OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dodd, Philip Stanhope

​DODD, PHILIP STANHOPE (1775–1852), divine, son of the Rev. Richard Dodd, rector of Cowley, Middlesex, author of a translation of Formey's ‘Ecclesiastical History,’ who died in 1811, was born in 1775. He was educated at Tunbridge School, and having entered Magdalene College, Cambridge, was elected a fellow, and proceeded B.A. in 1796, and M.A. in 1799. In 1798 he published anonymously ‘Hints to Freshmen, from a Member of the University of Cambridge,’ of which the third edition was printed in 1807. In early life he was for some years curate of Camberwell, Surrey, which appointment he exchanged in 1803 for the ministry of Lambeth Chapel, retaining the afternoon lecture at Camberwell. ​In 1806 he was chaplain to the lord mayor, Sir William Leighton, and published five sermons preached in that capacity. The fourth of these, on ‘The Lawfulness of Judicial Oaths and on Perjury,’ preached at St. Paul's Cathedral 31 May 1807, produced ‘A Reply to so much of a sermon by Philip Dodd as relates to the scruples of the Quakers against all swearing. By Joseph Gurney Bevan.’ He was rewarded for his civic services by the valuable rectory of St. Mary-at-Hill in the city of London in 1807, where he was one of the most popular divines of the metropolis.
In 1812 he was presented by his college to the sinecure rectory of Aldrington in Sussex, the church of which had been destroyed. Sir J. S. Sidney, bart., in 1819 gave him the rectory of Penshurst, Kent, worth 766l. per annum, which was his last church preferment. In 1837 he wrote ‘A View of the Evidence afforded by the life and ministry of St. Paul to the truth of the Christian Revelation.’ He died at Penshurst Rectory 22 March 1852, aged 77. He married Martha, daughter of Colonel Wilson of Chelsea College.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dodd, Ralph

​DODD, RALPH (1756–1822), civil engineer, appears to have been born in 1756 in London, and after receiving the ordinary routine education he studied practical mechanical engineering, and devoted much of his attention to architecture. The earliest published work by which Dodd is known is his ‘Account of the principal Canals in the known World, with reflections on the great utility of Canals,’ which was published in London in 1795. Shortly after this he was engaged in projecting a dry tunnel from Gravesend in Kent to Tilbury in Essex. He endeavoured to demonstrate in a pamphlet which he circulated the practicability of this undertaking and the great importance of it to the two counties and to the nation at large. In 1798 he proposed to construct a canal from near Gravesend to Strood. In 1799 he published ‘Letters on the Improvement of the Port of London without making Wet Docks,’ but there is no evidence that those letters led to the adoption of any of his schemes. In 1805 he was giving great attention to the water supply of London, and in connection with this subject he published ‘Observations on Water, with a recommendation of a more convenient and extensive supply of Thames water to the metropolis and its vicinity, as a just means to counteract pestilential or pernicious vapours.’ Many striking facts were recorded in this work, and several remedies of the disgraceful state of things which then existed are recommended. The time, however, was not yet ripe enough for their adoption.
In 1815 he issued his ‘Practical Observations on the Dry Rot in Timber.’ He was a promoter of steam navigation. Dodd was injured by the bursting of a steam vessel at Gloucester. He was advised to go to Cheltenham for his health, and from want of means went on foot. He died the day after reaching Cheltenham, 11 April 1822, when only 2l. 5s. was found on his body. He left a widow, a son, George Dodd [q. v.], and two other children.
R. H-t.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dumbreck, David

