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

​FARQUHAR, Sir WALTER (1738–1819), physician, born in October 1738, was son of the Rev. Robert Farquhar, minister of Garioch in Scotland, and descended from Sir Robert Farquhar, knt., provost of Aberdeen in 1646. He was educated first at King's College, Aberdeen, where he remained four years, and took the degree of M.A. Here he also commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Gregory, but left in 1759 for Edinburgh, where, as well as at Glasgow, he continued his medical studies. Without graduating in medicine Farquhar entered the army medical service, being appointed to the 19th regiment, and took part in Lord Howe's expedition against Belle Isle in 1761. His regiment being afterwards stationed for a long time at Gibraltar, he obtained leave of absence, and spent nearly a year and a half in France, attending the hospitals at Paris and elsewhere. For several months he lived with and studied under Claude Nicolas le Cat, a celebrated anatomist and surgeon at Rouen. Farquhar returned to Gibraltar, but considerations of health led him to leave the army and settle in London, where he commenced practice as an apothecary. In this he was very successful, and his practice gradually became that of a physician. After obtaining the degree of M.D. from Aberdeen, 29 Jan. 1796, he was admitted fellow of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 3 May 1796, and licentiate of the London College, 30 Sept. in the same year (Munk, Coll. of Phys. 1878, ii. 461). He was created a baronet 1 March 1796, and being shortly afterwards appointed physician in ordinary to the Prince of Wales, he rapidly took a high place in the profession, and had among his patients many persons of rank and influence. In 1813 he partially withdrew from practice, and died on 30 March 1819 in London.
Farquhar was considered a very able and successful physician, while his high personal character won and secured for him many friends, but he is not known to have made any contributions to medical science or literature. His portrait, by H. Raeburn, was engraved by W. Sharp. He married in 1771 Ann, widow of Dr. Harvie, a physician, and daughter of Alexander Stephenson of Barbadoes, by whom he left a family. His second son was Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar [q. v.], governor and commander-in-chief of the Mauritius.
J. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Farr, Samuel

1904 Errata appended.
​FARR, SAMUEL, M.D. (1741–1795), physician, was born at Taunton, Somersetshire, in 1741. His parents were protestant dissenters. He was educated first at the Warrington Academy, then at Edinburgh, and finally at Leyden University, where he took the degree of M.D. (1765). He was a physician to the Bristol Infirmary from 1767 to 1780, and practised for some years in Bristol. Afterwards returning to his native town he acquired an extensive practice there. He was a diligent writer, and published several medical works that were highly esteemed in their day. He died at Upcott, near Taunton, in the house of Mr. John Fisher, on 11 March 1795.
His published works are: 1. ‘An Essay on the Medical Virtues of Acids,’ London, 1769, 12mo. 2. ‘A Philosophical Inquiry into the Nature, Origin, and Extent of Animal Motion, deduced from the principles of reason and analogy,’ London, 1771, 8vo. 3. ‘Aphorismi de Marasmo ex summis Medicis collecti,’ 1772, 12mo. 4. ‘Inquiry into the Propriety of Blood-letting in Consumption,’ 1775, 8vo; against the practice. 5. ‘The History of Epidemics, by Hippocrates, in seven books; translated into English from the Greek, with Notes and Observations,’ &c. 6. ‘A Preliminary Discourse on the Nature and Cure of Infection,’ London, 1781, 4to. 7. ‘Elements of Medical Jurisprudence,’ London, 1788, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1811, 12mo; a translation from the work of Fascelius, but with considerable additions by the translator. 8. ‘On the Use of Cantharides in Dropsical Complaints’ (Memoirs Med. ii. 132, 1789).
R. H.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.121 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gurnall, William

​GURNALL, WILLIAM (1617–1679), English divine, was born in 1617 in the parish of Walpole St. Peter, near Lynn, Norfolk, and received his early education at Lynn grammar school, from which he went in 1631 to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1635 and M.A. in 1639. In 1644 he obtained the living of Lavenham, Suffolk. In the 'Journals of the House of Commons' (iii. 725) it is ordered, 16 Dec. 1644, 'that the living of Lavenham in Suffolk, having been conferred by Sir Symonds D'Ewes, patron, upon William Gurnall, the said learned divine shall be rector for his life, and enjoy the rectory and tithes as other rectors before him.' It would appear from one of his letters that when he obtained the appointment he was officiating, possibly as a curate, at Sudbury. In February 1644-5 he married Sarah Mott, daughter of a minister at Stoke-by-Nayland. He is chiefly known by his work 'The Christian in Complete Armour,' in three volumes dated successively 1655, 1658, and 1662. A reissue was edited by Bishop Ryle in 1864-5. At the Restoration he conformed and continued at Lavenham till his death on 12 Oct. 1679.
[Inquiry into the life of the Rev. William Gurnall, by H. McKeon, 1830; Biographical Introduction to his works by Bishop Ryle, 1865.]
T. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gurdon, Brampton

