OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fraser, John (1750-1811)

​FRASER, JOHN (1750–1811), botanist, was born at Tomnacloich, Inverness-shire, in 1750, and apparently came to London in 1770, when he married and settled as a hosier and draper at Paradise Row, Chelsea. Having acquired a taste for plants from visiting the Botanical Garden, Chelsea, then under the care of Forsyth, he sailed to Newfoundland in 1780 in search of new species, returning the same year. In 1784 he embarked for Charleston, whence he returned in 1785, only to start again the same year. His third, fourth, and fifth visits to North America were made in 1790, 1791, and 1795, he having in the latter year established a nursery at Sloane Square, Chelsea, to which his discoveries were consigned. Having introduced various American pines, oaks, azaleas, rhododendrons, and magnolias, in 1796 he visited St. Petersburg, where the Empress Catherine purchased a ​collection of plants from him. He then introduced into England the Tartarian cherries. Revisiting Russia in 1797 and 1798 he was appointed botanical collector to the czar Paul, and, commissioned by him, returned to America in 1799, taking with him the eldest of his two sons. In Cuba he met and was assisted by Humboldt and Bonpland. On his return the Czar Alexander declined to recognise his appointment by his predecessor, though he made two journeys to Russia to obtain remuneration. In conjunction with his sister he then introduced the weaving of hats from the leaves of a Cuban palm, an industry which was for a time successful. In 1806 he started on his seventh and last visit to America, again taking his son. While in Cuba he was thrown and broke several ribs; but he returned, with many new plants, in 1810 to his nursery, which, however, was never very successful. He died at Sloane Square on 26 April 1811. His herbarium was presented in 1849 to the Linnean Society, of which he was a fellow, by his son. A lithograph portrait, from an original belonging to his family, was published in the ‘Companion to the Botanical Magazine.’
G. S. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roberts, John (1576-1610)

​ROBERTS, JOHN (1576–1610), Benedictine monk, born in 1576 at Trawsfynydd in Merionethshire, was the son of John Roberts, esq., of Llanfrothen, a merchant of ancient descent. He was educated as a protestant, and on 26 Feb. 1595–6 matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford. Foster's conjecture that he graduated B.A. from Christ Church and M.A. from St. Mary Hall is erroneous. Leaving Oxford in 1598, he studied for a few months at one of the inns of court, and then visited Paris. There he was converted to Roman catholicism, and entered the jesuit college of Saint Alban at Valladolid on 18 Oct. 1598. In the following year he wished to enter the Spanish congregation of St. Benedict, but the jesuits were unwilling to lose him, and brought several charges against him, which almost deterred the Benedictine superiors from receiving him. He was able to prove the falsity of the accusations. In 1602 he was ordained priest, and was sent over to England as a missionary on 26 Dec. that year, though he did not reach the country till April 1603. He was four times arrested and imprisoned, once, after the failure of the gunpowder plot, in the house of Thomas Percy's ‘first wife.’ He was, however, acquitted of any complicity in the plot. On each occasion he was condemned to banishment (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1603–10, pp. 239–40, 514). He helped to found the house of St. Gregory's, Douay, 1606–7, and became its first prior. He was arrested for the fifth time in 1610, and was tried under the statute which prohibited Roman catholic priests from exercising their office in England. On his own confession he was found guilty of high treason, together with his companion, Thomas Somers, who was arraigned on the same charge. They were executed on 10 Dec., but were suffered to hang until quite dead before being disembowelled. Roberts's remains were secretly conveyed to Douay by the catholics, with the exception of his right leg, which was intercepted on the way and buried in St. Saviour's, Southwark, by the orders of Archbishop Abbot, and an arm taken to his old monastery of St. Martin's, Compostella.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roberts, John (1804-1884)

