OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hennessy, William Maunsell

​HENNESSY, WILLIAM MAUNSELL (1829–1889), Irish scholar, was born at Castle Gregory, co. Kerry, in 1829. After his school education he emigrated to the United States, where he resided for some years. He returned to Ireland and wrote in newspapers, but his favourite pursuit was Irish literature. The language was his mother-tongue, and he improved his knowledge of it by an assiduous study of manuscripts. In 1868 he obtained an appointment in the Public Record Office, Dublin. He rose to be the assistant-deputy-keeper, and held office till his death. His chief works were editions of Irish texts with introductions and translations which invariably display a wide knowledge of the Irish language and its literature.
He published in 1866 (Rolls Series) the ‘Chronicon Scotorum’ of Dubhaltach Mac Firbisigh, a summary of Irish history up to 1150, accompanied by a valuable glossary of the rarer words. In 1871 he edited, in two thick volumes of Irish text and translation, ‘The Annals of Loch Cé,’ an Irish chronicle, 1014–1590. In 1875 he revised and annotated an edition of ‘The Book of Fenagh,’ ​the house-book of St. Caillin's Abbey, co. Leitrim; and in 1887 one volume of the ‘Annals of Ulster,’ carrying that chronicle up to 1056. He translated the ‘Tripartite Life of St. Patrick’ (1871); revised the ‘Pedigree of the White Knight’ (1856); edited the text of the ‘Poets and Poetry of Munster’ (Dublin, 1883); translated and added a tract on ‘Cath Cnucha’ from ‘Leabhar na h-Uidhre,’ and ‘Mac Conglinne's Dream’ from ‘Leabhar Breac’ (Fraser's Magazine, September 1873). He was elected Todd professor at the Royal Irish Academy 1882–4, and in that capacity prepared a text and translation of ‘Mesca Ulad,’ the drunkenness of the Ulstermen, which was published in 1889, immediately after his death. He left another old tale, ‘Bruiden Dáderga,’ in proof at the time of his death. He wrote an article in ‘La Revue Celtique’ (i. 3) on the ancient Irish goddess of war, and two admirable ‘Essays’ on MacPherson's Ossian and the Ossianic literature in the ‘Academy’ (1 and 15 Aug. 1871). These are the best examinations of the subject which have been published; they display excellent taste and exact Gaelic scholarship. Besides these published works, he left behind him numerous manuscript transcripts and translations of Irish texts, and an edition of O'Reilly's ‘Irish Dictionary’ with copious additions in his hand. He often wrote his transcripts in a Roman character, but his Irish handwriting was beautifully clear, and in general effect resembled that of Dubhaltach MacFirbisigh. He lost his wife and a married daughter, and these afflictions induced a condition of nervous depression from which he never rallied. He died at his residence, 71 Pembroke Road, Dublin, 13 Jan. 1889, and left no greater Irish scholar behind him in Ireland. His conversation was full of learning, and he was liberal in his communication of knowledge.
[Memoir by Standish H. O'Grady, Academy, No. 873; Works; Letters and personal knowledge; Sale Catalogue of his books and manuscripts, Dublin, 1890.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hay, William (d.1576)