​GURDON, BRAMPTON (d. 1741), Boyle lecturer, younger son of Brampton Gurdon, of Letton, Norfolk (who was nephew of John Gurdon [q. v.]), by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Thornhagh, of Fenton, Nottinghamshire (Chester, London Marriage Licenses, ed. Foster, col. 598; Burke, Landed Gentry, 7th edit., i. 799), was educated at Caius College, Cambridge, where he took the two degrees in arts, B.A. 1691, M.A. 1695 (Cantabr. Graduati, edit. 1787, p. 171). By 1696 he had been elected fellow of his college. His Boyle lectures were published as 'The Pretended Difficulties in Natural or Reveal'd Religion no Excuse for Infidelity. Sixteen Sermons preach'd in the Church of St. Mary le Bow, London, in … 1721 and 1722,' 8vo, London, 1723 (reprinted in the third volume of S. Letsome and I. Nicholl's 'Religion,' fol. 1739). An abridgment by G. Burnet, vicar of Coggeshall, Essex, was issued in 1737, 8vo. Gurdon was a favourite of Lord Chancellor Macclesfield, who made him his chaplain and gave him the rectory of Stapleford Abbots, Essex, 17 March 1719-1720, a living he resigned 3 Nov. 1724 (Morant, Essex, i. 178). On 16 March 1726-7 he was collated to the archdeaconry of Sudbury (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, ii. 493); became rector of Denham, Buckinghamshire, 17 Oct. 1730 (Lipscomb, Buckinghamshire. iv. 448); and rector of St. Edmund the King, Lombard Street, about 1732 (Malcolm, Londinium Redivivum, iii. *468), preferments which he held until his death. He died unmarried in the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, 20 Nov. 1741 (Gent. Mag. 1741. p. 609; Administration Act Book,P.C.C.,Dec. 1741). His other writings are:
* 'Probabile est animam non semper cogitare. Idea Dei non est innata' [in verse.], s. sh. fol. [Cambridge], 1696.
* 'The Distinction of Christians into Clergy and Laity justified: in a sermon [on Ephes. iv. 11, 12] preached … at the consecration of … John [Leng] … bishop of Norwich,' 4to, London, 1723.
* 'Christian Religion supported by the Prophecies of the Old Testament: or, a Defence of the Argument drawn from Prophecy,' 8vo, London, 1728.
* 'A Letter to a Lady: where-in the canonical authority of St. Matthew's Gospel is defended' [anon.], 8vo, London, 1732.
* 'An Answer to the Defence of the Dissertation or Enquiry concerning the Gospel according to St. Matthew … By the Author of the Letter to a Lady,' 8vo, London, 1733.
[Authorities cited in the text.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gurney, Anna

​GURNEY, ANNA (1795–1857), Anglo-Saxon scholar, youngest child of Richard Gurney of Keswick, Norfolk, who died 16 July 1811, by his second wife Rachel, second daughter of Osgood Hanbury of Holfield Grange, Essex, was born on 31 Dec. 1795, and when ten months old was attacked with a paralytic affection which deprived her for ever of the use of her legs. She passed through her busy, active, and happy life without ever having been able to stand or move without mechanical aid. At an early age she learnt Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Anglo-Saxon. In 1819 she brought out anonymously, in a limited impression for private circulation, ‘A Literal Translation of the Saxon Chronicle. By a Lady in the Country.’ This work, which went to a second edition, is commended by Dr. James Ingram in his ‘Saxon Chronicle with Translations,’ 1823, preface, p. 12. In 1825, after the death of her mother, she went to reside at Northrepps Cottage, near Cromer, with Miss Sarah Buxton. That lady died in 1839, and Miss Gurney continued to inhabit the cottage for the remainder of her life. While living there she procured at her own expense one of Manby's apparatus for saving the lives of seamen wrecked on dangerous coasts, and in cases of urgency she caused herself to be carried down to the beach, and directed the operations from her chair. She took a great interest in the subject of the emancipation of the negroes, and up to the time of her death maintained a correspondence with missionaries and educated negroes in the African settlements. She made a journey to Rome, and then visited Athens and Argos, and was contemplating a voyage to the Baltic. In 1845 she became an associate of the British Archæological Association, being the first lady member who joined the association. In the ‘Archæologia,’ xxxii. 64–8, is a communication from her on ‘The Discovery of a Gold Ornament near Mundesley in Norfolk,’ and in xxxiv. 440–2 is a paper ‘On the Lost City of Vineta, a submerged Phœnician city.’ In her later life she studied Danish, Swedish, and Russian literature. After a short illness she died at the residence of her brother, Hudson Gurney [q. v.], at Keswick, near Norwich, on 6 June 1857, and was buried in Overstrand Church.
[Times, 18 June 1857, p. 10; Gent. Mag. 1857, pt. ii. pp. 226, 342–3; Journ. Brit. Archæol. Assoc. June 1858, pp. 187–9; a sermon on the death of Miss Anna Gurney, by the Rev. Edward Hoare, 1857.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gurney, Daniel

