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

​MATHER, WILLIAM (fl. 1695), author of ‘The Young Man's Companion,’ was born at Bedford, and was a grandson of a mayor of Hull. He was a churchman, but about 1661 he and his wife joined the quakers. He became a teacher, and kept a private school in Bedford. He also held an appointment as surveyor of highways, and wrote a pamphlet ‘On Repairing and Mending the Highways,’ 1696, in which he is described as ‘late surveyor.’ Besse, under ‘Bedfordshire,’ mentions that one William Mather was imprisoned in 1683 on a writ in the ecclesiastical court.
Mather's chief work, ‘The Young Man's Companion,’ published 1681, contains, in very small compass, information on nearly every practical subject. It became extremely popular, and ran through twenty-four editions. To the fourth edition, 1695, are added some verses, and fourteen chapters written by Mather's son Samuel, a clever young man, who died at the age of twenty-two. The twelfth, eighteenth, and twenty-fourth editions received successively further additions and alterations.
Mather also wrote ‘An Instrument from that Little Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands, to break in pieces that great Image,’ &c., 1694; and another pamphlet called ‘A Novelty,’ on women's preaching, and disapproving of the women's meetings for discipline, then just established in the society. He is also probably the author of ‘A Brief Character of the Antient and Christian Quakers,’ London, 1695. About 1695 Mather began to be dissatisfied with quakerism. In 1700 he published a broadside with cut ‘Of the Quakers despising the Holy Scriptures,’ and an answer ​to Wyeth's ‘Switch for the Snake.’ In the following year he published ‘A Vindication of William Mather and his Wife, who, having lived about forty years professed Quakers, have now renounced that persuasion and returned to the Communion of the Church of England.’ In this he states that he had no personal quarrel with the quakers.
[Mather's published works; Smith's Catalogue.]
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dalrymple, John Hamilton Macgill

​DALRYMPLE, Sir JOHN HAMILTON MACGILL, eighth Earl of Stair (1771–1853), fourth but eldest surviving son of Sir John Dalrymple [q. v.] of Cranstoun, author of ‘Memoirs of Great Britain,’ by his wife and cousin Elizabeth, only child and heiress of Thomas Hamilton Macgill of Fala and Oxenford, was born at Edinburgh 15 June 1771. He entered the army 28 July 1790 as ensign in the 100th foot, and with the rank of captain served in 1794 and 1795 in Flanders. As lieutenant-colonel he accompanied the expedition to Hanover in October 1805, and in 1807 he went to Zealand and was present at the siege of Copenhagen. He succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father, 26 Feb. 1810. In 1838 he attained the rank of general. While captain in the guards he sought a substitute for corporal punishment in the army, and explained his scheme to the Duke of Wellington. He was colonel of the 92nd foot from 1831 to 1843, and of the 46th foot from 1843 till death. On retiring from active connection with the army he interested himself warmly in politics, and in 1812 and 1818 contested Midlothian unsuccessfully in the whig interest. After the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832 he was returned by a majority of 69 over Sir George Clerk, an event which, according to Lord Cockburn, ‘struck a blow at the very heart of Scottish toryism’ (Memorials, i. 42). He succeeded to the earldom of Stair on the death of his kinsman, John William ​Henry Dalrymple, seventh earl, 22 March 1840. In April of the same year he was appointed keeper of the great seal of Scotland, an office which he held till September 1841, and again from August 1846 to August 1852. On 11 Aug. 1841 he was created a peer of the United Kingdom by the title Baron Oxenford of Cousland, and in 1847 he was made a knight of the Thistle. Much of his attention was occupied in his later years in the improvement of his estates in Midlothian and Galloway. He died 10 Jan. 1853. He was twice married, first to Henrietta, eldest daughter of the Rev. Robert Augustus Johnson of Kenilworth, and second to Adamina, daughter of Adam, first Viscount Duncan, but by neither marriage had he any issue, and the estates and earldom of Stair devolved on his brother, North Home Dalrymple of Cleland, while the peerage in the United Kingdom conferred in 1841 became extinct.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dalrymple, John (1720-1789)

