OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert (d.1103)

​ROBERT (d. 1103), crusader and martyr, was son of Godwine of Winchester, an Englishman of good family. The father held lands in Hertfordshire under Edgar Atheling [q. v.] When Edgar was accused of treason, Godwine maintained his innocence by judicial combat, slew his accuser, and received his lands. Robert, who was described as a knight and a worthy successor of a valiant father, accompanied Edgar Atheling and his nephew, Edgar (1072–1107) [q. v.], son of Malcolm Canmore [see Malcolm III, called Canmore], on their expedition to Scotland in 1097, and the defeat of Donald Bane, which gave the younger Edgar the Scottish kingdom, is ascribed to his valour. Edgar rewarded him with a grant of land in Lothian, where he began to build a castle. In 1099, at the instigation of Rannulf Flambard [q. v.], then bishop of Durham, the lords and other tenants of the bishopric set upon him during the absence of King Edgar in England, and, after a stout resistance, he was made prisoner. When Edgar returned from the English court, he brought an order for his release, carried him with him with much honour into Scotland, and, to punish the bishop, took away from the bishopric the town of Berwick that he had previously granted to it. Robert next appears as having joined the ætheling, who was crusading in Palestine. King Baldwin, who was besieged in Ramlah in 1103, made a desperate sally accompanied by five knights, of whom Robert was one. Robert rode before the king, hewing down the infidels in his path, and it was through his valour that Baldwin was enabled to gain the mountains and make his escape. As he pressed on with rash haste he dropped his sword, and was made prisoner, with three of his companions. He was taken to Cairo, and there, as he steadfastly refused to deny Christ, was brought into the market-place, bound, and shot to death with arrows.
W. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert Anglicus

​ROBERT Anglicus (fl. 1272). [See under Robert the Englishman, fl. 1326.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert (d.1190)

​ROBERT, Earl of Leicester (d. 1190). [See Beaumont, Robert de.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert (1104-1168)

​ROBERT, Earl of Leicester (1104–1168), justiciar. [See Beaumont, Robert de.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert (d.1139)

1904 Errata appended. Contains subarticle Saint Robert (d. 1235?) of Knaresborough. Date of death 1159 in the ODNB.
​ROBERT (d. 1139), first abbot of Newminster, was a native of Craven in Yorkshire, and is said to have been educated at Paris. He afterwards became rector of Gargrave in Yorkshire, but, choosing a monastic life, entered the Benedictine abbey at Whitby. Finding the Benedictine rule too lax, he joined the Cistercian order, which had been established in England three years before, and in 1132 was one of the monks who founded the abbey of Fountains [see under Richard, d. 1139]. Five years later he was one of the monks sent to colonise the abbey of Newminster in Northumberland, founded by Ralph de Merlay, and was elected first abbot. Newminster in its turn became parent of the abbeys of Pipewell, Roche, and Salley. While at Newminster Robert was a frequent visitor of St. Godric [q. v.] at Finchale; but his strictness seems to have caused some insubordination, and on one occasion he had to vindicate himself before St. Bernard from the imputations of the monks of his house. He died in 1139, probably on 7 June, the day on which his obituary was kept. The year 1139 given by the Bollandists is more probable than 1159, the date usually assigned for Robert's death. He is said to have written a treatise on the Psalms which is not known to be extant. Robert is often called a saint, but apparently he was only beatified and not canonised.
He has often been confused with Saint Robert (d. 1235?) of Knaresborough. The latter was eldest son of Robert ‘Flowers’ or ‘Flours,’ who was twice mayor of York during the reign of Richard I, and, sacrificing his father's inheritance, joined the Cistercian ​monastery at Newminster. Thence he went to live as a hermit in a cell at Knaresborough, where King John is said to have visited him (cf. Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1201–16, p. 156). He is erroneously credited with founding the Trinitarian order, which really originated in France about 1197. He may, however, have introduced the order into England in 1224, when he organised the first settlement of that order at Knaresborough from among the number of pilgrims who resorted to him there. He died about 1235. According to Matthew Paris, his fame spread abroad in 1238; numerous miracles were wrought at his tomb at Knaresborough, which was said to exude a medicinal oil. There can be little doubt that he was canonised. In May 1252 Innocent IV proclaimed a relaxation of a year and forty days' penance to all who would help in completing the monastery of St. Robert of Knaresborough. The actual foundation of the monastery is attributed to Richard, earl of Cornwall [q. v.], in 1256, the date of the charter given in Dugdale's ‘Monasticon.’
A. F. P.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.234 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 362 | ii | 1 | Robert (d. 1139): after pp. 251-4; insert Newminster Chartulary (Surtees Soc.); |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robert (d.1178)

