OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mackie, John (1748-1831)

​MACKIE, JOHN (1748–1831), physician, the eldest of a family of fifteen children, was born in 1748 at Dunfermline Abbey in Fifeshire. In 1763 he commenced his medical studies at Edinburgh, and on leaving the university he settled at Huntingdon. About 1792 he removed to Southampton, and there practised with great success till 1814, when he left for a ten years' tour on the continent, where he only practised his profession occasionally, but numbered among his patients the queen of Spain, the ex-king of Holland, and other persons of rank. In 1819 he printed anonymously at Vevay for private distribution a 'Sketch of a New Theory of Man,' which was translated into French, and reprinted in English at Bath, 1822. On his return to England, after passing several winters at Bath, he removed to Chichester, where he died 29 Jan. 1831 at the age of eighty-three. He married in 1784 the daughter of a French clergyman, ​who translated into English the 'Letters of Madame de Sévigné,' published in London, 12 mo, 8 vols. 1802. She died at Vevay in 1819, leaving one son and one daughter. Mackie was a religious man and an attached member of the church of England, notwithstanding his Scottish parentage and education. He was most liberal to his patients, and at Southampton showed great kindness to numerous French emigrants. He was fond of reading, and was very popular in society. Miss L. M. Hawkins, in her 'Memoirs, Anecdotes,' &c. (i. 310), calls him a most agreeable conversationist. A fine portrait of him was painted in miniature by George Engleheart [q. v.] in 1784 (the date of his marriage); another by Marchmont Moore in 1830 was engraved by Samuel Freeman [q. v.] in the same year, and a drawing in water-colours was executed by Slater in 1808.
[Gent. Mag. 1831, pt. ii. p. 276; Ann. Biog. and Obit. vol. xvi. 1832; Georgian Era, vol. ii. 1833.]
W. A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Siward (d.1075)

​SIWARD (d. 1075), bishop of Rochester, was abbot of Chertsey in Surrey, and was consecrated bishop of Rochester by Archbishop Stigand [q. v.] in 1058, after he had received the pallium from Benedict X. He assisted at the consecration of Archbishop Lanfranc in August 1070, was allowed to retain his see, and died in possession of it in 1075. At his death his church was in a wretched state, and it is said that there were not more than four canons left, and they were reduced to beggary. This bishop is confused with Siward (d. 1048) [q. v.], coadjutor of Archbishop Eadsige [q. v.], by William of Malmesbury (Gesta Pontificum, ​pp. 34, 36), in Dugdale's ‘Monasticon’ (i. 155), and to some extent by Godwin (De Præsulibus, pp. 56, 525).
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Skelater, John Forbes

​SKELATER, JOHN FORBES- (1733–1808), general in Portuguese service, [See Forbes.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Siôn Glanygors

​SIÔN GLANYGORS (1767–1821), Welsh comic and satirical song writer. [See Jones, John.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Siward (d.1048)

​SIWARD (d. 1048), bishop and coadjutor-archbishop, was a monk of Glastonbury, and succeeded Æthelwine as abbot of Abingdon probably in 1030. When he received the episcopal benediction he is said to have answered all the bishop's questions with the word ‘nolo,’ until the bishop asked him if he was willing to receive the benediction from him, to which he replied that he hoped to receive God's blessing and his. He was thoroughly capable, both in secular and ecclesiastical matters, was kindly in temper, and was respected by Canute [q. v.], who on that account gave to the convent the church of St. Martin in Oxford, together with a small estate. He designed to pull down the conventual church and some other buildings of the monastery and to rebuild them on a larger scale; but it is said that Saint Ethelwold [q. v.] appeared to him in a dream and forbade him to do so, and he therefore desisted from his purpose and gave the money that he had gathered for it to the poor. Eadsige [q. v.], the archbishop of Canterbury, finding in 1042 that ill-health prevented him from discharging the duties of his office, with the consent of the king and Earl Godwine, consecrated Siward to the see of Upsala, that he might act as his coadjutor. This arrangement would naturally have led to Siward's succession to the archiepiscopal see if he had outlived Eadsige, and it is said that this formed part of Eadsige's proposal to the king (Gesta Pontificum, p. 34). He is described as archbishop of Canterbury in the history of the abbots of Abingdon, and as archbishop in the attestations of three charters, where his name has precedence of that of the archbishop of York; but in another charter simply as bishop, his name coming after the archbishop of York's. One Abingdon writer says that he was consecrated to Rochester, which, as that see was dependent on the archbishop, might be taken for granted, though the statement nevertheless appears to be incorrect. For six years he acted in all things in Eadsige's place. The story that he ill-treated the archbishop [see under Eadsige], was consequently deprived of the succession, and was given the bishopric of Rochester, may be rejected. He retired on account of ill-health in 1048, and was carried back sick to Abingdon. The recurrence of the statement that he held the bishopric of Rochester may perhaps point to a provision for him either while acting for Eadsige, or on retirement, from the estates of the see, to which the succession at that period is not clear. He is said to have died two months after his return to Abingdon on 23 Oct., and was honourably buried there, for he was a munificent benefactor to the convent, to which he gave Wittenham, near Wallingford, and all the furniture of his chapel, including a case of relics, two volumes of the gospels, adorned with gold and silver, and a large chalice of fine workmanship.
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Denman, Thomas (1805-1899)

