OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Heyrick, Thomas

​HEYRICK, THOMAS (d. 1694), poet and divine, son of Thomas Heyrick of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, and grandson of Thomas Heyrick (or Herrick), elder brother of Robert Herrick the poet [q. v.], was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1670 and M.A. in 1675. In 1671 he was among the contributors to the collection of Cambridge verses on the death of Anne, duchess of York. He became curate of Market Harborough, and in 1685 published ‘The Character of a Rebel. A Sermon preached … on … the Day of Thanksgiving … for His Majesties Victory over the Rebels,’ London, 4to, with a dedication to Edward Griffin, esq., treasurer of the Great Chamber. His ‘Miscellany Poems’ appeared in 1691, 4to, with a dedication to the Countess of Rutland, and commendatory verses by Joshua Barnes, William Tunstall, and others. The long rambling Pindaric (which begins on sig. Q, with a new title-page), ‘The Submarine Voyage,’ is tiresome reading; but some of the shorter poems—‘On a Peacock,’ ‘On an Ape,’ ‘On the Crocodile,’ ‘On a Sunbeam,’ &c.—are quaint and fanciful. Heyrick has commendatory verses before Joshua Barnes's ‘History of Edward III,’ 1691. He was buried at Market Harborough on 4 Aug. 1694.
[Nichols's Leicestershire, ii. 502.]
A. H. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Heydon, John (d.1653)

​HEYDON, Sir JOHN (d. 1653), military commander and mathematician, was the second son of Sir Christopher Heydon [q. v.] According to Wood, he was a distinguished soldier, and also an eminent scholar, being especially skilled in mathematics. In 1613 he was keeper of the stores in Sandown Castle, Deal, Kent. He was knighted in August 1620. In 1627 he was appointed lieutenant of the ordnance in the place of his brother Sir William, who was killed in the Isle of Rhé. Between 1627 and 1643 he was actively occupied in furnishing men, provisions, arms, guns, and ammunition for the service of the king (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1627–43). When Charles I raised his standard at Nottingham 22 Aug. 1642, Heydon was in charge of cannon and ammunition at York. He soon joined the king, and accompanied the royalist army from Shrewsbury towards London in October 1642 (Clarendon, Hist. ed. Macray, ii. 293, 346). He acted as lieutenant-general of the ordnance with Charles's forces, and joined his privy council. He was made D.C.L. at Oxford on 20 Dec. 1642. Heydon suffered much for the king's cause. His goods were sequestrated, and there is an inventory of them in the British Museum, entitled ‘Inventarye of part of the Goods and Chattells of Sr John Hayden, knight, taken the 28 of Julye 1643,’ and also of ‘the goodes of Edward Stevens, seruant of Sir John Hayden, knight’ (Add. MS. 28191 d). Heydon died on 16 Oct. 1653.
[Wood's Fasti (Bliss), ii. 43; Blomefield's Topogr. Hist. of Norfolk, vi. 510; Anecdotes and Traditions, ed. Thoms (Camd. Soc.), pp. 23, 69.]
G. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rider

​RIDER. [See also Ryder.]
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ridgeway, William

