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

​GREY, ANCHITELL (d. 1702), compiler of 'Debates of the House of Commons,' belonged to the Greys of Groby, being the second son of Henry, first earl of Stamford [q. v.], by his wife, Anne Cecil, youngest daughter and coheiress of William, earl of Exeter (Collins, Peerage, ed. Brydges, iii. 359). He was a younger brother of Thomas, lord Grey of Groby (1623?-1657) [q. v.], and was therefore probably not born before 1624. He was one of the commissioners for the associated county of Dorset who attended upon Prince Charles at Bridgewater, Somersetshire, on 23 April 1645 (Clarendon, Hist. ed. 1849, iv. 21). He was elected for Derby on 16 Feb. 1664-5 in the place of Roger Allestry, deceased, was not returned at the election of 1685, but sat in the Convention of January 1688-9 and in the parliament of March 1689-90 (Lists of Members of Parliament, Official Return of, pt. i.) In 1681 he was deputy-lieutenant for Leicestershire. He acted as chairman of several parliamentary committees, and deciphered Edward Coleman's letters for the use of the house. He took notes of the debates for his own convenience, which were collected and printed as 'Debates of the House of Commons from 1667 to 1694,' 10 vols. 8vo, London, 1769.
Grey was present at nearly all the transactions which he describes. A few were communicated to him by members, whom he generally names. His work was mentioned with approbation from the chair of the House of Commons by Speaker Onslow, who had had occasion to refer to it when still in manuscript. Onslow, in a note in Burnet's 'Own Time' (Oxford ed. ii. 109), states that some part of the work 'was made by Mr. Richard May, recorder of and member for Chichester.' Grey died at Risley, Derbyshire, in June or July 1702 (Luttrell, Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs, 1857, v. 194), and was buried by his wife in the neighbouring church of Little Wilne. By his wife, Anne (d. 1688), widow of Sir Thomas Aston, bart., of Aston, Cheshire, and daughter and coheiress of Sir Henry Willoughby, bart., of Risley, Derbyshire, he had a son, Willoughby, who died unmarried in 1701, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who died, also unmarried, in 1721. Miss Grey largely increased in 1718 the endowment of the three schools at Risley founded by her ancestor, Sir Michael Willoughby, in 1583. She had previously supplied two residences, one for the Latin master and one for the English master (Lysons, Magna Britannia, v. 249-51; will proved in April 1722, P. C. C. 73, Marlborough).
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Coloribus, John de

​COLORIBUS, JOHN de (fl. 1525), Dominican friar, was a foreigner by birth. He graduated B.D. at Oxford in 1511, D.D. in 1517, and for several years lectured on theology in that university (Wood, Fasti, ed. Bliss, i. 46 ; Boase, Register of the Univ. of Oxford, i. 78). Afterwards he became a favourite of Cardinal Wolsey, who selected him as one of the learned doctors of the university appointed to write against Luther. In 1525 the cardinal made him a member of his newly founded college of Christ Church, 'but in what capacity,' says Wood, 'I know not' (Athenæ Oxon. i. 47). He wrote 'Tractatus contra Doctrinam M. Lutheri,' 1521 (Dodd, Church Hist. i. 231).
[Authorities cited above.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Colman, Walter

​COLMAN, WALTER (d. 1645), poet, was descended from an ancient family in Staffordshire. His parents, being Roman catholics, sent him to the English college at Douay, Flanders, and he subsequently studied in France. He then returned to England, but afterwards returned to Douay, and entered the convent of the English Franciscans of the Strict Observance. Soon after being ordained priest he was sent to the mission. On landing he was apprehended and searched, and beingfound to be without a shirt, according to the rule of his order, he was exposed to much ridicule. In the end he was committed to prison for refusing to take the oath of allegiance; but he procured his release through the influence of friends and money, and served the mission for several years. Being again apprehended, he was, after a long imprisonment, brought to trial at the Old Bailey, with six other priests, in December 1641, and received sentence of death. By the favour of Charles I he was reprieved from time to time, and he died a lingering death in Newgate in 1645, 'continuis aerumnis et loci psedore extinctus, prse media et squalore in carcere.' There is a fine engraved portrait of him in the 'Certamen Seraphicum.'
Colman is the author of a poem in 262 stanzas, entitled 'La Dance Machabre, or Deaths Duell, by W. C.,' London [1632 or 1633], sm. 8vo. The dedication to Henrietta Maria, consort of King Charles I, is in French. This is a work of great rarity, only three or four copies being known to exist.
[Brydges's Brit. Bibl. ii. 463; Challoner's Missionary Priests (1742), ii. 247; Collier's Bibl. Account of the Rarest Books, i. 150; Collier's Cat. of the Bridgewater House Library, 69; Corser's Collectanea Anglo-Poetica, iv. 414; Dodd's Church Hist. iii. Ill; Douce's Dance of Death, 185; Gillow's Bibl. Dict. i. 536; Granger's Biog. Hist, of England (1824), ii. 386; Harl. MS. 7035, p. 190; Cat. of the Huth Library, i. 335; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), 502; Mason's Certamen Seraphicum, 185-97 and preface; Oliver's Catholic Religion in Cornwall, 547; Stevens's Hist, of the Antient Abbeys, i. 108.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Colnaghi, Paul

