OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sinclair, William (d.1337)

​SINCLAIR, WILLIAM (d. 1337), bishop of Dunkeld, was the second son of Sir William Sinclair (fl. 1266–1303) [q. v.] He succeeded Matthew de Crambreth as bishop of Dunkeld in 1312. On 2 Feb. 1312 he received a safe-conduct from Edward at his own request ​(his choice as bishop having been confirmed by the pope) to turn aside at Berwick to ‘get himself arrayed,’ on condition that he did not proceed further into Scotland nor hold converse with the enemy (Cal. Doc. relating to Scotland, 1307–57, No. 301). In 1317 he greatly distinguished himself by his gallant repulse of an English force which had landed at Donibristle in Fife. Already five hundred cavalry under the sheriff had been put to disgraceful flight, when the bishop, who was then residing at Auchtertool, put himself at the head of sixty of his servants and rallied the fugitives. ‘Turn,’ he said, seizing a spear from a soldier, ‘turn, for shame, and let all who love Scotland follow me.’ His words and action were effectual; and the English were driven back to their ships with a loss of five hundred men (Fordun, Chronicle). Bruce, on learning his feat, declared that Sinclair should be his own bishop, and as the king's bishop he was henceforth known. He seems, however, to have crowned Edward Baliol in 1332. The Dunkeld register gives his death 27 June 1337.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Singer, John

​SINGER, JOHN (fl. 1594–1602), actor and dramatist, was with Queen Elizabeth's company and the admiral's (Lord Charles Howard, earl of Nottingham) at the Rose Theatre from 1594 to 1602. He played the part of Assinego the clown in ‘Tamar Cham’ on 2 Oct. 1602, and received from Philip Henslowe [q. v.] on 13 Jan. 1602 the sum of 5l. for his ‘playe called Syngers Vollentarye.’ He is said by Collier to have been ‘a great popular favourite, and the leader of a company of comedians, not at the Globe or Blackfriars, but at some theatre where[at] he was well known and greatly applauded’ (Engl. Dram. Pœt. iii. 209, ed. 1879). Collier credits him with the authorship of a collection of his merry sallies and improvisations given to the world under the title of ‘Quips upon Questions, or a Clownes Conceite on Occasion offered, bewraying a morallised Metamorphosis of Changes upon Interrogatories, shewing a little Wit, with a great deale of Will; or, indeed, more desirous to please in it, then to profit by it. Clapt up by a Clowne of the Towne in this last Restraint, having little else to doe to make a little use of his fickle Muse, and careless of Carping. By Clunnyco de Curtaneo Snuffe.
Like as you list, read on and spare not,  Clownes judge like clownes, therefore I care not.  Or thus:  Floute me, I'l floute thee; it is my profession  To jest at a jester, in his transgression.
Imprinted at London for W. Ferbrand, and are to be sold at the sign of the Crowne over against the Mayden head near Yeldhall, 1600,’ 4to, 24 leaves (Hazlitt, Handbook). The ascription of this work to Singer, probable enough from internal evidence, rests upon the unsupported authority of Collier. The book, which is sad rather than comic, and consists of a series of moral platitudes conveying the idea that the writer was a thoughtful, serious, and kindly man, is of excessive rarity. A copy of it having come into the hands of Mr. F. Ouvry, a very limited reprint, now only less unattainable than the original volume, was issued (London, 1875, 4to).
J. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Singer, Joseph Henderson

