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

​SPENCER, WILLIAM GEORGE (1790–1866), mathematician, born at Derby in 1790, was the son of Matthew Spencer (1762–1827), schoolmaster at Derby, by his wife Catherine Taylor. Thomas Spencer (1796–1853) [q. v.] was his younger brother. He was educated at his father's school at Derby. After assisting his father he commenced, at ​the age of seventeen, to take private pupils in algebra, Euclid, astronomy, physics, and other mathematical subjects, and continued to teach them throughout life. Spencer was a man of much strength of character, and his originality, which he sometimes carried to an extreme, proved of service to him as a mathematician. Debarred in large measure from independent research by the demands made upon his time by his calling, he perfected a method of teaching elementary geometry by a gradual transition from the concrete to the abstract, thus avoiding the obstacles that the realisation of mathematical conceptions presents to the ordinary student of Euclid. In 1860, in accordance with his methods, he published a series of problems and exercises under the title ‘Inventional Geometry,’ London, 8vo, which he stated were ‘intended to familiarise the pupil with geometrical conceptions, to exercise his inventive faculty, and to prepare him for Euclid and the higher mathematics.’ It was republished in 1892 with a preface by the author's son, Mr. Herbert Spencer, and has been extensively adopted as a textbook. The principles which he laid down had long been in favour in France and Germany, and are now generally recognised in England (cf. Journal of Education, 1893, pp. 349–51). Spencer died in March 1866. By his wife Harriet, daughter of John Holmes, whom he married in 1819, he had one son, Mr. Herbert Spencer.
Besides the work mentioned, Spencer was the author of ‘A System of Lucid Shorthand,’ of which the manuscript was completed in 1843. Mr. Herbert Spencer published it for the first time in 1894. It is remarkable for its extreme simplicity and the ease with which it may be read.
[Information kindly given by Mr. Herbert Spencer; Mozley's Reminiscences, chiefly of Oriel College, i. 147; Mozley's Reminiscences, chiefly of Towns, ii. 144–74. Mr. Herbert Spencer does not consider that Mr. Mozley's impressions of his father are always quite accurate.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spens, John

​SPENS, Sir JOHN (1520?–1573), of Condie, queen's advocate, son of James Spens of Condie and Joanna Arnot (Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1546–80, No. 1389), was born about 1520, and educated at St. Salvator's College, St. Andrews, where he became a determinant in 1543. In 1549 he was, with eight other advocates, chosen by the court of session to plead before them in all cases. On 21 Oct. 1555 he was appointed joint queen's advocate with David Lauder, after whose death in 1560 he was made a judge, but continued to hold at the same time the office of queen's advocate, Robert Crichton having been associated with him as joint queen's advocate from 8 Feb. 1559–60. When Knox, on account of his letter in reference to the mass, was in 1563 accused of treason, Spens, whom Knox describes as ‘a man of gentle nature, and one that professed the doctrine of the Evangel’ (Works, ii. 401), came to him privately to inquire about the matter, and expressed the opinion that he had not been guilty of anything punishable by law (ib.) Knox also states that when Spens was commanded to accuse him before the queen, he did so, but ‘very gently’ (ib. p. 403). He adhered to the queen's party after her marriage to Darnley; and he was officially entrusted with the prosecution of the murderers of Riccio (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 468). He also attended officially at the indictment of Bothwell for the murder of Darnley. By some he is identified with the ‘Black John Spens’ who was denounced in the placard affixed to the Tolbooth as one of the murderers; but in all probability the epithet ‘Black’ was made use of to distinguish this John Spens from the advocate, who, had he been the person meant, would certainly have been referred to as queen's advocate. In 1566 he was appointed one of a commission for the revision of the laws (Acta Parl. Scot. i. 29). He remained in office after the imprisonment of the queen until his death in 1573.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Whitfeld, Henry