Dates 1537/8 to 1586 in the ODNB.
​HAY, WILLIAM, fifth Lord Yester (d. 1576), supporter of Mary Queen of Scots, was the eldest son of John, fourth lord Yester, by his wife Margaret, eldest daughter of the fourth Earl of Livingstone. His father, who was taken prisoner at the battle of Pinkie in 1547, and was for some time in confinement, died in 1557. The son was served heir in 1559. He had been living in France, and on 20 June of this year received a passport from Elizabeth into Scotland (Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1558–9, entry 863). Writing to Sir William Cecil on 20 June, Throckmorton states that he is mistrusted and a great papist (ib. p. 870). Nevertheless he was one of the noblemen who subscribed the ‘Book of Discipline’ in the Tolbooth on 27 Jan. 1560–1 (Knox, Works, ii. 129). He also signed the treaty of Berwick. On 14 Feb. 1561–2 the queen confirmed a charter to him and his wife Margaret Ker of the lands of Belton, with manor, turret, and fortalice, in the county of Haddington (Reg. Mag. Sig. ii. entry 1410). He was present as one of the extraordinary lords of the privy council at the meeting at Edinburgh, 1 Aug. 1565, when the Earl of Moray was charged to appear before the king and queen (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 347), and in the ‘roundabout raid’ against Moray was one of those who commanded the van which was nominally led by Darnley (ib. p. 379). From this time he was among the steadiest supporters of the queen. He was one of the first to join her and Bothwell after their flight from Borthwick Castle to Dunbar, and marched with his dependents to her support at Carberry Hill. When it was determined to convey her to Lochleven, Hay and other nobles gathered to attempt her relief, but circumstances proved unfavourable (Keith, Hist. ii. 647). He also signed the band for the deliverance of the queen from Loch Leven, and fought for her at Langside. In March 1570 he subscribed the letter to the queen of England advising her to unite the Scottish factions ‘as one flock under the obedience of one head by entering into conditions with the queen of Scotland’ (printed in Calderwood, ii. 547–50). He abandoned his endeavours when Queen Mary's cause became hopeless. His name appears as a member of the privy ​council held at Leith on 6 Feb. 1571–2, and from this time he may be reckoned among the ‘king's party.’ He died in August 1576. By his wife Margaret, daughter of John Ker of Ferniehirst, he had two sons, William, sixth lord Hay, and John, seventh lord Hay, from whom the present Marquis of Tweeddale is descended, and four daughters, Margaret, married first to James, seventh lord Borthwick, and secondly to Sir Robert Lauder; Catharine, married to Robert Swinton of Swinton; Jean, to Sir James Hay of Barra; and Elizabeth, to William Ker of Broomland.
[Knox's Works; Calderwood's Hist. of the Church of Scotland; Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vols. i. ii.; Illustrations of the Reign of Mary (Bannatyne Club); Cal. State Papers, For. Ser., Reign of Elizabeth; Cal. State Papers, Scott. Ser.; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), ii. 606.]
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hayday, James

​HAYDAY, JAMES (1796–1872), book-binder, born in London in 1796, served his time with Charles Marchant, vellum-binder, 12 Gloucester Street, Queen Square, and then for some time worked as a journeyman. In 1825 he became one of the auditors of the Journeymen Bookbinders' Trade Society. He commenced business in a very humble way. In 1833 he rented premises at 31 Little Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, where he continued until his retirement in 1861. Hayday had long seen that it was ​desirable to make printed books open freely and lie flat; his attention is believed to have been drawn to this matter by seeing Bagster's polyglot bibles, which were bound by Joseph Welsh of 10 Queen Street, Golden Square, in what was known as ‘Bagster's Renowned Binding.’ These books were made flexible, and covered with purple pin-headed sealskin with a blind tool ornament. In his own binding he sewed the books all along every sheet, and to remedy the extra thickness that would be caused by sewing with thread, used silk, and to equalise the thickness rounded the fore edges more than was customary. To make the back tight he dispensed with the ordinary backing of paper, and fastened the leather cover down to the back. Still the constant opening of the book disfigured the grain of the leather, and to obviate this he introduced the cross or pin-headed grain, or what is now termed Turkey morocco. Works bound by Hayday became famous, and his name attached to a book raised its value twenty-five per cent. Edward Gardner of the Oxford Warehouse, 7 Paternoster Row, secured Hayday's services for the Oxford books exclusively. William Pickering, bookseller, of 57 Chancery Lane, gave him the benefit of his long experience, and introduced him to many wealthy patrons. After entering into a brief partnership with Mr. Boyce, ‘a finisher,’ he again started on his own account at 31 Little Queen Street. Unable to compete with other and cheaper binders, he was adjudicated a bankrupt on 10 June 1861.
He sold the use of his name to William Mansell, who succeeded to the bookbinding establishment. Retiring to St. Leonard's-on-Sea, Hayday died there on 19 March 1872, aged 76.
[The Bookseller, 2 April 1872, p. 284.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hay, Robert