​GURNEY, DANIEL (1791–1880), banker and antiquary, was born at Earlham Hall, near Norwich, on 9 March 1791. He was youngest son of John Gurney (d. 1809) of Earlham, Norfolk, and brother of Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, the philanthropist, and of Joseph John and Samuel Gurney, who are separately noticed. His mother, Catherine, daughter of Daniel Bell, died in 1792. He descended from the ancient family of Gurney or Gournay, a younger branch of which held certain manors in Norfolk (temp. Henry II). Daniel was a direct descendant of this branch of the family. After completing his education Gurney entered the Norwich firm of Gurney & Co., of which he was afterwards the head, and for more than sixty years a partner. He wrote several essays on banking, which were printed for private circulation only. As the head of one of the first banks in the provinces he had much influence, both socially and politically. His amiability, courtesy, and generosity greatly endeared him to his contemporaries. Gurney was mainly instrumental in establishing the West Norfolk and Lynn Hospital.
One of Gurney's favourite pursuits was archæology, and he was a prominent fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He took great interest in genealogy. In 1848 he printed in two volumes for private circulation an elaborate work entitled ‘The Record of the House of Gournay,’ to which he afterwards (1858) added a supplement. This book is highly valued for its varied antiquarian information and research. Gurney, who was a conservative in politics, was a justice of the peace and deputy-lieutenant for the county of Norfolk, and filled the office of high sheriff in 1853. He married in 1822 the Lady Harriet Jemima Hay, daughter of William, fifteenth earl of Erroll, by whom he had a numerous issue; ​she died in 1837. Gurney himself died, 14 June 1880, at his seat near North Runcton, Norfolk.
G. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gurdon, Adam de

​GURDON or GORDON, Sir ADAM de (d. 1305), warrior, was son of Adam de Gurdon, one of the bailiffs of Alton in Hampshire. He sided with de Montfort in the barons' war; but on 28 July 1265 repulsed the Welsh who were plundering in Somerset, at Dunster. He was one of the disinherited in 1266, and with others of his party formed a band which ravaged Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hampshire. Edward marched against them in person, and meeting them in Alton wood (or perhaps at Halton in Buckinghamshire) defeated Gurdon in single combat. Gurdon's prowess won the admiration of his conqueror, who restored him to his estates and made him one of his most trusted supporters (Trivet, p. 269; Wykes, iv. 189; there is a slightly different story in Rish. Chron. p. 49). Gurdon was a justice of the forest in 1280, and in 1293 mention is made of forest offences which had been tried before him (Abbrev. Rot. Orig. p. 77). He took part both in the Welsh and Scottish wars (Fœdera, ed. 1816, i. 846, 925), and in 1295 was custos of the sea shores of Hampshire, and a commissioner of array in that county, and in Dorset and in Wilts. He died in 1305 (Inq. p. m. in Calendarium Genealogicum, ii. 680), having married (1) Constantly daughter and heiress of John de Vanuz, whose estates were at Selborne (Pat. Roll. p. 41, Hen. iii.); (2) Almeria, by whom he had two sons; and (3) Agnes, whose daughter Johanna was his heiress (Cal. Gen. ii. 680). From his second son, Robert, the Gurdons of Assington and Letton are descended (Burke, Landed Gentry, ed. 1871, i. 555). His estate of Gurdon still bears his name and is now the property of Magdalen College, Oxford.
[Dunstable Annals and Wykes's Chronicle in Annales Monastici, vol. iii. and iv.; Rishanger's Chronicle (all in Rolls Series); Trivet's Annals Eng. Hist. Soc.; Foss's Judges of England, p. 318.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gurdon, John

