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

​OAKLEY, OCTAVIUS (1800–1867), water-colour painter, born in Bermondsey, London, on 27 April 1800, was the son of a London wool merchant. He was educated at the school of Dr. Nicholas at Ealing and was intended for the medical profession. This design was frustrated by the embarrassed state of his father's affairs, and he was placed with a cloth manufacturer near Leeds. There he drew portraits of his acquaintances in pencil, and by degrees his practice increased so much that he left business and embarked on a professional career. About 1825 he settled in Derby, where he painted portraits in water-colours, and was patronised by the Duke of Devonshire and other noblemen of the neighbourhood. He removed to Leamington in 1836, and about 1841 he came to London. In 1842 he was elected an associate, and in 1844 a member, of the Society of Painters in Water-colours, where he exhibited in all 210 drawings of rustic figures, landscapes, and groups of gipsies, which earned for him the sobriquet of ‘Gipsy Oakley.’ Meanwhile he continued to send occasional portraits in water-colours to the Royal Academy, where he exhibited from 1826 until 1860.
Oakley died at 7 Chepstow Villas, Bayswater, London, on 1 March 1867, and was buried in Highgate cemetery. His remaining works were sold at Christie's in March 1869. Drawings by him of ‘Primrose Gatherers’ and ‘Buy my Spring Flowers’ are in the South Kensington Museum. His youngest daughter Isabel married Paul Jacob Naftel [q. v.], the water-colour painter.
[Art Journal, 1867, p. 115; Bryan's Dict. of Painters and Engravers, ed. Graves and Armstrong, 1886–89, ii. 220; Roget's History of the Old Water-Colour Society, 1891, ii. 268–271; Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogues, 1826–60; Exhibition Catalogues of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours, 1842–67.]
R. E. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oakman, John

​OAKMAN, JOHN (1748?–1793), engraver and author, was born at Hendon in Middlesex about 1748. He was at first apprenticed to the map-engraver, Emanuel Bowen [see under Bowen, Thomas], but left him in consequence of an intrigue with his daughter, whom he afterwards married. Oakman next kept a shop for the sale of caricatures and similar prints, and, having some literary facility, made money by writing several worthless and disreputable novels, such as ‘The Life and Adventures of Benjamin Brass,’ London, 1765, 12mo; ‘The History of Sir Edward Haunch,’ &c. A book called ‘The Adventures of William Williams, an African Prince,’ whom Oakman met in Liverpool gaol, had some success through its attack on slavery as an institution. Oakman had a considerable gift for song-writing, and wrote many popular songs for Vauxhall, Bermondsey Spa, &c. He also wrote burlettas for the performances at Astley's Theatre and elsewhere. Besides these occupations, he engraved on wood illustrations for children's books and cheap literature. After a somewhat vagrant life, Oakman died in distress at his sister's house in King Street, Westminster, in October 1793.
[Gent. Mag. 1793, ii. 1080; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oates, Francis

​OATES, FRANCIS (1840–1875), traveller and naturalist, second son of Edward Oates of Meanwoodside, Yorkshire, by Susan, daughter of Edward Grace of Burley, in the same county, was born at Meanwoodside on 6 April 1840. He matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on 9 Feb. 1861, but took no degree, owing to bad health. For some years from 1864 he was an invalid. In 1871 he travelled in Central America, where he made a collection of birds and insects. On his return in 1872 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. On 5 March 1873, accompanied by his brother, W. E. Oates, he sailed from Southampton for Natal with the intention of making a journey to the Zambesi, and, if possible, to some of the unexplored country to the northward, for the ​purpose of acquiring a knowledge of the natural features of the country and of studying its fauna. Leaving Maritzburg on 16 May 1873, he spent some time in the Matabele country north of the Limpopo river. Three attempts to proceed were frustrated by the weather and the opposition of the natives. Finally, starting on 3 Nov. 1874, he arrived on the banks of the Zambesi on 31 Dec., and succeeded in amassing large collections of objects of natural history. He was one of the first white men who had seen the Victoria Falls in full flood; but no entries are found in his journal after his arrival there. The unhealthy season came on, and Oates contracted a fever. After an illness of twelve days, he died when near the Makalaka kraal, about eighty miles north of the Tati river, on 5 Feb. 1875, and was buried on the following morning. Dr. Bradshaw, who happened to be in the neighbourhood, attended him, and saw to the safety of his collections. Oates's journals were edited and published by his brother, Charles George Oates, in 1881, under the title of ‘Matabele Land and the Victoria Falls: a Naturalist's Wandering in the Interior of South Africa.’ A second and enlarged edition appeared in 1889, with appendices by experts on the natural history collections.
[Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1875, vol. xlv. p. clii; Memoir (pp. xix–xlii) in Matabele Land, 1889, with portrait; Foster's Pedigrees of Families of Yorkshire, 1874; Times, 26 May 1875, p. 10.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ochs, John Ralph

