OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richard of Ely (d.1194?)

​RICHARD of Ely (d. 1194?), historian, was a monk of Ely who may probably be identified with the Richard who was sent by the monks of Ely to Rome bearing a letter to Pope Eugenius (1149–1154), against the clerk Henry, son of the archdeacon of Ely. He is therein described as a man of good life who had been from boyhood a monk of Ely. He became prior in 1177, and died in or before 1194.
Richard was author of an account of Ely which is not known to be extant. Many quotations from it are incorporated in the ‘Liber Eliensis’ by Thomas of Ely (fl. 1170) [q. v.], who acknowledges his indebtedness to Richard. Wharton also credits Richard with the authorship of ‘Continuatio Historiæ Eliensis ab anno 1107 ad annum 1169,’ which he printed in his ‘Anglia Sacra,’ but it is really an epitome of Richard's work by a writer who acknowledges his indebtedness. Tanner ascribes to Richard a volume of sermons beginning ‘Ascendet sicut virgultum coram,’ and a volume of songs and of familiar epistles, referring to No. 169 of Boston of Bury's ‘Catalogue.’
M. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richard of Hexham

​RICHARD of Hexham (fl. 1141), chronicler and prior of Hexham, was a canon of the Augustinian priory of Hexham, Yorkshire, in 1138 (Brevis Annotatio, ii. c. 9). When the prior, Robert Biset, left Hexham to become a monk of Clairvaux in 1141, Richard was elected to succeed him (John of Hexham, cc. 13, 14). In 1152, during his priorate, Henry Murdac [q. v.], archbishop of York, visited the priory and endeavoured to introduce a stricter discipline (ib. cc. 24, 25). In 1154 Richard translated certain relics belonging to his church. He was dead when Aelred or Ethelred (1109?–1166) [q. v.] wrote his book on Hexham. Aelred says that from his youth his life was honourable and worthy of veneration, and that in respect of chastity and sobriety it was almost monastic, which is high praise from such a quarter (Aelred, p. 193). He wrote: (1) An account of the early history of Hexham, entitled ‘Brevis Annotatio … Ricardi prioris Hagulstadensis ecclesiæ de antiquo et moderno statu ejusdem ecclesiæ,’ &c., in two books, down to about 1140. It is for the most part a short compilation from the works of Bede, Eddi, and Symeon of Durham, and is written in a stiff and dry style; but the author's work is careful, and becomes more vigorous in expression when he deals with his own time (Raine). It is in two manuscripts, one in the public library at Cambridge (Ff. i. 27), of the twelfth or early thirteenth century; the other belonging to the church of York (Ebor. xvi.), of the fourteenth century. In the York manuscript there are some trifling omissions, and there are no headings to the chapters; but it contains a list of the possessions of the priory (ib.) The ‘Brevis Annotatio’ is printed in Twysden's ‘Decem Scriptores,’ and by Canon Raine in ‘The Priory of Hexham, its Chroniclers,’ &c., for the Surtees Society. (2) ‘De gestis regis Stephani et de bello Standardii,’ a history of the reign of Stephen, 1135–9, and specially of the ‘Battle of the Standard,’ which took place on 22 Aug. 1138. This is a work of great value, carefully written, and giving an interesting account of affairs in the north during the early years of the reign, and of the battle itself. In it he quotes a couplet by Hugh Sottovagina or Sottewain, precentor or archdeacon of York, apparently from a poem on the battle, of which no other lines are known to exist (Historians of York, ii. preface, p. xiii). This history is the only place in which is found the letter of Innocent II confirming Stephen in his possession of the throne; and it also preserves some extracts of a letter of the pope concerning the schism. It is found only in C.C.C. Cambr. MS. (193, f. 3), and has been printed by Twysden (u.s.), by Canon Raine (u.s.), and by Mr. Howlett in ‘Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II,’ &c., vol. iii. in the Rolls Series. It has been translated by Stevenson in ‘Church Historians.’ Richard also designed to write the lives and miracles of Acca [q. v.] and other Hexham bishops, but it is not known whether he did so. There is a valueless life of Eata with the ‘Brevis Annotatio’ in MS. Ebor. xvi., which may be his work.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parkhurst, Nathaniel