Death 1180 in the ODNB.
​ROBERT (d. 1178), abbot of Glastonbury, formerly prior of Winchester, became abbot of Glastonbury in succession to Henry of Blois [q. v.], bishop of Winchester, in 1171 (Johannis Glastoniensis Chronica, i. 172, ed. Hearne). Through his ill-advised acceptance of the canonry of Wells, which he was shortly driven to resign, two churches—Pilton and South Brent (the patronage of which was disputed between Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury Abbey)—fell under the jurisdiction of Wells, and were lost to the abbey (ib.) Otherwise the abbey prospered under Robert's rule. He remitted to it certain of his dues, enriched the church with gifts, and instituted a festival for the brethren and the poor after his death (Chronica, i. 172). He died on 28 April 1178, and was buried in the south part of the chapter-house (ib.) He was author of ‘De actibus Willelmi et Henrici episcoporum Wintoniæ,’ printed in Wharton's ‘Anglia Sacra,’ pp. 394 et seq. (Hardy, Descr. Cat. ii. 398, 491; Wright, Biogr. Litt. ii. 321; Tanner, p. 636). He is also credited, on doubtful authority, with the ‘Speculum Ecclesiæ,’ extant in Cotton. MS. Tiberius B. xiii. 3.
A. M. C.-e.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roberdeau, John Peter

​ROBERDEAU, JOHN PETER (1754–1815), dramatist, the son of a silk manufacturer in Spitalfields, was born in London in 1754. He was collaterally descended from Isaac Roberdeau (d. 1742), Huguenot refugee from Rochelle, who settled in St. Christopher's. The latter, by his wife, Mary Conyngham, of an old Scottish family, was father of General Daniel Roberdeau, who distinguished himself on the American side in the war of independence, and founded the American family of Roberdeau (see Buchanan, Genealogy of Roberdeau Family, Washington, 1876). John Peter Roberdeau gained a competence by trade, and, settling at Chichester about 1796, devoted himself to literary pursuits. From 1796 to 1799 he acted as resident commissary of army stores in Surrey ​ and Sussex. He wrote many plays, of which the first, entitled ‘The Point of Honour,’ was accepted at Covent Garden in 1792, Munden and Fawcett being in the cast, but was apparently never acted, though it was a fairly amusing comedietta, based largely upon Kenrick's ‘Duellist.’ His most ambitious effort was ‘Thermopylæ, or Repulsed Invasion,’ a tragic drama, in three acts and in verse, based upon Glover's ‘Leonidas.’ It was written in 1792, and played at Gosport, but rejected by the London houses (printed in New British Theatre, 1814, ii. 258). Another play, ‘Cornelia, or a Roman Matron's Jewels,’ was performed at Southampton, Chichester, and Portsmouth ‘with applause’ (printed in The Spirit of the Public Journals, 1810, vol. xiii. 12mo). Some minor pieces are enumerated by Baker (Biogr. Dram. i. 602). Roberdeau also wrote ‘Fugitive Verse and Prose, consisting of Poems Lyric, Obituary, Dramatic, Satiric, and Miscellaneous,’ Chichester, 1803, dedicated to Francis Rawdon-Hastings, second earl of Moira [q. v.], and consisting of trifles, often neatly turned, upon topics of the day. Roberdeau moved to Bath about 1800, and thence to Chelsea, where he died on 7 Jan. 1815. By his wife Elizabeth (d. 4 June 1809), daughter of James Townley, high master of Merchant Taylors' School, he had a large family; three of his sons held posts in the service of the East India Company. The eldest, Henry Townley, a youth who showed great promise both in his official work and in some ‘Essays’ upon Indian subjects, died at Mymensing in Bengal on 28 April 1808 (Gent. Mag. 1808, ii. 1126). The second son, John Thomas, judge at Allahabad, upon the Bengal civil establishment, died at Ryde on 19 Nov. 1818.
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Weston, Richard (1733-1806)