​HAY, ROBERT (1799–1863), Egyptian traveller and archæologist, born 6 Jan. 1799, was fourth son of Robert Hay of Drumelzier and Whittinghame in Scotland (a great-grandson of John Hay, first earl of Tweeddale) and Janet, daughter of James Erskine of Cardross. Hay, who inherited the estate of Linplum from his brother James, was a pioneer of Egyptian exploration. He was in Egypt as one of the leading members of an archæological expedition between 1826 and 1838. Among his companions were the artists Arundale, Catherwood, J. Bonomi the younger, and E. W. Lane. Besides Egyptian antiquities presented to the British Museum, there are in the department of manuscripts there forty-nine large volumes of archæological and other drawings made during this expedition (Add. MSS. 29812–60), and also part of Hay's own diary (Add. MS. 31054). In 1840 Hay published a folio volume of ‘Illustrations of Cairo,’ lithographed by J. C. Bourne from drawings by O. B. Carter [q. v.] and others. Some of the original drawings for this work are in the print room at the British Museum. Hay married, in 1828, Kalitza, daughter of Alexandros Psarakè, chief magistrate of Apodhulo in Crete, by whom he left two sons. He died at Amisfield, East Lothian, on 4 Nov. 1863.
[Cat. of Addit. MSS., Brit. Mus.; Burke's Landed Gentry.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hayden, George

​HAYDEN, GEORGE (fl. 1723), composer, was organist at the church of St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey. On 6 Jan. 1746 he was elected a member of the Madrigal Society. Hayden's music is distinguished by much dramatic feeling. His best known compositions are:
* ‘As I saw Fair Clora,’ a two-part song, the words by Waller [1710?].
* ‘Mad Tom,’ sung in character by Platt at Sadler's Wells.
* Three cantatas: ‘A Cypress Grove,’ ‘Thyrsis,’ and ‘Neptune and Amymome,’ London, 1723.
* ‘Welcome, Damon,’ with a symphony of two oboes and two violins [1720?].
[Dict. of Musicians, 1827; Grove's Dict. of Music, i. 700; Hawkins's Hist. of Music, iii. 825; Burney's Hist. of Music, iv. 650; Hayden's compositions.]
L. M. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Haydn, Joseph

​HAYDN, JOSEPH (d. 1856), compiler of dictionaries, is well known as the author of the ‘Dictionary of Dates,’ 1841 (19th edition, 1889), and of the ‘Book of Dignities,’ 1851 (3rd revised edition, 1894). The ‘Book of Dignities’ was a modernised form of Beatson's ‘Political Index,’ but omits the lists of holders of many important offices. He also edited Lewis's ‘Topographical Dictionaries.’ His name is used in the ‘Haydn Series’ of dictionaries, which are on the same lines as those compiled by him. He does not, however, appear to have taken any part in their actual compilation. They are the ‘Universal Index of Biography,’ edited by J. B. Payne, 1870; ‘Bible Dictionary,’ edited by C. Boutell, 1871 (2nd edition, 1878); ‘Dictionary of Popular Medicine and Hygiene,’ edited by Dr. E. Lankester, 1874 (2nd edition, 1878). For a short time before his death, on 18 Jan. 1856, Haydn had been in receipt of a small pension of 25l. granted by the government. It was continued to his widow.
[Annual Register, 1856, p. 232; Times, 19 Jan. 1856; Gent. Mag. 1856, i. 542.]
J. W-s.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harcourt, William (1610-1679)

​HARCOURT, alias Waring, WILLIAM (1610–1679), jesuit. [See Waring.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harcourt, Thomas

