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

​BYLOT, ROBERT (fl. 1610–1616), navigator, is first mentioned as a seaman of the Discovery, in the expedition to the North-West under Hudson in 1610–11. His being rated as master's mate, and the jealousy which this promotion excited, were among the causes of the mutiny of the ship's company and the death of the captain [see Hudson, Henry]. No blame seems to have been attributed to Bylot; and in 1612–13 he was again employed under Button, who completed the exploration of Hudson's Bay [see Button, Sir Thomas]. It seems probable that in 1614 he was employed with Gibbons, and in 1615 he was appointed to the command of the Discovery, with Baffin as his mate. The accounts of the voyages in this and the following year were written by Baffin, who was unquestionably the more scientific navigator, and whose name has ​ rightly been associated with the principal results [see Baffin, William]. Bylot's name appears in the list of the company of the merchants-discoverers of the North-West Passage (Calendar of State Papers, Colonial—East Indies, 26 July 1612). The spelling of his name is uncertain. It appears in the different forms of Bylott, Bilot, and Byleth.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Byerley, Thomas

​BYERLEY, THOMAS (d. 1826), journalist and compiler of the ‘Percy Anecdotes,’ was the brother of Sir John Byerley. Devoting himself to literary pursuits, he became editor of the ‘Literary Chronicle’ and assistant editor of the ‘Star’ newspaper. He was also editor of ‘The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction,’ from 1823 till his death, on 28 July 1826. Under the pseudonym of Stephen Collet Byerley published ‘Relics of Literature,’ London, 1823, 8vo, a collection of miscellanies, including a long article, reprinted in 1875, on the art of judging the character of individuals from their handwriting; but his chief claim to remembrance rests on ‘The Percy Anecdotes,’ 20 vols., London, 1821–3, 12mo. These volumes, which came out in forty-four monthly parts, were professedly written by ‘Sholto and Reuben Percy, brothers of the Benedictine monastery of Mount Benger.’ Reuben Percy was Thomas Byerley, and Sholto Percy was Joseph Clinton Robertson, who died in 1852. The name of the collection was taken from the Percy coffee-house in Rathbone Place, where Byerley and Robertson were accustomed to meet. Byron insisted that ‘no man who has any pretensions to figure in good society can fail to make himself familiar with the “Percy Anecdotes;”’ but the work is now acknowledged to be of no real value. The ‘Anecdotes’ were reprinted in 2 vols. in the ‘Chandos Library,’ with four pages of preface by John Timbs, F.S.A. The ‘Brothers Percy’ also compiled ‘London, or Interesting Memorials of its Rise, Progress, and Present State,’ 3 vols., London, 1823, 12mo.
T. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Byng, Andrew

1904 Errata appended.
​BYNG, ANDREW, D.D. (1574–1652), Hebraist, was born at Cambridge, and educated at Peterhouse in that university. He was elected regius professor of Hebrew in 1608, and died at Winterton in Norfolk in March 1651–2. Byng was one of the translators of the authorised version of the Bible. About 1605 the chapter of York resolved to keep a residentiary's place for him, as he was then occupied in this business.
J. M.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.47 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 115 | i | 13 | Byng, Andrew: for 1651 read 1652 |
| | | 18 | for 1651 read March 1651-2 |
| | | 22 | after business insert He was sub-dean of York for forty-six years, from 1606 till his death |
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Byfield, John

​BYFIELD, JOHN (fl. 1830), wood engraver, held a high position in his profession, but no details of his life are recorded. He and his sister Mary cut the illustrations for an edition of Holbein's ‘Icones Veteris ​ Testamenti,’ published in 1830, and he executed with great skill and fidelity, in conjunction with Bonner, the facsimiles of Holbein's ‘Dance of Death,’ published by Francis Douce in 1833. He also engraved the illustrations for an edition of Gray's ‘Elegy,’ published in 1835.
L. F.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Byer, Nicholas

​BYER, NICHOLAS (d. 1681), painter, was a native of Drontheim in Norway. He practised portrait and historical painting, and on coming to England found a steady patron in Sir William Temple, at whose seat at Sheen, in Surrey, he lived for three or four years (Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Wornum, ii. 479). His reputation as a face-painter must have been considerable; several persons of distinction, including some members of the royal family, sat to him. Dying at Sheen in 1681 he is said to have been the first person buried at St. Clement Danes after the rebuilding of the church (Redgrave, Dictionary of Artists, 1878, p. 66).
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elder, John (fl.1555)

