OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pitt, Thomas (1688?-1729)

​PITT, THOMAS, first Earl of Londonderry (1688?–1729), born about 1688, was second son of Thomas Pitt [q. v.], the colonial governor. He represented Wilton in the British House of Commons from August 1713 until the dissolution in July 1727, and served against the rebels in Lancashire in 1715 (Hist. MSS. Comm. 13th Rep. App. iii. p. 55). On 3 June 1719 he was created Baron of Londonderry in the kingdom of Ireland, and took his seat in the Irish House of Lords on 8 July following (Journals of the Irish House of Lords, ii. 608). On 8 Oct. 1726 he was further advanced to the dignities of Viscount Gallen-Ridgeway of Queen's County and Earl of Londonderry, but he never sat in the Irish House of Lords as an earl (ib. iii. 540). At the general election in August 1727 he was returned to the British ​House of Commons for Old Sarum, but vacated his seat on his appointment to the post of governor of the Leeward Islands in May 1728. He died at St. Kitts on 12 Sept. 1729, aged 41, and was buried in the family vault at Blandford.
He married, on 10 March 1717, Lady Frances Ridgeway, younger daughter and coheiress of Robert, fourth and last earl of Londonderry (created 1623), by whom he left two sons—viz. (1) Thomas, who succeeded as second earl, and died from a fall from his horse on 24 Aug. 1734, aged 17; (2) Ridgeway, who succeeded as third earl, and died unmarried on 8 Jan. 1765, aged 43, when all the honours became extinct—and one daughter, Lucy, who became the wife of Pierce Meyrick, the youngest son of Owen Meyrick of Bodorgan, Anglesey. His widow, who inherited the Cudworth estate in Yorkshire, married, in December 1732, Robert Graham, of South Warnborough, Hampshire, and died on 18 May 1772. There is no record of any speech made by him either in the Irish House of Lords or in the British House of Commons.
G. F. R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pitt, Robert

​PITT, ROBERT, M.D. (1653–1713), physician, son of Robert Pitt, was born at Blandford Forum, Dorset, in 1653. He matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford, on 2 April 1669, and was elected to a scholarship there in 1670. He graduated B.A. in 1672, was elected a fellow of his college in 1674, graduated M.A. in 1675, M.B. in 1678, and M.D. on 16 Feb. 1682. He taught anatomy at Oxford, and was elected F.R.S. on 20 Dec. 1682. In 1684 he settled in London, and was admitted a candidate or member of the College of Physicians on 22 Dec. He was created a fellow by the new charter of James II, and admitted on 12 April 1687. He was a censor in 1687 and 1702. He lived in 1685 in the parish of St. Peter-le-Poer, in the city of London; in 1703, and till his death, in Hatton Garden. On the death of Francis Bernard [q. v.] he was, on 23 Feb. 1697–8, elected physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and held office till 1707. He took an active part in the controversy which followed the establishment of a dispensary by the College of Physicians in 1696, and published in 1702 ‘The Craft and Frauds of Physick exposed,’ dedicated to Sir William Prichard, president, and to the governors of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and written to show the small cost of the really useful drugs, the worthlessness of some expensive ones, and the folly of taking too much physic. The book gives a clear exposition of the therapeutics of that day, and is full of shrewd observations. Sarsaparilla, which for more than a hundred years later was a highly esteemed drug, had been detected by Pitt to be inert, and he condemned the use of bezoar, of powder of vipers, of mummy, and of many other once famous therapeutic agents, on the ground that accurate tests proved them of no effect. A second and third edition appeared in 1703. In 1704 he published ‘The Antidote, or the Preservative of Life and Health and the Restorative of Physick to its Sincerity and Perfection,’ and in 1705 ‘The Frauds and Villainies of the Common Practice of Physic demonstrated to be curable by the College Dispensary.’ He was attacked by Joseph Browne (fl. 1706) [q. v.] in 1704 in a book entitled ‘The Modern Practice of Physick vindicated from the groundless imputations of Dr. Pitt.’ He also published a paper in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ for 1691 on the weight of the land tortoise. The observations which were made in conjunction with Sir George Ent, M.D. [q. v.], compare the weight of the reptile before and after hibernation for a series of years.
Pitt married Martha, daughter of John ​Nourse of Wood Eaton, Oxfordshire, in 1686, and died on 13 Jan. 1712–3.
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rose, Caleb Burrell

