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

​GISBORNE, MARIA (1770–1836), friend of Shelley, daughter of an English merchant at Constantinople named James, was born in 1770, apparently in England. When she was eight years old, her mother, who had been left in poverty, resolved to rejoin her husband, and sailed for Constantinople, where she was not welcome. James persuaded her to return to England by the promise of an annuity, but had his daughter stolen and concealed until her mother's departure. He then brought her up carefully. She showed a talent for painting, and grew up a beautiful and accomplished woman. Jeremy Bentham met her at her father's house in 1785, accompanied her on the violin, and said that she was the only woman he had met who could keep time. She soon afterwards married William Reveley, an architect who had been travelling in Greece to make sketches for Sir Richard Worsley. He contributed views in the Levant to the Museum Worsleyanum (1794), and in 1794 edited the third volume of James Stuart's 'Antiquities of Athens.' The marriage was imprudent; and the Reveleys returned to England, where they lived on an income of 140l. a year. She was the mother of two children before she was twenty. Reveley was a strong liberal, and became a friend of William Godwin and Holcroft. About 1791 Reveley received his first professional fee as an architect, 10l., for giving some help to Bentham in his Panopticon scheme (see Bentham, Works, iv. 78, 80, 83). Reveley died on 6 July 1799 from the rupture of a blood-vessel on the brain. Within a month Mrs. Reveley received an offer of marriage from Godwin, whose children she had taken into her house upon the death of the first Mrs. Godwin. She refused Godwin, and in May 1800 married John Gisborne. Gisborne had been in some commercial pursuit. They went to Rome in 1801, and took with them her son, Henry Willey Reveley, who was educated in Italy, became an engineer, married a sister of Copley Fielding, the painter, in 1824, and settled in Cape Town, and ultimately in Western Australia. The Gisbornes were living at Leghorn about 1815, where Gisborne tried to set up a business, and upon its failure settled down as a quiet student. They paid occasional visits to England, during one of which, in 1820, Shelley wrote his beautiful 'Letter to Maria Gisborne.' The Shelleys were known to them through the Godwins, and Mrs. Gisborne introduced Shelley to Calderon. The Gisbornes afterwards returned to England and settled at Plymouth. Mr. Gisborne was buried there 16 Jan. 1836, and Mrs. Gisborne on 23 April following.
L. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gisborne, Thomas (1794-1852)

​GISBORNE, THOMAS, the younger (1794–1852), politician, born 1794, was the eldest son of Thomas Gisborne [q. v.], prebendary of Durham, by Mary, daughter of Thomas Babington, of Rothley Temple, Leicestershire. He was a country gentleman of a good estate and interested in business at Manchester. He was elected for Stafford in 1830, and again in 1831, as a supporter of the Reform Bill. In the first reformed parliament he represented the northern division of Derbyshire, and was re-elected in 1835. In 1837 he lost his seat; but in 1839 he stood for Carlow, and, though beaten at the poll, was seated on petition. In 1841 he stood unsuccessfully for South Leicestershire, but in 1843 was elected for the town of Nottingham. He was a staunch whig or radical; supported the ballot, the abolition of church rates, and the extension of the suffrage; but was most conspicuous as a supporter of the free trade agitation. He was a vigorous speaker, with much humour. He died 20 July 1852 at Yoxall Lodge, Staffordshire. He published some speeches and pamphlets; and in 1854 appeared four ‘Essays on Agriculture,’ of which three had already appeared in the ‘Quarterly Review’ (Nos. 168, 171, 173). By his first wife, Elizabeth Fysche, daughter of John Palmer, who died 20 June 1823, he had four children, Thomas Guy, Henry Fysche, Thomas Bowdler, and Elizabeth Maria. In 1826 he married Susan, widow of Francis Dukinfield Astley, by whom he had no children.
[Gent. Mag. 1852, ii. 315.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gisborne, Thomas (d.1806)

