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

​PERSE, STEPHEN (1548–1615), founder of the Perse grammar school at Cambridge, born in 1548, was son of John Perse (‘mediocris fortunæ’) of Great Massingham, Norfolk. He was educated at Norwich school, and on 29 Oct. 1565 was admitted pensioner of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. 1568–9, and proceeded M.D. 1582. He was fellow of the college from October 1571 till his death, and bursar in 1570 and 1592. Perse was a practising physician, who became rich before his death, as his will shows that he held considerable landed property in the town of Cambridge. He died unmarried on 30 Sept. 1615, and was buried in the college chapel. His will, dated 27 Sept. 1615, gave 100l. towards the building of the new library should it be commenced within a definite time, which it was not, and Perse also founded six fellowships and six scholarships at Caius College; but the bulk of his property was left to found a free grammar school for the benefit of the town of Cambridge, with one lodging chamber for the master and another for the usher. In his will he also laid down certain provisions for the conduct of the school, to be carried out by the master and fellows of his college. A suitable site was found in what is now known as Free School Lane, at the back of Corpus Christi College, and buildings were erected. The first master was Thomas Lovering, M.A., of Pembroke College, who, as he was afterwards said to have made the boys of Norwich grammar school ‘Minerva's darlings,’ was probably competent. He occurs as master in 1619. Among the pupils who passed through the school was Jeremy Taylor. At the beginning of this century the school had decayed. From 1805 to about 1836 no usher is recorded to have been appointed. From 1816 to 1842 the large schoolroom was used as a picture-gallery to contain the Fitzwilliam collection. A print is extant of the school when thus employed. In 1833 an information was filed in the court of chancery by the attorney-general against the master and fellows of Gonville and Caius College with a view to the better regulation of Dr. Perse's benefactions. The cause was heard before Lord Langdale, master of the rolls, on 31 May ​1837. By his lordship's direction a reference was made to one of the masters of the court, who approved a scheme for the administration of the property and application of the income on 31 July 1841. Under this scheme new buildings were erected, and the school became a flourishing place of education. In 1873 a new scheme was approved by the endowed schools commission, in virtue of which, among other changes, a school for girls was established. In 1888, on the removal of the school to a more convenient position on the Hills Road, the old site and buildings were bought by the university for 12,500l. (3 May). The buildings, which at first were only adapted to the purposes of an engineering laboratory, have since been in great part pulled down; but the fine Jacobean roof, part of the original structure, has been carefully preserved. Perse also founded almshouses, which have also been rebuilt; they are now situated in Newnham.
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Persall, John

​PERSALL, alias Harcourt, JOHN (1633–1702), jesuit, born in Staffordshire in 1633, of an ancient catholic family, made his humanity studies in the college of the English jesuits at St. Omer. He entered the Society of Jesus at Watten on 7 Sept. 1653, under the name of John Harcourt, and was professed of the four vows on 2 Feb. 1670–1. About 1668 he had been appointed professor of philosophy at Liège, and from 1672 to 1679 he was professor of theology there, appearing from that time under his real name of Persall. In 1683–5 he was a missioner in the Hampshire district. He was appointed one of the preachers in ordinary to James II, and resided in the jesuit college which was opened in the Savoy, London, on 24 May 1687. Upon the breaking out of the revolution in December 1688 he effected his escape to the continent. In 1694 he was declared rector of the college at Liège. He was appointed vice-provincial of England in 1696, and in that capacity attended the fourteenth general congregation of the society held at Rome in the same year. In 1701 he was a missioner in the London district, where probably he died on 9 Sept. 1702.
Two sermons by him, preached before James II and his queen, and printed separately in London in 1686, are reprinted in ‘A Select Collection of Catholick Sermons preached before King James II,’ &c., 2 vols., London, 1741, 8vo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pery, Edmund Henry

