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

​WYNDHAM, Sir HUGH (1603?–1684), judge, was the eighth son of Sir John Wyndham of Orchard-Wyndham in Somerset, and of Felbrigg in Norfolk, by his wife Joan, daughter of Sir Henry Portman, by whom he had nine sons and six daughters. Sir Wadham Wyndham [q. v.] was his younger brother. Hugh, born about 1603, entered Wadham College, Oxford, in 1622, and contributed a Latin poem to the ‘Camdeni Insignia,’ published at Oxford in 1624. He was admitted at Lincoln's Inn on 19 March 1622, and was called to the bar on 16 June 1629. He was created M.A. of Oxford by royal warrant on 2 Jan. 1643. He was made bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1648, created serjeant-at-law by the parliament on 30 May 1654, and in June following was sent as temporary judge on the northern circuit.
In the summer of 1658 at the Lincoln assizes he used some vehement expressions against the clergy who refused the sacrament to any who desired it, and advised the people to withhold tithes from those ministers who denied it to any but the ignorant and scandalous. The result was that several ministers were presented in court for neglect of duty. Wyndham's decision in these prosecutions was petitioned against by the mayor of Boston and others in November 1658.
Wyndham's promotion to the bench was declared illegal at the Restoration, but he was reinstated as serjeant-at-law on 1 June, and as judge on 22 June 1660, and made baron of the exchequer on 20 June 1670, upon which he was knighted on the 28th. On 22 Jan. 1673 he was moved from the court of exchequer to that of the common pleas.
He died at Norwich while on circuit on 27 July 1684, and was buried in Silton church, Dorset. He married, first, Jane, daughter of Sir Thomas Wodehouse of Kimberley, Norfolk, by whom he had two sons and three daughters. Both sons and one daughter died young; his daughter Rachel married John, earl of Bristol. Wyndham married, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Minn of Woodcott, Surrey, and widow of Sir Henry Berkeley of Wimondham, Leicestershire; and, thirdly (in April 1675), Katherine, daughter of Thomas Fleming of North Stoneham, Hampshire, and widow of Sir Edward Hooper of Beveridge, Dorset. Only by his first wife had he any issue.
B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wyndham, Francis

​WYNDHAM or WINDHAM, FRANCIS (d. 1592), judge, was the grandson of Sir Thomas Wyndham of Felbrigg in Norfolk [see under Wyndham, Thomas, (1510?–1553)], and the second son of Sir Edmund Wyndham of Felbrigg by his wife Susan, daughter of Sir Roger Townshend of Rainham in Norfolk. Sir Edmund was sheriff of Norfolk during the rebellion of Robert Kett [q. v.], and was active in suppressing it. Francis was educated at Cambridge, perhaps at Corpus Christi College, and called to the bar by the society of Lincoln's Inn. He became a bencher in 1569, and in 1572 was autumn reader. He represented Norfolk in the parliament which sat from 1572 till 1583. In October 1573 his name appears in special commission of oyer and terminer for Norfolk. In the award dated 31 May 1575 settling the controversies between Great Yarmouth and the Cinque ports he appears as an arbitrator. In 1577 he was made a serjeant; in 1578 he was elected recorder of Norwich, and is spoken of as a justice of the Oxford circuit; and in 1579 he succeeded Sir Roger Manwood [q. v.] in the court of common pleas. He was placed on the commission of oyer and terminer for Warwickshire and Middlesex, constituted on 7 Dec. 1583 for the trial of John Somerville [q. v.] and others for high treason, and in that for Middlesex constituted on 20 Feb. ​1584–5 for the trial of William Parry (d. 1585) [q. v.] for the like offence (Reports of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records, No. iv. App. ii. 272, 273). He was also consulted concerning the trial of Mary Stuart in October 1586 (Strype, Annals, 1824, iii. i. 529). He was one of the judges on the commission for hearing causes in chancery between the death of Sir Christopher Hatton [q. v.] in November 1591 and the appointment of Sir John Puckering [q. v.] in May 1592. Wyndham died in July 1592 at his house in the parish of St. Peter Mancroft in Norwich, (afterwards known as the committee house), and was buried on 18 July in the parish church. An altar-tomb without an inscription, bearing his arms and those of families to which he was allied, was erected against the north wall of Jesus chapel in St. Peter Mancroft. There is also a portrait of him as recorder in the Guildhall at Norwich. He married Jane, daughter of Sir Nicholas Bacon [q. v.], lord keeper of the great seal, but left no issue. His wife survived him and married, secondly, Sir Robert Mansfield. A letter from Wyndham to Lord Burghley is preserved in Lansdowne MS. 57, art. 49. Geoffrey Whitney [q. v.] addressed two of his ‘Emblemes’ (1586) jointly to Wyndham and Edward Flowerdew [q. v.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wyndham

