OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Plumridge, James Hanway

​PLUMRIDGE, Sir JAMES HANWAY (1787–1863), vice-admiral, born in 1787, entered the navy in September 1799 on board the Osprey sloop on the home station. He afterwards served in the Leda in the expedition to Egypt, with Captain George Hope, whom he followed to the Defence, and in her he was present in the battle of Trafalgar. He was then for a few months in the Melpomene with Captain (afterwards Sir Peter) Parker (1785–1814) [q. v.], and again with Hope in the Theseus. On 20 Aug. 1806 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and served continuously during the war, in (among other ships) the Melpomene in 1809, and the Menelaus in 1810 (again with Parker) and in the Caledonia as flag-lieutenant to Sir Edward Pellew, afterwards Viscount Exmouth [q. v.] On 7 June 1814 he was promoted to the command of the Crocus sloop, and from her, in July, he was appointed to the Philomel, in which he went to the East Indies. In 1817 he returned to England as acting-captain of the Amphitrite. The promotion was not confirmed, and from 1818 to 1821 he commanded the Sappho brig at St. Helena, and afterwards on the Irish station. He was advanced to post rank on 9 Oct. 1822. From 1831 to 1835 he commanded the Magicienne frigate in the East Indies, from 1837 to 1841 was superintendent of the Falmouth packets, and from 1842 to 1847 was storekeeper of the ordnance. From 1841 to 1847 he was M.P. for Falmouth. In 1847 he was appointed to the Cambrian frigate for service in the East Indies, and on 13 Oct. was ordered to wear a broad pennant as second in command on the station. He returned to England towards the end of 1850, and on 7 Oct. 1852 was promoted to be rear-admiral. In 1854, with his flag in the Leopard, he commanded the flying squadron in the Baltic, and especially in the Gulf of Bothnia. In the following February he was appointed superintendent of Devonport dockyard, and on 5 July was nominated a K.C.B. On 28 Nov. 1857 he was promoted to be vice-admiral. He had no further service, and died at Hopton Hall in Suffolk on 29 Nov. 1863. He was three times married, and left issue.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Plunket, Christopher

​PLUNKET, CHRISTOPHER, second Earl of Fingall (d. 1649), was the eldest son of Lucas Plunket, styled Lucas Môr, tenth lord Killeen, created Earl of Fingall on 26 Sept. 1628, by his second wife, Susanna, fifth daughter of Edward, lord Brabazon. His father died in 1637, and on 20 March that year Plunket received special livery of his estates. He took his seat in the Irish parliament on 16 March 1639, and was a member of several committees for privileges and grievances. On the outbreak of the rebellion in October 1641, he endeavoured, like the nobility and gentry of the Pale generally, to maintain an attitude of neutrality between the government and the northern party, and on 16 Nov. was appointed a commissioner to confer with all persons in arms, ‘with a view to suspend for some time the sad effects of licentiousness and rapine, until the kingdom was put in a better posture of defence.’ His behaviour caused him to be mistrusted by government, and on 17 Nov. he was proclaimed an outlaw. He thereupon took a prominent part in bringing about an alliance between the Ulster party and the nobility and gentry of the Pale. He was present at the meeting at the Hill of Crofty, and subsequently at that at the Hill of Tara, where he was appointed general of the horse for the county of Meath. His name is attached to the principal documents drawn up by the confederates in justification of their taking up arms. He was a member of the general assembly, and, by taking the oath of association against the papal nuncio Rinuccini in June 1648, proved his fidelity to the original demands of the confederates; but otherwise he played an inconspicuous part in the history of the rebellion. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Rathmines on 2 Aug. 1649, died in confinement in Dublin Castle a fortnight later, and was buried in St. Catherine's Church on 18 Aug. He was seven times indicted for high treason, and his estates were confiscated by the act for the speedy settlement of Ireland on 12 Aug. 1652.
Plunket married Mabel, daughter of Nicholas Barnewall, first viscount Kingsland, who survived him, and married, in 1653, Colonel James Barnewall, youngest son of Sir Patrick Barnewall. His eldest son and heir, Luke, third earl of Fingall, was restored to his estates and honours by order of the court of claims in 1662.
R. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Plumptre, Charles John

