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

​PEARL, CORA (1842–1886), courtesan, the assumed name of Emma Elizabeth Crouch, was born at Caroline Place, East Stonehouse, Devonshire, on 23 Feb. 1842. She was the daughter of Frederick William Nicholls Crouch, by his wife, Lydia Pearson, a singer. Crouch, who was born on 31 July 1808, was a musical director and composer of many songs, including the well-known ballads ‘Kathleen Mavourneen’ and ‘Dermot Asthore.’ He went to America in 1845, and took up his residence in that country. Cora, one of a family of sixteen children, was educated at Boulogne until thirteen years of age. Coming to England in 1856, she was misled by an elderly admirer into a life of dissipation, and took the name of Cora Pearl. In March 1858 she went to France, and a series of liaisons followed with various persons of influence under the second empire. Although large sums of money, with diamonds and jewellery, passed through her hands, she never became rich. She maintained a large establishment in the Rue de Chaillot, which her admirers called Les Petits Tuileries, and kept the finest carriages and horses of any one in Paris. For some time she excited the greatest interest among all classes of Parisian society, and ladies imitated her dress and manners. She inherited the singing talents of her father, and at one period, when in want of money, made her appearance at Les Bouffes Parisiens as Cupid in Offenbach's opera ‘Orphée aux Enfers.’ On the night of her début the theatre was filled to overflowing; certain of the boxes sold at five hundred francs, and orchestra-stalls fetched 150 francs each. On the twelfth night she was hissed, and she never reappeared on the stage. At the commencement of the war in 1870 she came to England, but, being refused admission at the Grosvenor Hotel, London, she returned to Paris, converted her residence into an hospital, and spent twenty-five thousand francs on the care of the wounded. On the conclusion of the war the commissioners refused any recognition of her services, and on her appealing to the law she only recovered fifteen hundred francs. A son of Pierre Louis Duval, the butcher and founder of the restaurants known as the Bouillons Duval, however, befriended her. In the two years following his father's death (1870–1) M. Duval spent on Cora Pearl seventeen million francs; and when he reached the end of his fortune she left him with contempt. At various times she was expelled by the police from France, Baden, Monte Carlo, Nice, Vichy, and Rome. In her last years she occupied herself in compiling her ‘Memoirs,’ and sent round advance sheets to the people mentioned, offering to omit their names on suitable payment. The work as ultimately published in 1886 proved dull reading, and gave little information. She was often called La Lune Rousse, in allusion to her round face and red hair. She had small eyes, high cheekbones, beautiful skin, and good teeth. Her figure was modelled in marble by M. Gallois in 1880. She died of cancer, in squalid poverty, in Rue de Bassano, Paris, on 8 July 1886.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lalor, John

​LALOR, JOHN (1814–1856), journalist and author, son of John Lalor, a Roman catholic merchant, was born at Dublin in 1814, and educated at a Roman catholic school at Carlow and at Clongowes College. On 6 June 1831 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated B.A. in 1837. After collecting important evidence as an assistant poor-law commissioner, he left Ireland in 1836, and became connected with the daily press in London, first as a parliamentary reporter, and afterwards for five or six years as one of the principal editors of the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ having social and domestic questions wholly under his direction. In 1838 he was admitted a solicitor in Dublin. In 1839 he obtained the prize of one hundred guineas awarded by the Central Society of Education for an essay on ‘The Expediency and Means of Elevating the Profession of the Educator in Society.’ He was brought up as a Roman catholic, but about 1844 he joined the unitarian church, and undertook the editorship of the unitarian weekly paper, ‘The Inquirer.’ He himself contributed vigorous articles on the Factory Bill, Ireland, and on education. His last work for the press was ‘Money and Morals: a Book for the Times,’ 1852, a portion of which was reprinted in 1864 under the title of ‘England among the Nations.’ He died, after much ill-health, at Holly Hill, Hampstead, London, on 27 Jan. 1856, aged 42.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lamb, Benjamin

​LAMB, BENJAMIN (fl. 1715), was organist of Eton College and verger of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, about 1715. He wrote much church music and some songs. Among the former may be mentioned his anthems, 'Unto Thee have I cried,' 'O worship the Lord,' 'If the Lord Himself,' 'I will give thanks,' and an evening service in E minor, all of which are in the Tudway Collection (Brit. Mus. Harl. MSS. 7341-2).
[Grove's Dict. of Music; Dict. of Music. 1824; Harl. MSS.]
R. H. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lalor, James Finton

