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

​FELL, WILLIAM (1758?–1848), author, born probably near Brampton, Cumberland, about 1758, was a schoolmaster successively at Manchester, Wilmslow, and Lancaster, and after his retirement lived at Clifton, near Lowther, Westmoreland. He died in March 1848 at Shap, in the same county, leaving his property, an ample competency, to the children of his elder brother, John Fell of Swindale Head, thereby disinheriting his only surviving son, Henry, who lived in Denmark.
He was an industrious writer for the press and published the following separate works: 1. ‘Hints on the Instruction of Youth’ (anonymous), Manchester, 1798. 2. ‘Hints on the Causes of the High Prices of Provisions,’ Penrith, 1800. 3. ‘A System of Political Economy,’ Salford, 1808. 4. ‘Remarks on Mr. Lancaster's System of Education, in which his erroneous statements and the defects in his mode of tuition are detected and explained,’ Warrington, 1811. 5. ‘A Sketch of the Principal Events in English History,’ Warrington, 1811; 2nd edition 1813.
[Communications from Mr. John Yarker of Manchester, who possesses several unpublished manuscripts by Fell.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burns, Allan

​BURNS, ALLAN (1781–1813), surgeon and anatomist, was born at Glasgow on 18 Sept. 1781, his father, Dr. John Burns, being minister of the Barony Church. He commenced medical study at fourteen under his brother, John Burns [q. v.], who then lectured on anatomy and surgery in Glasgow. In 1804 he went to London to seek medical service in the army, and was induced to go to St. Petersburg to take charge of a hospital about to be established by the Empress Catherine on the English plan; but finding the position uncongenial, he returned to Scotland in a few months. Burns now established himself as a lecturer on anatomy and surgery at Glasgow, his brother having given up his lectures on anatomy, owing to a body-snatching scandal. He attained very considerable success, being both vivid in illustration and accurate in knowledge. In 1809 he published ‘Observations on Diseases of the Heart,’ and in 1812 ‘Observations on the Surgical Anatomy of the Head and Neck;’ but from 1810 his health began to fail, and his promising career was cut short by his death on 22 June 1813.
[R. Chambers's Eminent Scotsmen (Thomson), i. 251.]
G. T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burns, James (1789-1871)

​BURNS, JAMES (1789–1871), shipowner, third son of Rev. John Burns, minister of the Barony parish, Glasgow, and brother of the surgeons John and Allan Burns [q. v.], was born on 9 June 1789. Entering into business as a shipowner with his brother, George Burns, he, along with him, began in 1824 to employ steam navigation. Six years later they formed a connection with the MacIvars of Liverpool, and in 1839 their business was extended by the formation of the famous Cunard Company for the establishment of a line of ocean steamers. The company included Messrs. Cunard and MacIvar, and the first ocean steamer sailed from Liverpool on 4 July 1840. Latterly James Burns retired from the business to his estate of Bloomhall, Dumbartonshire, where he carried out as a landed proprietor a system of enlightened improvements. He was a liberal supporter of religious and philanthropic enterprises. He died on 6 Sept. 1871, and was succeeded in his estates by his only son, John William Burns.
[Glasgow Herald, 8 Sept. 1871; Old Country Houses of the Glasgow Gentry, p. 220.]
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burney, Sarah Harriet