​PARKHURST, NATHANIEL (1643–1707), divine, was born in Ipswich in 1643 of religious parents. His father was captain or master of a ship, and he himself was intended for a sea life, but, showing an aptitude for study, was sent to Queens' College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. 1660, M.A. 1664. He was instituted to the vicarage of Yoxford, Suffolk, in 1665, on the presentation of Lady Elizabeth Brooke [q. v.] of Cockfield Hall, Suffolk, to whom he acted as chaplain, and at whose funeral he preached ​a sermon, printed under the title of ‘The faithful and diligent Christian described and exemplified’ (London, 1684). He also wrote, dated 3 June 1673, a testimony to the extraordinary ability of William Wotton [q. v.], as a child, published by his father, Henry Wotton, minister of Wrentham, Suffolk, 1680 (reprinted 1752), as well as a ‘life’ of his near neighbour and friend William Burkitt [q. v.] of Dedham (London, 1704), and preached a funeral sermon on him at Dedham on 9 Nov. 1703, published, n.d. Parkhurst died at Yoxford on 8 Dec. 1707, and was buried in the nave of his church, where an inscription to his memory records that he had been vicar for forty-two years. His funeral sermon, dedicated to Priscilla, his widow, was published, with some remarks on his life, by S. J., London, 1708, 12mo.
Parkhurst is described as of consistent cheerfulness, opposed to gloomy religion, and of great humility, leading an essentially pastoral life. Besides the above works and some religious tracts, Parkhurst published funeral sermons on Rev. Samuel Fairclough [see under Fairclough, Samuel, 1594–1677] (London, 1692), Thomas Neale (1705), the Rev. Mr. G. Jones (1705), together with ‘Ten Select Discourses,’ London, 1706, and ‘Eleven Select Discourses,’ London, 1707. Four of the last collection were previously published ‘for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns, near Mercers Chappel in Cheapside, 1706.’
[Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Grad. Cantabr. 1659–1823, p. 356; manuscript notes in the Brit. Mus. copy of the Redeemer's Friend, the Sermon on Fairclough; Darling's Encyclopædia; Funeral Sermon by S. J. in Dr. Williams's Library; Wilford's Memorials of Eminent Persons, pp. 218–222, app. 18.]
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parkin, Charles

​PARKIN, CHARLES (1689–1765), antiquary, son of William Parkin of London, was born on 11 Jan. 1689, and educated at Merchant Taylors' School, whence he proceeded in 1708 to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. 1711, M.A. 1717. Entering holy orders, he became rector of Oxburgh, Norfolk, in 1717, and assisted Francis Blomefield [q. v.], the county historian, in describing that and the adjoining parishes. In 1744 he engaged in a controversy with Dr. Stukeley as to the antiquity and imagery of the cell at Royston, then lately discovered, provoking a somewhat contemptuous rejoinder, to which he replied with much spirit. After the death of Blomefield in 1752, when about halfway through his third volume, Parkin undertook the completion of his unfinished ‘History of Norfolk,’ and the fourth and fifth volumes of that work (in the original folio edition of five volumes, completed in 1775) are described as from his pen. According to Craven Ord, however, the last sheets were finished by some bookseller's hack employed by Whittingham of Lynn. Parkin died on 27 Aug. 1765, and by his will (dated 17 June 1759) bequeathed a considerable sum of money to his old college for the foundation of exhibitions to be held by scholars from Merchant Taylors' and from the free school at Bowes, Yorkshire, which had been founded by his uncle, William Hutchinson of Clement's Inn.
Parkin wrote:
* ‘An Answer to, or Remarks upon, Dr. Stukeley's “Origines ​Roystonianæ,”’ London, 1744, 4to.
* ‘A Reply to the … Objections brought by Dr. Stukeley,’ Norwich, 1748, 4to.
* ‘The Topography of Freebridge Hundred and Half in Norfolk, containing the History and Antiquities of the Borough of King's Lynn, and of the Towns, Villages, and Religious Buildings in that Hundred and Half … also an account … of all Rectories and Vicarages,’ London, 1762, fol. (reprinted from vol. iv. of Blomefield and Parkin's ‘History of Norfolk’).
[Robinson's Register of Merchant Taylors' School; Admission Register of Pembroke Hall; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ix. 409, 424; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Wilson's Hist. of Merchant Taylors' School.]
C. J. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parkinson, Anthony