​GURDON, JOHN (1595?–1679), regicide, born about 1595, was the eldest son of Brampton Gurdon (d. 1649) of Assington, Suffolk, and Letton, Norfolk, by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Barrett of Bell House, Essex. He succeeded to the property at Assington (Burke, Landed Gentry seventh edit. i. 798). On 26 Oct. 1640 he was elected M.P. for Ipswich, Suffolk, being returned for the county on 12 July 1654 (Lists of Members of Parliament, Official Return of, pt. i. pp. 494, 502). According to Lord Holles (Memoirs, ed. 1699), Gurdon was one of the party in the House of Commons who gave their support to the army. He was a member of the Eastern Counties Association; but on being nominated one of the commissioners of the high court of justice for the trial of the king, refused to attend. He was, however, appointed a member of the council of state on 20 Feb. 1650 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1650, p. 5), and served on various committees (ib. Dom. 1650-2). On 28 June 1653 he was constituted one of a sub-committee on the business of draining the great level of the fens (ib. Dom. 1652-3, p. 447). At the Restoration he retired to Assington, where he died on 9 Sept. 1679, aged 84. His will, dated on 25 June 1677, was proved at London on 4 Oct. 1679 (registered in P. C. C. 129, King). By his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Calthorpe Parker of Erwarton, Suffolk, who survived him, he left five sons, Robert, Nathaniel of Woodham, Essex, Philip, Brampton, and Barrett, and three daughters, married respectively to John Gould, merchant, John Jollife, and Dr. Thomas Jacomb.
[Noble's English Regicides, i. 257-8.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gurdon, Thornhagh

​GURDON, THORNHAGH (1663–1733), antiquary, elder brother of Brampton Gurdon [q. v.], was born in 1663. As a member of Caius College, Cambridge, he received the degree of M.A. 'comitiis regiis' in 1682 (Cantabr. Graduati, edit. 1787, p. 171), and in the reign of Queen Anne was appointed receiver-general of Norfolk. He resided mostly at Norwich, where in 1728 he published anonymously a valuable 'Essay on the Antiquity of the Castel of Norwich, its Founders and Governors from the Kings of the East Angles down to modern Times,' 8vo (reprinted, 8vo, Norwich, 1834). Another work of great merit was his 'History of the High Court of Parliament, its Antiquity, Preheminence, and Authority; and the History of Court Baron and Court Leet, ​together with the rights of Lords of Manors in Common Pastures and the growth of the privileges the Tenants now enjoy there,' 2 vols. 8vo, London 1731. He died in November 1733, aged 70, and was buried in the church of Cranworth with Letton, Norfolk (note appended to reprint of 'Essay,' 1834; will registered in P.C.C. 61, Ockham). By his wife Elizabeth, one of the daughters and coheirs of Sir William Cooke, bart. of Brome, Suffolk, he had two sons, Brampton, who died before him, and Thornhagh, and three daughters, Jane, Elizabeth, and Letitia. Mrs. Gurdon survived until 1745 (Norfolk Archæceology, ii. 370n.) Gurdon was elected F.S.A. in March 1718 (Original List of Fellows in Library of Soc. Antiq.); he erroneously appears as 'Brampton Gourdon, esq.' in Gough's 'Chronological and Alphabetical Lists,' 1798, pp. *2, 69.
[Blomefield's Norfolk, 8vo edit. iii. 92; John Chambers's General Hist. of Norfolk, ii. 1018; Burke's Landed Gentry, 7th edit. i. 799; Gough's British Topography, ii. 11.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bridges

​BRIDGES. [See also Brydges.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bridges, Noah

