OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Villiers, Henry Montagu

​VILLIERS, HENRY MONTAGU (1813–1861), bishop of Durham, fifth son of George Villiers (1759–1827), and younger brother of George William Frederick Villiers, fourth earl of Clarendon [q. v.], was born in London on 4 Jan. 1813. He matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on 29 April 1830, held a studentship at his college from 1830 to 1838, graduated B.A. in 1834, M.A. in 1837, and became D.D. by diploma on 28 Feb. 1856. In 1836 he was ordained to the curacy of Deane, Lancashire, and on 25 Jan. 1837 was removed to the vicarage of Kenilworth, Warwickshire. The lord chancellor (Lord Lyndhurst) gave him the wealthy rectory of St. George's, Bloomsbury, London, in 1841, and it was as rector of St. George's that he made his reputation, displaying great ability and untiring zeal in the management of his large parish. He was an extreme low churchman, and especially appealed as a preacher to the poor. The dissenters in his vestry eagerly supported him, and with men of every sect and stamp who belonged to the evangelical order he avowed the fullest sympathy. He introduced an admirable system of management into his parochial schools. From 26 March 1847 to 1856 he was a canon of St. Paul's Cathedral. No minister in London was more popular than Villiers when in 1856 ​he was appointed by Palmerston to the bishopric of Carlisle. He was consecrated at Whitehall on 13 April, and proved himself not less energetic in a diocese than he had been in a parish. In June 1860 he was translated to the see of Durham. Great things were expected from his energy and tact in Durham, where the spiritual provisions were very deficient; but he died at the Castle, Bishop Auckland, on 9 Aug. 1861, and was buried in the chapel of the Castle on 16 Aug.
He had been raised to the rank of an earl's son by a royal warrant in 1839. He married, on 30 Jan. 1837, Amelia Maria, eldest daughter of William Hulton of Hulton Park, Lancashire. She died on 5 Feb. 1871, leaving, besides four daughters, Henry Montagu, born in 1837, vicar of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, since 1881; and Frederick Ernest, born in 1841, captain in the Royal Herts yeomanry.
Villiers published numerous charges, lectures, sermons, and prefaces to books.
[Times, 10 and 19 Aug. 1861; Illustrated London News, 1854, xxiv. 400; Illustrated News of the World, 1859, vol. iii.; Gent. Mag. 1861, ii. 324; Drawing-room Portrait Gallery, 1859, 2nd ser. portrait iii.; Church of England Photographic Portrait Gallery, 1859, portrait viii.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Villiers, John (1677?-1723)

​VILLIERS, JOHN (1677?–1723), styling himself ‘Viscount Purbeck and Baron Villiers of Stoke,’ and after 1687 ‘third Earl of Buckingham,’ born about 1677, was grandson of Robert Danvers [q. v.], and only surviving son and heir of Robert Villiers (1656–1684), by the eccentric Margaret, only daughter of Ulick de Burgh, second earl of St. Albans, and widow of Viscount Muskerry (see Grammont's Memoirs, passim). Robert Villiers, alias Danvers, left England heavily in debt, and was killed in a duel at Liège, at the age of twenty-eight. He assumed the style of ‘Viscount Purbeck,’ despite the fact that his claim to succeed to the dignity had been disallowed by the House of Lords in 1678, on the ground of adulterine bastardy (see Collins, Claims concerning Baronies by Writ), his father, Robert Danvers, alias Villiers, alias Wright [see Danvers, Robert], being the illegitimate son of Frances, the wife of John Villiers, viscount Purbeck [q. v.], upon whose heirs male the reversion of the earldom of Buckingham was entailed by the patent of 1617.
John Villiers, who was educated at Eton, and who subsequently became the prey of gamesters and depraved women, did not make a formal claim to the earldom of Buckingham until April 1709, nor did the lords then take ​any notice of his appeal. In 1720 he petitioned the king with a like result. He died at Dancer's Hill, South Mimms, Middlesex, on 10 Aug. 1723, being buried there on 18 Aug. as ‘Lord Buckingham.’ He married, about 1700, Frances Moyser, who, like himself, seems to have led a dissolute life; by her he had two daughters, who followed their mother's example. His claims were adopted, but (save for a thin pamphlet issued in 1724 as ‘The Case of George Villiers’) not pressed in any way, by his first cousin, George Villiers (1690–1748), vicar of Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, and also by this clergyman's son, George Villiers, vicar of Frodsham, Cheshire, upon whose death, 24 June 1774, this claim to the earldom of Buckingham became extinct.
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Villiers, George Child-