​ROSE, CALEB BURRELL (1790–1872), geologist, was born at Eye in Suffolk, 10 Feb. 1790. In due course he was apprenticed to an uncle, a surgeon, and continued his studies for the medical profession at Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals. In 1816 he settled down in practice at Swaffham, Norfolk, where he married and had children, but was left a widower early in 1828. He was successful in his profession, and became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1846. In 1859 he retired from practice, and went to reside at Great Yarmouth, where he died 29 Jan. 1872. He was the author of several medical papers, more especially on the subject of entozoa, but from youth to old age he was an example of a genuine 'naturalist.' It was as a geologist, and especially as an authority on Norfolk geology, that he made his mark; his first published contribution to science appearing in 1828. He formed a fine collection of fossils, which is now in the Norwich Museum. In 1839 he was elected F.G.S. Of some twenty-three papers by him on geological subjects, the most important one full of original observations and sound reasoning is entitled 'Sketch of the Geology of West Norfolk' (published in the 'Philosophical Magazine,' 1835-6); but he also was the first to call attention to the 'Brick Earth of the Valley of the Nar' (Proc. Sci. Soc. London, 1840, p. 61), and he described some 'parasitic borings in the scales of fossil fish' (Trans. Microsc. Soc. 2nd ser. iii. 7).
[Obituary notices in the Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. vol. xxviii. (1872), Proc. p. xliii, and in the Trans. Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Soc. v. 387 (the latter, by Horace B. Woodward, being the more complete).]
T. G. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roscoe, Thomas

​ROSCOE, THOMAS (1791–1871), author and translator, fifth son of William Roscoe [q. v.], was born at Toxteth Park, Liverpool, on 23 June 1791, and educated by Dr. W. Shepherd and by Mr. Lloyd, a private tutor. Soon after his father's pecuniary embarrassments, in 1816, he began to write in local magazines and journals, and he continued to follow literature as a profession until a few years before his death, which took place in his eighty-first year, on 24 Sept. 1871, at Acacia Road, St. John's Wood, London. He married Elizabeth Edwards, and had seven children.
The following are his principal original works:
* ‘Gonzalo, the Traitor: a Tragedy,’ 1820.
* ‘The King of the Peak’ [anon.], 1823, 3 vols.
* ‘Owain Goch: a Tale of the Revolution’ [anon.], 1827, 3 vols.
* ‘The Tourist in Switzerland and Italy,’ 1830 (being the first volume of the ‘Landscape Annual,’ followed in eight succeeding years by similar volumes on Italy, France, and Spain).
* ‘Wanderings and Excursions in North Wales,’ 1836.
* ‘Wanderings in South Wales’ (partly written by Louisa A. Twamley, afterwards Mrs. Meredith), 1837.
* ‘The London and Birmingham Railway,’ 1839.
* ‘Book of the Grand Junction Railway,’ 1839 (the last two were afterwards issued together as the ‘Illustrated History of the London and North-Western Railway’).
* ‘Legends of Venice,’ 1841.
* ‘Belgium in a Picturesque Tour,’ 1841.
* ‘A Summer Tour in the Isle of Wight,’ 1843.
* ‘Life of William the Conqueror,’ 1846.
* ‘The Last of the Abencerages, and other Poems,’ 1850.
* ‘The Fall of Granada.’
Roscoe's translations comprise:
* ‘Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini,’ 1822.
* Sismondi's ‘Literature of the South of Europe,’ 1823, 4 vols.
* ‘Italian Novelists,’ 1825, 4 vols.
* ‘German Novelists,’ 1826, 4 vols.
* ‘Spanish Novelists,’ 1832, 3 vols.
* ‘Potter's Memoirs of Scipio de Ricci,’ &c., 1828, 2 vols.
* Lanzi's ‘History of Painting in Italy,’ 1828, 6 vols.
* Silvio Pellico's ‘Imprisonments,’ 1833.
* Pellico's ‘Duties of Men,’ 1834.
* Navarrete's ‘Life of Cervantes,’ 1839 (in Murray's ‘Family Library’).
* Kohl's ‘Travels in England,’ 1845.
Roscoe edited ‘The Juvenile Keepsake,’ 1828–30; ‘The Novelists' Library, with Biographical and Critical Notices,’ 1831–3, 17 vols. 12mo; the works of Fielding, Smollett, and Swift (1840–9, 3 vols. royal 8vo), and new issues of his father's ‘Lorenzo de' Medici’ and ‘Leo the Tenth.’
[Men of the Time, 7th edit.; Allibone's Dict. of Authors; British Museum and Advocates' Library Catalogues; information supplied by James Thornely, esq., of Woolton, Liverpool. Symonds, in the Introduction to his translation of Cellini's Autobiography, criticises his predecessor's translation in severe terms.]
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roscoe, William Caldwell

