OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bonwicke, Ambrose (1692-1714)

​BONWICKE, AMBROSE, the younger (1692–1714), nonjuror, eldest son of Ambrose ​Bonwicke the elder [q. v.], was born 30 Sept. 1692 (Register of Merchant Taylors’ School), and entered the school, of which his father had been head-master, in 1703 (ib.). He spent more than seven years there, and, having reached the head form, was eligible for election to St. John's College, Oxford. But his refusal at school to read the prayer for the queen and the house of Hanover deprived him of this advantage, and compelled him to seek admission at the sister university. Entering St. John's College, Cambridge, in August 1710, his exemplary conduct and acquirements quickly procured him a scholarship, the enjoyment of which was somewhat marred by the scruples of an over-sensitive conscience. The statutes, to his mind, not only enjoined personal obedience, but implied some control over others. ‘Am I,' he asks his father, ‘by the words “faciam ab aliis observari," which are part of the oath, obliged to tell lads continually their duty as far as I know it., and also to inform against transgressors?’ Happily his mind was set at ease on this point, and he was able to continue in college, devoting hiinselfto study and to religious exercises with an ardour which could not but burn itself out. His health gave way beneath the severity of his self-discipline and the closeness of his application, and on 5 May 1714, alone, with his books of devotion beside him, he died in his college study, His father, at the suggestion of William Bowyer, drew up an account of his son`s life, but desired that its authorship should be concealed. Bowyer, however, who undertook to edit the book, disclosed the secret, and in 1729 published the memoir under the title, ‘A Pattern for Young Students in the University, set forth in the Life of Mr. Ambrose Bonwicke, sometime Scholar of St. John`s College in Cambridge’ It is interesting, not merely as a picture of college life a century and a half ago, but as showing the nature and development of the scrupulous conscience which made both father and son nonjurors.
[The Pattern, &c., by Bowyer, 1729, and ed. by J. E. B. Mayor, 1810; Nichols's Literary Anecd.; Wilson’s Hist. of Merchant Taylors’ School; Robinsons Reg. of same]
C. J. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bonython, Charles

​BONYTHON, CHARLES (d. 1705), lawyer, was the son and heir of John Bonython of Bonython, Cornwall who married Ann, daughter of Hugh Trevanion of Trelegan. He was admitted as a student at Gray’s Inn on 26 Oct. 1671 and was called to the bar on 12 June 1678. In some of the popish plot cases he appeared for the crown, notably in that against Lord Castlemaine (Willis Bund's Cases from the State Trials, ii. 1073). From April 1683 to 1705 he held the lucrative appointment of steward of the courts at Westminster, an office which no doubt paved the way to his election as one of the members of parliament for Westminster (1685-87). On two subsequent occasions (October 1691 and July 1698) he threatened to contest that city again in the ‘pure tory interest,’ but in neither instance was he returned (Letters of Rachel, Lady Russell, ii. 92, and James Vernon's Correspondance, ii. 126). He was appointed a serjeant-at-law in 1692. On 30 April 1705, in a fit of madness, he ‘shot himself through the body with a pistoll’ in his London house. His two sons were also of Gray’s Inn. Richard, the elder, ‘a very engenious gentleman,' having sold the family estates, ‘set fire to his chambers in Lincoln’s Inn [should be Gray’s Inn], burnt all his papers, bonds, &c., and then stabbed himself with his sword, but not effectually; he then threw himself out of the window, and died on the spot.’ This occurred in 1720.
[Parochial Hist. of Cornwall, i. 287; Cummings’s Cury and Grunwalloe, 80-9; Luttrell's Hist. Relation, i. 255, v. 545; Woolrych’s Serjeants, ii. 464-5.]
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bonython, Richard

[Bibl. Cornub. iii. 1083; Folsom's Saco, passim; Willis's Portland, 28, 57-78, 159; Proceedings of Maine Hist. Soc. 25 May 1883; Western Antiquary, i. 200-16.]
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Booker, John

