OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jekyll, Thomas (1570-1653)

​JEKYLL, THOMAS (1570–1653), antiquary, born in the parish of St. Helen, Bishopsgate, London, on 12 Jan. 1570, was eldest son of John Stocker Jekyll of Newington, Middlesex, by Mary, daughter and heiress of Nicholas Barnehouse of Welling​ton, Somerset (Visitations of Essex, Harl. Soc., pt. i. pp. 427–8; Morant, Essex, Preface). He became an attorney of Clifford's Inn, and was afterwards made secondary of the king's bench and one of the clerks of the papers. He died at his country seat at Bocking, Essex, in 1653 (Administration Act, P. C. C., dated 13 May 1653). By his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Lake of ‘Norton Horny’ (? Galby) Place, Leicestershire, who survived him, he had five sons and three daughters.
Availing himself of his access to legal records, Jekyll filled above forty volumes with valuable materials for the histories of Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk (Gough, British Topography, i. 345). A portion of the Jekyll collection was included in the list of manuscripts belonging to John Ouseley, rector of Springfield, Essex, printed in the ‘Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliæ,’ 1697 (ii. 103). After Ouseley's death these manuscripts came into the hands of the Rev. William Holbrook, his son-in-law, who in 1710 was willing to sell them to Harley, earl of Oxford (cf. Harl. MS. 3779). Other of Jekyll's papers passed to Jekyll's grandson, Nicholas Jekyll of Castle Hedingham, Essex. Holbrook is said to have subsequently communicated his part of the collection to William Holman [q. v.], who obtained additions from Nicholas Jekyll. Of two manuscript catalogues of the Jekyll MSS., drawn up by Holman in 1715, one is now in the library of All Souls' College, Oxford (No. 297), and the other is in the British Museum (Egerton MS. 2382, f. 153). Many of Jekyll's volumes ultimately found their way into the British Museum (see Harl. MSS. 3968, 4723, 5185, 5186, 5190, 5195, 6677, 6678, 6684, and 6685; various papers inserted in Harl. MSS. 6832 and 7017), and five folio volumes, containing very valuable materials for the history of Essex (Add. MSS. 19985–9). Morant by his own account had in his possession those Jekyll MSS. which had belonged to Ouseley, and made copious use of them (Nichols, Lit. Anecd. ii. 705).
An interesting letter from Jekyll to Sir Symonds D'Ewes, dated from Bocking on 19 Dec. 1641, is in Harleian MS. 376.
[Trans. of Essex Archæolog. Soc. ii. 152–3; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. xii. 454–5; Macray's Annals of Bodleian Library, 2nd edit. p. 238.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jekyll, Thomas (1646-1698)

​JEKYLL, THOMAS (1646–1698), divine, born on 16 July 1646 in the parish of St. Stephen, Walbrook, London, was the eldest son of John Jekyll, dealer. He entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1652 (Register, ed. Robinson, i. 212), was admitted a commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, on 4 Sept. 1663, and graduated B.A. in 1667, and M.A. in 1670 (Wood, Fasti Oxon., ed. Bliss, ii. 297, 319). By 1674 he was vicar of Rowde, Wiltshire, by 1680 he had been presented by the Haberdashers' Company to Mr. Jones's lectureship at Newland, Gloucestershire, and by 1681 he was minister of the New Church in St. Margaret, Westminster. During the Roman catholic revival under James II he instituted a free school in connection with the New Church for the instruction of fifty poor children in the doctrines of the church of England and general knowledge. In 1694 he proceeded D.D. as a member of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Graduati Cantabr. 1659–1823, p. 260). He died in October 1698, and was buried on the 7th in the New Church (Luttrell, Relation, 1857, iv. 436), when a funeral sermon was preached by his old friend John Williams, bishop of Chichester. There is an inscription to his memory written by himself. He left a widow, Elizabeth, and three sons and five daughters (will P. C. C. 216, Lort).
By desire of a patron Jekyll was accustomed when residing at Rowde to preach twice a year at Bristol. He incurred the enmity of an influential clergyman in that city, and on attempting to preach there on 31 Jan. 1675 he was mobbed, taken before the mayor, and accused of infamous crimes. To vindicate his reputation he published the sermons which he intended to have delivered as ‘Peace and Love recommended and persuaded,’ 4to, London, 1675. At Newland he gave dire offence by his sermon preached on fast day, 22 Dec. 1680, entitled ‘Popery a great Mystery of Iniquity,’ 4to, London, 1681, which he printed for the sake of such secure protestants ‘that will hardly believe there is a popish plot, or that ever it should take effect.’
Jekyll also published: 1. ‘True Religion makes the best Loyalty,’ 4to, London, 1682, a sermon prepared for the Duke of Monmouth and his followers, who intended to meet at St. Michael, Cornhill, on 21 April 1682, afterwards delivered at the New Church on Restoration day, 29 May following. 2. ‘A brief and plain Exposition of the Church Catechism (Prayers and Graces for children),’ 8vo, London, 1690 (another edit. 1696), composed for the use of his school.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), iv. 682–3.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Otway, Cæsar