​RIDGEWAY, WILLIAM (d. 1817), law reporter, graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, as B.A. in 1787, LL.B. in 1790, and LL.D. in 1795. He was called to the bar, and acted as one of the crown counsel in several state trials, notably in that of Robert Emmet in 1803, of Edward Sheridan and Thomas Kirwan in 1811–12, and of O'Connor and McKeon in 1817. He died at Dublin of typhus fever, caught while on circuit at Trim, on 1 Dec. 1817. He married a daughter of Edward Ledwich [q. v.], antiquary, and left seven children.
Ridgeway had a high reputation as a lawyer, and was a diligent and accurate reporter of legal cases. In 1774 he was entrusted by the Irish attorney-general with the publication of ‘Reports of Cases argued and determined in the King's Bench and Chancery during the time of Lord Hardwicke's Presidency (1733–7).’ Marginal notes contain the substance of the decisions given, with a collation of authorities and references. Ridgeway prepared the official reports of the proceedings against W. Jackson in 1795 and the Sheares in 1798 [see Sheares, Henry]; they appear in the ‘State Trials.’ Other volumes published by Ridgeway are: 1. ‘Reports of Cases upon Appeal and Writs of Error in the High Court of Parliament in Ireland since the Restoration of the Appellate Jurisdiction,’ 3 vols. 8vo, 1795–8. 2. ‘Term Reports of Cases in the King's Court in Dublin, 34–35 George III’ (with W. Lapp and John Schoales), 1796. 3. ‘Reports of State Trials in Ireland, 1798–1803,’ 3 vols. 1803. 4. ‘Reports of Proceedings in Cases of High Treason at a Court of Oyer and Terminer held under Special Commission, August and September 1803,’ 1803, 4to. 5. ‘Report of Proceedings under Special Commission of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery for Sligo, Mayo, Leitrim, Longford, and Cavan in December 1806,’ 1807, 8vo. 6. ‘Proceedings in Case of T. Kirwan and E. Sheridan,’ 1811, 8vo. 7. ‘Proceedings against H. Fitzpatrick for Libel on the Duke of Richmond,’ 1813, 8vo. 8. ‘Report of Trial of Roger O'Connor and Martin M'Keon,’ 1817 (finished by R. W. Greene).
G. Le G. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ridel, Geoffrey (d.1120)

​RIDEL, GEOFFREY (d. 1120), judge, was in 1106 sent as a commissioner, with Ralf Basset and other leading men, to settle a controversy as to the right of sanctuary at Ripon (Mon. Angl. ii. 133). He also witnessed a charter of Henry I at Cornbury (Abingdon Cart. ii. 114) and one of the Count of Meulan, which must be previous to 1112 (ib. ii. 103). He was one of the assessors in a trial held before the queen at Winchester (ib. ii. 116) between 1108 and 1113 (Antiquary, July 1887, p. 9), and a witness to a charter granted by Henry I before his departure from England in 1116 (Ramsey Cart. i. 245). Drowned in the ‘White Ship’ disaster in 1120 (Ord. Vit. iv. 419), he is referred to by Henry of Huntingdon (p. 318), in his ‘De Contemptu Mundi,’ as ‘justiciarium totius Angliæ’ (but one of the texts omits the words).
His wife was Geva, stated by Dugdale to have been a legitimate daughter of Hugh, earl of Chester (Baronage, i. 34, 36, 555), but her legitimacy is not probable. In her widowhood, during the reign of Stephen, she founded Canwell Priory, Staffordshire (Mon. Angl. iv. 104–6), speaking in her charter of Randulf, earl of Chester, as her kinsman. By her Geoffrey left a daughter and heir, Maud, ​whose hand the king bestowed on Richard, son and heir of Ralf Basset, with her father's lands (Sloane Cart. xxxi. 4, No. 26), at the request of Earl Randulf (ib.; cf. Rot. Pip. 31 Hen. I, p. 81). These lands lay largely in Leicestershire, where Richard and his wife founded the priory of Laund (Mon. Angl. v. 187).
A brother of Geoffrey, Mathew, was abbot of Peterborough in 1103 for about a year (Anglia Sacra, ii. 701). Geoffrey Ridel (d. 1189) [q. v.], bishop of Ely, was probably his great-nephew.
J. H. R.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rider, William