1904 Errata appended.
​BOOKER, JOHN (1603–1667), astrologer, was born at Manchester 23 March 1602-3, as appears by his nativity among the Ashmolean MSS. He was originally apprenticed to a haberdasher in London, and was subsequently a writing-master at Hadley and clerk to two city magistrates. He must, however, have soon commenced the professional practice of astrology, to which he had been addicted 'from the time he had any understanding,' as the first number of his almanack, the 'Telescopium Uranium,' was published in 1631. He almost immediately obtained great reputation from a prediction of the deaths of Gustavus Adolphus and the elector palatine, founded upon a solar eclipse, and was soon afterwards appointed licenser of mathematical, by which is probably to be understood astrological, books. In 1640 Lilly thought him 'the greatest and most compleat astrologer in the world,' but revised his opinion when Booker, in his capacity of licenser, 'made many impertinent obliterations' in his 'Merlinus Anglicus Junior,' and 'at last licensed it according to his own fancy.' After the publication of Lilly's 'Introduction,' nevertheless, Booker amended beyond measure,' and Lilly allows that he always had 'a curious fancy in judging of thefts.' About the time of his differences with Lilly he had a violent controversy with Sir George Wharton, which occasioned several pamphlets, now of no value. His 'Bloody Irish Almanack,' however, contains some important particulars respecting the Irish rebellion, and he is the author of 'Tractatus Paschalis, or a Discourse concerning the Holy Feast of Easter' (1664). Upon the Restoration we find him petitioning for leave to continue the publication of his almanack, which seems to imply that he had lost his post as licenser. He died on 8 April 1667, after three years' indisposition from dysentery, leaving, says Lilly, the character of 'a very honest man, who abhorred any deceit in the art he practised.' This favourable judgment is confirmed by the internal evidence of his extensive correspondence preserved in the Ashmolean collection. Ashmole bought his books and papers for 140l., and bestowed a gravestone and epitaph upon him, but where he does not say. The 'Dutch Fortune Teller' and 'The History of Dreams,' published under Booker's name after his death, are probably spurious.
[Lilly's History of his Life and Times; Life of Elias Ashmole; Black's Catalogue of the Ashmolean MSS.]
R. G.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.31 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 368 | i | 25 f.e. | Booker, John: after value insert Booker's quaintly rhymed 'Dutch Fortune Teller' firstappeared in 1650; the first edition is excessively rare |
| | | 7-6 f.e. | omit The 'Dutch Fortune Teller' and |
| | | 4 f.e. | for are read is |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Boolde, William

​BOOLDE, WILLIAM (fl. 1455), topographer and historian, is said by Tanner (on the authority of a manuscript at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge) to have entered the monastery of Christ Church, Canterbury. on Lady Day, 1443, and to have been elected ‘not11rius’ of the same monastery in 1455. The Works ascribed to him by Tanner are ‘Catalogue monasteriorum et castellorum in singulis Angliæ comitatibus, uti etiam in Scotia,’ and ‘Chronicon breve Regum Angliæ ab Arturo nd Henricum VI.’
[Tanner's Bibl. Brit. 112.]
H. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Boone, James Shergold

​BOONE, JAMES SHERGOLD (1799–1859), miscellaneous writer, was born on 30 June 1799. In 1812 he was sent to Charterhouse, where he distinguished himself winning composition prizes in 1814 and 1816 (see Charterhouse, 1816). In 1816 he became a student of Christ Church, Oxford. In 1817 he obtained a Craven scholarship, won the chancellor's prize for Latin verse on ‘The Foundation of the Persian Empire,’ and the Newdigate for English verse (The Christ Church Newdigate Prize Poems, 1810-21 (1823), pp. 23-26). Whilst an undergraduate he wrote ‘The Oxford Spy in Verse,’ the first four ‘dialogues’ of which appeared in 1818, the fifth and last in 1819. This anonymous satire on Oxford University life created a great sensation at the time of its publication. In 1820 he received the chancellor's prize for the Latin essay, and contenting himself with an ordinary degree took his B.A. 24 May 1820. Soon after he left Oxford he was offered a seat in the House of Commons by an owner of a pocket borough who was struck with his great abilities. Boone declined this offer, and occupied his time in lecturing in London on the union and mutual relation of art and science. In June 1822 the first number of ‘The Council of Ten’ was published. Of this monthly periodical he was the editor and almost the sole contributor. Its life, however, was a short one, and it expired with its twelfth number. Boone took his degree of M.A. 4 March 1823, and about this time published ‘Men and Things in 1823: a Poem in three Epistles with Notes,’ in which he showed his great admiration for Canning. For some years he was a master at the Charterhouse; but having taken orders he accepted in June 1832 the appointment of incumbent of St. John's Church, Paddington. Here he remained until his death on 26 March 1859. A brass was erected to his memory in the ​chancel of St. John’s. He was a successful preacher. In 1859 he was appointed ‘select preacher’ at Oxford, but was prevented by his illness from ever fulfilling the duties of that office. At due time he was editor of the ‘British Critic and Theological Review.’ He was twice married. There were no children by either marriage.
He was the author of the following works: 1. ‘An Essay on the Study of Modern History,’ 1821, 8vo. 2. ‘National Education: a Sermon,’ &c., 1833, 8vo. 3. ‘The Educational Economy of England,’ Part i. on the External Economy of Education; or the ‘Means of providing Instruction for the People, 1838, 8vo. 4. ‘The Need of Christianity to Cities: a Sermon,’ &c., 1844, 8vo. 5. ‘One Manifold, or a System; Introductory Argument in a Letter addressed to Raikes Currie, Esq., M.P,,’ 1848, 8vo. 6. ‘Sermons on Various Subjects and Occasions, with a Brief Appendix on the Modern Philosophy of Unbelief,’ 1853, 8vo. 7. ‘Two Sermons on the Prospect of a General War,’ 1854, 8vo. 8. ‘The Position and Functions of Bishops in our Colonies; a Sermon,’ &c., 1856, 8vo. 9. ‘Sermons chiefly on the Theory of Belief,’ 1860, 8vo.
[Mozley's Reminiscences (1882), ii. 200-4, Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iii. 510, iv. 35, 98, 138, 153, 299; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
G. F. R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grosse, Alexander

