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

​COTTAM, THOMAS (1549–1582), jesuit, was a native of Lancashire, being son of Laurence Cottam, gentleman, of Dilworth and Tarnaker, by his wife Anne, daughter of Mr. Brewer, or Brewerth, of Brindle, who after her husband's death married William Ambrose, gentleman, of Ambrose Hall in Woodplumpton (Gillow, Bibl. Dict. of the English Catholics, i. 575). He entered at Brasenose College (B.A. 23 March 1568–9; M.A. 14 July 1572), and on the completion of his academical studies he undertook the direction of a noted free grammar school in London (Dodd, Church Hist. ii. 116). He was converted to the Roman catholic faith by Thomas Pounde, esq., of Belmont (afterwards a jesuit), and proceeded to Douay College, where he studied philosophy and theology for some years (Morus, Hist. Missionis Anglicanæ Soc. Jesu, p. 127). Ardently desiring to take part in the mission to the East Indies, he left Douay for Rome, where he received the two lower sacred orders, was admitted to the Society of Jesus, and entered the novitiate of St. Andrew on 8 April 1579 (Foley, Records, ii. 148). In the sixth month of his noviceship he was attacked by violent fever, and was sent by his superiors to Lyons for change of air, but the sickness increasing, he appeared unfit for the society, and therefore was dismissed from the novitiate (Challoner, Missionary Priests, ed. 1741, i. 103). Cottam then went to the English college of Douay, then temporarily removed to Rheims, was ordained priest, and sent to England on the mission. On his arrival at Dover in June 1580, he was immediately arrested, having been betrayed by a spy named Sledd. Eventually he was committed to the Marshalsea prison, where he was tortured, and thence he was removed on Christmas day to the Tower of London, where he underwent the most terrible tortures of the rack and the ‘Scavenger's Daughter’ (Tanner, Societas Jesu usque ad sanguinis et vitæ profusionem militans, pp. 18, 19; Foley, Records, ii. 159).
On 14 Nov. 1581 he was arraigned at Westminster Hall with Father Edmund Campion and others, and condemned to death on account of his priestly character (Howell, State Trials, i. 1078); Simpson, Life of Campion, p. 281 et seq.). His execution was deferred for state reasons until 13 May 1582, when he was drawn on a hurdle from Newgate to Tyburn, with his companions William Filbie, Luke Kirby, and Laurence Richardson, priests, and was hanged, disembowelled, and quartered (Historia del glorioso Martirio di diciotto Sacerdoti macerati, 1585, p. 149). It is said that he was readmitted to the Society of Jesus shortly before his execution. He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 29 Dec. 1886.
His portrait has been engraved (Granger, Biog. Hist. of England, ed. 1824, i. 274).
[Authorities cited above.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cotgrave, John

​COTGRAVE, JOHN (fl. 1655), probably related to Randle Cotgrave [q. v.], and a member of the Cheshire family of Cotgreve, ​was the author of ‘The English Treasury of Literature and Language collected out of the most and best of our English Dramatick Poems,’ London, 1655. The author is described as ‘gent.’ on the title-page. The British Museum possesses Oldys's copy of this work, in which the source of nearly every extract quoted is noted in manuscript. The handwriting is of the seventeenth century, and is not Oldys's. Cotgrave's second publication is of singular interest. It is entitled ‘Wit's Interpreter: the English Parnassus, by J. C.,’ Lond. 1655. It contains a prose treatise on the ‘Art of Reasoning, or A New Logick;’ ‘Theatre of Courtships,’ extracts from plays of lovers' dialogues; ‘A Labyrinth of Fancies,’ a collection of conundrums, arithmetical puzzles, and conjuring tricks; ‘Apollo and Orpheus,’ a collection of love songs, epigrams, drolleries, and other verses; ‘The Perfect Inditer, or Letters à la mode,’ a model letter-writer; ‘Compliments à la mode;’ and finally Richelieu's cipher interpreted. Some of the dialogues and poems are very broad, but they include several pieces not accessible elsewhere. Other editions of this book appeared in 1662 and 1671.
[Cotgrave's Works; Hunter's MS. Chorus Vatum in Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 24492, f. 14; Gent. Mag. 1821, pt. ii. 415–6.]
S. L. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cotman, Joseph John

