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

​SYDENHAM, FLOYER (1710–1787), translator, born in Devonshire in 1710, was son of Humphrey Sydenham of Combe in Somerset, by his second wife, Katherine, daughter of William Floyer of Berne in Dorset. He was educated at Oxford, matriculating from Wadham College on 31 May 1727, graduating B.A. on 25 June 1731, and proceeding M.A. on 30 April 1734. He was elected a probationary fellow on 30 June 1733 and became a fellow, probably in the year following. He studied law at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1735. In 1744 he was presented to the rectory of Esher, but resigned it in 1747. He was an excellent Greek scholar and devoted himself to the task of translating the works of Plato. In 1759 he published his proposals in a quarto tract, and accomplished his purpose between 1759 and 1780 in four quarto volumes. In 1787 he was arrested for a trifling debt, and died in prison on 1 April. In consequence of his unfortunate death, the Literary Club was founded, for the purpose of assisting deserving authors.
Dr. Parr ‘ranked Sydenham first among the Platonic students,’ and Thomas Taylor (1758–1836) [q. v.], the Platonist, though less fervent, held a high opinion of his merits.
Besides the works mentioned, Sydenham published ‘Onomasticum Theologicum, or an Essay on the Divine Names according to the Platonic Philosophy’ (1784, 4to).
[Chalmers's Biogr. Dict. 1816, xxix. 74–5; Gardiner's Registers of Wadham College, ii. 25; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Gent. Mag. 1787, i. 366; Collinson's Hist. of Somerset, ii. 523.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Swinton, John (1703-1777)

​SWINTON, JOHN (1703–1777), historian and antiquary, son of John Swinton of Bexton in Cheshire, was born in that county in 1703. He entered Wadham College as a servitor, matriculating on 10 Oct. 1719, and on 30 June 1723 he was elected a scholar. He graduated B.A. on 1 Dec. 1723, and proceeded M.A. on 1 Dec. 1726. He was ordained deacon on 30 May 1725 and priest on 28 May 1727, and in February 1728 he was instituted into the rectory of St. Peter-le-Bailey, Oxford. On 16 Oct. 1728 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and on 30 June 1729 was chosen a probationer-fellow of Wadham. Not long after, however, he accepted the position of chaplain to the English factory at Leghorn. Finding the climate did not suit him, he proceeded to Florence in 1733, and returned to England after visiting Venice, Vienna, and Pressburg. He then took up his abode in Oxford, where he resided till 1743, when he was appointed a prebendary of St. Asaph on 11 Oct., resigning his fellowship at the same time. In July 1745 he migrated to Christ Church, and in 1759 proceeded B.D. He was elected keeper of the archives of the university in 1767, and, dying on 4 April 1777, was buried in the antechapel of Wadham. He was married, but left no children. His wife, who died in 1784, was also buried in Wadham chapel.
He was extremely absent-minded, and it is related by Boswell that when he was appointed to preach on repentance to several criminals to be executed on the following day, he told his audience that he would give them the remainder of his discourse on next Lord's Day.
Swinton published:
* ‘De Linguæ Etruriæ Regalis Vernacula Dissertatio,’ Oxford, 1738, 4to.
* ‘A Critical Essay concerning the Words Δαιμων and Δαιμονιον,’ London, 1739, 8vo.
* ‘De priscis Romanorum literis Dissertatio,’ Oxford, 1746, 4to.
* ‘Inscriptiones Citieæ,’ Oxford, 1750, 4to.
* ‘De nummis quibusdam Samaritanis et Phœniciis,’ 1750, 4to.
* ‘Metilia,’ Oxford, 1750, 4to.
He also contributed numerous dissertations to the ‘Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society’ (1761–74), and was the author of portions of Sale's ‘Universal History’ (Gent. Mag. 1784, p. 892).
Swinton has been frequently confused with John Swinton who matriculated from Wadham in 1713, graduating B.A. in 1717 and M.A. in 1720. As both came from Knutsford in Cheshire, they were probably relations.
[Chalmers's General Biogr. Dict. xxix. 70–4; Gardiner's Registers of Wadham, i. 451, ii. 3; Foster's Alumni Oxon. both ser.; Thomson's Hist. of the Royal Society, App. p. xxxviii; Boswell's Life of Johnson, ed. Croker, pp. 89, 794; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ii. 553–4, iii. 678, ix. 13; Nichols's Lit. Illustr. iii. 684, iv. 593; Le Neve's Fasti, i. 91; A. C. Swinton's Swintons of that Ilk, pp. 60–1; Affair between Mr. John Swinton and Mr. George Baker, London, 1739, 8vo.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Swinton, John (d.1799)