​GISBORNE, THOMAS, M.D. (d. 1806), president of the College of Physicians, was the second of the three sons of James Gisborne (d. 1759), rector of Staveley, Derbyshire, and prebendary of Durham, by Anne his wife (will of Rev. James Gisborne, registered in P. C. C. 326, Arran). Gisborne was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, of which society he was admitted a fellow. He proceeded B.A. in 1747, M.A. in 1751, and M.D. in 1758. On 24 Jan. 1757 he was elected physician to St. George's Hospital, an office which he resigned in 1781. He was admitted a candidate of the College of Physicians on 30 Sept. 1758, and a fellow on 1 Oct. 1759. He delivered the Gulstonian lectures in 1760, was censor in 1760, 1768, 1771, 1775, 1780, and 1783, elect on 28 June 1781, and president in 1791; again in 1794, and from 1796 to 1803. Gisborne was also physician in ordinary to the king. He was elected F.R.S. on 16 Nov. 1758 (Thomas Thomson, Hist. of Roy. Soc. Appendix iv. p. xlix). He died at Romiley in Stockport, Cheshire, on 24 Feb. 1806 (Gent. Mag. vol. lxxvi. pt. i. p. 287). He was at the time the senior fellow of St. John's College.
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gladstanes, John

​GLADSTANES, JOHN, LL.D. (d. 1574), advocate, is first mentioned on 21 Feb. 1533, at which date he was designated ‘M. Johannes Gladstanes, licentiatus utroque jure.’ In 1534 there was a James Gladstanes of Coklaw, an estate with a defensible tower in Roxburghshire, which had been possessed by the family for many previous generations. It is averred that John Gladstanes was a member of the Coklaw family, and his mother was a Fraser; but circumstances rather indicate the upper ward of Lanarkshire as the locality of his birth. Among the students incorporated in the university of St. Andrews in 1506 appears the name of ‘Johannes Gledstains,’ among determinants in 1507 ‘Johannes Gledstanys,’ and among licentiates in 1509 ‘Johannes Gledstains.’ There is little doubt that the future lord of session is indicated in these references. In 1533 he was a young man, and with his cousin, Robert Fraser, applied to the council for a passport to spend some time in France and elsewhere. It was declared under the great seal that both young men were well born, and belonged to ancient and honourable families.
Gladstanes was in practice as an advocate early in 1534. At a sitting of the lords of session on 2 March that year, it was decided, in compliance with a royal letter, to appoint a new official, to be called ‘Advocatus Pauperum.’ He was to swear that he would act for the king's lieges who should prove that they were too poor to afford a lawsuit. This advocate was to have 10l. yearly from the king's treasurer. The court thereupon chose Master Thomas Marjoribanks and Master John Gladstanes conjunctly and severally to be advocates for all the poor. On 27 April 1535, in consequence of another royal letter, it was arranged that Friday in each week should be set apart for the poor, as they could not afford to be kept long in waiting. On 23 March 1536 Gladstanes appears as witness to a document at Dundee.
In the sederunt on 30 Sept. 1546 Gladstanes appears for the first time as a lord of session. On that day he was appointed their procurator, to receive certain dues from the prelates. On 1 and 4 Feb. 1549 the accounts were audited; a sum of 40l. was available for each of the judges, and a surplus of 17l. 7s. 10d. was divided equally between the king's advocate and Gladstanes. As a gift from the court Gladstanes likewise obtained the arrears of the contribution due by the minister of Failford, Ayrshire, superior of the Trinity or Red Friars. He died without issue in April 1574, leaving to a nephew some oxgates of land in Quothquam, Lanarkshire.
J. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gladwin, Francis

​GLADWIN, FRANCIS (d. 1813?), orientalist, served in the Bengal army. His devotion to oriental literature drew upon him the attention of Warren Hastings, who warmly encouraged the opening of the intellectual world of Asia to European research. In 1783–6 Gladwin, under this influence, published his translation of a portion of the encyclopædic work of Abul Fazl Allámi, under the title of ‘Ayeen Akbery; or the Institutes of the Emperor Akber.’ The work, warmly recommended to the patronage of the court of directors by the governor-general, was brought out in Calcutta in three volumes 4to. In 1785 Hastings established the still existing Asiatic Society of Bengal, of which Gladwin was a member. In 1788 he published a ‘History of Hindostan’ (Calcutta, 1 vol. 4to), and in the same year a translation of the ‘Narrative of Transactions in Bengal’ during the viceroyships of Azim-us-Shán and Ala Vardi Khán. From this time Gladwin continued to bring out numerous translations from Persian writers, and several grammatical works and vocabularies, the last being a Persian-Hindustani-English dictionary which appeared in 1809. In 1801 he was appointed a professor in the college of Fort William, established by the Marquis Wellesley, for the better instruction of young gentlemen appointed to the Indian civil service. Next year he presented the college press with new founts of oriental types; but in May of that year (1802) he was transferred to Patna as collector of customs. Here he appears to have passed the remainder of his days. In 1808 he was promoted to be commissary resident at Patna, an office of which the precise nature cannot now be ascertained. There is no publication of Gladwin's later in date than 1809; his estate was administered to in 1813.
Gladwin was not a great scholar, but displayed singular ardour and devotion. In the preface to his ‘Gulistán,’ 1806, he speaks of his desire to furnish the college of Fort William with a collection of the best ‘Persian Classicks,’ which he intended to print in eight quarto volumes. There were to be careful editions of the texts, with biographies, criticisms, notes, and indices. A part only of this task was fulfilled. Some of the letters addressed by Gladwin to Warren Hastings are in Brit. Mus. MS. Addit. 29168–70, 29170, 29179.
H. G. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gisborne, John