​DUMBRECK, Sir DAVID (1805–1876), army medical officer, the only son of Thomas Dumbreck, collector of inland revenue at Glasgow, by Elizabeth, youngest daughter of David Sutherland of the same service, was born in Aberdeenshire in 1805 and educated at the university of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.D. in 1830, having previously, in 1825, passed as a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. He entered the army as a hospital assistant on 3 Nov. 1825, became assistant surgeon in 1826, surgeon in 1841, surgeon-major in 1847, and deputy inspector-general on 28 March 1854. Prior to the breaking out of hostilities with Russia he was despatched on a special mission early in 1854 to the expected seat of war, and traversed on his mission Servia, Bulgaria, and part of Roumelia, crossing the Balkans on his route. He was subsequently for a short time principal medical officer with the army, and served with it in the field as senior deputy inspector-general, and was present in this capacity and attached to headquarters at the time of the affair of Bulganac, the Alma, capture of Balaklava, battles of Balaklava and Inkerman, and siege of Sebastopol. His rewards were a medal with four clasps, the fourth class of the Medjidie, and the Turkish medal. He was gazetted C.B. on 4 Feb. 1856, became K.C.B. on 20 May 1871, and was named honorary physician to the Queen on 21 Nov. 1865. On 19 July 1859 he was promoted to be an inspector-general of the medical department, and on 1 May in the following year was placed on half-pay and received a special pension for distinguished services. He died at 34 Via Montebello, Florence, on 24 Jan. 1876, and his will was proved on 21 March under 12,000l. He married, on 27 Feb. 1844, Elizabeth Campbell, only daughter of George Gibson of Leith.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dun, Finlay

​DUN, FINLAY (1795–1853), musician, was born at Aberdeen, 24 Feb. 1795. He was educated at the Perth grammar school and at Edinburgh University, but, his musical tastes developing, went to Paris, where he studied the violin under Baillot. He next went to Milan, and afterwards accepted an engagement as first viola player in the orchestra of the San Carlo Theatre at Naples. Either at Paris or Milan he had lessons from Mirecki, and at Naples he made the acquaintance of Crescentini, with whom he studied singing. On returning to Scotland Dun settled at Edinburgh, where he spent the remainder of his life, occupied in teaching the violin, composition, and singing. He published a collection of solfeggi with an introduction on vocal expression in 1829, but his name is best known by the collections of Scotch songs which he edited. He was also the composer of two symphonies (neither of which was published), of several glees and ​songs, and some unimportant dance music. He died suddenly at Edinburgh, 28 Nov. 1853.
W. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dunbar, Robert Nugent

​DUNBAR, ROBERT NUGENT (d. 1866), poet, lived many years in the Antilles and elsewhere in the West Indies. He recorded his impressions of the scenery and romance of the Western Archipelago in sundry volumes of verse, which contain a good many reminiscences of Byron and Moore. The notes are worth reading. The titles of his poems are: 1. ‘The Cruise; or, a Prospect of the West Indian Archipelago: a Tropical Sketch, with Notes, Historical and Illustrative,’ 8vo, London, 1835. 2. ‘The Caraguin: a Tale of the Antilles,’ 8vo, London, 1837. 3. ‘Indian Hours; or Passion and Poetry of the Tropics. Comprising the Nuptials of Barcelona and the Music Shell,’ 8vo, London, 1839. ‘The Nuptials of Barcelona’ was afterwards published separately, 8vo, London, 1851. 4. ‘Beauties of Tropical Scenery; Lyrical Sketches, and Love-Songs. With Notes, Historical and Illustrative,’ 8vo, London, 1862; 2nd edit. 8vo, London, 1864; 3rd edit., with additions, 8vo, London, 1866. Dunbar was also the author of a slight piece, ‘Garibaldi at the Opera of “Masaniello,”’ 8vo, London, 1864. As long ago as 1817 he had mourned the death of the Princess Charlotte in ‘The Lament of Britannia,’ 8vo, London. He died at Paris in 1866.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dunbar, George