​ELDER, JOHN (fl. 1555), Scotch writer, a native of Caithness, passed twelve years of his life at the universities of St. Andrews, Aberdeen, and Glasgow, and appears to have entered the ministry. He came to England soon after the death of James V of Scotland in 1542, when he presented to Henry VIII a 'plot' or map of the realm of Scotland, being a description of all the chief towns, castles, and abbeys in each county and shire, with the situation of the principal isles. In an accompanying letter to Henry, Elder is very severe on David Beaton, denouncing him as the pestiferous cardinal, and his bishops as blind and ignorant; in the subscription he styles himself clerk and a 'redshank,' meaning by the latter designation, it is supposed, 'a roughfooted Scot or highlander.' This letter, which is now preserved in the British Museum, Royal MS. 18, A. xxxviii., was printed in vol. i. of the Bannatyne Club 'Miscellany.' In the Record Office is another letter by Elder addressed to Mr. Secretary Paget, and dated from Newcastle, 6 Oct. 1545. It gives an account of the operations of the army under the command of the Earl of Hertford in the invasion of Scotland between 8 and 23 Sept. 1545, minutely detailing their daily proceedings, with a list of the towns burnt each day (Cal. State Papers, Scottish Ser., i. 57). At Mary's accession Elder turned Roman catholic, as appears from his letter addressed to Robert Stuart, bishop of Caithness, 'from the Citie of London... the first... of January, 1555,' which was published as 'The Copie of a Letter sent in to Scotlande of the ariuall and landynge and... marryage of... Philippe, Prynce of Spaine to the Princess Marye Quene of England, solemnisated in the Citie of Winchester... whereunto is added a brefe overture or openyng of the legacion of Cardinall Poole from the Sea Apostolyke of Rome, with the substaunce of his oracyon to the kyng and Quenes Maiestie for the reconcilement of the realme of Englande to the unitie of the Catholyke Churche. With the very copie also of the Supplycaciō exhibited to their highnesses by the three Estates assembled in the parliamente wherein they... haue submitted thēselyes to the Popes Holy ​'holynesse,' 8vo, London [1555]. He therewith sent verses and adages written with the hand of Henry Stuart, lord Darnley, the bishop's nephew, within twelve months past, Elder then being with Darnley, who was not full nine years of age, at Temple Newsome, Yorkshire. He also refers to Darnley's noble parents as his singular good patrons. The letter is reprinted in 'The Chronicle of Queen Jane,' Sec. (Camd. Soc.) Elder was not M. A. of either Oxford or Cambridge. The Elder incorporated at Oxford as being M.A. of Cambridge, 30 July 1561 (Wood, Fasti Oxon., ed. Bliss, i. 159), was probably Arthur Elder, who had supplicated for the degree as long ago as 25 June 1556 (Reg. of Univ. of Oxf., Oxf. Hist. Soc, i. 233).
[Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr., i. 208-9, 653; Casley's Cat. of MSS., p. 274.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elder, Thomas

​ELDER, THOMAS (1737–1799), lord provost of Edinburgh, was the eldest son of William Elder of Loaning, by his wife Elizabeth, whose maiden name was Man. The date of his birth is not known, but he was baptised on 7 Oct. 1737 (Parochial Registers, county of Perth, Clunie). Elder held the office of chief magistrate of the city (where he carried on the business of a wine merchant) for three different periods, viz. 1788-90, 1792-1794, and 1796-8. During his second term of office he took a very active part in suppressing the meetings of the Friends of the People, and without any military aid he broke up the meeting of the British Convention held at Edinburgh on 5 Dec. 1793, and took ten or twelve of the principal members prisoners.
On the formation of the Royal Edinburgh Volunteers in the summer of 1794 he became their first colonel, and on 9 Sept. in the same year was voted a piece of plate by the town council 'for his spirited and prudent conduct while in office, and especially during the late commotions.' In 1795 Elder was appointed postmaster-general for Scotland. Through his exertions the scheme for rebuilding the college was successfully matured. The foundation-stone of the new buildings was laid during his first mayoralty on 16 Nov. 1789, but they were not completed until after his death, which took place at Forneth, in the parish of Clunie, on 29 May 1799, in the sixty-second year of his age. He was buried in the old church of Clunie on 2 June. In 1765 Elder married Emilia, the eldest daughter of Paul Husband of Logie, an Edinburgh merchant, by whom he left one son and four daughters. His eldest daughter, Isabella, was married on 9 Aug. 1792 to George Husband Baird [q. v.], who afterwards became principal of Edinburgh University.
Elder's portrait, by Raeburn, which was painted in 1797 at the request of the principal and professors of the university, is preserved in the court room of the university, It has been engraved by Earlom. A duplicate of this portrait was exhibited at the Raebum exhibition in Edinburgh in 1876 (Catalogue, No. 210). Two etchings of Elder by Kay will be found in Kay's 'Original Portraits' (Nos. 144 and 310).
G. F. R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elder, William