Date of death 1894 in the ODNB.
​DENMAN, THOMAS, second Baron Denman of Dovedale (1805–1899), born in London on 30 July 1805, was the first son of Thomas Denman, first Baron Denman [q. v.], by his wife Theodosia Anne, eldest daughter of Richard Vevers, rector of Kettering. George Denman [q. v. Suppl.] was his brother. He was educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford. He matriculated on 17 May 1823. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1838, and acted as associate to his father when chief-justice of England, holding this position for eighteen years.
He succeeded to the peerage on the death of his father on 22 Sept. 1854. Denman was always concerned rather with politics than law. During his long life as a peer he was a regular frequenter of the House of Lords, but won notoriety rather from his eccentricities than any eminent qualifications. Limitation of the duration of speeches in the House of Lords and the granting of female suffrage were subjects to which he unsuccessfully devoted his support. Year after year with unfailing regularity, from 1886 to 1894, he brought in bills to secure these objects, and, despite his inability on any occasion to secure even a second reading, he was not deterred from making fresh efforts in each succeeding year. He died without issue at the King's Arms, Berwick-on-Tweed, on 9 Aug. 1899.
Denman married, on 12 Aug. 1829, Georgina, eldest daughter of Thomas Roe; she died on 25 April 1871. He married, secondly, on 10 Oct. 1871, Maria, eldest daughter of James Aitchison of Alderston, co. Haddington, and by royal licence on 20 Dec. 1879 assumed the additional surname of Aitchison under the will of his wife's mother. There is a lithograph portrait print of Lord Denman by Walton.
[Complete Peerage by G. E. C[okayne]; Hansard's Debates; Times, 11 Aug. 1899.]
W. C.-r.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Dillon, Robert (1500?-1580)

​DILLON, Sir ROBERT (1500?–1580), Irish judge, born about 1500, was third son of James Dillon of Riverston, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Bartholomew Bathe of Dullardstown. His eldest brother, Sir Bartholomew Dillon (d. 1534), was grandfather of Sir Robert Dillon (d. 1597) [q. v. Suppl.] of Riverston, and also, like his great-uncle, chief justice of common pleas.
The elder Robert was bred to the law, and, doubtless through family influence, was on 9 June 1534 appointed attorney-general for Ireland (Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, vii. 922 [2]). He held this office for eighteen years, only leaving it on his promotion to the bench, and always accommodating himself to changes of government. He assisted Henry VIII in the dissolution of the Irish monasteries, receiving on 22 Dec. 1538 the site of St. Peter's priory, Newton, co. Westmeath, and on 20 March 1545-6 the site of the Carmelite monastery at Athnecarne in the same county. Dillon made Newton his principal seat, and his family were always called Dillons of Newton to distinguish them from their cousins, the Dillons of Riverston. On 17 Jan. 1553-4 Dillon was appointed second justice of the queen's bench, and during Mary's reign was placed on various commissions for the government of Ireland. His appointment was renewed by Elizabeth on 9 Jan. 1558-9, but on 3 Sept. following he was promoted to be chief justice of the court of common pleas. Dillon is said (Lodge, Peerage, ed. Archdall, iv. 154) to have been speaker of the House of Commons during Elizabeth's reign; but James Stanihurst was speaker in both the parliaments of 1560 and that of 1569. On 1 March 1574-5 Elizabeth expressed her intention of sending over an Englishman to supply Dillon's place, on account of his great age, but the chief justice retained his office until his death in April 1580, being succeeded by his great-nephew Robert.
Dillon married Genet, daughter of Edward Barnewell of Crickstown, and grand-daughter of Sir Thomas Plunket (d. 1471), chief justice of common pleas; by her he had issue four sons and three daughters; the eldest son, Sir Lucas Dillon, is separately noticed.
[Cal. Fiants, Henry VIII to Elizabeth, passim; Cal. State Papers, Ireland; Cal. Carew MSS.; Hist. MSS. Comm. 15th Rep. App. iii.; Lascelles's Liber Mun. Hib.; Smyth's Law Officers of Ireland; Bagwell's Ireland under the Tudors; Lodge's Peerage, ed. Archdall, iv. 154.]
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Denton, William (1815-1888)