1904 Errata appended.
​ROSCOE, WILLIAM CALDWELL (1823–1859), poet and essayist, born at Liverpool on 20 Sept. 1823, was son of William Stanley Roscoe and grandson of William Roscoe [q. v.] His mother, daughter of James Caldwell of Linley Wood in Staffordshire, was sister of Mrs. Anne Marsh-Caldwell [q. v.], author of ‘Emilia Wyndham.’ He was educated at a parish school, St. Domingo House, near Liverpool, and afterwards at University College, London, graduating in the university of London in 1843. He was called to the bar in 1850, but after two years relinquished practice, partly from delicacy of health, partly from doubts of his qualifications for his profession. He married in 1855 Emily, daughter of William Malin of Derby, and afterwards lived principally in Wales, where he was interested in slate quarries and devoted much of his time to literary pursuits. He was a frequent contributor to the ‘National Review,’ of which his brother-in-law, Mr. R. H. Hutton, was editor. He died at Richmond in Surrey of typhoid fever on 30 July 1859. Roscoe published two tragedies, ‘Eliduc’ (1846) and ‘Violenzia’ (1851, anon.), a considerable amount of ​fugitive poetry, and numerous essays contributed to the ‘Prospective’ and ‘National’ reviews. These compositions were collected and published in 1860 by Mr. Hutton, with a memoir; the poems and dramas were republished in 1891 by his daughter, Elizabeth Mary Roscoe.
Roscoe was a man of great, almost excessive, moral and intellectual refinement. The fastidiousness thus engendered impaired his power of direct appeal to human sympathies. ‘Violenzia,’ his principal work, is a finely conceived, and frequently eloquent, tragedy; but the good characters are too good, the bad too bad, the sentiments continually overstrained, and the result an atmosphere of impossibility. ‘Eliduc’ is less academical, but less characteristic, and chiefly deserves notice as a fine study in the manner of the Elizabethans. The minor poems, though always graceful and feeling, seldom rise above the level of occasional verse. Two, however, ‘Love's Creed’ and ‘To Little A. C.,’ are very beautiful, and should alone preserve the author's name as a lyric poet. As a critic Roscoe did excellent work, especially in the ‘National Review,’ a periodical which, with his aid and that of R. H. Hutton and Walter Bagehot, helped for several years to maintain a high standard both of literary and political criticism. If not a profoundly penetrating, he is in general a discriminating, and sometimes a subtle, critic; and although his views are occasionally a little startling, as in his condemnation of the stanza of ‘In Memoriam,’ they are in general distinguished by common-sense.
[Memoir by R. H. Hutton prefixed to Roscoe's Poems and Essays, I860.]
R. G.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.239 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 225 | ii | 19 f.e. | Roscoe, William C.: for a parish school read a private school (St. Domingo House, near Liverpool) |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rosa, Carl August Nicholas