James Fintan Lalor in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​LALOR, JAMES FINTON (d. 1849), politician, was eldest son of Patrick Lalor, a gentleman farmer, of Tinakill, Queen's County, Ireland, who took a prominent part in the anti-tithe movement there and was M.P. for his county, 1832–5. Peter Lalor ​[q. v.] was his brother. Deaf, near-sighted, ungainly, and deformed, James led a secluded life, brooding over his own schemes for securing the freedom of his country, until 1847, when he sent to Charles Gavan Duffy, editor of the ‘Nation,’ a letter published on 11 Jan., in which he advocated physical force, land confiscation, and a struggle for national independence. He thus secured a place among the contributors to that paper, and wrote a series of letters, which were ‘marvels of passionate, persuasive rhetoric.’ He devised a scheme for a strike against rent, which, in spite of the strong disapproval of Duffy, he induced Mitchell to adopt; and he also endeavoured to form a land league of his own. On 18 Sept. 1847 he summoned a meeting of tenant farmers at Holycross, Tipperary, to found a land league on the footing of a ‘live and thrive’ rent, but his want of practical ability and his fierce self-opinionativeness caused the failure of the meeting. His resolutions were carried, but the association was abortive. He continued to play a prominent part in revolutionary circles until the outbreak of 1848. On 26 May of that year John Mitchell was transported and the ‘United Irishman’ suppressed. Thereupon John Martin arranged for the publication of the ‘Irish Felon,’ successor to the ‘United Irishman.’ The first number was dated 24 June 1848, and to its pages Lalor was the chief contributor. After Martin's arrest in July, Lalor practically edited it. It came to an end on 22 July with its fifth number. On 29 July a proclamation appeared calling on all persons to arrest P. J. Smyth, Lalor, and others. Lalor had been arrested the day before at Ballyhane. He was imprisoned under the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, but after he had spent some months in gaol his health became impaired, and he was released. He immediately planned schemes for a new conspiracy and a new insurrection, but died 27 Dec. 1849. ‘Endowed with a will and a persuasiveness of prodigious force,’ says Duffy, ‘of all the men who have preached revolutionary politics in Ireland, this isolated thinker, who had hitherto had no experience either as a writer or as an actor in public affairs, was the most original and intense;’ but his intellectual pride in his own work was so great and his temper so irritable, that he was an impracticable colleague.
[Charles Gavan Duffy's Young Ireland and his Four Years of Irish History, 1845–9; William Dillon's Life of Davis; John Savage's ‘'98’ and ‘'48,’ New York, 1884; Nation, 1847; Times, 31 Dec. 1849.]
J. A. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lakingheth, John de

John Lackenheath in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​LAKINGHETH, JOHN de (d. 1381), chronicler, was a native of Norfolk, and a monk of Bury St. Edmunds in the time of Edward III and Richard II, and was ‘custos baroniæ,’ an office which, no doubt, brought him into close connection with the tenants of the monastery. He thus became very unpopular, and in the peasant rising of 1381 the insurgents clamoured that he should be surrendered to them. In order to save the monastery this was done, and he was beheaded. Lakingheth compiled ‘Kalendare Maneriorum Terrarum … ad Monasterium S. Edmundi Buriensis spectantium,’ which is preserved in Harl. MS. 743, no doubt his own autograph. The contents of this calendar are described in the ‘Monasticon Anglicanum,’ iii. 121–2, and some documents from it are printed on pp. 135–6, 138–9. The second article in the volume is a ‘Short History of the Abbots down to the Death of John de Brynkele in 1379;’ to this has been added a list of the abbots down to the dissolution. This history is printed in the ‘Monasticon,’ iii. 155–6.
One Sir John de Lakingheth was captain of Conq in Brittany in May 1373, when the town was captured by Oliver de Clisson (Froissart, viii. 140, ed. Luce); afterwards in 1376 he was one of the captains of Brest (Fœdera, iii. 1062). A third John de Lakingheth was rector of Bircham Tofts, Norfolk, in 1375 (Blomefield, Norfolk, x. 287).
[Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. p. 462; Walsingham's Historia Anglicana, ii. 3 (Rolls Ser.); other authorities as quoted.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lalor, Peter