​BURNEY, SARAH HARRIET (1770?–1844), novelist, the youngest daughter of Dr. Charles Burney (1726–1814) [q. v.] was his only child by his second wife, Mrs. Stephen Allen, widow of a wealthy merchant at Lynn (Introd. to Diary of Mme. d'Arblay, i. 13). No date is given for the birth of Sarah Harriet, but it must have been about 1770. Sarah Harriet Burney is referred to in 1778 as ‘little Sally’ by Mme. d'Arblay (Diary, i. 31), and in 1791 and 1792 she accompanied her half-sister to Hastings's trial by express invitation of the queen. She could translate Ariosto from the Italian (Tales of Fancy, preceding vol. ii.), besides being an excellent French scholar; and on the arrival in England of the French émigrés in 1792, when she was staying at Bradfield Hall with Arthur Young the agriculturist (who had married her mother's sister), she acted as interpreter between her uncle and the Duc de Liancourt, who was ​his frequent guest (Diary, v. 284–96). Miss Burney next resided at Chelsea College with her parents, where her mother died in 1796 (Memoirs of Dr. Burney, iii. 224–5). At this date her father characterised her as of quick intellect and distinguished talents, a kind and good girl, but with no experience in household affairs. In 1796 she brought out her first novel, ‘Clarentine,’ anonymously. This was well received, and was read by the king and queen (Diary, vi. 128). In 1808 she brought out ‘Geraldine Fauconberg;’ in 1812 ‘Traits of Nature,’ the first edition of which ‘charming novel was sold in three months’ (Biog. Dict. of Living Authors), compelling a second issue the same year; and in 1813 a second edition of ‘Geraldine Fauconberg’ was called for. In 1814 Miss Burney lost her father, but she was not immediately removed from Chelsea College, whence, in December 1815, she published ‘Tales of Fancy,’ with her name, dedicating the first tale to Lady Crewe, and the second, by royal permission, to the Princess Elizabeth. After this she left England for Florence, where she passed several years, and where she began to write her ‘Romance of Private Life,’ which she published after her return home in 1839, the first tale in it being dedicated to Niccolini, the Italian singer, and the second to Lord Crewe. In 1844, on 8 Feb., Miss Burney died at Cheltenham (Gent. Mag. new ser. xxi. 442), bequeathing some of her property to her half-nephew, Martin Charles Burney, the friend of Lamb (Annual Reg. 1852, p. 322).
‘The Wanderer’ is frequently set down as one of Sarah Harriet Burney's books. This is an error. It was written by Madame d'Arblay (Diary, vii. 15–16).
J. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnham, Richard (1749?-1810)

​BURNHAM, RICHARD (1749?–1810), baptist minister, was born about 1749, of poor parents. In his youthful days he resided at High Wycombe, and attended the Wesleyan chapel there, and in his early manhood was solicited to preach. He was afterwards baptised by T. Davis of Reading, joined a baptist church, and was regularly ordained for the ministry. He was then chosen as pastor by a few people at Staines, but they were so poor as to be unable to support him; this led to his leaving Staines. He removed to London, and in 1780 preached in Green Walk, on the Surrey side of Blackfriars Bridge, where he stayed about two years, removing first to Gate Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and afterwards to Chapel Street, Soho; and when John Martin's people left for Store Street in 1795, Burnham took the chapel in Grafton Street vacated by them, where he remained till his death, 30 Oct. 1810, aged 62. He was buried at Tottenham Court Chapel. The inscription on his gravestone is given in full in Wilson's ‘Dissenting Churches,’ with an account of Burnham. His ‘Funeral Sermon,’ preached by William Crawford of Ewer Street, Southwark, including some account of Burnham's life, was published in 1810. Burnham was the author of a small volume of ‘New Hymns’ printed in 1783; it was subsequently enlarged, and in 1803 was reprinted with considerable additions, numbering 452 hymns. Nine of these appear in ‘Songs of Grace and Glory,’ 1871. Burnham also published ‘The Triumphs of Free Grace’ in 1787, including an account of his experience and call to the ministry; and in 1806 ‘Five Interesting Letters,’ and an ‘Elegy on the Death of Lord Nelson.’ A portrait of Burnham appears in some copies of his hymn-book. He was succeeded at Grafton Street by John Stevens, afterwards of Meards Court, Soho.
[Crawford's Funeral Sermon for R. Burnham, 1810; Burnham's own account of himself in his Triumphs of Free Grace, 1787; and Wilson's Dissenting Churches, iv. 25–9.]
J. H. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burns, Islay