​SINGER, JOSEPH HENDERSON (1786–1866), bishop of Meath, born at Annadale in co. Dublin in October 1786, was the youngest son of James Singer, deputy commissary-general in Ireland, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of James Henderson. Joseph was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained the mathematical and Hebrew prizes. He graduated B.A. as gold medallist in 1806, became a fellow in 1810, and proceeded M.A. in 1811, and B.D. and D.D. in 1825. In 1850, after many years' work at Trinity College as fellow and tutor, he was appointed regius professor of divinity on the death of Charles Richard Elrington [q. v.] In the same year he became rector of Raymoghy in the diocese of Raphoe, and in 1851 he was promoted to the archdeaconry of Raphoe.
Singer distinguished himself as a leading member of the evangelical party in the Irish church. He was an able preacher, being for many years chaplain of the Magdalen Asylum, and his views exercised great influence over the students for the ministry who came under his charge. He was also a strong opponent of the national board of education, and his attitude hindered his preferment. On the death of Thomas Stewart Townsend, however, in September 1852, he was appointed by Lord Derby to the premier bishopric of Meath, and was sworn of the Irish privy council. Singer continued to occupy the see until his death on 16 July 1866. He was buried on 21 July at Mount Jerome cemetery near Dublin.
Singer married, in 1822, Mary, eldest daughter of the Rev. Henry Crofton, D.D., senior chaplain at Kilmainham, and niece of Sir Hugh Crofton of Mohill in Leitrim, by whom he had three sons and three daughters.
[Dublin University Magazine, November 1853, with portrait; Dublin Graduates, p. 517; Men of the Time, 6th edit. 1865; Gent. Mag. 1866, ii. 405; Times, 19, 23 July 1866.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Lambert, George

The article refers to real tennis, not lawn tennis.
​LAMBERT, GEORGE (1842–1915), tennis player, was born 31 May 1842, the third son of Joseph Lambert, who was employed at Hatfield House as professional tennis player by the second Marquess of Salisbury. George Lambert's first engagement was under Thomas Sabin at the Merton Street tennis court at Oxford where he learned the game. His progress was very rapid, and in a few years he was in the forefront of tennis. In 1866 he went to the tennis court at Hampton Court Palace, and three years later was appointed head professional at the Marylebone Cricket Club's court at Lord's, where he remained for twenty years.
It was during the earlier part of his time at Lord's that Lambert reached the zenith of his career. In 1869 he was just defeated by John Moyer Heathcote [q.v.] in a set match, but soon afterwards Lambert began to surpass that player. Finer play than he showed in the Lord's court in 1872, 1873, and 1874 has seldom been seen; and although he had a set-back in the next few years owing to illness, by 1878 he was in his best form again. In 1870 he had challenged Edmund Tompkins, the holder, for the championship of tennis; as Tompkins did not feel equal to contesting it, Lambert gained the title without a match, and for the next fifteen years there was no one to dispute his superiority. Then, in 1885, when he was nearly forty-three years of age, he was challenged and defeated in a great match at Hampton Court Palace court by Tom Pettitt, of the Boston, U.S.A., Athletic Association. Lambert was beaten in 1886 by Charles Saunders, who thereby became champion of England, and his match-playing career ended soon afterwards. In 1889 he left Lord's and for two years was manager of the East Road court at Cambridge. He died at his house in North London 1 December 1915. He married in 1869 Jane Mellows, by whom he had three sons and one daughter. The eldest son, Alfred, became tennis professional to the fourth Marquess of Salisbury at Hatfield; Henry, the youngest, held the same post to the third Baron Leconfield at Petworth.
Lambert, more than any other player, marks the transition from the old to the new tennis. He was the first leading professional trained to the use of racquets strung as they are now and not in the fashion of old days when each cross string was looped round a main one. Lambert added a pace and severity to the game which it had never known before. He had a superb fore-hand stroke which for heaviness of cut has never been excelled, and among other features of his play was the command of a particularly hard boasted force for the dedans.
[Julian Marshall, The Annals of Tennis, 1878; Tennis, Rackets, and Lawn-Tennis (Badminton Library), 1890; E. B. Noel and J. O. M. Clark, A History of Tennis, 1924.]
E. B. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Waring, Robert