​PLUMPTRE, CHARLES JOHN (1818–1887), barrister and writer on elocution, born on 28 March 1818, was elder brother of Edward Hayes Plumptre [q. v.], dean of Wells. After receiving an education at private schools and King's College, London, he was entered at Gray's Inn in May 1838, and was called to the bar in June 1844. In conjunction with George Harris he edited vols. xi. and xii. of ‘The County Courts' Chronicle,’ and, in conjunction with Mr. Serjeant Edward William Cox [q. v.], between 1850 and 1860 he established the first penny readings for the people. His fine presence and remarkable command of the modulations of a sweet and powerful voice led him to devote especial attention to the study and practice of elocution. He gradually withdrew from practice at the bar and devoted his chief attention to lecturing on his favourite art, especially at the universities and at the various theological colleges, where his instructions were highly valued. He held official appointments as lecturer on elocution both at Oxford and at King's College. In 1861 he published a course of lectures delivered at Oxford in 1860; these subsequently formed the basis of a large work, ‘The Principles and Practice of Elocution’ (London, 1861, 8vo), which was dedicated to the Prince of Wales, and has gone through five editions. He died on 15 June 1887.
[Times, 21 June 1887; Men at the Bar; Men of the Time, 1868; private information.]
R. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spiers, Alexander

​SPIERS, ALEXANDER (1807–1869), lexicographer, was born at Gosport in Hampshire in 1807. He studied in England, in Germany, and in Paris and graduated doctor of philosophy at Leipzig. Acting under the advice of Andrieux, the well-known poet, he settled in Paris as a professor of English, and found employment at L'École de Commerce, at L'École des Ponts et Chaussées, at L'École des Mines, and at the Lycée Bonaparte. For fourteen years he devoted himself largely to compiling a new English-French and French-English dictionary. It appeared in 1846 as ‘General English and French Dictionary, newly composed from the English dictionaries of Johnson, Webster, Richardson, &c., and from the French dictionaries of the French Academy, of Laveaux, Boiste,’ &c. (London, 1846). It proved superior to anything which had preceded it, and was at once ‘autorisé par le conseil de l'instruction publique,’ 3 July 1846. The twenty-ninth edition, in two volumes, appeared in 1884 (remodelled by H. Witcomb, Spiers's successor at the École des Ponts et Chaussées), and it remains the standard dictionary. An abridgment, under the title of ‘Dictionnaire abrégé Anglais-Français et Français-Anglais, abrégé du Dictionnaire Général de M. Spiers,’ was brought out in 1851 and supplied to almost every school and lycée in France. In November 1857 he brought an action against Léon Contanseau and his publishers, Longmans & Co., for pirating his dictionaries in a work entitled ‘A Practical Dictionary of the French and English Languages,’ but Vice-chancellor Sir William Page Wood (afterwards Lord Hatherley) [q. v.], in his decision on 25 Feb. 1858, said that, although great use of Spiers's books had been made without due acknowledgment, yet in regard to such publications, which were not entirely original, a charge of piracy could not be sustained (Weekly Reporter, 1857–8, pp. 352–4; Times, 26 Feb. 1858, p. 10).
Spiers was nominated an Agrégé de l'Université, an Officier de l'Instruction Publique, Examinateur à la Sorbonne, and Inspecteur Général de l'Université. He received the cross of the Legion of Honour from Napoleon III. He died at Passy, near Paris, on 26 Aug. 1869. He married in 1853 Victoire Dawes Newman, by whom he left five sons.
Besides his ‘Dictionary,’ Spiers's chief publications were: 1. ‘Manual of Commercial Terms in English and French,’ 1846. 2. ‘Study of the English Prose Writers, Sacred and Profane,’ 1852. 3. ‘Treatise on English Versification,’ 1852. 4. ‘The English Letter-Writer,’ 1853. 5. ‘Study of English Poetry, a choice collection of the finest pieces of the poets of Great Britain,’ 1855. All these works were issued in both English and French editions in London, Paris, and America (New York or Philadelphia). Spiers also printed and edited for French students Sheridan's ‘School for Scandal’ and ‘The Essays of F. Bacon, Viscount St. Albans’ (1851).
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spilsbury, Jonathan