​SWINTON, JOHN, Lord Swinton (d. 1799), Scottish judge, son of John Swinton of Swinton, Berwickshire, advocate, by his wife Mary, daughter of Samuel Semple, minister of Liberton. He was admitted advocate on 20 Dec. 1743, and appointed sheriff-depute of Perthshire in June 1754. In April 1766 he became solicitor for renewal of leases of the bishops' tithes, and solicitor and advocate to the commissioners for plantation of kirks in Scotland. He was elevated to the bench, with the title of Lord Swinton, on 21 Dec. 1782, and, on the promotion of Robert Macqueen of Braxfield in 1788, was also made a lord of justiciary. He retained both appointments till his death. He died at his residence, Dean House, Edinburgh, on 5 Jan. 1799. Swinton married Margaret, daughter of John Mitchelson of Middleton. By her he had six sons and seven daughters.
Swinton published:
* ‘Abridgment of the Public Statutes relative to Scotland, &c., from the Union to the 27th of George II,’ 2 vols. 1755; to the 29th of George III, 3 vols. 1788–90.
* ‘Free Disquisition concerning the Law of Entails in Scotland,’ 1765.
* ‘Proposal for Uniformity of Weights and Measures in Scotland,’ 1779.
* ‘Considerations concerning a Proposal for dividing the Court of Session into Classes or Chambers; and for limiting Litigation in Small Causes, and for the Revival of Jury-trial in certain Civil Actions,’ 1789.
Lord Cockburn, in his ‘Memorials of his Time,’ remarks: ‘These improvements have since taken place, but they were mere visions in his time; and his anticipation of them, in which, so far as I ever heard, he had no associate, is very honourable to his thoughtfulness and judgment.’
[Burke's Landed Gentry; Brunton and Haig's College of Justice.]
R. B. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Swinton, John (d.1402)

​SWINTON, Sir JOHN (d. 1402), Scottish soldier, was in the service of Edmund de Langley, earl of Cambridge and afterwards duke of York [q. v.], in 1374 (Cal. Documents relating to Scotland, iv. 221). He probably continued in the English service till December 1377, when he had leave to return through England to Scotland (ib. iv. 254). Swinton distinguished himself by his valour in the battle of Otterburn in August 1388, when he had a leading part in the capture of Harry Hotspur [see Percy, Sir Henry, (1364–1403)]. He had a safe-conduct on 14 Nov. 1391, and again on 24 July 1392, as Scots ambassador to England (ib. iv. 431; Fœdera, vii. 733). He again came to England in July 1400 (ib. viii. 151). At the battle of Homildon Hill, on 14 Sept. 1402, Swinton led the disastrous charge of the Scots, supported by Sir Adam de Gordon, with whom he had previously had many quarrels. Both Swinton and Gordon were slain in the battle.
Swinton married (1) Margaret, countess of Mar, who died in 1390; and (2) Margaret, daughter of Robert Stewart, duke of Albany [q. v.], the regent of Scotland. By the latter he had a son John, who fought against the English in France, and first struck down Thomas, duke of Clarence, at the battle of Beaugé, on 20 March 1421 [see Thomas, (d. 1421)]. He was killed fighting for the French at Verneuil on 17 Aug. 1424.
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Watts, Robert

