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

​MACLAUCHLAN, THOMAS (1816–1886), Scottish presbyterian divine and Gaelic scholar, born at Moy, Inverness, in January 1816, was youngest son of James Maclauchlan, minister of Moy. He was educated at the parish school and Aberdeen University, where he graduated M. A. in 1833. After studying divinity at Aberdeen and Edinburgh he was licensed to preach in 1837, and was appointed colleague and successor to his father. During the ecclesiastical disputes which led to the disruption Maclauchin supported the non-intrusionists, and was one of the body of ministers who walked from St. Andrew's Church, where the general assembly of the church of Scotland met, to Tanfield, where the first assembly of the disruption was held (1843). He subsequently visited Canada as a representative of the church. In 1844 he was minister at Stratherrick, Loch Ness, Inverness-shire, and in 1849 at Free St. Columba's, Edinburgh. He was a zealous supporter of the educational work of the free church in the highlands, and in 1850 succeeded Dr. Candlish [q. v.] as convener of committee on highlands and islands. In 1876 he was moderator of the free church assembly. He died at Edinburgh on 21 March 1886.
Maclauchlan took considerable interest in Celtic antiquities and literature, and for his work in this field the university of Aberdeen made him an LL.D. in 1864. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries for Scotland in 1866, served on its council from 1875 to 1878, and was vice-president from 1879 to 1882. He joined in the Ossianic controversy, maintaining that the poems were authentic, though occasionally altered and supplemented by Macpherson; and in 1859 he published at Edinburgh a Gaelic version of Ossian. His claims as a Celtic scholar rest mainly on his 'Book of the Dean of Lismore,' published in Edinburgh in 1862. He not only edited the original, but translated it into English and modern Gaelic. His 'History of the Early Scottish Church,' which appeared in Edinburgh in 1865, sketches the ecclesiastical history of Scotland from the first to the twelfth century. He is the author of the article on 'Gaelic Literature' in the 'Encyclopædia Britannica' (9th edit.) and of the chapter in Keltie's 'History of the Scottish Highlands' (vol. ii.) on 'Gaelic Literature, Language, and Music' His other published works are:
* 'The Depopulation system in the Highlands,' 1849; a series of papers contributed to the 'Witness' ​newspaper.
* 'Celtic Gleanings,' Edinburgh, 857; four lectures delivered before Edinburgh University students.
* 'The Book of Common Order,' translated into Gaelic, 1878.
* Two sermons—'The Way to God' (1868) and 'The Wrath and the Refuge,' sermon as moderator of the free church assembly (1877). He also edited the third edition of Stewart's 'Rudiments of Gaelic Grammar,' Edinburgh, 1876.
[Scotsman, 22 March 1886; Free Church of Scotland Monthly, December 1886; Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries for Scotland, 1886–1887, &c.; Dr. Brown's Annals of the Disruption; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
J. B. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Levinz, William