​COTMAN, JOSEPH JOHN (1814–1878), landscape artist, was the second son of John Sell Cotman, and was apprenticed to his uncle Edmund, who had succeeded to his (John's) grandfather's business [see Cotman, John Sell]. After about two years' apprenticeship he made the acquaintance of Joseph Geldart, a solicitor of Norwich, who was fond of sketching, and Cotman, who down to that time had not applied himself to art, now determined to follow the profession of an artist. Geldart did the same, and the two friends worked together assiduously. He went to London with his father in 1834, and remained there till 1836, when he returned to Norwich to take his brother Miles's [q. v.] practice as drawing-master. He was a good teacher and an artist of much original power, but he suffered from periodical attacks of cerebral excitement, followed by depression, which presented an insuperable bar to success in life. As he grew older these attacks became more frequent; but in the intervals he worked with remarkable energy, producing a large quantity of drawings, many of them of great merit. ​In his later years he was often reduced to destitution. In February 1878 he went into the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital to undergo an operation for cancer of the tongue. The operation seemed quite successful, but his elation at the thoughts of recovery brought on symptoms of his malady, and imprudently leaving his room in the hospital to sketch in the early morning caused a relapse, from which he did not recover. He died at the hospital 15 March 1878, leaving a widow and several children.
[Information communicated by Mr. James Reeve of Norwich.]
C. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnside, Robert

​BURNSIDE, ROBERT (1759–1826), baptist minister, was born in the parish of Clerkenwell on 31 Aug. 1759, and educated at Merchant Taylors' School and at Aberdeen University, where he graduated M.A. In 1780 he was appointed afternoon preacher at the Seventh-day Baptist church, Curriers' Hall, London, and in 1785 pastor of that congregation, which removed in 1799 to Redcross Street, and thence to Devonshire Square. As a teacher of languages he amassed a considerable fortune. He died in Snow's Fields, Bermondsey, on 19 May 1826. His works are: 1. 'The Religion of Mankind, in a Series of Essays,' 2 vols., London, 1819, 8vo. 2. 'Tea-Table Chat, or Religious Allegories told at the Tea-Table in a Seminary for Ladies,' vol. i., London, 1820, 8vo. 3. 'Remarks on the different Sentiments entertained in Christendom relative to the Weekly Sabbath,' London, 1825, 8vo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burns, John

​BURNS, JOHN, M.D. (1774–1850), author of the ‘Principles of Midwifery,’ the eldest son of the Rev. John Burns, minister of the Barony parish, Glasgow, and the grandson of John Burns, author of ‘Burns's English Grammar,’ was born in Glasgow in 1774. His father was ordained 26 May 1774, and died 26 Feb. 1839, in the ninety-sixth year of his age and the sixty-fifth of his Glasgow ministry. He wrote the account of Barony parish for Sinclair's ‘Statistical Account of Scotland’ (Hew Scott's Fasti, iii. 40). The son's original intention was to become a manufacturer, but a disease of the knee-joint having unfitted him for learning the loom, as was then the usual custom, he began the study of medicine at Glasgow University. At the opening of the Royal Infirmary of Glasgow for the reception of patients in 1792 he was appointed surgeon's clerk. Instead of commencing as a general practitioner, he began a course of extramural lectures to students in anatomy. His lectures soon became extremely popular, but it was discovered that he had made use of subjects for dissection which had not been procured in a legitimate manner, and the magistrates agreed to quash proceedings against him only on condition that he discontinued his lectures on the subject. This he accordingly did, but they were taken up by his brother Allan [q. v.], while he himself commenced to lecture on midwifery. His earliest publication of importance was the ‘Anatomy of the Gravid Uterus,’ 1799. This was followed in 1800 by a ‘Dissertation on Inflammation,’ in two volumes, which raised him to a high position as a medical writer. At an early period he became surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, and subsequently he began a general practice, which in time grew to be large. In 1809 he published the ‘Principles of Midwifery,’ which greatly extended his reputation, and, besides reaching numerous editions, was translated into several foreign languages. In 1811 he published ‘Popular Directions for the Treatment of the Diseases of Women and Children.’ He was also a contributor to the ‘Edinburgh Encyclopædia.’ On the institution of the professorship of surgery in Glasgow University in 1815, he was nominated by the Duke of Montrose for the chair. In this position he was remarkably popular as a lecturer, but his ‘Principles of Surgery,’ published in 1830, did not meet with much success. He also published ‘Principles of Christian Philosophy’ (1828). He perished in the wreck of the Orion steamer (belonging to the Cunard Company, of which his brothers were founders and partners), near Portpatrick, on 18 June 1850. He was a fellow of the Royal Society, London, and a member of the Institute of France.
[Old Country Houses of the Glasgow Gentry, p. 219; Gent. Mag. 2nd ser. xxiv. 332–3; Anderson's Scottish Nation.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burns, Robert (1789-1869)

