OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gouge, Thomas (1665?-1700)

​GOUGE, THOMAS (1665?–1700), independent divine, son of Robert Gouge [q. v.], was born at Ipswich. He was educated for the ministry in Holland, and before completing his twenty-second year became pastor of the English church at Amsterdam. Calamy met him there in 1688, and found him ‘very great’ with Partridge, the astrologer. Partridge and he ‘had with great exactness calculated the year, the month, the day, and the very hour, when the city of Rome was to be burnt and destroyed so as never to be rebuilt any more.’ When Calamy asked for this date, Gouge ‘desired to be excused,’ but assured him he ‘might live to see that time.’ In 1689 Gouge returned to England, and became pastor of the independent congregation at Three Cranes, Fruiterers' Alley, Thames Street, London. He became exceedingly popular. Isaac Watts speaks of him as one of the three greatest preachers he had heard in his youth, the others being John Howe (1630–1705) [q. v.] and Joseph Stennett. In 1694 he was chosen one of the merchants' lecturers at Pinners' Hall, in the room of Daniel Williams, D.D., whose removal was occasioned by the doctrinal disputes which broke up the union (1691) of London presbyterians and independents. Gouge's own congregation was not free from internal troubles. In 1697 an eccentric divine, Joseph Jacob (1667–1722) [q. v.], was permitted to conduct a weekday lecture at Three Cranes. He introduced politics, and was dismissed at the instance of Arthur Shallet, M.P., a member of Gouge's flock. He carried away a following, and next year (1698) several more withdrew owing to a dispute about the admission of a member. These trials broke Gouge's health, but he persevered in his duties, and died in harness. He was reckoned a living library; as a preacher his strength lay in the illustration of scripture. He died on 8 Jan. 1700; his funeral sermon was preached by John Nesbitt at Pinners' Hall. Watts's ‘Elegiac Essey,’ which dilates on ‘the charming wonders of his tongue,’ was published separately in 1700, dedicated to Shallet; it is reprinted in Watts's ‘Lyrick Poems.’
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gostlin, John (1632-1704)

​GOSTLIN, JOHN (1632–1704), fellow and benefactor of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, son of John Gostlin, himself a former fellow of the college, was born at Dickleburg, Norfolk (baptised 29 Jan. 1632), and educated under Mr. Lancetter at Diss and Moulton in the same county. He was admitted at Caius 6 July 1647. He afterwards left and became a fellow of Peterhouse, but was elected fellow of Caius by royal mandate (1 June 1661). There is a petition from him to the king among the State Papers, requesting to be thus admitted on the ground that he had been debarred from such preferment in the time of Dr. Dell, ‘for his known loyalty,’ and that he was related to a former master of his own name (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1661). He graduated A.B. 1650, A.M. 1654, M.D. 1661. He appears to have resided pretty constantly in Cambridge after his return to Caius College, where he was made president (i.e. vice-master) in 1679. He died in college and was buried in the chapel, 3 Feb. 1704. He was a liberal benefactor; leaving 500l. for the increase of the scholarships founded by his relative the master, as well as the advowson of the rectory of Hethersett, Norfolk.
J. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gostling, John

​GOSTLING, JOHN (d. 1733), chorister, was born, probably at Canterbury, about the middle of the seventeenth century. Thomas Purcell, the uncle of the composer, wrote a letter dated 8 Feb. 1678–9 to Gostling, in which he says that the composer was engaged on a work which would cause Gostling, then at Canterbury, to be sent for to London (see Grove, Dictionary). Accordingly, on 25 Feb. Gostling was sworn a gentleman extraordinary of the Chapel Royal, and on the 28th was admitted in ordinary on the death of William Tucker. The entry in the Cheque Book describes him as ‘a base from Canterbury, Master of Arts.’ It is fairly certain that he is the John Gostling who took the degree of B.A. from St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1672. Gostling was famous for the compass and power of his voice. The opening passages of Purcell's ‘They that go down to the sea in ships,’ an anthem written for Gostling, and at his own request, is a lasting witness to its compass. Gostling officiated as one of the ministers at the coronations of James II and William and Mary. He afterwards became a minor canon of Canterbury, vicar of Littlebourn, sub-dean of St. Paul's, and prebendary of Lincoln (25 Oct. 1689). He died 17 July 1733. His son William is noticed below.
J. A. F. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gott, Joseph

