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

​TWYNE, THOMAS, M.D. (1543–1613), physician, whose name is spelt Twine in the records of the College of Physicians, third son of John Twyne [q. v.], master of Canterbury free school, was born at Canterbury in 1543. Lawrence Twyne [q. v.] was his ​brother. He became a scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 6 July 1560, and was elected a fellow on 9 Nov. 1564. He graduated B.A. on 18 April 1564, M.A. on 10 July 1568. He then studied medicine at Cambridge, where John Caius [q. v.] was actively engaged in the encouragement of that study. He settled at Lewes in Sussex, where he acquired a large practice. He did not graduate M.B. at Oxford till 10 July 1593, and then proceeded M.D. at Cambridge. He was admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians on 7 May 1596, his patron, Lord Buckhurst, having in April 1595 written to ask the college to admit him a fellow. The college resolved to admit him as soon as the statutes would allow. He was versed in astrology and a friend of Dr. John Dee [q. v.] He died at Lewes on 1 Aug. 1613, and was buried in the chancel of the church of St. Peter's and Mary's-Westout, where a brass to his memory remains to this day, bearing fourteen laudatory lines of Latin verse.
By his wife, Joanna Pumfrett, whom he was licensed to marry on 6 Oct. 1571, he was father of Brian Twyne [q. v.], the Oxford antiquary.
Some of Twyne's works are indicated by initials only, and others are translations or editions in which it is difficult to trace his exact share. Thus ‘The Schoolmaster,’ published in London in 1576 and 1583 in quarto, has also been attributed to Thomas Turswell [q. v.] Twyne's chief works are: 1. ‘The Breviary of Britayne,’ 1572. 2. ‘The Survey of the World,’ 1572. 3. ‘The Garland of Godly Flowers,’ 1574; dedicated to Sir Nicholas Bacon. 4. ‘The Tragedy of Tyrants,’ 1575. 5. ‘The Wonderful Workmanship of the World,’ 1578; dedicated to Sir Francis Walsingham. 6. ‘Physicke against Fortune, as well Prosperous as Adverse; translated from F. Petrark,’ 1579. 7. ‘New Counsel against the Plague; translated from Peter Drouet,’ all printed in London. He also translated into English verse the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth books of the ‘Æneid,’ completing the work of Thomas Phaer [q. v.], which was published as ‘The whole xiii. books of the Æneidos of Virgill’ in 1573, in 1584, and in 1596 in quarto. He inclines to dulness both in prose and verse.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Twysden, John

​TWYSDEN, JOHN, M.D. (1607–1688), physician, fourth son of Sir William Twysden, first baronet in 1611, was born at Roydon Hall in East Peckham, Kent, in 1607 (Hasted, Kent, ii. 275). Sir Roger Twysden [q. v.] and Sir Thomas Twysden [q. v.] were his brothers. John was educated at University College, Oxford, whence he matriculated on 20 June 1623; he left the university without a degree and entered the Inner Temple, where he was called to the bar in 1634. In 1645 he was in Paris (Mathematical Lucubrations), and in 1646 graduated M.D. at Angers. He was incorporated at Oxford 6 Nov. 1651 (Wood, ii. 107), and in 1654 settled in London, and on 22 Dec. was admitted a candidate of the College of Physicians, and on 20 Oct. 1664 was elected a fellow. His friend Walter Foster of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, placed in his hands the mathematical remains of Samuel Foster [q. v.] after the death of that Gresham professor in 1652. His first work, published in London in 1654, was an edition of Samuel Foster's ‘Four Treatises of Dialing,’ and in 1659 he published the residue of Foster's papers, with some mathematical essays of his own, in a folio volume entitled ‘Miscellanies or Mathematical Lucubrations.’ He published in 1666 ‘Medicina veterum Vindicata, or an Answer to a book entitled Medela Medicinæ,’ a defence of the orthodox medical doctrines of the day against Marchamont Needham [q. v.] The book, which is dedicated to Lord-chancellor Clarendon, and to the chiefs of the three courts, Keeling, Bridgman, and Hales, shows a good deal of general learning and much power of argument, while many passages illustrate the author's taste for mathematics, but it contains no clinical or pathological observations. In the same year he published another book of the same kind, an ‘Answer to Medicina Instaurata’ (London, 8vo). In 1676 Needham was defeated in an action by the College of Physicians before Twysden's brother, Sir Thomas Twysden, in the court of king's bench (Goodall, Col. of Physicians, p. 273). He continued his mathematical studies, and published in 1685 ‘The Use of the Great Planisphere called the Analemma.’ He died unmarried on 13 Sept. 1688. He was buried on the 15th in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. His account of the last illness and death of his mother and two letters are extant in Brit. Mus. Addit. MSS. 34173 and 34176.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rogers, William Gibbs