​BURNS, ROBERT, D.D. (1789–1869), theological writer and church leader, was born at Bo'ness in 1789, educated at the university of Edinburgh, licensed as a probationer of the church of Scotland in 1810, and ordained minister of the Low church, Paisley, in 1811. He was a man of great energy and activity, a popular preacher, a laborious worker in his parish and town, a strenuous supporter of the evangelical party in the church, and one of the foremost opponents of lay patronage. In 1815, impressed with the spiritual wants of his countrymen in the colonies, he helped to form a colonial society for supplying them with ministers, and of this society he continued the mainspring for fifteen years. Joining the Free church in 1843, he was sent by the general assembly in 1844 to the United States, to cultivate fraternal relations with the churches there, and in 1845 he accepted an invitation to be minister of Knox's church, Toronto, in which charge he remained till 1856, when he was appointed professor of church history and apologetics in Knox's College, a theological institution of the presbyterian church. Burns took a most lively interest in his church, moving about with great activity over the whole colony, and becoming acquainted with almost every congregation. He died in 1869. He was the author of several works: 1. 'A Historical Dissertation on the Law and Practice of Great Britain with regard to the Poor,' 1819. 2. 'On Pluralities,' 1824. 3. 'The Ghareloch Heresy tried,' 1830. 4. 'Life of Stevenson ​Macgill, D.D.,' 1842. Besides writing these works, he edited in 1828 a new edition of Wodrow's 'History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, from the Restoration to the Revolution,' in 4 vols., contributing a life of the author; and for three years (1838-40) he edited and contributed many papers to the 'Edinburgh Christian Instructor,' which had been a very powerful organ of the evangelical party in the church when edited by Dr. Andrew Thomson, and was conducted by Burns for the advancement of the same cause.
W. G. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burrant, Robert

​BURRANT, ROBERT (fl. 1553), translator, is spoken of by Tanner as either an Englishman or a Scotchman. It is, however, evident from his preface to Sir D. Lindsay's poem (see below) that he was an ​Englishman, and that he was strongly attached to the reformed doctrines. Nor does there seem any reason for giving 'Burtant' as an alternative form of his name, or doubting, as Tanner does, whether he was the author of both the works mentioned in his article. These are: 1. An edition of Sir David Lindsay's 'Tragical Death of Dauid Beatō, Bishoppe of soinct Andrewes in Scotland; whereunto is joyned the martyrdom of Maister George Wyseharte, gentleman . . . for the blessed Gospels sake,' printed by J. Day and W. Serres, n. d. This extremely rare volume is in the Grenville Library in the British Museum. It contains a long preface from 'Roberte Burrante to the Reader,' in which, after twenty pages on the judgments of God against evil-doers, he speaks of Beaton's enmity against the gospel and against England, of his habit of swearing, and of his condemnation of Wishart on 31 March 1546. 2. A translation of the 'Preceptes of Cato, with annotacions of D. Erasmus of Roterodame, very profitable for all menne,' dedicated to Sir Thomas Caverden, knt., and printed by R. Grafton, 1553. In a second preface to the reader Burrant says that nothing was wanting 'in this Cato to the perfeccion of Christes religion, sauying the hope and faithe that a Christian man ought to haue.'
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burrel, John

John Burel in the ODNB.
​BURREL or BUREL, JOHN (fl. 1590), Scotch poet, author of a poetical description of Queen Anne's entry into Edinburgh in 1590, entitled 'The Description of the Queenis Maiesties most honourable entry into the town of Edinburgh,' was a burgess of Edinburgh. Among the title-deeds of a small property at the foot of Todricks ​ Wynd, Edinburgh, there was found a disposition of a house by ‘John Burrel, goldsmith, yane of the printers in his majesties cunzie house’ (king's mint), 1628. From the minuteness with which the poet describes the jewellery displayed on Queen Anne's entry, it appears that he had a special technical knowledge of such matters, and there is thus every reason to suppose him to have been identical with John Burrel of the king's mint. The poem, along with another by the same author, entitled ‘The Passage of the Pilgrims, divided into four parts,’ was published in Watson's ‘Collection of Scots Poems,’ and the former is also included in Sir Robert Sibbald's ‘Chronicle of Scottish Poetry.’ Neither of the poems possesses any literary merit.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burns, James (17th cent.)