​HARCOURT, THOMAS (1618–1679), Jesuit, whose real name was Whitbread, was born in Essex in 1618. He was sent to the college of the Jesuits at St. Omer, and at the age of seventeen entered the novitiate of the English province at Watten on 7 Sept. 1635. He came upon the English mission about 1647, and in 1649 he was in the Suffolk district. On 8 Dec. 1652 he was solemnly professed of the four vows. He laboured in England for thirty-two years, was twice superior of the Suffolk district, and once of the Lincolnshire district. He was chosen provincial of his order on 14 Jan. 1677-8, and it was during his visitation of the Belgian colleges of the English province that Titus Oates, after having been expelled from two of the colleges of the society, applied to him to be admitted as a member of the order, and, on being refused, uttered the threat that he would be either a Jesuit or a Judas. Harcourt returned to England to attend the triennial meeting of the English province held at the Duke of York's residence, St. James's Palace, on 24 April 1678. He was seized within the purlieus of the residence of the Spanish ambassador, Count Egremont, Wyld House, Wyld Street, formerly called Weld Street, on 29 Sept., and committed to Newgate. He was tried at the Old Bailey on 13 June following, was convicted of complicity in the 'popish plot' on the perjured testimony of Oates, Bedloe, and Dugdale, and was executed at Tyburn on 20 June (O. S.) 1679. His remains, with those of his four companions, Fathers Waring, Fenwick, Turner, and Gavan, were buried in the churchyard of St. Giles-in-the-Fields.
His two short poems, 'To Death' and 'To his Soul,' are preserved in the 'Remonstrance of Piety and Innocence,' London, 1683, 12mo, where is also his 'Devout elevation of the Mind to God.' He had prepared for the press an English version of Père Hayneuf's 'Meditations.'
There is a portrait of him, engraved by Martin Bouche of Antwerp, in Matthias Tanner's excessively rare work, entitled 'Brevis Relatio felicis Agonis quern pro Religione Catholica gloriose subierunt aliquot e Societate Jesu Sacerdotes,' Prague, 1683. In 1871 W. H. James Weale of Bruges had in his possession a small half-length portrait of him on canvas, found in a farmhouse at Courtrai, and said to have been formerly in the house of the Jesuits in that town (Notes and Queries, 4th ser. viii. 330).
[Challoner's Missionary Priests, 1803, ii. 200; De Backer's Bibl. des Ecrivains de la Compagnie de Jesus, 1872, ii. 31; Dodd's Church Hist, iii. 317; Floras Anglo-Bavaricus, pp. 151, 162; Foley's Records, v. 233, 1067, vii. 832; Granger's Biog. Hist. of England, 5th edit. v. 93; Oliver's Jesuit Collections, p. 111; Tanner's Brevis Relatio; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), iii. 1263, iv. 117, 771.]
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harcourt, William (1625-1679)

William Aylworth in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​HARCOURT, WILLIAM (1625–1679), Jesuit, whose real name was Aylworth, born in Monmouthshire in 1625, entered the Society of Jesus at Watten in 1641. He taught first philosophy and then theology at Liège for eleven years, and afterwards spent nine years as a missioner, partly in Holland and ​partly in England. While in this country he resided with the Pierrepoints of Holbeck Hall, Nottinghamshire. During the excitement consequent on Titus Oates's plot he had some narrow escapes, and a large reward was offered for his apprehension. He contrived, however, to escape to Holland, and died at Haarlem on 10 Sept. 1679.
He is the author of: 1. 'Metaphysica Scholastica; in qua ab Ente per ejus V propositiones disputando ad Deum, pleræque philosophicæ, et non paucæ theologicæ difficultates elucidantur,' Cologne, 1675, fol., dedicated to Gervase, lord Pierrepoint. 2. 'The Escape of the Rev. William Harcourt, verè Aylworth, from the hands of the Heretics,' 1679; manuscript in the Public Record Office, Brussels. Printed in Foley's 'Records.'
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richard of Wethershed

​RICHARD of Wethershed (d. 1231), archbishop of Canterbury. [See Grant, Richard.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richards, John Inigo