​DUNBAR, GEORGE (1774–1851), classical scholar, the child of humble parents, was born at Coldingham in Berwickshire in 1774. He was employed in youth as a gardener, but was incapacitated from manual labour by a fall from a tree. Dunbar then had the good fortune to attract the notice of a neighbouring proprietor, who aided him to acquire a classical education. About the beginning of the nineteenth century he went to Edinburgh, and was employed as tutor in the family of Lord-provost Fettes. Within a few months he was selected as assistant to Andrew Dalzel, the professor of Greek at the university, and on the death of the latter in 1806 was appointed his successor, when he received the degree of M.A. from the university (February 1807). Dunbar filled the Greek chair until his death, though in his later years his duties were performed by a substitute, Mr. Kirkpatrick. He was twice married, and died at Rose Park, Edinburgh, on 6 Dec. 1851.
As a classical scholar Dunbar did not leave behind him a very enduring reputation, and the bulk of his work has but little permanent value. His industry, however, was very great. He completed a Greek grammar left unfinished by Dalzel (‘Elementa Linguæ Græcæ,’ pt. i. by Professor Moor of Glasgow, published 1806, pt. ii. by Dalzel and Dunbar, published 1814, Edin. and London), and added a third volume to Dalzel's ‘Collectanea Græca Majora’ (London, 1820). On his own account he published an edition of Herodotus, with Latin notes, ‘Herodotus cum annotationibus’ (7 vols. Edin. 1806–7); ‘Prosodia Græca’ (Edin. 1815); ‘Analecta Græca Minora’ (London, 1821); a very foolish ‘Inquiry into the Structure and Affinity of the Greek and Latin Languages … with an appendix in which the derivation of the Sanskrit from the Greek is endeavoured to be established’ (London, 1827); ‘Exercises on the Greek Language’ (Edin. 1832); ‘Elements of the Greek Language’ (Edin. 1834, 2nd ed. 1846); ‘Greek Prosody’ (Edin. 1843); ‘Extracts from Greek Authors’ (Edin. 1844). Dunbar's best work was the compilation of lexicons. In conjunction with E. H. Barker [q. v.] he wrote a ‘Greek and English and English and Greek Lexicon’ (Edin. 1831), which was well received. His own ‘Greek and English and English and Greek Lexicon’ (Edin., 1st ed. 1840, 2nd ed. 1844, 3rd ed. 1850) was the result of eight years' labour, with very considerable assistance from Dr. Francis Adams [q. v.] It is a carefully arranged and thorough piece of research, but is now practically superseded.
L. C. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dunbar, James

​DUNBAR, JAMES, LL.D. (d. 1798), philosophical writer, was educated at King's College, Aberdeen, of which he was elected a ‘regent’ in 1766, and in that capacity he taught moral philosophy there for thirty years. He published: 1. ‘De Primordiis Civitatum Oratio in qua agitur de Bello Civili inter Magnam Britanniam et Colonias nunc flagrante,’ London, 1779, 4to. 2. ‘Essays on the History of Mankind in rude and uncultivated ages,’ London, 1780, 8vo; 2nd edition 1781. The latter work deals with such topics as the ‘Primeval Form of society,’ ‘Language as an Universal Accomplishment,’ ‘The Criterion of a Polished Tongue,’ ‘The Hereditary Genius of Nations.’ Dunbar was in favour of the amalgamation of King's College with Marischal College. He died in his rooms at King's College on 28 May 1798.
J. M. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Barton, John (15th cent.)

​BARTON, JOHN (15th cent.), writer on Lollardy, appears to have flourished in the reign of Henry V, to whom he dedicated his 'Confutatio Lollardorum.' A manuscript copy of this work is preserved in the library of All Souls' College, Oxford, written in a hand which Mr. Coxe assigns to the fifteenth century. Other manuscripts of this author are mentioned by Tanner, who apparently would identify him with a certain John Barton, Esq., buried in St. Martin's Church, Ludgate, 1439; but there does not appear to be any valid ground for this identification. Tanner says that he was possibly chancellor of Oxford; but for this statement likewise he fails to give any authority, and it is better to be content with Barton's own description of himself, as quoted by Bale—'plain John Barton, the physician.'
[Tanner; Coxe's Catalogue, All Souls', ii. 13.]
T. A. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bartolozzi, Gaetano Stefano

​BARTOLOZZI, GAETANO STEFANO (1757–1821), engraver, the son of Francesco Bartolozzi [q. v.], was born in Rome in 1757, and inherited some of his father's talent, but his indolent disposition and Bohemian proclivities eventually marred his life. He was passionately fond of music, to which he devoted most of his time, to the neglect of his business as a printseller, so that he became involved in difficulties, and was obliged to sell his stock of prints, drawings, and copperplates, by auction at Christie's in 1797. He then went to Paris and opened a musical and fencing academy, which enabled him for some years to maintain a good position; but he afterwards drifted into poverty. His engravings are but few in number; they comprise portraits of Madame Récamier, after Cosway, and of Mrs. Rudd, who was tried for forgery in 1775, as well as six plates for the ‘British Gallery of Contemporary Portraits,’ 1822, and a study of a nude female figure, from a drawing by Annibale Carracci, for Ottley's ‘Italian School of Design.’ He died in London on 25 Aug. 1821. Madame Vestris, the celebrated comic actress, was his daughter.
R. E. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Barton, Charles