​WARING, ROBERT (1614–1658), author, was descended from an old Staffordshire family settled at ‘the Lea’ in the time of Henry VIII. His father was Edmund Waring and his mother the daughter of Richard Broughton of Owlbury in the parish of Bishops Castle in Shropshire, and niece of the rabbinical scholar Hugh Broughton [q. v.]
Robert was born in 1614, and educated at Westminster school, whence he was elected to Oxford in 1630; he matriculated from Christ Church on 24 Feb. 1632; graduated B.A. on 20 June 1634 and M.A. on 26 April 1637. During the civil wars he bore arms for the king at Oxford. He was elected proctor on 29 April 1647 and Camden professor of ancient history on 2 Aug. of the same year. A protest against the election was raised by Charles Wheare, son of the previous professor, Degory Wheare [q. v.], who had been thrust into the place by the parliamentary visitors. According to the statutes Waring was not eligible, being in holy orders. He took an active part in resisting the proceedings of the visitors. Disregarding their order for his removal from his post of proctor, he was pronounced by them guilty of contempt of the authority of parliament on 14 Dec. 1647, and it was only owing to Selden's intercession that he escaped banishment from the university. He was summoned to London on 6 April 1648, was ordered into custody, but escaped to Oxford. On 14 Sept. following he was deprived of proctorship, professorship, and student's place. He retired to Apley in Shropshire, the seat of Sir William Whitmore, with whom he subsequently visited France. He died unmarried in Lincoln's Inn Fields on 10 May 1658, and was buried at St. Michael's, College Hill. His will was proved on 20 May 1658 by his sister and sole executrix, Anne Staunton.
According to Wood, Waring was a ‘most excellent Latin and English poet, but a better orator, and was reckoned among the great wits of the time in the university.’ Norris, in the introduction to his translation of the ‘Effigies Amoris,’ speaks of Waring as ‘an author who for sweetness of fancy, neatness of style, and lusciousness of hidden sense may compare, to say no more, to any extant.’
He published: 1. ‘A publike Conference betwixt the six Presbyterian Ministers and some Independent Commanders at Oxford, 12 Nov. 1646’ (anon.) n.p. 1646 (Bodleian Library). 2. ‘An Account of Mr. Pryn's Refutation of the University of Oxford's Plea,’ Oxford, 1648. 3. ‘Amoris Effigies’ (anon.) n.p. n.d. (Bodleian Library), London, 1649, 1664, 1668, 1671. In 1680 appeared an English translation of the work, apparently by a Robert Nightingale, which deviated in many points from the Latin original. To correct these variations John Norris, under the pseudonym of Phil-iconerus, published a fresh translation, London, 1682; 2nd edit., 1701; 4th edit., 1744. Waring also wrote various copies of Latin verse, including one in ‘Jonsonus Virbius’ (1639), which is more accurately printed in the 1668 and subsequent editions of the ‘Amoris Effigies,’ under the title of ‘Carmen Lapidorium’ (cf. Clement Barksdale, Nympha Libethris', or the Cotswold Muse, London, 1651).
B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Waring, William

​WARING, WILLIAM (1610–1679), jesuit, who was best known in England by the assumed name of Harcourt, although he was at times known as Barrow, was born in Lancashire in 1610, and educated in the English College at St. Omer. He entered the Society of Jesus at Watten in 1632, and after completing his studies at Liège he was sent to the English mission in 1644. On 11 Nov. 1646 he was professed of the four vows. He served as a missioner in London for thirty-five years. In 1671 he was procurator for the province in London, and in 1678 he was declared rector of the ‘College of St. Ignatius,’ comprising the metropolis and the home counties. This rendered him conspicuous, and from the commencement of Oates's plot he was singled out as one of its victims. By constant change of dress and ​lodgings he eluded the pursuivants till 7 May 1679, when he was betrayed by a servant and committed by the privy council to Newgate. He was tried at the Old Bailey sessions (13 June) with Father Whitbread (the provincial), and Fathers Caldwell, Gavan, and Turner. Being condemned to death, he suffered with them at Tyburn on 20 June 1679.
His portrait has been engraved by Martin Bouche, and there is another portrait in the Dutch print of Titus Oates in the pillory.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Warmestry, Gervase