​DALRYMPLE, JOHN, fifth Earl of Stair (1720–1789), was eldest son of George Dalrymple of Dalmahoy, fifth son of the first earl of Stair, and a baron of the court of exchequer of Scotland, by his wife Euphame, eldest daughter of Sir Andrew Myrton of Gogar. He passed advocate of the Scottish bar in 1741, but afterwards entered the army and attained the rank of captain. He was a favourite with his uncle John, second earl of Stair, who having in 1707 obtained a new charter containing, in default of male issue, a reversionary clause in favour of any one of the male descendants of the first viscount Stair whom he should nominate, selected him to succeed him in the states and honours on the death of the second earl. He therefore, in 1745, assumed the title, and voted as Earl of Stair in 1747, but by a decision of the House ​of Lords in 1748 the titles were assigned to his cousin James, who became third earl of Stair, without, however, entering upon the possession of the estates. John Dalrymple succeeded to the title as fifth earl on the death of his cousin William, fourth earl of Dumfries and fourth earl of Stair, on 27 July 1768. He was chosen a representative peer in 1771, and in the House of Lords opposed the measures which led to the revolt of the American colonies. For presenting a petition on behalf of Massachussetts in 1774 he received the thanks of that province. Not having been returned at the general election of 1774, he found scope for his political proclivities in the composition of a number of pamphlets, chiefly on national finance, which, on account of the gloomy character of their predictions, earned for him, according to Walpole, the title of the ‘Cassandra of the State.’ They include: 1. ‘The State of the National Debt, Income, and Expenditure,’ 1776. 2. ‘Considerations preliminary to the fixing the Supplies, the Ways and Means, and the Taxes for the year 1781,’ 1781. 3. ‘Facts and their Consequences submitted to the Consideration of the Public at large,’ 1782. 4. ‘An Attempt to balance the Income and Expenditure of the State,’ 1783. 5. ‘An Argument to prove that it is the indispensable Duty of the Public to insist that Government do forthwith bring forward the consideration of the State of the Nation,’ 1783. 6. ‘State of the Public Debts,’ 1783. 7. ‘On the Proper Limits of Government's Interference with the Affairs of the East India Company,’ 1784. 8. ‘Address to, and Expostulation with, the Public,’ 1784. 9. ‘Comparative State of the Public Revenue for the years ending on 10 Oct. 1783 and 10 Oct. 1784,’ 1785. He died on 13 Oct. 1789. By his wife, a daughter of George Middleton, banker, London, he had one son John [q. v.], who succeeded him as sixth earl.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dalrymple, John (1749-1821)

​DALRYMPLE, JOHN, sixth Earl of Stair (1749–1821), eldest son of John, fifth earl of Stair [q. v.], and his wife, a daughter of George Middleton, banker, London, was born 24 Sept. 1749. As captain of the 87th foot he served in the first American war, being present at the successful attack on New London and Fort Griswold in September 1781 under Sir Henry Clinton, who sent him home with the despatches. On 5 Jan. 1782 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to Poland, and from 5 Aug. 1785 until 1788 was minister plenipotentiary to Berlin. He succeeded to the peerage on the death of his father in 1789, and was a representative peer 1793–1807 and from 1827 until death. He died without issue on 1 June 1821.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dalrymple, William (1723-1814)

​DALRYMPLE, WILLIAM, D.D. (1723–1814), religious writer, was a younger son of James Dalrymple, sheriff-clerk of Ayr. He was born at Ayr on 29 Aug. 1723, and being destined for the Scotch church he was ordained minister of the second charge in his native town in 1746, from which he was translated to the first charge in 1756. He received the degree of D.D. from the university of St. Andrews in 1779, was elected moderator of the general assembly of the church of Scotland in 1781, and died in his ninety-first year on 28 Jan. 1814, having been one of the ministers of Ayr for the extraordinary period of sixty-eight years. Although the author of several religious works, he is chiefly memorable for the beautiful tribute paid to his character by Burns in the satirical poem entitled ‘The Kirk's Alarm:’—
D'rymple mild, D'rymple mild, Though your heart's like a child, And your life like the new-driven snaw, Yet that winna save ye, Auld Satan must have ye, For preaching that three's ane an' twa.
The lines, of course, indicate that he was accused of holding unsound views on the subject of the Trinity; and the warm admiration which he expressed in the introduction to his ‘History of Christ’ of a similar work on the death of Christ by his colleague Dr. McGill naturally exposed him to a good deal of criticism when the latter publication brought upon its author a prosecution in the church courts for heresy. Such were, however, the simple piety, meekness, and habitual benevolence of Dr. Dalrymple, that he was universally beloved by his parishioners, and no active proceedings were ever taken against him. As an example of his unbounded charity it is recorded of him that, meeting a beggar in the country who was almost naked, he took off his own coat and waistcoat and gave the latter to the man; then, putting on his coat again, buttoned it about him and walked home. Gilbert Burns also informs us that when a schoolmaster at Ayr once, under the influence of drink, said disrespectful things of Dr. Dalrymple, so strongly was the outrage resented by the people that he was obliged to leave the place and go to London. Dr. Dalrymple had a large family, and has many descendants now alive, but only by daughters.
J. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dalrymple, James (fl.1714)

