OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nicholson, George (1795?-1839?)

​NICHOLSON, GEORGE (1795?–1839?), artist, was son of Mrs. Isabella Nicholson (née Wilkinson), and brother of Samuel and Isabella Nicholson. The whole family engaged in artistic work. The mother executed remarkable copies in needlework of well-known pictures. These were wrought in silk with the finest needles; and in some cases of landscapes the sky was painted on a background of silk velvet. A specimen of her work in the writer's possession is a copy of ‘The Grecian Votary,’ by Nicholas Poussin, in the National Gallery. A similar copy of ‘Belshazzar's Feast’ and a portrait of George III were, with many other examples of Mrs. Nicholson's handicraft, exhibited in Liverpool, and disposed of there about 1847.
Between 1827 and 1838 George exhibited at the Liverpool Academy exhibitions some fifty drawings, mostly landscapes in water-colour or in pencil. With his elder brother Samuel (who drew with great skill with the lead-pencil, painted in water-colours, and taught drawing) he published: ‘Twenty-six Lithographic Drawings in the Vicinity of Liverpool,’ fol. Liverpool, 1821; and ‘Plâs Newydd and Valle Crucis Abbey,’ 1824, plates, 4to. The illustrations were drawn in a fine line, and more resemble woodcuts than was usual in early lithographs. George is believed to have died about 1839. Samuel died from the effects of the bite of a mad dog about 1825. A sister, Isabella Nicholson, exhibited drawings in water-colour and pencil of flowers, birds, and occasionally landscapes, at the Liverpool Academy between 1829 and 1845.
A. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nicholson, John (1730-1796)

​NICHOLSON, JOHN (1730–1796), Cambridge bookseller, son of a farmer at Mountsorrel in Leicestershire, was probably the ‘John, son of Edward Nichols (?) and Mary his wife,’ who was baptised at St. Peter's Church, Mountsorrel, on 19 April 1730 (parish register). On 28 March 1752 he married Anne, the only child of Robert Watts (d. 31 Jan. 1751–2), a bookseller in Cambridge, who started the first circulating library in the town about 1745. By this marriage he succeeded to Watts's business and to his sobriquet of ‘Maps,’ which he had gained by his habit of announcing himself at the doors of his customers by calling out ‘maps.’ Both business and habit were energetically continued by Nicholson, who acquired a large connection among the students of the university, supplying them with their class-books by subscription. He died on 8 Aug. 1796, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Edmund, Cambridge. His widow lived till 7 Feb. 1814. Nicholson was greatly respected in Cambridge. He was both a good tradesman and a generous friend, readily allowing the free use of his library to poor students, whom even his moderate charges would have debarred from the privilege. His portrait, painted by Reinagle, hangs on the staircase of the university library. It was engraved by Caldwell in 1790, and the engraving was sold for the benefit of Addenbrooke's hospital; another, engraved by Baldrey, is mentioned by Bromley. He was the subject of the following Greek hexameter, which was familiar to the undergraduates of his time:
Μαψ αὐτὸν καλέουσι θεοί, ἄνδρες δὲ Νιχολσον.
Some verses written on seeing his portrait over the door of a country library were printed in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ (1816, ii. 613). Nicholson was succeeded in his business by his son John, who carried it on in the original shop in front of King's College till 1807, when he removed to the corner of Trinity Street and St. Mary's ​Street. Retiring about 1821 (he died at Stoke Newington 25 April 1825), he was succeeded by his son, the third John Nicholson (1781–1822). The last-mentioned was the author of two anonymously published plays:
* ‘Pætus and Arria,’ Cambridge, 1809; a tragedy, which was announced for performance at Drury Lane on 2 Jan. 1812, but was never acted, and is described by Genest as ‘insipid to the last degree.’
* ‘Right and Wrong,’ London, 1812, a comedy.
William Nicholson, a printer of Wisbech, who died in 1792, was a brother of ‘Maps.’
[Gent. Mag. 1792, i. 91, 1796, ii. 708; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iv. 170–1, 376–7; Gunning's Reminiscences of Cambridge, i. 198–200; Genest's Account of the English Stage, viii. 274, x. 230.]
B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nicholson, Charles

