OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Shebbeare, Robert

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​SHEBBEARE. (Lieutenant, 1813.)
Robert Shebbeare entered the Navy, 4 June, 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the London 98, Capts. Edw. Oliver Osborn and Thos. Western, stationed in the Channel; and from Oct. following until June, 1810, served off Cadiz and in the Mediterranean, part of the time as Midshipman, in the Terrible 74, Capt. Lord Henry Paulet. In Aug. of the latter year he joined the Blake 74, Capt. Edw. Codrington, under whom he was for two years actively employed in co-operation with the patriots on the coast of Spain, particularly at the defence of Cadiz, in conveying four Spanish ships-of-the-line from that place to Minorca (a very arduous service which occupied 38 days), and at the siege of Tarragona. In Sept. 1812 he removed to the Caledonia 120, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Pellew in the Mediterranean; where he was made Lieutenant, 30 Nov. 1813, into the Swiftsure 74, Capts. Edw. Stirling Dickson, Arden Adderley, and Wm. Henry Webley Parry. In that ship he afterwards proceeded to the West Indies. He invalided home 3 May, 1815; and was suhsequently appointed. – 22 Sept. 1815 and 13 Aug. 1816, to the Niger 38, Capt. Sam. Jackson and Akbar 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Edw. Griffith, both on the North American station, whence he returned to England and was paid off 1 Jan. 1817 – and 24 Nov. 1819, to the Wye 26, Capts. Geo. Wickens Willes and Peter Fisher. Since he left the latter vessel he has not been afloat. He was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 1 May, 1848.
Lieut. Shebbeare was left a widower 16 April, 1844. Agent – John Chippendale.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Shed, Robert

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​SHED. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 19; h-p., 35.)
Robert Shed was born 21 Oct. 1773.
This officer entered the Navy, 4 July, 1793, as Midshipman, on board the Invincible 74, Capt. Hon. Thos. Pakenham, with whom, after having fought in Lord Howe’s action 1 June, 1794, he removed, 7 Oct. 1795, to the Juste 80. After serving for nearly two years and a half on the coast of Ireland and in the Channel in the Glenmore 44, Capt. Geo. Duff, Robust 74, Capt. Geo. Countess, and Royal George 100, flag-ship of Lord Bridport, he was nominated, 27 Oct. 1799, Acting-Lieutenant of the Ramillies 74, Capt. Rich. Grindall. He was confirmed, 18 Dec. following, into the Adventure 44, Capts. Robt. Mansel and Chas. Carter, stationed in the Mediterranean; and was subsequently appointed – 6 March, 1801, to the Gannet 16, Capt. Isaac Cotgrave, under whom, in the following Aug., he took part, and was wounded in the leg, in Lord Nelson’s attack upon the Boulogne flotilla – 12 July, 1803 (after 14 months of half-pay), to the Princess Royal 98, Capts. Jas. Vashon and Robt. Carthew Reynolds, attached to the force in the Channel 16 April, 1807 (for 19 months), as Senior, to the ​Hercule 74, Capt. Hon. John Colville, part of the force engaged in the expedition against Copenhagen, whence he brought home a Danish 74 and part of the 28th Regiment – in June, 1809, to the command, which he retained for seven months, of a subdivision of gun-boats, employed during the operations in the Scheldt – and 23 Nov. 1810 and 24 Aug. 1812, again as Senior, to the Marlborough and Chatham 74’s, Capts. Matthew Henry Scott and Wm. Lukin, both on the Home station. During the grand naval review held before the Allied Sovereigns at Spithead, Lieut. Shed acted as Captain of the Chatham. Since the receipt of his last commission, bearing date 15 June, 1814, he has been on half-pay.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Shephard, William