​ROBERTS, JOHN (1804–1884), Welsh writer and independent minister, better known as ‘J. R.,’ was second son of John Roberts (1767–1834) [q. v.], and brother of Samuel Roberts (1800–1885) [q. v.] He was born on 5 Nov. 1804 at the old chapel-house, Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire, and was educated chiefly by his father. But after commencing to preach among the independents about 1830, he was admitted in March 1831 a student at the independent academy at Newtown, where he remained a little over three years. On 8 Oct. 1835 he was ordained co-pastor with his elder brother, Samuel [q. v.], of the church at Llanbrynmair and its numerous branches, a position which he held until 1838, excepting one year (1838–9), which he spent as pastor of churches at Llansantsior and Moelfra, near Conway. He subsequently held the pastorates of Ruthin (1848–1857), of the Welsh church, Aldersgate Street, London (1857–1860), and of Conway from 1860 until his death. In his earlier years Roberts had a great reputation as an eloquent preacher, but his fame rests chiefly upon his writings, especially in connection with ‘Y Cronicl,’ a cheap monthly magazine of great popularity, which he edited in succession to his brother Samuel from 1857 until his death. He was also a fair poet, and one of his hymns (commencing ‘Eisteddai teithiwr blin’) is probably unsurpassed in the Welsh language. He was engaged in numerous denominational controversies.
Roberts died on 7 Sept. 1884. He married, on 6 June 1838, Ann, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Jones of Llansantsior; she died, without issue, on 26 Jan. 1871. His brothers Samuel and Richard, on their return from Tennessee in 1870, went to live with him at his residence, Brynmair, near Conway, and all three were buried at the cemetery there, where a monument provided by public subscription was erected. A monumental tablet was also placed in Llanbrynmair chapel.
Roberts's chief works were:
* ‘Traethodau Pregethau ac Ymddiddanion,’ Dolgelly, 1854, 8vo.
* ‘Y Gyfrol Olaf o Bregethau’ (a selection of forty sermons), Bala, 1876, 8vo.
* ‘Hanesion y Beibl ar ffurf ymddiddanion,’ Bala, 1880, 8vo.
* ‘Dadleuon a Darnau i'w Hadrodd,’ Bala, 1891.
He edited ‘Pwlpud Conwy’ (a selection of Sermons by Roberts and his brother Richard, published posthumously), Bala, 1888, 8vo.
[Cofiant y Tri Brawd (memoirs of the three brothers, with portraits and numerous illustrations), by Dr. Pan Jones (Bala, 1893, 8vo); 2nd edit. 1894; Williams's Montgomeryshire Worthies, pp. 284–5; Hanes Eglwysi Annibynol Cymru, v. 308–10; Y Geninen for April 1891 and March 1892.]
D. Ll. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roberts, James (fl.1775-1800)

​ROBERTS, JAMES (fl. 1775–1800), portrait-painter, son of James Roberts, a landscape engraver, by whom there are a few plates after George Barret, Paul Sandby, Richard Wilson, and others, was born at Westminster, and resided there during the greater part of his life. He gained a premium from the Society of Arts in 1766, and, though of slender abilities, achieved some success as a painter of small whole-lengths, chiefly of actors in character. Between 1775 and 1781 he furnished most of the drawings for the portrait plates in Bell's ‘British Theatre;’ and more than sixty of these, carefully executed in watercolours on vellum, are preserved in the Burney collection of theatrical portraits in the British Museum. Roberts exhibited annually at the Royal Academy from 1773 to 1784, and again from 1795 to 1799. In the interval he resided at Oxford, where in 1790 he commenced the publication of a series of engravings of the sculptured works of the ​Hon. Anne Damer, from drawings by himself; but only one number, containing five plates, was issued. He painted, for the Duke of Marlborough, three of the scenes in the private theatricals organised at Blenheim in 1787, of which engravings by John Jones were published in 1788. These, like all his works, are treated in a formal, inartistic manner. In or before 1795 Roberts was appointed portrait-painter to the Duke of Clarence. In 1809 he published ‘Introductory Lessons, with Familiar Examples in Landscape, for the use of those who are desirous of gaining some knowledge of the Art of Painting in Watercolours.’ A portrait of Sir John Hawkins (1719–1789) [q. v.], painted by Roberts in 1785 for the music school at Oxford, has been engraved. His portraits of Mrs. Abington as Lady Teazle in the ‘School for Scandal,’ and Miss Pope as Mrs. Ford in the ‘Merry Wives of Windsor,’ belong to the Garrick Club.
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roberts, Joseph