​ROGERS, WILLIAM GIBBS (1792–1875), wood-carver, was born at Dover on 10 Aug. 1792. He showed an early taste for drawing and modelling, and was apprenticed by his parents in 1807 to one McLauchlan of Printing House Square, London (afterwards master of the Shipwrights' Company). Although possessed of much original skill of his own, he was attracted at an early age by the beautiful wood carving and modelling of Grinling Gibbons [q. v.] His enthusiasm was further stimulated by an old wood-carver among his fellow-workers, who in his youth had worked at Burghley House, where he ​had been associated with men employed on the carvings in St. Paul's Cathedral under Gibbons himself. Rogers devoted his studies to the works of Gibbons, and thoroughly mastered that carver's art. Gaining much reputation, he was employed by the royal family on carvings for Carlton House, Kensington Palace, and the Pavilion at Brighton. His progress was assisted by the collection which he made of fine specimens of art. In 1848 he executed some of his best known carvings—those in the church of St. Mary-at-Hill in the city. In 1850 he was elected on the committee for carrying out the scheme of the Great Exhibition, and received a commission from the queen to carve a cradle in boxwood in the Italian style, which was exhibited and much admired at the exhibition in 1851. Rogers was awarded both a prize and a service medal. Among his innumerable wood carvings may be mentioned those executed for the palace of the sultan, Abdul Medjîd, at Constantinople, and the church of St. Michael, Cornhill, in the city. While it cannot be said that his works reproduce the consummate genius of Gibbons, they have great merit in themselves, and are sufficiently successful in their imitation to deceive the inexperienced eye. Rogers carried his devotion to the art of Gibbons far enough to devise a mode of preserving Gibbons's carvings from the ravages of worms and age. His method was completely successful, and among the carvings thus rescued from destruction may be noted those at Belton House, Grantham, at Melbury, at Chatsworth, and at Trinity College, Cambridge. Rogers received a pension of 50l. on the civil list, and after a long and successful career, he died on 21 March 1875, in his eighty-third year. He married, in April 1824, Miss Mary Johnson, and left a numerous family, of whom William Harry Rogers (1825–1873) showed great talents in designing; Edward Thomas Rogers (1830–1884), and Mary Eliza Rogers (b. 1827), who resided for many years in the East, and wrote, among other essays on oriental life, a well-known work, entitled ‘Domestic Life in Palestine’ (1862). His youngest son, George Alfred Rogers (b. 1837), who still survives, was the only son who adopted his father's profession. A portrait (with a memoir) of Rogers appeared in the ‘Illustrated London News’ for 4 April 1875.
[Private information.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rogers, William (fl.1580-1610)