​GISBORNE, JOHN (1770–1851), poet, son of John Gisborne, and younger brother of Thomas Gisborne (1758–1846) [q. v.], was born at St. Helen's, Derby, 26 Aug. 1770. He was educated at Harrow and St. John's, Cambridge (1788), where he graduated B.A. in 1792. In the same year he married Millicent Pole, daughter of Colonel Chandos-Pole of Radbourne, and went to live at Wootton Hall, Derbyshire. In 1815 he moved to Blackpool on account of his wife's health, and afterwards shifted his residence constantly, partly on account of pecuniary losses. Gisborne had a keen eye for nature, and was complimented by Wordsworth upon his descriptions of scenery, but his modesty induced him to destroy this and all other letters of congratulation on the publication of his works. His piety caused him to be called the ‘Man of Prayer.’ At Blackpool and elsewhere he exerted himself actively for the welfare of the inhabitants, and did much for the prosperity of Blackpool. His geniality, humility, and sympathy made him univer​sally popular as a country gentleman. He died at Pentrich in Derbyshire on 17 June 1851, leaving a widow and several grown-up sons and daughters. His principal works are: 1. 'The Vales of Wever,' written during his residence at Wootton Hall and published in London, 1797. 2. 'Reflections,' a poem written and published during his residence at Darley Dale between 1818 and 1835. He also kept a diary showing strong religious sentiments, from which extracts have been published.
R. M. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ladbrooke, Robert

​LADBROOKE, ROBERT (1768–1842), landscape-painter, born in a humble position at Norwich in 1768, was apprenticed when very young to an artist and printer named White, and for some years worked as a journeyman printer. While so engaged he made the acquaintance of John Crome [q. v.], then a lad of about his own age, who was working for a house- and sign-painter, and having congenial tastes they became fast friends, living together, and devoting all their spare time to sketching and copying. They married, early, two sisters of the name of Berney, and for two years worked in partnership, Ladbrooke painting portraits and Crome landscapes, which they sold for very small sums. Subsequently Ladbrooke also turned to landscape-painting, in which he was highly successful. Crome and Ladbrooke took a leading part in the establishment of the celebrated Norwich Society of Artists in ​1803, and to its first exhibition in 1805 the latter contributed fourteen works. In 1808, when Crome became president, Ladbrooke was elected vice-president. In 1816 he, with Stannard, Thirtle, and a few other members, having ineffectually urged a modification of some of the rules, seceded from the society, and started a rival exhibition, but this proved a failure, and was abandoned after three years. Between 1804 and 1815 Ladbrooke was an occasional exhibitor at the Royal Academy, and up to 1822 at the British Institution. He engaged successfully in teaching, and was able to retire with a competence many years before his death. He died at his house on Scoles' Green, Norwich, on 11 Oct. 1842.
Ladbrooke was a clever painter, chiefly of views of Norfolk scenery; but his reputation has never been more than local. He published aquatints of two of his pictures, ‘A View of the Fellmongers on the River near Bishop's Bridge’ and ‘A View of Norwich Castle.’ His ‘Views of the Churches of Norfolk,’ a series of over 650 lithographic plates, were published in five volumes in 1843. Two of Ladbrooke's sons were well-known artists.
Ladbrooke, Henry (1800–1870), the second son, was born at Norwich on 20 April 1800. He wished to enter the church, but at his father's desire adopted landscape-painting as a profession. He acquired some reputation, especially for his moonlight scenes, and exhibited occasionally at the British Institution and the Suffolk Street Gallery. He died on 18 Nov. 1870.
Ladbrooke, John Berney (1803–1879), Robert Ladbrooke's third son, was born in 1803. He became a pupil of John Crome (his uncle by marriage), whose manner he followed, and excelled in the representation of woodland scenery. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1821 and 1822, and frequently at the British Institution and the Suffolk Street Gallery up to 1873. He died at Mousehold, Norwich, on 11 July 1879.
[Norwich Mercury, 15 Oct. 1842; Wodderspoon's John Crome and his Works, 1876; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Royal Academy and British Institution Catalogues; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880; Times, 29 July 1879.]
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Laffan, Joseph de Courcy