​RIDER, WILLIAM (1723–1785), miscellaneous writer, the son of John Rider of London, gent., was born in 1723, and educated at Mr. Watkin's academy in Spital Square. On 22 June 1739 he matriculated from St. Mary Hall, Oxford, but migrated to Jesus College, where he was a scholar from 1744 to 1749; he graduated B.A. in 1745, and was subsequently appointed chaplain of the Mercers' Company, lecturer of St. Vedast, Foster Lane, and curate of St. Faith's. He was also chaplain to St. Paul's school, and in 1763 was appointed surmaster, a post from which he retired in 1783 on account of his infirmities. He died on 30 March 1785, leaving a widow, Hannah Rider, who received an allowance from the Mercers' Company until her death in 1809; a son, John Rider, who was a printer in Little Britain, died on 1 April 1800.
Besides several single sermons, Rider was author of: 1. ‘A Comment on Boadicia’ [sic], 1754, 8vo; this is a vindication of the tragedy by Richard Glover [q. v.], which was played for nine nights at Drury Lane Theatre in December 1753. 2. ‘A New Universal Dictionary; or a Compleat Treasure of the English Language. Tracing the words from their primitive fountains, explaining the various senses in which they are used, and expounding all the technical terms,’ London, 1759, fol. Proper names are included in it, and each word is followed by a full description and definition, with numerous short quotations. Mr. H. B. Wheatley calls it ‘a very interesting work’ (Philological Society's Transactions, 1865, p. 254). 3. ‘A New History of England,’ 1761–4, 12mo, in 50 vols.; this is a pretentious work, and was dedicated to George III. Charles Godwyn wrote that it had at first no reputation, but was afterwards well spoken of; Lowndes calls it ‘one of the vilest Grub Street compilations ever published;’ in 1764 Rider published an atlas to accompany the work. 4. ‘An Historical and Critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the living Authors of Great Britain,’ 1762, 8vo; published anonymously, and chiefly remarkable for the unblushing eulogy the author passes on his own ‘History of England.’ 5. ‘The Christian Family's Bible,’ 1763–7, in three large folio volumes, with lengthy comments by the editor. Rider also contributed verses to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ under the pseudonym ‘Philargyrus.’
A. F. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ridevall, John de

​RIDEVALL or RIDEVANS, JOHN de (fl. 1330), Franciscan, was fifty-fourth divinity reader of his order at Oxford (Monumenta Franciscana, i. 554). Some authorities have incorrectly described him as an Augustinian friar. He is also called John de Musca. The following extant works are attributed to him: 1. ‘Lectura super Apocalypsi’ (MS. Venice St. Mark, Class I. Cod. 139, ff. 110–119). 2. ‘Commentarius super Fulgencium … a fratre J. de Ridevall,’ inc. ‘Intencio venerabilis viri’ (MSS. Univ. Cambr. Ii., ii. 20, ff. 121–62, and Mm. i. 18, § 6, Worcester Cathedral Library, 154, and Venice St. Mark, Class I. Cod. 139, ff. 121–36. 3. ‘In Valerium ad Rufinum de uxore non ducenda’ (a little piece by Walter Map [q. v.], but sometimes attributed to St. Jerome), inc. ‘Loqui perhibeor’ (MSS. Univ. Cambr. Mm. i. 18, § 5, and Lambeth, 330). These two commentaries seem to be identical with the similar ones somewhat dubiously attributed to John Walleys or Wallensis (cf. Little, pp. 150, 170). 4. ‘Ovidii Metamorphoseos fabule ccxviii moraliter exposite,’ inc. ‘In hujus expositionis initio’ (MSS. Univ. Cambr. Ii, ii. 20, ff. 162–99, and Worcester Cathedral Library, 89). This exposition differs from those ​of Thomas Walleys and Peter Bercherius. 5. ‘A Commentary on St. Augustine De Civitate Dei,’ inc. ‘Magnus Dominus et laudabilis nimis in Civitate Dei’ (MSS. C. C. C. Oxon., 186, books 1–3, and 187, books 6 and 7).
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Napier, Francis