​PARKINSON, ANTHONY, in religion Cuthbert (1667–1728), Franciscan friar, born in 1667, was engaged in missionary work in England in 1693. He was president of his order at Birmingham in 1698, and at Warwick in 1701; guardian at Worcester in 1704, and at Oxford in 1710; and was elected provincial on 3 May 1713. At the chapter held on 9 May 1716 the thanks of the province were voted to him ‘pro collectione et impressione Statutorum pro Missionariis Provinciæ nostræ in Anglia degentibus.’ Father Lewis Sabran, S.J., writing from Rome on 8 May 1723, says: ‘The friars began their general congregation this morning, between five and six hundred having a voice in it. The English provincial, F. Parkinson, arrived hither very dangerously ill; but I found him yesterday well recovered, though very weak.’ The Oxford antiquary, Thomas Hearne, notes in his diary, 4 June 1726: ‘On Thursday last, in the afternoon, called upon me, Father Cuthbert Parkinson, who came from East Hendred, in Berks, on purpose to see me. His nephew, Mr. Fetherstone, came along with him, and yesterday I spent the greater part of the day with them. … He is a very learned worthy man, and of an excellent good-natured temper’ (Reliquiæ Hearnianæ, 2nd edit. ii. 245). Parkinson died in England on 30 Jan. 1727–8.
He was the author of ‘Collectanea Anglo-Minoritica, or a Collection of the Antiquities of the English Franciscans, or Friers Minors, commonly call'd Gray Friers. In two parts. With an appendix concerning the English nuns of the order of St. Clare. Compil'd and collected by A. P.,’ London, 1726, 4to. The second volume, or part, contains an account of the colleges and churches of the Franciscans ‘heretofore in England.’ Parkinson informed Hearne that he compiled this work by the help of books in the study of Charles Eyston, esq., of East Hendred.
Lowndes notices under his name a work thus described: ‘A Legend of the Foundation of St. Begas Abbey.’ White, 1826. Privately printed, only 12 copies. Wrangham.
[Oliver's Catholic Religion in Cornwall, p. 557; Lowndes's Bibl. Brit. (Bohn), p. 1779.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parkhurst, Thomas