​PERY, EDMUND HENRY, Earl of Limerick (1758–1845), was the only son of William Cecil Pery, lord Glentworth (1721–1794), bishop successively of Killaloe and Limerick, who was raised to the Irish peerage on 21 May 1790, by his first wife, Jane Walcot. He was a nephew of Edmond Sexton Pery, viscount Pery [q. v.], speaker of the Irish House of Commons. Born in Ireland on 8 Jan. 1758, Edmund was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, but did not take a degree. He travelled on the continent of Europe, and in 1786 entered the Irish House of Commons as member for the county of Limerick. He retained this seat till 4 July 1794, when he succeeded to the Irish peerage on the death of his father, Lord Glentworth.
Though of overbearing manners and small talent, Pery was a successful politician. He closely attached himself to the protestant ascendency party, which monopolised all power after Lord Fitzwilliam's recall in 1794. For his services to the government Glentworth in 1795 was made keeper of the signet, and in 1797 clerk of the crown and hanaper. On the outbreak of the rebellion of 1798 he raised a regiment of dragoons for service against the rebels at his own expense. He strongly supported Lord Clare in furthering the scheme for a union between England and Ireland. He spoke frequently on its behalf in the Irish House of Lords, and did much to obtain the support of influential citizens of Dublin. In return for these services he was created a viscount in 1800, and was one of the twenty-eight temporal lords elected to represent the peerage of Ireland in the parliament of the United Kingdom after the legislative union had been carried out. On 11 Feb. 1803 he was raised to the dignity of Earl of Limerick in the peerage of Ireland; and on 11 Aug. 1815 he was made an English peer, by the title of Lord Foxford. Subsequently Limerick resided greatly in England. He took a prominent part in Irish debates in the House of Lords, and steadily opposed any concession to the Irish catholics. He died on 7 Dec. 1845, in Berkshire, and was buried in Limerick Cathedral. Barrington describes him as ‘always crafty, sometimes imperious, and frequently efficient,’ and adds, ‘He had a sharp, quick, active intellect, and generally guessed right in his politics.’
Limerick married, on 29 Jan. 1783, Alice Mary, daughter and heiress of Henry Ormsby of Cloghan, co. Mayo, by whom he had issue. He was succeeded in his titles and property by his second grandson, William Henry Tennison Pery.
G. P. M-y.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tattam, Henry

​TATTAM, HENRY, D.D. (1789–1868), Coptic scholar, was born in 1789. On 13 Aug. 1822 he was presented to the rectory of St. Cuthbert's, Bedford, and on 12 Aug. 1831 to the rectory of Great Woolstone, near Newport Pagnell; he held both these benefices till 1849, when he was presented by the crown to the living of Stanford Rivers, Essex. On 5 Feb. 1835 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and on 12 March 1845 he was collated by Joseph Allen, bishop of Ely, to the archdeaconry of Bedford, which he resigned in 1866. He was also a chaplain in ordinary to the queen. On 25 March 1845 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Trinity College, Dublin. He also received the degree of D.D. from Göttingen, and that of doctor of philosophy from Leyden. He died at Stanford Rivers on 8 Jan. 1868.
His principal works are:
* ‘Helps to Devotion,’ London, 1825, 12mo; 1862, 16mo.
* ‘An Edition of the Gospels in Arabic and Coptic’ [1829], 4to.
* ‘A Compendious Grammar of the Egyptian Language, as contained in the Coptic and Sahidic Dialects, with observations on the Bashmuric, together with alphabets and numerals in the hieroglyphic and enchorial characters,’ 3 parts, London, 1830, 8vo; 2nd edit. improved, London, 1863, 8vo.
* ‘Lexicon Ægyptiaco-Latinum ex veteribus Linguæ Ægyptiacæ Monumentis, et ex operibus La Crozii, Woidii, et aliorum … congestum,’ Oxford, 1835, 8vo.
* ‘Duodecim Prophetarum Minorum Libros in lingua … Coptica … Latine edidit H. T.’ 1836, 8vo.
* ‘A Defence of the Church of England against the attacks of a Roman Catholic priest,’ London, 1843, 8vo.
* ‘The Ancient Coptic version of the Book of Job the Just, translated,’ 1846, 8vo.
* ‘The New Testament in Coptic and Arabic,’ the former version being edited by Tattam, 1847.
* ‘The Apostolical Constitutions in Coptic, with an English translation,’ 1848, 8vo.
* ‘Prophetæ majores, in dialecto linguæ Ægyptiacæ Memphitica seu Coptica. Edidit ​cum versione Latina H. T.’ 1852, 8vo.
* ‘Memoir of the late John Camden Neild of Chelsea,’ privately printed, London [1852], 8vo.
[Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1868; Essex County Chronicle, 14 Jan. 1868, p. 5; Gent. Mag. February 1868, p. 263; Guardian, 15 Jan. 1868, p. 63; Memoir of Samuel Lee, LL.D. (1896), p. 103.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tattersall, William de Chair

