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

​GIPPS, THOMAS (d. 1709), rector of Bury, Lancashire, was educated at St. Paul's School, London, which he left as Campden exhibitioner in 1654. He subsequently went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained a fellowship. He proceeded B.A. in 1658 and M.A. in 1662, and became rector of Bury, Lancashire, in 1674, on the presentation of the Earl of Derby, whose chaplain he was. In 1683 he published ‘Three Sermons preached in Lent and Summer Assizes last, at Lancaster, and on one of the Lord's Days in the late Guild of Preston,’ and in 1697 ‘A Sermon against Corrupting the Word of God, preacht at Christ Church in Manchester.’ He charged the presbyterians during the civil wars with altering Acts vi. 3, ‘whom we might appoint’ into ‘whom ye might appoint,’ to favour the notion of the people's right to elect their own ministers. This led to a sharp controversy with James Owen of Oswestry, in which Gipps was shown to be in error. Four or five curious pamphlets were published on each side. Gipps died at Bury 11 March 1709. He gave some books to the library of St. Paul's School in 1673.
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Girardus Cornubiensis

Gerard of Cornwall, "supposed historian", in the ODNB.
​GIRARDUS Cornubiensis (fl. 1350?) was author of two works:
* ‘De gestis Britonum,’ and
* ‘De gestis Regum West-Saxonum,’ our knowledge of which is chiefly due to citations in the ‘Liber de Hyda,’ and in Rudborne's ‘Chronicle’ (in Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i.)
The former chronicle gives the ‘De gestis Regum West-Saxonum,’ chaps. x. xi. and xiv. as a source for the history of Alfred and his daughter Æthelflaed, and bk. v. c. x. of the same work as the authority for ascribing to Edward the elder the restoration of the public schools at Cambridge. Rudborne quotes bk. iii. chap. vi. of the same work for the history of Cynegils of Wessex, and also twice refers to the ‘De gestis Britonum’ for details in the early history of the church of Winchester. Besides these the ‘Liber de Hyda’ gives an extract on the war between Guy of Warwick and Colbrand, which is said to be chap. xi. of the ‘De gestis Regum West-Saxonum;’ the same extract with the same reference exists at the end of a manuscript of Higden's ‘Polychronicon’ (Magdalen College, Oxford, 147), and was printed by Hearne as an appendix to the ‘Annals of Dunstable,’ ii. 825–30. Lydgate, in his unprinted poem on Guy of Warwick, says that he had translated it ‘out of the Latyn … of Girard Cornubyence’ (Bodl. MS. Laud Misc. 683, f. 77 b). Girard, as his name shows, was probably a native of Cornwall, but since he is thus quoted only in chronicles written in Hampshire, we may perhaps conclude that he was resident at some monastery in the latter county; and also as the ‘Liber de Hyda,’ Rudborne, and Lydgate all date from the earlier half of the fifteenth century, we may possibly argue that Girard lived not long before. We do not, however, know anything for certain, and Girard has often been confused with Giraldus Cambrensis [q. v.] Sir T. D. Hardy gives his supposed date as the time of King John; but the reference to Cambridge makes it unlikely that Girard lived at that period.
[Courtney and Boase's Bibliotheca Cornub. vol. i.; Hardy's Cat. of Brit. Hist. iii. 50; Liber de Hyda, pp. 62, 111, 118–23 in Rolls Ser.; Wharton's Anglia Sacra, i. 180, 186, 189.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Girdlestone, John Lang

​GIRDLESTONE, JOHN LANG (1763–1825), classical translator, born in 1763, was fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, where he proceeded B.A. 1785, M.A. 1789. He took orders, was rector of Swainsthorpe (1788), vicar of Sheringham, Norfolk (1803), and master of the classical school at Beccles. He died in 1825. Girdlestone wrote ‘All the Odes of Pindar translated from the original Greek’ (Norwich, 1810).
F. W-t.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Girdlestone, Thomas

