OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grant, John (1782-1842)

​GRANT, JOHN (1782–1842), lieutenant 2nd royal veteran battalion, and lieutenant-colonel Portuguese service, a famous spy in the Peninsular war, began his military career as a subaltern in the Glamorganshire militia, with which he served in Ireland in 1799. In the same year he volunteered to the line from the embodied militia, and was appointed a lieutenant in the 4th foot, but was placed on half-pay at the peace of Amiens. On the renewal of the war he was brought on full pay as a lieutenant of foot, which rank he held throughout the war. He served under Sir Robert Thomas Wilson on the Portuguese frontier in 1808-9, with the irregular force known as the Lusitanian legion, and was wounded. When Wilson was defeated and left Portugal, Grant joined the Portuguese army under Marshal William Carr Beresford [q. v.], in which he became major, and afterwards lieutenant-colonel. Grant was much employed as a partisan leader and spy, in which capacity he assumed a variety of disguises, and underwent most extraordinary adventures. There is much confusion of his exploits with those of Major Colquhoun Grant (1780-1829) [q. v.], 11th foot, a scouting officer. Wellington wrote to Beresford, on 19 Feb. 1811, apparently in reference to John Grant: 'I wish he had sent us the examination of some of his prisoners. He appears to be going on capitally, and likely to save much valuable property in the Estrada. I shall be much obliged if you will tell him how much gratified I have been at reading the accounts of his operations' (Naval and Military Gazette, 1 July 1848, p. 429). At the end of the war Grant was appointed lieutenant in the late 2nd royal veteran battalion, and was retired on full pay when the veteran battalions were abolished. Grant acted as secretary to the committee formed in London by the Earl of Durham, Lord William Bentinck, and others in 1820, when Marshal Beresford was dismissed from his Portuguese ​command by the constitutional government• In 1823, at the time of the invasion of Spain by the French troops under the Duc d'Angoulême, Grant's committee despatched Sir Robert Thomas Wilson on a fruitless mission to the Peninsula. The promised volume of Wilson's memoirs dealing with the Lusitanian legion episode of 1808-9 and the Spanish mission of 1823 have not been published (see introduction to Life of Sir R. T. Wilson, 1793-1807, London, 1862), and Grant's share in these transactions has never been treated in detail.
Grant died, after a long and painful illness, broken in health and circumstances, at the age of sixty, at Kensington on 14 July 1842. His appeals and those of his widow for assistance were left unanswered (Naval and Military Gazette, 4 March 1843, p. 137). Sir Robert Peel, when prime minister, conferred a gift of 100l. and a lieutenant's widow's pension of 40l. a year on Grant's widow, Sophia Grant, who died at Chelsea on 26 May 1848 (ib. 3 Jan. 1848, and 1 July 1848, p. 429).
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grant, Johnson

​GRANT, JOHNSON (1773–1844), divine, born at Edinburgh in 1773, was son of Dr. Gregory Grant, by Mary, daughter of Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk (son of Francis Grant, lord Cullen [q. v.]). He matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford, on 21 Oct. 1795, and took his degree of B.A. in 1799, and M.A. in 1805. Taking holy orders, he became curate in succession of Ormskirk, Lancashire, Frodsham and Latchford in Cheshire, and Hornsey and St. Pancras in Middlesex. Through the interest of Bishop Majendie he was presented to the living of Binbrooke' St. Mary, Lincolnshire, in 1818, and to the incumbency of Kentish Town, London, in 1822, where he remained, a zealous and hard-working clergyman, till his death on 4 Dec. 1844.
He wrote, in addition to occasional sermons and pamphlets: 1. ‘A Manual of Religious Knowledge,’ 1800, 2nd ed. 1805, 3rd ed. 1809. 2. ‘Reverie considered as connected with Literature,’ 1802 (in ‘Memoirs’ of Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society). 3. ‘A Summary of the History of the English Church,’ 1811-26, 4 vols. 4. ‘Sermons,’ 1812. 5. ‘Sacred Hours.’ 6. ‘Arabia, a Poem,’ 1815. 7. ‘God is Love, freely translated from Eckartshausen,’ 1817. 8. ‘The Crucifixion, a Series of Lent Lectures,’ 1821. 9. ‘A Memoir of Miss Frances Augusta Bell,’ 1827. 10. ‘The Last Things. a Series of Lent Lectures,’ 1828. 11. ‘Six Lectures on Liberality and Expediency,’ 1830. 12. ‘A Course of Lectures for the Year,’ 1833-1835, 2 vols. 13. ‘The Joshuad, a Poem,’ anonymous, 1837. 14. ‘Sketches in Divinity,' 1840. 15. ‘Discourses, &c.,’ 1843.
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grant, Joseph