​WYNDHAM. [See also Windham.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elford, Richard

​ELFORD, RICHARD (d. 1714), vocalist, became famous in London as a singer of sacred music at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In his youth he belonged to the choirs of Lincoln and Durham cathedrals, and came to London to display his fine counter-tenor on the stage. His success at the theatres was small, owing to his awkward and ungainly appearance (Hawkins quoting Dr. Tudway). Elford was sworn a gentleman of the Chapel Royal on 2 Aug. 1702, 'in an additional place to be added to the establishment,' but there is no mention in the Cheque-book of the addition of 100l. to his salary for the excellence of his voice, referred to by several writers. Elford was also appointed lay vicar at St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. His talent is praised by Croft as 'excelling all (as far as is known) that ever went before him, and fit to be imitated by all that came after him, he being in a peculiar manner eminent for his giving a due energy and proper emphasis to the words of his music,' and also by Weldon, who composed six solo anthems for the celebrated counter-tenor. Elford was also admired in profane music; he was chosen to take part in the performance before Queen Anne at St. James's Palace of Eccles's 'Birthday Songs,' in 1703, and was advertised to sing 'some new songs accompanied by the lute' at York Buildings in the same year. No mention of Elford is made by Downes or Genest. The well-known dancer, Mrs. Elford, was in the cast of D'Urfey's 'Wonders of the Sun,' given at the Haymarket in 1706, and this fact, noted by Downes, may have led to the assertion by Hawkins and later historians that Elford sang a part in that play. In Carey's poem, 'On the Death of the late famous Mr. Elford,' published in 1720, his loss is deplored in extravagant terms, and the patronage accorded to Elford by Queen Anne is alluded to. Some songs 'set by Mr. Elford,' 'Brightest Nymph,' 'To thee, O gentle Sleep' (Tamerlane), 'To Chloris all soft charms agree,' and 'Ah! cruel Damon, ​cease,' are in the British Museum. Elford died on 29 Oct. 1714. He had a brother a singer in the Dublin Cathedral choir.
[Hawkins's History of Music, 1853, p. 718; Cheque-book of Chapel Royal, ed. Rimbault, pp. 24, 27; Croft's Musica Sacra (1724), preface; Weldon's Divine Harmony (1725), first collection; Daily Courant, 19 March 1703; Downes's Roscius Anglicanus, various editions, lines following the entry of 9 April 1705; Carey's Poems, 1720, p. 22; Eccles's Songs and Symphonies, 1703; Elford's printed Songs, Nos. 98 and 99 in Horton collection, and No. 143 in collection by Walsh, Brit. Mus. Library.]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eldred, William

​ELDRED, WILLIAM (fl. 1646), master gunner of Dover Castle, born about 1563, signed as a freeholder of Dover the Kentish petition for the reformation of the liturgy in 1641 [Proc. in Kent, Camd. Soc. p. 62), was author of 'The Gunner's Glasse, wherein the diligent Practicioner may see his defects, and may from point to point reform and amend all errors that are commonly incident to unskilful gunners,' sm. 4to, 1646. The book, an interesting account of the great gun exercise as then in vogue, has a quaint portrait labelled 'Ætatis suæ 83' with the verse, —
When Age and Art and Industry beside
Doth all invite, Experience being guide,
Then who will say but surely this may be
A piece of work exact from dotage free.
The dedication to the Earl of Warwick says that he had spent the greatest part of his time in Dover Castle; that he had been a gunner for about sixty years, and that for thirty years and more he had been making notes of matters relating to gunnery, which he has embodied in his little treatise. In the body of the work he mentions incidentally that he had served also as a gunner in the Low Countries and in Germany. It would appear probable that he was a relation of John Eldred and of Thomas Eldred [q. v.], but no identification is possible.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stephens, George (1800-1851)