​WARMESTRY, GERVASE (1604–1641), poet, was the eldest son of William Warmestry, principal registrar of the diocese of Worcester, by his wife Cicely (d. 27 Jan. 1649), daughter of Thomas Smith of Cuerdley in Lancashire. Thomas Warmestry [q. v.] was his younger brother. The Warmestrys were an ancient family of Worcester who gave their name to the ‘Warmestry Slip,’ a narrow street leading down from the city to the Severn, where their residence formerly stood. The post of registrar of the diocese of Worcester had been held by a Warmestry since 1544. Gervase, who was born in Worcester in 1604, was educated first in the grammar school of his native city, whence he passed on to Westminster. He was elected a scholar of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1621. He matriculated on 24 July 1624, proceeded B.A. on 5 May 1625, and M.A. on 27 June 1628. In the same year he ​became a student of the Middle Temple. He succeeded his father as registrar of the diocese of Worcester, being appointed in reversion on 20 Nov. 1630. He died on 28 May 1641, and was buried in Worcester Cathedral. He left a widow, Isabella, to whom letters of administration were granted in London on 31 Aug. 1641.
He published a poetical tract entitled ‘Virescit vulnere virtus: England's Wound and Cure,’ in 1628. A copy of the work, which is scarce, is in the Bodleian Library. It bears no name of place of publication or of printer, and was probably privately printed. It was reprinted in 1875 in the second series of ‘Fugitive Tracts, written in Verse, which illustrate the Condition of Religious and Political Feeling in England, and the State of Society there during Two Centuries.’ Warmestry's work was chosen as being one of the few that throw light on the condition of England at the time of the death of Buckingham. He also contributed a Latin poem to ‘Camdeni Insignia: a Collection of Panegyrics on William Camden,’ Oxford, 1624.
B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Warmington, William

​WARMINGTON, WILLIAM (fl. 1577–1612), Roman catholic divine, born in Dorset about 1556, was matriculated from Hart Hall (now Hertford College), Oxford, on 20 Dec. 1577. The principal, Philip Randall, ‘was always in animo catholicus,’ and under his influence Warmington openly espoused the Roman catholic faith. In consequence he left Oxford, and studied philosophy and theology at Douai. After a brief visit to England in 1579, he was ordained sub-deacon at Douai on 24 Feb. 1579–80, deacon on 19 March, and priest on 25 May (Douai Diaries, pp. 154, 158, 161, 162, 165). He was again sent to England on 31 Jan. 1580–1 (ib. p. 175), was apprehended, and in February 1584–5 transported to Normandy with threats of more severe treatment should he return (Foley, Records of English Province, ii. 132). He became noted abroad for learning and piety, and was appointed chaplain to Cardinal William Allen (1532–1594) [q. v.] In 1594 he was described as ‘maestro di casa et servitore dal principio dal cardinalato’ (Letters and Mem. of Cardinal Allen, p. 375). After Allen's death in that year he returned to England as an ‘oblate of the holy congregation of St. Ambrose,’ and laboured zealously for several years. At length, on 24 March 1607–8, he was apprehended by two pursuivants, and ‘committed prisoner to the Clinke in Southwark.’ During the inactivity of his confinement he took occasion to consider more thoroughly the question of allegiance, and, becoming convinced of its propriety, concluded to take the oath. To justify himself he published his reasons in 1612 under the title, ‘A Moderate Defence of the Oath of Allegiance, wherein the Author proveth the said Oath to be most Lawful, notwithstanding the Pope's Breves’ (London, 4to). With this discourse he published ‘The Oration of Pope Sixtus V in the Consistory of Rome, upon the Murther of King Henry 3, the French King, by a Fryer,’ and ‘Strange Reports, or News from Rome.’ These things gave such offence that Warmington, who was set at liberty on swearing allegiance, found himself deserted by his former friends, and was driven to petition James I for an allowance. By the king's direction he was placed in the household of Thomas Bilson [q. v.], bishop of Winchester, where he passed the rest of his days in the unmolested profession of his religion.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Percy, William (1183?-1245)