​ROGERS, WILLIAM (fl. 1580–1610), engraver, was the first Englishman who is known to have practised copperplate engraving. It is not known where he studied the art, but it was probably in the school of the Wierix family at Antwerp. That Rogers was an Englishman is shown by his signing one of his engravings ‘Anglus et Civis Lond.’ He engraved some portraits of Queen Elizabeth, which are very scarce. Of one of them, a full-length portrait in royal robes, only one impression in its complete state is known; this is now in the print-room at the British Museum. Another portrait, with allegorical figures, is signed and dated 1589, and another bears the inscription ‘Rosa Electa.’ Rogers also engraved the large picture of Henry VIII and his family attributed to Lucas de Heere, now at Sudeley Castle. Of this print only three impressions are known. Rogers engraved numerous portraits, title-pages, and illustrations for books, among these being the titles to Linschoten's ‘Discours of Voyages into ye Easte and West Indies,’ 1596, and to Sir John Harington's translation of Ariosto's ‘Orlando Furioso’ (1591), the cuts in Broughton's ‘Concert of Scripture,’ 1596, and the portraits in Segar's ‘Honor, Military and Civile’ (1602), and Milles's ‘Catalogue of Honour, or Treasury of True Nobility’ (1610).
Rogers's work shows him to have been a trained artist in the art of engraving. He is mentioned by Francis Meres [q. v.] in his ‘Palladis Tamia,’ 1598: ‘As Lysippus, Praxiteles, and Pyrgoteles were excellent engravers, so have we these engravers: Rogers, Christopher Switzer, and Cure.’
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rogerson, John Bolton

​ROGERSON, JOHN BOLTON (1809–1859), poet, was born at Manchester on 20 Jan. 1809. At the age of thirteen he left school and began work in a mercantile firm, but was afterwards placed with a solicitor. Law being distasteful, he opened in 1834 a bookshop in Manchester, which he carried on until 1841. The next few years were devoted to literary work, and in 1849 ​he was appointed registrar of the Manchester cemetery at Harpurhey. He was a clever amateur actor, was president for some years of the Manchester Shakespearean Society, and was for a short time on the staff of the Manchester Theatre Royal. In youth he had written a play in three acts, called ‘The Baron of Manchester,’ which was produced at a local theatre. He also lectured on literary and educational subjects.
From early years he was an eager, desultory reader, and soon became a writer of verse, but had enough discretion to destroy most of his juvenile efforts. He first appeared in print in 1826 in the ‘Manchester Guardian,’ and in the following year wrote for the ‘Liverpool Kaleidoscope.’ In 1828 he joined John Hewitt in editing the ‘Phœnix, or Manchester Literary Journal,’ a creditable performance, which lasted only a few months. He was joint-editor of the ‘Falcon, or Journal of Literature,’ Manchester, 1831; and edited the ‘Oddfellows' Magazine’ from 1841 to 1848; the ‘Chaplet, a Poetical Offering for the Lyceum Bazaar,’ 1841, and the ‘Festive Wreath,’ 1842 (both published at Manchester).
Chronic rheumatism disabled him about 1855 from continuing his duties as registrar. He afterwards kept a tavern in Newton Street, Ancoats, Manchester, and in 1857 was master of a school at Accrington. In the succeeding year he was awarded a government pension of 50l.; then he retired to the Isle of Man, where he died on 15 Oct. 1859, and was interred at Kirk Braddan, near Douglas. His wife was Mary Anne, born Horabin, by whom he left several children.
His separate publications were:
* ‘Rhyme, Romance, and Revery,’ London, 1840; 2nd edit. 1852.
* ‘A Voice from the Town, and other Poems,’ 1843.
* ‘The Wandering Angel, and other Poems,’ 1844.
* ‘Poetical Works,’ 1850, with portrait.
* ‘Flowers for all Seasons’ (verses and essays), 1854.
* ‘Musings in Many Moods,’ 1859, which contains most of the poems in the preceding volumes.
His works, though pleasing, lack originality and vigour.
[Oddfellows' Quarterly Magazine, January 1847 (with portrait); Procter's Literary Reminiscences, 1860 (portrait); Procter's Bygone Manchester; Manchester Weekly Times Supplement, 3 June 1871 (article by J. Dawson); Lithgow's Life of J. C. Prince, p. 132; information supplied by Mr. G. C. Yates, F.S.A.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rokeby, John