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​SHEPHARD. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 10; h-p., 32.)
William Shephard was born 8 Sept. 1783.
This officer entered the Navy, 13 Oct. 1805, as Clerk, on board the Diligence 16, Capt. Thos. Holmes Tidy; and in the course of the same year was present in the rocket attack made by Sir Wm. Sidney Smith on the Boulogne flotilla. He proceeded afterwards to the Baltic, where, and in the Downs and North Sea, he served from June, 1807, until May, 1810, as A.B., Quartermaster’s Mate, Midshipman, and Master’s Mate, in the Pandora 18, Capt. Henry Hume Spence. In Aug. and Sept. 1807 he was employed in the operations against Copenhagen; and on 13 Jan. 1808 he contributed to the capture, under the batteries of Cape Gris-Nez, of the French privateer lugger Entreprenant, of 16 guns and 53 men. The crew of that vessel being afflicted with ophthalmia, the disease was communicated to Mr. Shephard, who in consequence totally lost the sight of his right eye. In 1809 he was present in the expedition to the Walcheren. After serving for two years with Capt. Wm. Kent as Master’s Mate in the Agincourt 64, on the Lisbon station, he followed that officer, in June, 1812, in a similar capacity, into the Union 98, commanded afterwards by Capt. Robt. Rolles. He was afforded an opportunity thus of assisting at the destruction, in June, 1813, of the fort of St. Philippe, in the Col de Balaguer, armed with 12 pieces of ordnance including 2 10-inoh mortars and 2 howitzers, with a garrison of 101 officers and men; of participating in Sir Edw. Pellew’s partial engagements with the Toulon fleet 5 Nov. 1813 and 13 Feb. 1814; and of witnessing the fall of Genoa. In Oct. 1814, three months after he had left the Union, he joined, again as Master’s Mate, the Achates 18, Capt. Thos. Lamb Polden Langhame, employed in the Bay of Biscay. Since the receipt of his commission, which bears date 8 Feb. 1815, he has been on half-pay.
Lieut. Shephard married in Dec. 1817, and has issue three sons, the second of whom, Chas. Douglas Shephard, Assistant Surgeon, R.N. (1845), is at present serving on the south-east coast of America in the Raleigh 50, Commodore Sir Thos. Herbert.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Shepherd, John (a)

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​SHEPHERD. (Retired Captain, 1847. f-p., 18; h-p., 36.)
John Shepherd (a) entered the Navy, 15 Feb. 1793, as Midshipman, on board the Ramillies 74, Capts. Henry Harvey, Chas. John Moore Mansfield, and Sir Rich. Bickerton, in which ship he fought in Lord Howe’s action, 1 June, 1794, and was afterwards employed in the West Indies, at Newfoundland, and in the North Sea. In Nov. 1796, six months after he had left the Ramillies, he joined the Prince of Wales 98, bearing the flag of his former Captain, then Rear-Admiral Harvey, under whom he assisted, in Feb. 1797, in reducing the Spanish island of Trinidad. From Oct. 1797 until May, 1802, he served as Acting-Lieutenant and Lieutenant (commission dated 10 May, 1799) in the Concorde, Lapwing, and Unité frigates, all commanded by Capt. Thos. Harvey. In the Lapwing he accompanied the expedition of 1799 against the Dutch colony of Surinam; and in the Unité he contributed to the capture of the Danish and Swedish islands in 1801. His last appointments were – 22 Nov. 1802, to the Albion 74, Capt. John Ferrier, employed at first in the Channel and next in the East Indies, whence, in 1804, he escorted an East India fleet under Commodore Dance to St. Helena – in June, 1805, for a passage home, to the Athénienne 64, Capt. Fras. Fayerman – 6 Nov. 1805, 11 March, 1806, and 2 Sept. 1807, to the Oberon sloop, Capt. Bushby, Regulus 44, bearing the flags of Admirals Lord Keith and Sir Edm. Nagle, and St. George 98, flag-ship of Rear-Admirals Elias Harvey and Fras. Pickmore, on the Home and Baltic stations – and in Oct. 1810, after five months of half-pay, to the Berwick 74, Capts. Jas. Macnamara, Sir Robt. Laurie, and Edw. Brace. In the latter ship, prior to visiting the Mediterranean, he assisted, 24 March, 1811, in driving the French frigate Amazone on the rocks near Barfleur light-house. He attained the rank of Commander 12 Aug. 1812, and was placed on the list of Retired Captains, 20 Nov. 1847. Agent – J. Hinxman.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Shearman, William Marcus

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​SHEARMAN. (Lieutenant, 1841.)
William Marcus Shearman entered the Navy 4 May, 1815; passed his examination 5 June, 1822; and obtained his commission 23 Nov. 1841. He has since been on half-pay.
He is married.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Shepherd, Benjamin

