OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Groome, Robert Hindes

​GROOME, ROBERT HINDES (1810–1889), archdeacon of Suffolk, born at Framlingham on 18 Jan. 1810, was the second son of the Rev. John Hindes Groome, formerly fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and rector for twenty-seven years of Earl Soham and Monk Soham in Suffolk. He was educated at Norwich under Valpy and Howes, and at Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1832, and M.A. in 1836. In 1833 he was ordained to the Suffolk curacy of Tannington-with-Brundish; during 1835 travelled in Germany as tutor to the son of Mendizabal, the Spanish financier; in 1839 became curate of Corfe Castle, Dorsetshire, of which little borough he was for a twelvemonth mayor; and in 1845 succeeded his father as rector of Monk Soham. Here, in the course of four-and-forty years, he built the rectory and the village school, restored the fine old church, erected an organ, and rehung the bells. In 1858 he was appointed an honorary canon of Norwich, and from 1869 to 1887 was archdeacon of Suffolk. Failing eyesight forced him to resign that office, when 186 clergy of the diocese presented him with his portrait by Mr. W. R. Symonds. He died at Monk Soham on 19 March 1889.
Groome was a man of wide culture and of many friends. Chief among these were Edward Fitzgerald, William Bodham Donne, Dr. Thompson, the master of Trinity, and Bradshaw, the Cambridge librarian, who said of him: 'I never see Groome but what I learn something from him.' He read much, but published little—a couple of charges, one or two sermons and lectures, some hymns and hymn-tunes, and articles in the 'Christian Advocate and Review,' of which he was editor from 1861 to 1866. He will be best remembered by his short Suffolk stories, 'The Only Darter,' 'Master Charlie,' &c., a collection of which appeared shortly after his death. For real humour and tenderness these come near to 'Rab and his Friends.' In 1843 he married Mary, third daughter of the Rev. J. L. Jackson, rector of Swanage, and Louisa Decima Wollaston. She bore him eight children, and, with four sons and two daughters, survived him.
[Obituary in Ipswich Journal, East Anglian Times, the Times and Guardian; Letters and Remains of Edward Fitzgerald.]
F. H. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grogan, Cornelius

​GROGAN, CORNELIUS (1738?–1798), United Irishman, born about 1738, was eldest son of John Grogan of Johnstown Castle, Wexford, by his wife Catherine, daughter and heiress of Major Andrew Knox of Rathmacknee. His father, a protestant landlord, was a member of the Irish parliament. Grogan succeeded to the family estates, was high sheriff of Wexford, and was from 1783 to 1790 M.P. for Enniscorthy in the Irish parliament. On the outbreak of the Irish rebellion in 1798 Grogan joined the insurgents, and became commissary-general in their army. When Wexford was taken by the government forces Grogan was tried by court-martial. He pleaded that he had been forced to take a nominal lead, but had been guilty of no overt act, but was beheaded on Wexford Bridge on 28 June 1798. Two other landlords of Wexford who had taken the same action as himself, John Henry Colclough [q. v.] and Bagenal Beauchamp Harvey [q. v.], suffered with him. Their heads were set up on the court-house, and their bodies flung into the Slaney; but Grogan's body was recovered by his followers, and secretly buried at Rathaspick, near Johnstown. His estates were escheated by the crown, but were restored on the payment of a heavy fine to his youngest and only surviving brother, John Knox. Another brother, Thomas, a lieutenant in the British army, was killed at the battle of Arklow on 9 June 1798. A cousin, Edward Grogan, born in 1802, M.P. for Dublin from 1841 to 1868, was created a baronet on 23 April 1859.
[Edward Hay's Insurrection in Wexford (1803); Burke's Baronetage; Grattan's Life and Times of Henry Grattan, 1839-46; Froude's English in Ireland; Cornwallis Correspondence ii. 345, 379, 380.]
S. L. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Groome, John