​VILLIERS, GEORGE CHILD-, fifth Earl of Jersey and eighth Viscount Grandison (1773–1859), born at Middleton Park on 19 Aug. 1773, was elder son of George Bussy Villiers, fourth earl [q. v.] He was educated at Harrow, and graduated M.A. from St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1794. He twice held the office of lord chamberlain of the household of William IV, in 1830 and 1834–5, and twice also that of master of the horse to Queen Victoria in 1841–6 and 1852. He was an ardent foxhunter; ‘Nimrod’ in his ‘Crack Riders of England’ refers to him as ‘not only one of the hardest, boldest, and most judicious, but perhaps the most elegant rider to hounds the world ever saw.’ For a long series of years, beginning in 1807, he was one of the chief pillars of the turf, breeding and training his own horses at his Oxfordshire seat, Middleton, among which were many celebrated winners, such as Cobweb, winner of the Oaks in 1824; Middleton, winner of the Derby in 1825; Mameluke, winner of the Derby in 1827; and Bay Middleton, winner of the Derby in 1836. Jersey received the honorary degree of D.C.L. at Oxford in 1812, was appointed a privy councillor in 1830, and a knight grand cross of the Guelphs of Hanover in 1834. He died at 38 Berkeley Square, London, on 3 Oct. 1859, and was buried at Middleton Stoney. He married at Gretna Green, on 23 May 1804, Sarah Sophia (1785–1867), eldest daughter of John Fane, tenth earl of Westmorland [q. v.], by Anne, daughter and sole heiress of the banker, Robert Child, of Osterley Park, Middlesex. He assumed the additional name of Child on 1 Dec. 1819. By his wife he had five sons and three daughters. The countess, who owned the chief interest in Child's bank by Temple Bar, was for many years a leader of the best society in London. She offered an asylum to Byron at Middleton Park in 1814–5, and is said to have suggested the characters of Lady St. Julians in Disraeli's ‘Coningsby’ and ‘Sibyl.’
There are several fine portraits of the fifth Countess of Jersey, including a full-length as a child by Romney, a full-length at the age of twenty-two by Lawrence, a head by Hoppner, all at Middleton; and a full-length by Gerard at Osterley. There are engravings by Henry Meyer, by Cochran, by Lewis, and by Ryall. Lady Jersey's correspondence, preserved at Middleton, in​includes familiar letters from a number of persons distinguished in politics and literature.
[G. E. C[okayne]'s Complete Peerage; Gent. Mag. 1859, ii. 643; Waagen's Galleries of Art, 1857, pp. 269–74; New Sporting Mag. 1836, x. 302, with portrait; Doyle's Official Baronage; private papers at Middleton.]
H. E. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Pott, Alfred