​GRANT, JOSEPH (1805–1835), Scottish poet, was born 26 May 1805 at his father's farm of Affrusk in Kincardineshire. As a child he was employed on the farm in the summer, and during the winter picked up what learning he could at a village school. When only fourteen he began to write verses. In 1831 he was engaged as assistant to a shopkeeper at Stonehaven, and afterwards was employed as a clerk at Dundee, first in the office of the 'Guardian' newspaper, and then in that of a writer to the signet. He died 14 April 1835 at Affrusk. Grant's poems, often, like his prose tales, of much merit, were mainly written in Scots, but some are in English. Besides tales and sketches contributed to 'Chambers's Journal' between 1830 and 1835, he published: 1. 'Juvenile Lays,'; 1828. 2. 'Kincardineshire Traditions,' 1830, in verse. At the time of his death he was preparing 3. 'Tales of the Glens: with Ballads and Songs.' This collection was published in 1836, 'with a memoir of the author by R. Nicoll.'
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grant, John Peter

​GRANT, Sir JOHN PETER (1774–1848), chief justice of Calcutta, only son of William Grant, M.D., of Lyme Street, London, and afterwards of the Doune of Rothiemurchus, was born 21 Sept. 1774. He succeeded to the entailed estate of Rothiemurchus, on the death of his uncle, Patrick Grant, called the 'White Laird,' in 1790. Grant studied law first at Edinburgh, where he was admitted advocate 28 June 1796, then at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the bar 29 Jan. 1802. He sat in the parliament of 1812 for Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, and in the two subsequent parliaments for Tavistock. In 1827 he went to India as puisne judge, first at Bombay then at Calcutta, where he was afterwards chief justice. Previous to leaving this country he was knighted. He died at sea on his passage home, 17 May 1848, and was buried in the Dean cemetery, Edinburgh. He was married and had issue two sons and three daughters; his second son, Sir John Peter Grant (b.1807), was successively lieutenant-governor of Bengal and governor of Jamaica.
Grant wrote: 1. ‘Some Observations on the Constitution and Forms of Proceeding of the Court of Session in Scotland, with Remarks on the Bill now depending in the House of Lords for its Reform,’ 1807. 2. ‘Essays towards Illustrating some Elementary Principles relating to Wealth and Currency,’ 1812. 3. ‘A Summary of the Law relating to Granting New Trials in Civil Suits by Courts of Justice in England,’ 1817. 4. ‘Speech in the House of Commons, 10 Feb. 1818, on Lord A. Hamilton's Motion relating to the Conduct of the Law Officers of the Crown in Scotland,’ 1818. 5. ‘Substance of a Speech delivered in the House of Commons on 5 May 1825, on Moving for Leave to bring in a Bill to Alter and Amend an Act passed in the Parliament of Scotland, 8th and 9th Session, 1st Parliament of King William III, intituled an Act for Preventing Wrongous Imprisonments, and against Undue Delays in Trials,’ 1825 (manuscript notes by Lord Cockburn are appended to the British Museum copy).
F. W-t.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hamilton, Malcolm