​NICHOLSON, CHARLES (1795–1837), flautist and composer, son of Charles Nicholson, flautist, was born at Liverpool in 1795. Trained under his father, he went to London when quite young, and soon gained a position in the front rank of flautists. On the foundation of the Royal Academy of Music in 1822 he was appointed professor of the flute, and soon after became principal at the Italian Opera. He played also at Drury Lane and at the Philharmonic Society's concerts, where several of his compositions for the flute were performed from 1823 to 1842. As a soloist he was much engaged, both in London and the provinces, but, owing to improvident habits, was in the end reduced to absolute poverty. He died in London on 26 March 1837, having been supported in his illness by Messrs. Clementi and Messrs. Collard. His father greatly increased the tone of the flute by enlarging the finger-holes, and the son still further improved the instrument. He had some talent for composition, but was imperfectly educated, and had often to obtain the aid of professional musicians in arranging his works. His best original composition is the ‘Polonaise with “Kitty Tyrell,”’ and his ‘Complete Preceptor for the German Flute’ (London, cir. 1820) was at one time extensively used. A complete list of his compositions, including concertos, fantasias, solos, and other pieces, all for the flute, is given by Rockstro (p. 614).
J. C. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nicholson, George (1760-1825)

​NICHOLSON, GEORGE (1760–1825), printer and author, born in 1760, was the son of John Nicholson, bookseller, who removed from Keighley in Yorkshire to Bradford in the same county in 1781, and set up the first printing press in Bradford. George began business with a brother at Bradford about 1784, and afterwards acted on his own account successively at Bradford, Manchester, Poughnill, near Ludlow, and at Stourport in Worcestershire. He possessed great taste and originality as a typographer, and many of the productions of his press, especially those written or edited by himself, although published at a low price, were models of neatness and even of beauty. Many of them were illustrated by pretty vignettes on wood by Thomas Bewick and others, and on copper by Bromley. Some of his first publications at Bradford were chap-books. He produced a series of 125 cards, on which were printed favourite pieces. These cards were sold at a penny and three halfpence each. When he removed to Manchester in 1797, or earlier, he commenced the publication of his ‘Literary Miscellany, or Selections and Extracts, Classical and Scientific, with Originals, in Prose and Verse.’ Each number consisted of a distinct subject, and the whole series extended to about sixty parts, or twenty volumes. Nicholson, who was a convinced vegetarian, died at Stourport on 1 Nov. 1825.
He was author or compiler of the following works: 1. ‘On the Conduct of Man to Inferior Animals,’ Manchester, 1797. 2. ‘On the Primeval Food of Man; Arguments in favour of Vegetable Food,’ Poughnill, 1801. 3. ‘On Food,’ 1803. 4. ‘The Advocate and Friend of Woman.’ 5. ‘The Mental Friend and Rational Companion.’ 6. ‘Directions for the Improvement of the Mind.’ 7. ‘The Juvenile Preceptor, or a Course of Rudimental Reading,’ 1806, 3 vols. 8. ‘Stenography, or a New System of Shorthand,’ Poughnill, 1806. This was written with the assistance of his brother Samuel, schoolmaster, of Manchester. The system is ​Mavor's. 9. ‘The Cambrian Traveller's Guide,’ Stourport, 1808, 12mo; 2nd edition, 1812; 3rd edition, revised by the author's son, the Rev. Emilius Nicholson, incumbent of Minsterley, Shropshire.
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nicholson, Isaac

​NICHOLSON, ISAAC (1789–1848), wood-engraver, born at Melmesby in Cumberland, in 1789, was apprenticed to John Bewick [q. v.], the famous wood-engraver, at Newcastle-on-Tyne. His work was entirely in the manner of his master, whose style he imitated more successfully than many of Bewick's other pupils. He copied some of Bewick's ‘Quadrupeds’ with great success, and also his lithograph of ‘The Cadger's Trot.’ Other woodcuts by Nicholson are to be found in Hodgson's ‘History of Northumberland,’ Flower's ‘Visitation of the County of Durham,’ Watts's ‘Hymns,’ &c. He also engraved on copper a trade-card for Robert Spencer, turner and carver, of Newcastle. Nicholson died on 18 Oct. 1848, aged 59.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, James (1762-1825)