​SPILSBURY, JONATHAN (fl. 1760–1790), engraver, practised chiefly in mezzotint, and between 1759 and 1789 produced many excellent plates, mainly portraits, which included Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, after Sadler; Lord Camden, after Hoare; Miss Jacob and the Earl of Carlisle, after Reynolds; Inigo Jones, after Vandyck; John Wesley, after Romney; and George III and Queen Charlotte, from his own drawings. He also engraved some subject-pieces after Murillo, Rembrandt, Rubens, Metzu, A. Kauffman, &c. For his print of Miss Jacob, which is a very fine work, Spilsbury was awarded a premium by the Society of Arts in 1761, and for that of the Earl of Carlisle another in 1763. He exhibited original portraits and a few biblical compositions with the Society of Artists in 1763, 1770, and 1771, and at the academy from 1776 to 1784. He contributed a picture of ‘The Widow of Zarepta’ to the British Institution in 1807, and this is the last record of him.
He has been confused with his brother, John Spilsbury (1730?–1795?), also an engraver, in consequence of the similarity of christian names; some of the work executed by one or other of the brothers is also ascribed to a fictitious ‘Inigo’ Spilsbury. John Spilsbury, who is said to have been born in 1730, kept a print-shop in Russell Court, Covent Garden, where he published some of his brother's plates; but, according to a statement made by himself to the Rev. James Granger (Granger Correspondence, p. 403), his own work was confined to maps, ornaments, &c. He, however, executed a set of fifty etchings from antique gems, published by Boydell in 1785, and was probably the author of a set of twenty-four plates of heads etched in the manner of Rembrandt, and portraits of Queen Charlotte, J. W. Fletcher of Madeley, and Benjamin La Trobe, but these, being signed only ‘J. Spilsbury,’ may be the work of his brother. He was drawing-master at Harrow school, and died about 1795.
Maria Spilsbury, afterwards Mrs. Taylor ​(d. 1820?), daughter of Jonathan, was a clever painter of rural and domestic subjects, and exhibited largely at the Royal Academy and the British Institution from 1792 to 1813. Some of her works were well engraved and became popular; among them ‘The Drinking Well in Hyde Park,’ ‘The Stolen Child amid Gipsies,’ and ‘The Lost Child Found,’ ‘Reading’ and ‘Singing,’ and ‘Blessed are the Meek.’ Her portrait of the Rev. William Kingsbury was mezzotinted by H. Dawe. She also executed a few original etchings. In or about 1809 Miss Spilsbury married one John Taylor, with whom a few years later she went to Ireland; there she is said to have died about 1820.
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spode, Josiah

​SPODE, JOSIAH (1754–1827), potter, was born at Stoke-upon-Trent in 1754. His father, Josiah Spode (1733–1797), worked as a potter with Thomas Whieldon from 1749 to 1754, when he commenced manufacturing on his own account. The younger Josiah learnt the trade in his father's workshops, and is said to have introduced transfer printing into Stoke. He specially favoured the blue-printed ware, particularly the willow pattern, and much improved the jasper, cream, and black Egyptian ware. Spode's ware was soon made generally known through the agency of William Copeland, a traveller in the tea trade, who undertook to sell it to his customers on commission. The demand grew so rapidly that Spode, with Copeland's co​operation, opened a warehouse in Fore Street, Cripplegate, London. The trade steadily increased, and larger premises at 37 Lincoln's Inn Fields, the site of which was formerly occupied by the Duke's Theatre, were purchased by Spode and Copeland in 1779.
In 1796 the net profits of the firm exceeded 13,000l. On his father's death in the following year Josiah returned to Stoke, after making Copeland a partner and entrusting the London warehouse to his care. In 1800 Spode commenced to manufacture porcelain, and introduced bones into the paste as well as felspar, which increased the transparency and beauty of the ware. The present method of ornamenting porcelain in raised unburnished gold was first introduced by him in 1802. In 1805 he also made a fine ware called opaque porcelain. ‘He and other manufacturers inundated France with this description of ware under the name of ironstone china. It almost entirely superseded their fayence owing to its superior durability’ (Chaffers). The Prince of Wales visited Spode's manufactory in 1806, and he was appointed potter to the king. In 1812 he erected a large steam engine on his works, and made many important improvements.
Spode built for himself a very fine house at Penkhull, Staffordshire, called The Mount, and thither he and his family removed in 1804. He died there on 16 July 1827, aged 73. At the age of nineteen he married Miss Barker, daughter of a pottery manufacturer, by whom he had a son Josiah. His partner, William Copeland, predeceased him in 1826, being succeeded by his son, William Taylor Copeland [q. v.], into whose hands the whole business eventually passed through the death of Spode's son Josiah, on 6 Oct. 1827. Spode was the most successful china manufacturer of his time, and left a large fortune.
E. L. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spooner, Charles (1806-1871)