​BURNS, ISLAY, D.D. (1817–1872), theological writer, brother of William Chalmers Burns [q. v.], was born in 1817 at the manse of Dun in Forfarshire, where his father (afterwards translated to Kilsyth, near Glasgow) was minister. He received the chief part of his education at the grammar school of Aberdeen, under Dr. James Melvin, a celebrated teacher of Latin, and at Marischal College and University, Aberdeen, and the university of Glasgow. Studying for the ministry, he was ordained in 1843 to the charge of St. Peter's Free church, Dundee, in succession to the Rev. R. M. M'Cheyne, a man of eminent spirituality and power. In 1863 he received the degree of D.D. from the university of Aberdeen, and in 1864 was chosen to a professor's chair in the theological college of the Free church, Glasgow. In this office he remained during the rest of his life. Burns was remarkable for a combination of evangelical fervour with width of culture and sympathy, a strong æsthetic faculty and a highly charitable spirit. To the diligent and successful discharge of his duties, first as a minister of the gospel and then as a professor, he added considerable literary activity. His chief writings were:
* ‘A Series of Essays on the Tractarian and other Movements in the Church of England,’ published in the ‘British and Foreign Evangelical Review.
* ‘History of the Church of Christ, with special reference to the delineation of faith and life.’
* ‘The Pastor of Kilsyth,’ a sketch of the life of his father.
* ​Memoir of his brother, Rev. W. C. Burns, M.A., missionary to China. A posthumous volume of ‘Select Remains’ was published in 1874.
[Blaikie's Memoir, prefixed to Select Remains of Islay Burns, D.D., London, 1874; personal knowledge.]
W. G. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burnham, Richard (1711-1752)

​BURNHAM, RICHARD (1711–1752), biographer, was born at Guildford, Surrey, in 1711, of pious parents. He collected the dying sayings of more than a hundred pious persons, with some account of their lives and last hours. He died in 1752, and in the following year was published ‘Pious Memorials; or the Power of Religion upon the Mind in Sickness and at Death,’ by the Rev. Richard Burnham, with a recommendatory preface by the Rev. James Hervey, author of the ‘Meditations.’ Besides the preface, Mr. Hervey added to the ‘Memorials’ an account of Richard Burnham himself, by which it appears he preached for a few years to a small congregation, and ended his life on 4 June 1752. When he was dying, seeing ​his wife ‘in a flood of tears,’ he said, ‘My dear, don't let us part in a shower.’ The ‘Pious Memorials’ were reprinted at Paisley in 1788 with additions, and again enlarged in 1789. It was reprinted with a continuation by the Rev. George Burder in 1820, forming a large octavo volume, and a stereotyped reprint is still on sale.
[Hervey's Account of Richard Burnham, in the Memorials, 1753.]
J. H. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Burney, James

1904 Errata appended.
​BURNEY, JAMES (1750–1821), captain in the royal navy, son of Dr. Charles Burney (1726–1814) [q. v.] and brother of Madame d' Arblay [q. v.] entered the navy in 1764, and having served on the coast of North America and in the Mediterranean with Captain Onslow in the Aquilon frigate, sailed with Captain Cook in his second voyage, 1772–4, during which time he was (17 April 1773) promoted to be lieutenant. In 1775 he was in the Cerberus on the North American station, and was recalled to sail again under Cook in his third voyage. Consequent on the deaths of Cook and Clerke, he came home in command of the Discovery, and was confirmed as commander on 2 Oct. 1780. On 18 June 1782 he was advanced to the rank of captain, and appointed to the Bristol of 50 guns, in which he went out to the East Indies, and joined Sir Edward Hughes in time to take part in the last action of the war, off Cuddalore, on 20 June 1783. It was of this outward-bound voyage that Dr. Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale: ‘I question if any ship upon the ocean goes out attended with more good wishes than that which carries the fate of Burney. I love all of that breed whom I can be said to know, and one or two whom I hardly know I love upon credit.’ From the East Indies Burney returned to England in ill-health, and did not serve again. When the war of the French revolution broke out, he made no application for a ship, and was consequently placed on the superannuated list, when his seniority would otherwise have entitled him to flag rank. His leisure had been, and continued to be, devoted to literature, and in 1803 he began the publication of ‘A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean,’ which extended to 5 vols. 4to, and was not completed till 1817; it is well known as the standard work on the subject. He afterwards published ‘A Chronological History of North-eastern Voyages of Discovery and of the Early Eastern Navigations of the Russians,’ 1819, 8vo. He was also the author of several smaller works and pamphlets, mostly on professional subjects, but including ‘An Essay on the Game of Whist,’ 1821, 16mo, which ran through several editions. He died suddenly of apoplexy on 17 Nov. 1821.
[Gent. Mag. (1821), xcii. ii. 469; Annual Biography and Obituary (1823), vii. 437.]
J. K. L.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.44 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 419 | i | 16-15 f.e. | Burney, James: for captain in the royal navy read rear-admiral |
| | ii | 35 | after apoplexy insert a rear-admiral on the retired list |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Graves, Richard Hastings