​HAMILTON, MALCOLM (1635–1699), Swedish general, was elder son of Captain John Hamilton of Ballygally, co. Tyrone, Ireland, and his wife Jean Somerville. He joined his uncle, Hugh or Hugo Hamilton, first baron Hamilton of Glenawley [q. v.], in Sweden in 1654; served in the lifeguards of Queen Christina; was naturalised as a Swedish noble in 1664, and was ennobled with his younger brother Hugh [q. v.], as Baron Hamilton de Hageby in 1693. Malcolm rose to the rank of major-general and governor of Wester-Nowland in 1698, and died at Stockholm in 1699. He was buried at Gothenburg.
[Information kindly supplied by Professor Harald Hjarne of Upsala; Burke's Extinct Peerage (1883 ed.); authorities as under Hamilton, Hugh or Hugo (d. 1679).]
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hamilton, John (1761-1814)

​HAMILTON, JOHN (1761–1814), Scottish song-writer, was a music-seller in the North Bridge, Edinburgh. He would appear to have been a teacher of instrumental music, and he is said to have married one of his pupils, 'a young lady of fortune and rank,' against the will of her parents. He was a close friend of Sibbald, the Edinburgh book-seller, and author of the 'Chronicle of ​Scottish Poetry.' He died 23 Sept. 1814, in his fifty-third year. The 'Scots Magazine,' intimating his death, describes him as 'late music-seller in this city, author of many favourite Scots songs, and composer of several melodies of considerable merit.'
Hamilton contributed to Johnson's 'Museum,' and Scott acknowledges him as a helper in the 'Border Minstrelsy.' In his 'Up in the Mornin' Early' Hamilton succeeded, where Burns failed, in constructing upon an old basis a humorous and tuneful modern Scottish song. One of his best and most popular lyrics is ' Miss Forbes's Farewell to BanfF' and he is author of a breezy recitative piece entitled 'The Ploughman,' and of a short and vigorous ballad, The Rantin' Highlandman.' In some respects his most remarkable contribution to Scottish verse is the addition he was daring enough to make to Burns's 'Of a' the Airts.' His two stanzas are very commonly sung as an integral part of the song although their drift is slightly incongruous with what precedes and their excellence induced Cunningham, Lockhart, and Professor Wilson to regard them as the work of Burns himself.
[Chambers's Life and Works of Burns, ii. 268; Scott Douglas's Works of Burns, ii. 156; Stenhouse's Poetry and Music of Scotland; Wilson's Poets and Poetry of Scotland.]
T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hamilton, John (fl.1765-1786)

​HAMILTON, JOHN (fl. 1765–1786), painter, is stated to have been an amateur. He was a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, and subscribed to their roll-declaration in 1766. In 1767 he contributed a moonlight view to their exhibition, and continued to exhibit landscapes and views up to 1777. In 1773 he was director of the society and afterwards vice-president. In the print room at the British Museum there is a water-colour drawing by him of Tyburn during the execution of Guest on 14 Oct. 1767. Hamilton also etched with good effect the plates to Grose's 'Ancient Armour and Weapons,' published in 1786.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists ; Dodd'sMS. Hist. of English Engravers (Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 33401) ; Catalogues of the Society of Artists.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hamilton, Mary

​HAMILTON, Lady MARY (1739–1816), novelist, born at Edinburgh in 1739, was youngest daughter of Alexander Leslie, fifth earl of Leven and Melville, by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of David Monypenny. She was married first to Dr. James Walker of Innerdovat on 5 Jan. 1762, and secondly to Robert Hamilton of Jamaica. She published: 1. 'Letters from the Duchesse de Crony,' 1777. 2. 'Munster Village,' 1778. 3. 'The Life of Mrs. Justman,' 1782. 4. 'The Duc de Popoli,' 1810. She and her second husband settled in France before the revolution, and their two daughters married respectively the dramatist Jouy and General Thiébaut. After Hamilton's death Lady Mary lived near Amiens, where she was very intimate with Sir Herbert Croft (1751–1816) [q. v.], who introduced to her Charles Nodier. Nodier became her literary factotum, and translated, or rather rewrote, some of her novels. She died at Amiens, shortly before Croft, in 1816.
[Bibliophile Français, 1869–70; Mem. de Madame de Genlis; Nichols's Illustr. Lit. Hist. v. 216, viii. 632; Burke's Peerage, s.v. 'Leven and Melville.']
J. G. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Heywood, Ellis