​ELDER, WILLIAM (fl. 1680–1700), engraver, was a Scotchman by birth, but worked in London, where he was employed principally by the booksellers. He engraved many portraits as frontispieces, but was more expert as an engraver of writing; his engraved portraits show more mechanical than artistic skill, and are mostly copied from older engravings. Among these were those of Ben Jonson, prefixed to the folio edition of his works (1692) and copied from Vaughan's engraving in the first edition (1616); John Ray, from a drawing by W. Faithorne, prefixed to his 'Wisdom of God manifested in the Creation' (8vo, 1701); Dr. Mayerne; Dr. Richard Morton, from a picture by Orchard; Charles Snell, writing-master, from a picture by Hargrave; Archbishop Sancroft, Bishop Pearson, the Earl of Oxford, and others. He engraved his own portrait twice, once in a fur cap from a crayon drawing, and again in a wig. He also engraved the plates in Savage's edition of Knolles and Rycaut's 'History of the Turks' (2 vols. London, 1701).
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elderfield, Christopher

​ELDERFIELD, CHRISTOPHER (1607–1652), divine, the son of William Elderfield, was born at Harwell, Berkshire, where he was baptised 11 April 1607. He received preliminary education at a local school kept by Hugh Lloyd, M.A., the vicar, and in 1621 he entered St. Mary Hall, Oxford, as a batler. In due course he took the two degrees in arts and entered into holy orders. After holding some minor appointments, one of which was apparently that of curate at Coates, Essex (manuscript note in ​Elderfield's Civill Right of Tythes, Brit. Mus.), he became rector of Burton, Sussex. The duties of this post were no more than those of private chaplain to Sir William Goring, whose residence, Burton Place, was the only dwelling-house in the parish. There Elderfield took up his quarters and devoted himself to study. Naturally reserved, he took full advantage of his position and lived in the completest retirement. In 1650 he published 'The Civill Right of Tythes,' Lond. sm. 4to, a learned treatise, displaying much research in both law and theology. The great pains he took with a second book was believed to have cost him his life. This was 'Of Regeneration and Baptism, Hebrew and Christian,' Lond. 1653, 4to, published after his death by his executors. He died 2 Dec. 1652 at Burton Place. In his will he directed that he should be buried in the chancel of his church, but this privilege was refused by Sir William Goring, because, as was alleged, he was disappointed of the legacy he expected to receive, and the body was laid in the nave. Elderfield had left the bulk of his property, amounting to 350l., to his native parish of Harwell; 284l. was expended in the purchase of land in South Moreton, and by a decree in chancery the remaining 66l. was handed to the churchwardens of the neighbouring village of Hagbourne for charitable purposes. He also left 36l. for the benefit of ejected ministers, and he bequeathed to the university of Oxford his manuscript of 'Lyra on the Psalms,' 'Rodolphus, his Postills,' and a copy of 'Clemens Romanus,' bound up with a 'Tract on Purgatory.' Elderfield was described by Richard Baxter (Nonconformist's Plea for Peace, pt. i. p. 205) as 'a very learned and great conformist.'
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 336.]
A. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eldred, Thomas

​ELDRED, THOMAS (fl. 1586–1622), mariner of Ipswich, was with Thomas Cavendish [q. v.] in one or both of his voyages, but not, so far as we know, in any position of authority. In or about 1600 he was appointed to a command in the service of the East India Company (Cal. S. P. East Indies, 7 Nov. 1600), and appears to have continued in that service for some years as commander or factor (ib. 4 March 1607; 1 April 1609). Gage identifies him with the Thomas Eldred buried at Great Saxham on 5 Nov. 1622; but three years later a Thomas Eldred was at Ipswich, in command of a ship lately come from Denmark (Cal. S. P. Dom. 4 Oct. 1625). Thomas Eldred the mariner was certainly of Ipswich; and there is nothing beyond Gage's conjecture which connects him so closely with Great Saxham.
He is said to have been of the same family as John Eldred [q. v.], but in what degree of relationship does not appear. He was not a brother, but may very probably have been a more or less distant cousin. He married Margaret Stud of Ipswich, and had a son John, alderman of Colchester, who purchased the estate of Olivers in Essex, where a portrait, possibly of Thomas Eldred, is preserved.
J. K. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elder, Charles