​GORDON, JAMES (1762–1825), eccentric character, was son of the chapel clerk of Trinity College, Cambridge, a man of some property, who gave him a good education, and articled him to an attorney. He began practice in Free School Lane, Cambridge, with fair prospects of success. Unfortunately his convivial talents led him into society where he learnt to drink to excess. To console himself for his disappointments, he became a confirmed sot, and fell into destitution. He was several times in the town gaol for drunken freaks. For many years he was kept from starvation by an annuity of a guinea a week left by a relative. He was induced to leave Cambridge for London, where he picked up a living by waiting at the coach offices. He returned, and used to pass the night in the grove at Jesus College and the barn at the Hoop hotel. A fall in a fit of drunkenness injured him so severely that he had to be taken to the workhouse at Barnwell, where he died on 16 Sept. 1825, when about sixty-three years old. He was a man of keen and ready wit, and several of his jests are preserved in Hone's 'Everyday Book,' where there is a portrait of him (i. 692). It is stated there (ib. i. 1295) that he had left a memoir of his life, which has not been published. Gunning gives some anecdotes of his thrusting his company during a university election upon Pitt in the senate house, and of his making money by writing Latin essays when in gaol.
[Cooper's Annals of Cambridge, iv. 549; Hone's Every-day Book, ed. 1838, i. 692 and 1294; Cambridge Chronicle, 2 Feb. and 13 April 1793, and 23 Sept. 1825; Gunning's Reminiscences (1854), i. 190-8; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iv. 170.]
A. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, James Willoughby

​GORDON, Sir JAMES WILLOUGHBY (1773–1851), baronet, general, born in 1773, was son of Captain Francis Grant, royal navy, who took the name of Gordon in 1768 (pursuant to the will of his maternal uncle, James Gordon, of Moor Place, Hertfordshire), by his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas, and sister of Sir Willoughby Aston, baronet. On 17 Oct. 1783 he was appointed to an ensigncy in the 66th foot, in which he became lieutenant in 1789, captain in 1795, and major in 1797. He served with his regiment in Ireland, the West Indies, and at Gibraltar; was present as a volunteer on board Lord Hood's fleet at Toulon in 1793, and witnessed the surrender of the French in Bantry Bay in 1796; and afterwards was with his regiment in San Domingo, in Jamaica, and North America. On 21 May 1801 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the 85th foot, and commanded the first battalion of that regiment at the first British occupation of Madeira in that year. In 1802 he was appointed an assistant quartermaster-general in the southern district, head-quarters Chatham. In 1804 he was brought into the 92nd foot as lieutenant-colonel, and appointed military secretary to the Duke of York, then commander-in-chief, in which capacity he was an important witness before the parliamentary committee of inquiry into military expenditure (Parl. Papers, Accounts and Papers, 1806–9), and in the Wardle inquiry [see Frederick Augustus, Duke of York]. He retained the post until the resignation of the Duke of York. While so employed he was appointed lieutenant-colonel commandant of the royal African corps in 1808, and became colonel in 1810. In 1811 Gordon, who, as he stated before a parliamentary committee, had held every staff appointment it was possible for him to hold, was appointed quartermaster-general of the army in the Peninsula, with which he served till he resigned the following year through ill-health (Gurwood, vi. 4, 6, 44, 258). On his return home he was appointed quartermaster-general at the Horse Guards, a post which he retained up to his death, after which it was abolished for a time, in accordance with the recommendation of a parliamentary committee. Gordon became a major-general in 1813; was transferred to the colonelcy of the 85th light infantry in 1816; was created a baronet in 1818; transferred to the colonelcy of the 23rd royal Welsh fusiliers in 1823; was made a lieutenant-general and G.C.H. in 1825; sworn in a privy councillor in 1830; G.C.B. in 1831; general in 1841. He was a F.R.S. and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society from its formation. He died at Chelsea on 4 Jan. 1851. Gordon married in 1805 Julia Lavinia, daughter of Richard Henry Alexander Bennet of Beckenham, Kent, and by her had a son and daughter. Gordon was author of ‘Military Transactions of the British Empire,’ 1803–7 (London, 1809, 4to), and a supplementary volume thereto, containing tables of the strength, distribution, &c. of the army during that period.
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, James Alexander (1793-1872)

​GORDON, JAMES ALEXANDER (1793–1872), physician, was born in 1793 in Middlesex, and graduated M.D. at Edinburgh in 1814. After studying on the continent, whence he returned to London in 1818, he established in 1819 the 'Quarterly Journal of Foreign Medicine and Surgery,' in concert with Dr. Mackenzie of Glasgow, and wrote extensively for it. He also wrote a series of articles on German medical literature in the 'Medical Repository.' He was admitted licentiate of the College of Physicians in 1821, became fellow in 1836, and was censor in 1838. He was elected assistant-physician to the London Hospital in 1827, and physician in 1828, resigning in 1844. He died at Dorking on 18 April 1872.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. iii. 232.]
G. T. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, James (1664-1746)