​OTWAY, CÆSAR (1780–1842), miscellaneous writer, son of Loftus Otway, was born in 1780 in co. Tipperary of an English family long settled there. He matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, on 6 Dec. 1796, being then sixteen years of age, graduated B.A. in 1801, and, after being ordained, was given the curacy of a country parish, where he remained seventeen years. His second appointment was to the assistant-chaplaincy of Leeson Street Magdalen Chapel, Dublin, where he became one of the leading preachers. In conjunction with Joseph Henderson Singer [q. v.], he started, in 1825, the ‘Christian Examiner,' the first Irish religious magazine associated with the established church. It was in this periodical that William Carleton, encouraged by Otway, begun his literary career. Otway was an enthusiastic antiquary and an admirer of Irish scenery, and he co-operated with George Petrie [q. v.] in the first volume of the ‘Dublin Penny Journal.’ in which he wrote under the pseudonym of ‘Terence O'Toole.’ He was also a contributor to the ‘Dublin University Magazine.’ Ill-health prevented him from realising his design of writing a history of Ireland, and of editing the works of Sir James Ware. He died in Dublin on 16 March 1842.
His works are: 1. ‘A Letter the Roman Catholic Priests of Ireland’ (signed ‘C. O.'), 8vo, 1814. 2. 'A Lecture on Miracles...with Appendices' 8vo, 1823. 3. ‘Sketches in Ireland,' anon. 8vo, 1827, 4. ‘A Tour in Connaught,' anon. 8vo, 1839. 5. ‘Sketches in Erris and Tyrawly,' anon. 8vo, 1841. 6. ‘The Intellectuality of Domestic Animals,' a lecture, 16mo, 1817.
[Athenæum, 1842, p. 294; Dublin University Magazine, vols. xiv. xix. (portrait), information from Dr. Ingram. Trin. Coll. Dublin; Wills's Irish Nation, iv. 456-8.]
D. J. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oudney, Walter

​OUDNEY, WALTER, M.D. (1790–1824), surgeon royal navy and African traveller, was born in December 1790, of humble parents, in Edinburgh, where he picked up sufficient knowledge of medicine to become a surgeon's mate on board a man-of-war. He was appointed an assistant surgeon in 1810, was stationed in the East Indies (Navy List, 1814), and on 24 May of that year was promoted surgeon. At the peace he returned, on half-pay, to Edinburgh, where his mother and sisters were living, attended classes at the university, graduated M.D. 1 Aug. 1817, and set up in private practice. He had the friendship of Dr. John Abercrombie [q. v.], who inserted two or three of Oudney's 'cases' in the 'Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal.' Oudney became a member of the Wernerian Society, applied himself to the study of chemistry and natural history, and had hopes of becoming university lecturer on botany. His views were changed by his association with Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton [q. v.] and Major Dixon Denham [q. v.] in an expedition for the discovery of the source of the Niger. Oudney and Clapperton arrived at their starting-point (Tripoli) in October 1821, whither they were followed by Denham. On 7 April 1822 they reached Murzuk in Fezzan, where they spent the rest of 1822, making excursions in the neighbourhood. In March 1823 they reached Kouka, on Lake Tchad, the capital of the kingdom of Bornou, where they remained some months. On 14 Dec. 1823 Oudney and Clapperton set out for the western extremity of the Bornou. The party was exposed to intense cold, and Oudney, who had been in poor health since his arrival at Kouka, was attacked by pneumonia. He seemed to mend a little on the return journey, but died at Katagum, in the Soudan, on 12 Jan. 1824, and was buried there.
Oudney is described as of middle stature and slight build, with a pale, grave face, pleasing manners, and possessed of much enterprise and perseverance. As an explorer he appears to have been very successful in his intercourse with the natives. Only two of Oudney's papers came into the hands of Colonel Denham, viz. 'An Itinerary from Murzuk to Bornu,' the mineralogical notes in which alone appear in Denham's narrative; and 'An Account of an Expedition to the Westward of Murzuk' (country of the Tuaricks), printed at the end of Denham's introductory chapter.
[Biography of Oudney in a small volume of Biographies of Oudney, Clapperton, and Laing, by the Rev. Thomas Nelson, Edinburgh, 1830, 12mo. The particulars of Oudney are given mostly on the authority of his personal friends Dr. Kay and Lieut. Shirreff, R.N. Scots Mag. 1824, pt. ii. p. 637; Denham's and Clapperton's Narratives.]
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Otthen, Hippocrates