​OCHS or OCKS, JOHN RALPH (1704–1788), medallist, born in 1704, was the son of Johann Rudolph Ochs (1673–1749), who, born at Bern, adopted the profession of a seal-cutter, but afterwards gained reputation as an engraver of gems. He twice visited England, the second time in 1719. He was employed at the English mint, and died in London in 1749 (cf. Gent. Mag. 1749, p. 477; Fuessli, Allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon, s. v.; Seubert, Allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon).
John Ralph, the son, obtained employment as one of the engravers or assistant-engravers at the Royal Mint, London. His name first appears in Ruding's list of engravers at the mint (Annals of the Coinage, i. 45) in 1740–1741, and is subsequently mentioned together with the names of Yeo and the Tanners. He engraved the dies of the Maundy money of George III (first variety), 1763–1786. He died at Battersea in 1788, aged 84. Hawkins (Silver Coins, p. 416) states that he held a situation at the mint for seventy-two years, in which case he would have been first employed when he was only about twelve years old. Possibly some of the years of the mint employment of the father, Johann Rudolph Ochs, have been credited to the son, John Ralph Ochs.
[Ruding's Annals, i. 45; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists.]
W. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Occam, Nicholas of

Nicholas Ockham in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​OCCAM, NICHOLAS of (fl. 1280), Franciscan, also called Nicholas de Hotham, was eighteenth regent doctor of theology among the Franciscans at Oxford. Several ‘Quæstiones’ disputed by him at Oxford are preserved in Codex 158 in the Municipal (formerly Conventual) Library at Assisi. Leland mentions several of his works on the authority of the lost ‘Catalogue of learned Franciscans;’ none of these appear to be extant. A manuscript in the cathedral library at Worcester, entitled ‘Sermones Occham,’ may contain sermons by Nicholas; they are certainly not by the great William Ockham [q. v.]
[Tanner's Bibliotheca; Grey Friars in Oxford (Oxford Hist. Soc.)]
A. G. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/More, Thomas (d.1685)

​MORE, THOMAS (d. 1685), author, was son of John More of Paynes Farm in the parish of Teynton, near Burford, Oxfordshire. On 22 June 1632 he matriculated from Merton College, Oxford, of which he became postmaster, and is said to have graduated B.A. He afterwards emigrated to St. Alban Hall. In 1642 he was called to the bar from Gray's Inn (cf. Reg. ed. Foster, p. 213). He joined the parliamentary army, took the covenant, and became in succession a gentleman of the guard to the Earl of Essex, lieutenant to a troop of horse belonging to Captain Richard Aylworth under the command of Colonel Edward Massey [q. v.], and cornet to the life guard of Sir Thomas Fairfax. Habitual indulgence in drink aggravated an hereditary tendency to insanity, and he failed both as a lawyer and a soldier. Dr. Skinner, bishop of Worcester, in ignorance of his real character, conferred holy orders on him. In one of his mad fits More fell downstairs at Burford, and died from his injuries ‘about Michaelmas’ 1685. He was buried at Teynton.
More was author of: 1. ‘The English Catholike Christian; or, the Saints' Utopia: a treatise consisting of four sections— i. Josuah's Resolution; ii. Of the Common ​Law; iii. Of Physick; iv. Of Divinity,' 4to, London, 1649. This eccentric farrago was written in 1641 and dedicated in a grotesque epistle, dated in February 1646, to Charles I. In the title-page the author calls himself 'Thomas de Eschallers De la More,' as having been descended from the Eschallers of Whaddon, near Royston, Cambridgeshire. 2. 'True old News, as it may appeare by several papers and certificates,' 4to, London, 1649, a rambling pamphlet, partly autobiographical. He also translated, but did not publish, the ‘Vita et More Edwardi II’ of Thomas de la More [q. v.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/More, Robert (1671-1727?)

