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

​MARTIN, MATTHEW (1748–1838), naturalist and philanthropist, born in 1748 in Somerset, was engaged in trade at Exeter. He was a member of the Bath Philosophical Society, and in early life devoted some attention to natural history, publishing 'The Aurelian's Vade-mecum; containing an English Catalogue of Plant' affording nourishment to Butterflies, Hawkmoths, and Moths in the state of Caterpillar,' 12mo, Exeter, 1785, and 'Observations on Marine Vermes, Insects, &c.,' fasc. 1, 4to, Exeter, 1786. Later on he obtained the post of secretary to a commission for adjusting St. Domingo claims, and settled in a house adjoining Poets' Corner, Westminster. About 1796 he began 'an enquiry into the circumstances of beggars in the metropolis,' and joined the 'Society for Bettering the Condition ... of the Poor,' of which he acted for a time as secretary. Martin proposed a plan for a systematic inquiry into the nature and extent of mendicity in London, and in 1800 obtained a grant of 1,000l. from the treasury in two instalments. His report, in the form of a 'Letter to Lord Pelham on the State of Mendicity in the Metropolis,' was published in 1803, and reissued by the society in 1811.
​To his efforts was partly due the institution, in January 1805, of the Bath Society for the Investigation and Relief of Occasional Distress.
In 1812 Martin appears to have engaged in a further inquiry, supported in part by a government grant and in part by subscriptions. To further the project Martin issued 'An Appeal to Public benevolence for the Relief of Beggars,' 1812.
He died at Blackheath, aged 90, on 20 Nov. 1838 (Gent. Mag. 1839, pt. i. p. 104). His wife died 9 Aug. 1827, aged 73 (ib. 1827, pt, ii. p. 282).
[Letter to Lord Pelham; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816; Pantheon of the Age. 182-5, ii. 731, cf. Sarah Trimmer's (Economy of Charity, 1801, ii. 165, 341-5; John Duncan's Collections relative to the Systematic Relief of the Poor, 1815, p. 181; Watt's Bibl. Brit. ii. 650.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, Josiah

​MARTIN, JOSIAH (1683–1747), quaker, was born near London in 1683. He became a good classical scholar, and is spoken of by Gough, the translator of Madame Guyon's Life, 1772, as a man whose memory is esteemed for 'learning, humility, and fervent piety.' He died unmarried, 18 Dec. 1747, in the parish of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and was buried in the Friends' burial-ground, Bunhill Fields. He left the proceeds of his library of four thousand volumes to be divided among nephews and nieces. Joseph Besse [q. v.] was his executor.
Martin's name is best known in connection with 'A Letter from one of the People called Quakers to Francis de Voltaire, occasioned by his Remarks on that People in his Letters concerning the English Nation,' London, 1741. It was twice reprinted, London and Dublin, and translated into French. It is a temperate and scholarly treatise, and was in much favour at the time.
Of his other works the chief are: 1. 'A Vindication of Women's Preaching, as well from Holy Scripture and Antient Writings as from the Paraphrase and Notes of the Judicious John Locke, wherein the Observations of B[enjamin] C[oole] on the said Paraphrase . . . and the Arguments in his Book entitled "Reflections," &c, are fullv considered,' London, 1717. 2. 'The Great Case of Tithes truly stated ... by Anthony Pearson [q. v.] . . . to which is added a Defence of some other Principles held by the People call'd Quakers . . .,' London, 1730. 3. 'A Letter concerning the Origin, Reason, and Foundation of the Law of Tithes in England,' 1732. He also edited, with an 'Apologetic Preface,' comprising more than half the book, and containing many additional letters from Fénelon and Madame Guyon, 'The Archbishop of Cambray's Dissertation on Pure Love, with an Account of the Life and Writings of the Lady for whose sake he was banish'd from Court,' London, 1735.
[Joseph Smith's Catalogue of Friends' Books; works quoted above; Life of Madame Guyon, Bristol, 1772, pt. i. errata; registers at Devonshire House; will P.C.C. 58 Strahan, at Somerset House.]
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, Martin