​GORDON, JAMES (1664–1746), Scotch catholic prelate, son of Patrick Gordon, who possessed the estate of Glastirum, and was a cadet of the Letterfourie family, was born in the Enzie, Banffshire, in 1664. He was sent to the Scotch College at Paris in 1680, and after being ordained returned to Scotland in 1692. He officiated as missionary priest in his native district till 1702, when he was sent to assist William Leslie, who had long been agent to the Scotch mission in its intercourse with the holy see. While there he was elected coadjutor, cum futura successione, to Bishop Thomas Joseph Nicholson. Owing to the severity of the persecution of catholics in Scotland, extraordinary pains were taken to keep Gordon's appointment and consecration secret. By direction of Clement XI he was consecrated at Montefiascone, with all secrecy, ​by Cardinal Barberigo, on 11 April 1706, for the see of Nicopolis in partibus. He returned to Scotland in the autumn of that year, and in October 1718 succeeded Bishop Nicholson as vicar-apostolic of Scotland. In 1727 Benedict XIII divided Scotland into two districts or vicariates—the lowland and the highland. Gordon became in February 1730-1 the first vicar-apostolic of the lowland district, and continued in that office till his death, which took place on 1 March (N.S.)1745-6 at Thornhill, near Drummond Castle, the seat of Mrs. Mary Drummond, a catholic lady.
[London and Dublin Orthodox Journal, iv. 83; Catholic Directory, 1888, p. 60; Gordon's Catholic Mission in Scotland, p. 3; Brady's Episcopal Succession, iii. 457, 459.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, James (d.1649)

​GORDON, JAMES, second Viscount Aboyne (d. 1649), was the second son of George, second marquis of Huntly [q. v.] His father, created Viscount Aboyne in 1632, was eldest son of George, first marquis of Huntly [q. v.] His mother was Lady Anne Campbell, daughter of Archibald, seventh earl of Argyll. On his father becoming second Marquis of Huntly in 1636 he succeeded in terms of the patent as second Viscount Aboyne. He took the field for Charles I against the covenanters, and was defeated by Montrose at the bridge of Dee on 19 June 1639, but escaped by sea to England. Being summoned before the council of Scotland in 1643 to answer for his negotiations with the Earl of Antrim, and not appearing, he was forfeited and declared a traitor. When Montrose sided with the king, Aboyne attended him to Scotland, occupied Dumfries, and was appointed lieutenant in the north. He afterwards obtained the command of the garrison at Carlisle. On 24 April 1644 he was excommunicated by the general assembly at Edinburgh. He joined Montrose in Menteith in April 1645, and continued with him until September following, when he proceeded to the north with his troop of horse just before the battle of Philiphaugh. As he was exempted from pardon in 1648, he took refuge in Paris, where he died of grief upon hearing of the execution of Charles I in the following year. He was unmarried, and the viscounty expired with him.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, James Bentley