​GRAVES, RICHARD HASTINGS (1791–1877), theological writer, son of Richard Graves, dean of Ardagh [q. v.], by his wife Elizabeth Mary Drought, was born in 1791. He graduated B.A. at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1812, M.A. in 1818, and B.D. and D.D. in 1828. He took holy orders and became rector of Brigown in the diocese of Cloyne, being collated to a prebendal stall in 1832. He died on 25 Dec. 1877, aged 86. He prepared for the press, with a memoir, the complete edition of his father's works (1840). His other works were: 1. ‘The Homilies Reconsidered in a Letter to Dr. Jebb, Bishop of Limerick.’ 2. ‘The Arguments for Predestination and Necessity contrasted with the established principles of Philosophical Inquiry,’ 1829. 3. ‘Daniel's Great Period of Two Thousand and Three Hundred Days discovered and determined in a Dissertation,’ 1854. 4. ‘Apostolical Confession Overthrown,’ 1854. 5. ‘A Letter from a Protestant Clergyman to the Roman Catholic Inhabitants of his Parish on the “Letters Apostolic” of Pope Pius IX,’ 1855. 6. ‘The Terminal Synchronism of Daniel's Two Principal Periods,’ 1858. 7. ‘Comparative Analysis of the Three Seven-headed Ten-horned Symbols, … with Strictures on Faber's Napoleonic Theory and Elliott's Theory of an Eight-headed Beast,’ 1869. 8. ‘The Church of Ireland: English Menace Answered and Inthralment of the State Averted by Declining a Charter,’ 1870.
A. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Graves, Samuel

​GRAVES, SAMUEL (1713–1787), admiral, fourth son of Samuel Graves, was first cousin of Thomas, first lord Graves [q. v.], and uncle of Sir Thomas Graves, K.B. [q. v.] He was born on 17 April 1713, was made a lieutenant in 1739, and served in the expedition to Cartagena in 1741 on board the Norfolk, commanded by his uncle, Captain Thomas Graves (d. 1755). He was promoted in 1743 by Sir Chaloner Ogle to the command of the Bonetta sloop at Jamaica; and in 1744 was posted to the Ripon's Prize, which he commanded in the West Indies till 1747, when he was moved into the Enterprise. In 1756 he was appointed to the Duke, from which he was moved into the St. Albans, then into the Princess Amelia, and afterwards into the Barfleur; this last he commanded in the expedition to Basque Roads, under Hawke, in the summer of 1757, and in the grand fleet, under Anson, in the summer of 1758. In 1759 he was again in the Duke, and in her, on 20 Nov., took part in the battle of Quiberon Bay. He continued to command the Duke till his promotion to be rear-admiral in October 1762. In October 1770 he was advanced to be vice-admiral and in 1774 was appointed commander-in-chief on the North American station. In July he arrived at Boston to perform perhaps the most ungracious duty that has ever fallen to the lot of a naval officer, embarrassed, besides, by the want of exact instructions and of adequate force. The only addition to his instructions beyond those usual in time of peace was an order to carry out the ‘Boston Port Bill,’ and his ships were all ​manned on the lowest peace establishment. To carry out the rigour of the ‘Boston Port Bill’ without a due number of small craft, well manned and armed, was impossible; but of such there were none on the station. The sloops of war were most inefficient, and the country vessels that were taken up by the admiral were able to irritate but not to coerce. It is thus not to be wondered at that during the period of Graves's command the insurrection continued to gather strength, or that an incapable government at home should gladly make Graves responsible for the hopeless state of affairs. No charge was made against him, nor was he directly blamed; but he was guilty of not succeeding under circumstances amid which success was impossible, and on 27 Jan. 1776 he was superseded from his command. He had no further service, for though in September 1777 he was offered the command at Plymouth, he angrily declined it, at the same time signifying his readiness to accept any active employment. On 29 Jan. 1778 he was advanced to be admiral of the blue, became admiral of the white on 8 April 1782, and died at his seat at Hembury Fort, near Honiton, on 8 March 1787.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harris, William (1776?-1830)