​NAPIER, FRANCIS, seventh Lord Napier (1758–1823), born at Ipswich on 23 Feb. 1758, was eldest son of William, sixth lord Napier, who from 17 Jan. 1763 until his death on 2 Jan. 1775 was adjutant-general of the forces in Scotland, by his wife, Mainie (or Marion Anne), fourth daughter of Charles, eighth lord Cathcart. He entered the army on 3 Dec. 1774 as ensign in the 31st regiment of foot, and on 21 March 1776 obtained a lieutenancy in the same regiment. Having accompanied his regiment to Canada under General Burgoyne, he was one of those who surrendered to the American general, Gates, at Saratoga on 16 Oct. 1777. For six months he was detained a prisoner at Cambridge, but obtained permission to return to Europe on giving his parole not to serve in America until regularly exchanged. This took place in October 1780. On 7 Nov. 1779 he purchased a captain's commission in the 35th foot, which, at the peace in 1783, was reduced to half-pay. On 31 May 1784 he ​exchanged to full pay as captain of the 4th regiment of foot, and on 29 Dec. purchased the majority of that corps, which he sold in 1789.
On 16 Sept. 1789 Napier laid the foundation-stone of the new buildings of Edinburgh University, and on 11 Nov. following the university conferred on him the degree of LL.D. At the election of Scottish peers on 24 July 1790 the vote of Napier was protested against, on account of an error in writing sexagesimo instead of septuagesimo in the second patent of the barony of Napier when referring to the date of the original charter in 1677; but on 25 Feb. 1793 the lord chancellor moved the committee of privileges to resolve that Napier was entitled to vote at the election of 1790, and the resolution was unanimously agreed to, and confirmed by the House of Lords on 4 July. He was chosen a representative peer in 1796, and again in 1802 and in 1807. On 12 Nov. 1797 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Selkirkshire. He was lieutenant-colonel of the Hopetoun fencibles from the embodiment of the regiment in 1793 until its disbandment in 1799. From 1802 until the close of his life he was annually nominated lord high commissioner to the general assembly of the church of Scotland. On 10 Nov. 1803 he became a member of the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, and on 3 Jan. 1805 was elected president of the society. On 5 July 1806 he was constituted a member of the board of trustees for the encouragement of Scottish fisheries and manufactures. He died on 1 Aug. 1823.
Napier compiled with great care a digest of his charters and private papers, forming a genealogical account of his family, which remains in manuscript. He also supplied Wood with important information regarding the Napiers for his edition of Douglas's ‘Peerage.’ By his wife, Maria Margaret, eldest daughter of Lieutenant-general Sir John Clavering, he had nine children—four sons and five daughters—of whom William John [q. v.] succeeded him as eighth lord, and is separately noticed.
T. F. H.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Napier, David

​NAPIER, DAVID (1790–1869), marine engineer, was born in 1790, and with his cousin, Robert Napier (1791–1876) [q. v.] laid the foundation of the well-known firm of Napier & Sons, shipbuilders and marine engineers, of Govan, Glasgow. In 1818 he was the first to introduce British coasting steamers as well as steam-packets for the post-office service. He was also the first to establish a regular steam communication between Greenock and Belfast. For two winters his vessel, the Rob Roy, of about 90 tons burden and 30 horse-power, plied with regularity between these ports, and was then transferred to the English Channel to serve as a packet-boat between Dover and Calais. Shortly afterwards Napier caused an elaborate vessel, named the Talbot, to be built for him, and, placing in her two engines of 30 horse-power each, thus made her the finest steam vessel of her time. He employed her in running between Holyhead and Dublin. In 1822 he established a line of steam vessels between Liverpool, Greenock, and Glasgow, applying to the purpose the Robert Bruce, of 150 tons, with two 30-horse-power engines; the Superb, of 240 tons, with two 35-horse-power engines; and the Eclipse, of 240 tons, with two 30-horse-power engines. In 1826 Napier constructed machinery for the United Kingdom, the largest vessel yet designed; she was built by Mr. Steele of Greenock, and was 160 feet long, 26½ feet beam, and 200 horse-power.
Napier invented the steeple engine, which was a great improvement on the side lever as occupying much less space, and was one of the first, if not the first, to try the application of the surface condenser in marine engines. Probably, with the exception of Robert Napier, no man individually did more to improve the steam navigation of the world. For many years previous to his death he lived in retirement at Worcester. Late in life he proposed a plan for the removal of the Glasgow sewage by means of barges, and offered to subscribe 500l. towards testing the scheme. He died at 8 Upper Phillimore Gardens, Kensington, London, on 23 Nov. 1869, aged 79.
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Patton, George