​WESTON, RICHARD (1733–1806), agricultural writer, born in 1733, describes himself on the title-page of some of his anonymous works as ‘A Country Gentleman,’ but appears to have been, in reality, a thread-hosier of Leicester. In 1773 he was living at Kensington Gore, but his later years were spent at Leicester, where he was secretary of the local agricultural society.
Weston's first important work was his ‘Tracts on Practical Agriculture and Gardening,’ 1769, which he dedicated to the Society of Arts. This work is remembered ​chiefly in virtue of the appended ‘Catalogue on English authors who have wrote on Husbandry, Gardening, Botany, and subjects relative thereto.’ More ambitious works were his ‘Botanicus Universalis et Hortulanus,’ published in four volumes between 1770 and 1777, and his ‘Flora Anglicana, seu arborum fruticum, plantarum, et fructuum … catalogus,’ issued in two parts in 1775 and 1780 respectively.
About 1800 and for some time subsequently Weston chiefly devoted himself to the local history and literature of Leicestershire. In 1800 he proposed the publication of ‘Leicestriana, or a collection of fugitive Pieces in Verse and Prose arranged in Chronological Order.’ A further suggested venture of the same kind was ‘The Literary History of Leicestershire: containing an account of the Authors, Natives and Residents, of the Town and Country. … To which is added an Account of the Town Library.’ It does not appear, however, that either of these works was published. Subsequent designs made in 1805 for ‘The Natural History of Strawberries’ and a ‘Treatise on the Management of Fish Ponds’ were prevented by his death, which took place at Leicester on 20 Oct. 1806.
Weston also wrote: 1. ‘The Gardener's and Planter's Calendar: containing the method of raising Timber Trees, Fruit Trees, and Quick for Hedges,’ 1773; 2nd edit. 1778. 2. ‘The Gentleman's and Lady's Gardener,’ 1774. 3. ‘The Gardener's Pocket Calendar,’ 1774. 4. ‘Ellis's Gardener's Calendar,’ 1774. 5. ‘The Nurseryman and Seedsman's Catalogue of Trees, Shrubs, Plants, and Seeds,’ 1774. 6. ‘A New and Cheap Manure,’ 1791. 7. ‘The Leicester Directory,’ 1794. He also wrote for the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ a number of articles on horticultural and botanical subjects.
E. C.-e.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Weston, Thomas (d.1643?)

​WESTON, THOMAS (d. 1643?), merchant and colonist, was in 1619 in close correspondence with the leaders of the English congregation at Leyden, and especially with John Robinson (1576?–1625) [q. v.], their minister. In the spring of 1620 he went to Leyden, and, finding the exiles negotiating with the merchants of Amsterdam with a view to their emigrating to New Amsterdam, he persuaded them to break off these negotiations, ‘and not to meddle with the Dutch or depend too much on the Virginia Company,’ for he and some other merchants, his friends, ‘would set them forth,’ and provide for them such shipping and money as they needed. Robinson, John Carver [q. v.], William Bradford (1590–1657) [q. v.], and the other leaders of the party believed that he was actuated by a sincere and religious sympathy with their cause, and followed his suggestions. The rigorous conditions to which he forced them to agree were passed as for the satisfaction of Weston's associates; but Carver, on arriving in England to conclude the necessary arrangements, found that little was done, and that, practically, Weston refused to advance the money unless he had the autocratic direction of the whole. The assistance which he finally gave them was much less than he had promised, and the ‘pilgrims’ were reduced to very great straits for the prosecution of their voyage.
In November 1621 the Fortune, a small vessel of fifty-five tons, came out from Weston to the colonists at Plymouth; but, though she was sent back with a cargo of clap-boards and beaver-skins to the value of 500l., Weston had thrown his old friends over, and resolved to send out a separate colony on his own venture. In this there was no pretence at any religious motive. It was for the simple advancement of Weston's interests, and the colonists were the scum and outcasts of civilisation. The council for New England petitioned against this as an infringement of their charter (Brown, Genesis of the United States, 31 May and 5 July 1622); but the expedition set out under the government of Richard Greene, Weston's brother-in-law, and arrived at Plymouth, where they remained two months, wasting their stores in idleness. Greene died, and, under the rule of one Saunders, they finally settled at a place afterwards known as Weymouth, near Bos​ston. Here many of them died of sickness, and the rest were threatened by the Indians with extermination—a fate from which they were rescued by a party from Plymouth led by Myles Standish [q. v.] Shortly afterwards Weston himself arrived in borrowed clothes, having lost everything, and was obliged to beg a small stock of beaver to set up in trade. Presently Robert Gorges [see under Gorges, Sir Ferdinando] came out with a royal commission as lieutenant-governor of the district, and, conceiving Weston to be an interloper, had him arrested. Bradford obtained his release, and he was eventually permitted to return to England. He is said to have died at Bristol during the civil war.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Weston, Richard (1620-1681)