​LEVINZ, WILLIAM (1625–1698), president of St. John's College, Oxford, born 25 July 1625, was the son of William Levinz of Evenley, near Brackley, Northamptonshire. Sir Creswell Levinz [q. v.] and Baptist Levinz [q. v.], bishop of Sodor and Man, were his younger brothers, and Robert Levinz [q. v.] was his uncle. William was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, proceeded as probationary fellow to St. John's College, Oxford, in 1641, and became a fellow in 1644, taking the degree of B.A. in 1645, and M.A. in 1649. He refused to submit to the authority of the puritan visitors of the university in 1648 (Reg. of the Visitors, Camden Soc., pp. 50, 547), but must have submitted subsequently, as his name occurs continuously in the college register. He was ‘Terræ filius’ in 1651. At the reception of the chancellor Hyde on 9 Sept. 1661 Levinz, ‘though then very sickly,’ made a speech. He took orders, and proceeded to the degree of M.D. in 1666. On 10 Oct. 1673 he was elected president of his college. Wood did not think well of his appointment, since ‘he beats the students there and fights.’ In 1678 he was made sub-dean of Wells, and canon residentiary in 1682, Peter Mew [q. v.], then bishop of Bath and Wells, being a former president of St. John's. Levinz had a considerable reputation for learning, and was Greek reader from about July 1661, and regius professor of Greek from 24 Nov. 1665 to 1698 (cf. Fullman, Notitia Oxoniensis Academiæ, 1675). He died suddenly, while addressing a college meeting, on 3 March 1697–8 (cf. letter from William Sherwin, printed in Wood's Life, ed. Bliss). He was buried in St. John's College chapel, where his monument remains, describing him as ‘optime literatus, mansuetus, modestus, justus, pius.’ He was unmarried. According to a manuscript note (by Wood?) in the Bodleian copy (Linc. 8o C. 521), Levinz wrote a history of the year 1660, entitled ‘Appendicula de Rebus Britannicis,’ which was printed anonymously (pp. 339–46) in the third (1663) and subsequent editions of the ‘Flosculi Historici Delibati nunc Delibatiores redditi sive Historia Universalis’ of the jesuit Jean de Bussières (cf. Hearne, Collections, ed. Doble, Oxf. Hist. Soc., i. 103). He collected a library (cf. Bibl. Levinziana, 1698).
[Wood's Life and Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss; Wood's Life and Times, ed. Clark (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), i. 361 n., ii. 214 n.; Robinson's Merchant Taylors' School Register, i. 142; authorities quoted above; information from the Rev. Dr. Bellamy, President of St. John's College.]
H. E. D. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Levinz, Baptist

​LEVINZ, BAPTIST (1644–1693), bishop of Sodor and Man, born in 1644 at Evenley, Northamptonshire, was youngest son of William Levinz of Evenley, Northamptonshire (Baker, Northamptonshire, ii. 617). His brothers Creswell and William are noticed separately. He matriculated at Oxford from Magdalen Hall on 11 April 1660, and was elected demy of Magdalen College on 29 July 1663, and probationer fellow on 1 Aug. 1664. He graduated B.A. in 1663, M.A. in 1666, B.D. in 1677, and D.D. in 1683. He became junior dean in 1675, senior dean of arts in 1676, senior proctor on 5 April 1678, bursar in 1677, founder's chaplain in 1678, and dean of divinity in 1679. He was Whyte's professor of moral philosophy in the university from 27 March 1677 until 1682. On 8 Dec. 1675 he was made prebendary of Wells, in 1680 curate of Horsepath, near Oxford, in 1682 rector of Christian Malford, Wiltshire, and on 15 March 1684-5 was consecrated bishop of Sodor and Man. In 1687 he would have been elected president of Magdalen instead of John Hough [q. v.] had he not, by the advice probably of Sir Creswell Levinz [q. v.], and in a manner not thought honourable (cf. Magdalen College and King James II, Oxf. Hist. Soc. pp. 13, 15 seq.), withdrawn his candidature before the election. On 3 Aug, 1691 he was chosen prebendary of Winchester. He died of fever at Winchester on 31 Jan. 1692-3, and was buried in the cathedral. By his marriage, on 3 July 1680, to Mary (1663-1730), daughter of Dr. James Hyde, principal of Magdalen Hall, he was father of William (1688-1706), demy of Magdalen, and Mary (1690-1724), who married in 1707 Matthew Frampton, M.D. Hearne describes both Levinz and his wife as handsome and proud.
Levinz contributed to 'Epicaedia Universitatis Oxoniensis in obitum Georgii Ducis Albemarliae,' 1670.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Levinz, Robert