​LALOR, PETER (1823–1889), colonial legislator, younger brother of James Finton Lalor [q. v.], was born at Tinakill, Queen's County, Ireland, in 1823, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He subsequently became a civil engineer, and shortly after the discovery of gold in Australia he sailed for Melbourne in 1852. Proceeding to Ballarat in 1853, he, with his companions, took up rich claims on the Eureka lead and gravel pits, from which they were hoping to obtain a fortune, when in Nov. 1854 the outbreak of the miners took place. Lalor played a leading part among the insurgents. It had been customary for the diggers to pay a monthly license to the government; but at a meeting on 29 Nov. 1854 it had been decided not to pay any further licenses, and the existing official documents were burnt. Parties of the 12th and 40th regiments, accompanied by police, attacked the miners on 3 Dec. at the Eureka stockade, when twenty-two of the rioters were killed, twelve wounded, and ​125 taken prisoners. Lalor, who commanded the rebels, received a ball near the shoulder, and ultimately lost an arm. He, however, escaped, and a reword of 200l. offered for his capture did not result in his arrest. Subsequently representation was given to the gold-fields, and in November 1855 Lalor was without opposition elected as member for Ballarat. Shortly after taking his seat the government appointed him inspector of railways. At the next election, in 1856, he was returned for South Grant, and was appointed chairman of committees by the legislative assembly, an office in which he gained much distinction. He sat for South Grant till 1871, when he was defeated at the poll, but in 1875 he was again returned for the same constituency. In August of that year he became commissioner for customs in Graham Berry's first administration. In the following October he resigned with his chief. After the general election, in May 1877, Berry again took office, and Lalor resumed his former post. In 1868, after retiring from the chairmanship of the committees, he devoted much attention to his interest in the New North Clunes and the Australian mines. He was chairman of the Clunes water commission, with a large salary, and was a director of the New North Clunes mining company.
Through his efforts in 1870 and 1871, the bill was carried for the Clunes waterworks, which were completed at a cost of 70,000l. On the formation of the third Berry ministry, in 1877, Lalor was appointed commissioner for trade and customs, and in 1878 became postmaster-general as well. He was appointed speaker of the house in 1880, and held this post until 1888, when he retired in consequence of ill-health. He was thereupon awarded a vote of thanks, with a grant of 4,000l. He died at Melbourne on 10 Feb. 1889.
[Men of the Time, Victoria, 1878, pp. 100-1; Heaton's Australian Dictionary of Dates, 1879, vol. x. pt. ii. p. 246; Times, 11 Feb. 1889, p. 5, 30 March p. 13.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lamb, Andrew

​LAMB, ANDREW (1565?–1634), bishop of Galloway, was probably son or relative of Andrew Lamb of Leith, a lay member of the general assembly of 1560. He became minister of Burntisland, Fifeshire, in 1593, was translated to Arbroath in 1596, and to South Leith in 1600. The same year he was appointed one of the members of the standing commission of the church, and in 1601 was made a royal chaplain, and in that capacity accompanied the Earl of Mar when he went as ambassador to the English court. He received a pension from the abbey of Arbroath for 'service done to the king, and for his earnest care in discharging his ministerial functions, and in the common affairs of the kirk tending to the establishment of discipline,' and in 1607 was made titular bishop of Brechin. He was a member of the assembly of 1610 which allowed spiritual jurisdiction to the bishops, and was one of the three Scottish prelates who were consecrated at London in October of that year. In 1615 he presented a beautiful brass chandelier to the cathedral of Brechin, still to be seen there. He was translated to the see of Galloway in 1619, and died in 1634. In his later years he became blind, and resided chiefly in Leith, where he had property. He was a favourite of King James, and a willing supporter of his measures for the introduction of episcopacy and the English ceremonies, but he was of a conciliatory temper, and the anti-prelatic party had nothing worse to say of him than that he 'loved not to be poor.' It is said by the biographers of Samuel Rutherford that, at his admission to the parish of Anwoth, Kirkcudbrightshire, Lamb connived at his ordination by presbyters only. There is no evidence for this, but he was tolerant to Rutherford and others who did not conform to the articles enjoined by the Perth assembly. He left a son James and two daughters, one of whom married Lenox of Cally and the other Murray of Broughton, both in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Several of his letters have been published in 'Original Letters relating to the Ecclesiastical Affairs of Scotland.'
[Scott's Fasti; Keith's Scottish Bishops; Row's, Calderwood's, and Lawson's Histories; Black's Brechin; Murray's Life of Rutherford.]
G. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Partington, Charles Frederick