​BURNS, JAMES (17th cent.), author of the ‘Memoirs of the Civil War and during the Usurpation from 1644 to 1661,’ was born at the commencement of the seventeenth century. He was a merchant in Glasgow, and for some time bailie of that city. Little is known of his history, but he is supposed to be the son of one Robert Burns, who is mentioned in m'Ure's ‘History of Glasgow,’ and whose name appears in the ‘List of Linen and Woollen Drapers, commonly called English Merchants, since the year 1600.’ The manuscript of his ‘Memoirs’ is lost, but there is a transcript of them, which is evidently much mutilated, by George Crawford, historian of Renfrewshire. The ‘Memoirs’ are filled with detailed accounts of the incidents which befell the nobility of Scotland during the stormy period of which they treat.
[Stevenson's Historical Fragments relative to Scottish Affairs from 1635 to 1664, 1833.]
N. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burns, William Chalmers

​BURNS, WILLIAM CHALMERS (1815–1868), missionary to China, born in 1815 at the manse of Dun, Forfarshire, was educated along with his brother Islay [q. v.] at the grammar school of Aberdeen and at Marischal College and University. His first training was in an Edinburgh lawyer's office, but in 1832 he became the subject of such intense religious impressions that he resolved to be a minister of the gospel, returned to the university, and was licensed as a probationer by the presbytery of Glasgow in 1839. His purpose was to be a missionary abroad, but, there being then no vacancy in the mission field, he accepted temporary occupation at home. His first labours were at Dundee, where he took charge of the congregation of the Rev. R. M. McCheyne during his absence in Palestine. Burns preached with extraordinary earnestness and depth of conviction; a great revival of religious life followed, much as in the days of Whitefield and Wesley. Burns then spent some years visiting different parts of Scotland and the north of England, and with corresponding results. He tried Dublin, but had little success there. Going to Canada, he made a great impression, especially where the Scotch abounded, but the scenes did not equal those which had taken place in his native land. It was not till 1846 that he set out for China as a missionary in connection with the presbyterian church of England. His first efforts among the Chinese were very discouraging, and his faith and perseverance were put to great trial. Ere long, however, the results were much more encouraging. In 1854, at Pechuia, near Amoy, began a remarkable harvest, which in various places he continued to reap. A marvellous spiritual power accompanied his words, and numberless hearts were touched. Many native congregations of christians were formed in the neighbourhood; but it was his practice to leave these to the care of others, and always press forward to occupy new ground. Leaving that part of China, he went to Shanghae, Swatow, and then to Pekin and Nieu-chwang. Burns translated the 'Pilgrim's Progress' as well as many of our best hymns into Chinese. He was remarkable for his simple and self-denying ways. On his mission tours he took little with him but tracts and bibles, trusting to the hospitality of the people. Often he was annoyed, once arrested and imprisoned, and sometimes robbed; but he bore all with the greatest meekness. To avoid being stared at as a foreigner, he ultimately adopted the Chinese dress, and lived like a native. Having caught a chill at Nieu-chwang, an out-of-the-way place to which he went simply on account of its destitution, he died there on 4 April 1868. Burns won in a most unusual degree the esteem both of British residents and of the natives of China, and of all friends of missions, and is universally regarded as having been one of the most devoted missionaries since apostolic times.
W. G. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Giraud, Herbert John