​ROKEBY, JOHN (d. 1573?), canonist, was probably second son of Sir Robert Rokeby of Rokeby Morton (Harl. Soc. Publ. xvi. 268). He joined St. Nicholas's Hostel, Cambridge, where he graduated bachelor of civil law in 1530, and doctor in 1533. He was engaged as a tutor at Cambridge (Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd ser. ii. 243). On 11 Feb. 1536–7 he was admitted a member of Doctors' Commons (Coote, Civilians, p. 33), and practised in the court of arches and the exchequer court of York. According to the statement of his nephew, Ralph Rokeby (d. 1596), (see under Rokeby, Ralph, 1527?–1596; and Whitaker, Richmondshire, i. 173), he was counsel for Henry VIII in the divorce, and so confounded the pope by his canon law that Henry offered him the bishopric of London, which he declined. He became vicar-general of York. According to his nephew, he held for thirty-two years the post of ‘justice’ in York. During that period no sentence of his was annulled on appeal (ib.) In May 1541 he was appointed a commissioner for the visitation of All Souls' College, Oxford (Strype, Cranmer, p. 130). In 1545 he became chaunter or precentor of York, with the prebend of Driffield attached. On 7 Sept. 1558 he was admitted prebendary of Dunham in Southwell Cathedral. Both these preferments he held till his death (Wood, Athenæ Oxon. ii. 719; Le Neve, Fasti). From the accession of Edward VI to 1572 he was a member of the king's council in the north (Thomas, Hist. Notes, i. 461). In later years he was sent as commissioner into Scotland with Sir Thomas Gargrave and others to reform the law of the marches. Rokeby probably died before 10 Dec. 1573 (cf. Le Neve, iii. 156 with p. 419).
W. A. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Steele, Thomas Montague

​STEELE, Sir THOMAS MONTAGUE (1820–1890), general, born on 11 May 1820, was eldest son of Major-general Thomas Steele of Guilsborough, Northamptonshire, by Elizabeth, second daughter of the fifth Duke of Manchester. After passing through Sandhurst he was commissioned as ensign in the 64th foot on 10 Jan. 1838. He exchanged into the Coldstream guards on 20 July, became lieutenant and captain on 29 March 1844, and captain and lieutenant-colonel on 31 Oct. 1851. From 25 July 1842 to 23 Feb. 1848 he was aide-de-camp to the governor of Madras. He was appointed military secretary to Lord Raglan on 23 Feb. 1854, and (with the exception of one month, 5 July to 6 Aug. 1855, during which he was assistant adjutant-general) he occupied that position under Raglan and his successor up to 16 Nov. 1855. He was at the Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, and at the fall of Sebastopol, and was specially mentioned in Raglan's despatches of 23 Sept. (for Alma) and 11 Nov. (for Inkerman). At the Alma he took a message from Sir De Lacy Evans to the Duke of Cambridge, urging the immediate advance of the 1st division to support the light division; and this was fortunately acted upon at once, the duke inferring from the messenger that it was Raglan's order. Steele accompanied his own regiment, the Coldstreams, in their advance. He was made brevet colonel on 28 Nov. 1854, and C.B. on 5 July 1855; and he received the Crimean medal with four clasps, the Turkish medal, the Medjidie (third class), the Legion of Honour (fifth class), and the order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus (second class). He was also made aide-de-camp to the queen 29 June 1855.
He became major in his regiment on 13 Dec. 1860, and lieutenant-colonel on 8 Nov. 1862. He retired from it to half-pay on 24 Nov. 1863, and was promoted major-general on 17 Aug. 1865. He commanded the troops in the Dublin district from 1 April 1872 to 31 March 1874. On 7 Jan. 1874 he became lieutenant-general, and on 23 Sept. he was given the colonelcy of the Gloucestershire regiment. He commanded the division at Aldershot from 14 April 1875 to 30 June 1880, becoming full general on 1 Oct. 1877; and from 1 Oct. 1880 he held the command of the forces in Ireland for five years. On 11 May 1887 he was placed on the retired list. He was made K.C.B. on 20 May 1871, and G.C.B. on 21 June 1887. He was made colonel of his old regiment, the Coldstream guards, on 7 Aug. 1884. Steele died at Farnborough, Hampshire, on 25 Feb. 1890. He married (1) in 1856, Isabel (d. 1858), daughter of E. M. Fitzgerald, and (2) in 1865, Rosalie, daughter of T. m'Carthy of New York.
E. M. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Steele, Joshua