​PATTON, GEORGE, Lord Glenalmond (1803–1869), Scottish judge, third son of James Patton of the Cairnies, sheriff-clerk of Perthshire, was born at the Cairnies in 1803. He received the rudiments of his education at Perth, and proceeded thence to Oxford, where he does not seem to have matriculated. Returning to Scotland, he began his legal studies at Edinburgh University, and was admitted advocate in 1828. He made some figure at the bar as a pleader. But he was an ardent tory in politics, and it was not until Lord Derby's second government came into power in 1859 that Patton, after very many delays and disappointments, received official recognition. He then became solicitor-general for Scotland for a few weeks. In the spring of 1866 he entered the House of Commons as conservative member for Bridgewater, and a few weeks later, when Lord Derby's third administration was formed, he was made lord advocate. The appointment necessitated a new election at Bridgewater, and Patton was defeated by Mr. Vanderbyl. Reports were abroad that gross bribery had been practised at both these elections, and a commission was appointed to inquire into these charges. The dread of compromising disclosures preyed on Patton's mind, but he was relieved of the necessity of taking any part in the inquiry by becoming, in 1867, lord justice clerk. John Inglis (1810–1891) [q. v.] had resigned the post to take that of lord president. The choice of his successor lay with the lord advocate, and Patton conferred ​the office on himself. He assumed the title of Lord Glenalmond.
In August 1869 he succeeded to the estate and mansion at Glenalmond on the death of his elder brother, Thomas Patton, W.S. By some journalistic blunder the death of Thomas had been announced as the ‘demise of the lord justice clerk,’ and the error prejudicially affected Lord Glenalmond's mind. On Thursday, 16 Sept. 1869, he presided at the Ayr circuit, and on the following day he returned with Mrs. Patton to Edinburgh, proceeding thence to Glenalmond. On the morning of Monday, 20 Sept., he committed suicide. The body was interred in the family burying-ground of Monzie. He left a widow, but no family. Though possessed of considerable legal talents, he had no favourable opportunity for displaying administrative ability. In the management of his own small estate of the Cairnies he made many valuable experiments in arboriculture, and had projected elaborate trials of various conifers at Glenalmond.
A. H. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pattrick, George