​WHITFELD or WHITFIELD, HENRY (d. 1660?), divine, is said by Mather to have been second son of Ralph Whitfeld of Gray's Inn, by Dorothy, daughter of Sir Henry Spelman [q. v.] He was more probably son of Thomas Whitfeld, lord of the manor of East Sheen and of Mortlake, who was licensed to marry Mildred Manning of Greenwich on 10 Jan. 1585 (Addit. MS. 27984, f. 20b). He appears to have taken holy orders, is described as B.D., and is said to have been appointed to the rich living of Ockley, Surrey, in 1616, although the register there contains no mention of his induction. Mather (Hist. of New England, 1853, i. 592) says that, possessing a fair estate of his own besides the rectory, he put ‘another godly minister’ in at Ockley, and went about preaching in the neighbourhood for twenty years as a conformist. As Nicholas Culpepper was instituted on 14 Sept. 1615, and the next rector, Hubert Nowell, on 15 Jan. 1638–9, this may have been the case. Whitfeld wrote during this period ‘Some Helpes to stirre up to Christian Duties’ (2nd edit. corrected and enlarged, London, 1634; 3rd edit. 1636).
In 1639 Whitfield, who had become a nonconformist at the same time as Cotton, and refused to read the ‘Book of Sports,’ resigned the rectory, sold his estate, and, accompanied by a number of his hearers from Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, embarked in May for New England. In July 1639 they landed at Newhaven, ‘the first ship that ever cast anchor in that port,’ and founded Guildford, Connecticut, Whitfield being the wealthiest of the six settlers who purchased the land. One of the first houses built was Whitfield's, called ‘the Stone House’ (figured in Appleton's Cyclop. of American Biogr.) Members increased but slowly until 1643, when seven ‘pillars’ were chosen to draw up a doctrine of faith. After eleven years at Guildford, Whitfield returned to England. He settled at Winchester, where he became a member of the corporation. Brook says he died about 1660.
By his wife, who came from Cranbrook, Whitfield had nine children, baptised at Ockley between 1619 and 1635.
​Besides ‘Some Helpes,’ Whitfield was author of ‘The Light appearing more and more towards the Perfect Day, or a Farther Discovery of the Present State of the Indians in New England concerning the Progresse of the Gospel amongst them’ (London, 1651, 4to; reprinted in ‘Massachusetts Historical Collections,’ 3rd ser. vol. iv., and in Sabin's ‘Reprints,’ 1865, 4to). This was followed by ‘Strength out of Weakness’ (London, 1652, 4to), an account of the further progress of the Gospel in New England.
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Whithorne, Peter

​WHITHORNE or WHITEHORNE, PETER (fl. 1543–1563), military writer, is described on the title-pages of his books, first as student and then as ‘fellow’ of Gray's Inn; but his name does not occur in the registers unless he be the P. Whytame who was admitted a student in 1543 (Foster, p. 16). About 1550 he was serving in the armies of the emperor Charles V against the Moors, and was present at the siege and capture by the Spaniards of ‘Calibbia,’ a monastery in Africa. He also speaks of having been in Constantinople. While in Africa he translated into English from the Italian Machiavelli's treatise on the art of war, but it was not published till ten years later, when Whitehorne terms it ‘the first fruites of a poore souldiour's studie.’ It was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth and was entitled ‘The Arte of Warre written first in Italian by Nicholas Machiauell and set forthe in Englishe … with an addicion of other like Marcialle feates and experiments …,’ London, 4to. The title-page is dated ‘Anno MDLX. Mense Julii,’ but the colophon has ‘MDLXII Mense Aprilis.’ Other editions appeared in 1573–4 and 1588, both in quarto. Whitehorne next produced an English translation of Fabio Cotta's Italian version of the Greek ‘Strategicus’ by Onosander, a writer of the first century A.D. It was entitled ‘Onosandro Platonico, of the General Captaine, and of his office … imprinted at London by Willyam Seres. Anno 1563,’ and was dedicated to the earl marshal, Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, to whom Whitehorne ‘wysheth longe life and perpetuall felicitie.’
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Whitford, David