​DALRYMPLE, Sir JAMES (fl. 1714), Scottish antiquary, was the second son of Sir James Dalrymple, bart., of Stair, afterwards first Viscount Stair [q. v.], by Margaret, daughter of James Ross of Balniel. He was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates 25 June 1675 and was appointed one of the commissaries of Edinburgh. Afterwards he became one of the principal clerks of the court of session. He was created a baronet of Nova Scotia 28 April 1698. He was thrice married, and had a numerous family.
Dalrymple was a man of great learning, and one of the best antiquaries of his time. He published: 1. ‘Apology for himself, 1690,’ Edinburgh, 1825, 4to, only seventy-two copies printed (Lowndes, Bibl. Man. ed. Bohn, p. 583). 2. ‘Collections concerning the Scottish History preceding the death of King David the First in 1153. Wherein the sovereignty of the Crown and independency of the Church are cleared, and an account given of the antiquity of the Scottish British Church and the noveltie of Popery in this Kingdom,’ Edinburgh, 1705, 8vo. William Atwood [q. v.], barrister-at-law, published ‘Remarks’ on these ‘Collections,’ which were also adversely criticised by John Gillane in his ‘Life of John Sage,’ 1714. 3. ‘A Vindication of the Ecclesiastical Part of Sir John Dalrymple's Historical Collections: in answer to a pamphlet entitled “The Life of Mr. John Sage,”’ Edinburgh, 1714, 8vo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dalrymple, John (1803-1852)

​DALRYMPLE, JOHN (1803–1852), ophthalmic surgeon, eldest son of William Dalrymple, surgeon [q. v.], was born at Norwich in 1803. He studied under his father and at Edinburgh, became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1827, and settled in London. Making the surgery of the eye his special study, he was in 1832 elected assistant-surgeon to the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, and in 1843 full surgeon. In 1850 he was chosen F.R.S., and in 1851 a member of the council of the College of Surgeons. After attaining, in spite of feeble health, a very large practice in his speciality, with a high reputation for skill and conscientiousness, he died on 2 May 1852, in his forty-ninth year.
Dalrymple contributed two valuable works to ophthalmic literature. The first was ‘The Anatomy of the Human Eye, being an account of the History, Progress, and Present State of Knowledge of the Organ of Vision in Man,’ London, 1834, 8vo; the other, in process of publication at his death, was ‘The Pathology of the Human Eye,’ London, 1851–2, in which the thirty-six folio coloured plates are of first-rate excellence. They were from water-colour drawings by Messrs. W. H. Kearny and Leonard, and engraved by W. Bagg. A list of Dalrymple's scientific papers is given in the Royal Society's ‘Catalogue of Scientific Papers,’ ii. 132.
G. T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lindsay, George