​STEELE, JOSHUA (1700–1791), writer on prosody, was born in Ireland in 1700. He resided many years in London, and in 1756 was elected a member of the Society of Arts. He possessed great knowledge of the theory of music, and in 1775 published ‘An Essay towards establishing the Melody and Measure of Speech to be expressed and perpetuated by certain Symbols,’ London, 4to, in which he proposed to extend to speech the symbolic method by which the modulations of musical sounds are expressed. His essay excited considerable interest, and was discussed, among others, by James Burnett, lord Monboddo [q. v.], author of the ‘Origin and Progress of Language,’ and by David Garrick. A second edition, entitled ‘Prosodia Rationalis,’ appeared in 1779. He also contributed two papers on musical instruments to the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ in 1775.
Steele possessed estates in Barbados, and, being dissatisfied with their management, he resolved in 1780 to look after them himself. In the following year he founded a society in Bridgetown similar to the London Society of Arts, with a view to amending the government of the slave population, and soon after became a member of his majesty's council for the island. On his own estates he abolished arbitrary punishment, and erected courts among the negroes themselves for the punishment of offences. He also promoted voluntary labour by offering small wages, and succeeded in this manner in obtaining much better work from his slaves. In 1789 he proceeded further, by erecting his estates into manors, and making his negroes copyholders bound to their tenements, and owing rent and personal service which they paid in labour on the demesne lands. Steele encountered considerable opposition, and the Bridgetown Society of Arts was broken up by his opponents; but on his own estates his system was completely successful, and furnished a strong argument in favour of liberal treatment of slaves. He was also indefatigable in his efforts to employ the poor white population, encouraging native industries and introducing several new manufactures from England. He died in the beginning of 1791. His letters to Thomas Clarkson [q. v.], describing the management of his estates, were published in 1814 in Dickson's ‘Mitigation of Slavery.’ Rich attributes to Steele a pamphlet entitled ‘An Account of a late Conference on the Occurrences in America,’ published at London in 1766 (Bibl. Amer. Nova, i. 154).
[Dickson's Mitigation of Slavery; Clarkson's Thoughts on the Necessity of improving the Condition of Slaves, 1823, pp. 31–44; Aitken's Life of Richard Steele, ii. 355; Boswell's Johnson, ed. Croker, p. 439; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ii. 358, iii. 208–9, 670.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Stedman, Rowland