​HEYWOOD, ELLIS or ELIZÆUS (1530–1578), jesuit, eldest son of John Heywood [q. v.], brother of Jasper Heywood [q. v.], and grandnephew, through his mother (Eliza Rastell), of Sir Thomas More [q. v.], was born in London in 1530, and was ‘educated in juvenile learning’ there. Thence he was sent to Oxford, and in 1548 was elected a fellow of All Souls' College. He applied himself to the study of law, and was admitted to the degree of B.C.L. on 18 July 1552 (Oxf. Univ. Reg., Oxf. Hist. Soc., i. 218). Being opposed to the doctrines of the reformers, he withdrew to the continent, travelled in France and Italy, where he became secretary to Cardinal Pole. He does not appear, however, to have accompanied the cardinal to England in Mary's reign, for in 1556 he was residing in Florence. In 1565 his uncle William Rastell [q. v.] left him the estate of North Mimms, formerly owned by his grand-uncle, Sir Thomas More. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1566, probably at Dillengen in Bavaria, and afterwards became spiritual father and preacher in the professed house of the society at Antwerp. When the college was attacked by a mob of fanatics, and the community expelled, he fled to Louvain, where he died on 2 Oct. (O.S.) 1578.
His only known work is an extremely rare book, entitled ‘Il Moro d'Heliseo Heiuodo Inglese,’ Florence, 1556, 8vo, lib. ii. pp. 180, with dedication to Cardinal Pole. It is a fictitious dialogue, representing his granduncle Sir Thomas More's conversations with the learned men of his time. Heywood is said to have written other works, printed abroad.
[MS. Addit. 24488, pp. 1, 501; De Backer's Bibl. des Écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus, ii. 75; Dodd's Church Hist. i. 146; Foley's Records, i. 388 n., vii. 349; Gillow's Bibl. Dict.; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), p. 1060; More's Hist. Missionis Anglicanæ Soc. Jesu, p. 23; Oliver's Jesuit Collections, p. 115; Sacchini's Historiæ Soc. Jesu, lib. vi. n. 119 seq. and n. 159; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. p. 401; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), i. 406.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Heysham, John

​HEYSHAM, JOHN, M.D. (1753–1834), physician, born at Lancaster on 22 Nov. 1753, was the son of John Heysham, shipowner, by Anne Cumming, the daughter of a Westmoreland ‘statesman.’ He was educated at a school kept by quakers at Yealand, near Burton, Westmoreland, and then apprenticed for five years to a surgeon at Burton. In 1774 he joined the medical classes at Edinburgh, and graduated M.D. in 1777. His thesis was ‘De rabie canina,’ a disease of which no case in man or dog ever occurred in his own experience. In 1778 he settled in practice at Carlisle, and resided there until his death on 23 March 1834. He was buried in St. Mary's Church, and a memorial window has been placed at the east end of the south aisle of the cathedral. His practice at no time exceeded 400l. a year. In 1779 he began the statistical observations by which he is best known: a record of the annual births, marriages, diseases, and deaths in Carlisle for ten years (to 1788), including a census of the inhabitants in 1780, and again in 1788. These statistics, which were published with remarks on them at Carlisle in 1797, were used in 1816 by Joshua Milne, actuary of the Sun Life Assurance Office, as the basis of the well-known Carlisle Table. Heysham was also a naturalist, his observations on the flora and fauna of his district being recorded in Hutchinson's ‘History of Cumberland.’ He was intimate with the cathedral dignitaries, and is conjectured to have assisted Archdeacon Paley on questions of structural design in nature. He published also ‘An Account of the Jail Fever at Carlisle in 1781,’ London, 1782. In Nichols's ‘Literary Illustrations’ (viii. 267) there is a letter of Bishop Percy, in which he recommends Heysham; and a letter of Heysham's to Percy is in the same collection (viii. 357). With the help of the dean and chapter he established the first dispensary for the poor at Carlisle. Having been a strong tory and supporter of the Lonsdale family most of his life, he joined the reform movement in 1832. His informal conduct as a justice of the peace, together with other personal traits, are fully and amusingly described by his biographer.
[The Life of John Heysham, M.D., and his correspondence with Mr. Joshua Milne relative to the Carlisle Bills of Mortality, by H. Lonsdale, M.D., London, 1870.]
C. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Heywood, Benjamin