​ELDER, CHARLES (1821–1851), painter, gained some success as an historical and portrait painter. He first exhibited at the British Institution in 1844, to which he sent 'Noli me tangere,' and at the Academy in 1845, sending 'Sappho.' He was a frequent contributor to the exhibitions, among his works being 'Florimel' (Royal Academy, 1846'), 'The Death of Mark Antony' (Royal Academy, 1847), 'Rosalind' (Royal Academy, 1850), 'Jael' (British Institution, 1850). Elder died 11 Dec. 1851, aged 30, leaving a widow and three children. Two of his pictures were exhibited at the Royal Academy in the following year, viz. 'On the Thames near Twickenham' and 'An Italian Fruit Girl.' Among the portraits painted by him were those of the Marquis of Bristol and Mr. Sheriff Nicol.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elder, Edward

​ELDER, EDWARD (1812–1858), headmaster of Charterhouse School, the son of John Edward Elder of Barbadoes, was born on 1 Oct. 1812. At the age of twelve he was sent to Charterhouse, where he remained till 1830, when he gained an open scholarship at Balliol College, Oxford. There he took first class honours in literis humanioribus and won the Ellerton theological essay prize. He graduated B.A. 1834, M.A. 1836, D.D. 1853. He held a tutorial appointment at Balliol till 1839, when he became headmaster of Durham Cathedral grammar school. This school, which he found in a languishing condition, he may be said to have made. So great was his success as a teacher and his popularity among his pupils, that when in 1853, on the nomination of Dr. Saunders to the deanery of Peterborough, he was appointed head-master of Charterhouse, many of the Durham boys, among them Professor Nettleship, migrated to London with him. At Charterhouse he worked no less hard than at Durham, but he was prevented from giving full scope to his abilities by occasional attacks of illness, which necessitated his absence from the school. Latterly his mind altogether gave way. On 6 April 1858 he died. A tablet to his memory was placed by some of his friends and pupils in Charterhouse Chapel, immediately facing the founder's tomb. Beyond contributing several articles to Smith's 'Dictionary of Classical Biography and Mythology,' Elder published nothing.
A. V.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hancock, Thomas (1783-1849)

​HANCOCK, THOMAS, M.D. (1783–1849), physician, born in 1783 of quaker parents in the south of co. Antrim, was educated at Ackford, Yorkshire, was apprenticed to a surgeon at Waterford, and graduated M.D. at Edinburgh 26 June 1809. His thesis was 'De Morbis Epidemicis,' a subject in which he was interested throughout 'his life. He became a licentiate of the College of Physicians of London 26 June 1809, and began practice in London, living in Finsbury Square. He attained considerable practice, and was elected physician to the City and Finsbury dispensaries. In 1810 he contributed some articles on lunatic asylums to the 'Belfast Monthly Magazine.' In 1821 he published 'Researches into the Laws and Phenomena of Pestilence, including a medical sketch and review of the Plague of London in 1665 and Remarks on Quarantine.' The book is an enlargement of an address delivered to the Medical Society of London in 1820, and contains much information on epidemics. In 1824 he published an ' Essay on Instinct and its Physical and Moral Relations,' in which he criticises the flippant remarks of Lawrence the surgeon on the Creation, and states clearly the views on instinct which were general before the time of Darwin. His next book appeared in 1825, 'The Principles of Peace exemplified in the Conduct of the Society of Friends in Ireland during the Rebellion of the year 1798,' and has the most lasting value of all his works. Of the many histories of that rebellion this, based entirely upon the statements of eye-witnesses, gives the clearest view of the unsettled, varied, and ignorant notions of the great mass of the insurgents. In 1832 he published 'The Laws and Progress of the Epidemic Cholera,' having shortly before removed to Liverpool, where in 1835 his last work appeared, 'A Defence of the Doctrines of Immediate Revelation and Universal Saving Light, in reply to some remarks contained in a work entitled " A Beacon to the Society of Friends."' In 1838 he left Liverpool and settled in Lisburn, where he resided till his death, from heart disease, on 6 April 1849, aged 66. His works show him to have been a man of extensive reading and sound sense. He was an admirer of Locke, and prized very highly a beautiful little manuscript in Locke's handwriting which he possessed. He edited in 1828 'Discourses,' translated from Nicole's 'Essays by John Locke.' Hancock published anonymously 'An elegy supposed to be written on a field of battle,' 1818, and 'The Law of Mercy, a poetical essay on the punishment of death.'
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. iii. 78; Smith's Cat. of Friends' Books; Hancock's Works; information from the late Benjamin Clarke Fisher of Somerville, co. Dublin, from Dr. Reeves, bishop of Down, and from Dr. Munk.]
N. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hancock, John