​PARKHURST, THOMAS (1629?–1707?), bookseller, was bound apprentice to John Clarke, bookseller in London in 1645. He was made a freeman of the Stationers' Company on 3 July 1654, was admitted to the livery of the company on 2 May 1664, served as underwarden in 1689, and elected master in 1703, when he gave the company 37l. to purchase annually twenty-five bibles with psalms. Hence arose the custom of giving a bible to each apprentice bound at Stationers' Hall.
He was in business in 1667 at the Golden Bible on London Bridge, and in 1685, and later, at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside. John Dunton was apprenticed to him in 1674, and in his ‘Life and Errors’ characterises his ‘honoured master’ as the ‘most eminent presbyterian bookseller in the three kingdoms,’ ‘a religious and a just man,’ and as ‘scrupulously honest in all his dealings, a good master, and very kind to all his relations.’ He was on friendly terms with the chief presbyterian divines of his day, particularly with John Howe and Matthew Henry, and published some of their works.
Among other books he issued N. Billingsley's ‘Treasury of Divine Raptures,’ 1667; ‘The History of Moderation,’ ascribed to R. Braithwait, 1669; H. Newcome's ‘Help in Sickness,’ 1685, and ‘Discourse on Anger,’ 1693; R. Baxter's ‘Poetical Fragments,’ 3rd edit., 1699; and the first edition of Matthew Henry's ‘Exposition.’
The last notice of his name in the books of the Stationers' Company is in October 1707, when he bound apprentice Parkhurst Smith.
[Dunton's Life and Errors, 1818, i. 39, 205; Rivington's Records of the Stationers' Company (in Arber's Transcripts, vol. v.); Corser's Collect. Anglo-Poetica (Chetham Soc.), i. 225, 280, 452; Williams's Mem. of Matthew Henry, 1828, p. 303; information kindly supplied by Mr. C. R. Rivington, clerk to the Stationers' Company.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parkins

​PARKINS. [See also Parkyns and Perkins.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Riddle, Edward

​RIDDLE, EDWARD (1788–1854), mathematician and astronomer, son of John Riddell, an agricultural labourer, was born at Troughend in Northumberland, where he received his early education. He afterwards attended a school at Otterburn on Reedwater, about two miles from Troughend, and there his enthusiasm for science was stimulated by a local scientific celebrity, James Thompson. While he was still a boy, Riddle opened a school of his own at Otterburn. In 1807 he removed to Whitburn in Durham, and in 1810 began contributing to the ‘Ladies' Diary,’ winning in 1814 and 1819 the prizes given by the editor, Dr. Hutton. It was through the latter that, in September 1814, Riddle was appointed master of the Trinity House School, Newcastle-on-Tyne. While here he made an extensive series of observations to ascertain the longitude of the school and the trustworthiness of certain lunar observations. In September 1821, again through Dr. Hutton, he was appointed master of the upper mathematical school, Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich, where he remained till September 1851. His abilities as a nautical educator were highly appreciated by the admiralty. After his retirement his bust in marble was publicly presented to him by a large number of friends (Illustrated London News, 29 May 1852).
Riddle was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, to whose ‘Transactions’ he contributed several valuable papers, and from 1825 to 1851 was an active member of the council. He died from paralysis at Greenwich on 31 March 1854. His son John (1816–1862) was headmaster of Greenwich Hospital schools, and examiner in navigation to the science and art department.
Riddle's most valuable work was a ‘Treatise on Navigation and Nautical Astronomy,’ 1824; 4th edit. 1842; 8th edit. 1864, forming a complete course of mathematics for sailors, and combining practice and theory in just proportion, which was not usually done at that time in books of this class; the tables of logarithms were issued separately in 1841 and 1851. He re-edited Hutton's ‘Mathematical Recreations,’ 1840, 1854. He also published some sixteen papers on astronomical subjects, of which eight are in the ‘Philosophical Magazine,’ 1818–22, 1826, 1828, five in ‘Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society,’ 1829, 1830, 1833, 1840, 1842, and three in ‘Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,’ 1833–9, 1845–7 (see Roy. Soc. Cat. Scientific Papers). The most important are those on chronometers (in which the author shows how to find the rates without the help of a transit instrument) (cf. Phil. Mag. 1818; Mem. Royal Astronomical Soc. 1829); ‘On the Present State of Nautical Astronomy’ (Phil. Mag. 1821, and published separately); ‘On a Simplification of Ivory's Solution of the Double​altitude Problem’ (Phil. Mag. 1822); and ‘On the Longitude of Madras’ (Mem. Royal Astronomical Soc. 1842), a paper containing valuable formulæ and remarks.
W. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Riddell, John