​GIRDLESTONE, THOMAS, M.D. (1758–1822), translator of Anacreon, born in 1758 at Holt, Norfolk, was entered on the physic line at Leyden 8 May 1787 (Index of Leyden Students, Index Soc. p. 40). Entering the army as a doctor, he served for some time under the command of Colonel Sir Charles Stuart, governor of Minorca, to whose friendship he attributed his success in life. After passing some years with the army in India, he settled in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where he succeeded Dr. John Aikin [q. v.], and practised with great success for thirty-seven years. Tall, slender, and upright, scrupulously dressed in black, with silk stockings and half-gaiters, a white cravat, an ample shirt frill, powdered head and pigtail, he might be seen daily perambulating the town with his gold-headed cane. In 1803 he was one of the promoters of the public library at Great Yarmouth. He died suddenly on 25 June 1822. By his marriage with the widow of the Rev. John Close, and daughter of Robert Lawton of Ipswich, Suffolk, he had an only son, Charles Stuart Girdlestone, an ardent ornithologist, who formed a large collection of birds, principally shot by his own gun in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth. He died unmarried in 1831, aged 33. Girdlestone possessed a good medical library, which was sold by auction soon after his death. He contributed largely under various signatures to the medical journals of the day, and published with his name (1) ‘Essays on the Hepatitis and Spasmodic Affections in India,’ &c., 8vo, London, 1787; (2) ‘A Case of Diabetes, with an Historical Sketch of that Disease,’ 8vo, Yarmouth, 1799. He had some correspondence with R. Langslow upon apoplexy, which was published by the latter in 1802. In 1805 Girdlestone published an address to the inhabitants of Great Yarmouth strongly urging vaccination. During his residence in Yarmouth he compared the translation of the ‘Odes of Anacreon,’ by D. H. Urquhart, then residing at Hobland Hall, with the original Greek, and in 1803 he published his own translation, after having ‘kept it from the press nearly eleven years.’ Other editions followed in 1804 and 1809. He also wrote a paradoxical essay maintaining that Arthur Lee was the author of ‘Junius,’ entitled ‘Facts tending to prove that General Lee was never absent from this country for any length of time during the years 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and that he was the author of Junius,’ 8vo, London, 1813. The copy in the British Museum contains copious manuscript notes by the author, together with copies of four letters from General Lee to Sir Charles Davers. The ‘Reasons’ had previously appeared without Girdlestone's name, 8vo, London, 1807. He likewise published several views of ancient buildings, including the church of St. Peter in Wolverhampton, Dudley Castle, and the abbeys of Lilleshall, Haughmond, and Buildwas in Shropshire, with short descriptions appended to each.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forster, Benjamin Meggot

​FORSTER, BENJAMIN MEGGOT (1764–1829), man of science, second son of Edward Forster the elder [q. v.] and his wife Susanna, was born in Walbrook, London, 16 Jan. 1764. He was educated with his brothers at Walthamstow, and became a member of the firm of Edward Forster & Sons, Russia merchants, but attended very little to business. During his whole life he was attached to the study of science, especially botany and electricity. He executed many fine drawings of fungi, communicated various species to Sowerby, and in 1820 published, with initials only, ‘An Introduction to the Knowledge of Fungusses,’ 12mo, pp. 20, with two plates. He contributed numerous articles to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ under various signatures and on various subjects, and is credited with eight scientific contributions to the ‘Philosophical Magazine’ in the Royal Society's Catalogue. They deal with fungi, the electric column, and atmospheric phenomena. He invented the sliding portfolio, the atmospherical electroscope, and an orrery of perpetual motion, the last being a failure. Ceaseless in his exertions in the cause of humanity, he was one of the earliest advocates of emancipation, and one of the first members of the committee of 1788 against the slave trade. He also joined the societies for the suppression of climbing chimney-sweepers, for diffusing knowledge respecting capital punishments, for affording refuge to the destitute, and for repressing cruelty to animals, he being conscientiously opposed to field sports. He also framed the child-stealing act. He never married, living with his father and mother till their death, when he took a cottage called Scotts, at Hale End, Walthamstow, where he died 8 March 1829.
&#91Gent. Mag. (1829), xcix. 279; Nichols's Illustrations, viii. 553; Epistolarium Forsterianum, vol. ii. pp. xiii–xv.]
G. S. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forster, George