​BRIDGES, NOAH (fl. 1661), stenographer and mathematician, was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and acted as clerk of the parliament which sat in that city in 1643 and 1644. He was created B.C.L. on 17 June 1646, 'being at that time esteemed a most faithful subject to his majesty.' He was in attendance on King Charles I in most of his restraints, particularly at Newcastle and the Isle of Wight (State Papers, Dom., Charles II, vol. xx. art. 126). His majesty granted him the office of clerk of the House of Commons, but the appointment failed to pass the great seal because of the surrender of Oxford. It appears that the king also promised him the post of comptroller, teller, and weigher of the Mint. After the Restoration he vainly endeavoured to obtain the grant of these offices with survivorship to his son Japhet. For several years he kept a school at Putney, where he was living in 1661.
He is the author of:
* 'Vulgar Arithmetique, explayning the Secrets of that Art, after a more exact and easie way than ever,' London, 1653, 12mo. A portrait of the author is prefixed.
* 'Stenographie and Cryptographie: or the Arts of Short and Secret Writing. The first laid down in a method familiar to meane capacities; the second added to convince and cautionate the credulous and the confident …' London, 1659, 16mo. This extremely scarce work is dedicated to Sir Orlando Bridgeman. The address to the reader is thus most curiously dated: 'March 18/59 the first of the four last months of 13 yeares squandered in the Valley of Fortune.' A second edition, which has escaped the notice of bibliographers, appeared with this title: 'Stenography and Cryptography. The Arts of Short and Secret Writing. The second Edition enlarged, with a familiar Method teaching how to cypher and decypher all private Transactions. Wherein are inserted the Keys by which the Lines of Text-Writing affixed to those Cyphers are folded and unfolded,' London, 1662.
* 'Lux Mercatoria, Arithmetick Natural and Decimal …' London, 1661, 8vo. With a fine portrait of the author, engraved by Faithorne. This portrait was re-engraved as Milton, for Duroveray's edition of 'Paradise Lost.'
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bridges, Thomas

​BRIDGES, THOMAS (fl. 1759–1775), dramatist and parodist, was a native of Hull, in which town his father was a physician of some repute. He was a wine merchant, and a partner in the firm of Sell, Bridges, & Blunt, who failed in Hull as bankers in 1759. In 1762 Bridges produced, under the pseudonym of Caustic Barebones, a travestie of Homer, in 2 vols. 12mo, which for the epoch is fairly spirited in versification, and obtained some popularity, but is not much wittier nor more decent than other works of its class. This was reprinted 1764, and in an enlarged form in 1767, 1770, and 1797. He also wrote 'The Battle of the Genii,' 4to, 1765, burlesquing, in a poem in three cantos, Milton's description in 'Paradise Lost' of the fight with the rebel angels; and 'The Adventures of a Bank Note,' 1770, 2 vols. 8vo, a novel to which in 1771 two other volumes were added. To the stage he contributed 'Dido,' a comic opera in two acts, produced at the Haymarket 24 July 1771, and printed in 8vo the same year; and the 'Dutchman,' a musical entertainment, played for the fourth time at the Haymarket 8 Sept. 1775, and also printed the same year. Some trace of humour is discoverable in the earlier piece; the latter is wholly flat. The 'Battle of the Genii' was for a time attributed to Francis Grose, the antiquarian.
[Genest's Account of the English Stage; Biographia Dramatica; an Address given to the Literary and Philosophical Society at Kingston-upon-Hull, 5 Nov. 1830, by Charles Frost, F.S.A., Hull, 1831; Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Halkett and Laing's Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature.]
J. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bridges, Charles

​BRIDGES, CHARLES (1794–1869), evangelical divine, was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, and proceeded B.A. 1818, M.A. 1831. He was ordained deacon in 1817, priest in 1818, and in 1823 was presented to the vicarage of Old Newton, near Stowmarket in Suffolk. In 1849 he was nominated vicar of Weymouth, where he remained till failing health induced him to retire to the rectory of Hinton Martell in Dorsetshire, to which he was presented by Lord Shaftesbury. Bridges was a prominent member of the evangelical party in the church, and author of many popular devotional and theological treatises. Among his works may be mentioned a 'Memoir of Miss M. J. Graham' (1823), of which several editions were published, a similarly executed 'Memoir of Rev. J. T. Nottidge' (1849), and a 'Life of Martin Boos, Roman Catholic Priest in Bavaria' (1855), which forms the fifth volume of the 'Library of Christian Biography,' edited by R. Bickersteth. Besides these devotional biographies, he wrote 'An Exposition of Psalm cxix.' (1827), which ran through several editions, and was also translated into German; 'An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs' (1846); 'Forty-eight Scriptural Studies' (5th ed. 1833); 'Fifty-four Scriptural Studies '(1837); and several smaller devotional and practical tracts. A book entitled 'The Christian Ministry, with an Inquiry into the causes of its Inefficiency, and with special reference to the Ministry of the Establishment' (1830) reached many editions. He also published several sermons, one of the latest of which, against 'Vain Philosophy' (1860), is a counterblast to the teaching of broad-church divines. A small selection from Bridges' correspondence was published at Edinburgh in the year after his death, under the title of 'Letters to a Friend.'
[Register and Mag. of Biography, i. 399; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
R. B.