​MARTIN, MARTIN (d. 1719), author, born in the Island of Skye, became factor to the Laird of Macleod and, mainly at the request of Sir Robert Sibbald [q. v.] the antiquary, travelled over the western islands of Scotland, collecting information regarding the condition and habits of the islanders. In 1697 he contributed a shortpaper on the subject to the Royal Society's 'Philosophical Proceedings,' xix. 727. This was elaborated and published, with a map, in London in 1703, under the title of 'A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland.' It has been wrongly stated (Toland, notes, infra) that for this work Martin was made a fellow of the Royal Society. Several editions of the book were published, and it has been reprinted, the last reprint being issued in Glasgow in 1884. On 29 May 1697, in company with the minister of Harris, he sailed in an open boat to St. Kilda, and in the following ​year appeared his 'Voyage to St. Kilda,' describing the island and its inhabitants. It reached a fourth edition in 1753, and it too has been reprinted (Paterson, Voyages, &c.) In the 'Philosophical Transactions,' xxv. 2469, there is a second paper by him on 'A Relation of a Deaf and Dumb Person who recovered his Speech and Hearing after a Violent Fever,' 'Martinus Martin, Scoto-Britannus,' entered Leyden University March 1710, and graduated M.D. there (Peacock, Index of Leyden Students, p. 65). He died in London in 1719.
Martin's 'Description of the Western Islands ' was given to Dr. Johnson to read by his father, and roused the doctor's interest in Scotland, which afterwards resulted in the famous tour. Although Johnson was interested in the work and took it with him to the highlands, he had a poor opinion of its literary merits. 'No man,' he said, 'now writes so ill as Martin's account of the Hebrides is written.'
[Annotations by J. Toland in a copy of Martin's Description of the Western Highlands in Brit. Mus.; Buchan's St. Kilda; Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson; Brydges's Censura Literaria, i. 358-80; Brit. Mus. Cat ]
J. R. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, Mary Letitia

​MARTIN, MARY LETITIA (1815–1850), novelist, generally called Mrs. Bell Martin, and known also as the ‘Princess of Connemara,’ was the only child of Thomas Barnewall Martin of Ballinahinch Castle, co. Galway, M.P. for the county, and was born there on 28 Aug. 1815. Richard Martin (1754–1834) [q. v.] was her grandfather. For her sake her father, in an ill-advised moment, broke the entail, mortgaged his large estates to the extent of 200,000l. to the Law Life Assurance Society, and further burdened himself with the debts of his father and grandfather, liabilities dating as far back as 1775. He died 23 April 1847, and the heavily charged estates passed on his death to Mary. She had always devoted her energies to improving the condition of her father's tenantry, hence her popular title of the ‘Princess of Connemara.’ During the great famine, when the tenants ceased to pay rent, the Martins had spent large sums on food and clothing for the people, and had given continuous work to some hundreds of labourers. On 14 Sept. 1847 she married a poor man, Arthur Gonne Bell of Brookside, co. Mayo, who assumed by royal license the surname and arms of Martin. About the time of her marriage Mary borrowed further large sums of money, with which to relieve her tenantry, both from private sources and from the Law Life Assurance Company, and when she was unable to pay the instalments of her father's mortgages, the society insisted on the observance of the bond. The property was among the first brought into the Encumbered Estates Court. Out of an estate of nearly two hundred thousand acres not a single rood remained to Mrs. Martin, who became comparatively a pauper. She retired to Fontaine L'Evêque in Belgium, and there helped to support herself by her pen. Determined to seek a better fortune in the New World, she was prematurely confined on board ship, and died 7 Nov. 1850, only ten days after reaching New York. Her husband lived until 1883.
Her chief literary work is ‘Julia Howard, a Romance,’ 1850, which gives something of her own experience. The scene is partly laid in the west of Ireland, and the hero, through no fault of his own, loses his estates, and becomes a soldier of fortune. Although the tale has little merit, the descriptions of the wild scenery of Connemara and the characters of the Irish peasants are truthful and picturesque. Another fair novel is entitled ‘St. Etienne, a Tale of the Vendean War.’ She contributed largely to the ‘Encyclopédie des Gens du Monde’ and other French periodicals.
[Burke's Vicissitudes of Families, i. 322–9; Gent. Mag. 1851, pt. i. p. 100; Mrs. Hale's Woman's Record, p. 882; New York Internat. Mag. ii. 142; Genealogy of the Family of Martin, by Archer E. S. Martin, Winnipeg, 1890; see also art. Martin, Richard (1754–1834).]
E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, John (1789-1869)