​COLNAGHI, PAUL (1751–1833), print dealer, was born, probably in Milan, in 1751. His father, Dr. Martino Colnago, a distingished Milanese lawyer, died about 1770-5, leaving his estate in a very embarrassed condition. His mother's name was Ippolita Raggi. Paul having, in union with his elder brother, settled his father's affairs, left Italy soon afterwards to seek his fortune in France. After undergoing various vicissitudes he became the Paris agent of Signer Torre, the well-known London printseller of the day, with whom he finally entered into partnership, and the firm of Torre was merged in the house of Paul and Dominic Colnaghi & Co. He now became a naturalised Englishman, and married Maria Elizabeth Baker, who was a family connection of Captain Thomas Coram. He died on 26 Aug. 1833. There exist of him a portrait drawn on stone by Edward Morton from a drawing by Raphael Smith (1800), a medallion engraved by R. Easton after a bust of Danlau (1833), and a drawing by Charles Turner.
[Manuscript notes in Brit. Mus.]
L. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Colnaghi, Dominic Paul

​COLNAGHI, DOMINIC PAUL (1790–1879), print dealer and connoisseur, eldest son of Paul Colnaghi [q. v.] (or more properly Colnago), and Elizabeth Baker, his wife, was born in London on 15 July 1790. He entered business early in life, and succeeded his father as the head of the firm of Paul and Dominic Colnaghi in 1833. For many years under his sway the house in 14 Pall Mall East formed a well-known art centre, it being frequented by peers and members of parliament, so that the intermingling of politicians with artists and literary men gave the large room in the season the appearance of a club. Colnaghi's knowledge of prints and taste in art were very great. He had a European reputation, and was held in high esteem by collectors and officials. He was also a connoisseur in ancient armour, and was the original possessor of a large portion of the Meyrick collection. He married Miss Katherine Pontet in 1832. She died on 21 Nov. 1881. Colnaghi retired from business about 1865 and spent the remaining years of his life in quiet leisure. He died at his residence, 62 Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, on 19 Dec. 1879, and was buried in Brompton cemetery. He left two sons, the eldest of whom, Dominic Ellis Colnaghi, was appointed English consul-general at Florence on 24 Feb. 1881. There is an engraved portrait of Colnaghi after Brocky. A sale of ancient and modern engravings, books on art, autographs, portraits, &c., took place at Christie's on 2 April 1879.
[Manuscript notes in the British Museum.]
L. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Colonia, Adam de