​SPOONER, CHARLES (1806–1871), veterinary surgeon, born 19 Oct. 1806, was youngest of the three sons of William Spooner of Fordham, Essex. His father at the time ​of his birth occupied the dairy farm at Mistley Park, Mannington, having removed thither from Yorkshire. On leaving school Spooner was apprenticed to a chemist, George Jervis of Westbar, Sheffield, and at the expiration of his term entered the Royal Veterinary College, as a student, November 1828. He obtained his diploma 21 July 1829, and shortly afterwards was appointed, chiefly through the influence of Professor Sewell, veterinary surgeon to the Zoological Society, a post in which he was soon succeeded by William Youatt [q. v.] About the same time, beginning 3 Nov. 1834 (Veterinarian, 1834, vii. 665), he delivered private lectures and demonstrations on veterinary anatomy in his rooms near the college. Spooner was already ‘well known as one of the best veterinary anatomists, perhaps the best, of which the profession could boast’ (ib. 1835, viii. 646), and thus a gap which had long existed in the official college training was efficiently filled. Early in 1839 he reluctantly accepted the post of demonstrator of anatomy at the college and broke up his private classes. His advancement at the college was rapid. In the same year he became assistant professor in the place of Sewell, who was now made principal of the college on the death of the former chief, Professor Coleman (1764–1839). Spooner delivered his first lecture on 19 Nov. (ib. 1839, xii. 817). Spooner was associated with Professor Sewell (1780–1853) in the formation, in 1836, of the Veterinary Medical Association, of which he became treasurer, and in 1839 president, an office to which he was subsequently re-elected annually. In 1842 he became deputy professor of the college, and in 1853, on the death of Professor Sewell, principal and chief professor, with residence in the college. He now stood at the head of his profession, and in 1858 became president of the incorporated Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (ib. 1858, xxxi. 349).
In 1865 Spooner was a member of the cattle plague commission. His judgment was frequently appealed to in the law courts (cf. Lancet, 16 Dec. 1871). Dying on 24 Nov. 1871, he was buried in Highgate cemetery. He married early in 1840 a Miss Boulton of Manchester, and left a family of five sons and three daughters. Though for some time joint editor of the ‘Veterinary Review,’ Spooner wrote little. It was rather as an operator, where he was aided by his accurate knowledge of anatomy, as a lecturer, and as a demonstrator on anatomy, that his talent was shown. Numerous reports of Spooner's speeches and lectures may be found in the ‘Veterinarian,’ the ‘Proceedings of the Veterinary Medical Association,’ &c. A lecture by him on ‘Horses,’ delivered before the members of the Farringdon Agricultural Library, was published in pamphlet form in 1861 (wrongly placed in the British Museum catalogue under the name of William Charles Spooner).
E. C.-e.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spillan, Daniel

​SPILLAN, DANIEL (d. 1854), scholar and medical writer, graduated B.A. from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1822, and proceeded M.A. and M.B. in 1826. On 13 April 1826 he was admitted a licentiate of the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland, and was elected a fellow on 7 June 1830. He removed to London, and made a vain effort to maintain himself there by practising his profession. He was equally unsuccessful in his literary enterprises, and being reduced to destitution, died in St. Pancras workhouse on 20 June 1854, leaving a wife and family. A son of his died of phthisis in the workhouse immediately after.
Spillan was the author of: 1. ‘A Manual of Chemistry,’ London, 1837, 24mo. 2. ‘A Manual of Percussion and Auscultation as employed in the Diagnosis of Diseases of the Chest and Abdomen,’ London, 1837, 24mo. 3. ‘Libamenta Praxeos Medicæ,’ London, 1838, 16mo. 4. ‘A Collection of Medical Formulæ from the most Eminent Physicians,’ London, 1838, 24mo. 5. ‘A Manual of General Therapeutics,’ London, 1841, 8vo. 6. ‘A Manual of Clinical Medicine,’ London, 1842, 12mo. 7. ‘Thesaurus Medicaminum,’ London, 1842, 12mo. 8. ‘The Homœopathic Prescribers' Pharmacopœia,’ London, 1850, 16mo.
He also wrote a preface to Ray's ‘Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity,’ and he translated: 1. Andral's ‘Clinique Médicale,’ London, 1836, 8vo. 2. Schill's ‘Outlines of Pathological Semeiology,’ London, 1839, 8vo. 3. Teste's ‘Practical Manual of Animal Magnetism,’ London, 1843, 8vo. 4. Jahr's ‘Homœopathic Handbook,’ London, 1851, 8vo.
In addition to his medical works, Spillan, who was a good classical scholar, translated with critical notes: 5. ‘The Oration of Æschines against Ctesiphon,’ Dublin, 1823, 12mo. 6. Sophocles's ‘Antigone’ and ‘Œdipus Colonæus,’ Dublin, 1831, 8vo. 7. Tacitus's ‘Germania’ and ‘Agricola,’ 1833, 12mo. 8. ‘The History of Rome by Titus Livius,’ vol. i. (Bohn's Classical Library), 1848, 8vo.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spittlehouse, John