​ GROOME, JOHN (1678?–1760), divine, born in 1678 or 1679, was the son of John Groome of Norwich. After attending Norwich grammar school he entered Magdalene College, Cambridge, as a sizar on 14 Oct. 1695, and proceeded B.A. in 1699 (College Admission Book). In July 1709 he was presented to the vicarage of Childerditch, Essex (Morant, Essex, i. 117), and became also chaplain to Robert, earl of Holderness. Grieved by unjust reflections cast upon the clergy, he wrote 'The Dignity and Honour of the Clergy represented in an Historical Collection: shewing how useful and serviceable the Clergy have been to this Nation by their universal learning, acts of charity, and the administration of civil offices,' 8vo, London, 1710. Groome died in the parish of St. Mary, Whitechapel, on 31 July 1760, and was ​buried at Childerditch (Probate Act Book, P.C.C., 1760; Gent. Mag. 1760, p. 394). He had married, but left no children. By his will (P.C.C. 324, Lynch) he bequeathed property for founding exhibitions at Magdalene College, preference to be given to clergymen's sons from Essex. He provided for the payment of six pounds a year to the succeeding vicars of Childerditch for ever, that they might go to the college on St. Mary Magdalen's day, 22 July, 'when the publick benefactions are read over,' to see that his exhibitions were filled in, the profits of such as were vacant to go to the vicar. Groome also gave his library to Magdalene College.
[Authorities as above.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grose, John (1758-1821)

​GROSE, JOHN (1758–1821), divine, baptised on 26 Feb. 1758 at Richmond, Surrey, was the eldest son of John Henry Grose [q. v.] of Richmond, by his wife, Sarah Smalley, daughter of John Browning, wool-stapler, of Barnaby Street, Southwark (Richmond Register). The name in the register is spelt, as originally, 'Grosse.' Grose matriculated at St. Mary Hall, Oxford, on 29 May 1783, but did not graduate (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886, p. 572). He afterwards received the degree of M.A. He took orders and obtained at various times several small preferments in the church. He was minister of the Tower; lecturer of St. Olave, Southwark; curate of the united parishes of St. Margaret Pattens and St. Gabriel, Fenchurch Street; Wednesday evening lecturer of St. Antholin, Budge Lane; rector of Netteswell, Essex; and lecturer of St. Benet, Gracechurch Street. He was also chaplain to the Countess Dowager of Mexborough. He died at the rectory, Little Tower Street, London, in 1821, his estate being administered to on 14 March of that year by his widow, Anna Carter Eugenia Grose (Administration Act Book, P. C. C., 1821). He was twice married: his first wife, Anne, died in 1787 (Gent. Mag. 1787, pt. ii. p. 837). Besides various sermons, issued singly and in volumes, he published by subscription in 1782 a volume entitled 'Ethics, Rational and Theological, with cursory Reflections on the General Principles of Deism,' ​vo, London (ib. 1782, p. 442), consisting chiefly of essays which had previously appeared in different periodicals. On 4 May 1780 Grose was elected F.S.A. (Gough, Chronological List of Soc. Antiq. 1798, p. 33).
[Lists of Society of Antiquaries.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Newton, Ann Mary

​NEWTON, ANN MARY (1832–1866), painter, born at Rome on 29 June 1832, was daughter of Joseph Severn [q. v.], painter, and British consul at Rome, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Archibald, lord Montgomerie (d. 1814) [see under Montgomerie, Hugh, twelfth Earl of Eglinton]. She learnt drawing as a child from her father, copying engravings by Albert Dürer, or after Michael Angelo and Raphael. Subsequently she showed talent for drawing portraits, and was assisted by George Richmond, R.A., who lent her some of his portraits to copy, and employed her also for the same purpose. At the age of twenty-three or twenty-four she went to Paris, and studied under Ary Scheffer, gaining much commendation from that painter for her skill in drawing. In Paris she painted a portrait in water-colours of the Countess of Elgin, which was much admired, and gained her numerous commissions on her return to England, including various portraits and drawings for the royal family. She exhibited pictures at the Royal Academy in 1852, 1855, and 1856. Miss Severn married 27 April 1861 at St. Michael's, Chester Square, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Charles Thomas Newton, who had just relinquished his post in the consular service to resume work as keeper of the classical antiquities at the British Museum. After her marriage Mrs. Newton devoted most of her time to making drawings of the antiquities at the British Museum for her husband's books and lectures, a task which an early study of the Elgin marbles and a considerable literary and historical training rendered congenial to her. She showed in these drawings a refined and intelligent appreciation of the highest qualities in Greek art. She also painted a few portraits in oil and figure subjects, one of which she exhibited at the Royal Academy, and made many sketches when travelling with her husband in Greece and Asia Minor. She died of measles at 37 Gower Street, Bedford Square, on 2 Jan. 1866.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Newton, George