​TATTERSALL, WILLIAM de CHAIR (1752–1829), editor of psalmodies, born in 1752, was second son of James Tattersall (d. 1784), by his first wife, Dorothy, daughter ​of William de Chair, rector of Risington, Gloucestershire. James was successively rector of Blatchington, Sussex (1742–6), of Charing, Kent (1746–55), curate of Egerton in the same county (1749–55), and rector of Streatham, Surrey (1755), as well as of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, until his death in 1784.
William was admitted in 1765 to Westminster school, where, as an actor in Terence's play, his performance of Phormio elicited Garrick's praise. He became a king's scholar, was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, in June 1770, graduated B.A. in 1774, M.A. in 1777, and was presented by his college in 1778 to the rectory of Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire. The same year his father presented him to the sinecure rectory of Westbourne, Sussex, where he spent the remainder of his life. He officiated as chaplain to Sir Francis Buller [q. v.], and in 1803 was appointed chaplain to the king.
After altering some of the metrical Psalms by James Merrick [q. v.] for the use of his own congregation, he published, with a valuable bibliographical and historical preface, ‘A Version or Paraphrase of the Psalms by J. Merrick, adapted to the Purposes of Devotion’ (1789, 12mo). This received such encouragement from George Horne [q. v.], bishop of Norwich, Richard Beadon [q. v.], bishop of Gloucester, and others, that Tattersall divided the Psalms into stanzas and republished the work (1797, 4to; 1801, 12mo; 1804, 12mo; 1822, 12mo). He then issued the first portion of an ‘Improved Psalmody’ (London, 1794, oblong 4to; reprinted London, 1802). This contained tunes adapted from Handel and the old masters, as well as many new ones contributed by leading composers and organists of the day.
Tattersall died at Westbourne on 26 March 1829. By his wife Mary (d. 1852), eldest daughter of George Ward of Wandsworth, Surrey, he left three sons and two daughters. The eldest son, James, physician to the Surrey dispensary, died on 8 May 1855.
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tatwin

​TATWIN, TATUINI, or TADWINUS (d. 734), archbishop of Canterbury, a Mercian and priest of a monastery called Briudun or Bredon in Worcestershire, was elected successor of Archbishop Brihtwald [q. v.], who died in January 731, and was consecrated by four English bishops at Canterbury on 10 June of that year. It is probable that he owed his elevation to the commanding influence of Ethelbald or Æthelbald (d. 757) [q. v.], king of the Mercians, whose cousin Eanulf was the founder of Bredon. Tatwin is said to have been on terms of affection with Albinus (d. 732), abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, and to have given his benediction to his successor, Nothbald (Elmham, pp. 300, 302). After receiving his pall from the pope he consecrated two bishops for the dioceses of Lindsey and Selsey in 733 (Sym. Dunelm Historia Regum). A letter produced in 1072 to establish the supremacy of Canterbury over York, which purports to have been sent by Gregory III to the English bishops, recommending Tatwin to them, asserts that Tatwin went to Rome to fetch the pall (Gesta Pontificum, pp. 55–57). This would have been an innovation; but as the grant of authority over all the bishops of England, which is the special subject of the letter, is contradictory to the policy of the pope, who shortly afterwards granted the pall to Egbert or Ecgberht (d. 766) [q. v.] of York, the letter must be held to be spurious (Ecclesiastical Documents, iii. 65, 311–12). Tatwin died on 30 July 734 (Sym. Dunelm u.s.; Cont. Bædæ; Elmham's date, 31 July 735, p. 311, is a mistake), and was buried in St. Augustine's. His body, with those of other archbishops and saints, was translated in 1091. His epitaph is preserved (Elmham, u.s.). He bore a high character both for religion and prudence, and was well versed in sacred learning (Historia Ecclesiastica, v. 23). Goscelin [q. v.] is said to have written an account of miracles wrought by him (Gesta Pontificum, p. 7). A charter granted in 732 by Ethelbert of Kent to an abbot Dun, possibly the same as Dunno, consecrated bishop of Rochester in 741, is attested by Tatwin (Codex Diplomaticus, No. 77). Forty enigmas, written in Latin hexameters, are attributed to him; they are in one complete series, the first and last letters of the first line of each forming a double acrostic. They are extant in Brit. Mus. MS. Reg. 12, C. xxiii. f. 121 seq., and in a manuscript in the public library, Cambridge, and have been printed by Giles in ‘Anecdota Bædæ,’ pp. 25–34, and by Wright in ‘Anglo-Norman Poets’ (Rolls Ser.), ii. App. 1. Other poems not now known to be extant are ascribed to him by Bale.
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Taunton, William Elias