​WHITFORD, DAVID (1626–1674), soldier and scholar, born in 1626, was the fourth son of Walter Whitford [q. v.], bishop of Brechin. He was educated at Westminster, where he was elected a queen's scholar on a royal warrant dated 21 March 1639–40 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1639–1640, p. 567), and matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, graduating B.A. on 30 March 1647, and M.A. on 14 Jan. 1660– ​1661. On the outbreak of the civil war he espoused the king's cause and ‘bore arms with the garrison of Oxford.’ In consequence he was deprived of his studentship by the parliamentary visitors in 1648, and returned to Scotland. There he attached himself to Charles II, and became an officer in his army. He took part in the battle of Worcester on 3 Sept. 1651, was wounded, taken prisoner, carried to Oxford, and conveyed thence to London, where his friends' importunity obtained his release (cf. ib. 1651–2, p. 11). He found himself in a state of distress from which he was relieved by (Sir) Edward Bysshe [q. v.], Garter king-of-arms. He obtained employment as an usher in Whitefriars in the school of the poet, James Shirley [q. v.], and in November 1658 was entered as a student of the Inner Temple. On the Restoration he was reinstated in his studentship by the visitors, but, finding himself disabled from holding it by the college statutes, he petitioned Charles II in December 1660 to grant him a dispensation (ib. 1660–1, p. 432). On 26 July 1666 he was appointed chaplain to Lord George Douglas's regiment of foot (ib. 1665–6, p. 540). He afterwards became chaplain to John Maitland, duke of Lauderdale [q. v.] In 1672 he officiated as minister to the Scottish regiment in France (Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. ii. 448a), and in 1673 he was appointed rector of Middleton Tyas in Yorkshire. He died suddenly in his chambers at Christ Church on 26 Oct. 1674, and was buried on the following day in the south transept of the cathedral, near his elder brother, Adam.
Whitford was an excellent scholar, and published ‘Musæi, Moschi, et Bionis quæ extant omnia, quibus accessere quædam selectiora Theocriti Eidyllia,’ Latin and Greek, London, 1655, 4to; republished with a new title-page in 1659. The work contained a dedication to Bysshe. He also translated into Latin three treatises by Sir Edward Bysshe, entitled ‘Notæ in quatuor Libros Nicholai Upton, de Studio Militari’ [see Upton, Nicholas], ‘Notæ in Johannis de Bado Aureo Libellum de Armis,’ and ‘Notæ in Henrici Spelmanni Aspilogiam’ [see Spelman, Sir Henry], which were published in one volume in 1654, London, fol. The last had been previously prefixed to Spelman's ‘Aspilogia’ in 1650. Whitford was the author of an appendix to Wishart's ‘Compleat History of the Wars in Scotland under the Conduite of James, Marquess of Montrose,’ 1660, and of some complimentary verses prefixed to Francis Goldsmith's ‘Hugo Grotius his Sophompaneas, or Ioseph,’ 1652.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Whithorne, Thomas

​WHITHORNE, THOMAS (fl. 1590), musical amateur, published in 1571 ‘Songes of three, fower, and fiue partes, by Thomas Whythorne, gent.’ The collection consists of seventy-six pieces, mostly to devotional words, in five part-books. They were well printed by John Day, the words in black letter. There are copies at the British Museum, Bodleian, and Christ Church libraries. As was usual, Whithorne wrote both the words and music. Complimentary Latin verses, different in each of the part-books, are prefixed; and Whithorne is duly promised immortality. In 1590 he published another collection entitled ‘Duos,’ containing fifty-two pieces, some for treble and bass, some for two trebles or two cornets, and fifteen canons. It is dedicated to the Earl of Huntingdon from London; it was printed by Thomas East, and Whithorne's portrait, at the age of forty, is at the end of each part-book. The first twelve pieces are anthems; only the opening words of all the others are given.
Whithorne was an amateur with an inordinate belief in his own powers. His works are ignored in the theoretical treatises of ​Morley, Ravenscroft, and Campion; nor were they mentioned by any critic until Burney described the ‘Songes,’ dismissing both words and music as ‘truly barbarous.’ Rimbault, Rockstro, Husk, Davey, and Nagel all speak of them with contempt. The ‘Duos’ are less bad, but are unknown to bibliographers, and are not mentioned even in Grove's ‘Dictionary.’ In Brown and Stratton's ‘British Musical Biography’ they are absurdly entitled ‘Bassavo.’
A portrait of Whithorne, dated 1569, is in the possession of Dr. W. H. Cummings (cf. Bromley, p. 43).
H. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, George Housman