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​SHEPHERD. (Lieut., 1811. f-p., 13; h-p., 30.)
Benj.Shepherd entered the Navy, 1 Oct. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Britannia 100, Capt., afterwards Rear-Admiral, the Earl of Northesk, ​under whom he fought as Midshipman at the battle of Trafalgar 21 Oct. 1805. Joining next, in June, 1806, the Latona 38, Capt. Jas. Athol Wood, he sailed with a fleet of merchantmen for the West Indies, where, after assisting in the brilliant capture of Curaçoa, and co-operating in the reduction of the Danish islands, he held command, from Nov. 1808 until Nov. 1810, of the Ram schooner, with his name on the books of the Neptune 98, Pompée 74, and Statira 38, flag-ships of Hon. Sir Alex. Cochrane, by whom he was then promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. He was confirmed by the Admiralty, on his return home in the Snap, 29 May, 1811; and was subsequently appointed – 14 June and 30 Nov. 1811, to the Audacious 74, Capt. Donald Campbell, and Griffon sloop, Capts. John Tancock and Geo. Barne Trollope, both on the Home station – 4 April, 1812, to the Pompée 74, Capt. J. A. Wood, in the Mediterranean – 26 Sept. 1814, after three months of half-pay occasioned by ill health, to the Pelorus 16, Capt. John Gourly, with whom he served on the coast of Ireland and in the Channel until 2 Sept. 1815 – in 1840 to the Transport Service as an Agent afloat – and 31 Jan. 1842, for a short time, to.the post of Agent on board a contract mail steam-vessel.
He is married and has issue.
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# A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Blair, Robert

​Blair, Robert (1699-1746).— Poet, b. at Edin., where his f. was a clergyman, became minister of Athelstaneford, Haddingtonshire. His sole work was The Grave, a poem in blank verse extending to 767 lines of very various merit, in some passages rising to great sublimity, and in others sinking to commonplace. It was illustrated by William Blake (q.v.) B.'s s., Robert, was a very distinguished Scottish judge and Lord President of the Court of Session; and his successor in his ministerial charge was Home, the author of Douglas.
# A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Blake, William

​Blake, William (1757-1827).— Poet and painter, b. in London, was from earliest youth a seer of visions and a dreamer of dreams, seeing "Ezekiel sitting under a green bough," and "a tree full of angels at Peckham," and such he remained to the end of his days. His teeming imagination sought expression both in verse and in drawing, and in his 14th year he was apprenticed to James Basire, an eminent engraver, and thereafter studied at the Royal Academy. Among his chief artistic works were illustrations for Young's Night Thoughts, Blair's Grave, "Spiritual Portraits," and his finest work, "Inventions to the Book of Job," all distinguished by originality and imagination. In literature his Songs of Innocence appeared in 1789, Songs of Experience in 1794. These books were literally made by Blake and his heaven-provided wife; poems and designs alike being engraved on copper by B. and bound by Mrs. B. In like fashion were produced his mystical books, The Book of Thel (1789), The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790), The Gates of Paradise, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, Europe, The Book of Urizen (1794), The Book of Los and The Book of Ahania (1795). His last books were Jerusalem and Milton. His earlier and shorter pieces, e.g. "The Chimney-Sweeper," "Holy Thursday," "The Lamb," "The Sun-flower," "The Tiger," etc., have an exquisite simplicity arising from ​directness and intensity of feeling—sometimes tender, sometimes sublime—always individual. Latterly he lost himself in clouds of mysticism. A truly pious and loving soul, neglected and misunderstood by the world, but appreciated by an elect few, he led a cheerful and contented life of poverty illumined by visions and celestial inspirations.
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# A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Blackmore, Richard Doddridge

​Blackmore, Richard Doddridge (1825-1900).—Novelist and poet, b. at Longworth, Berks, ed. at Tiverton School and Oxf., practised for a short time as a lawyer but, owing to his health, gave this up, and took to market-gardening and literature at Teddington. His first pub. was Poems by Melanter (1853), followed by Epullia (1855), The Bugle of the Black Sea (1855), etc.; but he soon found that fiction, not poetry, was his true vocation. Beginning with Clara Vaughan in 1864, he produced fifteen novels, all of more than average, and two or three of outstanding merit. Of these much the best in the opinion of the public, though not of the author, is Lorna Doone (1869), the two which rank next to it being The Maid of Sker (1872) (the author's favourite) and Springhaven (1887). Others are Cradock Nowell (1866), Alice Lorraine (1875), Cripps the Carrier (1876), Mary Anerley (1880), and Christowell (1882). One of the most striking features of B.'s writings is his marvellous eye for, and sympathy with, Nature. He may be said to have done for Devonshire what Scott did for the Highlands. He has been described as "proud, shy, reticent, strong-willed, sweet-tempered, and self-centred."
# A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Blair, Hugh