​PARTINGTON, CHARLES FREDERICK (d. 1857?), scientific writer, was a professor of mechanical philosophy who, on the titles of his books, always designated himself as ‘of the London Institution.’ He was a lecturer on modern improvements in mechanics and on other subjects at mechanics' institutions, and edited and wrote many works treating on the sciences and on the practical working of various trades. In 1825 he brought out ‘Lectures on Select Subjects in Mechanics and Hydrostatics, by J. Ferguson, F.R.S., adapted to the present state of science.’ In the same year he published ‘The Century of Inventions, by the Marquis of Worcester, with Notes and a Biographical Memoir.’ He likewise commenced editing ‘The Scientific Gazette, or Library of Mechanical Philosophy, Chemistry, and Discovery,’ which only ran from July 1825 to 4 Feb. 1826. In conjunction with William Newton, civil engineer, he edited and partly wrote the second series of ‘The London Journal of Arts and Sciences, containing descriptions of every new patent; also original communications on science and philosophy;’ this periodical went to nine volumes, 1834–42. In 1835, ‘assisted by authors of eminence in the various branches of science,’ he edited ‘The British Cyclopædia of Arts and Sciences, Literature, History, Geography, Law and Politics, Natural History and Biography,’ of which the tenth and last volume appeared in 1837. In this work he himself wrote division i. parts i.–xxv., division ii. parts i.–xxiv., division iii. parts i.–xi. In 1833–4 he edited a work which came out in eighteen parts, entitled ‘National History and Views of London and its Environs, from original drawings by eminent artists,’ 2 vols.; 2nd edit. 1835–7, 2 vols. He was likewise the author of the following: 1. ‘An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Steam Engine, comprising a General View of the Various Modes of employing Elastic Vapour as a Prime Mover in Mechanics,’ 1822; 3rd. edit. 1826. 2. ‘A Brief Account of the Royal Gardens, Vauxhall,’ 1822. 3. ‘The Printers' Complete Guide, containing a Sketch of the History and Progress of Printing,’ 1825. 4. ‘The Mechanics' Gallery of Science and Art,’ 1825, vol. i.; no more printed. 5. ‘The Shipbuilder's Complete Guide,’ 1825. 6. ‘The Clock and Watchmaker's Complete Guide,’ 1825. 7. ‘The Engraver's Complete Guide,’ 1825. 8. ‘A Course of Lectures on the Steam Engine, to which is subjoined a copy of the Work on Steam Navigation published by J. Hulls,’ 1826. 9. ‘A Manual of Natural and Experimental Philosophy,’ 1828, 2 vols. 10. ‘Introduction to the Science of Botany, illustrated by a series of highly finished delineations of the plants, coloured to represent Nature,’ 1835. 11. ‘An Account of Steam Engines,’ 1835. 12. ‘The Builder's Complete Guide,’ 1852. 13. ‘Introductory Account of Messrs. Muir and Company's Machinery for the Manufacture of Rifle Sights,’ 1857.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Partridge, John (1790-1872)

​PARTRIDGE, JOHN (1790–1872), portrait-painter, son of Samuel Partridge, and brother of Richard Partridge [q. v.] the surgeon, was born at Glasgow on 28 Feb. 1790. About 1814 he became a pupil of Thomas Phillips, R.A., and in 1815 exhibited at the Royal Academy a portrait of Miss Foote in the character of Lucilla. About 1823 he went to France, and thence to Italy, and did not return till 1827, when he settled in London, and soon became one of the fashionable portrait-painters of the day. In 1840 he painted portraits of the queen and of Prince Albert, which were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1841, and were engraved in line respectively by John Henry Robinson, R.A., and George Thomas Doo, R.A. These works were very successful, and in 1842 Partridge was appointed ‘Portrait-painter Extraordinary to Her Majesty.’ In the same year he exhibited two other portraits of the queen and Prince Albert, of inferior merit to his earlier paintings. In 1846 he sent to the Academy portraits of Lord and Lady Beauvale, afterwards Viscount and Viscountess Melbourne, which were hung so badly that he ceased to exhibit there, and in 1864 published a pamphlet ‘On the Constitution and Management of the Royal Academy,’ in which he made grave charges.
Besides portraits, he contributed only two subject-pictures to the academy exhibitions, ‘Titania, Puck, and Bottom,’ in 1830, and ‘A Sketch of a Sketching Society: the Critical Moment,’ in 1836. He exhibited also at the British Institution at intervals between 1816 and 1861, sending usually small studies and fancy subjects, but occasionally larger works, like ‘Satan’ in 1829.
The National Portrait Gallery has his portrait of George, fourth earl of Aberdeen, painted in 1846, and the ‘Meeting of the Fine Art Commission at Gwydyr House, Whitehall, in the year 1846,’ containing twenty-eight portraits. The latter work was presented in 1872 by the artist, together with the original sketch. His portrait of Sir Thomas Wyse [q. v.] is in the National Gallery of Ireland. Among other portraits painted by him were those of Lord Melbourne; Lord Palmerston, whole length, engraved in mezzotint by Samuel Cousins, R.A.; Richard, second marquis of Westminster, engraved, also in mezzotint, by Henry Cousins; George, second duke of Sutherland; Henry, third marquis of Lansdowne; George, seventh earl of Carlisle; Richard Bethell, afterwards Lord Westbury; and John Gibson, R.A.
Partridge died at 60 Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, London, on 25 Nov. 1872.
R. E. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Partridge, Joseph