​FORSTER, GEORGE (d. 1792), traveller, a civil servant of the East India Company on the Madras establishment, undertook and safely accomplished in 1782 the then remarkable feat of travelling from Calcutta overland into Russia. His journey took him through Cashmere, Afghanistan, Herat, Khorassan, and Mazanderan to the Caspian Sea, which he crossed. While in England he prepared for the press ‘Sketches of the Mythology and Customs of the Hindoos’ (8vo, 84 pp., 1785), and on his return to India he wrote an account of his journey, the first volume of which was published at Calcutta in 1790. In 1792 he was sent on an embassy to the Mahrattas, and died at Nagpore. The narrative of his journey was completed from his papers, and published in London by an unknown editor as ‘A Journey from Bengal to England through the Northern part of India, Kashmire, Afghanistan, and Persia, and into Russia by the Caspian Sea’ (2 vols. 4to, 1798). He is often confused with Johann Georg Adam Forster [q. v.], as, for example, in ‘Monthly Review,’ December 1798 (xxvii. 361n.), where, in a review of the journey, he is described as the son of Johann Reinhold Forster.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forster, Benjamin (1736-1805)

​FORSTER, BENJAMIN (1736–1805), antiquary, was born in Walbrook, London, 7 Aug. 1736, being the third son of Thomas Forster, a descendant of the Forsters of Etherston and Bamborough, and his wife ​Dorothy, granddaughter of Benjamin Furly [q. v.], the friend and correspondent of Locke. He was educated at Hertford school and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he had as friends and fellow-students the antiquarians Richard Gough and Michael Tyson. He graduated as B.A. in 1757, becoming M.A. and fellow of his college in 1760, and B.D. 1768. Having taken orders, ‘though he was never very orthodox,’ he became in succession curate of Wanstead and of Broomfield and Chignal Smeely in Essex (1760), Lady Camden lecturer at Wakefield (1766), and rector of Boconnoc, Broadoak, and Cherichayes in Cornwall (1770). He died at Boconnoc parsonage on 2 Dec. 1805, his tomb being, by his orders, merely inscribed ‘Fui.’ He was somewhat eccentric, surrounding himself with multifarious pet animals, to whom he was much attached; but his letters show him to have been a man of taste and learning, and a skilful antiquary. These letters are preserved in Nichols's ‘Literary Anecdotes,’ ix. 648–50, and ‘Literary Illustrations,’ v. 280–90, while many of Gough's letters to him are in a volume privately printed at Bruges (1845–50) by his great-nephew, Thomas Ignatius Maria Forster [q. v.], entitled ‘Epistolarium Forsterianum.’ Among his other friends were the poets Mason and Gray.
[Gent. Mag. 1849, xxxii. 431; Nichols's Illustrations, viii. 554; Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub.]
G. S. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forster, Edward (1730-1812)

​FORSTER, EDWARD, the elder (1730–1812), banker and antiquary, the son of Thomas and brother of Benjamin Forster [q. v.], was born 11 Feb. 1730, and was educated at Felstead school. He then went to Holland to his relative Benjamin Furly, from whom he received the original letters of Locke, afterwards published by his grandson. He married Susanna Furney, a member of an old Somerset family, by whom he left three sons, Thomas Furly [q. v.], Benjamin Meggot [q. v.], and Edward (1765–1849) [q. v.], and a daughter Susanna Dorothy (1757–1822), who married the Rev. J. Dixon, rector of Bincombe, Dorsetshire. In 1764 he settled at Walthamstow, where his leisure was employed in riding in search of scenery and antiquities, in sketching, etching, and writing of occasional verses. In 1774 he published the speeches made by him at the bar of the House of Commons on the linen and Russia trades, his only other publication being ‘Occasional Amusements,’ 12mo, 1809, pp. 87, a volume of verse. He was a member of the Mercers' Company, a director of the London Docks, governor of the Royal Exchange, and, for nearly thirty years, of the Russia Company, in which capacity he gave an annual ministerial dinner. When consulted by Pitt as to a forced paper currency he was offered a baronetcy. He died at Hoe Street, Walthamstow, 20 April 1812. Though neither a sportsman nor a practical naturalist, he was very fond of horses and dogs, and was an ardent lover of nature. Addison, Swift, and Rousseau were his favourite authors, and Gray, Gough, and Tyson were among his personal friends. One of his letters (Epistolarium Forsterianum, i. 205–26) contains a reference to Gray's ‘Elegy’ as early as 1751. Edward Forster is stated (Nichols, Anecdotes, viii. 596) to have been the introducer of bearded wheat from Smyrna. His portrait was painted ​by Shee for the Mercers' Company in 1812, and by Hoppner for the Royal Exchange, the latter having been privately engraved in mezzotint.
[Nichols's Anecdotes, vi. 331–3, 616, viii. 1, 596, ix. 720; Gent. Mag. 1849, xxxii. 431; Epistolarium Forsterianum, 1845, i. 205–26, Bruges, privately printed.]
G. S. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forster, Edward (1765-1849)