​COLONIA, ADAM de (1634–1685), painter, was son of Adam Louisz de Colonia, a painter, who was a native of Antwerp, but settled in Rotterdam about 1593. The younger Adam painted cattle pieces in the style of Berchem, and gained some repute for depicting village-wakes and conflagrations by night, the latter a style popularised by Egbert Vander Poel. He copied a great many pictures by Bassano, whose striking effects of light and shade he endeavoured to imitate. Pictures by him (or his father) are to be met with in Holland, and there are examples of his art in the museum at Lille and at Copenhagen. Colonia came over to England and spent the latter part of his life in this country. He occasionally etched; an unimportant example representing 'Apollo and Marsyas,' is sometimes met with. He died in London in 1685 aged 51, and was buried in St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. By his wife Cornelia, daughter of Arent Kerckhoven, he had four children including a daughter Huberta, married to Adriaen Van Diest, the painter [q. v.], and a son, Hendrik Adriaen de Colonia. The latter usually known as Adrian Colonia, was born in 1668 at Rotterdam, was his father's pupil and also received instruction from his brother-in-law, Van Diest. In the landscapes painted by the latter he often painted the figures. He also painted landscapes himself in the style of Salvator Rosa. He attained a reputation for rapidity both of invention and execution. He died in London in 1701, aged 33, and was buried with his father in St. Martin's-in-the Fields.
[Redgrave's Dict. of English Artists; Nagler's Kunstler-Lexikon; De Piles's Lives of the painters; Fiorillo's Geschichte der Mahlerey in Gross-Britannien; Obreen's Archief voor Nederandsche Kunstgeschiedenis, vol. i.; Scheffer and Obreen's Rotterdamsche Historie Bladen, i. 581-89; Immerzeel's Levens und Werken der Holandsche en Vlaamsche Kunstschilders, &c.; De Chalmot's Biographisches Woordenboek; Moen's Registers of the Dutch Church, Austin Friars; Information from Messrs. A. Bredius and W. J. C. Moens.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hungerford, John

​HUNGERFORD, JOHN (d. 1729), lawyer, whose connection with the family of Farleigh has not been ascertained, was in 1677 admitted a student at Lincoln's Inn, being then described as the son and heir-apparent of 'Richard Hungerford' of Wiltshire. He graduated M.A. at Cambridge 'per literas regias' in 1683. He entered parliament on 28 April 1692 as member for Scarborough, and soon after was appointed chairman of the committee of the house to whom the Orphans Bill was committed. On 23 March 1694 he received from the promoters of the bill a bribe of twenty guineas 'for his pains and services' in that capacity, and was consequently expelled the house on 26 March 1695. On a vacancy occurring in the representation of Scarborough in November 1707 he was again elected for that borough, and continued to represent it till his death. In December 1709 he introduced a bill to prevent excessive gaming (Luttrell, vi. 518). He was one of the commissioners of alienation; standing counsel to the East India Company; and cursitor of the counties of York and Westmoreland. He defended three persons, Francis Francia (22 Jan. 1717), John Matthews (1719), and Christopher Sayer (1722), charged with treasonable relations with the Pretender. Francia was acquitted, but Matthews and Sayer were convicted (cf. Cobbett, and Howell, State Trials, xv. 965 and 1359, xvi. 233). Hungerford died on 8 June 1729. By his will, dated 24 May 1729, and proved by his widow Mary 13 June following, he left bequests to King's College, Cambridge, and to many relatives.
W. J. H-y.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hunsdon, Lords

​HUNSDON, Lords. [See Carey, George, second Lord, 1547–1603; Carey, Henry, first Lord, 1524?–1596; Carey, John, third Lord, d. 1617.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hunneman, Christopher William

​HUNNEMAN, CHRISTOPHER WILLIAM (d. 1793), miniature-painter, painted in London from about 1770, and had an extensive practice as a portrait-painter. He was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy from 1777 to the year of his death, painting in oil and crayons, but principally in miniature. He died 21 Nov. 1793.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Royal Academy Catalogues.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Felix (d.647?)