​RICHARDS, JOHN INIGO (d. 1810), landscape-painter, scene-painter, and royal academician, first appears as an exhibitor in 1763 with the Society of Artists at Spring Gardens; he was elected a fellow of the society and signed their declaration roll in 1766. Richards became one of the foundation members of the Royal Academy in 1768, and continued to exhibit landscapes and figure subjects for forty years. In 1788, on the resignation of Francis Milner Newton [q. v.], he was appointed secretary to the Royal Academy and allotted apartments in Somerset House. He catalogued the academy's collection of works of art, and repaired Leonardo da Vinci's famous cartoon of ‘The Virgin and St. Anne.’ His portrait appears in Singleton's portrait group of academicians, in the possession of the Royal Academy. Richards obtained his chief distinction in art as a scene-painter. In 1777 he succeeded Nicholas Thomas Dall, R.A. [q. v.], as principal scene-painter at Covent Garden, and held that post for many years. His scenery ​was very much admired, and one of the scenes from ‘The Maid of the Mill’ was engraved by Woollett. Richards died at his rooms in the academy on 18 Dec. 1810.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richards, Evan

​RICHARDS or RHISIART, EVAN (1770–1832), Welsh poet. [See Prichard.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richards, James Brinsley

​RICHARDS, JAMES BRINSLEY (1846–1892), journalist, was born in London on 29 Aug. 1846. He was at Eton from 1857 to 1864, and the details of his school career are given in an entertaining form in his ‘Seven Years at Eton, 1857–64,’ published in 1883. At a comparatively early age he went abroad, and lived for several years in France. He acted for some time as secretary to M. Drouyn de Lhuys, and then as secretary to the Duc Decazes, and it was during this period that he acquired the intimate knowledge of French politics and politicians which was conspicuous in all he wrote. In 1882 he sent voluntary contributions to the ‘Times,’ and on the death of General Eber in February 1885 he was appointed to succeed him as the correspondent of the ‘Times’ in Vienna. From that time forward he contributed a series of admirable letters and articles on a variety of foreign topics, as well as lives of foreign statesmen and politicians, many of which attracted attention on the continent. On 2 Jan. 1892 he was transferred to Berlin. There he died at 1 Von der Heydtstrasse, Berlin, of a stroke of apoplexy, on 5 April 1892, and was buried in the Twelve Apostles cemetery, Berlin, on 9 April. The Empress Frederick sent a wreath of laurels fringed with gold. He married in Brussels, on 7 Jan. 1880, Blanche, daughter of J. Caldecott Smith, by whom he left four children.
Richards's earliest work of fiction, published anonymously, ‘The Duke's Marriage’ (1886, 3 vols.), contains a vivid picture of French political and social life in the later years of the second empire. His other works were ‘Prince Roderick’ (1889, 3 vols.), and ‘The Alderman's Children’ (1891, 3 vols.).
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richards, George