​Blair, Hugh (1718-1800).—Divine, and man of letters, b. and ed. at Edin. After being minister at Collessie in Fife, he was translated to Edinburgh, where he filled various pulpits, latterly that of the High Church. In 1759 he commenced a series of lectures on composition, and soon after the Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres was founded, to which he was appointed. His Lectures were pub. on his resignation of the chair in 1783. His chief fame, however, rests upon his Sermons, in 4 vols., which had an extraordinary popularity, and obtained for him a pension of £200. Time has not sustained the opinion of his contemporaries: they have been described as feeble in thought though elegant in style, and even as "a bucket of warm water." B. was amiable, kind to young authors, and remarkable for a harmless, but rather ridiculous vanity and simplicity.
# A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Blamire, Susanna

​Blamire, Susanna (1747-1794).—Poetess, was of good Cumberland family, and received the sobriquet of "The Muse of Cumberland." Her poems, which were not collected until 1842, depict Cumbrian life and manners with truth and vivacity. She also wrote some fine songs in the Scottish dialect, including "Ye shall walk in Silk Attire," and "What ails this Heart o' Mine."
# A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Blind, Mathilde

​Blind, Mathilde (1841-1896).—Poetess, b. at Mannheim, but settled in London about 1849, and pub. several books of poetry, The Prophecy of St. Oran (1881), The Heather on Fire (1886), Songs and Sonnets (1893), Birds of Passage (1895), etc. She also translated Strauss's Old Faith and New, and other works, and wrote Lives of George Eliot and Madame Roland. Her own name was Cohen, but she adopted that of her stepfather, Karl Blind.
# A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Blackstone, Sir William

​Blackstone, Sir William (1723-1780).—Legal Writer, posthumous s. of a silk mercer in London, was ed. at Charterhouse School and Oxf., and entered the Middle Temple in 1741. His great work is his Commentaries on the Laws of England, in 4 vols. ​(1765-1769), which still remains the best general history of the subject. It had an extraordinary success, and is said to have brought the author £14,000. B. was not a man of original mind, nor was he a profound lawyer; but he wrote an excellent style, clear and dignified, which brings his great work within the category of general literature. He had also a turn for neat and polished verse, of which he gave proof in The Lawyer's Farewell to his Muse.
# A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Blessington, Margaret

​Blessington, Margaret (Power), Countess of (1789-1849).—Married as her second husband the 1st Earl of B., with whom she travelled much on the Continent, where she met Lord Byron, her Conversations with whom she pub. in 1834. This is the only one of her books which has any value. The others were slight works on Travel, such as The Idler in Italy, annuals, and novels. She became bankrupt and went to Paris, where she lived under the protection of the Count d'Orsay.
# A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Blacklock, Thomas

​Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791).—Poet, b. near Annan of humble parentage, lost his sight by smallpox when 6 months old. He began to write poetry at the age of 12, and studied for the Church. He was appointed Minister of Kirkcudbright, but was objected to by the parishioners on account of his blindness, and gave up the presentation on receiving an annuity. He then retired to Edinburgh, where he took pupils. He pub. some miscellaneous poems, which are now forgotten, and is chiefly remembered for having written a letter to Burns, which had the effect of dissuading him from going to the West Indies. He was made D.D. in 1767.
# A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Blackmore, Sir Richard

​Blackmore, Sir Richard (c. 1650, d. 1729).—Poet, one of the Court Physicians to William III. and Anne, wrote several very long and well-intentioned, but dull and tedious, poems, which, though praised by Addison and Johnson, are now utterly forgotten. They include Prince Arthur, Creation, Redemption, Alfred. As may be imagined, they were the subject of derision by the profaner wits of the day. B. was a successful physician and an excellent man.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Woodd, Robert