​BARTON, CHARLES (1768–1843), legal writer, was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1795, and practised as a conveyancer. He died at Cheltenham on 18 Nov. 1843, aged 75. His principal publications are: 1. 'Historical Treatise of a Suit in Equity,' 1796. 2. 'Elements of Conveyancing,' 6 vols., 1802—5, 2nd ed. 1821-2. 3. 'Original Precedents in Conveyancing.' 5 vols., 1807-10. 4. 'Practical Dissertations on Conveyancing,' 1828.
[Gent. Mag., new ser., xxii. 215; Clarke's Bibl. Legum. 213, 214, 244; Sweet's Cat. of Law Books (1883), 21; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors (1816), 16.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bartlot, Richard

​BARTLOT, RICHARD (1471–1557), physician, was a fellow of All Souls' College, and took the degree of M.B. at Oxford in 1501, and supplicated for that of M.D. in 1508. He was the first fellow admitted into the College of Physicians after its foundation in 1518, and he was president in 1527, 1528, 1531, 1548. He lived in Blackfriars, and was buried in the church of St. Bartholomew the Great. Dr. Caius, as president, with the whole college attended his funeral. He had considerable landed property, and endowed All Souls with his estate at Edgware, and left the foundation some plate at his death. His name is variously written Bartlet and Barthlet.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Coppinger, Edmund

​COPPINGER, EDMUND (d. 1592), fanatic, is described as ‘descended of a good house and linage, and one of her Maiestie's sworne servants, but a yonger brother, having no great livelihood’ (Cosin, Conspiracie for Pretended Reformation, 1592). With a Yorkshire gentleman, Henry Arthington, he championed the claims of the notorious religious enthusiast, William Hacket, who had a wild scheme for abolishing bishops and deposing Queen Elizabeth. Hacket proclaimed himself to be the Messiah, and Coppinger joined Arthington in holding a demonstration (in Cheapside) to support the impostor's claim. The three men were thrown into prison. Hacket was hanged on 28 July 1592; Coppinger died eight days afterwards from voluntary starvation; Arthington repented of his errors and was pardoned. The affair caused considerable excitement.
[Cosin's Pretended Reformation, 1592; Stow's Annales, ed. Howes, 1615, pp. 760–1; Fuller's Church History, book ix.]
A. H. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Corbet, Clement

​CORBET, CLEMENT (d. 1652), civilian, was the sixth son of Sir Miles Corbet of Sprowston, Norfolk, who was high sheriff of that county in 1591, by Katherine, daughter of Sir Christopher Heydon (Visitation of Norfolk in 1563, ed. Dashwood, i. 35). He was admitted a scholar of Trinitv Hall, Cambridge, on 7 Dec. 1592, took the degree of ​LL.B. in 1598, was elected a fellow of his college on 10 Dec. the same year, and was created LL.D. in 1605. In May 1607 he was chosen professor of law at Gresham College, London, and he occupied that chair till November 1613 (Ward, Lives of the Gresham Professors, with the Author's MS. Notes, p. 238). On the death of Dr. John Cowell he was elected to succeed him in the mastership of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 12 Oct. 1611, being at that time chancellor of the diocese of Chichester (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, iii. 679). On 9 May 1612 he was admitted a member of the College of Advocates at Doctors' Commons (Coote, English Civilians, p. 71). He was vice-chancellor of Cambridge in 1613-14 (Addit. MS. 5866, f. 34). In 1625 he was appointed vicar-general and principal official to the bishop of Norwich, and the following year he resigned the mastership of Trinity Hall (Le Neve, Fasti, ii. 496). He died on 28 May 1652, and was buried in the chancel of Belaugh church, Norfolk, where a monument, with a Latin inscription, was erected to his memory (Le Neve, Monumenta Anglicana, Suppl. p. 10, No. 21; Blomefield, Norfolk, ed. 1808, viii. 189). By his wife Elizabeth Kemp, he had one son, Samuel, and five daughters. The portrait of him which is preserved in the master's lodge at Trinity Hall was bequeathed to that society by Thomas Baker the antiquary (Addit. MS. 5807, ff. 110b, 111).
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Coppock, James