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​THOMAS, GEORGE HOUSMAN (1824–1868), painter, was born in London on 17 Dec. 1824. After serving his apprenticeship to the wood-engraver George Bonner in London, he began his professional career in Paris, first as an engraver, afterwards as a draughtsman on the wood. In 1846 he went to the United States to illustrate a New York paper, and remained there about two years. During this time he obtained a commission from the government of the United States to design bank-notes. His health compelled him to return to Europe, and he went to Italy. He was present, at the siege of Rome by the French in 1849, and sent many sketches of the siege to the 'Illustrated London News'. After spending two years in Italy he returned to England. About 1850 he produced a remarkable set of woodcuts for 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'. He also illustrated very many other books, including Longfellow's 'Hiawatha', Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs', and Trollope's 'Last Chronicle of Barset'. He exhibited his first picture, 'St. Anthony's Day at Rome', at the British Institution in 1851; 'Garibaldi at Rome,' painted from sketches made in 1849, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1854, and attracted much attention. His next picture was 'Ball at the Camp, Boulogne,' 1856. He obtained the patronage of Queen Victoria, and painted the following pictures by her majesty's command: 'Distribution of Crimean Medals, 18 May 1855,' 1858; 'Review in the Champ de Mars in Honour of Queen Victoria,' 1859: 'Parade at Potsdam, 17 Aug. 1858,' 1860; 'Marriage of the Prince of Wales,' 'Homage of the Princess Royal at the Coronation of the King of Prussia,' and Marriage of the Princess Alice,' 1863; 'The Queen and Prince Consort at Aldershot, 1859,' 1866; 'The Children of Princess Alice, 1866; 'The Queen investing the Sultan with the Order of the Garter,' 1868, painted from a sketch by Princess Louise. All these were exhibited at the Royal Academy in the years named. Of his other exhibits, which were either military or domestic subjects, 'Rotten Row' (1862) was the most remarkable. His paintings were bright and animated and gained him considerable popularity, but had none of the higher qualities of art. Thomas resided at Kingston and Surbiton till illness caused his removal to Boulogne, where he died on 21 July 1868. A collection of his works was exhibited in Bond Street in June 1869, and his sketches and studies were sold at Christie's in July 1872.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Athenaeum, 1 Aug. 1868; Art Journal, 1868, p. 181 (biography), 1869 (criticism).]
C. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, Honoratus Leigh

​THOMAS, HONORATUS LEIGH (1769–1846), surgeon, the son of John Thomas of Hawarden, Flint, by his wife Maria, sister of John Boydell [q. v.], was born on 26 March 1769. On coming to London as a very young man, he presented a letter of introduction to John Hunter, the great surgeon. Hunter at once made an appointment with Thomas for five o'clock the following morning, and on his presenting himself at that hour he found Hunter busily engaged dissecting insects. He was appointed dresser to Hunter at St. George's Hospital and a pupil of William Cumberland Cruikshank [q. v.], the anatomist. He obtained the diploma of the Corporation of Surgeons on 16 Oct. 1794, was an original member of the College of Surgeons, and was elected to the fellowship on its foundation in 1843. Thomas's early professional work was in the army and navy. He passed as 1st mate, 3rd rate (navy), on 5 July 1792, and, on the recommendation of Hunter, was appointed assistant surgeon to Lord Macartney's embassy to China in the same year [see Macartney, George, Earl Macartney]. In 1799 he volunteered for medical service with the Duke of York's army in Holland. On the capitulation of the forces to the French enemy Thomas wished to remain with the wounded, who could not be moved. He was told that he could only stay as a prisoner, and he decided to remain in that capacity. As soon, however, as his services could be dispensed with he was allowed to return home.
Thomas married the elder daughter of Cruikshank, and in 1800 succeeded to his father-in-law's practice in Leicester Place, where he resided for nearly half a century. Notwithstanding his position at the College of Surgeons, Thomas seems rather to have avoided surgery, and was generally called in for consultation in medical cases. In this branch of his profession he was very successful.
At the College of Surgeons Thomas was a member of the court of assistants from 1818 to 1845, examiner from 1818 to 1845, vicepresident in 1827, 1828, 1836, and 1837, and president in 1829 and 1838. In 1827 he ​delivered the Hunterian oration. In this oration there are some interesting personal reminiscences of Hunter. Thomas was elected a fellow of the Royal Society on 16 Jan. 1806. He was also a member of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg. He died at Belmont, Torquay, on 26 June 1846. Edward Thomas [q. v.] was his son.
In addition to his Hunterian oration, Thomas published: 1. ‘Description of an Hermaphrodite Lamb’ (London Medical and Physical Journal, ii. 1799). 2. ‘Anatomical Description of a Male Rhinoceros’ (Phil. Trans. 1801, p. 145). 3. ‘Case of Artificial Dilatation of the Female Urethra’ (Med. Chir. Trans. i. 123). 4. ‘Case of Obstruction in the Large Intestines occasioned by a Biliary Calculus of extraordinary size’ (ib. vol. vi. 1845). There is a portrait in oil of Thomas by James Green at the Royal College of Surgeons.
J. B. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, John (1813-1862)