​GOTT, JOSEPH (1785–1860), sculptor, born in 1785, was a student at the Royal Academy, and in 1819 was gold medallist for a group of ‘Jacob wrestling with the Angel.’ He exhibited this and other works at the Royal Academy in 1820, and in 1821 ‘Sisyphus’ and other groups. In 1826 he exhibited ‘A Sleeping Nymph’ and ‘A Gleaner.’ Gott was patronised by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and also by Benjamin Gott, who was not related to him, and sent him to Rome, where he lived until his death there in 1860. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1830 to 1848. His principal works were executed for Armley House and Church at Leeds, the residence of his patron Gott; they include a recumbent figure for his patron's tomb.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880; Seubert's Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon; Royal Academy Catalogues.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Goudy, Alexander Porter

​GOUDY, ALEXANDER PORTER, D.D. (1809–1858), Irish presbyterian divine, son of the Rev. Andrew Goudy (presbyterian minister of Ballywalter, co. Down, from 1802 to 1818), by Matilda, daughter of the Rev. James Porter of Greyabbey (who was executed in 1798 for supposed complicity in the designs of the United Irishmen), was born near Ballywalter in February 1809, and, after attending school at the Belfast Academical Institution, entered its collegiate department in November 1823. He distinguished himself in several of the classes, and gained some reputation in the college debating society, where his chief rival was Thomas Hagan, afterwards Lord-chancellor O'Hagan. He was licensed by the presbytery of Bangor 29 Dec. 1830, and ordained as assistant and successor to the Rev. James Sinclair of Glastry (not far from his birthplace), 20 Sept. 1831. On 20 March 1833 he was installed in Strabane, where he continued minister till his death. In 1839 he became involved in a somewhat notable controversy on the merits of episco​pacy. The Rev. Archibald Boyd [q. v.], then curate in Derry Cathedral, subsequently dean of Exeter, had issued ‘Sermons on the Church’ in 1838, in which he attacked presbyterianism. In 1839 four ministers of the synod of Ulster, of whom Goudy was one, published a reply entitled ‘Presbyterianism Defended, and the Arguments of Modern Advocates of Prelacy examined and refuted.’ The other authors were the Revs. W. D. Killen of Raphoe, afterwards professor of church history in the assembly's college, Belfast, William McClure and James Denham, ministers in Londonderry. Boyd having replied in a book entitled ‘Episcopacy, Ordination, Lay Eldership, and Liturgies, in five letters,’ the four ministers published ‘The Plea of Presbytery,’ which soon became a standard work on the subject. This Boyd reviewed in ‘Misrepresentation Refuted,’ which called forth ‘Mene Tekel’ from the four ministers. The last work in the controversy was by Boyd, and was entitled ‘Episcopacy and Presbytery.’ Goudy's part in this battle of the books was very ably done. Shortly after he took a large share in the agitation caused by a decision of the House of Lords (elicited by an appeal from the Irish courts), which affirmed the invalidity of a marriage celebrated by a presbyterian minister, where one of the parties was an episcopalian, an agitation which was ended by the passing of the Marriages (Ireland) Act (7 & 8 Victoria, chap. 81), which legalises all such marriages. From this time Goudy took rank as one of the leading debaters in his church, and had a prominent part in all its business. In 1851 he received the degree of D.D. from Jefferson College, U.S. In 1857 he became moderator of the general assembly. He died unexpectedly in Dublin 14 Dec. 1858. In addition to the works mentioned above he published several sermons and pamphlets.
T. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gosynhyll, Edward