​LAFFAN, Sir JOSEPH DE COURCY (1786–1848), physician, third son of Walter Laffan of Cashel, by Eleonora, daughter of Richard de Courcy, a distant relative of the family of Kinsale, was born at Cashel on 8 May 1786. His eldest brother was Robert Laffan (d. 1833), Roman catholic archbishop of Cashel, and Laffan himself was originally destined for the Roman catholic priesthood, and placed at the college of Maynooth. Leaving Maynooth, however, he proceeded to Edinburgh University, turned his attention to medicine, graduated M.D. on 24 June 1808, and was admitted L.R.C.P. 22 Dec. 1808, from which date until 1812 he prac​tised in Orchard Street, Portman Square. In October 1809 he proffered his services to the government in behalf of the fever-stricken troops lately returned from the Walcheren expedition. These were accepted, and the aptitude which Laffan showed for military practice led to his appointment in 1812 as physician to the forces. He served in Spain and Portugal during the latter part of the Peninsular war, and was eventually made physician in ordinary to the Duke of Kent. At the termination of the war he stayed at Paris, and practised there with brilliant success until desire for more rest led him to Rochester, where he remained until he was disabled by disease. After his retirement he settled at Otham in Kent. His successful treatment of an illness of the Duke of York, brother to George IV, led to his being created a baronet by patent dated 15 March 1828, and in 1836 he was also created a knight of the Hanoverian Guelphic order. He died at Vichy, in France, on 7 July 1848, in his sixty-third year. His body was brought to Rochester and interred in a vault in St. Margaret's Church. Laffan married in 1815 Jemima, daughter of Paul Pilcher of Rochester, and widow of a Colonel Symes, formerly English envoy at Ava in Burmah. He had no issue, and the title has become extinct. He devoted the greater part of his fortune to found a cancer ward for women in the Middlesex Hospital, and a full-length portrait of him is preserved in the hospital board-room.
[Gent. Mag. 1848, pt. ii. p. 318; Munk's Coll. of Phys. iii. 70–1; Pantheon of the Age, ii. 521; information kindly supplied by Lady Laffan and by the Rev. L. Lagier of Lausanne, who married a Miss Symes, Laffan's step-daughter.]
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lacy, Walter de (d.1085)