​LEVINZ, LEVENS, or LEVINGE, ROBERT, D.C.L. (1615–1650), royalist, born in 1615, was a son of William Levinz of Senkworth, near Abingdon, who carried on the business of a brewer at Oxford. His grandfather, William Levinz, was an alderman of Oxford, and five times mayor at the close of the sixteenth century; he was buried in All Saints Church, where there is a fine recumbent effigy to his memory. Robert was uncle of Sir Creswell Levinz [q. v.], Baptist Levinz [q. v.], and William Levinz [q. v.] He matriculated at Lincoln College, and graduated B.A. on 4 Feb. 1634, and D.C.L. in 1642. He was commissary in 1640 to the Bishop of Norwich (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1640–1, pp. 394, 397). On the outbreak of the civil war he took up arms for the king at Oxford, and obtained the rank of captain, but on the capitulation of the city to the parliament in 1646 appears to have resumed his studies. After Charles I's execution he was employed by Charles II in various negotiations, and finally received a commission to raise troops in England for the new king at the time of Charles's Scottish expedition in 1650. The plot was discovered, and he was arrested in London. His papers were seized, and many blank commissions signed by the king were discovered among them. Levinz was taken before the council of state, and was handed over as a spy to the council of war. He was tried by court-martial and sentenced to be hanged. Offers were made to spare his life if he would betray his accomplices: this he refused to do, but acknowledged the truth of the accusations against himself, while protesting the justice of his cause. He was taken to Cornhill in a coach guarded by a troop of horse, and hanged against the Exchange on 18 July 1650. Lloyd speaks of his numerous friends, his prudence, and integrity. His wife was a daughter of Sir Peregrine Bertie, and granddaughter of Robert, earl of Lindsay.
A portrait appears in Winstanley's ‘Loyal Martyrology,’ 1665.
[Winstanley's Loyal Martyrology, p. 28; Visitation of Oxford, 1573, private printed, by Sir T. Phillipps; Clarendon State Papers, ii. 73; Wood's Fasti (Bliss), i. 468, ii. 47; Lloyd's Memoirs, 1668, p. 560; Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 464; Topographer, 1821, vol. i.]
E. T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Levizac, Jean Pons Victor Lecoutz de

1904 Errata appended.
​LEVIZAC, JEAN PONS VICTOR LECOUTZ de (d. 1813), writer on the French language, was born in Languedoc, probably about 1750, of a noble family of Alby. He was educated for the church, and obtained a canonry in the cathedral of Vabres. In 1776 he received a prize for an essay, ‘Le bienfait rendu,’ from the Académie des Jeux Floraux. At the revolution he fled to Holland, and thence to England. If he be, as ​seems probable, the Jean de Levizac who is mentioned by Plasse, he was at the time of his flight vicar-general of the diocese of St. Omer. For the rest of his life he resided in London, taught French, and wrote numerous books on the French language. He died in London in 1813. Levizac's chief works were: 1. ‘L'Art de Parler et d'Ecrire correctement la Langue Française,’ London, 1797, 8vo, 1801, &c. This work was praised by Henry (Hist. de la Langue Française, ii. 36). 2. ‘Abrégé de la Grammaire Française,’ London, 1798. 3. ‘A Treatise on the Sounds of the French Language,’ London, 1800. 4. ‘Dictionnaire Universel des Synonymes de la Langue Française,’ London, 1807, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1809. 5. ‘French and English and English and French Dictionary,’ 1808, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1815.
[Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Quérard's La France Littéraire, v. 282 (complete list of works); F.-X. Plasse's Le Clergé Français réfugié en Angleterre, ii. 439; Biog. Universelle.]
W. A. J. A.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.181 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 162 | i | 1 | Levizac, Jean P. V. L. de: for le read de |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Levy, Joseph Moses