​WATTS, ROBERT (1820–1895), Irish presbyterian divine, youngest of fourteen children of a presbyterian farmer, was born at Moneylane, near Castlewellan, co. Down, on 10 July 1820. He was educated at the parish school of Kilmegan, co. Down, and at the Royal Academical Institution, Belfast. In 1848 he went to America, graduated (1849) at Washington College, Lexington, Virginia, and studied theology at Princeton, New Jersey, under Charles Hodge, D.D. (1797–1878). He organised (1852) a presbyterian mission at Philadelphia, gathered a congregation in Franklin House Hall, was ordained its pastor in 1853, and obtained the erection (1856) of Westminster Church for its use. He got into controversy on Arminianism with Albert Barnes (1798–1870), a Philadelphia presbyterian of liberal views. On a visit to Ireland he accepted a call to Lower Gloucester Street congregation, Dublin, and was installed there in August 1863.
On the death (1866) of John Edgar [q. v.], Watts was elected to the chair of systematic theology in the Assembly's College, Belfast. He was a keen theologian, of very conservative views, opposed to the tendency of much modern criticism, and especially to the influence of German exegesis. He studied current speculations with some care, in a spirit of uncompromising antagonism. His writings were acceptable to the older minds in his denomination, and were in some measure successful in arresting tendencies which he combated with confident vivacity. In matters where he considered that no theological interest was involved he was not so conservative; he advocated the use of instrumental music in public worship, though this was against the general sentiment of Irish presbyterians. His health suffered from over work, and after the close of the college session, April 1895, he completely broke down. He died at College Park, Belfast, on 26 July 1895, and was buried on 29 July in the city cemetery. He married (1853) Margaret, daughter of William Newell of Summerhill, Downpatrick, who survived him with a son and two daughters. His eldest son, Robert Watts, presbyterian minister of Kilmacreenan, co. Donegal, died on 4 Dec. 1889.
Among his numerous publications may be named: 1. ‘The Doctrine of Eternal Punishment Vindicated,’ Belfast, 1873, 8vo. 2. ‘Reply to Professor Tyndal's Address before the British Association,’ Belfast, 1874, 8vo. 3. ‘An Examination of Herbert Spencer's Biological Hypothesis,’ Belfast, 1875, 8vo. 4. ‘The New Apologetic,’ Edinburgh, 1879, 8vo. 5. ‘The Newer Criticism. … Reply to … W. Robertson Smith,’ Edinburgh, 1881, 8vo. 6. ‘The Rule of Faith and the Doctrine of Inspiration,’ 1885, 8vo. He contributed many articles to presbyterian and other periodicals.
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Watts, Walter Henry

​WATTS, WALTER HENRY (1776–1842), journalist and miniature-painter, born in the East Indies in 1776, was the son of a captain in the royal navy. He was sent to England at an early age and placed at school in Cheshire. He possessed talent as an ​artist, and devoted some time to the study of drawing and painting. In 1808 he was a member of the Society of Associated Artists in Watercolours. He obtained some renown as a miniature-painter, and from 1808 to 1830 exhibited miniatures at the Royal Academy. In 1816 he was appointed miniature-painter to the Princess Charlotte. Not being able for some time to realise a sufficient income from painting, he obtained employment as a parliamentary reporter on the staff of the ‘Morning Post’ in 1803. About 1813 he joined the ‘Morning Chronicle’ in the same capacity. In 1826 he undertook to manage the reporting department of the ‘Representative,’ but, returning to the ‘Morning Chronicle’ in the following year, he continued to act as a parliamentary reporter till 1840. During this time he also contributed criticisms on matters connected with the fine arts to the ‘Literary Gazette,’ and edited the ‘Annual Biography and Obituary’ from its commencement in 1817 until 1831. Watts died at his lodgings at Earl's Court Terrace, Old Brompton, on 4 Jan. 1842. Jerdan states that Watts wrote several independent works, among others a replication of Martin Archer Shee's ‘Rhymes in Art,’ but that they were nearly all published anonymously.
[Dodd's Annual Biography, 1842, p. 457; Gent. Mag. 1842, i. 223; Morning Chronicle, 8 Jan. 1842; Jerdan's Autobiography, 1853, iii. 283, iv. 118–27.]
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Watts, William (1752-1851)