1904 Errata appended.
​LINDSAY, GEORGE, third Lord Spynie (d. 1671), was the second son of Alexander, second lord Spynie [q. v.], by his second wife, Lady Margaret Hay, only daughter of George, first earl of Kinnoul. He succeeded to the estates on the death of his father in 1646. Like his father he was a staunch supporter of Charles I. He opposed the surrender of the king to the English (Guthry, Memoirs, p. 238), and as colonel of the Stirling and Clackmannan horse took part in the ‘engagement’ for the rescue of the king from the English in 1648. On 20 Dec. 1650 he was appointed one of the colonels of horse for Forfarshire (Balfour, Annals, ii. 211). Being taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester in 1651, he was on 16 Sept. committed to the Tower (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1651, p. 432). He was excepted from Cromwell's act of grace in 1654, and on 5 May forfaulted at the Market Cross of Edinburgh (Nicoll, Diary, p. 125), but was reinstated in his possessions at the Restoration, and on the death of Ludovic Lindsay, sixteenth earl of Crawford [q. v.], in 1666, was served his heir, and became the chief representative of the Lindsays. He died without issue before December 1671, when the title, being limited to heirs male, became extinct.
[Sir James Balfour's Annals of Scotland; Nicoll's Diary (Bannatyne Club); Guthry's Memoirs; Calendar of State Papers, Dom. Ser., Cromwellian Period; Lord Lindsay's Lives of the Lindsays; Lindsay Pedigree, by W. A. Lindsay, in the College of Arms; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), ii. 518.]
T. F. H.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.182 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 299 | ii | 13 f.e. | Lindsay, George, 3rd Lord Spynie: for dormant read extinct |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lindsay, John (d.1335)

​LINDSAY, JOHN (d. 1335), bishop of Glasgow, belonged to the family of the Lindsays of Lambertoun in Berwickshire, and was descended from Sir Walter de Lindsay (d. 1222), second son of William Lindsay of Crawford, justiciary of Scotland under William the Lion. He was the son of Walter Lindsay of Lambertoun, and his name first appears as witness to one of the charters, dated about 1275, and preserved in the chartulary of Paisley. There is some doubt as to the exact date when he became bishop of Glasgow, and several writers have placed him, apparently in error, before Bishop John Wiseheart. The see was vacant at Christmas 1321, and most probably Lindsay was then appointed bishop. By a bull dated at Avignon 15 March 1323, Pope John XXII confirmed Lindsay in his office as bishop of Glasgow, reserving the post which Lindsay had formerly occupied as a prebendary in Glasgow Cathedral for one of the Italian favourites at the papal court. No sooner had the bishop been installed than Robert I directed him to bestow his vacant office upon the king's clerk, Walter de Twynam, and Lindsay acceded to this request, while protesting that his action should not prejudice the rights of the pope. There are numerous charters in existence to prove that Lindsay was bishop of Glasgow from 1325 till the death of Robert I in 1329, one of the most important, dated 4 March 1327–8, being the confirmation by the king to the burgh of Dundee of the burghal privileges enjoyed from the time of William the Lion. He at first supported the claim of his relative, Edward Balliol, to the throne, but ultimately returned to his allegiance to the house of Bruce.
The year and method of Lindsay's death have been disputed. It is stated that ‘in 1335, returning from Flanders to Scotland with two ships, aboard which were 250 Scots, [he] was attacked at sea by a superior fleet of English, commanded by the Earls of Sarum and Huntingdon. The Scots vessels, being overpowered by numbers, were taken after an obstinate fight, in which many of both sides were killed, and the bishop, being mortally wounded in the head, immediately expired.’ Another account of this incident gives the date as 1337, and states that the bishop died of grief caused by the loss of his countrymen, and was buried at Wytsande. But he undoubtedly died in 1335, for the see was vacant in that year, and the sheriff of Dumfries rendered an account of the lands belonging to the late bishop in that county in 1335–6.
[Lives of the Lindsays; Gordon's Scotichronicon, i. 491–3; Hailes's Annals; Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, vol. iii.; Registrum Mag. Sig.; Origines Paroch. Scot.]
A. H. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lindsay, John (1737-1788)