​GROSSE, ALEXANDER (1596?–1654), presbyterian divine, born about 1596, was the son of William Grosse, husbandman of Christow, Devonshire. After attending Exeter school for five years, he was admitted sizar of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, on 26 July 1618, and proceeded M.A. (College Admission Register, ed. Venn, p. 138). He became a preacher at Plympton St. Mary, Devonshire, but, wishing to attend Professor John Prideaux's divinity lectures at Oxford, he entered himself a sojourner in Exeter College, was incorporated M.A., and on 23 Feb. 1632 commenced B.D. (Wood, Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 466, 467). On the death of Henry Wallis in January 1633-4, Grosse was elected by the corporation of Plymouth to the vicarage of St. Andrew in that town. He was, however, refused institution by Bishop Hall (Rows, Old Plymouth, ii. 34, 55). On 16 Jan. 1638-9 he was presented by the crown to the rectory of Bridford, Devonshire (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1638-9, p. 319), and in or after 1647 obtained the rich vicarage of Ashburton in the same county, 'where he, being a presbyterian, and a sider with the times, was much frequented by people of that persuasion' (Wood, Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 358-9). He died in the beginning of 1654, and was buried at Ashburton (Letters of Administration, P. C. C., granted on 5 May 1654 to his widow, Pascow). His son, Alexander Grosse, became an undergraduate of Exeter College in 1638.
Grosse was author of:
* 'Sweet and Soule-perswading Inducements leading unto Christ,' 4to, London, 1632.
* 'The Happiness of enjoying and making a true and speedy Use of Christ. … [Three Sermons] … Whereunto is added, St. Paul's Legacie, or Farewell to the Men of Corinth,' 8vo, London, 1640.
* 'Deaths Deliverance and Eliahes Fiery Chariot, or the Holyman's Triumph after Death. Delivered in two sermons preached at Plymouth, … the former [on Isaiah lvii. 1, 2] at the Funerall of Thomas Sherwill, … 1631,' 8vo. London, 1640 (containing the sermon on T. Sherwill only).
* 'A Fiery Pillar of Heavenly Truth: shewing the way to a Blessed Life. Composed 'by way of Catechisme' [anon.], 8vo, London, 1641; 2nd edition, 1644; 10th edition, 1663.
* 'The Mystery of Self-Denial; or the Cessation of Man's Living to Himself, and the Inchoations of Christ's Living in Man,' 4to, London, 1642.
* 'Man's Misery without Christ, opening the Sinful, Perplexed, Dishonourable, and Soul-destroying Condition of Man without Christ,' 4to, London, 1642.
* 'Christ the Christian's Choice; or a Sermon [on Phil. i. 23] preached ​at the Funerall of John Caws, one of the Magistrates of … Plymouth,' 4to, London, 1645.
* 'The Buddings and Blossomings of Old Truths; or severall practicall points of Divinity, gathered out of … John iii. 22, ad finem,' 8vo, London, 1656, edited by John Welden, a presbyterian minister, of Stratcley in Ermington, Devonshire.
He wrote two other treatises, 'The Anatomy of the Heart' and 'On Sacred Things.'
[Authorities cited; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grosvenor, John

​GROSVENOR, JOHN (1742–1823), surgeon, born at Oxford in 1742, son of Stephen Grosvenor, sub-treasurer of Christ Church, received a medical education at Worcester and the London hospitals. He became anatomical surgeon on Dr. Lee's foundation at Christ Church, and was long the most noted practical surgeon in Oxford. He was admitted to the privileges of the university 24 Feb. 1768. He was specially successful in his treatment of stiff and diseased joints by friction. In 1795, on the death of William Jackson, the university printer, he became chief proprietor and editor of the 'Oxford Journal.' He died on 30 June 1823.
G. T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grose, John Henry