1904 Errata appended.
​WESTON, RICHARD (1620–1681), judge, son of Edward Weston of Hackney, and born in 1620. He matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1639, but left without taking a degree. He was admitted a student of Gray's Inn on 10 Aug. 1642, and was called to the bar in 1649. He was made reader of Gray's Inn in Lent 1676, serjeant-at-law on 23 Oct. 1677, king's serjeant on 5 Feb. 1678 (whereupon he was knighted), and puisne baron of the exchequer on 7 Feb. 1680.
As early as 1662 his arguments in court had attracted attention and were noticed by Sir T. Raymond in his ‘Reports of Cases.’ He was judge in several important trials between 1678 and 1680. In the midsummer assizes at Kingston in 1680 he boldly checked Jeffreys, who, as counsel, was browbeating the other side in their examination of witnesses, and thereby made an implacable enemy for himself. He had the courage in 1680 to grant a habeas corpus to Sheridan, whom the House of Commons had committed, when some of the judges held back from so doing.
In December 1680 the commons voted an impeachment against him founded upon certain expressions used by him in his charge to the jury at Kingston. While inveighing against Calvin and Zwinglius he had said of those theologians: ‘Now they were amusing us with fears, and nothing would serve them but a parliament .... for my part I know no representative of the nation but the king.’ The crime with which he was charged was that his words were ‘scandalous to the reformation, and tending to raise discord.’ The dissolution of parliament delayed the bringing in of the impeachment, and the death of Weston took place before the succeeding parliament proceeded to the business. He died in Chancery Lane on 23 March 1681, and was buried on the 26th at Hackney. He married Frances, second daughter of Sir George Marwood of Little Buskby, but probably had no children. His widow, whose name does not appear in the will, was his sole executrix.
B. P.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.278 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 369 | ii | 36 | Weston, Richard (1620-1681): for Bushby read Buskby |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mackinnon, Daniel (1791-1836)

​MACKINNON, DANIEL (1791–1836), colonel and historian of the Coldstream guards, born in 1791, was son of William Mackinnon, chief of the clan Mackinnon (see Anderson, iii. 27). William Alexander Mackinnon [q. v.] was his elder brother, and Daniel Henry Mackinnon [q. v.] was his first cousin. On 16 June 1804 he was appointed ensign in the Coldstream guards, in which his uncle, Henry Mackinnon, author of 'A Journal of the Campaign in Portugal and Spain' (1812), who fell as a major-general at Ciudad Rodrigo, in 1812, was then a lieutenant-colonel. He became lieutenant and captain in the regiment in 1808, and captain and lieutenant-colonel on 25 July 1814, junior major 1826, senior major 1829, and regimental lieutenant -colonel and colonel in 1830. He served with his regiment at Bremen in 1805; at Copenhagen in 1807; in the Peninsula from 31 Dec. 1808 to August 1812; in North Holland, August to December 1814; and was captain of the grenadier company and acting second major of his battalion at Waterloo, when he was despatched from Byng's brigade in the afternoon (of 18 June) with two companies, to reinforce Hougoumont, after Foy had put the Nassau troops to flight. He received a severe wound in the knee, and had his horse shot under him. When lieutenant-colonel of the regiment he compiled ​the 'Origin and History of the Coldstream Guards,' London, 1832, 2 vols. 8vo, which was one of the first, and is still one of the best books of its class.
'Dan' Mackinnon, as his friends called him, was remarkable for his extraordinary agility and daring in climbing, vaulting, and such-like exercises. Many stories are told of his athletic feats (see Chambers, Eminent Scotsmen, vol. iii., and Gent Mag. 1836, ii. 208) and of his love of practical jokes, which were never ill-natured, although they sometimes involved him in scrapes. Gronow relates many anecdotes of him, and states that Joe Grimaldi [q. v.] the clown often said 'Colonel Mackinnon had only to put on the motley, and he would totally eclipse me' (Reminiscences, i. 61). Gronow describes Mackinnon as the constant companion of Byron when the poet was at Lisbon during the Peninsular war (ib. ii. 195). A well-built, handsome man, he was in later years a well-known figure about town, at White's, and other haunts of fashion. He died at his residence in Hertford Street, Mayfair, London, 22 June 1836, in his forty-sixth year. He married MissDent, daughter of John Dent, M.P. for Poole, and by her left issue.
[Anderson's Scottish Nation, iii. 27-9; Chambers's Eminent Scotsmen, vol. iii.; Burke's Landed Gentry, vol. ii.; Mackinnon's Origin and Hist. Coldstream Guards, ii. 127, 182, 207; Gronow's Reminiscences (revised edition in 2 toIs.), i. 33, 61-2, 231-2, ii. 196-6, 259-60; Gent. Mag. 1833 pt. i. p. 240 (review of book), 1836 p. 208 (obituary notice).]
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mackinnon, Daniel Henry