Edwarde Gosynhyll in the ODNB.
​GOSYNHYLL, EDWARD (fl. 1560), poet, was author of the ‘Scole House of Women,’ a satirical and humorous attack upon women. The poem, in seven-line stanzas, first appeared without any author's name in 1541 (London, by Thomas Petyt); the colophon gives a wrong date, 1561. A reply by Robert Vaughan or Vaghne, entitled ‘A Dyalogue Defensive,’ was issued in 1542, and in 1560 Edward More of Hambledon also replied to Gosynhyll in ‘The Defence of Women,’ 1560, 4to. But Gosynhyll himself recanted earlier. About 1542 William Myddylton ​brought out his ‘Prayse of all Women called Mulierum Pean,’ London, n.d., a poem in the same metre as the ‘Scole House,’ in which Gosynhyll claimed the authorship of that diatribe, and sought to make amends for his lack of chivalry. In 1557 John Kynge obtained a license from the Stationers' Company for a reprint of the ‘Scole House,’ and this appeared in 1560. An undated reprint of ‘The Prayse of all Women’ was also issued by Kynge about the same time. A third edition of the ‘Scole House’ was published by Edward Allde in 1572, and this edition E. V. Utterson reprinted in his ‘Early Popular Poetry,’ 1817, ii. 51–93. John Kynge was likewise the publisher about 1560 of ‘A Dialogue [in verse] bytwene the Commune Secrætary and Jealousye, touchynge the unstableness of Harlottes.’ J. P. Collier, when reprinting twenty-five copies about 1842, showed good grounds for attributing this poem to Gosynhyll.
[Corser's Collectanea; Collier's reprint of A Dialogue; Collier's Bibl. Cat. i. 324–6; Collier's Stationers' Reg. (Shakesp. Soc.), i. 3; Utterson's Select Pieces, ii. 51–93.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bache, Francis Edward

​BACHE, FRANCIS EDWARD (1833–1858), musician, born 14 Sept. 1833 at Birmingham, was the eldest son of Samuel Bache [q.v.]. From a very early age he showed extraordinary talent for music, learning assiduously the piano, organ, and violin, in the last of which instruments he made such progress under the tuition of Alfred Mellon as to play in the orchestra of the Birmingham festivals of 1846 and 1847. Having determined to adopt music as his profession, he left school in the summer of 1849, and, after studying for a short time with Mr. James Stimpson, came to London, and continued his studies with Sir Sterndale Bennett. In Oct. 1850 he obtained the post of organist at All Saints Church, Gordon Square, and in November of the same year his first overture was performed at the Adelphi Theatre. From 1849 to 1853 he worked hard in London, teaching, studying, and composing numerous pianoforte pieces. In Oct. 1853 he went to Leipzig, Where he remained till the end of the following year, returning to England, after a short stay in Paris, in 1855. He obtained an appointment as organist at Hackney, but he was soon forced by illness to return home. In 1856 Bache went to Algiers, where for a time the consumptive symptoms from which he suffered were arrested. From Algiers he returned by way of Paris to Leipzig, spending the following winter in Rome. In June 1857 he returned home, and spent the next winter at Torquay, but on his return to Birmingham in April 1858 he gradually sank, dying on 24 Aug. of the same year. In estimating Bache's position as a composer, it cannot be denied that as far as regards his published works his promise was greater than his performance; of his unpublished works, which include two complete operas, a polonaise for pianoforte, orchestra, &c., there has been, unfortunately, no opportunity of judging the merits. But though much that he wrote was obviously the ephemeral and immature work of one whose powers were prevented by illness from attaining their full development, yet there are some of his compositions, notably amongst his songs, which show that he was possessed of genius of no mean order, and which will continue to occupy an honoured position amongst the best productions of English musicians.
W. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Backhouse, William