​NEWTON, GEORGE (1602–1681), nonconformist divine, born in 1602, was a native of Devonshire, and was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, whence he matriculated 17 Dec. 1619, and proceeded B.A. 14 June 1621, and M.A. 23 June 1624 (Clarke, Reg. of Univ. of Oxford, pt. ii. p. 380, pt. iii. p. 392). He began his ministry at Bishop's Hull, near Taunton, Somerset, and was presented to the vicarage of St. Mary Magdalene, Taunton, 7 April 1631, by Sir William Portman and Mr. Robert Hill. When the ‘Declaration of Sports’ was issued by the council at the instance of Charles I in 1633, and ordered to be read in churches, Newton told his congregation that he read it as the commandment of man, and immediately thereafter he read the twentieth chapter of Exodus as the commandment of God, informing his hearers that these two commandments happened to be in contradiction to each other, but that they were at liberty to choose which they liked best. During the period 1642–5, that Taunton was being contested for by parliamentarians and royalists, with dubious and varying results, Newton spent some time in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, where he preached in the abbey church, but after the siege was finally raised by the parliamentarians he returned to his charge. In 1654 he was, by ordinance of Cromwell's ​parliament, appointed one of the assistants of the commissioners for ejecting scandalous, ignorant, and inefficient ministers and schoolmasters. After the Restoration he was, by the Act of Uniformity, deprived of his living, 21 Aug. 1662. He nevertheless continued to preach whenever an opportunity presented itself to do so with safety, but the precautions he took were insufficient, and being apprehended for unlawful preaching he remained in prison for several years. On obtaining his liberty, some time between 1672 and 1677, he became minister to a congregation meeting in Paul Street, Taunton. He died 12 June 1681, and was buried in the chancel of St. Mary Magdalene's Church, where there is a monument with an inscription to his memory. An engraving of Newton by Bocquet, from the original painting at one time in the possession of John Hayne Bovet, esq., Taunton, is given in Palmer's ‘Nonconformists' Memorial.’
Newton's preaching is said to have been ‘plain, profitable, and successful.’ He was the author of an ‘Exposition and Notes on the 17th Chapter of John,’ 1670, and published several sermons, including ‘Man's Wrath and God's Praise, or a Thanksgiving Sermon preached at Taunton the 11th of May (a day to be had in everlasting remembrance) for the gratious deliverance from the strait Siege,’ London, 1646, and ‘A Sermon preached on the 11th of May, 1652, in Taunton, upon the occasion of the Great Deliverance received upon that Day,’ London, 1652.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Newton, Alfred Pizzi

​NEWTON, ALFRED PIZZI (1830–1883), painter in water-colours, born in 1830, was a native of Essex, but, through his mother, of Italian descent. His earliest works were painted in the highlands of Scotland, and, as he happened to be painting the scenery near Inverlochy Castle, which was ​then occupied by Queen Victoria, he obtained her patronage. She selected him to paint a picture as a wedding gift to the princess royal in 1858, and he also contributed some sketches for the royal album of drawings. He exhibited a few pictures at the Royal Academy in 1855 and the following years, but on 1 March 1858 he was elected an associate of the ‘Old’ Society of Painters in Water-colours. From this time he was a constant and prolific contributor to their exhibitions, though he did not attain full membership till 24 March 1879. A winter scene, ‘Mountain Gloom,’ painted in the Pass of Glencoe under trying circumstances, attracted notice in 1860. In 1862 Newton visited the Riviera and Italy, finding there many subjects for his later pictures. In 1880 his picture of ‘The Mountain Pass’ was much commended. In 1882, though in failing health, Newton visited Athens, painting there, among other pictures, one called ‘Shattered Desolation.’ Newton married in 1864 the daughter of Edward Wylie of 14 Rock Park, Rockferry, Liverpool, by whom he had five children. He died at his father-in-law's house on 9 Sept. 1883, aged 53. A portrait of him appeared in the ‘Illustrated London News’ on 27 Oct. 1883.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Newton, Benjamin