​TAUNTON, Sir WILLIAM ELIAS (1773–1835), justice of king's bench, born at Oxford in 1773, was eldest son of Sir William Elias Taunton, town clerk of Oxford and clerk of the peace for the county, by Frances, daughter of Stephen Grosvenor, sub-treasurer of Christ Church, Oxford. He was admitted king's scholar at Westminster school on 15 Jan. 1785, and was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, whence he matriculated 12 June 1789, graduating B.A. 1793, and M.A. 1796. In 1793 he gained the chancellor's prize for the English essay, and next year was admitted student of Lincoln's Inn. He was called to the bar in Easter term 1799 at Lincoln's Inn, and joined the Oxford circuit. In 1801 he became a commissioner of bankrupts, and in 1806 succeeded Charles Abbot (afterwards Lord Colchester) [q. v.] as recorder of Oxford. He was created king's counsel in 1821, and was elected a bencher of his inn in 1822. On 12 Nov. 1830 he was appointed a justice of the king's bench, and was knighted five days later. Taunton soon in his career acquired the reputation of a black-letter lawyer (Foss, Judges, ix. 96); as an advocate he was a somewhat dull and slow speaker who, however, ‘made the monotony of his voice impressive and used his sluggishness as a power’ (Law Mag. 1835, p. 168); as a judge he was appointed too late in life to leave much mark. He died somewhat suddenly in his house in Russell Square 11 Jan. 1835.
Taunton married, 10 Oct. 1814, Maria, youngest daughter of Henry William Atkinson, provost of the Company of Moneyers, by whom he left two sons and four daughters. He wrote ‘Remarks upon the Conduct of the Respective Governments of France and Great Britain in the late Negotiation for Peace’ (1797), and assisted in preparing the edition of ‘Statutes of the Realm’ published by the record commission between 1810 and 1822.
[Barker and Stenning's Westminster School Register; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Gent. Mag. 1835, ii. 431; Times, 13 and 15 Jan. 1835.]
W. C.-r.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tautphœus, Baroness von

​TAUTPHŒUS, Baroness von, originally Jemima Montgomery (1807–1893), novelist, born on 23 Oct. 1807 at Seaview, co. Donegal, was the daughter of James Montgomery of Seaview by his wife, Jemima (daughter of James Glasgow of Aughadenvarn, co. Leitrim), and niece of Sir Henry ​Conyngham Montgomery, first baronet. She was married on 29 Jan. 1838 to Cajetan Josef Friedrich, baron von Tautphœus of Marquartstein (1805–1885), chamberlain to the king of Bavaria, and the remainder of her life was principally spent in Bavaria, where she was equally at home in court circles and, as her works evince, with the peasantry and the middle classes. Baron von Tautphœus died on 14 Nov. 1885, a few days after his only son, Rudolf Edgeworth Josef (b. 20 Nov. 1838–d. 1 Nov. 1885), who had risen to be Bavarian minister at the Quirinal. The baroness died on 12 Nov. 1893.
Baroness von Tautphœus is one of the most distinguished members of a highly interesting group of writers of fiction—the Englishmen and Englishwomen who, becoming residents in foreign countries, have devoted their talents to the illustration of foreign manners, and have shown themselves entirely at home when abroad. There is no novel in the language in which the epithet ‘charming’ could be applied with more strict propriety than to her first work, ‘The Initials’ (London, 1850, 3 vols. 12mo; 6th ed. 1863, 8vo), with its admirably contrasted pair of German sisters, the almost perfect yet most natural and human character of Hildegarde, the skilful suspense and the happy dénouement. ‘Quits’ (London, 1857, 3 vols. 8vo; 4th ed. 1864; in German, Leipzig, 1863) is equally bright, clever, and true to nature, but the plot lacks unity, and none of the characters inspire so deep an interest as the Hildegarde of its predecessor. ‘Cyrilla’ (1853, 1854, and in German, Leipzig, 1854, 8vo) is a romance of an entirely different class, being founded upon the criminal trial of Assessor Zahn, the details of which are accurately followed. It is consequently entirely true to life, and the objection raised against the catastrophe as too melodramatic falls to the ground. The baroness's last novel, ‘At Odds’ (1863), is also brilliant and interesting, but does not quite attain the charm of ‘The Initials’ or the tragic pathos of ‘Cyrilla.’
R. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Potter, Thomas Rossell