​POTT, ALFRED (1822–1908), principal of Cuddesdon College, born on 30 Sept. 1822 at Norwood, was the second son of Charles Pott of Norwood, Surrey, and Anna, daughter of C. S. Cox, master in chancery. Educated at Eton under Edward Craven Hawtrey [q. v.], he matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, on 16 Dec. 1840. Having been elected to a demyship at Magdalen College in 1843, he graduated B.A. in 1844 with a second class in literæ humaniores, and next year he won the Johnson theological scholarship. He proceeded M.A. in 1847, and B.D. in 1854. He was ordained deacon in 1845 and priest in the following year. He became curate of Cuddesdon, and in 1851 vicar on the nomination of Bishop Samuel Wilberforce [q. v.]. In 1853 he was elected a fellow of Magdalen College ; and in 1854 he was appointed first principal of the new theological college at Cuddesdon. Here he laid down the lines upon which the college was subsequently carried on. But he was somewhat overshadowed by his vice-principal, Henry Parry Liddon [q. v.], and he resigned owing to ill-health shortly after Charles Pourtales Golightly [q. v.] had called attention to the extreme high church practices of the Cuddesdon system. In 1858 he accepted the living of East Hendred, Berkshire, becoming vicar of Abingdon in 1867. Bishop Wilberforce appointed Pott one of his examining chaplains, made him hon. canon of Christ Church in 1868, and in 1869 preferred him to the ​archdeaconry of Berkshire. Pott subsequently held the benefices of Clifton-Hampden (1874-82) and of Sonning (1882-99). He resigned the archdeaconry in 1903, but retained his hon. canonry. In convocation Pott was a recognised authority on ecclesiastical law; and as archdeacon he showed wisdom and judgment. Although a high churchman he enjoyed the friendship of men of widely divergent opinions. He died at Windlesham, Surrey, on 28 Feb. 1908, and was buried at Chfton-Hampden. In 1855 he married Emily Harriet (d. 1903), daughter of Joseph Gibbs, vicar of Clifton-Hampden.
Besides sermons and charges, Pott published: 1. 'Confirmation Lectures delivered to a Village Congregation,' 1852; 5th edit. 1886. 2. 'Village Lectures on the Sacraments and Occasional Services of the Church,' 1854.
[The Times, 29 Feb. 1908; Guardian, 4 March 1908; Life of Samuel Wilberforce, 1883, ii. 366, iii. 399; Johnston, Life and Letters of Henry Parry Liddon, 1904, pp. 30 seq.; Cuddesdon College (1854-1904), 1904; Bloxam, Register of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford, 1881, vii. 357; Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1888.]
G. S. W.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Price, Thomas

​PRICE, THOMAS (1852–1909), premier of South Australia, born at Brymbo near Wrexham, North Wales, on 19 Jan. ​1852, was son of John Price by his wife Jane. Spending his childhood in Liverpool, he was educated at a penny school there, and then followed the trade of stonecutter, taking an interest in public matters and adopting the temperance cause as an ardent Rechabite. Ordered to Australia for his health in 1883, he landed at Adelaide at a time when there was much difficiilty in getting employment. He was temporarily employed as clerk of works at the government locomotive shops at Islington. Returning to his old calling of stonecutter, he long worked on the new parliament buildings at Adelaide, then in course of erection, in which he afterwards sat as premier. In 1891 he became secretary of the Masons' and Bricklayers' Society in South Austraha, and in 1893 he entered the House of Assembly of the colony as member for Starb in the labour interest. That constituency he represented until 1902, when he was elected for the re-formed district of Torrens. Of the labour party he became secretary in 1900 and parliamentary leader in 1901. In July 1905 he was chosen premier of South Australia, combining with it the duties of commissioner of public works and minister of education, and being the first labour premier of an Australian state, though the commonwealth had for four months in 1904 had a labour prime minister in Mr. Watson. Price held the office of premier until his death, nearly four years later. His cabinet was a coalition of liberal and labour members, and his capacity for leadership held it well together. Price was a man of the most kindly character: he had a strong sense of humour and an abundance of rugged eloquence. He was one of the few parliamentary speakers who are known to have changed votes and decided the fate of a measure by power of speech. During his premiership he was responsible for Acts relating to wages boards, municipalisation of the tramway system, which had previously been in the hands of seven companies, reduction of the franchise for the upper house, and the transfer of the northern territory to the commonwealth. The transfer of the territory, however, did not take place in his lifetime, as the commonwealth parliament only passed the necessary legislation for the purpose in the session of 1910. He died at the height of his popularity at his house at Hawthorn, near Adelaide, on 31 May 1909, and was buried in the West Terrace cemetery at Adelaide. He married on 14 April 1881 Anne Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Lloyd, timber merchant, of Liverpool, and had issue four sons and three daughters. A portrait in oils, painted by Mr. Johnstone, was presented to the Walker Art Gallery at Liverpool in 1908; a replica is in the Adelaide Art Gallery.
[Johns's Notable Australians; The Times, 1 June 1909; private sources.]
C. P. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Pratt, Joseph Bishop