​COPPOCK, JAMES (1798–1857), electioneering agent, born at Stockport on 2 Sept. 1798, was the eldest son of William Coppock, mercer, of that town. He was educated at the school of the Rev. Mr. Higginson, unitarian minister of Stockport, and, after serving an apprenticeship to his father's business, was placed as a clerk with a wholesale haberdasher in London. He afterwards ventured a small capital as a partner in a silk firm, but, owing to commercial disasters following on the French revolution of 1830, he lost all. He married in 1829. After careful consideration he resolved to enter the legal profession, and in 1832 articled himself to a solicitor in Furnival's Inn. He was admitted on the roll of attorneys in 1836. He had always been an active politician, and on the occurrence of the first election for Finsbury after the Reform Act of 1832 he took a prominent part in the contest. After the second general election under the act, on the formation of a county registration society by the liberal party, with branches throughout England, Coppock was appointed secretary, with a residence in the society's rooms at 3 Cleveland Row, St. James's. These rooms were the rendezvous of agents and solicitors from all parts of the country, and from his rapid decision and sound judgment Coppock quickly became a power in politics. When, a few years later, the society's operations ceased, he took the lease of the premises in Cleveland Row, and established himself as a solicitor and parliamentary agent. From this time forward there was scarcely a contested return before the House of Commons in which he had not an active interest. The coolness and daring with which he fought his opponents with their own weapons have become proverbial. He helped to establish the London Reform Club, and was elected an honorary life member and appointed solicitor. Although in his day no man was a fiercer partisan, Coppock was respected by friend and foe. In the August before his death he received the appointment of county court treasurer, but business, both private and public, of a harassing nature accumulated, and the strain of overwork was too great. He died at his house in Cleveland Row on 19 Dec. 1857. Well-executed and excellent portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Coppock (lithographs) were published in London in 1850.
[Stockport Advertiser, 23 Dec. 1857; Times, 21 Dec. 1857; private information.]
A. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Copsi

​COPSI, COPSIGE, or COXO, Earl of Northumberland (d. 1067), a thegn noted for his wisdom in council, administered the government of Northumberland under Tostig, the earl, at the time of the Northumbrian revolt of 1065. He lost office at the deposition of his master, and may have shared his banishment, for he is said to have taken part in Tostig's expedition against England in the spring of 1066. After the coronation of William the Conqueror, Copsi, like the other northern lords, made his submission to the new king at Barking. When William was about to visit Normandy, he granted Copsi the earldom of Bernicia, or Northumberland north of the Tyne. This grant involved the deposition of Oswulf, the descendant of the ancient earls. By thus appointing a native as his lieutenant, William hoped to gain the obedience of the yet unconquered north, while Copsi probably looked on his appointment by the Norman king simply as a means of self-aggrandisement. Having gathered an army, he marched northwards and dispossessed Oswulf, who was forced to betake himself to the forests and mountains. Before long, however, the banished earl formed a band of men, like himself of broken fortunes, and came upon Copsi unawares while he was feasting at Newburn on 12 March 1067. The earl fled for refuge to the nearest church. Oswulf's men set the church on fire, and so forced Copsi to come forth. When he came to the door, Oswulf cut off his head. The Normans, who called him ‘Coxo,’ made a hero of him, and William of Poictiers speaks in warm terms of the nobility of his birth and of his fidelity to the king, declaring that his men pressed him to side with his own people against the Conqueror, and that his death was the consequence of his faithfulness. He gave several gifts of land to the church of Durham, and a silver cup, which was there in the time of the writer of the Durham history.
[Symeon's Hist. de Dunelm. Eccl. 37, Historia regum, 204 (Twysden); William of Poictiers, 148, 158 (Giles); Orderic, 506 (Duchesne); Gaimar, 5164 (Mon. Hist. Brit.); Dugdale's Monasticon, i. 235; Freeman's Norman Conquest, ii. 484, iv. 21, 76, 107, 741–4.]
W. H.