​RICHARDS, GEORGE (1767–1837), poet and divine, son of James Richards, eventually vicar of Rainham, Kent, was baptised on 15 Sept. 1767. He was admitted at Christ's Hospital, London, in June 1776, and was then described as from Hadleigh in Suffolk. Charles Lamb knew him at school, and calls him ‘a pale, studious Grecian.’ On 10 March 1775 he matriculated from Trinity College, Oxford, becoming a scholar of his college in 1786. He gained two chancellor's prizes: in 1787 for Latin verse, on the subject ‘Rex, a violentâ Regicidæ manu ereptus, cum Reginâ Oxoniam invisens,’ and in 1789 for an English essay ‘On the characteristic Differences between Ancient and Modern Poetry’ (Oxford, 1789, and in Oxford Prize Essays, 1836, i. 241–76). In 1791 George Simon, earl Harcourt, gave anonymously a prize for an English poem on the ‘Aboriginal Britons.’ This Richards won, and the donor of the prize became his lifelong friend. The poem was printed separately and in sets of ‘Oxford Prize Poems.’ It was called by Charles Lamb ‘the most spirited’ of these poems, and lauded by Byron (English Bards and Scotch Reviewers); De Morgan described it as ‘a remarkable youthful production’ (Budget of Paradoxes, pp. 431–2).
Richards graduated B.A. on 4 Nov. 1788, M.A. on 11 July 1791, and B.D. and D.D. in 1820. In 1790, when he took holy orders, he was elected to a fellowship at Oriel College, and remained there until 1796. He was appointed Bampton lecturer in 1800, and select preacher in 1804 and 1811. From 1796, when he married, to 1824 he was one of the vicars of Bampton, and rector of Lillingstone Lovel in Oxfordshire. In July 1824 he was appointed to the more valuable vicarage of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, Westminster. There he erected at his sole cost a new vicarage, largely contributed towards the erection of the church of St. Michael in Burleigh Street, Strand, and served for some years as treasurer of Charing Cross Hospital. He became in 1822 a governor of Christ's Hospital, and founded there the Richards gold medal for the best copy of Latin hexameters. In 1799 he was elected F.S.A. He died at Russell Square, London, on 30 March 1837, and was buried in a special vault in the churchyard of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields on 6 April. He married, on 6 Oct. 1796, Miss Parker of Oxford. His portrait was painted by C. Ross, and was engraved, at the expense of the members of St. Martin's-in-the Fields vestry, by C. Turner in 1832.
Richards published, besides the works already noticed: 1. ‘Songs of the Aboriginal Bards of Britain,’ 1792. 2. ‘Modern France: a Poem,’ 1793. 3. ‘Matilda, or the Dying Penitent,’ a poetical epistle, 1795. 4. ‘The Divine Origin of Prophecy illustrated and defended’ (Bampton Lectures), 1800. 5. ‘Odin,’ a drama, 1804. 6. ‘Emma,’ a drama on the model of the Greek theatre, 1804. 7. ‘Poems,’ 1804, 2 vols.; the first volume was dedicated to Lord Harcourt, the second to the Rev. William Benwell [q. v.]; most of the poems which he had previously published were reprinted in this collection. 8. ‘Monody on Death of Lord Nelson,’ 1806.
W. P. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Richards, Henry Brinley

​RICHARDS, HENRY BRINLEY (1819–1885), pianist and composer, son of Henry Richards, organist of St. Peter's, Carmarthen, was born at Carmarthen on 13 Nov. 1819. At the age of fifteen he entered the Royal Academy of Music, where he was in 1835 the first to gain the king's scholarship, to which he was re-elected for a second period of two years. He soon gained a high position as a pianist in London, and as a teacher had a very large connection. He became a director of the Royal Academy of Music, and a professor there and elsewhere. His musical sympathies were mainly on the side of Welsh music, upon which he lectured frequently all over the country. He took a practical interest in the Eisteddfod gatherings, and also in the South Wales Choral Union on its successful visits to the Crystal Palace in 1872 and 1873. He wrote a very large number of piano pieces, part songs, songs, and choruses, many of which have had a wide circulation. Several of his orchestral works were performed in Paris, where Richards attracted the notice of, and formed an intimacy with, ​Chopin. His ‘Overture in F minor’ (Paris, 1840) obtained a deserved success, but Richards will be remembered chiefly for his ‘Let the hills resound,’ ‘Harp of Wales,’ and ‘God bless the Prince of Wales’ (first printed in 1862), which has become a national anthem in the strictest sense. The composer was presented to the prince with due ceremony on St. David's day, 1867. He composed some additional songs for the English version of Auber's ‘Crown Diamonds’ when produced at Drury Lane in 1846, and edited ‘The Lays of Wales,’ London, 1873. Over 250 of his pieces and settings are enumerated in the ‘Music Catalogue’ of the British Museum. He died at St. Mary Abbot's Terrace, Kensington, on 1 May 1885.
J. C. H.