​ROSA, CARL AUGUST NICHOLAS (1843–1889), musician and impresario, whose father's surname was Rose, was born at Hamburg, 22 March 1843. He began to study violin-playing under one Lindenau; at seven years of age he played a concerto by Jansa in public, and at eleven he made a concert tour. In 1859 he entered the Leipzig conservatorium, and after passing through the course there he went to Paris and gained a prize at the conservatoire. On his return to Hamburg he became a member and occasional conductor of the Philharmonic Society, and subsequently went on another tour, during which he appeared on 10 March 1866 as violin soloist at the Crystal Palace. He next went to America as conductor of Bateman's company, and there he met and married Mlle. Parepa [see Parepa-Rose]. During 1872 he spent a considerable time in Egypt.
In 1875 he formed in London, and became manager of, the Carl Rosa Opera Company, when he changed his name to Rosa, in order, it is said, to avoid confusion in pronunciation. His aim was to produce operas in English. By careful selection of his singers and his répertoire, and by attention to scenic arrangements, he raised at once the fallen fortunes of English opera. His company was formed for touring purposes, but he gave each year at least one series of representations at a leading theatre in London. On 11 Sept. 1875 he opened the Princess's Theatre, London, with a performance of Mozart's ‘Nozze di Figaro,’ and in the same season he produced Cherubini's ‘Les deux Journées.’ In the following year he took the Lyceum Theatre for a season which lasted upwards of two months, and there he achieved a triumph with Wagner's ‘Flying Dutchman,’ Santley taking the title-rôle. Rosa was at the Adelphi in 1878. In 1879 he produced ‘Rienzi’ with Schott in the leading character at Her Majesty's; in 1880, ‘Lohengrin’ and Goetz's ‘Taming of the Shrew,’ at the same theatre, and two years later ‘Tannhäuser’ was brought forward. In 1883 at Drury Lane he turned his attention to the works of British composers, and produced ‘Esmeralda’ by Goring Thomas [q. v.], and Mackenzie's ‘Colomba.’ Villiers Stanford's ‘Canterbury Pilgrims’ was the sole novelty of the following season. Between 1885 and 1887 he produced Thomas's ‘Nadeschda,’ Mackenzie's ‘Troubadour,’ and (at the Alexandra Theatre, Liverpool, of which he had become lessee) Corder's ‘Nordisa.’ In 1889 the Carl Rosa Light Opera Company was started at the Prince of Wales's Theatre with Planquette's ‘Paul Jones.’
Rosa died suddenly at the Grand Hotel, Paris, 30 April 1889, and was buried at Highgate, 6 May. He had married a second time in 1881. His opera companies were continued after his death on the lines that he had laid down.
R. H. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roscoe, Henry

​ROSCOE, HENRY (1800–1836), legal writer, youngest son of William Roscoe [q. v.], born at Allerton Hall, near Liverpool, on 17 April 1800, was educated by private tutors, and in 1817 was articled to Messrs. Stanistreet & Eden, solicitors, Liverpool. In January 1819 he removed to London and began studying for the bar, almost supporting himself by literary work. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in February 1826, and afterwards practised in the northern circuit and at the Liverpool and Chester sessions. He was also assessor to the mayor's court, Liverpool, and a member of the municipal corporations commission. He died at Gateacre, near Liverpool, on 25 March 1836. By his marriage, on 29 Oct. 1831, to Maria, second daughter of Thomas Fletcher and granddaughter of Dr. William Enfield [q. v.], he had a son (Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe, F.R.S.), and a daughter Harriet, who married Edward Enfield [q. v.] Roscoe's widow, who died in April 1885, aged 86, published in 1868 ‘Vittoria Colonna: her Life and Times.’
Roscoe wrote ‘Lives of Eminent British Lawyers’ (1830), as one of the volumes of ‘Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia,’ and ‘The Life of William Roscoe’ (2 vols. 1833), besides the following legal treatises: 1. ‘A Treatise on the Law of Actions relating to Real Property,’ 1825, 2 vols. 2. ‘Digest of the Law of Evidence on the Trials of Actions at Nisi Prius,’ 1827. 3. ‘Digest of the Law relating to Bills of Exchange,’ &c., 1829. 4. ‘Digest relating to Offences against the Coin,’ 1832. 5. ‘General Digest of Decisions in the Courts for 1834, 1835, and 1836,’ 3 vols. 6. ‘Digest of the Law of Evidence in Criminal Cases,’ 1835. Several of the above have been frequently reprinted in England and America. He also brought out an edition of Roger North's ‘Lives’ (1826, 3 vols.), and was joint editor of ‘Price's Exchequer Reports’ for 1834–5.
C. W. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Finden, Edward Francis

​FINDEN, EDWARD FRANCIS (1791–1857), engraver, was younger brother, fellow-pupil, and coadjutor of William Finden [q. v.], and shared his successes and fortunes. He executed some separate works, among erly ones being a set of etchings for Duppa's 'Miscellaneous Opinions and Observations on the Continent,' 1825, and 'Illustrations of the Vaudois in a Series of Views,' 1831. He was also a large contributor of illustrations to the annuals, books of beauty, poetry, and other sentimental works then in vogue. The separate engravings executed by him included 'The Harvest Waggon,' after Gainsborough; 'As Happy as a King,' after W. Collins; 'Captain Macheath in Prison,' after G.S. Newton; 'The Little Gleaner,' after Sir W. Beechey; 'The Princess Victoria,' after Westall; 'Othello telling his Exploits to Brabantio and Desdemona,' after Douglas Cowper, &c. He died at St. John's Wood, aged 65, on 9 Feb. 1857.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Finch, Robert Poole