​GROSE, JOHN HENRY (fl. 1750–1783), civil servant of the East India Company, younger brother of Francis Grose [q. v.], left England in March 1750 for Bombay, ' in the station of a covenant servant and writer to the East India Company.' He had the good fortune to be recommended by a director in London to a nephew of the governor of Bombay; his introduction to the new mode of life was made easy to him, and he would seem to have been afforded unusual opportunities, which a faculty for observation enabled him to turn to good account. In 1757 he published 'A Voyage to the East Indies' in one vol., and in 1766 a second edition (2 vols. 8vo), with a history of the war, 1756-1763, and etchings by his brother Francis. A third edition was published in 1772. The first edition gives a good account of Eastern manners and customs, then little known, and the work has been made the basis of many popular accounts. It is said to have been compiled from Grose's notes by John Cleland. A French translation by Philippe Hernandez was published in London in 1758. Grose, who was a member of the Society of Arts, lived at Richmond, Surrey, in 1783. By his wife, Sarah Smalley, daughter of John Browning, a woolstapler, of Barnaby Street, Southwark, he left issue; his son John is noticed separately.
[A Voyage to the East Indies (as above); Gent. Mag. 1791, lxi. pt. i. 493.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grose, Nash

​GROSE, Sir NASH (1740–1814), judge, son of Edward Grose of London, was born in 1740. He went to Cambridge, became a fellow of Trinity Hall, and took the degree of LL.B. in 1768. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in November 1766, and became serjeant-at-law in 1774. For many years he enjoyed the best practice in the court of common pleas. On 9 Feb. 1787 he was appointed a judge of the king's bench, and was knighted. Both personally and as a judge he earned the respect and esteem of his contemporaries. His growing infirmities compelled his resignation during the Easter vacation 1813, and on 31 May 1814 he died at his seat, the Priory, in the Isle of Wight. He married a Miss Dennett of the Isle of Wight.
[Foss's Judges of England; Term Reports, p. 551; Campbell's Chief Justices, iii. 155; Gent. Mag. 1814, pt. i. 629.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grosvenor, Richard (1731-1802)

​GROSVENOR, RICHARD, first Earl Grosvenor (1731–1802), was eldest son and heir of Sir Robert, sixth baronet, and grandson of Sir Thomas Grosvenor [q. v.] He was born 18 June 1731, and was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, being created M.A. 2 July 1751, and D.C.L. 2 July 1754 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. ii. 573). He succeeded his father as seventh baronet 1 Aug, 1755), having been elected M.P. for Chester the year before. In 1758 He added by purchase the manor of Eccleston and hamlet of Belgrave to the family estate of Eaton. In the following year he served as mayor of Chester, and at the coronation of George III, 22 Sept. 1761, officiated as grand cupbearer, as his uncle had done at the coronation of George II. For parliamentary services, 'at the recommendation of Mr. Pitt,' says Walpole (Memoirs, i. 46), he was raised to the peerage as Baron Grosvenor of Eaton 8 April 1761, and 5 July 1784 was created Viscount Belgrave and Earl Grosvenor. He married, 19 July 1764, Henrietta, daughter of Henry Vernon of Hilton Park, Staffordshire. They had four sons, all of whom died young, except the third, Robert (1767-1845), afterwards Marquis of Westminster [q. v.] Their marriage was unhappy. The husband gave his wife 'no slight grounds of alienation' (Stanhope, History of England, v. 460). Lady Grosvenor is described by Walpole as 'a young woman of quality, whom a good person, moderate beauty, no understanding, and excessive vanity had rendered too accessible' to the attentions of Henry, duke of Cumberland, brother of George III (Memoirs, iv. 164). In an action for criminal conversation brought before Lord Mansfield in July 1770, the jury awarded 10,000l. damages against the prince. In 1772 Lord Grosvenor settled 1,200l. a year upon his wife by arbitration. A fine portrait of her by Gainsborough is at Eaton. There is also a mezzotint by Dickinson, dated 1774 (Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, i. 182-183). Upon the death of the earl, she married, 1 Sept. 1802, Lieutenant-general George Porter, M.P., who afterwards became Baron de Hochepied in Hungary. She lived until 2 Jan. 1828.
In the summer of 1788 Grosvenor invited a party to Eaton to celebrate the coming of age of his son. Some fugitive literary pieces were read each morning at breakfast and reprinted for private circulation under the title of 'Eaton Chronicle, or the Salt Box' (Chester, 1789, 8vo). He died at Earl's Court, near London, 5 Aug. 1802,aged 71, and was buried in the family vault at Eccleston 15 Aug. The obituary paragraph in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' (August 1802, p. 789) states that. 'his death will be much regretted on the turf.' He was the greatest breeder of racing stock in England of his day. Walpole refers to an instance of his 'humanity' and 'tenderness' (to H.Mann, 1763,in Letters, iv. 1857, p. 91), and his generous treatment of William Gifford [q. v.] is well known. The east gate of Chester was erected at his expense in 1769. There is a mezzotint of him by Dickinson.
H. R. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grosvenor, Richard (1795-1869)