​WATTS, WILLIAM (1752–1851), line-engraver, the son of a master silk weaver in Moorfields, was born early in 1752. He received his art training from Paul Sandby [q. v.] and Edward Rooker [q. v.], and on the death of the latter in 1774 he continued the ‘Copper-plate Magazine,’ commenced by him, and published a number of engravings of country seats after Sandby. His own ‘Seats of the Nobility and Gentry,’ a series of eighty-four plates, followed in 1779–86. He sold the furniture and prints in his house at Kemp's Row, Chelsea, and went to Italy, reaching Naples in September 1786. After about a year he returned, and lived at Sunbury, Middlesex. In 1789 he went to Carmarthen, in 1790 to the Hotwells, Bristol, and in 1791 to Bath, where he spent two years. His views of the principal buildings in Bath and Bristol, prepared about this time, were published in 1819. ‘Thirty-six Views in Scotland’ appeared in two parts (1791–4). He was keenly interested in the French revolution, and went to Paris in 1793, where some of his views of English country seats were engraved in colours by Laurent Guyot. He invested most of the property which he had inherited from his father, with his own earnings, in the French funds, and the whole was confiscated, though he recovered a portion at the peace in 1815. His loss compelled him to return to the practice of his profession. He engraved three of the plates in ‘Select Views in London and Westminster’ (1800), and sixty-five coloured plates, from drawings by Luigi Mayer, for Sir Robert Ainstie's ‘Views in Turkey in Europe and Asia’ (1801). Soon after this he retired from his profession, and lived for a short time at Mill Hill, Hendon. In 1814 he purchased a small property at Cobham, Surrey, where he died on 7 Dec. 1851, after having been blind for some years, within a few months of his hundredth birthday.
C. D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wauchope, John

​WAUCHOPE, Sir JOHN (d. 1682), of Niddrie, covenanter, was descended from the old family of Wauchope of Wauchope in Dumfriesshire, who became proprietors of the lands of Culter, Aberdeenshire, and from the thirteenth century were hereditary baillies in Mid Lothian to the keith marischal of Scotland, afterwards earl marischal, from whom they obtained the lands of Niddrie Marischal in that county. Robert Wauchope, great-grandfather of Sir John, and his son and heir-apparent Archibald were forfeited in 1587 for aiding and abetting the turbulent fifth Earl of Bothwell [see Hepburn, Francis Stewart]; but they continued to defy justice, the son, after being captured in 1589, escaping from the Tolbooth during his trial, and living thereafter a wandering and lawless life. The father also, after taking part in the raid of Falkland in 1590, was captured at Lesmahagow by Lord Hamilton, and placed in the castle of Drephan, but made his escape with the connivance of Sir John Hamilton, the commander of the castle.
Sir John Wauchope was the son of Francis Wauchope of Wauchope by Janet Sandilands, said to have been the daughter of Lord Torphichen. He was knighted on 22 June by Charles I on his visit to Scotland in 1633. In 1642 he joined in a petition of several noblemen, burgesses, and ministers to the Scottish privy council, praying that nothing should be enacted prejudicial to the work of the Reformation and the preservation of peace between the two kingdoms (Spalding, Memorials, ii. 148; Guthry, Memoirs, p. 96). A zealous covenanter, he was present with Argyll at Inverlochy against Montrose in 1645, but did not take part in the battle, having the previous evening gone with Argyll aboard Argyll's galley (Spalding, ii. 444; Guthry, p. 129). Wauchope died in January 1682. By his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Andrew Hamilton of Redhouse, brother of Thomas, earl of Haddington, he had two sons—Andrew, who succeeded him; and John, who, marrying Anna, daughter and heiress of James Rait of Edmondstone, became the founder of the Wauchopes of Edmondstone. By his second wife, Jean, widow of Sir John Ker, he had a son James, who served under Dundee at Killiecrankie.
T. F. H.
# Edwards v. United States (102 U.S. 575)