​LEVY, JOSEPH MOSES (1812–1888), founder of the ‘Daily Telegraph,’ born in London on 15 Dec. 1812, was son of Moses Lionel Levy, by Helena, daughter of J. Moses, esq., and was like his father a professing Jew. He was educated at Bruce Castle school, under Thomas Wright Hill [q. v.], and in Germany. He engaged in youth in commercial pursuits, and soon purchased and carried on a printing establishment in Shoe Lane, Fleet Street. He thus became connected with the ‘Sunday Times,’ of which he became chief proprietor in 1855, and he conducted that paper for a year. The ‘Daily Telegraph and Courier’ was founded by Colonel Sleigh as a twopenny daily newspaper on 29 June 1855. Sleigh quickly be​came heavily indebted to Levy, who took over the newspaper in settlement of his claims. On 17 Sept. 1855 it was issued as the ‘Daily Telegraph’ by Levy at a penny, being the first London daily newspaper produced at that price. It was in a very bad financial position at the time, and the proceeds of the first day's advertisements are stated to have been 7s. 6d. The appearance, however, of a well-edited daily paper at a penny excited great attention. Levy devoted all his capital to the enterprise, and induced many members of his family to follow his example. The circulation rose very rapidly, and on the repeal of the paper duties, which Levy did his best to obtain, the profits grew to be very large. Levy devoted himself entirely to his newspaper. He collected round him a band of able writers, including Thornton Leigh Hunt [q. v.], Sir Edwin Arnold, Mr. G. A. Sala, and many others. Until the last years of his life he daily visited the offices in Fleet Street, and supervised the management in the minutest details, invariably giving much attention to artistic and theatrical articles, for which he held himself especially responsible. The politics of the paper were liberal until 1886, when the principles of the liberal unionists were adopted. Levy was privately very charitable, and was a generous patron of music and the drama. He died at Florence Cottage, Ramsgate, on 12 Oct. 1888, and was buried at Balls Pond cemetery, London. He married in 1831 Esther, daughter of N. G. Cohen, and she died in 1883, leaving a large family. The eldest son, Sir Edward Lawson, was created a baronet in 1892.
[Times, 13 Oct. 1888; Daily Telegraph, 13 Oct. 1888; Grant's Newspaper Press; ii. 92, &c.; Fox Bourne's Hist. of the Newspaper Press; private information.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Levinge, Richard George Augustus

​LEVINGE, Sir RICHARD GEORGE AUGUSTUS (1811–1884), soldier and writer, born on 1 Nov. 1811, was eldest son of Sir Richard Levinge, sixth baronet, by Elizabeth Anne, eldest daughter of Thomas Boothby, first lord Rancliffe. He entered the 43rd regiment as ensign on 25 Nov. 1828, joined at Gibraltar, and returned to England suddenly in December 1830, in consequence of the disturbances in the manufacturing districts. In 1832 his regiment proceeded to Ireland, and on 8 April 1834 he was promoted lieutenant. On 4 June 1835 he sailed with the left wing of the 43rd for St. John's in Canada, and served in the suppression of the Canadian rebellion of 1837–8. He became captain unattached on 15 May 1840, and was appointed to the 5th dragoon guards on 27 Jan. 1843; he retired, however, from the guards on that day. On 3 Jan. 1846 he was made lieutenant-colonel in the Westmeath militia. On 12 Sept. 1848 he succeeded his father in the baronetcy, and in 1851 he was high sheriff for Westmeath. In 1857 and 1859 he represented the county of Westmeath in the House of Commons. Levinge died on 28 Sept. 1884. He married, first, on 20 March 1849, Caroline Jane (d. 1858), eldest daughter of Colonel Rolleston of Watnall Hall, Nottinghamshire; and secondly, on 10 Feb. 1870, Margaret Charlotte (d. 1871), widow of D. Jones, M.P., and daughter of Sir George Campbell. He left no issue, and was succeeded in the title by his brother, Vere Henry, eighth baronet, whose nephew, Sir William Henry Levinge, is innth and present baronet.
Levinge was a keen sportsman, and much attached to his regiment. He wrote: 1. ‘Echoes from the Backwoods,’ London, 1846, 2 vols. 12mo; 2nd edit. 1859; a record of experiences in Canada. 2. ‘Historical Notices of the Levinge Family,’ Ledestown, 1853. 3. ‘A Day with the Brighton Harriers,’ London, 1858. 4. ‘Historical Records of the Forty-third Regiment, Monmouthshire Light Infantry,’ London, 1868, 8vo.
[Levinge's Works; Army Lists; Burke's Peerage and Baronetage; Times, 30 Sept. 1884; Return of Members of Parliament, ii. 444, 461.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hodson, William (fl.1640)