​OTTHEN, D'OTTHEN, or D'OTHON, HIPPOCRATES (d. 1611), physician, was descended of a noble family of Otthens in Alsace, but was educated and became doctor of medicine at the university of Montpellier, France. He came to England in the train of his futher, the emperor’s physician, who had been summoned by Queen Elizabeth. Pressed into the service of the Earl of Leicester, ‘who desired him to pertain unto him,' he continued in the latter's service for many years, both at home and in the Low Countries. He was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians on 4 July 1589, being described as ‘vir doctus et practicator bonus.' On the death of Leicester he entered the service of the Earl of Essex, and, by Elizabeth's command, attended him in the wars of France and the expedition to Cadiz. After his return to England he was ordered by Elizabeth to attend Mountjoy in Ireland. He subsequently accompanied, in the same capacity of phyaician, the Earl of Hertford, the English ambassador to the Archduke of Austria. The rest of his life was spent in private practice. On 12 June 1609 he was incorporated M.D. at Oxford. He died on 3 Nov. 1611, and was buried in the church of St. Clement Danes, London, where a monument, with inscription, was erected to his memory on the south aide of the chancel (see Stow, Survey of London, iv. 113). Otthen married Dorothy, a daughter of Roger Drew of Densworth in Sussex, esquire. After his death she married Sir Stephen Thomhurst of Kent, and died on 12 June 1620, aged 55. She was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, where a monument was erected to her memory.
[The inscription referred to supra and Munk's Coll. of Phys.; Stow's Survey, iv. 113 (1720 edit.); Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Wood's Fasti. Oxon. i. 335.]
W. A. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ottley, William Young

​OTTLEY, WILLIAM YOUNG (1771–1836), writer on art and amateur artist, born near Thatcham, Berkshire, on 6 Aug. 1771, was the son of an officer in the guards. He became a pupil of George Cuit or Cuitt the elder [q. v.], and studied in the Royal Academy schools. In 1791 he went to Italy, and stayed there ten years, studying art and collecting pictures, drawings, and engravings. On his return he became a leading authority on matters of taste, and assisted collectors in the purchase of works of art and the formation of picture galleries. His own fine collection of drawings by old Italian masters he sold to Sir Thomas Lawrence [q. v.] for 8,000l. It formed the principal part of the magnificent collection of that artist, the dispersion of which, at his death, was a cause for national regret. But Ottley is chiefly known as a writer on art, and by the series of finely illustrated works which he published. He began in 1805 with the first part of ‘The Italian School of Design,’ a series of etchings by himself, after drawings by the old masters. The second part was published in 1813 and the third in 1823, when the whole work was issued in one volume. In 1816 he published an ‘Inquiry into the Origin and Early History of Engraving on Copper and Wood,’ which was followed by four folio volumes of engravings of ‘The Stafford Gallery.’ In 1826 came ‘A Series of Plates after the Early Florentine Artists.’ Two volumes followed in 1826–8 of facsimiles, by himself, of prints and etchings by masters of the Italian and other schools. In 1831 he published ‘Notices of Engravers and their Works;’ the commencement of a dictionary of artists, which he decided not to continue; and in 1863, after his death, appeared ‘An Inquiry into the Invention of Printing,’ which may be regarded as a companion to his work on the origin of engraving. Besides these works, he published in 1801 a catalogue of Italian pictures, which he had acquired during his stay in Italy from the Colonna, Borghese, and Corsini Palaces; ‘A Descriptive Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery,’ 1826; and ‘Observations on a MS. in the British Museum,’ a controversy concerning Cicero's translation of an astronomical poem by Aratus.
In 1833 Ottley appeared for the first and last time as an exhibitor at the Royal ​Academy. His contribution was a spirited but unfinished drawing of ‘The Battle of the Angels;’ and in the same year he was appointed keeper of prints in the British Museum, a post he retained till his death on 26 May 1836. Some vigorous pencil and tinted drawings, dated 1804, show mastery of drawing and imagination. Similar drawings are in the British Museum.
Although Ottley's writings did not reach a very high standard, and are now superseded, they were of much service in spreading knowledge and stimulating inquiry, and have furnished material for later writers. In the British Museum are catalogues of two sales of his pictures, in 1811 and 1837.
[Redgrave's Dict.; Bryan's Dict. ed. Graves and Armstrong; Engl. Cycl.]
C. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Corbet, Reginald