​PERCY, WILLIAM, sixth Baron Percy (1183?–1245), was son of Henry de Percy, eldest son of Agnes de Percy and Josceline de Louvain. He was in his fifteenth year on his father's death in 1196. His uncle Richard [q. v.], who thereupon assumed the administration of his lands and his baronial rights, refused to relinquish them when William attained his majority. His lawful guardian was William Brewer [q. v.] (Abbreviatio Placitorum, p. 86). In ​1200 William was appointed one of the two custodes of the county of York under William de Stuteville (Rot. de Obl. et Finibus, p. 109). In the same year he appears as sheriff of Northumberland (Rot. Curiæ Regis, ii. 178). In 1204 he was one of the justices before whom fines were acknowledged (Hunter, Fines sive Pedes Finium, Record Comm., Introd. p. lv). In 1213 he was one of the two commissioners appointed to inquire into the losses inflicted on the church in the bishopric of Carlisle (Rot. de Obl. et Finibus, Record Comm., p. 526). In 1214 he was sent in the king's service to Poitou, with horses and arms (Close Rolls, Record Comm., i. 207). But he was among the followers of the twenty-five barons who opposed King John in 1215 (Matt. Paris, Hist. Maj. ii. 605; Stubbs, i. 583). There are indications of his having left the baronial party before John's death (Close Rolls, i. 250). On 11 May 1217 he had certainly joined the royalists, for on that date Henry III granted to him the whole of the lands of his uncle Richard, who was still in rebellion; but these were restored to the latter on his submission on 2 Nov. 1217 (ib. pp. 308, 339). William was with the king at the siege of Biham in the early part of 1221 (ib. p. 475 b). In 1234 he gained possession of a great part of the family estates by judgment of the king's court [see Percy, Richard de]. In 1242 he paid 100 marks to be exempted from service with the king in Gascony. On the death of his uncle Richard in 1244, he succeeded to the whole of the barony (Excerpta e Rot. Finium, p. 423). He died before 28 July 1245 (ib. p. 440), and was buried at Sawley Abbey. He gave his manor of Gisburn, with the forests, to that abbey, reserving the services of the freeholders and his liberty of hunting. To the master and brethren of the hospital at Sandon in Surrey he gave all his lands in Foston and the twenty marks paid annually by the abbey of Sawley for the manor of Gisburn.
He married, first, Elena, daughter of Ingelram de Balliol, by whom he had seven sons—Henry (1228?–1272), seventh Baron Percy, who was succeeded by his third son, Henry Percy, first Baron Percy of Alnwick [q. v.]; Ingelram, William, Walter, Geoffrey, Alan, and Josceline—and one daughter, Elena. His second wife was Joan, daughter and coheiress of William Brewer, the wardship and marriage of whom, along with that of her four sisters, he obtained from Henry III on 12 June 1233 (ib. i. 243). By her he had four daughters: Anastasia, Joan, Alice, and Agnes.
His third wife was Nicholaa de Stuteville (1244?) (ib. i. 417). He had to pay 100 marks for marrying her without royal consent, her hand being in the king's gift.
W. E. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Percy, Ralph

​PERCY, Sir RALPH (1425–1464), soldier, was seventh son of Henry Percy, second earl of Northumberland [q. v.], by Eleanor, daughter of Ralph, first earl of Westmorland, and widow of Ralph, lord Spencer. He took the Lancastrian side throughout the wars of the roses, and was the leader of the Percys in their inter-tribal warfare with the Nevilles during the latter part of Henry VI's reign. He was with Queen Margaret in her march south after the battle of Wakefield; and when Edward IV had been proclaimed king, he occupied Bamborough Castle for her, but he surrendered it on 24 Dec. 1462, and swore fealty to Edward. Early in 1463 he changed sides again, and allowed the Scots to retake Bamborough; he held to the Lancastrian cause for the rest of his life, even though the queen sailed that summer to the Low Countries. He very nearly captured Edward as he marched north to Newcastle early in 1464, and was the captain in the battle of Hedgely Moor on 25 April 1464. Here he was killed fighting, and just before his death was heard to say, ‘I have saved the bird in my bosom,’ meaning his loyalty to Henry (Oman, Warwick, p. 154). A rudely carved column, called ‘Percy's Cross,’ marks the spot where he fell. He was unmarried.
W. A. J. A.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Percy, Sidney Richard

​PERCY, SIDNEY RICHARD (1821?–1886), landscape-painter and founder of the ‘School of Barnes,’ was born about 1821. He was the sixth son of Edward Williams, a landscape-painter, whose seven sons followed the same branch of art as their father, and three of whom called themselves respectively Henry John Boddington [q. v.], Arthur Gilbert, and Sidney Richard Percy, in order to avoid confusion with their relatives and other artists of the same name. He began to exhibit landscapes both at the Royal Academy and at the Society of British Artists in 1842, and at the British Institution in 1843. His works consisted chiefly of English and Welsh scenery, and especially of views on the Thames, and, although no picture can be singled out for mention from among others, they were at one time very popular. He contributed in all nearly three hundred pictures to the various London exhibitions.
Percy died at his residence, Woodseat, Sutton, Surrey, on 13 April 1886, aged 64. His remaining pictures and sketches were sold by Messrs. Christie, Manson, & Woods on 27 Nov. 1886.
R. E. G.