​ROBERTS, JOSEPH (1795–1849), missionary, was ordained in 1818 a Wesleyan minister, and sent by the Wesleyan Missionary Society to Ceylon. He sailed with his wife from Bristol on 28 March 1819, arrived in July, and took up his residence at Jafna, residing afterwards at Batticaloa and Trincomalee. He became a corresponding member of the Royal Asiatic Society soon after its inception, and on 1 Dec. 1832 contributed a paper on ‘The Tabernacle or Car employed by the Hindus in Ceylon to carry their God in Religious Processions.’ With this he sent from Ceylon a model, preserved in the museum of the Asiatic Society. He applied himself to the study of the Tamil language, and in 1831 his translation of extracts from the ‘Sakaa Thevan Saasteram,’ or ‘Book of Fate,’ was published by the Oriental Translation Fund of the Asiatic Society in vol. i. of ‘Miscellaneous Translations from the Oriental Languages,’ London, 8vo. In 1833 he returned to England, and, while living at Faversham, Kent, completed his ‘Oriental Illustrations of the Sacred Scriptures collected from the Customs, Manners, Rites, Superstitions,’ &c., London, 1835, 8vo. Many of Roberts's illustrations were used by George Bush in his ‘Scripture Illustrations,’ Brattleboro, 1839. Roberts remained in England until the beginning of 1843, and in the meantime prepared a second edition (London, 1844, 8vo). He was stationed successively at Canterbury, Bristol, Sheffield, and Manchester. In January 1843 he returned to India, and was appointed general superintendent of the Wesleyan Missionary Society's mission in the Madras Presidency. While living there in 1846 he edited a work on ‘Caste, its Religious and Civil Character,’ London, 1847, 8vo; from papers written by bishops in India, including Heber, Wilson, Corrie, and Spencer. He also published ‘Heaven physically and morally considered,’ 1846, 18mo.
He was an active member of the committee of the Madras Auxiliary Bible Society, and contributed to the ‘Methodist Magazine’ and other periodicals some lucid and ​argumentative essays on ‘Paganism and Popery,’ and on subjects connected with missions.
Roberts died, after a few days' illness, on 14 April 1849, at Palaveram, near Madras.
[Minutes of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference for 1849, xi. 182; McClintock and Strong's Cyclopæd. of Eccles. Lit. ix. 47; Journals of the Royal Asiatic Society, i. 87, 145, and Annual Reports of the same; Missionary Notices (Wesleyan), 1819, ii. vi. 45, 61, 207, 244, 331; information from the Rev. G. W. Olver, B.A., of the Wesleyan Mission House.]
C. F. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roberts, Lewes

​ROBERTS, LEWES or LEWIS (1596–1640), merchant and economic writer, son of Gabriel Roberts by his wife Ann, daughter of John Howard of Appleton in Yorkshire, was born at Beaumaris, Anglesey, in 1596. Compelled ‘by adverse fortune or cross fate’ to devote himself to commerce, he sought service with the East India Company in 1617. He was employed by that company, of which he afterwards became a director, and by the Levant Company, at Constantinople and other places. He returned to England before 1638, enjoyed the society of Izaak Walton and other literary men, and died in London in March 1640. He was buried in St. Martin's Outwich on 12 March 1640. His wife Anne died on 24 Feb. 1665, and is buried beside him.
Roberts married, on 27 Nov. 1626, at St. Magnus's Church, London, Anne, daughter of Edward Williams or Williomett, mercer, of London, by whom he had issue Gabriel (aged five in 1634), who was sub-governor of the African Company, and was knighted on 14 Jan. 1677–8; William; Delicia, who married John Nelson, a Turkey merchant; and Anne, who married George Hanger of Dryfield. A portrait is prefixed to the first edition of the ‘Merchants Mappe of Commerce.’
Roberts published:
* ‘The Merchants Mappe of Commerce; wherein the Vniversall Manner and Matter of Trade is compendiously handled,’ &c., London, 1638, fol. As one of the earliest systematic treatises on its subject in English, this gave Roberts a wide reputation; prefixed are commendatory verses by Izaak Walton; 3rd edit. enlarged, London, 1677, fol. … to which is annexed ‘Advice concerning Bills of Exchange,’ &c. [by T. Marins]; with … Engglands Benefit and Advantage by Foreign Trade, demonstrated by T[homas] Mun;’ 4th edit. London, 1700, fol.
* ‘Warre-fare epitomized,’ 1640, 4to.
* ‘The Treasure of Traffike, or a Discourse of Forraigne Trade, &c. Dedicated to the High Court of Parliament now assembled,’ London, 1641, 4to; reprinted in M'Culloch's ‘Select Collection of Tracts on Commerce,’ &c., London, 1856, 8vo. Some verses by a ‘Lod. Roberts,’ probably the merchant, are prefixed to Fletcher's ‘Purple Island.’
[Le Neve's Pedigrees of the Knights, pp. 12, 323, 453; Visitation of London, 1634 (Harl. Soc.), p. 202; Hunter's Familiæ Minorum Gentium, i. 4; Hunter's Chorus Vatum (Addit. MS. 24490, f. 106); Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), p. 2104; Marriage Licenses issued by the Bishop of London (Harleian Soc.), ii. 180; M'Culloch's Literature of Political Economy, pp. 37, 38; Cal. of Colonial State Papers (East Indies), 1617–21 No. 234, 1630–4 Nos. 288, 492, 536.]
W. A. S. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roberts, John (1749-1817)