​PRATT, JOSEPH BISHOP (1854–1910), engraver, son of Anthony Pratt, a printer of mezzotints, by his wife Ann Bishop, was born at 4 College Terrace, Camden New Town, London, N., on 1 Jan. 1854. In 1868 he was apprenticed to David Lucas, with whom he remained five years. The first plate for which he received a commission, 'Maternal Felicity,' after Samuel Carter, was published in Dec. 1873. For the firms of Agnew, Graves, Lefèvre, Leggatt, and Tooth he engraved many plates of animal subjects after Landseer, Briton Riviere, Peter Graham, Rosa Bonheur, whom he visited at Fontainebleau, and others; these were varied occasionally by figure subjects and landscapes after Constable and Cox. Pratt's early engravings were chiefly in the ’mixed' manner, a combination of etching, line work and mezzotint, but a second period in his career began in 1896, from which date he confined himself to pure mezzotint, and almost exclusively to subjects after the English painters of the Georgian era, who had then come into fashion. Plates commissioned in that year and published in 1897 by Messrs. Agnew after Raeburn's 'Mrs. Gregory' and Lawrence's 'Mrs. Cuthbert' met with great success, and Pratt was thenceforth much employed by the same firm in engraving pictures by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Romney, Hoppner, and their contemporaries. In doing so, he limited himself to subjects that had not been engraved before. He continued to engrave for Messrs. Tooth a series of subjects after Peter Graham, R.A., and he was selected by Sir Luke Fildes. R.A., to engrave the state portraits of Edward VII (1902) and Queen Alexandra (1906). One of his last important plates, 'The Countess of Warwick and her Children,' after Romney, was published by Messrs. P. and D. Colnaghi in 1909. Pratt purchased from the widow of Thomas Oldham Barlow [q. v. Suppl. I], their late possessor, the set of mezzotinter's tools that had been used by Samuel Cousins. Exhibitions of Pratt's engravings held by Messrs. Agnew at Manchester and Liverpool in 1902, and by Messrs. Vicars in Bond Street in 1904, proved him to be the foremost reproductive engraver of his time. A considerable, though incomplete, collection of his work is in the British Museum. Pratt long resided at Harpenden, Hertfordshire, but removed in 1907 to Brenchley, Kent. Pratt died in London, after an operation, on 23 Dec. 1910. He had six children by his marriage, on 26 August 1878, to Caroline Almader James, who survived him; his eldest son, Stanley Claude Pratt, born on 9 June 1882, an engraver, was pupil of his father; his first plate was published in 1904.
C. D.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Colt

Edition of 1802.
​COLT, the young of a mare, usually called a horse-colt, in order to distinguish it from the female, which is denominated a filly.
Colts should always be bred from a sound stud, as their future utility, in a great measure, depends on that circumstance; and also on the manner in which they are reared. In the first summer, they may be permitted to run with the mare till Michaelmas, or longer, if the weather continue mild. They should then be weaned, and kept in a stable, with a low rack and manger for their hay and oats; but the latter should be crushed in a mill, before they are given to them, as this necessary precaution will prevent the distension of their lower jaw-veins; which would otherwise attract the blood and humours down into the eyes, and occasion loss of sight. We would particularly recommend a strict attention to this circumstance; as the blindness we frequently observe in colts, is not to be attributed to the heating nature of the oats, but solely to the difficulty with which they are chewed.
The feeding of colts with grain is attended with another advantage, namely, that their legs do not become thick and ill-shaped, while they on the whole grow broader, and better knit, than if they were fed only with bran and hay; and will also be more able to endure fatigue.
Colts should be carefully kept from wet and cold; as they are extremely tender, and would be greatly injured by either. During fine weather, however, they may be allowed to pass an hour or two in the open air, when they should be conducted to the stable. By this treatment, they will acquire a habit of docility; and, when broken in, will bear the saddle quietly; which operation should not be undertaken till they are at least three years of age.
These young animals are subject to various disorders, the most fatal of which is a cough, that generally attacks them when they are about six months old, and is accompanied with a visible decay, arising from certain pellicles, or skins frequently separated from their interior organs, which obstruct their breathing, and at length destroy them. To remedy this distemper, farriers commonly prescribe, that the bag in which they were foaled, should be dried, a small quantity of it pulverized, and given them in milk. If the bag has not been preserved, the lungs of a young fox may be substituted for that powder. We believe, however, that there is more superstition than merit in these remedies, and make no doubt that sweet cow's-milk, in which a little mutton suet has been dissolved, or the beestings alone, would be found equally beneficial.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Colts-foot