​PATTRICK or PATRICK, GEORGE (1746–1800), divine, fourth son of Thomas Patrick of Marks Tey in Essex, was born in August 1746. His grandfather and father were farmers at Marks Tey, and had occupied the same land for more than a century. He was admitted to St. Paul's School on 4 Feb. 1756, and about 1762 entered an attorney's office in Colchester. In February 1769, after spending two years in London, he commenced to practise at Dedham in Essex, where a taste for fashionable company and expensive entertainments soon dissipated a moderate fortune. Falling under religious influences, he abandoned the law and was ordained to the curacy of St. Michael, Mile End, Colchester, on 23 Dec. 1770, and was admitted a fellow-commoner of Sidney-Sussex College on 29 Dec. On 22 Sept. 1771 he was ordained priest, and on 21 Aug. 1772 was presented to the living of Aveley in Essex through the interest of Thomas Barrett-Lennard, seventeenth baron Dacre. In March 1773 he took the curacy of Wennington, also in Essex, which he held with his living. In December 1775 he was made chaplain to Lord Dacre, and in 1777 he graduated LL.B. at Cambridge. At Aveley Patrick performed his clerical duties irregularly. He was frequently employed by Lord Dacre, to the neglect of his parochial work, in the examination of old deeds or in the manufacture of genealogy. In the winter of 1782 he sought the spiritual advice of Dr. Richard Conyers, and removed to Deptford, to be near his director. From June 1783 to June 1784 he was travelling in France and Italy for his health. On 10 Oct. 1787 he finally left Aveley, and was chosen chaplain of Morden College, Blackheath, by the influence of Charles Trevor Roper, eighteenth baron Dacre, who had succeeded his uncle in the peerage in 1786, and retained Patrick's services as chaplain. Disputes with the pensioners led to his dismissal on 22 June 1790. On 17 April 1791 he became curate of Carshalton in Surrey. On 12 Jan. 1792 he was elected to the lectureship of Woolwich, but the incumbent refused him the pulpit, and he never preached there. In the summer of 1793 he removed to London. On 19 March 1796 he was elected lecturer of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, but, owing to the objection of the incumbent, only preached for the first time on 4 Dec. 1796; the sermon was published. Towards the close of 1797 he was chosen Sunday-evening lecturer at St. Bride's, Fleet ​Street. He also had a share in a lectureship at St. Margaret's, Lothbury.
Patrick died at Madeley in Shropshire on 14 Sept. 1800, and was buried there on the 17th (parish register). He married, on 8 Sept. 1789, Mary Ferriday of Madeley (parish register). His son, Charles Thomas Pattrick, born at Blackheath in 1790, graduated B.A. in 1812 and M.A. in 1815 from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford.
As a preacher Patrick was popular, and drew large congregations. He had a strong voice and clear enunciation. His ‘Sermons, with a Help to Prayer,’ were published in London in 1801.
B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Paul, Hamilton

​PAUL, HAMILTON (1773–1854), poet, was born on 10 April 1773 in the parish of Dailly, Ayrshire. He attended the parish school, and afterwards went to Glasgow University, where he had as class-companion Thomas Campbell the poet, with whom he successfully competed for a prize poem. The two poets corresponded long after they had left Glasgow. Leaving the university, Paul became tutor in an Argyllshire family; but his literary bent induced him to become a partner in a printing establishment at Ayr, and for three years he edited the ‘Ayr Advertiser.’ Licensed to preach by the presbytery on 16 July 1800, he became assistant at Coylton that year, and occupied several similar positions until 1813, when he was presented with the united livings of Broughton, Kilbucho, and Glenholm in Peeblesshire. He died, unmarried, on 28 Feb. 1854, at Broughton.
When at the university Paul had a reputation for improvising witty verses, some of which had a wide college popularity. His first volume of verse, published in 1800, was ​entitled ‘Paul's First and Second Epistles to the Dearly Beloved the Female Disciples or Female Students of Natural Philosophy in Anderson's Institution, Glasgow.’ In 1805 he published a rhymed pamphlet in favour of vaccination (‘Vaccination, or Beauty Preserved’); and in 1819 he edited the works of Robert Burns, contributing a memoir and ode in memory of the poet. The volume was commended by Professor Wilson. The first of the Burns clubs started at the beginning of the century found in him an enthusiastic supporter; and to a poetical appeal from his pen is due the preservation of the Auld Brig o' Doon, famous in ‘Tam o' Shanter.’ But his many effusions were scattered among the newspapers and magazines of his day, and have never been collected. He wrote the account of his parish in the ‘New Statistical Account of Scotland’ (vol. iii.) Among his friends his reputation as a humourist and story-teller was greater than as a poet. Even in the pulpit he could not be grave, and it is said that his sermons, though learned and able, were preached from texts humorously selected, and were spoiled by jests.
[Scott's Fasti Ecclesiæ, i. 213; Wilson's Poets and Poetry of Scotland, i. 498.]
J. R. M.