​FELIX, Saint (d. 647?), bishop of Dunwich, was born and ordained in Burgundy, whence he came to England inspired by a desire for missionary work. He sought Honorius, archbishop of Canterbury, and told him his desire, whereon Honorius sent him to East Anglia, having previously consecrated him to be bishop of that people. Christianity was not yet firmly established in East Anglia, where King Redwald had received the faith in obedience to the wish of the king of Kent, but had afterwards relapsed into paganism. His successor, Eorpwald, was converted, but was assassinated soon afterwards, and there was a pagan reaction, in which his brother Sigebert fled into Gaul, whence he returned and was called to the kingdom in 631. It was to help the pious efforts of Sigebert that Felix was sent, probably soon after the king's accession. Bæda (Hist. Eccles. ii. 15) tells us that Felix presided over his see for seventeen years, so that we may assign his episcopate to 631–47. In obedience to the wishes of King Sigebert he fixed his seat at Dunwich. Much of the old town has now been swept away by the inroads of the sea, but it was then the chief seaport on the East-Anglian coast, and the most central place for communications inland. Felix showed himself an excellent missionary, and under him and Sigebert the conversion of the East-Angles rapidly prospered. Sigebert had seen enough of the civilisation of Gaul to sympathise with the desire of Felix to care for education, and a school was founded and supplied with teachers from Kent. Local tradition fixes the site of this school at Saham-Toney in Norfolk; but in a later time the mention of an East-Anglian school was seized upon as an argument to ​prove the superior antiquity of the university of Cambridge to that of Oxford. Concerning the rest of the activity of Felix we do not know much. He was helped by the coming of an Irish monk Fursey, who introduced monastic life, of which Sigebert was so smitten that he resigned his crown to enter a monastery. Under his successor Egric East Anglia was invaded by the heathen Penda; but in spite of this disaster the progress of Christianity in East Anglia was zealously furthered by the next king, Anna, and Felix ended his days in peace.
Felix was counted as an English saint, and his festival was fixed on 8 March. Tradition connects Felix with the monastery of Ely, which was founded by King Anna's daughter, Etheldreda, but not till 673. According to the ‘Liber Eliensis,’ Felix founded a monastery at Soham, near Ely, and thither his remains were translated a few years after his death; thence, during the time of the Danish invasions, they were transferred to Ramsey. Churches were dedicated to him, and his name remains in Felixstowe in Suffolk and Feliskirk in Yorkshire.
[Bædæ Hist. Eccles. ii. 15, iii. 18, 20; Malmesbury, Gest. Pont. ii. 74, iv. 181; Acta Sanctorum for March 8. Cf. notices by Dr. Stubbs in the Dict. Christian Biog., and by Jessopp, Diocesan Hist. of Norwich.]
M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Feild, John

​FEILD, JOHN (1525–1587), proto-Copernican. [See Field.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Feinaigle, Gregor von

​FEINAIGLE, GREGOR von (1765?–1819), mnemonist, born at Baden about 1765, visited Paris in 1806, and delivered public lectures on local and symbolical memory, which he described as a ‘new system of mnemonics and methodics.’ He was accompanied by a young man who acted as interpreter. Count Metternich, the Austrian ambassador, and his secretaries followed the whole course of lectures, and spoke in highly laudatory terms of the system, which, though novel in its applications, was founded on the topical memory of the ancients, as described by Cicero and Quinctilian. Feinaigle was exposed to much criticism and sarcasm in the press, and was ridiculed on the stage by Dieulafoy in a farce called ‘Les filles de mémoire, ou le Mnémoniste.’ By way of reply he gave on 27 Feb. 1807 a public exhibition to an audience of about two thousand persons. He did not himself appear, but was represented by twelve or fifteen of his pupils, who gave illustrations of his art. Afterwards he went on a lecturing tour through various parts of France. Early in 1811 he came to England and delivered lectures at the Royal Institution and the Surrey Institution in London; and at Liverpool, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. The fee for attending a course of fifteen or sixteen of his lectures was 5l. 5s., and this sum was paid by crowds of pupils, for Feinaigle made a mystery of the details of his method, and was in consequence denounced in some quarters as an impostor. He gained, however, many devoted adherents. The Rev. Peter Baines [q. v.], afterwards bishop of Siga, introduced his system of mnemonics and also his general plan of education into the Benedictine college of Ampleforth, Yorkshire, and a society of gentlemen founded a school near Mountjoy Square, Dublin, which was placed under Feinaigle's personal superintendence and conducted on his principles. He died in Dublin on 27 Dec. 1819.
The most complete exposition of his system is contained in ‘The New Art of Memory, founded upon the principles taught by M. Gregor von Feinaigle, and applied to Chronology, History, Geography, Languages, Systematic Tables, Poetry, Prose, and Arithmetic. To which is added some account of the principal systems of artificial memory, from the earliest period to the present time; with instances of the extraordinary powers of natural memory,’ London, 1812, 12mo; 2nd and 3rd editions, with numerous additions, and a portrait of Feinaigle, 1813. John Millard, assistant librarian to the Surrey Institution, was the editor of this work, as the present writer was informed by the late Rev. Thomas Hartwell Horne, who was Millard's brother-in-law, and who assisted him in taking notes of Feinaigle's lectures. The following treatises on the system also appeared: ‘Notice sur la Mnémonique, ou l'art d'aider et de fixer la Mémoire en tout genre d'études, de sciences, ou d'affaires, par Grégoire de Feinaigle,’ Paris, 1806, 8vo; and ‘Mnemonik oder praktische Gedächtnisskunst zum Selbstunterricht nach den Vorlesungen des Herrn von Feinaigle,’ Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1811, 8vo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Felix, John