Edition of 1802.
​COLTS-FOOT, or Tussilago, L. a genus of plants forming 21 species, of which only three are natives:
1. The Farfara, or common colts-foot, which grows in pastures, in moist, stiff, clayey soils, and also on lime-stone rubbish. It is mostly found in fields that are over-cropped, or exhausted, and often severely exercises the patience of the ​farmer. It may be eradicated by ploughing up the soil, carrying the plant away when rooted out, and laying the fields down to grass. Hog's dung has also been employed with success for this purpose; and, if spread on the land in the proportion of 15 or 20 loads per acre, it will certainly extirpate this troublesome weed. Colts-foot produces yellow flowers that are in bloom in the month of March or April, and are soon succeeded by large roundish leaves, which have a bitterish, mucilaginous taste, and constitute the principal ingredient in British herb-tobacco. They are eaten by sheep, goats, and cows, but refused by horses and hogs. Formerly they were much used in coughs and consumptive cases; and have also been found of considerable service in scrophulous complaints; a decoction of these leaves having sometimes succeeded, where sea-water had failed.
2. The Petasites. See Butter-Burr.
3. The Hybrida, or long-stalked colts-foot, which possesses no peculiar properties.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Columbine

Edition of 1802.
​COLUMBINE, the Common, or Aquilegia vulgaris, L. is a native plant, growing in hilly woods and thickets. It is perennial, and blooms in July. The beauty of its flowers, and their uncommon diversity, both in shape and colour, have introduced this plant into gardens. It is eaten by goats, but sheep are not fond of it, nor is it relished by rows, horses, and hogs.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Comb

Edition of 1802.
​COMB, an instrument made of horn, ivory, or other materials, and used for separating, cleaning, and dressing flax, wool, hair, &c. Combs for wool are prohibited to be imported into England.
A very useful Comb-pot was invented, a few years since, by John Ashman, an ingenious person employed by Messrs. Daniel and ​Thomas Dyke, of Sarum. It consists of an almost cylindrical furnace for water, which contains a smaller one, keeping the suds of the second washing of the wool, to be used with the next quantity of wool, the first way. The whole being a manufacturing process, we refer the reader to the "Letters and Papers of the Bath and West of England Society;" or to the 7th vol. of the "Repertory of the Arts and Manufactures," where he will find it described, together with an illustrative engraving.
In June 1796, a patent was granted to Mr. William Bundy, of Camden-town, Middlesex, for a machine for cutting and making combs; a full description of which, together with a plate, is inserted in the 11th vol. of the last mentioned work.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Combination

Edition of 1802.
​Combination. See Artificer, vol. i. p. 118.
# Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Columbo-Root

Edition of 1802.
​COLUMBO-ROOT, or Colomba-Root, an article lately introduced into medicine, chiefly by Dr. Percival. The natural history of the tree, from which we obtain it, is but imperfectly known: it grows near the town of Columbo, in the island of Ceylon. The most active part of the root is its bark, which is imported in circular pieces, consisting of a cortical, woody, and medullary lamina, and having a rough surface. It has an aromatic odour, but a disagreeably bitter, and somewhat pungent taste. It is possessed of antiseptic properties, and has been found efficacious in correcting and preventing the acrimony of bile.
The Columbo-root is much used abroad in diseases attended with bilious symptoms, and in an impaired state of digestion. It has a remarkable tendency to restrain the fermentation of alimentary matter, without affecting the stomach; a property in which it resembles mustard. Nor is it attended with any heating effect, and may therefore be advantageously taken in pulmonary consumption, and other hectical cases, both with a view to correct acrimony, and strengthen the digestive organs. Farther, it does not rise on the stomach, and agrees well with a milk-diet, as it abates flatulence, and is totally divested of acidity. Hence, we regret that this valuable drug is not regularly imported; and that it is frequently found either in a very decayed, or adulterated state.—The common dose is from ten to fifteen grains, every three or four hours, for adults; and from two to six grains, for children.