​STEPHENS, GEORGE (1800–1851), dramatist, was born at Chelsea on 8 March 1800. In 1835 he published ‘The Manuscript of Erdély,’ a romance, 3 vols. This was followed by ‘The Voice of the Pulpit, being Sermons on various subjects,’ 1839 (preface dated Bromley Hall, Herts, 28 Nov. 1838); ‘Gertrude and Beatrice, or the Queen of Hungary: a tragedy in five acts,’ 1839; and ‘Père La Chaise, or the Confessor,’ 1840, 3 vols.
On 26 Aug. 1841 his tragedy ‘Martinuzzi, or the Hungarian Daughter,’ was produced at the English Opera House (now the Lyceum Theatre). By the introduction of songs it was speciously converted into a musical drama, and brought out in evasion of the law which limited the performance of five-act dramas to the patent houses and the Haymarket. Samuel Phelps and Mrs. Warner took the chief rôles, and the piece kept the stage for a month, although the critics thought little of its merits. In 1846 he wrote ‘Dramas for the Stage,’ two privately printed volumes containing ‘Nero,’ ‘Forgery,’ ‘Sensibility,’ and ‘Philip Basil, or a Poet's Fate,’ four tragedies; ‘Self-Glorification,’ a Chinese play; and ‘Rebecca and her Daughter,’ a comedy. He also wrote the introduction to the ‘Church of England Quarterly Review,’ 1837 (i. 1–34), besides an article, ‘The Slumber of the Pulpit.’ His further works were ‘The Patriot, a tragedy,’ 1849; and ‘The Justification of War as the Medium of Civilisation,’ 1850. In later life he suffered reverses of fortune. He died at Pratt Terrace, Camden Town, London, on 15 Oct. 1851. His widow Ellen died on 11 Aug. 1866, aged 56. By her he had a son and daughter.
To Stephens have been attributed three works published under the pseudonym of ‘St. John Dorset.’ Two of them, however, ‘The Vampire: a tragedy,’ 1821, and ‘Montezuma: a tragedy,’ 1822, appear to have been written by Hugo John Belfour [q. v.]; while the third, a volume of poems, was the joint production of Belfour and Stephens.
[Tallis's Dramatic Mag. May 1851, p. 197; Gent. Mag. 1851 ii. 661, 1852 i. 2.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stephens, Jane

​STEPHENS, JANE (1813?–1896), actress, born about 1813, seems to have kept a tobacconist's shop at 39 Liverpool Road, Islington, previous to her ‘first appearance,’ which took place on 8 Feb. 1840 at the Olympic Theatre, then under the management of Samuel Butler, as Betty in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Grubb.’ After playing other soubrette parts she went into the country for three years, and on her return to London was engaged for ‘boys and walking ladies’ by Phelps at Sadler's Wells. Here, with the exception of one season with Mrs. Warner at the Marylebone, she remained until 1852. In 1853, as Miss Stephens, she joined the company of Charles Mathews at the Lyceum, then in 1858, as Mrs. Stephens, that of Alfred Wigan at the Olympic, where under four different managements she remained many years. Not until she began to assume grandmotherly parts did she make any great hit. In June 1854 in a revival of ‘Hush Money’ she was Mrs. Crab, and in March 1857 supported Robson as a country servant in ‘Daddy Hardacre,’ Palgrave Simpson's rendering of ‘La Fille de l'Avare.’ On 27 May 1863 she won her first great success as Mrs. Willoughby in the ‘Ticket of Leave,’ Taylor's adaptation of ‘Leonard.’ On 31 Aug. 1867 she played, at the Adelphi, the Nurse in ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ on the occasion of Miss Kate Terry's retirement. At the Holborn in October 1867 she enacted a part in Robertson's unsuccessful ‘For Love.’ On the opening of the Globe Theatre on 28 Nov. 1865 she was the original Miss Pamela Grannet (a schoolmistress) in Byron's ‘Cyril's Success.’ On 23 Oct. 1869 she was, at the same house, Mrs. Mould in Byron's ‘Not such a Fool as he looks.’ On the opening of the Court Theatre on 25 Jan. 1871 she was the original Mrs. Scantlebury in Mr. Gilbert's ‘Randall's Thumb.’ Here also on 27 March 1872 she was Madame Valamour in ‘Broken Spelling,’ by Westland Marston and William G. Wills. Returning to the Olympic, she was on 4 Oct. 1875 Mrs. Daw in Albery's ‘Scrivener's Daughter.’ In Mr. Burnand's ‘Betsy’ (‘Bébé’), at the Criterion on 6 Aug. 1879, she was Mrs. Dirkett. At the Princess's on 10 Sept. 1881 she was Mrs. Jarvis in Mr. Sims's ‘Lights of London,’ and at the Prince's Theatre on 29 March 1884 was Miss Ashford in the ‘Private Secretary,’ Mr. C. H. Hawtrey's adaptation of ‘Der Bibliothekar’ of Von Moser. She played many other parts mostly of a similar nature. Her farewell to the stage was taken on 9 July 1889, at an afternoon performance at the Shaftesbury Theatre, in which she appeared as Mrs. Stonehenge Tattle in ‘Truth.’ She died of bronchitis at her residence on Clapham Common on 15 Jan. 1896, and was cremated on the following Monday at Woking. She was in her latter days a bright, cheery, amiable old lady, who seemed born to play the class of parts into which she drifted.
[Personal knowledge; Pascoe's Dramatic List; Scott and Howard's Blanchard; Era, 18 Jan. 1896; Daily Telegraph, 18 Jan. 1896; Daily News, 20 Jan. 1896; Dramatic Notes; Sunday Times, various years; Notes and Queries, 8th ser. vol. x. passim.]
J. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stephens, Charles Edward