​RIDDELL, JOHN (1785–1862), peerage lawyer, born in 1785, was eldest son of Henry Riddell of Little Govan, a scion of the ancient family of Riddell in Roxburghshire [see under Riddell, Robert]. His mother was Anne, eldest daughter of John Glassford of Dougalston, by Anne, daughter of Sir John Nisbet of Dean. Educated for the law, Riddell was called to the Scottish bar in 1807. He made genealogy and Scottish peerage law his special study, and rose to pre-eminence in that branch of the profession. Among other legal work he prepared the Crawford and Montrose peerage cases for Lord Lindsay. He loved genealogical research for its own sake, and Sir Walter Scott, who alludes in the ‘Lay of the Last Minstrel’ (canto i.) to ‘Ancient Riddell's fair domain,’ described him as the only man from whose exclusive store of learning could be gathered an adequate notion of the state of society in Scotland in the age preceding the Reformation. He died unmarried at his house in Melville Street, Edinburgh, on 8 Feb. 1862. He was buried in the Dean cemetery there. He left a number of manuscripts which, in terms of his will, were acquired by the Advocates' and Signet Libraries, Edinburgh.
Riddell's works were: 1. ‘The Saltfoot Controversy, with a Reply; also an Appendix containing some Remarks on the present State of the Lyon Office,’ Edinburgh, 8vo, 1818. 2. ‘Reply to the Mis-statements of Dr. Hamilton of Bardowie respecting the Descent of his Family; with Remarks on the Claim of the Lennoxes of Woodhead to the Male Representation and Honours of the Original Earls of Lennox,’ Edinburgh, 1828. 3. ‘Remarks upon Scottish Peerage Law, with special Reference to the Case of the Earldom of Devon,’ 8vo, 1833, Edinburgh. 4. ‘Tracts, Legal and Historical; containing (1) Reply to Mr. Tytler's Historical Remarks on the Death of Richard II; (2) Observations upon the Representation of the Rusky and Lennox Families, and other Points in Mr. Napier's Memoirs of Merchiston; (3) Remarks upon the Law of Legitimation per subsequens matrimonium; the Nature of our English Canons and the Legitimacy of the Stewarts,’ Edinburgh, 1835, 8vo. 5. ‘Additional Remarks upon the Question of the Lennox or Rusky Representation, and other Topics,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1835. 6. ‘Inquiry into the Law and Practice in Scottish Peerages before and after the Union, involving the Questions of Jurisdiction and Forfeitures; with an Exposition of our original Consistorial Law,’ 2 vols. 8vo, 1842, Edinburgh; this, which is based on No. 3, is the standard work on its subject. 7. ‘Stewartiana; being more about the Case of Robert II, and his Issue,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1843. 8. ‘Comments in Refutation of Pretensions as to the Representation of the ancient Stirlings of Calder: a Review of “The Stirlings of Keir,”’ 4to, Edinburgh, 1860.
H. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Riddell, James (1823-1866)