​DENTON, WILLIAM (1815–1888), divine and author, born in March 1815 at Newport in the Isle of Wight, was the eldest son of James Denton of that town. He matriculated from Worcester College, Oxford, on 28 May 1841, graduating B.A. in 1844 and M.A. in 1848. In 1844 he was ordained deacon as curate of St. Andrew's, Bradfield, in Berkshire, and priest in 1845 as curate of Barking. In 1847 he became curate of Shoreditch, and in 1850 he was presented to the vicarage of St. Bartholomew, Cripplegate, which he retained till his death. In 1861 he published a pamphlet entitled 'Observations on the Displacement of the Poor by Metropolitan Railways and by other Public Improvements' (London, 8vo), which attracted some attention. On 28 Feb. the Earl of Derby presented a petition from Denton to the House of Lords, and the question was the subject of debate for two nights. Another publication, 'The Christians in Turkey' (London, 1863, 8vo), in which he maintained that the English diplomatic agents in the Levant had long been engaged in a conspiracy of silence in regard to the wrongs of the rayah, attracted little attention at the time of issue; but in 1876, when the 'Bulgarian atrocities' stimulated popular interest, the original edition was speedily exhausted, and a new and enlarged edition appeared. A third edition was reached in 1877, and was ​translated into German and Servian. In acknowledgment of his services in regard to this question he was created a knight commander of the Servian order of St. Saviour of Takhova, and a grand cross of the order of St. Saba. He died at 22 Westbourne Square, Paddington, on 2 Jan. 1888.
Besides the works mentioned and several lectures Denton was the author of:
* 'A Commentary on the Gospels for the Sundays and other Holy Days of the Christian Year,' London, 1861-3, 3 vols. 8vo; 2nd edit. 1869-71, 2 vols.; vol. ii. 3rd edit. 1880.
* 'Servia and the Servians,' London, 1862, 8vo; German translation, Berlin, 1865, 8vo.
* 'A Commentary on the Lord's Prayer,' London, 1864, 8vo.
* 'A Commentary on the Epistles,' London, 1869-71, 2 vols. 8vo.
* 'A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles,' London, 1874-6, 2 vols. 8vo.
* 'Montenegro: the People and their History,' London, 1877, 8vo.
* 'The Ancient Church in Egypt,' London, 1883, 8vo.
* 'Records of St. Giles's, Cripplegate,' London, 1883, 8vo.
* 'England in the Fifteenth Century,' London, 1888, 8vo.
He also edited 'The Warnings of Advent' (London, 1853, 8vo), a course of sermons; 'Sacra Privata' (London, 1853, 8vo) of Thomas Wilson (1663–1755) [q. v.], bishop of Sodor and Man (the first edition printed entire from the original manuscripts); and Chedomil Miyatović's 'Serbian Folklore,' London, 1874, 8vo.
[Men of the Time, 1887; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886; Allibone's Dict. of English Lit. Suppl.; Hansard's Debates; Hennessy's Novum Repert. Eccles. 1898, p. 172.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Devon, 12th Earl of

The redirect link is to the father of 12th Earl of Devon.
​DEVON, twelfth Earl of. [See Courteney, William Reginald, 1807–1888.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Devonshire, 7th Duke of

​DEVONSHIRE, seventh Duke of. [See Cavendish, Sir William, 1808–1891.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Dickens, Charles (1837-1896)