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​WOODD. (Retired Commander, 1844. f-p., 18; h-p., 36.)
Robert Woodd was born 17 April, 1780, and died in 1847. His father, Geo. Woodd, Esq., was a Captain in the West Kent Militia.
This officer entered the Navy, in the spring of 1793, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Defence 74, Capt. J as. Gambier. After having fought as Midshipman in Lord Howe’s action, 1 June, 1794, ho removed with Capt. Gambier to the Prince George 98, fitting in the river Medway; he joined next, in 1795-6, the Eurydice 24 and Ambuscade 32, both commanded by Capt. Thos. Twysden; and in Feb. 1797 he was received on board the Leviathan 74, Capt. (subsequently Rear and Vice Admiral) John Thos. Duckworth. He was much employed, in the Eurydice, in affording protection to convoys in the English and Irish Channels; and in the Ambuscade he came into action with a fort on the island of St. Domingo. While attached to the Leviathan, in which ship (deducting an interval of 13 months, from Aug. ,1799 until Sept. 1800, during which he acted as Lieutenant in the Mermaid 32) he continued until the autumn of 1801, he cruized in the Channel and on the coast of Ireland, assisted at the blockade of Cadiz, served on shore at the reduction of Minorca, contributed to the capture of two Spanish frigates, the El Carmen and Florentina, each laden with 1500 quintals of quicksilver, and was present either afloat or on shore at the capture of Fort St. Elmo, on the coast of Naples, and of the Swedish and Danish islands in the West Indies. He was a participator, too, in many cutting-out affairs; and in one of them, on the coast of Spain, was wounded. His commission as Lieutenant, dated 31 Jan. 1800, was given to him by Lord Nelson. He returned to England from the West Indies in the Daphne 20, Capt. Rich. Matson; and was employed afterwards – from 1803 until 1805, in the Rosario sloop, Capt. Rich. Matson, on the coast of Ireland – from 1805 until March, 1810, in command of a Signal station in Cornwall – from Dec. 1810 until June, 1811, in the Ulysses 44, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral D’Auvergne on the Guernsey station – and from June, 1811, until June, 1813, in command of another Signal station in the island of Jersey. He was placed on the Junior List of Retired Commanders 26 Nov. 1830; and on the Senior 24 July, 1844.
Commander Woodd married in 1804, and again in 1826. By his first wife he has left a family of five children.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Woodgate, Thomas

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​WOODGATE. (Commander, 1842.)
Thomas Woodgate is nephew of Commander Rich. Streatfeild, R.N.
This officer attained the rank of Lieutenant 18 Oct. 1839. His succeeding appointments were 21 Oct. 1839, as Additional, to the Stag 46, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Thos. Ball Sulivan in South America – 18 July, 1840, to the Grecian 16, Capt. Wm. Smyth, at the Cape of Good Hope – 7 March, 1842, as Senior, to the North Star 26, Capt. Sir Jas. Everard Home, under whom he took part in the closing operations of the war in China – and, 17 Nov. following, to the Endymion 44, Capt. Hon. Fred. Wm. Grey, on the East India station. He was presented, in 1843, for his China services, with a Commander’s commission bearing date 23 Dec. 1842; and has since been on half-pay.
Commander Woodgate married, 11 Sept. 1845, Louisa Hay, daughter of the late Lieut. Walker, R.N. Agent – Fred. Dufaur.
* ↑ He served on shore in the attack upon the batteries at Woosung. – Vide Gaz. 1842, p. 3400.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1843, p. 2930.
# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Woodley, William

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​WOODLEY. (Commander, 1816. f-p., 10; h-p., 31.)
William Woodley, born 4 Feb. 1793, is son of Wm. Woodley, Esq., at one time Governor-General of the Leeward Islands, and afterwards of Berbice, by Mary, daughter of John Mardenborough, Esq., of St. Christopher’s.
This officer entered the Navy, about the commencement of 1806, as Midshipman, on board the London 98, Capt. Sir Harry Burrard Neale; and on 13 March in the same year was present, in company with the Amazon 38, at the capture, during a cruize to the westward, of the French 80-gun ship Marengo, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Linois, and 40-gun frigate Belle Poule, after a long running fight in which the London sustained a loss of 10 men killed and 22 wounded. In Oct. 1808 he removed to the above-named Amazon, commanded by the present Sir Wm. Parker; and after sharing in much service performed by the boats of that ship, he joined the Caledonia 120, bearing the flag of Lord Gambier; under whom we find him witnessing the celebrated attack made by Lord Cochrane on the French shipping in Aix Roads. He was subsequently employed in the Lavinia 40, Capts. Lord Wm. Stuart and Henry Digby, on the Mediterranean station. While there he contributed to the destruction of a fort situated on an island in the Bay of Rosas; and he served also in the boats and on shore at the capture of a fort and of the materials for two frigates on the coast of Corsica. About the period of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, which took place 25 June, 1812, he was appointed to the Boyne 98, bearing the flag of Sir H. B. Neale in the Channel: he served next, from Oct. 1812 until July, 1815, chiefly in the East Indies, in the Daedalus 38, Capt. Murray Maxwell (in which frigate he was wrecked, 2 July, 1813, near the island of Ceylon), Minden 74, flag-ship of Sir Sam. Hood, as First-Lieutenant in the Theban 36, Capt. Sam. Leslie, and in the Malacca 36, Capt. Hon. Donald Hugh Mackay; and in Aug., 1815 he was appointed, for five months, to the Royal Charlotte yacht, Capt. Geo. Scott. He attained the rank he now holds 11 March, 1816; and has since been on half-pay.
Commander Woodley married a sister of Lieut. John Wright, R.N. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.