​LINDSAY, Sir JOHN (1737–1788), rear-admiral, born in 1737, was younger son of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Evelick in Perthshire, by Emilia, daughter of David Murray, fifth viscount Stormont, sister of William Murray, first earl of Mansfield [q. v.] He was promoted at the age of nineteen to command the Pluto fireship, which in 1757 was attached to the fleet under Sir Edward Hawke in the Rochefort expedition. On 29 Sept. 1757 he was posted to the Trent frigate, in which he served during the war, on the home or West Indian station. In 1762 the Trent was part of the fleet under Sir George Pocock [q. v.] in the expedition against Havana; and on the death of Captain Goostrey of the Cambridge in action with ​the Moro fort on 1 July, Lindsay was sent to fill his place, in which he ‘gave many strong proofs of his valour’ (Beatson, ii. 550). It is said that Pocock afterwards offered him the command of the Cambridge or one of the other ships of the line; if so, he declined it, for he was still in the Trent in December 1763. On returning to England he was knighted in reward for his gallantry. In 1764 he went out to the West Indies in the Tartar, returning in 1765. From August 1769 to March 1772 he was commodore and commander-in-chief in the East Indies, with his broad pennant in the Stag frigate. During his absence in 1771 he was nominated a knight of the Bath. In March 1778 he was appointed to the Victory, but on Admiral Keppel selecting her for his flagship he was moved to the Prince George of 90 guns, which he commanded in the engagement off Ushant 27 July. His evidence before the subsequent courts-martial was adverse to Sir Hugh Palliser [q. v.]; and on Keppel's resignation of the command [see Keppel, Augustus, Viscount] Lindsay also resigned, and refused all employment under Lord Sandwich. In 1783, after the peace, he was commodore and commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. With his broad pennant in the Trusty he was at Naples in June 1784; and on the 24th had the honour of entertaining the king and queen on board. Not long afterwards his health broke down, and he was obliged to return to England. He was promoted to be rear-admiral on 24 Sept. 1787, and died at Marlborough, on his way from Bath, on 4 June 1788, in the fifty-first year of his age. The body was brought to London and buried in Westminster Abbey.
[Charnock's Biog. Nav. vi. 256; Gent. Mag. (1788), pt. i. p. 564; Beatson's Nav. and Mil. Memoirs.]
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lindsay, David (d.1641?)

​LINDSAY, DAVID (d. 1641?), bishop of Edinburgh, was a son of Colonel John Lindsay, laird of Edzell in Forfarshire, and graduated at St. Andrews in 1593. He became master first of Montrose academy, and then in 1597 of Dundee grammar school, holding also from 1599 the ministry of Guthrie parish, and from 1605 of Dundee. Next year, however, he resigned his mastership, while petitioning the town council to 'take consideration of his estate, and that he may have ane sufficient moyan quhairupon he may lieve as ane honest man,' but it was not till 1620 that he obtained a full payment of the augmentation then voted to his stipend. Meanwhile, in 1616 he became a member of the high commission; in 1617 defended at St. Andrews, before James VI, some theses 'upon the power of kings and princes,' and in 1618 supported the 'king's articles' at Perth assembly. He advanced similar arguments in his 'Reasons of a Pastor's Resolution touching the reverendreceiving of the Holy Communion,' London, 1619, 12mo, and 'A true Narration of the Proceedings at Perth,' London, 1621, 4to. Nevertheless, according to Wodrow, he acknowledged that there was 'neither reason, scripture, nor antiquity for kneeling, but to avert the king's wrath thought it best to yield.' He was rewarded with the bishopric of Brechin, being consecrated at St. Andrews on 23 Nov. 1619. In 1633 he crowned Charles I at Holyrood. He lived on at Dundee until 1634, when he was translated to Edinburgh, and made one of the lords of exchequer. On 23 July 1637, the Sunday appointed for the introduction of the new service book, he was present at both the services in the Great Kirk of St. Giles. Both times he was pelted as he left the church, and in the afternoon there arose a great clamour in the streets, and the cry was 'Kill the traitour!' The Earl of Roxburghe took him up in his coach, but stones were cast at it, and some of them hit Lindsay so that with great difficulty he reached his lodgings at Holyrood. The anonymous author of 'A breefe and true Relation of the Broyle,' &c., first printed as an appendix to Rothes' 'Relation' (Bannatyne Club, 1830), is the sole authority for crediting Lindsay with displaying the most shameful pusillanimity on this occasion. Deposed and excommunicated by the Glasgow general assembly in1638, 'he retired,' says Mr. Lippe, 'to England, and died there in 1641.' Such is not, however, Wodrow's statement, and Jervise places his death between 1638 and 1640, as in the latter year his son John, by his wife Katherine Ramsay of Banff, Perthshire, was served heir to him in the estate of Dunkeny.
[Wodrow's Biographical Collections, ed. by the Rev. Robert Lippe (New Spalding Club, Aberdeen. 1890}; A. Maxwell's Hist. of Old Dundee (Edinb. 1884); Scott's Fasti Eccl. Scot. vol. iii. pt. ii.; Lives of the Lindsays; A. Jervise's Land of the Lindsays; Keith's Scottish Bishops, p. 167.]
F. H. G.