​HEYWOOD, Sir BENJAMIN (1793–1865), banker, son of Nathaniel Heywood, banker, was born at Manchester on 12 Dec. 1793, and educated at the Glasgow University. On coming of age he was admitted a partner in his father's bank, eventually becoming the head of the firm. He was greatly interested in the welfare, and especially the education, of the working classes. The Manchester Mechanics' Institution was founded chiefly by him, and he was its president from the commencement in 1825 until 1840. He delivered a series of admirable addresses at that institution. These were collected and published in 1843, two of them having been previously ​published in 1825 and 1827. He was elected M.P. for Lancashire in 1831 as a whig, but parliamentary life did not suit his health, and he retired in the following year. He was created a baronet in 1838. In 1843 he became F.R.S. He married, in 1816, Sophia Ann, daughter of Thomas Robinson of the Woodlands, Manchester, and left several children. He died at Claremont, Manchester, on 11 Aug. 1865. A portrait by Bradley is at the Manchester Technical School.
[Journ. of Brit. Archæol. Association, 1866, xxii. 326; Proc. Royal Society, xv. p. xxiv; Grindon's Manchester Banks and Bankers, 1877; Baker's Memorials of a Dissenting Chapel, p. 116.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Heywood, James

​HEYWOOD, JAMES (1687–1776), author, son of John Heywood, born at Cheetham Hill, Manchester, baptised at Manchester on 21 Feb. 1687, was educated at the Manchester grammar school. For many years he carried on the business of a wholesale linendraper in Fish Street Hill, London. He was a governor of St. Bartholomew's, Christ's, Bridewell, and Bethlem hospitals, and was elected alderman of Aldgate ward, but paid the customary fine of 500l. rather than serve the office. In his earlier years he contributed to the ‘Freethinker,’ the ‘Plain-dealer,’ and other publications, and a letter of his is printed in No. 268 of the ‘Spectator.’ These pieces, with some verses, he collected in a small volume of ‘Letters and Poems on Several Subjects,’ 1722; 2nd edition, with additions, 1726. The poems had previously been published with the title of ‘Original Poems on Several Occasions,’ 1721. He is alluded to by Steele in the ‘Guardian’ as a politician and brisk little fellow, who had the habit of twisting off the buttons of persons he conversed with. He died at his house in Austin Friars on 23 July 1776, aged 89.
[N. Drake's Essays illustrative of the Tatler, &c. 1805, iii. 331; Heywood's Letters, pp. 7, 32; Manchester Cathedral Registers; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Heytesbury, William A'Court