​MORE, ROBERT (1671–1727?), writing-master, born in 1671, was the son of a writing-master living in King Street, Westminster. Having been educated by his father in the same profession, he ‘taught writing, arithmetic, merchants' accounts, and shorthand, at the sign of the Golden Pen in Castle Street, near the Queen's Mews, Leicester Fields,’ where he also announced that ‘youths were boarded, or taught abroad.’ He succeeded Colonel John Ayres [q. v.] in his school at St. Paul's Churchyard before May 1704 (Massey). More died about 1727, either going to or returning from a visit to the north of England. He was married, and had a ‘dutifull daughter, Elizabeth More,’ who wrote one or more of the pages for his ‘Writing Master's Assistant.’ Sir Richard Steele had a high opinion of his artistic penmanship (cf. Noble, ii. p. 358n.)
More published in 1696 (the dedication to his father was dated 4 Nov.) ‘The Writing Master's Assistant.’ A second edition was issued in 1704 with a preface by Ayres, who says he ‘extorted it from him that strangers might judge how early he began to deserve well of all ingenious persons.’ He also published (without a date) ‘A Striking Copybook’ of English, French, and Italian capitals. It contains eleven plates, but no engraver's name, and is dedicated to Josiah Diston, merchant, London. About 1710 followed ‘Specimens of Penmanship,’ and in 1716 ‘The First Invention of Writing. An Essay Compendiously Treating of the Whole Art. More particularly; Of Letters, their Number, Order, and of how many Variations capable: Of their First Invention; by ancient Writers ascribed to Adam himself, and for what Reasons. Of Short-hand. Of Secret Writing, Decypherable by the Key. Of Arithmetick, &c. Interspers'd with diverting History and Poetical Entertainments on the Subject. Whereunto are added, Several Pieces of the Hands in Use, not before Published.’ This work is dedicated to ‘Mr. George Shelley, Writing-Master of Christ's Hospital in London,’ 23 April 1716. A fine portrait drawn and engraved by William Sherwin [q. v.] is prefixed. The portrait was reproduced, with the addition of the words ‘ætatis 54 domini 1725,’ in ‘The General Penman,’ published by More in that year. It was also included in a group of six writing-masters engraved by George Bickham, senior [q. v.], above his ‘Poem on Writing,’ no date (print room, British Museum). More is the author of some lines in the ‘British Apollo,’ 2nd edit. i. 173, on the art of writing.
[Noble's Continuation of Granger's Biog. Hist. of England, ii. 357–9; Massey's Origin and Progress of Letters, 1763, pt. ii. pp. 103–8; Ames's Cat. of English Heads, 1748, p. 119.]
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/More, Jacob

​MORE, JACOB (1740–1793), landscape-painter, known as 'More of Rome,' was born at Edinburgh in 1740. He received his artistic training at Runciman's School of Design, and in 1771 exhibited with the Incorporated Society of Artists a 'View of Corehouse Linn, on the River Clyde,' a 'View from Dunbar Castle,' and four other landscapes. In 1773 he went to Italy, and settled in Rome, where he gained a considerable reputation, and was employed by Prince Borghese in the decoration of his villa near the Porta Pinciana. From Rome he sent to the exhibition of the Society of Artists in 1775 a 'View of the Lake of Albano,' and three other Italian landscapes; and in 1777 a 'View of the Lake of Nemi.' In 1783 he first exhibited at the Royal Academy, sending a 'View of the Cascade at Terni' and a 'View of the Campagna from Tivoli.' In 1784 he sent 'The Great Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in which the elder Pliny lost his life;' in 1785, and again in 1786, two landscapes; in 1788, 'The Deluge' and 'An Eruption of Mount Etna;' and in 1789, two landscapes. His style was founded chiefly on that of Claude, and his paintings are mentioned with praise in Goethe's 'Winkelmann und sein Jahrhundert,' 1805, but they are much overrated when placed in comparison with the works of that master. Some of his landscapes were engraved for him in Rome, and the plates were brought to London after his death, and sold with his remaining works by auction at Christie's in 1796. Examples of his work are in the Villa Borghese at Rome and in the Hope collection at Deepdene, Dorking. His portrait, painted by himself, is in the Uffizi Gallery at Florence. More died at Rome, of a bilious fever, shortly before November 1793. His property passed to a Mr. Moore of New Street, Covent Garden.
R. E. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/More, John (1630-1689)

​MORE, JOHN (1630–1689), Franciscan. [See Cross.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/More, Roger

​MORE, ROGER (fl. 1620–1652), Irish rebel. [See O'More, Rory.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Troubridge, Thomas St. Vincent Hope Cochrane