Reynold Corbet in the ODNB.
​CORBET, REGINALD (d. 1566), judge, second son of Sir Robert Corbet, knight, of Moreton Corbet, Shropshire, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir H. Vernon, knight, of Haddon, was elected reader at the Middle Temple in the autumn of 1551, though he did not perform the duties of the post until the following Lent, received a serjeant's writ on 27 Oct. 1558, which was renewed on 12 Dec., Queen Mary having died in the meantime, and took the degree on 19 April 1559. On 16 Oct. following he was appointed to a puisne judgeship in the queen's bench. He died in 1566. His son Richard married Anne, daughter of Lord Chancellor Bromley, and their son, John, was created a baronet in 1627 [see Corbet, Sir John].
[Wotton's Baronetage, ii. 74; Dugdale's Orig. 217, Chron. Ser. 90, 92; Plowden's Reports, p. 356; Foss's Lives of the Judges.]
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Corbett, Thomas

​CORBETT, THOMAS (d. 1751), secretary of the admiralty, of the family of Corbet of Moreton Corbet, and apparently a near relation of Andrew Corbett, an ‘instrument’ of the treasurer of the navy, temp. William III Cal. S. P., Treasury), was secretary to Sir George Byng, viscount Torrington [q. v.], during the expedition to Sicily (1718–20), of which he afterwards published an account. On his return to England he was appointed chief clerk of the admiralty in 1723, and in 1728 second secretary of the admiralty under Josiah Burchett [q. v.]; on Burchett's retirement in 1742 he became senior secretary, with John Cleveland under him. He held this office till his death in 1751, and during the whole time lived on terms of friendly equality with the many distinguished officers with whom he was thrown in contact. His letter to Anson (Add. MS. 15955, f. 250), pointing out the impropriety of his promotion of Peircy Brett [see Anson, George, Lord], is not that of a mere official, but rather that of an old shipmate and social equal.
[Corbett's official letters in the Public Record Office are very numerous, but contain little of biographical interest. The notice of the family in Burke's ‘Landed Gentry’ is very inaccurate, and makes it quite impossible to identify this member of it. It is there said that William Corbett, who adopted the mode of writing his name with two t's, was secretary of the admiralty and had three sons, Thomas, Vincent, and William, cashier of the navy. Thomas, the secretary of the admiralty, had a younger brother, William, who began life as secretary to Viscount Torrington in the Baltic expedition of 1717, and was afterwards cashier of the navy; but there never was a William Corbett secretary of the admiralty; and Andrew Corbett, the ‘instrument’ of the treasurer of the navy, signed his name with two t's. It seems not improbable that Thomas's father was William, that Andrew was his uncle, and that Burke has confused the three.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Corbet, John (1603-1641)

​CORBET, JOHN (1603–1641), minister of Bonhill, anti-presbyterian author, son of William Corbet, a 'portioner' of Glasgow, was born about 1603. He graduated at the university of Glasgow in 1623, and after acting for some time as schoolmaster at Renfrew was ordained minister of Bonhill in 1637. According to Robert Baillie (Letters and Journals, i. 189), 'upon some rashness of the presbytery of Dumbarton' he was put 'to some subjection of the assembly's declaration,' and 'not being willing to do so fled to Ireland.' This is in direct contradiction of the statement of Burnet (Life of Bedell, 140) that it was for writing a book called 'Lysimachus Nicanor' he was 'forced to flee his country.' The book, however, was published in 1640, while Corbet was already deposed by the assembly 16 April 1639. The full title is 'The Epistle Congratulatorie of Lysimachus Nicanor of the Societie of Jesu to the Covenanters in Scotland, wherein is ​ paralleled our Sweet Harmony and Correspondence in Doctrine and Practice.' By Baillie (Letters and Journals, i. 243) it is erroneously ascribed to Bishop Lesley. It was answered by Baillie in his 'Ladensium Aὐτοκατάκρισις, the Canterbvrians self-conviction, &c., with a postscript to the personat Jesuite Lysimachus Nicanor,' Amsterdam, 1640; and a metrical answer to it, ascribed to Sir William Moore, was also published in the same year under the title 'A Covnter Bvff to Lysimachus Nicanor, calling himself a Jesuite.' Previous to the appearance of 'Lysimachus Nicanor,' Corbet had published at Dublin in 1639 'The Ungirding of the Scottish Armour, or an Answer to the Informations for Defensive Armes against the King's Majestie which were drawn up at Edinburg by the common help and industrie of the three Tables of the rigid Covenanters,' described by Baillie as 'one of the most venemous and bitter pamphlets against us all that could come from the hand of our most furious and enraged enemie.' Corbet had been recommended to Adair, archbishop of Killala, for a living in his gift, and, according to Baillie, the archbishop, playing upon his name Corbet, 'which means crow in Scotland,' declined to patronise him on the ground that 'it was an ill bird that defiles its own nest.' He, however, obtained the living of Killaban and Ballintubride in 1640, but during the rebellion of 1641 was 'hewn in pieces by two swineherds in the very arms of his poor wife.'
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Corbie, Ambrose