1904 Errata appended.
​GORDON, JAMES BENTLEY (1750–1819), historian, was son of the Rev. James Gordon of Neeve Hall, Londonderry, by his wife, a daughter of Thomas Neeve [q. v.], the nephew of Richard Bentley [q. v.], the famous scholar. Gordon entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1769, and graduated B.A. 1773. On leaving college he took holy orders, and in 1776 became tutor to the sons of Lord Courtown. In 1779 he undertook the management of a boarding-school at Marlfield in Wexford, but was not very successful, owing probably to lack of worldly prudence. In 1796 he was presented to the living of Cannaway in Cork, and in 1799 to that of Killegney in Wexford, both of which he retained till his death on 10 April 1819. He married in 1779 a daughter of Richard Bookey of Wicklow, by whom he had several children; his eldest son, James George, entered the army, and was killed at Fort Sandusky in Canada, 25 Aug. 1813 (Gent. Mag. 1814, i. 65); another son, Richard Bentley, was prebendary of Ferns and Leighlin from 1819 to 1823 (Cotton, Fasti Eccl. Hib. ii. 365); a daughter was married to his biographer, Thomas Jones.
Gordon was a zealous student of history and geography. He wrote:
* 'Terraquea, or a New System of Geography and Modern History,' London, 1790-3, 2 vols., and Dublin, 1794-8, 4 vols. This work was then interrupted by the preparation of
* 'A History of the Rebellion in Ireland in 1798,' Dublin, 1801, 'a party work abounding in misrepresentations' (Lowndes, p. 914); 2nd edition, with additions, London, 1803.
* 'A History of Ireland,' Dublin, 1805; 2nd edition, London, 1806; translated into French, 1808.
* 'A History of the British Islands from the earliest Accounts to the Present Time,' Dublin, 1815. Gordon also left copious manuscripts, chiefly in continuation of his 'Terraquea,' of which a portion was printed in 1820 as
* 'An Historical and Geographical Memoir of the North American Continent. With a Summary Account of Gordon's Life, Writings, and Opinions,' by T. Jones. Another work left in manuscript was
* 'An Historical Memoir of the Church of Ireland;' of this a summary is given in Jones's 'Account,' &c.
[Memoir by T. Jones, as above; Taylor's Hist. of the Univ. of Dublin, p. 451; Todd's Dublin Graduates; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. p. 914; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
C. L. K.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.138 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 209 | ii | 8 | Gordon, James B.: omit [q. v.] |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jordan, Thomas Brown

​JORDAN, THOMAS BROWN (1807–1890), engineer, son of Thomas Jordan, was born at Bristol on 24 Oct. 1807, and began life as an artist. When barely twenty he migrated to Falmouth. While painting there and at Penzance he made the acquaintance of Robert Were Fox [q. v.], in whose physical researches he took the greatest interest. Fox's influence led him to relinquish painting and to set up as a mathematical instrument maker in Falmouth, where he effected improvements in the miners' dial, and had some share in the construction of Fox's improved dipping-needle. In 1838 Jordan devised an instrument for recording by photography the variations of the barometric column, and he shortly afterwards invented a declination magnetograph and a self-recording actinometer. For some years subsequent to 1839 he held the post of secretary of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic. Sir Henry de la Beche [q. v.], when engaged on the geological survey of Cornwall, made Jordan's acquaintance, and secured his appointment in 1840 as first keeper of mining records, with charge of plans, sections, and models. Jordan took a great interest in electro-metallurgy during the early years of its development, and in 1841 he made an egg-cup of electro-deposited copper, plated with silver outside and gold inside, which was considered a model of workmanship, and is now deposited in the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London. On resigning his appointment as keeper of mining records in 1845, Jordan invented a highly ingenious process of carving by machinery, and set up works at Lambeth for carrying into effect the invention, for which in 1847 he received the gold Isis medal from the Society of Arts. The wood-carving machinery was subsequently exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and the products were extensively used in the decoration of the House of Lords.
Later on Jordan started work as a mechanical engineer, first at Manchester, then at Glasgow, where he devised a series of machines for the production of school slates. Shortly after 1870, however, he returned to London, and established himself as a mining engineer in conjunction with his son, Mr. Thomas Rowland Jordan, who still conducts the business. Jordan's last invention, patented in 1877, was a portable machine for boring blast-holes in rock (see Times, 29 Nov. 1877). He died in London on 30 May 1890.
Jordan married, in 1837, Sarah Dunn, by whom he had eleven children. Mrs. Jordan survived him.
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jordan, William

​JORDAN, WILLIAM (fl. 1611), Cornish dramatist, lived at Helston in Cornwall, and is supposed to have been the author of the mystery or sacred drama 'Gwreans an Bys, the Creation of the World.' The oldest manuscript is in small folio in the Bodleian Library (N. 219); with it is a later copy: another is in the British Museum (Harl. 1867), together with a translation made by John Keigwin; and a fourth was in 1858 in the possession of John Camden Hotten [q.v.]: a fifth copy, perhaps the same as the fourth, is in the possession of the Marquis of Bute, and a sixth belonged to W.C. Borlase. 'The Creation of the World' was inaccurately edited with Keigwin's translation by Davies Gilbert [q.v.] in 1827. In 1863, Mr. Whitley Stokes published in the 'Transactions' of the Philological Society an edition consisting of a new transcript of Bodleian MS. N. 219, with an original translation and notes. Jordan's name appears at the end of the Bodleian
[Edition by Whitley Stokes; Norris's Ancient Cornish Drama; Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub.]
W. A. J. A.