​DICKENS, CHARLES (1837–1896), compiler, born at Furnival's Inn, Holborn, on 6 Jan. 1837, was the eldest son of the great novelist by Catharine, eldest daughter of George Hogarth, journalist and musical critic. 'I am delighted with Charles's precocity,' wrote the father in 1841; 'he takes arter his father, he does.' In his boyhood he became a frequent visitor with his father at Gore House, where he made the acquaintance of Louis Napoleon. In 1849, at the charge of his father's friend, (Lady) Burdett Coutts he was moved from King's College to Eton, and in 1853 he went to Leipzig to acquire German. In 1855 he returned to England and obtained a post in Baring's establishment. Banking, however, was little to his taste, and in 1860, as a preparation for the position of an eastern merchant, he visited Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Japan. Soon after his return in 1861 he married Bessie Evans, daughter of a partner in Bradbury & Evans, and set up in business in the city. His lack of business capacity was a source of some anxiety to his father, but in 1869 the younger Charles, who had already contributed to 'Household Words,' became sub-editor of 'All the Year Round,' and on his father's death he became (under a codicil to his will) sole proprietor of that journal, with which he was connected until within two or three years of his death. Subsequently he became chief partner in the printing concern of Dickens & Evans. In all his business enterprises he fell short of success, though while this firm was under his management he launched with considerable success the various dictionary-guides which are known by his name. Charles Dickens's 'Dictionary to London' appeared in 1879, and it was followed by similar dictionaries to the Thames (1880), to Continental Railways (1880), 'Dictionary of Days' (1881), to Paris (1882), to Oxford and to Cambridge (1884). In the compilation of the most useful, 'The Dictionary to London,' he was aided by Richard Halkett Lord. In 1887 he made a tour in the United States, giving readings from his father's books. He was an excellent reader and reciter, and he inherited to the full the gift of the great novelist as an after-dinner orator. On his return to England he accepted a readership in the firm of Macmillan & Co., and he edited for the same firm, during 1892-3, a new edition of his father's novels, commencing with 'Pickwick.' After his father's death in 1870 he had purchased Gad's Hill, but he resided latterly at West Kensington, and died of paralysis at 43 Fairholme Road on 20 June 1896. He was buried in Mortlake cemetery. Three days later his sister, Mary Dickens, died at Sevenoaks. A few months afterwards appeared posthumously, with family portraits, her 'My Father as I recall him,' by 'Mamie' Dickens. Charles Dickens the younger left, with other issue, a son Charles and a daughter, Mary Angela Dickens the novelist.
[Times, 22 and 27 June 1896; Daily News, 22 June 1896; Academy, June 1896; Forster's Life of Charles Dickens; Mary Dickens's My Father as I knew him; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spender, Lily

​SPENDER, LILY, usually known as Mrs. John Kent Spender (1835–1895), novelist, born on 22 Feb. 1835, was the daughter of Edward Headland, a well-known physician of Portland Place, London, ​by his wife, daughter of Ferdinand de Medina, a Spaniard. Miss Headland was educated at Queen's College, Harley Street. In 1858 she married Mr. John Kent Spender, physician to the Mineral Water Hospital, Bath. After her marriage Mrs. Spender turned her attention to literature. She contributed to the ‘London Quarterly Review,’ the ‘Englishwoman's Journal,’ the ‘Dublin University Review,’ the ‘British Quarterly,’ and to a magazine called ‘Meliora;’ but after 1869 she chiefly confined herself to novel-writing. She was active in educational and social work in Bath until her health failed. She died at Bath on 4 May 1895. Of Mrs. Spender's eight children, seven survived her. Two of her sons, Mr. J. A. Spender and Mr. Harold Spender, are well-known London journalists.
Mrs. Spender was the author of: 1. ‘Brothers-in-Law,’ London, 1869, 8vo. 2. ‘Her Own Fault,’ London, 1871, 8vo. 3. ‘Parted Lives,’ London, 1873, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1885. 4. ‘Jocelyn's Mistake,’ London, 1875, 8vo. 5. ‘Mark Eylmer's Revenge,’ London, 1876. 6. ‘Both in the Wrong,’ London, 1878, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1886. 7. ‘Godwyn's Ordeal,’ London, 1879, 8vo. 8. ‘Till Death us do Part,’ London, 1881, 8vo. 9. ‘Gabrielle de Bourdaine,’ London, 1882, 8vo. 10. ‘Mr. Nobody,’ London, 1884, 8vo. 11. ‘Recollections of a Country Doctor,’ London, 1885, 8vo. 12. ‘Trust Me,’ London, 1886, 8vo. 13. ‘Kept Secret,’ London, 1888, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1889. 14. ‘Her Brother's Keeper,’ London, 1888, 8vo. 15. ‘Lady Hazleton's Confession,’ London, 1890, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1892. 16. ‘No Humdrum Life for Me,’ London, 1892, 8vo. 17. ‘A Waking,’ London, 1892, 8vo. 18. ‘A Strange Temptation,’ London, 1893, 8vo. 19. ‘A Modern Quixote,’ London, 1894, 8vo. 20. ‘Thirteen Doctors’ (short stories), London, 1895, 8vo. 21. ‘The Wooing of Doris,’ London, 1895, 8vo.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spencer, William Robert