​THOMAS, JOHN (1813–1862), sculptor and architectural draughtsman, born at Chalford in Gloucestershire in 1813, was of ​Welsh descent. In 1825 he was apprenticed to a neighbouring mason, and later assisted his brother William, an architect at Birmingham. A monument by him at Huntingdon attracted the attention of Sir Charles Barry [q. v.], who employed him on the schools at Birmingham. He first attracted public notice at the time of the rebuilding of the houses of parliament, when, coming to London, he was at once engaged by Barry on the sculptural decorations of the new structure. His quick intelligence, technical facility, and organising talent soon marked him out as a valuable collaborator for the architect, and the army of skilled carvers and masons employed upon the ornamentation of the building were placed practically under his sole control. His labours in this connection and the many commissions of a like nature resulting therefrom naturally hindered the production of more individual work. His only noticeable achievements of a more fanciful kind were the ‘Queen of the Eastern Britons rousing her Subjects to Revenge,’ ‘Musidora,’ ‘Lady Godiva,’ and ‘Una and the Lion.’ Of the great mass of decorative work carried out by him the most characteristic examples, says the ‘Builder,’ are ‘the colossal lions at the ends of the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits, the large bas-reliefs at the Euston Square Station, the pediment and figures in front of the Great Western Hotel, figures and vases of the new works at the Serpentine, the decorative sculpture on the entrance piers of Buckingham Palace. … In Edinburgh there are specimens of his handiwork on the life assurance building, besides the group of figures at the Masonic Hall, and the fountain at Holyrood. In Windsor Castle he was much engaged for the late prince consort.’
He had further a considerable practice as an architectural draughtsman, and prepared the designs for the national bank at Glasgow, Sir Samuel Morton Peto's house at Somerleyton, the mausoleum of the Houldsworth family, and the royal dairy at Windsor.
His design for a grand national monument to Shakespeare and a design for a great majolica fountain (executed by Messrs. Minton, and placed in the horticultural gardens) were at the International Exhibition of 1862. He died at his house in Blomfield Road, Maida Hill, on 9 April 1862, leaving a widow and a daughter. Among the unfinished works in his studio at his death were statues of Joseph Sturge [q. v.] for the city of Birmingham and of Sir Hugh Myddelton [q. v.] for Islington. He was a frequent exhibitor of busts and decorative subjects at the Royal Academy from 1838 to 1862.
W. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, John (1691-1766)

​THOMAS, JOHN (1691–1766), successively bishop of Lincoln and Salisbury, born on 23 June 1691, was the son of a drayman in Nicholson's brewery in the parish of All Hallows the Great in the city of London, and was sent to the parish school (note in Le Neve's Fasti, ed. Hardy, ii. 28). He was admitted to Merchant Taylors' school on 11 March 1702-3. He graduated B.A. in 1713 and M.A. in 1717 from Catharine Hall, Cambridge, was made D.D. in 1728, and incorporated at Oxford on 11 July of the same year. He became chaplain of the English factory at Hamburg, where he was highly popular with the merchants, published a paper in German called the 'Patriot ' in imitation of the 'Spectator,' and attracted the notice of George II, who voluntarily offered him preferment in England if his ministers would leave him any patronage to bestow. In 1736 he was presented to the rectory of St. Vedast's, Foster Lane; he accompanied the king to Hanover at his personal request, and succeeded Dr. Lockyer as dean of Peterborough in 1740, in spite of the opposition of the Duke of Newcastle (Newton, Autobiogr. pp. 81-5). In 1743 he was nominated to the bishopric of St. Asaph, but was immediately transferred to Lincoln, to which he was consecrated at Lambeth on 1 April 1744. He was translated to Salisbury in November 1761, died there on 19 July 1766, and was buried in the cathedral, where a tablet erroneously gives his age as eighty-five instead of seventy-five. His library was sold in 1767. He left one daughter, married to John Taylor, chancellor of Salisbury. Of his four wives, the first was a niece of Bishop Sherlock. The famous wedding-ring ' posy,' 'If I survive I'll make them five,' is attributed to him.
Thomas seems to have been a worthy man, though weak in the disposal of patronage. His knowledge of German had commended him to George II, who liked him, and refused to quarrel with him for having dined at Cliefden with Frederick, prince of Wales. He was often confused with his namesakes of Winchester and Rochester, especially with the former, who also had held a city living, was a royal chaplain, preached well, and squinted. Thomas was also very deaf. He was a man of some humour, perhaps occasionally a practical joker (Wakefield, Life, i. 15; Gent. Mag. 1783 i. 463, ii. 1008, 1784 i. 80). Thomas was the author of sermons published between 1739 and 1756. His por- trait is in the palace at Salisbury.
H. E. D. B.