​HEYTESBURY, Baron, WILLIAM A'COURT (1779–1860), eldest son of Sir William Pierce Ashe A'Court, M.P. for Aylesbury, by his second wife, Letitia, daughter of Henry Wyndham of Salisbury, was born 11 July 1779, and educated at Eton. He entered the diplomatic service, and in 1801 he was appointed secretary of legation at Naples by Lord Hawkesbury (afterwards Lord Liverpool). In 1807 he became secretary to the special mission at Vienna. In 1812 he was made first commissioner for affairs at Malta, and on 5 Jan. 1813 was gazetted envoy extraordinary to the Barbary States. In 1814 he held the same appointment at Naples, and his conduct during the revolution was highly commended by Lord Castlereagh (Colchester, Diary, iii. 160). In 1822 he became envoy extraordinary to Spain, and in 1824 ambassador to Portugal. In 1828, during the Russo-Turkish war of that date, he was transferred as ambassador to Russia, where he remained till August 1832. His position was difficult; he had to journey to the seat of hostilities, and was reprimanded for an imprudent conversation with the czar, whom at that time he greatly admired. Lord Ellenborough records (Political Diary, i. 247) that he took the censure well. He succeeded his father as second baronet in 1817, and in the same year he was created a privy councillor, and in 1819 he became G.C.B. In 1828 A'Court was created Baron Heytesbury of Heytesbury, Wiltshire. In 1835 he was nominated by Sir Robert Peel's ministry governor-general of India, but the ministry resigned very soon afterwards, and Heytesbury did not assume office. From 26 July 1844 to 1846 he was viceroy of Ireland in Sir Robert Peel's administration, and was energetic in raising subscriptions in behalf of sufferers from the famine. He was governor of the Isle of Wight till 1857. Heytesbury died at Heytesbury on 31 May 1860. He married, in 1808, Maria Rebecca, second daughter of the Hon. William Henry Bouverie, son of the Earl of Radnor, and left by her a son, W. H. Ashe A'Court, who succeeded to the barony, and a daughter, Cecilia Maria, who married the Hon. Robert Daly.
[Authorities cited; Times, 1 June 1860; Burke's Peerage; Foster's Peerage; Haydn's Book of Dignities; Gent. Mag. 1860, ii. 90.]
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Brice, Thomas

​BRICE, THOMAS (d. 1570), martyrologist, was engaged early in Queen Mary's reign in bringing protestant books 'from Wesel into Kent and London. He was watched and dogged [by the government], but escaped several times' (Strype, Cranmer, 511). On 25 April 1560 he was ordained deacon, and on 4 June following priest, by Edmund Grindal, then bishop of London (Strype, Grindal, 58, 59). He was the author of 'A Compendious Register in Metre conteinyng the names and pacient suffrynges of the membres of Jesus Christ, afflicted, tormented, and cruelly burned here in Englande since the death of our late famous kyng of immortall memorie Edwarde the sixte, to the entrance and beginnyngn of the reigne of our soveraigne and derest Lady Elizabeth of England, France, and Ireland, quene defender of the Faithe, to whose highnes truly and properly apperteineth, next and ​immediately vnder God, the supreme power and authoritie of the Churches of Englande and Ireland. So be it. Anno 1559.' The dedication is addressed to the Marquis of Northampton. The 'Register of Martyrs' extends from 4 Feb. 1555 to 17 Nov. 1558, and consists of seventy-seven six-line doggerel stanzas. Foxe clearly found the 'Register' of use to him in the compilation of his 'Acts and Monuments.' A fine religious poem entitled 'The Wishes of the Wise,' in twenty verses of four lines each, concludes the work. The original edition was printed by Richard Adams, and he was fined by the Stationers' Company for producing it without license. Another surreptitious edition appears to have been issued about the same time, but of that no copy has survived. A second edition was 'newly imprinted at the earnest request of divers godly and well-disposed citizens' in 1597. Several extracts from the book appear in the Parker Society's 'Devotional Poetry of the Reign of Elizabeth' (161, 175), and the whole is reprinted in Arber's 'Garner,' iv. 143 et seq. Two other books are assigned to Brice in the Stationers' Registers, but nothing is now known of either of them. The first is 'The Courte of Venus moralized,' which Hugh Singleton received license to print about July 1567; the second is 'Songs and Sonnettes,' licensed to Henry Bynnemon in 1568. In 1570 John Allde had license to print 'An Epitaphe on Mr. Brice,' who may very probably be identified with the author of the 'Register.'
[Corser's Collectanea Anglo-Poetica (Chetham Soc.); Arber's Transcripts of the Stationers' Registers, i. 101, 343, 359.]
S. L. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bride, Saint

​BRIDE, Saint. [See Brigit.]