* related portals: Supreme Court of the United States.
* sister projects: Wikidata item.
United States Supreme Court
102 U.S. 575
Edwards v. United States
MOTION to dismiss a writ of error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Michigan.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.
Mr. J. W. Stone and Mr. M. J. Smiley in support of the motion.
Mr. H. F. Severens, contra.
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WAITE delivered the opinion of the court.

## Notes

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, Lewis

​THOMAS, LEWIS (fl. 1587–1619), preacher, born in 1568, was a native of Glamorganshire, or, according to another account, of Radnorshire. He was educated at Oxford, where he matriculated, under the name of Lewis Evans, from Gloucester Hall, 11 Dec. 1584, and graduated B.A. from Brasenose College on 15 Feb. 1586–7, being then described as ‘Lewis Evans alias Thomas.’ He took orders soon after, and was eventually beneficed ‘in his native county of Glamorgan and elsewhere’ (Wood). It is supposed that he was alive in 1619, but the date of his death is unknown.
He was the author of the following two volumes of sermons: 1. ‘Seaven Sermons, or the Exercises of Seven Sabbaths; together with a Short Treatise upon the Commandments.’ The first edition was issued in 1599 (Arber, Transcript of the Stationers' Register, iii. 140), but no copy of it is now known. A fourth edition appeared in 1602, and a seventh and tenth, printed in black letter, in 1610 and 1619 respectively (Brit. Mus. Cat.), while another edition is mentioned as issued in 1630 (Wood). 2. ‘Demegoriai. Certaine Lectures upon Sundry Portions of Scripture,’ London, 1600, 8vo (cf. Arber, op. cit. iii. 175). This is dedicated to Sir Thomas Egerton, lord keeper of the great seal, who was one of Thomas's first patrons.
D. Ll. T.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, Owen

​THOMAS, OWEN (1812–1891), Calvinistic methodist minister, son of Owen and Mary Thomas, was born in Edmund Street, Holyhead, on 16 Dec. 1812. John Thomas (1821–1892) [q. v.] was a younger brother. His father was a stonemason, and he followed the same occupation from the time of the removal of the family to Bangor in 1827 until he was twenty-two. In 1834 he began to preach in connection with the Calvinistic methodists, among whom his father had been a lay officer until his death in 1831, and at once took high rank as a preacher. After keeping school in Bangor for some years, he entered in 1838 the Calvinistic methodist college at Bala, and thence proceeded in 1841 to the university of Edinburgh. Lack of means, however, forced him to cut short his university course before he could graduate, and in January 1844 he became pastor of Penymount chapel, Pwllheli. In the following September he was ordained in the North Wales Association meeting at Bangor. Two years later he moved to Newtown, Montgomeryshire, to take charge of the English Calvinistic methodist church in that town, and at the end of 1851 he accepted the pastorate of the Welsh church meeting in Jewin Crescent, London. In 1865 he moved again to Liverpool, where he spent the rest of his days as pastor, first, of the Netherfield Road, and then (from 1871) of the Princes Road church of the Calvinistic methodists. He was moderator of the North Wales Association in 1863 and 1882, and of the general assembly of the denomination in 1868 and 1888. Throughout life he was a close student, and his literary work bears witness to his wide theological reading and talent for exposition. But it was as a preacher he won the commanding position he occupied in Wales; his native gifts of speech and intense earnestness enabled him to wield in the pulpit an influence which was said to recall that of John Elias [q. v.], and he never appeared to better advantage than in the great open-air services held in connection with the meetings of the two associations. In 1877 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Princeton College, New Jersey. He died on 2 Aug. 1891, and was buried in Anfield cemetery, Liverpool.
The following is a list of his published works: 1. A Welsh translation of Watson's essay on ‘Sanctification,’ Llanrwst, 1839. 2. ‘Commentary on the New Testament’ (1862–1885), embodied in additional notes to a Welsh version of Kitto's ‘Commentary.’ Editions of the commentaries on ‘Hebrews’ (1889) and ‘Galatians’ (1892) were issued separately. 3. ‘Life of the Rev. John Jones, Talsarn, with a Sketch of the History of Welsh Theology and Preaching’ (Welsh), 2 vols. Wrexham, 1874. 4. ‘Life of the Rev. Henry Rees’ (Welsh), 2 vols. Wrexham, 1890. Thomas was a contributor to the ‘Traethodydd’ from its start, and for a time one of its two joint editors. Many of the articles in the first edition of the ‘Gwyddoniadur,’ a Welsh encyclopædia, in ten volumes (1857–77), were from his pen.
On 24 Jan. 1860 he married Ellen (d. 1867), youngest daughter of the Rev. William Roberts, Amlwch.
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Thomas, Richard