​FINCH, ROBERT POOLE (1724–1803), divine, son of the Rev. Richard Finch, was born at Greenwich 3 March 1723-4, entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1736, and was admitted a member of Peterhouse, Cambridge, whence he graduated B.A. 1743, M.A. 1747, D.D. 1772. He became a preacher of some eminence, published numerous sermons, and was also an author of a treatise upon oaths and perjury, which passed through many editions. In 1771 he was appointed rector of St. Michael's, Cornhill, but resigned in 1784, on becoming rector of St. John the Evangelist, Westminster. In 1781 he was made prebendary of Westminster, and retaining this appointment until his death, 18 May 1803, was buried in the abbey.
He published in 1788 'Considerations upon the Use and Abuse of Oaths judicially taken,' which became a standard work among the publications of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
C. J. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Finch, William (1747-1810)

​FINCH, WILLIAM (1747–1810), divine, son of William Finch of Watford, Hertfordshire, was born 22 July 1747, entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1754, and was elected thence in 1764 to St. John's College, Oxford. He graduated B.C.L. in 1770 and D.C.L. in 1775. In 1797 he accepted the college living of Tackley, Oxfordshire, and in the same year was appointed Bampton lecturer. He took as his subject 'The Objections of Infidel Historians and other writers against Christianity.' The lectures were published in 1797, together with a sermon preached before the university on 18 Oct. 1795. Finch, who does not appear to have published anything else except a sermon preached before the Oxford Loyal Volunteers (Oxford, 1798), died 8 June 1810, and was buried at Tackley.
[Robinson's Reg. of Merchant Taylors' School, ii. 114; Oxf. Matr. Reg.; Brit. Mus. Libr. Cat.]
C. J. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Findlater, Andrew

​FINDLATER, ANDREW (1810–1885), compiler, born at Aberdour, Aberdeenshire, in 1810, was educated at the university of Aberdeen, where he graduated and for some time attended the divinity classes. On leaving college he became schoolmaster at Tillydesk, and subsequently head-master of Gordon's Hospital, Aberdeen. In 1853 he began a life-long connection with the publishing firm of Messrs. Chambers, Edinburgh. In the same year was published his essay on 'Epicurus' in the 'Encyclopædia Metropolitana.' His first work for Messrs. Chambers was an edition of their 'Information for the People,' which appeared in 1857. Shortly afterwards he was entrusted with the editorship of their 'Encyclopædia,' in which he wrote several articles. He also prepared for the 'Educational Course' of the same firm manuals on language, astronomy, physical geography, and physiography, and put forth new editions of their 'Etymological Dictionary' and the 'Miscellanies.' In addition to these literary productions, he contributed a series of essays entitled 'Notes of Travel' and various other articles to the 'Scotsman.' In 1864 he received the degree of LL.D. from the university of Aberdeen. His work is characterised by singular clearness of exposition. His handbook on philology, for which study he had a special liking, is particularly concise and intelligent. He died on 1 Jan. 1885. He married a daughter of Thomas Barclay, sheriff-clerk of Fifeshire, who died in 1879.
W. B-e.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Finch, William (d.1613)

​FINCH, WILLIAM (d. 1613), merchant, was a native of London. He was agent to an expedition sent by the East India Company, under Captains Hawkins and Keeling, in 1607 to treat with the Great Mogul. Hawkins and Finch landed at Surat on 24 Aug. 1608. They were violently opposed by the Portuguese. Finch, however, obtained permission from the governor of Cambay to dispose of the goods in their vessels. Incited by the Portuguese, who seized two of the English ships, the natives refused to have dealings with the company's representatives. During these squabbles Finch fell ill, and Hawkins, proceeding to Agra alone, obtained favourable notice from the Emperor Jehanghire. Finch recovered, and joined Hawkins at Agra on 14 April 1610. The two remained at the mogul's court for about a year and a half, Finch refusing tempting offers to attach himself permanently to the service of Jehanghire. Hawkins returned to England, but Finch delayed his departure in order to make further explorations, visiting Byana and Lahore among other places. Finch made careful observations on the commerce and natural products of the districts visited. In 1612 the mogul emperor confirmed and extended the privileges he had promised to Finch and Hawkins, and the East India Company in that year set up their first little factory at Surat. Finch died at Babylon on his way to Aleppo from drinking poisoned water in August 1613.
[Purchas; Prévost's Histoire de Voyages; Dow's Hist. of Hindostan; Cal. State Papers, East Indies, 1513–1617, Nos. 449, 649, 650.]
J. B.-Y.