​HODSON, WILLIAM (fl. 1640), theological writer, was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1620, M.A. in 1624 (University Register). In 1625 he published, as by ‘Will. Hodgson Mag. in ​Art. Cantab.,’ a curious poem entitled ‘The Plvrisie of Sorrovv let Blood in the Eye-Veine; or the Muses Teares for the Death of our late Soueraigne Iames King of England,’ 4to, London. His next work was a theological treatise in English on the woman who anointed Christ's feet, called ‘Sancta Peccatrix,’ 12mo [Cambridge, 1630?]. William Wimpew, vicar of Tottenham, Middlesex, addressed the author in some verses at the end of the book as ‘his noble friend and worthy parishioner W. H.’ Hodson also wrote: 1. ‘Credo Resurrectionem Carnis. A Tractate on the Eleventh Article of the Apostles Creed, exactly revised and enlarged’ (2nd edition), 24mo, Cambridge printed, London, 1636, with Hodson's portrait prefixed. 2. ‘The Divine Cosmographer; or a brief Survey of the whole World, delineated in a Tractate on the VIII. Psalme,’ 12mo, Cambridge, 1640.
[Cole's Athenæ Cantabr. (Addit. MS. 5871, f. 17); Granger's Biog. Hist. of England (6th edit.), ii. 317–18; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hodson, Margaret

​HODSON, Mrs. MARGARET (1778–1852), authoress, born in 1778, was eldest daughter of Allen Holford, esq., of Davenham, and Margaret, daughter of William Wrench, esq., of Chester, and was descended from the ancient family of Holford of Holford and of Davenham, Cheshire. The mother, Mrs. Margaret Holford, was author of a comedy, ‘Neither's the Man,’ acted at Chester and published in 1799, 8vo; of a tale, ‘Fanny and Selina,’ with ‘Gresford Vale, and other Poems,’ 1798, 8vo; of ‘First Impressions, or the Portrait,’ a four-volume novel, 1801, 12mo; and of the ‘Way to Win Her,’ a comedy, 1814 (Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816). At an early age Miss Holford followed her mother's example in attempting literary work. Her first work, ‘Wallace, or the Fight of Falkirk. A Metrical Romance,’ published in 1809, 4to, was noticed in the ‘Quarterly Review’ (iii. 63). In 1811 appeared a collection of ‘Poems,’ 8vo; in 1816 ‘Margaret of Anjou. A Poem in ten cantos,’ 4to; in 1820 ‘Warbeck of Wolfstein,’ 8vo; and in 1832 her last work, published after her marriage, ‘The Lives of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa and Francisco Pizarro. From the Spanish of Don Manuel Josef Quintana,’ 1832, 8vo. This work is dedicated to Robert Southey, and is dated from Sharow Lodge, near Ripon, 12 May 1832. Miss Holford was married (as second wife), on 16 Oct. 1826, at South Kirkby, Yorkshire, to the Rev. Septimus Hodson (see below). Mrs. Hodson was a correspondent and friend of Southey, and there are several letters addressed to her in the fifth and sixth volumes of his ‘Life’ (1850). She was also acquainted with Coleridge and Landor. She died at Dawlish, Devonshire, in September 1852, aged 74.
Her husband, Septimus Hodson (1768–1833), M.B. Camb., was rector of Thrapston, Northamptonshire, and chaplain in ordinary to the Prince of Wales; for some time he preached to the Asylum for Female Orphans at Lambeth. Besides sermons, he published an ‘Address on the High Price of Provisions in this Country,’ London, 1795, 8vo. He died on 12 Dec. 1833 (Gent. Mag. new ser. 1834, i. 338, lix. 474, lx. 630).
[Ormerod's Cheshire, ed. 1819, iii. 126–7; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. i. 113, 4th ser. ix. 534, x. 94, xi. 411; Eclectic Rev. xxix. 73; Monthly Rev. xciv. 235; Southey's Life, 1850, vols. v. and vi.]
W. G. B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hody, John