​GROSVENOR, RICHARD, second Marquis of Westminster (1795–1869), was the eldest son of Robert, second earl Grosvenor and first marquis of Westminster (1767-1845) [q. v.] He was born on 27 Jan. 1795, and was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. in 1818 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1888, ii. 573). As Lord Belgrave he entered parliament at the general election in 1818 as member for Chester. He represented the city in 1820, and again from 1826 to 1830. Between 1831 and 1832 he was M.P. for his county, and from 1832 to 1835 sat for South Cheshire. When in the lower house he voted steadily for the liberal party. He patronised the turf, and won the St. Leger with Touchstone in 1834. In 1840-1 he made a yacht voyage in the Mediterranean, of which the Countess Grosvenor published a 'Narrative' (London, 1842, 2 vols. cr. 8vo). He succeeded his father as second marquis on 17 Feb. 1845. He seldom spoke in the House of Lords, and devoted himself chiefly to the improvement of his London property. From 1845 to 1867 he was lord-lieutenant of Cheshire, and acted as lord steward of the; household (1850-2) in Lord Russell's administration. He received the order of the Garter on 6 July 1857. After a short illness he died at Fonthill Gifford, Wiltshire, on Sunday, 31 Oct. 1869, in his seventy-fifth year. A leading article in the 'Times' states that 'he administered his vast estate with a combination of intelligence and generosity not often witnessed, and his life was illustrated with some noble acts.' Of reserved habits and inexpensive tastes, he disliked any kind of ostentation and extravagance. He gave generously to charitable objects, and built
and restored many churches and schools, principally in Cheshire. To Chester he presented a large park.
He married, on 16 Sept. 1819, the Lady Elizabeth Mary Leveson-Gower, second daughter of the first Duke of Sutherland, and by her had four sons and nine daughters. He was succeeded by his second son, Hugh Lupus Grosvenor (b. 1825), now Duke of Westminster. His fourth son, Richard, was created Baron Stalbridge in 1886.
[Obituary notices in the Times, 2 Nov. 1869, and the Chester Chronicle, 6 Nov. 1869. See also Doyle's Official Baronage, 1885, iii. 626; Croston's County Families of Lancashire and Cheshire, 1887, p. 338; Ormerod's Cheshire (Helsby), ii. 837; Burke's Peerage, 1890.]
H. R. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mollineux, Henry

​MOLLINEUX, HENRY (d. 1719), quaker, born at Lydiate, near Ormskirk, Lancashire, was in 1684 imprisoned in Lancaster Castle for attending quakers' meetings. While in gaol he met Mary Southworth of Warrington, who was imprisoned on the same ground. He married her at Penketh, near Warrington, on 10 Feb. 1685, she being then thirty-four years old. Mollineux was sent to Lancaster Castle again in December 1690, on this occasion for non-payment of tithes, and after being detained several months was liberated through his wife's personal appeal to Bishop Stratford. He died at Lydiate on 16 Nov. 1719. He wrote several books in defence of quaker principles: 1. 'Antichrist Unvailed by the Finger of God's Power . . . ' 1695, 8vo. 2. ' An Invitation from the Spirit of Christ to all that are at hirst to come and drink of the Waters of Life freely . . . ' 1696, 12rno. 3. 'Popery exposed by its own Authors, and two Romish Champions checked . . . being an Answer ... to James Wetmough and Matthew Hall,' 1718, 8vo.
His wife died at Liverpool on 3 Nov. 1695, aged 44, leaving children. She was a facile writer of pious verse, a collection of which was published in 1702, under the title of 'Fruits of Retirement, or Miscellaneous Poems, Moral and Divine, &c.' It passed through, six editions, the last of which was printed in 1772.
[Joseph Smith's Cat. of Friends' Books, ii. 180; Besse's Sufferings of the Quakers, i. 327; Mary Mollineux's Poems; Roger Haydock's Writings, 1700; extracts from Lancashire Friends' Registers, kindly furnished by Mr. Jos. H. King, Manchester.]
C. W. S.