​SPENCER, WILLIAM ROBERT (1769–1834), poet and wit, was younger son of Lord Charles Spencer, second son of the third Duke of Marlborough [see under Spencer, Charles, third Earl of Sunderland] by the Hon. Mary Beauclerk, daughter of Lord Vere. Born in 1769, he was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford, matriculating on 13 Oct. 1786, but took no degree. From 1797 to 1826 he was a commissioner of stamps. His wit and accomplishments secured him great popularity in London society, and he was a frequent guest of the Duke of York. At his house in Curzon Street Pitt and Fox met, and among his other friends were Sheridan, Sydney Smith, and Horner. Owing to constitutional indolence he sought no prominence in public life, but was content with the reputation of a wit and a writer of society verses. In 1796 he published a translation of Bürger's ‘Leonore;’ in 1802 ‘Urania,’ a burlesque of German ghost literature, successfully performed at Drury Lane; in 1804 ‘The Year of Sorrow,’ in memory of his mother-in-law and other ladies; and in 1811 a volume of poems. He also wrote in 1802 a prologue to Miss Berry's play, ‘Fashionable Friends’ (see Miss Berry, Journal, ii. 195). Byron pronounced his verses, like his conversation, ‘perfectly aristocratic,’ and coupled him with Moore, Campbell, and Rogers as a pleiad of poets. Wilson, in ‘Noctes Ambrosianæ,’ referring to his ‘Bedgellert, or the Grave of a Greyhound,’ which still figures in some school readers, makes Hogg say, ‘That chiel's a poet; those verses hae muckle o' the auld ballart pathos and simplicity’ (Blackwood's Magazine, April 1827). In 1825, owing to pecuniary embarrassments, Spencer withdrew to Paris, where Scott in the following year invited him to breakfast. A prey to poverty and ill-health, he remained in Paris till his death on 24 Oct. 1834. He was buried at Harrow.
On 13 Dec. 1791 he married Susan, widow of Count Spreti, and daughter of Count Francis Jenison-Walworth, chamberlain to the elector palatine [cf. art. Jenison, Francis]. According to legend, her first husband committed suicide in order to enable Spencer to marry her, and this was said to have suggested Madame de Souza's story of ‘Adèle de Sénange;’ but the husband there dies of apoplexy, and the authoress evidently imitated Madame de Lafayette's ‘Princesse de Clèves.’
Spencer had five sons and two daughters. His two sons, Aubrey George [q. v.] and George Trevor [q. v.], are separately noticed.
[A biography was prefixed to a reprint of his Poems, 1835; see also Times, 30 Oct. 1834; Gent. Mag. 1835, i. 98; Annual Register, 1834; Annual Biogr. 1835; Burke's and Foster's Peerages; Haydn's Book of Dignities; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1714–1886; Staunton's Great Schools of England; Pantheon of the Age; Notes and Queries, 8th ser. ii. 226; Raikes's Journal; Madden's Lady Blessington; Lockhart's Scott; and Lord J. Russell's Moore.]
J. G. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spicer, Henry

​SPICER, HENRY (1743?–1804), miniature-painter, was born at Reepham, Norfolk, about 1743, and became a pupil of Gervase Spencer [q. v.] He worked both on ivory and in enamel, and was one of the ablest miniaturists of the period. He was a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, and exhibited with them from 1765 to 1783; in 1773 he was secretary to the society. He exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy in 1774, and about ​1777 went to Dublin, where he resided for some years, and was largely employed. From 1792 Spicer was an annual contributor to the Royal Academy until his death, which occurred in London on 8 June 1804. He held the appointment of painter in enamel to the Prince of Wales. Spicer's works are of admirable quality, full of character and finely coloured. His portraits of Moody and William Smith, the actors, George Downing, the dramatist, and Mrs. Chambers were engraved.
F. M. O'D.