​FORSTER, EDWARD, the younger (1765–1849), botanist, was born at Wood Street, Walthamstow, 12 Oct. 1765, being the third and youngest son of Edward the elder [q. v.] and Susanna Forster. He received his commercial education in Holland, and entered the banking-house of Forster, Lubbocks, Forster, & Clarke. He began the study of botany in Epping Forest at fifteen, and in conjunction with his two brothers he afterwards cultivated in his father's garden almost all the herbaceous plants then grown, and contributed the county lists of plants to Gough's edition of Camden (1789). In 1796 he married Mary Jane, only daughter of Abraham Greenwood, who died in 1846 without surviving issue. Forster was one of the early fellows of the Linnean Society, founded in 1788, was elected treasurer in 1816, and vice-president in 1828. With his brothers he was one of the chief founders of the Refuge for the Destitute in Hackney Road. He died of cholera, 23 Feb. 1849, two days after inspecting the refuge on the occasion of an outbreak of that disease. He was buried in the family vault at Walthamstow. He was exceedingly temperate and methodical, shy, taciturn, and exclusive, rising early to work among his extensive collections of obscure British plants before banking hours, and devoting his evenings to reading and to his large herbarium, collected in many parts of England. He resided chiefly at Hale End, Walthamstow, but at the time of his death at the Ivy House, Woodford, Essex. In 1817 he had printed a catalogue of British birds (Catalogus avium in insulis Britannicis habitantium cura et studio Eduardi Forsteri jun., London, 1817, 8vo, pp. 48), but seems subsequently to have devoted his attention to plants exclusively. He printed various papers on critical species of British plants in the ‘Transactions’ of the Linnean Society, the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History,’ and the ‘Phytologist,’ and collected material towards a flora of Essex. His knowledge of British plants was critically exact, several species being described by him in the ‘Supplement to English Botany’ (1834). At his death his library and herbarium were sold, the latter being purchased by Robert Brown and presented to the British Museum. There is an oil painting of Forster by Eddis at the Linnean Society, and a lithograph by T. H. Maguire, published in the year of his death.
G. S. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forster, Henry Pitts

​FORSTER, HENRY PITTS (1766?–1815), orientalist, entered the Bengal service of the East India Company 7 Aug. 1783 (we may thus place his birth in or about 1766), became collector of Tipperah in 1793, and registrar of Diwani Adalat of the twenty-four Pargannas in 1794. To Forster belongs the credit of publishing the first English work of lexicography for the Bengali language. The first part of this book, the ‘English and ​Bengalee Vocabulary,’ appeared at Calcutta in 1799. It is evident, from the lengthy preface to this work, that it was undertaken on political and practical, as well as on literary, grounds. Bengali at this time was, officially at least, an unrecognised vernacular, and Forster rightly insists on the absurdity and inconvenience of continuing to use Persian in courts of law. It was thus due to the efforts of Forster, seconded among Europeans by Carey, Marshman, and the other Serampur missionaries, and among the natives by Rāmamohan Ray and his friends, that Bengali not only has become the official language of the presidency, but now ranks as the most prolific literary language of India. The second volume appeared in 1802. Meanwhile Forster was also directing his attention to Sanskrit. We find from the advertisement of the ‘Bengali Vocabulary,’ appearing in the ‘Calcutta Gazette’ 26 Aug. 1802, that he had then finished, and proposed to publish by subscription, an ‘Essay on the Principles of Sanskrit Grammar,’ and as a sequel the text and translation of a native grammar, the ‘Mugdhabodha’ of Vopadeva. The latter work seems not to have been published; no trace of it, at all events, is to be found in the ordinary bibliographical works on the subject. The essay finally appeared in 1810, and from its preface we learn that it was submitted in manuscript to the ‘College Council’ in 1804, at which time ‘none of the elaborate works on Sanskrit by Mr. Colebrooke, Mr. Carey, or Mr. Wilkins had made their appearance.’ It is a laborious work, not, indeed, calculated to attract students to the pursuit of oriental learning, but abounding in tabular and statistical information, founded on the intricate and often merely theoretical lucubrations of the ancient native schools of grammar. In 1803–4 Forster was employed at the Calcutta Mint, of which he rose to be master. In 1815 he was ‘nominated to sign stamp paper.’ He died in India 10 Sept. of the same year.
[Dodwell and Miles's Bengal Civil Servants; Calcutta Gazette, as above.]
C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forshall, Josiah