​TROUBRIDGE, Sir THOMAS ST. VINCENT HOPE COCHRANE (1815–1867), colonel, born on 25 May 1815, was eldest son of Admiral Sir Edward Thomas Troubridge [q. v.] (second baronet), by Anna Maria, daughter of Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane [q. v.] He was commissioned as ensign in the 73rd foot on 24 Jan. 1834. On 30 Dec. 1836 he was promoted lieutenant and exchanged into the 7th royal fusiliers. He served with this regiment at Gibraltar, the West Indies, and Canada, becoming captain on 14 Dec. 1841, and major on 9 Aug. 1850.
He went with it to the Crimea in 1854, and was in the forefront of the battle at the Alma. He was in command of the right wing of the regiment, which was on the right of the light division, and had to deal with the left wing of the Kazan regiment. On 5 Nov. (Inkerman) he was field officer of the day, and was posted with the reserve of the light division in the Lancaster battery. This battery was enfiladed by Russian guns to the east of the Careenage ravine, and Troubridge lost his right leg and left foot by a shot from one of these guns. He remained in the battery, however, till the battle was over, with his limbs propped up against a gun-carriage. Lord Raglan, in his despatch of 11 Nov., said of him that, though desperately wounded, he behaved with the utmost gallantry and composure.
He returned to England in May 1855, and was present (in a chair) at the distribution of medals by the queen on 18 May. He was made C.B., aide-de-camp to the queen, and brevet colonel from that day, having already been made brevet lieutenant-colonel on 12 Dec. 1854. He also received the Crimean medal with clasps, the Turkish medal, the Medjidie (4th class), and the Legion of Honour. ​He succeeded to the command of his regiment on 9 March 1855, but was unable to serve with it, and was placed on half-pay on 14 Sept. Still capable of official work, he was appointed director-general of army clothing. On 2 Feb. 1857 he exchanged this title for that of deputy adjutant-general (clothing department), and he continued to hold this post till his death. Struck by the defects of the regulation knapsack of that day, he contrived a valise which met with the warm approval of the leading medical officers (R. U. S. Institution Journal, viii. 113), and may be said to have been the foundation of the present valise equipment. He died at Kensington on 2 Oct. 1867, and was buried at Kensal Green.
He married, on 1 Nov. 1855, Louisa Jane, daughter of Daniel Gurney of North Runcton, Norfolk, and granddaughter of the fifteenth Earl of Erroll. She died five weeks before him. He left two sons and four daughters.
E. M. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Troughton, William

​TROUGHTON, WILLIAM (1614?–1677?), nonconformist divine, son of William Troughton, rector of Waberthwaite, Cumberland, was born about 1614. He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, on 24 Oct. 1634, aged 20. In 1647 he was chaplain to Robert Hammond [q. v.], governor of the Isle of Wight, when Charles I is said to have held affable discussions with him. A ludicrous story is told of his alarm at the bringing in of a sword for the knighting of John Duncomb. In 1651 he held the ​rectory of Wanlip, Leicestershire, but soon afterwards obtained the vicarage of St. Martin, Salisbury, and took an active part in suppressing the royalist insurrection in that city on 11 March 1654–5. He was probably ejected at the Restoration, and preached privately as an independent at Salisbury. He is said to have been a glover, perhaps engaging in this business after ejection. In 1662 he removed to Bristol and preached there. Subsequently he removed to London. He is not heard of after 1677.
He published:
* ‘Saints in England under a Cloud,’ 1648, 8vo.
* ‘Scripture Redemption … limited,’ 1652, 8vo (answered by James Browne).
* ‘The Mystery of the Marriage Song,’ 1656, 8vo (exposition of Ps. xlv.).
* ‘Causes and Cure of Sad … Thoughts,’ 1676, 12mo; 1677, 12mo.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), iv. 9, 407; Calamy's Account, 1713, p. 756; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1892, iv. 1513.]
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Trubshaw, James