Corby in the ODNB.
​CORBIE or CORBINGTON, AMBROSE (1604–1649), jesuit, one of the sons of Gerard Corbie [q. v.] and his wife, Isabella Richardson, was born near Durham on 7 Dec. (O.S.) 1604 (Oliver, Jesuit Collections, p. 74). At the age of twelve he was placed in the English college at St. Omer, whence he removed in 1622 to the English college at Rome. He was admitted into the Society of Jesus at Watten in 1627, and became a professed father in 1641. For some years he taught the belles-lettres with great applause in the college at St. Omer (Southwell, Bibl. Scriptorum Soc. Jesu, p. 45). In 1645 he was minister at Ghent (Foley, Records, vii. 167). He was appointed confessor in the English college at Rome, where he died on 11 April 1649.
He wrote: 1. ‘Certamen Triplex a tribus Societ. Jesu ex Provincia Anglicana sacerdotibus RR. PP. P. Thoma Hollando, P. Rodulpho Corbæo, P. Henrico Morsæo, intra proximum triennium, pro avita fide, religione, sacerdotio, contra veritatis, pietatis, ecclesiæque hostes, susceptum fortiter, decertatum constanter, confectum feliciter, Lon​ dini in Anglia,’ Antwerp, 1645, 16mo, with three engraved portraits; reprinted, Munich, 1646, 16mo. The two Latin editions of this book are in great requisition among collectors (Backer, Bibl. des Écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus, ed. 1869, i. 1369; Cat. of the Huth Library, i. 282). An English translation by William Barclay Turnbull was published at London, 1858, 8vo (Gillow, Bibl. Dict. of the English Catholics, i. 564). 2. An account of his father. Printed in Foley's ‘Records,’ iii. 64. 3. ‘Vita e morte del fratello Tomaso Stilintono [i.e. Stillington, alias Oglethorpe], novitio Inglese della Compagnia di Giesu, morto in Messina, 15 Sept. 1617;’ manuscript at Stonyhurst College (Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. 338).
[Authorities cited above.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/St. John, Horace Stebbing Roscoe

​ST. JOHN, HORACE STEBBING ROSCOE (1832–1888), journalist, youngest son of James Augustus St. John [q. v.], was born in Normandy in 1832 and educated under his father. He began his journalistic career as a boy, and while ‘in a round jacket and turn-down collar’ wrote a leading article for the ‘Sunday Times.’ With his brothers Bayle and Percy Bolingbroke St. John, both of whom are separately noticed, he edited in 1854 ‘Utopia: a political, literary, and industrial journal,’ which only ran to six numbers. For many years he was a leader-writer on political topics on the ‘Daily Telegraph,’ and frequently acted as special correspondent of the ‘Times,’ the ‘Standard,’ and other newspapers. During 1862 and 1863 he was a contributor to the ‘Athenæum,’ to the ‘Seven Days' Journal,’ ​and to the ‘Leader.’ Falling into pecuniary difficulties, he was, on his own petition, made a bankrupt on 9 Jan. 1862, and received a conditional order of discharge on 11 April 1862. He died at 49 Sydenham Place, Anerley, Surrey, on 29 Feb. 1888.
He was the author of:
* ‘A Life of Christopher Columbus,’ 1850.
* ‘History of the British Conquests in India,’ 1852, 2 vols.
* ‘The Indian Archipelago: its History and Present State,’ 1853, 2 vols.
His wife, a daughter of Thomas Roscoe [q. v.], was author of:
* ‘Audubon the Naturalist in the New World: his Adventures and Discoveries,’ 1856; new edit., revised, Boston, 1856.
* ‘Englishwomen and the Age,’ 1860.
* ‘Masaniello of Naples: the Record of a Nine Days' Revolution,’ 1865.
* ‘The Court of Anna Carafa: an historical narrative,’ 1872.
[Allibone's Dictionary, 1871, ii. 913; Athenæum, 10 March 1888, p. 310; Times, 8 March 1888, p. 7; Sala's Life and Adventures, i. 397–398.]
G. C. B.