​SPITTLEHOUSE, JOHN (fl. 1653), pamphleteer, fought for the parliament against the king at Gainsborough and at the siege of Newark (1644), remaining in the army till after the battle of Worcester (1651) (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1654, p. 62). When Cromwell dissolved the Long parliament (20 April 1653), Spittlehouse published several pamphlets in defence of that action, and urged that Cromwell should imitate Moses in appointing governors for the people. On 5 Dec. 1653 the sergeant-at-arms was ordered to apprehend him and bring him before council to answer for certain petitions presented by him to council and parliament (ib. 1653–4, pp. 272, 294, 446). He was released by order of council on 6 April 1654, but his arrest was again directed on 19 Oct. for publishing an abusive answer to Cromwell's speech of 4 Sept. 1654 (ib. 1654, pp. 378, 434). His release, on giving a bond to the extent of 200l. to live peaceably, was voted on 1 Feb. 1656 (ib. 1655–6, p. 155). The date of his death is not known.
Spittlehouse was the author of: 1. ‘The Army Vindicated in their late Dissolution of the Parliament,’ 1653, 4to. 2. ‘A Warning Piece Discharged,’ 1653 (on these two tracts see Gardiner's Commonwealth and Protectorate, ii. 223). 3. ‘An Answer to one Part of the Lord Protector's Speech, or a Vindication of the Fifth-Monarchy Men,’ 1654. 4. ‘The Picture of a New Courtier, drawn in a Conference between Mr. Plainheart and Mr. Timeserver,’ 1656.
C. H. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spofforth, Reginald

​SPOFFORTH, REGINALD (1770–1827), glee composer, the son of a currier, was born at Southwell, Nottinghamshire, in 1770. His uncle, Thomas Spofforth, organist of Southwell collegiate church, adopted him and taught him music, and he became a pupil of Dr. Benjamin Cooke [q. v.] He wrote his first glee, ‘Lightly o'er the village green,’ in 1797, and in 1793 obtained two prizes offered by the Nobleman's Catch Club for glees (‘See! smiling from the rosy east’ and ‘Where are those hours?’), which brought him into notice. In 1799 he published a ‘Set of Six Glees,’ which permanently established his reputation. One of these, ‘Hail! smiling morn,’ is probably the most popular glee ever written. Another, ‘Fill high the grape's exulting stream,’ gained a prize in 1810. As a member of the ‘Concentores Sodales’ he wrote a number of glees and canons, and some of these, left in a crude state and not intended for publication, were afterwards issued without authority by his pupil, William Hawes (1785–1846) [q. v.] He wrote some ephemeral music for the stage, and, being a good pianist, accompanied at Covent Garden, under William Shield [q. v.] He is best represented by his glees, about seventy in number, which are excellent and marked by a lively fancy and a chaste style. He died at Brompton on 8 Sept. 1827, and was buried at Kensington parish church. On the colonnade, near the bell tower, in Brompton cemetery, there is a tablet to his memory. A younger brother, Samuel (1780–1864), was organist successively of Peterborough and Lichfield cathedrals. He composed some once popular chants and other church music, and died at Lichfield on 6 June 1864.
J. C. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kelway, Thomas

Dates c.1695 to 1749 in the ODNB.
​KELWAY, THOMAS (d. 1749), organist and composer, is said to have been born at Chichester, where he entered the cathedral choir. It is possible that he was the son of Thomas or of Jasper Kelway of Windsor (‘assessment of inhabitants, May 1690;’ Sloane MS. 4847, fol. 86), and a pupil of Weldon or his master Walter of Eton, since his compositions are said to bear traces of Weldon's influence. It may also have been by Weldon's recommendation that he was chosen to succeed Reading as organist of Chichester Cathedral in 1726. He remained there for twenty-three years, and died on 21 May 1749. The gravestone was lost sight of for one hundred years, and when accidentally discovered was restored and set up in the south aisle. Joseph Kelway [q. v.] was his brother.
Kelway's printed music includes three evening services in A minor, B minor, and G minor (Novello), and two anthems, ‘Not unto us’ and ‘Unto Thee’ (Cope's volume of anthems). The library of Chichester Cathedral contains the above compositions in manuscript score, together with Services, Morning and Evening, full, in F; Morning in E, in C, and Evening in A; Anthems: ‘O praise the Lord,’ full, four voices; ‘Sing we merrily,’ ‘Sing unto God,’ ‘The Mighty God’ (solo bass with chorus), ‘Blessed be the Lord God,’ and ‘Let the words of my mouth.’
[Musical Times, v. 134; Grove's Dict. ii. 50.]
L. M. M.