​HARRIS, WILLIAM (1776?–1830), independent minister, born about 1776, was pastor of the meeting-house in Downing Street, Cambridge, from about 1805, until he was appointed divinity tutor at the Hoxton academy in 1818. He became minister of the meeting-house in Church Street, Stoke Newington, at Michaelmas 1820, and subsequently theological tutor of Highbury College. He died on 3 Jan. 1830, aged 53, and was buried in Bunhill Fields (J. A. Jones, Bunhill Memorials, p. 78). He was LL.D. He published ‘Grounds of Hope for the Salvation of all dying in infancy: an essay,’ 1821, and many other tracts and sermons. He is to be distinguished from William Harris (fl. 1840), minister of the congregational church at Wallingford in Berkshire, author of numerous pamphlets and discourses.
[Gent. Mag. vol. c. pt. i. p. 280; William Robinson's Stoke Newington, p. 218.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harris, William (1546?-1602)

​HARRIS, WILLIAM (1546?–1602), catholic divine, born in Lincolnshire about 1546, was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he was admitted B.A. 26 Jan. 1564–5. Shortly afterwards he was elected a fellow of his college, and on 10 July 1570 he commenced M.A. (Boase, Registrum Univ. Oxon. i. 256). Renouncing protestantism he proceeded to Louvain, where he pursued his studies, and was ordained priest. In 1575 he was admitted into the English College at Douay, and in the same year was sent on the English mission (Douay Diaries, pp. 7, 24). In a confession by Robert Gray, priest, preserved among the State Papers (Dom. Eliz. vol. ccxlv. No. 138), he is referred to as being at Cowdray, the seat of Viscount Montagu, in 1590. He is there described as ‘a tall man, blackish hair of head, and beard.’ Fuller says that ‘his writings were much esteemed by the papists,’ and that he was ‘as obscure among protestants as eminent with the popish party’ (Church Hist., ed. Brewer, ii. 419, v. 257). He composed a work, in ten books, entitled ‘Theatrum, seu Speculum verissimæ et antiquissimæ Ecclesiæ Magnæ Britanniæ, quæ ab Apostolicis viris fundata, et ab ahis sanctissimis Doctoribus a generatione in generationem propagata, in nostram usque ætatem perpetuò duravit.’ Dodd expresses a doubt whether this work was ever published. The author died in England in 1602.
[Gillow's Bibl. Dict.; Pits, De Angliæ Scriptoribus, p. 801; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. p. 379; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), i. 724; Wood's Fasti, i. 164.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harris, William (1720-1770)

​HARRIS, WILLIAM (1720–1770), biographer, born at Salisbury, Wiltshire, in 1720, was the son of a nonconformist tradesman of that city. He was educated for the ministry at Grove and Amory's academy at Taunton, Somerset. He first officiated to a congregation at Looe in Cornwall, and was afterwards invited to another at Wells, Somersetshire, where he was ordained on 15 April 1741. He now married Miss Elizabeth Bovet of Honiton, Devonshire, and removed to that town. His ministerial labours for the rest of his life were confined to a very small congregation at Luppitt in the neighbourhood. Being desirous of commemorating the struggles of the nonconformists in the cause of religious and civil liberty, he wrote biographies of the Stuart family and of Cromwell. His preliminary attempt, a ‘Life of Hugh Peters,’ was published without his name in 1751. In this and his subsequent biographies he professed to follow ‘the manner of Mr. Bayle,’ illustrating the text with copious notes. In 1753 appeared his ‘Life of James I,’ 2nd edit. 1772; in 1758 that of Charles I, 2nd edit. 1772; in 1762 that of Cromwell, 2nd edit. 1772; and in 1766 that of Charles II, in two 8vo volumes. It was his design to have completed the series with a life of James II, but he was interrupted by an illness which ended fatally on 4 Feb. 1770 (Gent. Mag. xl. 95). His works were collected in five vols. 8vo, 1814, to which his life is prefixed. He wrote in an unattractive style, and is not impartial; but his notes are full of information from sources not easily accessible. The degree of D.D. was conferred on him by the university of Glasgow in 1765, at the instance of Thomas Hollis, who, along with Thomas Birch, assisted him in his histories. By will he gave his collection of historical documents to Dr. William's Library, then in Redcross Street. He left no children; his wife survived him.
[Life referred to; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. iii. 9; T. Amory's Nature of Sound Doctrine (Ordination Charge), 1741; Chalmers's Biog. Dict. xvii. 182–184; will in P. C. C. 104, Jenner.]
G. G.