​HANCOCK, JOHN (d. 1869), sculptor, first appears as an exhibitor at the Royal Academy in 1843, sending a statue of 'The Prodigal Son.' He exhibited 'Comus ' in 1845, and annually for about twenty years afterwards. In 1849 he sent a bas-relief of 'Christ's Entry into Jerusalem,' which obtained one of the prizes given by the Art Union, and was engraved by the anaglyptograph process as one of their prize publications for that year. In 1850 he sent a statue of 'Beatrice,' from Dante's 'Vita Nuova,' which attracted attention at the Academy and in the International Exhibition of 1851. In 1853 he sent another bas-relief of 'Christ led to Crucifixion,' which was also purchased and published by the Art Union. Hancock obtained many commissions, and executed, among other works, a bust of 'La Penserosa,' which is in the royal collection, and a statue of 'II Penseroso,' executed by order of the court of common council for the Egyptian Hall at the Mansion House. He never, however, gained the reputation of which his works at one time showed promise. He died on 17 Oct. 1869.
[Athenæum, 23 Oct. 1869; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760-1880 ; Royal Academy Catalogues.]
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hancock, Walter

​HANCOCK, WALTER (1799–1852), engineer, promoter of steam locomotion on common roads, was sixth son of James Hancock, a timber merchant and cabinet-maker at Marlborough, Wiltshire, where he was born on 16 June 1799. Thomas Hancock (1786–1865) [q. v.] was his brother. After serving an apprenticeship to a watchmaker and jeweller in London, he turned his attention to engineering, and in 1824 invented a steam engine in which the ordinary cylinder and piston were replaced by two flexible bags, consisting of several layers of canvas united together by indiarubber solution, and alternately filled with steam. The engine having worked satisfactorily at Hancock's factory at Stratford, it occurred to him that its lightness and simplicity of construction rendered it peculiarly applicable to steam carriages on common roads, to which attention was then being directed. His experi- ​merits with the new engine were not successful; but he continued to work at the subject, and after many trials upon the roads in and around London, the 'Infant' began to run regularly for hire between Stratford and London in February 1831. In the following year he built the 'Era' for the London and Brighton Steam Carriage Company, one of the many similar associations which came into existence about that time, when the success of the Liverpool and Manchester railway had raised the hopes of speculators. The 'Era' was followed by the 'Enterprise,' which was put upon the road by the London and Paddington Steam Carriage Company in April 1833. In October of the same year the 'Autopsy' ran for a short time between Finsbury Square and Pentonville, and again in October 1834, alternately with the 'Erin,' between the city and Paddington. Hancock appears to have continued his efforts until about 1840, by which time he had built ten carriages, making many trips through various parts of the country. After that year public interest in the subject rapidly declined, all the companies which had been formed having failed. Of all the projectors of steam locomotion on common roads, Hancock was the most successful, and the performances of some of his carriages were very creditable. He afterwards turned his attention to indiarubber, working in conjunction with his brother Thomas, and in 1843 he obtained a patent for cutting indiarubber into sheets, and for a method of preparing solutions of indiarubber. He died 14 May 1852.
Hancock was also author of a 'Narrative of Twelve Years' Experiments (1824-1836) demonstrative of the Practicability and Advantage of Employing Steam Carriages on Common Roads,' London, 1838.
[Hancock's Narrative; Mechanics' Mag. 1831-1840; Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Steam Carriages, 1832.]
R. B. P.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hanckwitz, Ambrose Godfrey

​HANCKWITZ, AMBROSE GODFREY (d. 1741), chemist. [See Godfrey, Ambrose.]