​THOMAS, RICHARD (1777–1857), admiral, a native of Saltash in Cornwall, entered the navy in May 1790 on board the Cumberland with Captain John Macbride [q. v.] He was afterwards in the Blanche in the West Indies, and when she was paid off in June 1792 he joined the Nautilus sloop, in which he again went to the West Indies, and was present at the reduction of Tobago, Martinique, and St. Lucia. At Martinique he commanded a flat-bottomed boat in the brilliant attack upon Fort Royal. He returned to England in the Boyne, and was still on board her when she was burnt at Spithead on 1 May 1795. He was afterwards in the Glory and Commerce de Marseille in the Channel, and in the Barfleur and Victory in the Mediterranean, and on 15 Jan. 1797 was promoted to be lieutenant of the Excellent, in which, on 14 Feb., he was present in the battle of Cape St. Vincent [see Collingwood, Cuthbert, Lord]. He continued in the Excellent off Cadiz till June 1798, when he was moved to the Thalia; in February 1799 to the Defence; in December to the Triumph, and in October 1801 to the Barfleur, then carrying Collingwood's flag in the Channel. During the peace he was in the Leander on the Halifax station, and was promoted to the rank of commander on 18 Jan. 1803. The Lady Hobart packet, in which he took a passage for England, was wrecked on an iceberg. After seven days in a small boat he, with his companions, succeeded in reaching Cove Island, north of St. John's, Newfoundland. On his arrival in England he was appointed, ​in December 1803, to the Etna bomb, which he took out to the Mediterranean. He was posted on 22 Oct. 1805 to the Bellerophon, from which he was moved to the Queen as flag-captain to Lord Collingwood, with whom, in the Ocean and the Ville de Paris, he continued till Collingwood's death in March 1810. He remained in the Ville de Paris, as a private ship, till December, and in February 1811 was appointed to the Undaunted, in which he co-operated with and assisted the Spaniards along the coast of Catalonia. In February 1813, after nine years' continuous service in the Mediterranean, he was obliged by the bad state of his health to return to England. In 1822–5 he was captain of the ordinary at Portsmouth, and in the same capacity at Plymouth in 1834–7. He became a rear-admiral on 10 Jan. 1837, was commander-in-chief in the Pacific from 1841 to 1844—a time of much revolutionary trouble and excitement, was promoted to be vice-admiral on 8 Jan. 1848, admiral on 11 Sept. 1854, and died at Stonehouse, Plymouth, on 21 Aug. 1857. He married, in October 1827, Gratina, daughter of Lieutenant-general Robert Williams of the Royal Marines, and left issue.
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Gent. Mag. 1857, ii. 468.]
J. K. L.