​LACY, WALTER de, first Baron Lacy by tenure (d. 1085), was sprung from a family settled at Lassy in the arrondissement of Vire in Normandy, and was a relative, perhaps a brother, of Ilbert de Lacy, ancestor of Roger de Lacy [q. v.] He is mentioned by Wace as fighting for the conqueror at Hastings (Roman de Rou, p. 220, ed. Taylor), and afterwards obtained a grant of lands in the Welsh marches. The principal estates of the Lacy family were at Ewyas Lacy, Stanton Lacy, and Weobley, and also included Ludlow Castle. Walter certainly held some land at Ewyas (Domesday Book, i. 184–5), and also at Stanton, but other lands were due to grants to his sons, and it is impossible to say what proportion was Walter's. In 1071 Walter de Lacy was fighting against the Welsh (Ordericus Vitalis, ii. 218, Société de l'Hist. de France), and took part against the rebel earls three years later (Flor. Wig. ii. 11). He was a benefactor of St. Peter's, Gloucester, and founder of St. Peter's, Hereford. He died 27 March 1085, having fallen from a ladder while superintending the building of the latter church. He was buried in the chapter-house at Gloucester. By his wife, Ermeline, he left three sons, Roger, Hugh, and Walter, and two daughters, Ermeline and Emma. Roger de Lacy appears in ‘Domesday’ as holding lands in Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire (i. 62 b, 167 b, 176 b, 184–5, 260 b.) He took part in the rebellions against William Rufus in 1088 and 1094, and for this was banished and his lands given to his brother Hugh. Hugh was founder of Lanthony Abbey, and died in Wales before 1121, without offspring; he was buried at Weobley ({sc|Leland}}, Itin. viii. 89 a). Walter de Lacy (1073–1139) entered St. Peter's, Gloucester, in 1080, became abbot in 1130, and died in 1139 (Chron. St. Peter, Gloucester, i. 15–17, ​92). Henry I seems to have taken the Lacy estates into his own hands, but Gilbert, son of Hugh's sister, Emma, assumed the name of Lacy, and claimed to represent the family [see under Lacy, Hugh de, d. 1186)].
[Florence of Worcester (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Chron. St. Peter, Gloucester (Rolls Ser.); Dugdale's Baronage, i. 97; Burke's Extinct Peerage, p. 310; Eyton's Shropshire, v. 5–7, 238–41.]
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lacy, William

​LACY, WILLIAM (1610?–1671), royalist divine, son of Thomas Lacy of Beverley and his wife, ‘Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Franceys of Beckenham in co. Nott’ (Dugdale, Visitation of the County of Yorke, 1665–6), was a descendant of the noble family of Lacy. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he was probably admitted before 1629, as his name does not appear in the admission registers of the college, which commence with that year. He proceeded B.A. in 1632, M.A. in 1636, was admitted fellow of his college on 5 April 1636, and was tutor during 1640–2. He obtained the degree of B.D. in 1642, and was made preacher at St. John's at Michaelmas, 1643. He was associated with John Barwick [q. v.] and others in writing ‘Certain Disquisitions’ against the covenant, which was seized by the parliamentary party, but reissued at Oxford.
Lacy was ejected from his fellowship in 1644, after which he joined the royal army, and became chaplain to Prince Rupert. He was taken prisoner at the storming of Bridgewater by Sir Thomas Fairfax on 23 July 1645 (Fairfax, Letter to Lenthall, p. 6), was for some time in prison, where, being in great want, he was relieved by John Barwick, and in 1649 compounded for his estate by paying 26l., one-sixth of its value (Royalist Composition Papers in Record Office). Towards the end of 1651 he was in great want of money (Cal. of Committee for the Advance of Money, 1642–56, pt. iii. p. 1382).
At the Restoration he was restored to his fellowship by a letter from the Earl of Manchester, dated 27 Aug. 1660 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1661–2, p. 24). He was admitted to a senior fellowship on 4 Nov. 1661, and recommended by the king for the degree of D.D. on 3 Oct. 1662 (ib. p. 505). On 23 Oct. 1662 he was presented by Sir George Savile to the rectory of Thornhill, Yorkshire. Lacy died there on 12 May 1671, and was buried in the church, where there is a tablet to his memory. He married ‘Ann, daughter of William Sherman of Newarke, near Leycester, gent.’ (Dugdale, Visitation), and had a son, who died in infancy in 1663.
While at Thornhill he rebuilt the rectory-house, which had been destroyed during the civil wars. In his will, dated 7 Sept. 1670, he left 350l. to found two scholarships of 8l. each at St. John's College, Cambridge, for the benefit of students of the grammar school at Beverley (Poulson, Beverlac, p. 459). He contributed 5l. towards the building of the third court at St. John's College in 1669.
[Baker's Hist. of St. John's Coll. Cambr. pp. 238, 295, 327, 335; Kennett's Register, pp. 239, 524; Peter Barwick's Life of John Barwick, pp. 33–40, 107, 349–50; Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, pp. 149, 277; Mayor's Admission Registers of St. John's Coll. Cambr. pp. 54, 63; Cole's Cambr. B.As. in Addit. MS. 5885, f. 103; Harleian MS. 7028, ff. 476, 488; Notitia Academiæ Cantabrigiensis, Lambeth MS. 770, f. 265; Whitaker's Loidis and Elmete, pp. 324, 326; monument in Thornhill Church; parish registers kindly communicated by the Rev. F. R. Grenside.]
B. P.