​BACKHOUSE, WILLIAM (1593–1662), Rosicrucian philosopher, a younger son Samuel Backhouse, Esq., of Swallowfield, Berkshire, was born in that county 17 Jan. 1593, and entered Christ Church, Oxford, a commoner, in 1610, but left the university without taking a degree. At length, settling on his patrimony, he devoted his time to the study of the occult sciences, became a renowned alchemist, Rosicrucian, and astrologer, and gave great encouragement to the who were addicted to similar pursuits, especially Elias Ashmole, whom he adopted his son, and to whom he freely imparted the arcana of his mysterious lore. The subjoined laconic entries in Ashmole's diary show the intimacy of the friendship subsisting between them:— 26 April 1651: 'Mr. William Backhouse, of Swallowfield, in com. Berks, caused me to call him father thenceforward.' 10 June ​1651: 'Mr. Backhouse told me I must now needs be his son, because he had communicated so many secrets to me.' 10 March 1652: 'This morning my father Backhouse opened himself very freely, touching the great secret.' And finally, under date 13 May 1653, Ashmole writes: 'My father Backhouse lying sick in Fleet Street, over against St. Dunstan's church, and not knowing whether he should live or die, about eleven of the clock told me, in syllables, the true matter of the Philosopher's Stone, which he bequeathed to me as a legacy.' It is almost superfluous to add that no hint is given as to the nature of this wonderful secret. Backhouse died at Swallowfield 30 May 1662. He married Ann, daughter of Bryan Richards of Hartley Westfield, Hampshire, by whom he had two sons (who predeceased him), and a daughter. Flower, who married, first, William Bishop, of South Warnborough, Hampshire, and secondly, her father's kinsman, Sir William Backhouse, Bart., who died 22 Aug. 1669.
Backhouse left in manuscript:
* 'The pleasant Founteine of Knowledge: first written in French anno 1413, by John de la Founteine of Valencia in Henault;' translated into English verse in 1644. MS. Ashmol. 58.
* A translation of 'Planctus Naturæ: The Complaint of Nature against the Erroneous Alchymist, by John de Mehung.' MS. Ashmol. 58, art. 2.
* 'The Golden Fleece, or the Flower of Treasures; in which is succinctly and methodically handled the stone of the philosophers, his excellent effectes and admirable vertues; and, the better to attaine to the originall and true meanes of perfection, inriched with Figures representing the proper colours to lyfe as they successively appere in the pratise of this blessed worke. By that great philosopher, Solomon Trismosin, Master to Paracelsus; 'a translation from the French. M S. Ashmol. 1395. Wood adds that 'he was also the inventor of the "Way wiser" in the time of George Villiers, the first duke of Bucks.'
[MS. Addit. 14284 f. 20; Lives of Ashmole and Lilly (1784), 313, 314, 315, 319, 329, 335; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 86, iii. 575, iv. 355, 361, 715, Fasti, i. 422; Black's Cat. of Ashmol. MSS. 94. 221, 222, 514, 529, 533, 1089.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Babyon, Peter

​BABYON, or BABYO, or BABION, PETER (fl. 1317–1366), poet and divine in the reign of Edward II, by birth an Englishman, was educated from his earliest youth in the literæ humaniores by masters of approved ability and long experience. He practised so diligently both prose and verse writing that he soon became an elegant poet and most adept rhetorician. His compositions excited the wonder of the age in which he lived. When speaking of him as a poet, Pits says that he was chiefly remarkable for talents which are rarely found in combination—
Ingenium felix, inventio, lucidus ordo,
Gratia, majestas, ad rem bene congrua verba.
As his judgment became more matured by years, he was unwilling to spend all his life and all his ability in exercises of ordinary choice. He therefore betook himself to the reading of the holy scriptures, and in the midst of that labour he undertook the task of preaching the divine word, for which his previous education had so eminently qualified him. All the polite learning of his youth was now devoted to this sacred purpose. He achieved, as might be expected, a great success, and made for himself a name amongst theologians of no little fame. He was still living, according to Possevino, in 1366. His ​chief work was a 'Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew' in one book, which is bound up in the older editions of the works of St. Anselm. His other works are 'De officio Missæ Liber unus;' 'Sermonum Septuaginta liber unus;' 'Homiliarum Liber unus;' 'Comœdia carmine Liber unus;' 'Carminvim diversorum Liber unus.'
J. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bachhoffner, George Henry

​BACHHOFFNER, GEORGE HENRY (1810–1879), one of the founders of the London Polytechnic Institution, and in his day a well-known and popular lecturer on scientific subjects, was a native of London. It was in 1837 that he, in conjunction with a few others, established the Polytechnic, which was intended for a place of popular instruction, and, indeed, while it was under Bachhoffner's control, sufficiently fulfilled that intention. Here he held the position of principal of the department of natural and experimental philosophy till 1855. Afterwards he became lessee and manager of the Coliseum in the Regent's Park, and there gave lectures similar to the courses he had established at the Polytechnic. In the later part of his life he held a post as registrar of births and deaths in Marvlebone. Bachhoffner was an inventor, and took out several patents for inventions connected with the electric telegraph, gas stoves, oil lamps, &c.
H. T. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Babington, William (d.1455)