​STEPHENS, CHARLES EDWARD (1821–1892), musician, who was born at 12 Portman Place (now Edgware Road) on 18 March 1821, was nephew to Catherine Stephens, countess of Essex [q. v.] He studied the pianoforte and violin under J. M. Rost, Cipriani Potter, F. Smith, and H. Blagrove, and theory under James Alexander Hamilton [q. v.] After the completion of his school career, he was organist successively to St. Mark's, Myddelton Square; Holy Trinity, Paddington; St. John's, Hampstead; St. Clement Danes and St. Saviour's, Paddington. The last-named post he resigned in 1875. Stephens was a fellow or member of most of the English musical institutions, an original member of the Musical Association in 1874 and treasurer of the Philharmonic in 1880, and of the South-Eastern Section of the National Society of Professional Musicians. He died in London on 13 July 1892, and was buried at Kensal Green. Stephens was an accomplished musician, a good teacher, an excellent pianist, and in his younger days a capable violinist. His compositions, which are numerous, include a symphony in G minor, played at the Philharmonic in 1891, and a quantity of pianoforte and chamber music. In 1880 Stephens gained both the first and second prizes for string quartets offered by Trinity College, London. He was a clever speaker and writer, as his papers read before the Musical Association bear witness.
R. H. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stephens, Alexander

​STEPHENS, ALEXANDER (1757–1821), biographical writer, born in 1757, was son of Thomas Stephens, provost of Elgin. His mother's maiden name was Fordyce. At the age of eighteen he left Aberdeen University for the West Indies, and stayed some time in Jamaica. On his return to England he bought a commission in the 84th regiment, but never joined it. At twenty-one he entered the Middle Temple, but gave more time to literature than to law, though he for some time conducted a legal journal called ‘The Templar,’ and is said to have pleaded successfully before the House of Lords the claim of the Duke of Roxburgh (a distant relative) to the title [see Ker, James Innes-, fifth Duke of Roxburgh]. Stephens's first essay in literature was a poem on Jamaica. In 1803 he published in two quarto volumes, with maps and appendices, a ‘History of the Wars which arose out of the French Revolution.’ The narrative is clear and impartial, but somewhat diffuse. In 1813 appeared his chief work, the ‘Memoirs of John Horne Tooke,’ 2 vols. 8vo, founded on original letters and papers, as well as upon an acquaintance of several years. The quarrel between Tooke and Wilkes and the controversy with ‘Junius’ are dealt with in great detail, and the latter part of the book contains reports of conversations with Tooke at Wimbledon. Stephens's book had been preceded only by the wretched compilation of W. Hamilton Reid. It remains the best life of Horne Tooke.
Stephens was a frequent contributor to the ‘Analytical Review’ and the ‘Monthly Magazine’ of literary and biographical articles. The ‘Monthly Magazine’ published after his death (October 1821–August 1824) ‘Stephensiana,’ a series of articles consisting of anecdotes of his contemporaries collected by him. Stephens edited the first five volumes of the ‘Annual Biography and Obituary,’ and contributed most of the contents of the first nine volumes of ‘Public Characters’ issued by Sir Richard Phillips in 1823. He published numerous anonymous pamphlets, including a brief memoir of Curran (1817). As a biographer he was painstaking, accurate, and scrupulously fair. This is the more to his credit inasmuch as he was a strong whig. He lived at first near Primrose Hill, but afterwards built for himself Park House in Upper Church Lane, Chelsea. Stephens died at his house in Chelsea on 24 Feb. 1821, and was buried ‘in the new burial-ground south of the new church.’ By his marriage in 1792 with Miss Lewin, daughter of Samuel Lewin of Broadfield House, Hertfordshire, he had three children. One of his sons, Thomas Algernon, was wounded at Waterloo, where he carried the colours of the 3rd battalion of royal Scots.
G. Le G. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Medd, Peter Goldsmith