​STEDMAN, ROWLAND (1630?–1673), nonconformist divine, son of Henry and Mary Stedman, was born about 1630 at Corfton, in the parish of Diddlebury in Shropshire (there is a gap in the registers from 1598 until 1683). He matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, as ‘plebeian,’ on 12 March 1648–9, but migrated to University College on obtaining a scholarship there in 1649. He graduated B.A. on 16 Oct. 1651, and proceeded M.A. on 22 March 1655–6.
Stedman was appointed to the rectory of Hanwell, Middlesex, in 1657, and remained there for three years. In 1660 he was made rector of Wokingham in Berkshire, and held that living until 1662, when he refused episcopal ordination and was ejected for nonconformity. After his ejection Stedman resided at Neasdon in the parish of Willesden in Middlesex, but presently became chaplain at Wooburn in Buckinghamshire to Philip, fourth lord Wharton [q. v.], who, dying on 5 Feb. 1694–5, was described on his monument in Wooburn church as opening his mansions for ‘an asylum for the suffering ministers of the word of God.’ Stedman remained at Wooburn until his death, on 14 Sept. 1673, and was buried on the 16th at Wooburn church, ‘leaving behind him the character of a zealous nonconformist’ (Wood). His will, dated 24 Oct. 1667, was proved 8 Oct. 1673 (P. C. C., 132 Pye). He married Margaret, daughter of William and Anne Jemmatt, who survived him.]
His works are:
* ‘The Sure Way to Salvation; or, a Treatise of the Mystical Union of Believers with Christ; wherein that great mystery and privilege of the Saints' union with the Son of God is opened in the nature, property, and necessity of it,’ 1668.
* ‘Sober Singularity, or an Antidote against Infection by the example of a multitude; being practical reflections on Exod. xxiii. verse 2,’ 1668.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. iii. 998; Calamy's Nonconformist's Memorial, ed. Palmer, i. 294; Burrows's Register of Visitors of the University of Oxford in 1647–8, pp. 480, 558; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; and private information.]
W. G. D. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Steele, Christopher

​STEELE, CHRISTOPHER (fl. 1756), portrait-painter, was born at Egremont, Cumberland, about 1730. He resided for a year in Paris, where he was instructed by ‘Carle’ Vanloo, and on his return practised portrait-painting in the north of England with some success. By his foreign manners and expensive tastes he acquired the title of ‘Count’ Steele. In 1755, while residing at Kendal, he received George Romney [q. v.] as a pupil, and shortly afterwards, with Romney's assistance, he eloped with and married a young lady of some fortune. He then removed to York, where he had Laurence Sterne among his sitters. In 1757 Steele went to Ireland, where he is supposed to have died.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Hayley's Life of Romney, 1809; J. Romney's Memoirs of G. Romney, 1820.]
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Steel, Scudamore Winde

​STEEL, Sir SCUDAMORE WINDE (1789–1865), lieutenant-general, born in 1789, was appointed a cadet in the East India Company's service in 1805, and became lieutenant in the Madras army on 11 Sept. 1806. In 1808–9 he served under Colonel Doveton in Berar against the Pindaris. He took part in the Mahratta war of 1817–18 as assistant quartermaster, and was slightly wounded in the capture of one of the hill forts. He became captain in the army on 27 March 1821, and in the 51st native infantry on 1 May 1824. He was employed on the quartermaster-general's staff at Nagpur, and in the first Burmese war in 1826. He was promoted major in his regiment on 15 Dec. 1832, and was secretary in the military department at Madras from 1832 to 1845. He planned and took part in the operations for the reduction of Coorg in 1834. He was made lieutenant-colonel in the army on 28 July 1835, and of the 24th native infantry on 9 April 1838. On 20 July in that year he was made C.B.
In 1845 he was appointed military auditor-general; on 13 Sept. 1847 colonel of the Madras fusiliers; and on 8 March 1849 colonel of the 18th native infantry. He commanded the Madras division of the army engaged in the second Burmese war in 1852–1853, was mentioned in General Godwin's despatch of 24 Dec. 1852, and directed the column sent to Martaban in January to operate on the Salwin. He was made K.C.B. on 9 Dec. 1853, and was appointed to the command of the Pegu division and the Martaban provinces, being promoted major-general on 28 Nov. 1854. Steel returned to England in 1856, became lieutenant-general on 2 Sept. 1861, and died at Gloucester Terrace, Hyde Park, London, on 11 March 1865.
[Gent. Mag. 1865, i. 533; Times, 13 March 1865; Blacker's Operations during the Mahratta War of 1817–19; Laurie's Pegu: a Narrative of the second Burmese War; East India Registers.]
E. M. L.