​MACKINNON, DANIEL HENRY (1813–1884), soldier and author, youngest and last surviving son of Daniel Mackinnon (d. 1830) of Binfield, Berkshire, barrister-at-law, by Rachel Yeamans, youngest daughter and eventual heiress of Captain Eliot of the 47th regiment, was born on 18 Sept. 1813. Daniel Mackinnon [q. v.] and William Alexander Mackinnon [q. v.] were his first cousins. He graduated B.A. at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was classical prizeman in 1834, and seventh moderator in 1836. On 1 July 1836 he was appointed cornet in the 16th lancers, in which he became lieutenant in 1838, and captain in 1847. He served in Afghanistan in 1838-9; was present at the capture of Ghuznee (medal), m the Sikh war of 1846, where he had a horse shot under him at Buddiwal, and at Ali wal and Sobraon (medal and clasp). He afterwards exchanged to the 6th dragoon guards (carabineers), and retired on half-pay unattached. While on half-pay he was for a time paymaster of the 43rd light infantry, and afterwards staff-officer of pensioners at various stations, from February 1864 until his retirement on full pay, with the brevet of major-general, in 1878. He died 7 Jan. 1884. He married in 1847 Caroline, youngest daughter of Thomas Robert, baron Dimsdale, and by her left issue. Mackinnon was author of ' Military Services and Adventures in the Far East ' (2nd edit. 1849, 2 vols.) and 'British Military Power in India.' They are not in the British Museum Library.
[Burke's Landed Gentry, various editions, under 'Mackinnon of Mackinnon,' and Peerage, s.v. 'Dimsdale' (foreign titles); Hart's Army Lists; Broad Arrow, 14 Jan. 1884, p. 788.]
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mackinnon, William Alexander

​MACKINNON, WILLIAM ALEXANDER (1789–1870), legislator, born on 2 Aug. 1789, was eldest son of William Mackinnon, by his wife Miss Frye, and chief of the clan Mackinnon in the Western Islands of Scotland (Burke, Landed Gentry, 7th edit. ii. 1 193). Daniel Mackinnon (1791–1836) [q. v.] was his younger brother. He is. stated to have kept terms at St. John's College, Cambridge, and to have become a student of Lincoln's Inn, but his name cannot be found in the registers of either society. His eldest son, William Alexander Mackinnon, was a member of both. In 1830 he became M.P. for Dunwich in the conservative interest, and in 1831 was first elected for Lymington. His speech on the third reading of the Reform Bill (20 March 1832) was printed; it was able enough from a tory point of view, but it cost him his seat at the general election of 1833. He was re-elected for Lymington in 1885, and retained the seat till 1852. About that date he became a liberal. On his son, William Alexander Mackinnon, being unseated on petition, in 1853, for Rye, Mackinnon was returned for that borough without opposition, and was subsequently reelected in 1857 and 1859. In 1865 he finally retired. During the forty years that he sat in parliament Mackinnon proved himself a hard-working and useful member. He brought in bills for the amendment of the patent laws, to prevent intramural interments in populous cities and towns (1842), and to abate the smoke nuisance; he also obtained select committees on the removal of Smithfield Market, and subsequently promoted measures relative to turnpike trusts and for establishing a rural police (1855).
Mackinnon died at Belvidere, Broadstairs, one of his many seats, on 30 April 1870. He married, on 3 Aug. 1812, Emma Mary (d. 1835), only daughter of Joseph Budworth Palmer [q. v.] of Palmerstown, co. Mayo, and Rush House, Dublin, whose large fortune and estates were afterwards inherited by Mackinnon in right of his wife. He had a family ​of three sons and three daughters. His son Daniel Lionel entered the Coldstream guards and was killed at Inkermann.
Besides some tracts, Mackinnon published in 1828 a treatise 'On Public Opinion in Great Britain and other parts of the World,' 8vo, London (anon.), which passed through two editions. It was subsequently rewritten in two volumes, under the title of 'History of Civilisation,' 8vo, London, 1846; another edit. 1848. It is a work of merit. In 1820 he was elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and on 14 June 1827 fellow of the Royal Society; he was also fellow of the Geological Society.
[Scotsman, 3 May 1870, p. 2; Times, 3 May 1870; Dod's Parl. Companion; Irving's Book of Scotsmen; Cat. of Advocates' Library.]
G. G.