​RIDDELL, JAMES (1823–1866), classical scholar, born on 8 June 1823, was the eldest son of James Riddell (1796–1878), M.A. of Balliol College, rector of Easton, Hampshire, by Dorothy, daughter of John Foster, esq., of Leicester Grange, Warwickshire. After spending seven years at Mr. Browne's school at Cheam, Surrey, Riddell entered Shrewsbury school in 1838 as a pupil of Dr. Kennedy. He gained a scholarship at Balliol in November 1840, and, leaving Shrewsbury as head boy in 1841, he began residence in Oxford in the Michaelmas term of that year. He was placed in the first class in literæ humaniores with Thomas Arnold and Goldwin Smith. In the same year he was elected fellow of Balliol, serving his college as lecturer or tutor till his death. Probably few college tutors have exercised a happier influence on their pupils. He was classical examiner in 1858–9, classical moderator in 1865–6, and senior proctor and select preacher in 1862. He died at Tunbridge Wells on 14 Sept. 1866.
Riddell's fine scholarship was widely recognised. He was invited by the delegates of the university press to edit the Odyssey for their Oxford series; and Professor Jowett, who then contemplated an edition of Plato, entrusted to him the Apology, Crito, Phædo, and Symposium. Both of these works were left incomplete. His commentary on Odyssey, i.–xii., for which he had made large preparations, was ​pleted by his friend and pupil, Rev. W. W. Merry, D.D. (Clarendon Press, 1st edit. 1876). Of his work on Plato he lived to finish only the ‘Apology.’ It was printed after his death at the Clarendon Press in 1867. In the same volume appeared a ‘Digest of Platonic Idioms,’ which he left behind him, founded on a minute examination of the whole of Plato's works. The happy combination of a profound sympathy with the genius of the Greek language, a strictly scientific method, and an exhaustive study of his author, has given the ‘Digest’ a unique position among works of modern scholarship. His thorough familiarity with the Platonic style, and his instinctive appreciation of subtle laws of thought and expression in what is apparently anomalous, are recognised as indispensable aids for the explanation of the ‘Dialogues,’ and for the criticism of the text. His exceptional felicity in Greek and Latin verse composition is shown in various translations, redolent of the classic spirit, in the ‘Anthologia Oxoniensis’ and in ‘Sabrinæ Corolla.’ These have been collected, with additions, in a small volume of ‘Reliquiæ Metricæ’ (Oxford and London, 1867).
W. W. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Riddell, Thomas

​RIDDELL, Sir THOMAS (d. 1652), royalist, was the third son of Sir Thomas Riddell of Gateshead, and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Coniers of Sochburne, Durham (Surtees, Durham, ii. 128; Foster, Durham Pedigrees). The father was recorder and sheriff of Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1601, mayor in 1604 and 1616, and represented the borough of Newcastle-on-Tyne in the three parliaments of 1620–1, 1625, and 1627–8. He was, like his son, with whom ​he is often confused, a recusant and a royalist (see several references to his recusancy in the Diary of Ambrose Barnes, Surtees Soc. vol. 1.) Along with his son, he was ordered by the House of Commons to be sent for in custody in November 1644 (Commons' Journ. iii. 700), was admitted to his composition as a delinquent royalist on 9 July 1649 (Cal. of Committee for Compounding, p. 2037), and died on 30 March 1650 (see Hist. MSS. Comm. 10th Rep. iv. 234, 13th Rep. i. 1).
The son Thomas in March 1640 was elected, along with Sir Peter Riddell, to represent Newcastle in the Short parliament (cf. Cal. State Papers, Domestic, ccccxlix. 30, 30 March 1640; Return of Members, i. 482). He attempted to raise Newcastle against the Scots in 1640 (Diary of Ambrose Barnes, pp. 330, 336), and subsequently became colonel of a regiment in the royalist army, was knighted, and appointed governor of Tynemouth Castle. Thence he made an unsuccessful sally in support of the Duke of Newcastle on 9 March 1643–4 (State Papers, Dom. Car. I, D i. 13). When the parliamentary forces gained possession of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Riddell was summoned, in October 1644, to yield up Tynemouth, but refused (Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. p. 33a). A year later he surrendered the castle to Leslie (Lord Leven) on honourable terms (State Papers, Dom. Car. I, D xi. 30, 26 Oct. 1645). He does not appear to have compounded for his estates, for on 13 March 1648–9 his name was added to the list of delinquents to be subjected to confiscation (Cal. of Committee for Compounding, p. 139; cf. Commons' Journals, vi. 498, 594). In the following November, 1650, an order was issued for his arrest (2 Nov.), and on the 10th another order in parliament was made that the council of state should prevent his going into the northern parts (Council Books, I. 88, p. 49). Riddell died at Antwerp, and was buried in the church of St. Jacques in 1652. He married, on 13 April 1629, Barbara, daughter of Sir Alexander Davison of Blakiston, Durham, widow of Ralph Calverley (for his descendants see Surtees, Durham).
W. A. S.