​BABINGTON, Sir WILLIAM, (d. 1455), judge, of an ancient Northumbrian family, was the second son of Sir John Babington, Knt., of East Brigford in the county of Nottingham, by Benedicta, daughter of Simon Ward, Esq., of Cambridgeshire, who held the offices of escheator (a functionary whose business it was to safeguard the interests of the crown in escheats, wardships, and the like incidents of the royal prerogative) for the counties of Northampton and Rutland, and custos of the castle and manor of Okeham. Babington married Margery, daughter of Sir Peter Martell, Knt., of Chilwell in Nottingham, through whom he became possessed of estates in that place, and by whom he had five sons and five daughters. He was appointed king's attorney on 16 Jan. 1414, and in the following year (11 July 1415) was commanded to take the rank of serjeant-at-law, at that time one of greater dignity than that of king's attorney, but generally shunned as a barren and expensive honour. Accordingly, in company with several other 'apprentices of the law' who were summoned about the same time, he neglected to appear to the writ, and it was only under pressure of an order from parliament (November 1417) that he and his colleagues were induced to comply. This incident is referred to by Pym in his speech in impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham (in 1626) as one which might be distorted, though manifestly irrelevant, into a precedent for the practice of compelling the purchase of titles of honour, which was one of the offences with which the duke was charged. It is about this date (1417) that Babington's name begins to appear with frequency in the year books. His rise henceforward must have been rapid, for he was appointed chief baron of the exchequer in 1419, and in 1420 justice of the common bench. In 1423 he became chief justice of the common bench, and so continued until 1436, when he retired. In that year his name appears in the list of those called upon to contribute to the loan raised for the purpose of infusing new vigour into the war in France, the sum exacted from him being 100l. He endowed the Babington chantry at Flaforth in Nottinghamshire with some houses and rents, and is said by Foss to have founded 'a chantry for two chaplains at the altar of St. Catherine in the church at Thurgarton' in the same county. There occurs in the St. Alban's Registry the following memorandum: 'For one cup given to W. Babington, Knt., Chief Justice of the Common Bench, for favours done to the Monastery, c. s.' Babington died in 1455, and was buried at Lenton Priory in Nottinghamshire.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Backhouse, Edward

​BACKHOUSE, EDWARD (1808–1879), author of 'Early Church History,' was born at Darlington on 8 May 1808. He lived from early boyhood at Sunderland, where he was a partner in collieries and in the bank with which his family had been connected for many years. He took no active part in business, and was a man of cultivated tastes, fond of travel, a good amateur painter, a a student of natural history. He devoted himself chiefly to the promotion of philanthropic and religious purposes. He was most generous and judicious supporter various institutions in Sunderland, and said to have spent over 10,000l. a year charities. In politics he was an energetic liberal, and especially interested in questions bearing directly upon morality. In later life he was a prominent opponent of the Contagious Diseases Acts. He was a devoted member of the Society of Friends, to which his family belonged. He began to preach 1852, and two years later was 'recognised' as a minister. He married Katharine Mounsey in 1856. He had no family, but he always delighted in the society of children and the promotion of their happiness. In 1874 was impressed by the belief that he ought devote himself to writing upon church history. He laboured at this task till his death 22 May 1879. His manuscripts were entrusted to Mr. Charles Tylor, who publish in 1884 'Early Church History to the Death of Constantine; compiled by the late Edward Backhouse; edited and enlarged by Charles Tylor.' The book, which makes no pretense to profound research, is interesting as an account of the early church by an intelligent writer from the quaker point of view.
[Preface to Early Church History by Charles Tylor; Northern Echo, 24 May 1879; Sunderland Daily Echo, 23 and 28 May 1879; information from the family.]
L. S.