ib. p. 1111). With the other Scottish commissioners he received the present of a silver cup from Henry VI (ib. p. 1109). On 5 Feb. 1444 he had a safe-conduct to go to Durham to treat for the extension of the truce and the return of the Scottish hostages (ib. p. 1162).
In 1444 Montgomerie was appointed keeper of Brodick Castle in the Isle of Arran (Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, v. 163). He was one of those who set their seals to instruments passed by the parliament held at Perth on 9 June 1445 against those lords who had rebelled against James II. He was created a lord of parliament by the title of Lord Montgomerie some time before 3 July 1445 (Acta Parl. Scot. ii. 59; Hist. MSS. Comm. 11th Rep. pt. vi. p. 16). On 31 Jan. 1448-9 he had a grant of the office of bailiary of Cunningham. On 14 Aug. 1451 he was a conservator for a truce with England (Cal. ​Documents relating to Scotland, iv. 1239), and in subsequent years he was sent to England on various other important embassies. He died about 1470. By his wife Margaret, second daughter of Sir Thomas Boyd of Kilmarnock, father of the first Lord Boyd, he had three, or possibly four sons and three daughters: Alexander, master of Montgomerie, who died in 1452, leaving by his wife Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Adam Hepburn of Hales a son, Alexander, second lord Montgomerie, father of Hugh, first earl of Eglinton [q. v.]; George, ancestor of the Montgomeries of Skelmorlie; Thomas, parson of Eaglesham, and rector of the university of Glasgow; John of Giffen (doubtful); Margaret, married to Sir John Stewart of Darnley, who was created Lord Darnley, and for a time was titular Earl of Lennox; Elizabeth, to John, lord Kennedy, seventh earl of Cassillis; and Agnes, to William Cunningham of Glengarnock.
[Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, vol. iv.; Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, vol. ii.; Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. vol. i.; Sir William Fraser's Earls of Eglinton; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 495-6.]
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ledwich, Edward

​LEDWICH, EDWARD (1738–1823), antiquary, son of John Ledwich, a merchant, was born in Dublin 1738. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, 22 Nov. 1755, and graduated B. A. 1760, LL.B. 1763. He became a priest in the established church, was instituted vicar of Aghaboe, Queen's County, in 1772, and resided in the parish till 1797, living on very friendly terms with his three thousand parishioners, all of whom were farmers or labourers or artisans, and a majority Roman catholics. He devoted his leisure to the study of Irish antiquities, and in 1781 published in No. ix. of Vallancey's 'Collectanea' the ' History and Antiquities of Irishtown and Kilkenny.' This account of the capital of Ossory and its suburb was reprinted in 1804, and contains many details of the official tenures of the Shees and other magnates of Kilkenny, but is of little general historical interest. His 'Antiquities of Ireland,' published in 1790, with a second edition in 1804, attracted much attention, because it described many interesting places and roused indignation from the paradoxes it maintained about St. Patrick and other ecclesiastics. Ledwich sent the sheets for correction to Richard Gough [q. v.], and his correspondence with Gough is printed in Nichols's 'Lit. Illustrations,' vii. 843-56. The work was attacked by Dr. John Lanigan [q. v.] in his ' Ecclesiastical History.' Ledwich was ignorant of the Irish language {Account of Aghaboe, pp. 26, 30), and his hypotheses as to the builders of ancient edifices would never have been advanced by any one who had consulted the manuscript authorities, then only accessible in the native language. The illustrations are at the present day the only useful part of the book. He knew Captain Francis Grose [q. v.], and in 1791 edited his 'Antiquities of Ireland,' a work of which the present value is that its plates preserve evidence of the actual state of ruins a century ago. In 1796 he published in Dublin 'A Statistical Account of the Parish of Aghaboe.' This is his best work, and gives an interesting picture of the state of civilisation in an Irish agricultural district lving upon the main road from Dublin to Limerick. Carts with solid wheels and rude implements were used, but he shows that it was in the power of every cottar to save 10l. a year, and adds that by doing so he had known many of them arrive at opulence. He himself built an improved limelkiln, and thus aided the general cultivation of the tenants of the glebe. In 1797 he removed to Dublin, where he died at 19 York Street on 8 Aug. 1823.
Ledwich must be distinguished from Edward Ledwich, who was preoendary of Christ Church, Dublin, from 1749 to 1781, became archdeacon of Kildare in 1765, dean of Kildare 1772, and died in 1782 (Cotton, Fasti, ii. 239, 247).
[Works; Webb's Compendium of Irish Biography; W. Harrison's Memorable Dublin Houses; Gent. Mag. 1823, ii. 278.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Leatham, William Henry

​LEATHAM, WILLIAM HENRY (1816–1889), verse-writer and member of parliament, born at Wakefield on 6 July 1815, was second of nine children of William Leatham, banker, and author of 'Letters on the Currency' (London, 1840). A sister became the wife of the Right Hon. John Bright, another of Joseph Gurney Barclay, the banker. His family had long been quakers, and William Henry was educated at Bruce Grove, Tottenham, and under a classical tutor. At nineteen he entered his father's bank at Wakefield, and in the following year (1835) made a tour on the continent. His first published work was a volume of poems (1840), one of which, 'A Traveller's Thoughts, or Lines suggested by a Tour on the Continent in the Summer of 1835.' somewhat in the manner of 'Childe Harold.' re-appeared in 1841.
As early as 1832 Leatham assisted in the return of the first member — a liberal — for Wakefield. In July 1852 he contested the town in the liberal interest, and was defeated. At the general election of 1859, after a contest of unparalleled severity, he was returned by three votes, but was unseated on petition. Both Leatham and the defeated candidate were prosecuted for bribery, but a nolle prosequi was ultimately entered by the Government. In 1865 Leatham was returned or the town free of expense, and presented with a testimonial by 8,700 non-electors. He did not offer Jiimself for re-election in 1868, but in 1880 was returned for the South-west Riding of Yorkshire. He died suddenly at Carlton, near Pontefract, on 14 Nov. 1889, leaving six sons and one daughter.
He married in 1839 Priscilla, daughter of Samuel Gurney [q. v.] of Upton, Essex, and then settled at Sandal, near Wakefield, the subject of his poem, 'Sandal in the Olden Time.' A few years after their marriage Leatham and his wife formally joined the church of England, purchasing in 1851 Hemsworth Hall, now in the possession of their eldest son, Mr. Samuel Gurney Leatham.
Besides the work already mentioned Leatham published in verse: 1. 'The Victim, a Tale of the Lake of the Four Cantons.' 1841. 2. 'The Siege of Granada,' 1841. 3. 'Strafford, a Tragedy.' 1842. 4. 'Henry Clifford and Margaret Percy, a Ballad of Bolton Abbey.' 5. 'Emilia Monteiro, a Ballad of the Old Hall, Heath.' 1843. 6. 'The Widow and the Earl, a Tale of Sharlston Hall.' 7. 'Cromwell, a Drama in five Acts.' 1843. 8. 'The Batuecas.' 1844. 9. 'Montezuma,' 1845. 10. 'Life hath many Mysteries.' &c, 1847. 11. 'Selections from Lesser Poems.' 1855. A later volume of 'Selections' was published in 1879. Leatham also wrote in prose two volumes of 'Lectures' delivered at literary and mechanics' institutes, 1845 and 1849, and 'Tales of English Life and Miscellanies.' 2 vols. 1858. These and many of the poems were first issued in local journals.
[Wakefield Express, 16 Sept. 1889; Smith's Catalogue; information from Mr. S. Or. Leatham.]
C. F. S.