​HODY, Sir JOHN (d. 1441), chief justice of the king's bench, of an old Devonshire family, was son of Thomas Hody, lord of the manor of Kington Magna, near Shaftesbury, Dorset, and king's escheator there under Henry V, by Margaret, daughter of John Cole of Nitheway, Torbay. From 1425 his name often occurs in the year-books, and he must have become a serjeant-at-law before 1436, for in that year he contributed as a serjeant to the equipment of the army sent into France. He represented Shaftesbury in parliament in 1423, 1425, 1428, and 1438, and the county of Somerset in 1434 and 1440. On 13 April 1440 he succeeded Sir John Juyn as chief justice of the king's bench, died in December 1441, and was buried at Woolavington, Somersetshire. Prince says of him that he won golden opinions, and Coke (Institutes, pref.) says he was one of the ‘famous and expert sages of the law’ who assisted Lyttelton. He had estates at Stowell in Somerset and Pillesden in Dorset, the latter acquired through his wife Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Jewe, by whom he had five sons, including William Hody [q. v.], who became chief baron in 1486, and several daughters.
[Foss's Lives of the Judges; Prince's Worthies; Hutchins's Dorset, i. 317; Risdon's Devon, xvi. 60; Collect. Topogr. vii. 22; Register Chichele Lambeth, 481 b.; Engl. Chron. (Camd. Soc.), p. 60; Rot. Parl. iv. 285, v. 477; Pat. 18 Hen. VI, p. 3, m. 5.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hodson, Frodsham

​HODSON, FRODSHAM (1770–1822), principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, son of the Rev. George Hodson, was born at Liverpool on 7 June 1776. He entered the ​Manchester grammar school in January 1784, and left it in 1787 to proceed to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. on 14 Jan. 1791, M.A. 10 Oct. 1793, B.D. 1808, and D.D. 1809. In May 1791 he succeeded to a Hulmean exhibition, and was afterwards elected a fellow of his college. In 1793 he gained the university prize for an essay in English prose on 'The Influence of Education and Government on National Character' (Oxford Engl. Prize Essays, 1836, vol. i.) In 1795 he was chosen lecturer at St. George's Church, Liverpool, and subsequently became chaplain of the same church. His persistence in holding the chaplaincy, although he rarely in later years visited Liverpool, gave offence in the town. In 1803-4 and again in 1808-10, he filled the office of public examiner at Oxford. In 1808 he was appointed rector of St. Mary's, Stratford-by-Bow. In 1809 he vacated that benefice on being elected principal of Brasenose College. He presided over the college with great ability and distinction for thirteen years, and took a leading part in the affairs of the university. He served the office of vice-chancellor in 1818, and was appointed regius professor of divinity, with the appurtenant canonry of Christ Church and rectory of Ewelme, in 1820. It was believed that Lord Liverpool intended him for a bishopric, but he died, after a short illness, on 18 Jan. 1822, aged 51. He was buried in the ante-chapel of his college, where he is commemorated in a Latin inscription by Dr. E. Cardwell. He married, on 30 June 1808, Anne, daughter of John Dawson of Mossley Hill, Liverpool. He left four daughters and a son. His widow died on 23 April 1848.
In the university Hodson was long remembered for his success as a college tutor and administrator, and for the dignity of his personal appearance and address. He edited Falconer's 'Chronological Tables,' 1796, 4to. His probationary exercise as a fellow of Brasenose was published in the same year, entitled 'The Eternal Filiation of the Son of God asserted on the Evidence of the Sacred Scriptures,' 8vo, pp. 81. His only other works were three occasional sermons published at Liverpool, and printed in 1797, 1799, and 1804.
His portrait, by Phillips, is in the hall of Brasenose College. It has been engraved by Fittler.
[J. F. Smith's Manchester School Register (Chetham Soc.), ii. 125; G. V. Cox's Recoll. of Oxford, 1868, p. 193; Brooke's Liverpool, 1853, p. 62; Mark Pattison's Memoirs, 1885, p.3; Foster's Alumni Oxon. ii.673; Thorn's Liverpool Churches and Chapels, 1851, p. 27; Evans's Cat. of Portraits, i. 173.]
C. W. S.