​MEDD, PETER GOLDSMITH (1829–1908), theologian, born on 18 July 1829, was eldest son of John Medd, F.R.C.S., of Leyburn, Yorkshire, who practiced at Stockport, by his wife Sarah, daughter of William Goldsmith. After education at King's College, London, where he was associate in theology in 1840 and subsequently honorary fellow, Medd matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford, on 1 March 1818, whence he migrated as scholar to University College, graduating B.A. there in 1852, and proceeding M.A. in 1865. He was fellow of University College from 1852 to 1877, bursar in 1856, tutor from 1861 to 1870, dean and librarian (1861). Taking holy orders in 1853, he served the curacy of St. John the Baptist, Oxford (1858-67), and leaving Oxford in 1870 was rector of Barnes until 1876. He declined in 1875 an offer of the bishopric of Brechin; from 1876 till his death he was rector of North Cerney, Cirencester. In 1877 Medd was made honorary canon of St. Albans. He took a leading part in the establishment of Keble College, Oxford, of the council of which he was senior member in 1871. He was select preacher at Oxford in 1881 and Bampton lecturer in 1882. His Bampton lectures, 'The One Mediator,' published in 1884, although condensed and harsh in style, show great learning. In 1883 he was proctor in convocation for the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol.
Medd took a keen interest in the higher education of women, and represented his university on the council of Cheltenham Ladies' College. He died, after a long illness, at North Cerney on 25 July 1908, and was buried there. He married on 19 Jan. 1876 Louisa, daughter of Alexander Nesbitt of Byfield House, Barnes, who with six sons and two daughters survived him. A learned authority on the liturgy, Medd edited with William Bright [q. v. Suppl. II] in 1865 the 'Liber precum publicarom ecclesiae Anglicanae,' the Latin version of the Prayer Book. He contributed in 1869 an historical introduction to Henry Baskerville Walton's edition of the first Prayer Book of Edward VI and the ordinal of 1549, and in 1892 he edited Andrewes's 'Greek Devotions' from a manuscript annotated by Andrewes himself, which was discovered by Robert George Livingstone, tutor of Pembroke College. This manuscript was an earlier and more authentic transcript than that made in 1648 for Richard Drake, on which all previous editions had been baaed. Besides the works mentioned, Medd published several sermons and devotional volumes, including:
* 'The Christian Meaning of the Psalms and the Supernatural ​of Christian Truth,' 1862.
* 'The Church and Wesleyanism,' 1868.
* 'Home Reunion,' 1871.
* 'Catholic Unity,' 1875.
* 'The Country Clergyman's Ideal,' 1887.
He also contributed the introductory memoir to 'Selected Letters of William Bright,' 1903.
[The Times, 28 July 1908; Brit. Mus. Cat.; private information.]
W. B. O.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Meldrum, Charles

​MELDRUM, CHARLES (1821–1901), meteorologist, born at Kirkmichael, Banffshire, in 1821, was son of William Meldrum, farmer, of Tomintoul, Banffshire. Educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, he was lord rector's prizeman, and graduated M.A. in 1844. In 1846 he was appointed to the education department, Bombay, and two years later was transferred to the Royal College of Maruitius as professor of mathematics. There later (Sir) Walter Besant [q. v. Suppl. II] was a colleague and intimate friend. In 1851 Meldrum founded the Mauritius Meteorological Society, which he served for many years as secretary.
In 1862 he was appointed government observer in charge of the small meteorological observatory then maintained at Port Louis. Here he devoted himself to the examination of ships' logs, and worked out the laws of cyclones in the Indian Ocean, work of great practical benefit to navigators, which brought considerable credit to the Mauritius observatory. The site at Port Louis was unsuitable for a meteorological observatory, and with the support of Sir E. Sabine he was able to obtain the erection of a new station at Pamplemousses—a site unhappily marshy and fever-stricken. Here the foundation stone of the Royal Alfred Observatory was laid in 1870 by the Duke of Edinburgh. The principal work of the observatory was as before the study of the movement of storms, but from 1880 photographs of the solar surface have been taken daily to supplement the series made at Greenwich and Dehra Dun for a continuous record of the number of spots on the sun.
In 1876 Meldrum was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in the same year the degree of LL.D. was conferred en him by the university of Aberdeen. He was made C.M.G. in 1886, and was a member of the governor's council from 1886 until his retirement from service in 1896, when he returned to England, settling at Southsea. ​He died at Edinburgh on 28 August 1901. He married in 1870 Charlotte, daughter of Percy Fitzpatrick.
[Monthly Notices, Royal Astron. Soc. lxii. 243, 1902; P. J. Anderson, Records of Marischal College, ii. 510; Proc. Roy. Soc. 1905; Who's Who, 1901.]
A. R. H.