​ROBERTS, JOHN (1749–1817), Welsh poet. [See Sion Lleyn.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mayo, Henry

​MAYO, HENRY (1733–1793), dissenting minister, was born in the west of England in 1733, and coming from Plymouth to London in 1756 was admitted to the academy at Mile End Road. Having preached for a short time at Northampton, he became (1762) the pastor of the Independent Congregation in Nightingale Lane, Wapping, London, of which he continued in charge until his death. He held the degrees of D.D. and LL.D., and upon the decease of Dr. Thomas Gibbons [q. v.] in 1785 he was chosen one of the tutors at the Homerton Academy, a post for which he was well qualified. ‘He was a very sensible man, a good preacher, and a respectable orator.’ In 1763 he was engaged in controversy with Dr. Gill on infant baptism. He frequently met Dr. Johnson at the house of Edward and Charles Dilly, booksellers, in the Poultry. A conversation which he had with Johnson there in 1773 on liberty of conscience is fully reported by Boswell (Life of Johnson, ed. Hill, ii. 247–55). ‘Dr. Mayo's calm temper and steady perseverance rendered him an admirable subject for the exercise of Dr. Johnson's powerful abilities. He never flinched; but, after reiterated blows, remained seemingly unmoved as at first. The scintillations of Johnson's genius flashed every time he was struck, without his receiving any injury. Hence he obtained the epithet of “The Literary Anvil”’ (Boswell).
Mayo died at his house in Wellclose Square 4 April 1793, and was buried in Bunhill Fields. He was twice married, first to Jane Marder, the widow of Mr. Martin, a West India merchant, and secondly to Dame Elizabeth Belfour, and had issue three daughters.
[W. Wilson's MSS. in Dr. Williams's Library; Wilson's Dissenting Churches, ii. 531; Boswell's Johnson, ed. Hill, ii. 252 n, &c.; private information.]
C. H. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mayo, John

​MAYO, JOHN (1761–1818), physician, son of Thomas Mayo, and grandson of Charles Mayo of Hereford, was born in that city 10 Dec. 1761. He matriculated at Oxford in 1778 from Brasenose College, graduated B.A. 1782, was elected fellow of Oriel College 16 April 1784, and proceeded M.A. 1785, B.M. 1787, and D.M. 1788. He became F.R.C.P. 30 Sept. 1789, and was censor in 1790, 1795, 1804, and 1808, Harveian orator in 1795, elect on 10 April 1807, resigning this last position 6 Oct. 1813. He served as physician to the Foundling Hospital from July 1787 to 1809, physician to the Middlesex Hospital 6 Nov. 1788 until 11 Jan. 1803, and was also physician in ordinary to the Princess of Wales. At a meeting of the board of the Middlesex Hospital, December 1802, it was resolved that Dr. Mayo, ‘who had been physician to this hospital with equal advantage to the charity and honour to himself for fourteen years, be solicited to attend the cancer ward as physician extraordinary’ (Wilson).
Mayo long divided his time between London and Tunbridge Wells, residing at the latter resort during the summer months. There he enjoyed ‘the undisputed lead in medical business and emoluments’ (Munk). On resigning his hospital appointments in 1817, he fixed his permanent abode at Tunbridge Wells, and dying 29 Nov. 1818, was buried at Speldhurst, Kent.
By his first wife, Jane, daughter of Thomas Cock, esq., of Tottenham, he had issue three sons: Thomas [q. v.], subsequently president of the Royal College of Physicians; John, in holy orders; and Herbert [q. v.] His second wife was Frances Lavinia, daughter of William Fellowes, esq., of Ramsey Abbey, M.P. for Sudbury and Andover.
After his death his eldest son published ‘Remarks on Insanity, founded on the Practice of J. Mayo, M.D.,’ 1817.
[Erasmus Wilson's Hist. of Middlesex Hospital, 1845; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Munk's Coll. of Phys. ii. 395; Hist. of Mayo Family, 1882.]
C. H. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McAll, Robert Stephens