​GIRAUD, HERBERT JOHN (1817–1888), physician, chemist, and botanist, second son and youngest child of John Thomas Giraud (1764–1836), a surgeon at Faversham, Kent (mayor in 1814), by Mary, daughter of William Chapman of Badlesmere Court, Kent, was born at Faversham on 14 April 1817. His grandfather, Francis Frederick Giraud (1726–1811), was born of Waldensian protestant refugee parents at Pinache in Würtemberg in 1726, and was brought to England by his uncle, the Rev. William Henry Giraud, vicar of Graveney, Kent, in 1736, entered at All Souls, Oxford, in 1744, was ordained in 1749, and was from 1762 to 1808 head-master of the Faversham grammar school. Herbert John Giraud was educated at the university of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.D. with honours in 1840. Entering the medical service of the East India Company in 1842, he became successively professor of chemistry and botany (in 1845) and principal of the Grant Medical College, Bombay; he was also chief medical officer of Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy's Hospital, chemical analyst to the Bombay government, surgeon-major and deputy-inspector-general of the Bombay army medical service, and dean of the faculty of medicine in Bombay University (1863). He died 12 Jan. 1888 at Shanklin, Isle of Wight, where he had lived since his retirement in 1867. He married in 1842 Christina, daughter of Dr. David Shaw of the Bombay medical service, by whom he had two daughters, the elder of whom married Major-general Harpur of the Bombay staff corps. A list of ten botanical and chemical papers by Giraud is given in the Royal Society's ‘Catalogue of Scientific Papers,’ vol. ii. The most valuable of the botanical papers is on the embryo of Tropæolum, ‘Linnean Transactions,’ xix. 161. Several of the chemical papers relate to toxicology in India. Giraud was often consulted as an ​expert in medico-legal cases in the Bombay presidency.
[Men of the Time, 1875, 1884; Times, 13 Jan. 1888; information from Mr. F. F. Giraud, Faversham, nephew of H. J. Giraud.]
G. T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Girdlestone, Edward

​GIRDLESTONE, EDWARD (1805–1884), canon of Bristol, youngest son of Samuel Rainbow Girdlestone, a chancery barrister, was born in London 6 Sept. 1805. An elder brother, Charles, is noticed above. He matriculated from Balliol College, Oxford, 10 June 1822, and in 1823 was admitted a scholar of his college, became B.A. in 1826, M.A. in 1829, and was ordained to the curacy of Deane, Lancashire, in 1828. Having taken priest's orders he became vicar of Deane in 1830. Lord-chancellor Cranworth, to whom he was personally unknown, conferred on him in 1854 the place of canon residentiary of Bristol Cathedral, in right of which he succeeded to the vicarage of St. Nicholas with St. Leonard, Bristol, in 1855, which he resigned in 1858 for the vicarage of Wapley with Codrington, Gloucestershire. In 1862 he became vicar of Halberton, Devonshire, and ultimately in March 1872 vicar of Olveston, near Almondsbury, Bristol. He was well known under the title of ‘The Agricultural Labourers' Friend,’ an appellation of which he was very proud. It was in 1867 that his first public efforts on behalf of the labourers were made, and at a meeting of the British Association at Norwich in the following year he suggested an agricultural labourers' union. He wrote, spoke, travelled, and organised in behalf of this object, and his name became associated with the meetings of various learned and philanthropic bodies. He was the means of removing upwards of six hundred families from the districts of the west of England, where work was scarce and poorly paid, to the more active and prosperous north. He caught cold while on a journey to visit the Prince of Wales, at Sandringham, and died of its effects in the canon's house, Bristol, 4 Dec. 1884. He was buried in the graveyard of Bristol Cathedral, 9 Dec. He married in 1832 Mary, eldest daughter of Thomas Ridgway of Wallsuches, in Deane parish. He was the author of:
* ‘Sermons,’ 1843, &c., eight pamphlets.
* ‘The Committee of Council on Education, an imaginary Enemy, a real Friend,’ 1850.
* ‘G. Marsh, the Martyr of Deane,’ 1851.
* ‘Sermons on Romanism and Tractarianism,’ 1851.
* ‘The Education Question,’ 1852.
* ‘Apostolical Succession neither proved matter of fact nor revealed in the Bible nor the Doctrine of the Church of England,’ 1857.
* ‘Reflected Truth, or the Image of God lost in Adam restored in Jesus Christ,’ 1859.
* ‘Remarks on “Essays and Reviews,”’ 1861.
* ‘Revelation and Reason,’ a lecture, 1883.
[Church of England Photographic Portrait Gallery, 1859, pt. vi., with portrait; Church Portrait Journal, August 1884, pp. 57–60, with portrait; Times, 5 Dec. 1884, p. 10, and 10 Dec. p. 6.]
G. C. B.