​MARTIN, JOHN, M.D. (1789–1869), meteorologist, born in 1789, practised for some years as a physician in the city of London, and died at Lisbon on 8 July 1869. He was editor of a work which has always been held in high estimation, entitled 'An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean, with an original Grammar and Vocabulary of their Language. Compiled and arranged from the extensive communications of Mr. William Mariner, several years resident in those Islands,' 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1817; 2nd edit. 1818; also reprinted as vol. xiii. of 'Constable's Miscellany.' A French translation appeared at Paris in November 1817. Mariner had been detained in friendly captivity from 1805 to 1810, and his narrative was generally corroborated by a sailor named Jeremiah Higgins, who had lived in Tonga for nearly three years previously. In 1827 Mariner was employed in the office of a London stockbroker, and he was drowned in the Thames some years previous to 1871.
The 'Athenæum' notices Martin's meteorological investigations as follows: 'In our own pages we have had occasion to record his labours during the last twenty years in the observation of atmospherical phenomena, especially with reference to pressure, temperature, and moisture. Martin laid down meteorological charts representing the varying aspects of months, seasons, and years from daily observation. He also made careful observation with reference to ozone, as well as on the characteristics and circumstances affecting cholera and yellow fever. These labours are the more commendable as the work of an old man, executed in different colours with scrupulous neatness, and mostly at night after the fatigue of practice.'
[Martin's Preface to second edition of An Account; Athenaeum, 7 Aug. 1869, p. 181; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. viii. 305, 407.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, Jonathan (1715-1737)

​MARTIN, JONATHAN (1715–1737), organist, born in 1715, was chorister of the Chapel Royal under Dr. Croft. He studied the organ under Roseingrave, and played in his place frequently at St. George's, Hanover Square, and also acted as deputy for Weldon at the Chapel Royal (Hawkins; Grove). On 21 June 1736 Martin was admitted organist to the Chapel Royal in the place of Weldon, whose post of composer fell to William Boyce [q. v.] Martin was also organist to the Earl of Oxford (Daily Journal). Shortly before his death he gave a concert at the Stationers' Hall, where was present 'nearly every person in London that pretended to any skill in music, and where, though he had scarcely strength to sit upright, he played two voluntaries on the organ, showing fine invention and masterly hand' (Hawkins). Martin died of consumption on 4 April 1737, and was buried in the west cloister of Westminster Abbey. An inscription for his tomb was written by Vincent Bourne, and is included in his volume of 'Miscellaneous Poems,' 1772, p. 335. The only known composition by Martin is the song in 'Tamerlane,' 'To thee, O gentle sleep.'
[Rimbault's Old Cheque-book, pp. 51, 232; Hawkins's History, iii. 893; Chester's Register' of Westminster Abbey, p. 348; authorities cited.]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, Jonathan (1782-1838)

​MARTIN, JONATHAN (1782–1838), incendiary, brother of John Martin the painter, and William Martin, 'natural philosopher,' both of whom are separately noticed, was born at Highside House, near Hexham, Northumberland, in 1782, and was an apprentice to a tanner. In 1804 he went to London and, falling into the hands of a press-gang, was obliged to serve in the navy for about six years. Here his eccentricity was first noticed; he had wonderful dreams, and, according to his own account, met with many extraordinary adventures. In 1810 he commenced working as a farm labourer, joined the Wesleyan methodist connexion, and developed a strong antipathy to the church of England. The laxity of the clergy in going to parties, balls, and plays greatly offended him, and he marked his resentment by interrupting the services in various churches, and contradicting the preachers' assertions. In 1817, while Edward Legge, bishop of Oxford, was holding a confirmation at Stockton for the Bishop of Durham, Martin threatened to shoot the bishop. He was arrested and tried, when he was reported to be insane, and was confined in lunatic asylums in West Auckland and Gateshead successively. From the latter he succeeded in escaping on 17 June 1820, and after his recapture released himself for a second time on 1 July. Again working as a tanner he employed his evenings in preaching, and according to his own narrative was the means of converting several hundred persons. Being excluded from the society of the Wesleyan methodists for his intemperate zeal, he joined the primitive methodists, but was soon forbidden the use of their chapels. In 1826 he compiled and printed his biography at Lincoln, and he sought to make a living by hawking the book about the country; a third edition of five thousand copies appeared in 1828.
[The Life of J. Martin, written by himself, Barnard Castle, editions in 1826, 1828, 1829, and 1830; The Life of Jonathan Martin, the Insane Prophet and Incendiary, Barnard Castle, 1829, with portrait; A Full Report of the Trial of J. Martin, York, 1829; L. T. Rede's York Castle, Leeds, 1829; Annual Register, 1829, Chronicle, pp. 23-4, 43-4; Report of the Trial of J. Martin, London, 1829; Baring-Gould's Yorkshire Oddities, 1874, ii. 139-95; The Trial of J. Martin, Leeds, 1864.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martin, Leopold Charles