​FELIX, JOHN (fl. 1498), a Benedictine monk, belonging to St. Peter's Monastery, Westminster, lived about the middle of the reign of Henry VII; the only record of him that remains is a short manuscript life he wrote of John Estney, abbot of Westminster, 1474–98, and some doggerel Latin verses upon the same abbot, setting forth his benefactions to the church of Westminster.
[Cott. MS. Claud. A. viii. ff. 64, 65; Tanner's Bibliotheca.]
E. T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fell, Charles

​FELL, CHARLES, D.D. (1687–1763), catholic divine, born in England in 1687, was of French extraction, his real name being Umfreville. After studying philosophy and divinity at the communauté of Monsieur Duvieux he was sent to St. Gregory's seminary at Paris in 1706. In the following year he went to Douay to learn English and to complete his course of school divinity. In 1709 he returned to Paris, and in 1713 was ordained priest. He was created D.D. in 1716. After coming on the English mission he resided principally in London, where he devoted his leisure time to the compilation of ‘The Lives of Saints; collected from Authentick Records of Church History. With a full Account of the other Festivals throughout the year. To which is prefixed a Treatise on the Moveable Feasts and Fasts of the Church’ (anon.), 4 vols. London, 1729, 4to; 2nd edit. 4 vols. London, 1750, 4to. Dr. Robert Witham of Douay wrote observations on this work, and denounced it at Rome, his principal complaint being that Fell had taken his ‘Lives’ chiefly from Bachlet, and had recorded few miracles. Witham's manuscript was formerly in the library of the English College at Rome. The publication of the ‘Lives’ involved Fell in such pecuniary difficulties that when he was required to give a statement of his accounts of the clergy property, for which he was the administrator in London, he was found to owe 1,272l. Of this sum he was unable to pay more than tenpence in the pound in 1731. In the following year his irregular election as a member of the chapter gave rise to much contention, and to some publications. The case was decided against him on appeal. He died in Gray's Inn on 22 Oct. 1763.
[Kirk's Biographical Collections, manuscript cited in Gillow's Bibl. Dict. of the English Catholics.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Feilding

​FEILDING. [See also Fielding.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Higden, William

​HIGDEN, WILLIAM (d. 1715), divine, was matriculated sizar of King's College, Cambridge, on 5 April 1682 (University Matriculation Register), and graduated B.A. in 1684, M.A. in 1688. After the revolution he refused to take the oaths, but eventually conformed, and published in defence of his conduct ‘A View of the English Constitution, with respect to the sovereign authority of the Prince and the allegiance of the Subject. In vindication of the lawfulness of taking the oaths to her Majesty by law required,’ 8vo, London, 1709, which he supplemented in the following year by ‘A Defence of the View of the English Constitution … by way of Reply to the several Answers that have been made to it,’ 8vo, London, 1710 (reissued together in 1710 as a third edition and in 1716 as a fifth edition). Hearne said that Higden ‘was always reckoned a man of Parts and Honesty,’ but he considered that Higden's ‘View’ was completely confuted. ‘Nor,’ Hearne adds, ‘is the government like to thank him for his Performance, since he resolves all into Possession, and makes all Usurpers have a title to Allegiance, not excepting even Oliver himself.’ Higden took the degree of D.D. in 1710, and became prebendary of Canterbury in May 1713. He died on 28 Aug. 1715, and was buried on 5 Sept. in the new chapel, Westminster (Hist. Reg. Chron. Diary, 1715, p. 66; Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, i. 49–50). He wrote also: 1. ‘The Case of Sureties in Baptism’ [anon.], 4to, London, 1701. 2. ‘Occasional Conformity a most unjustifiable Practice’ [anon.], 4to, London, 1704. 3. ‘The Case of the Admission of Dissenters to the Holy Communion before they renounce their Schism. The Second Edition,’ 4to, London, 1715. He had likewise a share in the translation of ‘Tacitus,’ 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1698.
[Brit. Mus. Cat.; Hearne's Collections, ed. Doble (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), ii. 284, &c.; Lathbury's Hist. of the Nonjurors, p. 230.]
G. G.