​PARTRIDGE, JOSEPH (1724–1796), author, son of Joseph Partridge, innkeeper and ‘London waggoner,’ was born at Nantwich, Cheshire, in 1724, and succeeded to his father's business. When forty-two years of age he qualified for the church without going to the universities, and in 1766 obtained a license from the Bishop of Chester to be master of the free grammar school at Acton, Cheshire. About the same date he became curate of Baddeley and chaplain of Woodhey, both which posts he retained until his death. He left Acton to become master of the Nantwich charity school in August 1772, and died on 25 Oct. 1796. He was buried in Nantwich churchyard. His widow died on 1 Jan. 1806. He wrote: 1. ‘The Anti-Atheist: a Didactic Poem in Two Parts,’ Manchester, 1766, fol. 2. ‘An Historical Account of the Town and Parish of Nantwich,’ Shrewsbury, 1774; reprinted in Poole's ‘Cheshire Tracts,’ 1778. 3. ‘The Renovation of the Heart, &c.: a Sermon,’ Nantwich, 1778. He also brought out in 1754 a pamphlet connected with some personal controversy with Thomas Burrow of Manchester.
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Partridge, Miles

​PARTRIDGE, Sir MILES (d. 1552), courtier, is said by Burke (Landed Gentry, 1894, ii. 1570) to have been a relative of William Partridge of Wishanger in Miserden, Gloucestershire, but his name does not appear as a member of that family in the visitation of 1623. It is not unlikely that he was connected with the numerous Gloucestershire Partridges, as he served as sheriff for the county in 1546–7, and was granted the manor of Almondsbury in 1544 (Rudder, Gloucestershire, p. 223). During the reign of Henry VIII he made himself notorious as a gamester, and on one occasion, when playing with the king, he staked on one throw of the dice 100l. against the bells of the Jesus Chapel in St. Paul's Churchyard; Partridge won, and had the bells taken down and broken (Greyfriars Chronicle, Camden Soc. p. 73; Stow, Survey, ed. 1816, p. 123; Dugdale, St. Paul's, p. 130; Wheatley and Cunningham ii. 29). After Edward VI's accession, Partridge attached himself to the Duke of Somerset; he accompanied the Protector to Scotland in 1547, fought at the battle of Pinkie on 10 Sept., and was knighted at Roxburgh on 28 Sept. After Somerset's fall, Partridge became implicated in the plot against his successor; on 7 Oct. 1551 he was accused by Sir Thomas Palmer [q. v.] of having undertaken to raise London and seize the great seal, with the help of the apprentices. His guilt is not beyond dispute, for both Palmer and Northumberland subsequently confessed that the evidence was false (Froude, v. 35). He was, however, arrested on 16 Oct., and imprisoned in the Tower, whence he was afterwards removed, on the plea of ill-health, to the lieutenant's house on Tower Hill, and his wife was allowed to attend him. A commission was appointed for his trial on 29 Nov. He was convicted of felony, and hanged on Tower Hill on Friday 26 Feb. 1551–2, being little pitied, says Strype, as he was credited with the evil deeds of Somerset.
Partridge was at one time possessed of the manor of Kew, Surrey. His wife's name was Jane, and after his death she was granted the manor of Kenn, Devonshire. By her he had two daughters, Margery and Katherine, who in 1553 obtained restitution by act of parliament (Journals of House of Commons, i. 32); one of them married William Stokebrege, grocer, and in 1563 George Barton, rector of St. Mary Abchurch, was imprisoned for committing adultery with her (Stow, Memoranda, apud ‘Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles,’ Camd. Soc. p. 157).
A. F. P.