​FORSHALL, JOSIAH (1795–1863), librarian, born at Witney in Oxfordshire on 29 March 1795, was the eldest son of Samuel Forshall. He received some of his education at the grammar schools of Exeter and Chester, and in 1814 entered Exeter College, Oxford. He graduated B.A. in 1818, taking a first class in mathematics and a second in litt. hum. He became M.A. in 1821, and was elected fellow and tutor of his college. He was appointed an assistant librarian in the manuscript department of the British Museum in 1824, and became keeper of that department in 1827. In 1828 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He edited the catalogue of the manuscripts in the British Museum (new series): pt. i. the Arundel MSS.; pt. ii. the Burney MSS.; pt. iii. index, 1834, &c. fol., and also the ‘Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium [in the Brit. Mus.]: Pars Prima Codices Syriacos et Carshunicos amplectens,’ 1838, &c. fol. He also edited the ‘Description of the Greek Papyri’ in the Brit. Mus., pt. i. 1839, 8vo. In 1828 he had been appointed secretary to the museum, and in 1837 resigned his keepership in order to devote himself exclusively to his secretarial duties. He was examined before the select committee appointed to inquire into the museum in 1835–6, and made some curious revelations on the subject of patronage. As secretary he had much influence with the trustees. He was greatly opposed to any attempts to ‘popularise’ the museum. In 1850 he published a pamphlet entitled ‘Misrepresentations of H.M. Commissioners [who inquired into the British Museum in 1848–9] exposed,’ and about that time retired from the museum on account of ill-health. After his resignation Forshall lived in retirement, spending much of his time, till his death, at the Foundling Hospital, of which he had been appointed chaplain in 1829. He died at his house in Woburn Place, London, on 18 Dec. 1863, after undergoing a surgical operation. Forshall was a man of ability, and of a kindly disposition. Besides the catalogues already mentioned he published, in conjunction with Sir F. Madden, the well-known edition of ‘The Holy Bible … in the earliest English Versions made by John Wycliffe and his followers,’ 1850, 4 vols. 4to. To this work he had given up much time during twenty-two years. He also published editions of the Gospels of St. Mark (1862, 8vo), St. Luke (1860, 8vo), and St. John (1859, 8vo), arranged in parts and sections, and some sermons. His works ‘The Lord's Prayer with various readings and critical notes’ (1864), 8vo, and ‘The First Twelve Chapters of … St. Matthew’ in the received Greek text, with various readings and notes, 1864, 8vo, were published posthumously.
[Gent. Mag. 1864, 3rd ser. xvi. 128; Statutes and Rules of the Brit. Mus. (1871); Cowtan's Memories of the Brit. Mus. 6, 66, 69, 365–76; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
W. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cox, Captain

​COX, Captain ——, of Coventry (fl. 1575), collector of ballads and romances, is described as ‘an od man, I promiz yoo: by profession a mason, and that right skilfull; very cunning in fens, and hardy as Gavin; … great oversight hath he in matters of storie’ (Robert Laneham, ‘A Letter whearin, part of the entertainment unto the Queenz Majesty at Killingwoorth Castl, in Warwik Sh'eer, in this Soomerz Progress, 1575, iz signified,’ 8vo). The contents of the captain's library, which are described by Laneham at considerable length, are of the most curious character. Among the entertainments provided for Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Kenilworth was a burlesque imitation of a battle, from an old romance, and Captain Cox took a leading part. He is introduced on his hobby-horse in Ben Jonson's ‘Mask of Owls, at Kenelworth. Presented by the Ghost of Captain Cox,’ 1626.
[Captain Cox, his Ballads and Books; or Robert Laneham's Letter: On the Entertainment at Kenilworth in 1575. Re-edited … by F. J. Furnivall, 1871; Ben Jonson's Works, ed. Gifford (1875), viii. 52–5.]
A. H. B.