​NEWTON, BENJAMIN (1677–1735), divine, was born at Leicester 8 Dec. 1677. His father, John Newton, fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, was vicar of St. Martin's, Leicester, and master of Sir William Wigston's Hospital there. He was afterwards rector of Taynton, and prebendary of Gloucester (installed 24 Sept. 1690). He died 20 Sept. 1711, aged 73. Benjamin was educated at the grammar school in Leicester. His memory was remarkably retentive, and he was a promising pupil. On 29 Jan. 1694 he was admitted sub-sizar at Clare Hall, Cambridge. He proceeded B.A. in 1698, and M.A. on 7 July 1702. In 1704 he was presented by Sir Nathan Wright, lord keeper of the great seal, to the small crown living of Allington, Lincolnshire. He married in 1707, and the following year settled in Gloucester, being elected by the corporation to the large parish of St. Nicholas, and being installed a minor canon of the cathedral.
In December 1709 Newton succeeded to the living of Taynton, Gloucestershire, by the gift of the dean and chapter. On 3 Aug. 1712 he was appointed head-master of the King's School at Gloucester, and resigned his stall. But teaching soon grew irksome to him, and voluntarily retiring from the headmastership in September 1718, he devoted himself to study. He was reinstalled minor canon on 30 Nov. 1723. On 29 Sept. 1731 he became librarian of the cathedral library, and on 29 Jan. 1732–3 was presented to the vicarage of Lantwit Major, Glamorganshire. He thereupon resigned the living of Taynton, but still chiefly resided in Gloucester, where he retained the rectory of St. Nicholas. At the end of March 1735 he was seized with pleurisy, and died on Good Fri​day, 4 April 1735. He was buried on Easter Sunday in St. Nicholas Church, Gloucester.
Despite his numerous preferments, Newton's family were left dependent upon his friends, who published thirty-one of his sermons for their benefit, with a memoir by his eldest son John. The volume was entitled ‘Sermons preached on Several Occasions,’ 2 vols. London, 1736. A portrait, engraved by Vandergucht after Robbins, was prefixed.
Newton married first, in 1707, Jane, daughter of John Foxcroft, vicar of Nuneaton, by whom he had a son, John; secondly, 12 Jan. 1718–19, Mary, daughter of Benjamin King, D.D., prebendary of Gloucester, who died about 1725. By her he had three children.
Benjamin Newton (d. 1787), divine, son of the above by his second wife, was elected a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, on 10 Jan. 1745 (B.A. 1743, M.A. 1747), and was subsequently precentor, bursar, tutor, and dean of his college. In 1763 he became vicar of Sandhurst, Gloucestershire, and chiefly resided there until November 1784; but he was also rector of St. John Baptist, Gloucester, and vicar of St. Aldate's (probably from 1768). He died 29 June 1787. He published, besides a sermon (Gloucester, 1760): 1. ‘Another Dissertation on the Mutual Support of Trade and Civil Liberty, addressed to the Author of the former’ [W. Weston, fellow of St. John's, Cambridge], London, 1756. 2. ‘The Influence of the Improvement of Life on the Moral Principles,’ Cambridge, 1758.
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Newton, Francis Milner

​NEWTON, FRANCIS MILNER (1720–1794), portrait-painter and royal academician, born in London in 1720, was son of Edward Newton by the elder daughter of Smart Goodenough of Barton Grange, Corfe, near Taunton, Somerset. Newton was a pupil of Marcus Tuscher, a German artist residing in England, and was also a student at the drawing academy in St. Martin's Lane. He was prominent among the artists who desired to establish a national academy of art, and who drew up in October 1753 an abortive prospectus of such a scheme. In 1755 a committee of artists was formed for a similar purpose, and Newton was appointed secretary, with no better success. A more successful meeting of artists was held at the Turk's Head tavern on 12 Nov. 1759, when Newton again acted as secretary. This resulted in the first exhibition held by the artists of Great Britain in the gallery of the Society of Arts, to which Newton contributed a portrait. In 1761 a schism took place among the artists exhibiting, and Newton joined the seceding body, who exhibited at Spring Gardens, and afterwards obtained a charter as ‘The Incorporated Society of Artists,’ in 1765, when Newton was again appointed secretary. In 1768 a further schism took place, which resulted in the ejectment of some of the directors and the secretary, Newton, from the Incorporated Society. The excluded artists formed themselves into a new society, and by obtaining the patronage of the king, George III, brought about the foundation of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768, under the presidency of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Newton was elected the first secretary. He contributed portraits to the exhibitions of the Society of Artists and to the Royal Academy, but his works have little merit. When the Royal Academy was established in Somerset House, Newton was allotted rooms there, which he held until 1788, when he resigned the post of secretary, and was succeeded by Francis Inigo Richards [q. v.] A silver cup was presented by the council to Newton on his retirement, and his portrait is among those drawn by G. Dance (engraved by W. Daniell) and preserved in the library of the Royal Academy. Newton had a house at Hammersmith for some years. He was appointed by his cousin, Goodenough Earle, who had inherited the Barton Grange property, guardian to Earle's only daughter, with the reversion of the property. On the latter's death Newton inherited the property and retired to Barton Grange, where he resided for the rest of his life. He died there on 14 Aug. 1794, and was buried at Corfe. He left an only child, Josepha Sophia, who married first, Colonel Clifton Wheat (d. 1807) secondly, Sir Frederick Grey Cooper, bart. (d. 1840), and on her death, without issue, in 1848, bequeathed the Barton Grange property to a cousin, Francis Wheat Newton, esq.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Sandby's Hist. of the Royal Academy; Pye's Patronage of Art; Catalogues of the Royal Academy and the Society of Artists; information kindly supplied by Francis Wheat Newton, esq.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ponsonby, Henry