​MARTIN, LEOPOLD CHARLES (1817–1889), miscellaneous writer, born on 6 Dec. 1817, was second son of John Martin (1789–1854) [q. v.], painter, and godson of Leopold, afterwards first king of the Belgians. He became an excellent French and German scholar, an artist of no mean skill, and an authority on costume and numismatics. In 1836 Lord Melbourne presented him to a clerkship in the stationery office, which he held for many years. He died in London on 8 Jan. 1889. His wife was the sister of Sir John Tenniel of 'Punch.'
With his elder brother Charles (1810–1906) he published in 1842 two 4to volumes entitled respectively 'Civil Costumes of England, from the Conquest to George III' (61 plates, drawn from ancient manuscripts and tapestries, illuminated in gold and colours), and 'Dresses worn at her Majesty's Bal Costumé, May 1842.' He wrote also a useful little book called 'Contributions to English Literature by the Civil Servants of the Crown and East India Company from 1794 to 1863,' 12mo, London, 1865. In conjunction with Charles Trübner he issued in 1862 an elaborate work on 'The Current Gold and Silver Coins of all Countries,' 8vo, 2nd edit. 1863, the plates of which were drawn by him. Martin was likewise author of handbooks to 'Cardiff' and 'Swansea and Gower,' 1879. Just before his death he had commenced to contribute to the 'Newcastle Weekly Chronicle' a series of 'Reminiscences' of his father, the first of which appeared in the number for 5 Jan. 1889.
[Martin's Contributions to English Literature; Newcastle Weekly Chron. 6 Jan. 1889; Athenæum, 19 Jan. 1889, p. 86.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mowse, William

​MOWSE or MOSSE, WILLIAM (d. 1588), civilian, graduated LL.B. at Cambridge in 1538, took holy orders, and in 1552 proceeded LL.D. In the latter year, through the interest of Cranmer and Secretary Cecil, he obtained the mastership of Trinity Hall on the removal of Dr. Walter Haddon [q. v.] On the accession of Mary (6 July 1553) he took an active part in ousting Dr. Sandys [q. v.] from the vice-chancellorship, but was himself ousted from Trinity Hall to make way for the reinstatement of Bishop Gardiner [see Gardiner, Stephen]. The same year he was incorporated at Oxford, and in the following year was appointed regius professor of civil law in that university. In July 1555 he subscribed the Marian articles of religion, and on Gardiner's death, 12 Nov., the mastership of Trinity Hall was restored to him. By Cardinal Pole in 1556 he was appointed advocate of the court of ​Canterbury, and on 7 Nov. 1557 he was admitted a member of the College of Advocates. On 12 Dec. 1558 he was instituted to the rectory of Norton or Greensnorton, Northamptonshire. Though deprived of the Oxford chair and of the mastership of Trinity Hall soon after the accession of Elizabeth [cf. Harvey or Hervey, Henry, LL.D.], Mowse was admitted in 1559 to the prebend of Halloughton in the church of Southwell (2 May), and subsequently (19 May) was constituted vicar-general and official of the Archbishop of Canterbury, dean of the arches and peculiars, and judge of the court of audience. In 1560 he was instituted to the rectory of East Dereham, Norfolk, and on 29 Feb. 1560-1 was collated to the prebend of Botevant in the church of York. In 1564 he sat on a commission, appointed 27 April, to try admiralty causes arising from depredations alleged to have been committed by English privateers on Spanish commerce. He died in 1588. By his will, dated 30 May 1586, he was a liberal donor to Trinity Hall.
Mowse was an able lawyer and an accomplished scholar, whom Sir John Cheke [q. v.] thought worthy of his friendship. A Latin letter of thanks from him to Secretary Cecil, on occasion of his appointment to the mastership of Trinity Hall, may be read in Strype's 'Cranmer,' App. No. xci. He assisted in the compilation of the Bishop of Ross's 'Defence of the Queen of Scots' (see Leslie or Lesley, John, 1527-1596, and Murdin, State Papers, pp. 113, 122). It is probable that he was a Romanist without the courage of his convictions.
[Wood's Fasti Oxon. (Bliss), i. 140; Annals (Gutch), ii. 857; Baker's Northamptonshire, ii. 63; Lansd. MS. 982, f. 130; Add. MS. 5807, ff. 106-107; Strype's Cranmer, fol., i. 400; Annals, fol., i. 441; Memorials, fol., ii. 361, iii. 293; Parker, fol., i. 44; Lamb's Collection of Letters, &c., illustrative of the History of the University of Cambridge, p. 175; Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 444; Rymer's Fœdera (Sanderson), xv. 639; Sandys's Sermons (Parker Soc.), p. iv; Cranmer's Works (Parker Soc.), ii. 437; Le Neve's Fasti Eccl. Angl.; Fuller's Hist. Univ. Cambr. ed. Prickett and Wright, p. 243; Cooper's Annals of Cambridge, ii. 76, 84, 154; Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr.]
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sulien