​TRUBSHAW, JAMES (1777–1853), engineer, born at Mount Pleasant (now Colwich) Priory in Staffordshire on 13 Feb. 1777, was the son of James Trubshaw, a stonemason and builder of Colwich, by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of John Webb of Levedale. He was educated at a school at Rugeley. At the age of sixteen, through the father of Sir Richard Westmacott (1775–1856) [q. v.], he obtained employment at Fonthill Abbey, the residence of William Beckford (1759–1844) [q. v.], which was then in course of erection, at Buckingham Palace, and at Windsor Castle. In 1795 he obtained employment in the construction of Wolseley Bridge, near Colwich, which his father had been commissioned to rebuild. After his father's death on 13 April 1808 he commenced business on his own account at Stone, and was fortunate enough to attract the attention of Mrs. Sneyd, a lady residing in the neighbourhood, who commissioned him to rebuild Ashcombe Hall. The manner in which he carried out this undertaking procured him other employments and established his reputation locally.
In 1827 he undertook to construct the Grosvenor Bridge over the Dee at Chester, after the design of Thomas Harrison (1744–1829) [q. v.] The bridge consisted of a single arch of two hundred feet span, and its construction was pronounced by Thomas Telford [q. v.] and other leading engineers to be impracticable. The first stone was laid in October 1827 and the bridge opened in December 1833. Models of the bridge, illustrative of the methods of construction employed, were presented by Trubshaw to the Society of Civil Engineers, of which he was a member. Among the buildings erected by Trubshaw were Ilam Hall, near Ashbourne, after the design of John Shaw (1776–1832) [q. v.], and Weston House in Warwickshire, after the design of Edward Blore [q. v.] He constructed the Exeter Bridge over the Derwent at Derby, opened in October 1850, a work which presented peculiar difficulties on account of the sudden floods with which it was assailed, and the quicksands encountered in the middle of the river. He was also successful in restoring the church tower of Wyburnbury in Cheshire to the perpendicular, from which it had declined more than five feet. To effect this he employed specially constructed gouges, with which he removed the earth under the higher side. He was for a time engineer to the Trent and Mersey Canal Company, and their works bear many traces of his originality and skill.
Trubshaw died on 28 Oct. 1853 at Colwich, and was buried in the churchyard. In 1800 he married Mary, youngest daughter of Thomas Bott of Stone. By her he had three sons and three daughters. Their eldest son, Thomas, born on 4 April 1802, was an architect of considerable ability; he died on 7 June 1842. Their daughter, Susanna Trubshaw, was the author of a volume of ‘Poems’ (Stafford, 1863, 8vo). In 1874 she edited ‘Wayside Inns’ (Stafford, 8vo), a selection of poems and essays, partly of her own composition, and in 1876 published ‘Family Records’ (Stafford, 8vo).
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Troughton, John

​TROUGHTON, JOHN (1637?–1681), nonconformist divine, son of Nathaniel Troughton, clothier, was born at Coventry about 1637. At four years old he became permanently blind from the effect of small-pox. He was educated at King Henry VIII's grammar school, Coventry, under Samuel Frankland (1618?–1691), and not, as Foster says, at Merchant Taylors' school. He entered as a scholar at St. John's College, Oxford, in 1655 (matriculated 28 March), graduated B.A. on 12 Feb. 1658–9, and was elected to a fellowship, but did not long hold it, his predecessor, displaced in 1648, being restored in 1660. Retiring to Bicester, Oxfordshire, he took pupils, and engaged in conventicle preaching. Under the indulgence of 1672 he joined Henry Langley [q. v.], Thomas Gilbert (1613–1694) [q. v.], and Henry Cornish in ministering to a nonconformist congregation which met in Thame Street, Oxford. Troughton was reckoned the best preacher of the four in spite of his blindness. Wood describes him as ‘learned and religious;’ his moderation kept him on good terms with clergy of the established church. He died in All Saints' parish, Oxford, on 20 Aug. 1681, aged 44, and was buried on 22 Aug. in Bicester church. His funeral sermon was preached by Abraham James, the blind headmaster of Woodstock grammar school, and contained reflections on constituted authorities which James retracted to avoid expulsion from his mastership.
Troughton published: 1. ‘The Covenant Interest … of … Infants,’ 1675, 8vo. 2. ‘Lutherus Redivivus,’ 1677, 8vo; 2nd part, 1678, 8vo (on justification by faith; answered by Thomas Hotchkis). 3. ‘A Letter … touching God's Providence about Sinful Actions,’ 1678, 8vo. 4. ‘Popery, the Grand Apostasie,’ 1680, 8vo. 5. ‘An Apologie for the Nonconformists,’ 1681, 4to (included is ‘An Answer’ to Stillingfleet). His son, John Troughton (1666–1739), was dissenting minister at Bicester from 1698, and published several sermons (1703–25). He died on 3 Dec. 1739, aged 73.
A. G.