​PONSONBY, HENRY (d. 1745), of Ashgrove, major-general, was the second son of Sir William Ponsonby by Mary, sister of Brabazon Moore, of the family of Charles, second viscount Moore of Drogheda [q. v.] His father, third son of Sir John Ponsonby, who accompanied Cromwell to Ireland in 1649 as colonel of a regiment of horse, sat in the Irish parliament as member for co. Kilkenny in Anne's reign, was called to the privy council in 1715, and was raised to the peerage of Ireland as Baron Bessborough in 1721. In the preamble of his patent his services as a soldier during the siege of Derry are particularly mentioned. He was made Viscount Duncannon in 1723, and died on 17 Nov. 1724 at the age of sixty-seven.
Henry Ponsonby was made a captain of foot on 2 Aug. 1705, and became colonel of a regiment (afterwards the 37th or North Hampshire) on 13 May 1735. He represented Fethard in the Irish parliament in November 1715, and afterwards sat for Clonmeen, Inistioge, and Newtown. In February 1742, when Great Britain was preparing to take part in the war of the Austrian succession, he was made brigadier, and in April he embarked for Flanders with the force under Lord Stair. He was present at Dettingen, and was promoted major-general in July 1743. At the battle of Fontenoy on 11 May 1745, as one of the major-generals of the first line, he was at the head of the first battalion of the 1st footguards, and therefore in the forefront of the famous charge made by the British and Hanoverian infantry. He was in the act of handing over his ring and watch to his son, Chambré-Brabazon, a lieutenant in his own regiment, when he was killed by a cannon-shot. By his wife, Lady Frances Brabazon, youngest daughter of the fifth Earl of Meath, he left one son and one daughter.
E. M. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Neville, William de

​NEVILLE, Sir WILLIAM de (d. 1389?), lollard, descended from Robert de Neville, second baron Neville of Raby (d. 1282), was the sixth child and fifth son of ​Ralph de Neville, fourth baron Neville of Raby (1291?–1367), and his wife Alice, daughter of Sir Hugh Audley (Selby, Genealogist, iii. 107); Edmondson erroneously makes him the second son (Segar, Baron. Genealog. iv. 350). His elder brothers, Alexander, archbishop of York [q. v.], and John, fifth baron Neville of Raby (d. 1388) [q. v.], are separately noticed. In 1369 William is described as of Fencotes, Yorkshire, and received letters of protection on going abroad in the king's service; on 7 March 1372 he was appointed admiral of the fleet from the Thames northwards, but before the end of the year was again abroad, having appointed deputies to command the fleet during his absence. In the same year he joined William de Montacute, second earl of Salisbury [q. v.], and, sailing from Cornwall, landed in Brittany and relieved the castle of Brest, where his elder brother John was besieged by the French. In 1383 he was commissioned to treat for peace with both France and Scotland. In the same year he appears as a knight of the king's chamber, constable of Nottingham Castle, a friend of Wiclif, and one of the chief supporters of the lollard movement (Walsingham, Hist. Angl. ii. 159, and Ypodigma Neustriæ, p. 348; Capgrave, Chronicle, p. 245; Chron. Mon. S. Albani, p. 377; Stubbs, Const. Hist. iii. 31; Foxe, Acts and Mon. iii. 56); according to Edmondson he was gentleman of the king's bedchamber. In 1388 he was guarding certain prisoners, probably some of the king's friends who had in the previous year been charged with treason; he was evidently an adherent of the appellants, and from August to December 1389 attended the meetings of the privy council. His name does not appear after 1389, in which year he may have died. His wife's name was Elizabeth. Both Neville and his wife received bequests from his brother John (cf. will quoted in Rowland, Hist. of the Nevills, p. 16).
A. F. P.