1904 Errata appended.
​McALL, ROBERT STEPHENS (1792–1838), congregational minister, eldest son of the Rev. Robert McAll and Jane Lea, was born at Plymouth on 4 Aug. 1792, and received his early education at Gloucester and in Cornwall. In order to prepare him for the congregational ministry he was sent when thirteen to the congregational academy at Axminster, Devonshire, thence to Harwich under Mr. Hordle, and to Hoxton Academy, 1809. His brilliant vivacity and ‘over-due propensity to disputation’ startled the managers of that institution, and he was soon ejected. Some years later he was invited to undertake the presidency of the same seminary. After living for eighteen months with Dr. W. B. Collyer he studied medicine at the Edinburgh University, and in his second year declined the office of president of the Royal Medical Society. Leaving Edinburgh at the completion of his twenty-first year he resolved to enter the ministry, and was ordained at Macclesfield, Cheshire, on his appointment to the chaplaincy of a Sunday school there. In 1823 St. George's Chapel, Sutton, Macclesfield, was built for him, and there he remained until January 1827, when he accepted the pastorate of Mosley Street Independent Chapel, Manchester. His brilliant preaching and varied accomplishments gained him a high place in public estimation; and he seems to have exercised a most fascinating influence over minds of every order. Dr. Collyer was enchanted by his ‘seraphic spirit,’ Dr. Raffles thought him ‘wonderful,’ and Robert Hall spoke of him as ‘miraculous.’ The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Marischal College, Aberdeen. His sermons were always of great length, sometimes exceeding two hours, and various expedients were resorted to, but often in vain, to attract his attention when his exhortations had gone beyond reasonable limits.
Early in 1838 he showed signs of failing health, and on 27 July he died at Swinton, near Manchester, aged 45. He was buried at Rusholme Road cemetery, Manchester, where a monument to his memory was raised in 1854. A memorial tablet is also placed in ​Cavendish Chapel, Manchester. He left a wife and an only son, Dr. R. W. McAll of Paris; his only daughter died shortly before him.
His published works consist of several occasional sermons and poems (some in Wheeler's ‘Manchester Poetry,’ 1838) and a collection of ‘Discourses on Special Occasions,’ with a memoir by Dr. Ralph Wardlaw, 2 vols. 1840. Another collection of sermons, with a preface by T. H., is dated 1843. There is a large engraved portrait of him by J. Bostock, after Ward.
[Wardlaw's Memoir as above; J. Griffin's Autobiog. 1883; Slugg's Manchester Fifty Years Ago, 1881; Procter's Literary Reminiscences, 1864, p. 114; Evangelical Mag. 1838, p. 435; funeral sermons by Raffles and others.]
C. W. S.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.188 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 398 | i | 2-3 | McAll, Bobert S.: for of Paris; read promoter in 1872 of the Independent Protestant Mission at Paris, who died at Auteuil 11 May 1893; |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Grayle, John

​GRAYLE or GRAILE, JOHN (1614–1654), puritan minister, was the son of John Grayle, priest, of Stone, Gloucestershire, where he was born in 1614. At the age of eighteen he entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, as a batler, and proceeded B.A. in 1634 and M.A. on 15 June 1637. Wood states that in 1645 he succeeded George Holmes as master of the free school, Guildford, but this is erroneous. The John Grayle who then became master held the post until his death, at the age of eighty-eight, in January 1697-8, and was buried in Guildford Church (Aubrey, Hist. of Surrey, iii. 302). Brook (Lives of the Puritans, iii. 229) states that Grayle, having married, in the end of 1645, a daughter of one Mr. Henry Scudder, went in the next year, probably as minister, to live at Colling-bourne-Ducis, Wiltshire. He subsequently became rector of Tidworth in the same county, 'where,' says Wood, 'he was much followed by the precise and godly party.' He was a man of much erudition, and a 'pious, faithful, and laborious minister,' much beloved by his parishioners. While a strict presbyterian Grayle was apparently charged with Arminianism, and defended his principles in a work, which was published after his death with a preface by Constantine Jessop, minister ​at Wimborne, Dorsetshire, entitled ‘A Modest Vindication of the Doctrine of Conditions in the Covenant of Grace and the Defenders thereof from the Aspersions of Arminianism and Popery which Mr. W. Eyre cast on them,’ London, 1655. The preface (dated 15 Sept, 1654) says that the book had been delivered to Eyre in the author's lifetime. Grayle died, aged 40, early in 1654, after a lingering illness. He was buried in Tidworth Church, and a neighbouring minister, Dr. Humphry Chambers, preached his funeral sermon ‘before the brethren, who were present in great numbers.’ It is published with the ‘Modest Vindication.’
A son of the same names, educated at Exeter College, Oxford, was rector of Blickling, Norfolk, and published many sermons.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), iii. 362, iv. 501.]
E. T. B.