​SULIEN, SULGEN (the old Welsh form), or SULGENUS (1011–1091), bishop of St. David's, was born of a good (perhaps clerical) family settled at Llanbadarn Fawr in Cardiganshire in 1011. He studied in monastic schools in Wales, Ireland (where he spent thirteen years), and Scotland, and then returned, with a great store of learning, to his native district, where he soon made a reputation as a teacher. The four sons born to him during this period, Rhygyfarch [q. v.], Arthen, Daniel, and Ieuan, became (with the exception, possibly, of Arthen) clerics like himself, and scholars of the same type. In 1073 on the death of Bleiddud, Sulien was chosen bishop of St. David's, but in 1078 he resigned the office and betook himself again to his studies. On the death of his successor, Abraham, in 1080, he was persuaded to become bishop once again, and in that capacity no doubt received William I when that monarch visited St. David's in 1081. In 1086 he resigned a second time. He died on 1 Jan. 1091. ‘Brut y ​Tywysogion’ styles him ‘the wisest of Welshmen,’ and refers to his circle of disciples. There is some manuscript evidence of the literary activity fostered by his school. It was at his request that his son Ieuan wrote, about 1090, the transcript of Augustine's ‘De Trinitate,’ extant in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge MS. 199. Of the sons, Daniel became archdeacon of Powys (d. 1127), and Ieuan archpresbyter of Llanbadarn (d. 1137); Arthen left a son Henry (d. 1163), who was celebrated as a scholar.
[Annales Cambriæ; Brut y Tywysogion and Brut y Saeson; Poem of Ieuan's printed by Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, i. 663–7; Archæologia Cambrensis, I. i. (1846), 117–25.]
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Suidbert

​SUIDBERT (d. 713), apostle of the Frisians, was one of the twelve missionaries sent by St. Egbert to work in Northern Europe. He went to Frisia in 690, and was so successful that he was chosen bishop and sent to England for consecration, which he received at the hands of St. Wilfrid on 29 June 693. His see as regionary bishop of Frisia was at Dorostadium, now Wijkbij-Duurstede, on the Rhine. He preached among the Bructeri in Westphalia; but when they were subdued by the Saxons he repaired to Pepin of Heristal, and from him and his wife Plectrudis he received the island ‘In litore,’ or Kaiserswerth, near Düsseldorf. Here he built a monastery, and died in 713. In the old Stiftskirche his relics are shown in a shrine of the thirteenth century. He appears to have kept up a taste for classical learning, for a fine copy of Livy, probably of the fifth century, now in the Vienna Royal Library, was in his possession.
[The life of him attributed to Marchelmus, or Marcellinus (Surius, Acta Sanctorum, ii. 3, ed. Venice, 1581), is a spurious production of a much later time. See Diekampf's Hist. Jahrbuch, ii. 272, and Haddan and Stubbs's Councils, iii. 225. Early in the tenth century St. Radbod, bishop of Utrecht, preached a sermon on Suidbert, which is extant. Acta SS. Bolland. 1 March, p. 67; Bæda, Hist. Eccles. ed. Plummer (where the various spellings of the name are given); Paleogr. Soc. plate 183 (from the Vienna Livy); Alcuin's De Sanctis Ebor. v. 1073; Bouquet, ii. 641; Dict. Chr. Biogr. and authorities quoted.]
M. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sudbury, William

​SUDBURY, WILLIAM (fl. 1382), theologian, was a Benedictine monk of Westminster, and graduated as doctor of divinity at Oxford, where he was an opponent in theology in 1382. He wrote: 1. ‘De Proprietatibus Sanctorum,’ no copy of which is known to be extant. 2. ‘De Primis Regalibus regni Angliæ ad Richardum II.’ Leland mentions this as extant at Westminster (Collectanea, iii. 45). 3. ‘Tabulæ super omnes libros S. Thomæ de Aquino,’ extant in MS. Reg. 9, F. iv. at the British Museum. 4. ‘Tabula super Pupillam Oculi editam per Mag. Joh. Burgh,’ extant in MS. University Library, Cambridge, Ee. v. 11.
C. L. K.