​POTTER, THOMAS ROSSELL (1799–1873), antiquary, son of John Potter of West Hallam, Derbyshire, by his wife Mary Rossell, was born at West Hallam on 7 Jan. 1799. He was educated first at the Risley grammar school, and afterwards at the grammar school at Wirksworth. When he was fifteen his parents removed to Wymeswold in Leicestershire, and there he resided until his death.
His intention of taking orders was frustrated by his father's death, and Potter accordingly started a school at Wymeswold. The school proved successful, and, with the exception of a few years devoted entirely to literary work, he spent the remainder of his days in tuition. From his schooldays he had developed a taste for literature, and especially for antiquities and geology. In 1842 he temporarily removed from Wymeswold to a house on Charnwood Forest, and while living here employed his leisure in collecting notes upon the history, antiquities, natural history, and geology of that district, which he worked up into a volume, entitled ‘The History and Antiquities of Charnwood Forest.’ This, the largest and best of his works, shows considerable depth of research and sound judgment in the choice of facts. Encouraged by the reception of this book, Potter attempted the reissue of Nichols's ‘History of Leicestershire,’ revised and brought down to the present time; but his effort proved abortive, and, though much was written, no portion found its way into print except the ‘Physical Geography and Geology of Leicestershire’ (1866), which Professor Ansted wrote for the enterprise.
Potter was fond of field sports, and a regular attendant at the meets of the Quorn hunt, and he contributed a series of racy and pungent papers and poems to the ‘Sporting Magazine’ from 1827 until 1840, under the nom de guerre of ‘Old Grey.’ He afterwards wrote for the ‘Sporting Review.’ One of the best of his sporting effusions was a witty poem entitled ‘The Meltonians,’ in 1835. He became editor of the ‘Leicester Advertiser’ in 1849, of the ‘Ilkeston Pioneer’ in 1856, and of the ‘Leicester Guardian’ in 1858. In 1865 he was editor of the ‘Loughborough Monitor,’ which, on its subsequent amalgamation with another paper, was styled the ‘Loughborough Monitor and News.’ Some lyrical ballads by him, in which local legends were incorporated, were collected in a volume of ‘Poems’ after his death by his son, Charles Neville Potter, in 1881.
Potter died on 19 April 1873, at Wymeswold, and was buried there on the 23rd. He had married, on 14 Jan. 1836, Frances Sarah, daughter of Leonard Fosbrooke of Shardlow Hall, Derbyshire, and of Ravenstone Hall, Leicestershire, and by her, who survived him, he had five sons and four daughters.
Besides the works mentioned, he published: 1. ‘Walks round Loughborough,’ 1840. 2. ‘The Genius of Nottinghamshire,’ 1849. 3. ‘Rambles round Loughborough,’ reprinted from ‘The Loughborough News,’ 1868.
W. G. D. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pottinger, Israel

​POTTINGER, ISRAEL (fl. 1770), dramatist, began life as an apprentice to a book-seller named Worral. Setting up for himself in Paternoster Row, he projected a variety of periodicals. One of them, ‘The Busy Body,’ was published thrice a week for twopence at the Dunciad, Paternoster Row, and to it Goldsmith contributed in 1759 (Forster, Life of Goldsmith, 1871, i. 212). Not meeting with much success, he next opened a circulating library near Great Turnstile, Holborn, and delivered for a time at Islington G. A. Stevens's popular ‘Lecture on Heads.’ He subsequently suffered from a mental disorder, but supported himself in his lucid intervals by his pen. In 1761 he published an unacted comedy called ‘The Methodist,’ which he described as ‘a continuation or completion of the plan of Foote's “Minor.”’ It was a scurrilous attack on Whitefield. A third edition appeared within the year. In the same year (1761) a farce by Pottinger, entitled ‘The Humorous Quarrel, or the Battle of the Greybeards,’ was acted at Southwark Fair, and subsequently published. ‘The Duenna,’ a comic opera in three acts, a parody on Sheridan's play, published in 1776, and ‘acted by his majesty's servants,’ is supposed to have been by Pottinger. A new edition appeared within the year.
G. Le G. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Potter, William

​POTTER, WILLIAM (fl. 1656), writer on banks, was appointed in 1656 registrar of debentures on ‘the act for the sale of the late king's lands’ (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1656–7, cxxix. 11). One of the earliest writers on paper currency, he recommended the issue, by means of a land bank, of bills payable at sight to the bearer, under a guarantee of land mortgages. He gave an account of his scheme in ‘The Key of Wealth, or a New Way for improving of Trade,’ London, 1650, fol. It was remodelled and republished, with addi​tions, with the title ‘The Trades-man's Jewel, or a Safe, Easie, Speedy, and Effectual Means for the Incredible Advancement of Trade … by making … Bills to become current instead of Money,’ &c., London, 1650, 4to. He also drew up, for presentation to the Council for Trade, ‘Humble Proposalls … shewing what Particulars, if enacted by Parliament, would … conduce to Advance Trade,’ &c., London, 1651, 4to. His scheme was criticised in ‘An Essay upon … W. Potter's Designe concerning a Bank of Lands to be erected throughout this Commonwealth,’ &c., London [1651?], 4to; reprinted in ‘A Discoverie for division or setting out of Lande, &c., by Samuel Hartlib,’ London, 1653, 4to.
W. A. S. H.