Modern English biography

_p._ 35 (1868); _J. Smith’s Our Scottish clergy_ (1848) 315–22. NAPIER, ROBERT (son of James Napier, blacksmith and millwright). _b._ Dumbarton 18 June 1791; apprenticed to his father 1807–12; blacksmith in Greyfriars’ Wynd, Glasgow 1815; ironfounder and engineer at the Camlachie works in Gallowgate 1821, constructed his first marine engine 1823 for the Leven; took extensive works, the Vulcan foundry in Washington st. 1828, and the Lancefield foundry on Anderston quay 1835, the works were sold 14 March 1877; engined all the paddle-wheel ships of the Cunard company 1840–55; took his sons into partnership 1853; opened a shipbuilding yard at Govan 1841, built his first ship the Vanguard 1843; began constructing iron ships 1850; built the Persia of 3,300 tons for the Cunard co. 1854; a juror at Paris exhibition 1855, received gold medal and legion of honour; built more than 300 vessels for the government and great companies 1856 to death; built men-of-war for the French, Turkish, Danish, and Dutch governments; M.I.C.E. 31 March 1840; M.I.M.E. 1856, president 1863–5. _d._ West Shandons, Glasgow 23 June 1876. _Maclehose’s Glasgow Men_ (1886) 241–4 _portrait_; _Engineering_ (1867) 594–7 _portrait_, (1876) 554–5; _Min. of proc. of Instit. of C.E. xlv_ 246–51 (1876) _with list of all the vessels engined or built by him_; _Practical Mag. iii_ 1 (1874) _portrait_; _Graphic xiv_ 44 (1876) _portrait_. NAPIER, ROBERT D. (son of David Napier 1790–1869). _b._ Glasgow 1821; engineer with his father and his brother, Frank Napier, at Glasgow to 1837, then with them as engineers Millwall, London from 1837, where they built numerous steamships; went to New South Wales; dredged Sydney harbour; invented the self-holding brake; returned to Glasgow 1870, partner with his brother John D. Napier as Napier Brothers; manufactured self-holding brakes for ships’ windlasses, etc.; contributed to The Engineer and to Trans. of Institution of Engineers, Glasgow; author of On the velocity of steam and other gases 1866. _d._ Glasgow 8 May 1885. _The Engineer 15 May 1885 p._ 387. NAPIER, SIR ROBERT JOHN MILLIKEN, 9 Baronet (eld. son of sir William John Milliken Napier, 8 baronet 1788–1852). _b._ Milliken house, near Johnstone, Renfrewshire 7 Nov. 1818; ensign 79 foot 7 Aug. 1835, captain 12 April 1844, sold out 9 June 1846; succeeded his father 4 Feb. 1852; deputy lieut. of Renfrewshire 1845, and convener 1859–65; lieut. col. commandant of Renfrewshire militia 31 March 1854, hon. col. 19 Jany. 1878 to death. _d._ 32 Moray place, Edinb. 4 Dec. 1884. NAPIER, SIR THOMAS ERSKINE (brother of sir Charles Napier 1786–1860). _b._ 10 May 1790; ensign 52 foot 3 July 1805; captain in the Chasseurs Britanniques 27 Oct. 1809, placed on h.p. 1814, when the corps was disbanded; served in Sicily and Spain 1812–3; A.D.C. to sir John Hope in the Peninsula 1813, lost his left arm at battle of the Nive 11 Dec. 1813; assistant adjutant general in Ireland to 1843, deputy adjutant general 1843–6; governor of Edinburgh castle and commander of the troops in Scotland May 1852 to 20 June 1854; colonel of 16 foot 28 Jany 1854 and of 71 foot 16 May 1857 to death; general 20 Sept. 1861; C.B. 19 July 1838, K.C.B. 18 May 1860; granted distinguished service reward 1 June 1849. _d._ Polton house, Lasswade, near Edinburgh 5 July 1863. NAPIER, Sir William Francis Patrick (brother of sir George Thomas Napier 1784–1855). _b._ Celbridge, co. Kildare 17 Dec. 1785; ensign royal Irish artillery 14 June 1800; ensign 62 foot 1800, lieut. 1801, placed on h.p. 1802; captain 43 foot 11 Aug. 1804, major 14 May 1812, placed on h.p. 17 June 1819; served at siege of Copenhagen 1807, in Spain 1808–9, and in Portugal 1809–13; granted £150 per annum for his distinguished services 29 May 1841; lieutenant-governor of Guernsey Feb. 1842 to Dec. 1847; colonel of 27 foot 5 Feb. 1848, and of 22 foot 19 Sept. 1853 to death; general 17 Oct. 1859; C.B. 4 June 1815, K.C.B. 27 April 1848; author of History of the war in the Peninsula and in the south of France, from the year 1807 to the year 1814, 6 vols. 1828–40, 5 ed. 6 vols. 1851, upwards of 15 works appeared in reference to these volumes; The conquest of Scinde, 2 vols. 1845; The life and opinions of general sir C. J. Napier, 4 vols. 1857, 2 ed. 1857. _d._ Scinde house, King’s road, Clapham park, London 10 Feb. 1860. _bur._ Norwood; statue by G. G. Adams in north transept of St. Paul’s cathedral. _H. A. Bruce’s Life of sir W. F. P. Napier_, 2 _vols._ (1864) 2 _portraits_; _H. Martineau’s Biog. Sketches_, _4 ed._ (1876) 199–212; _I.L.N. xxxvi_ 172, 186 (1860) _portrait_. NAPLETON, JOHN CHARLES (9 son of rev. Timothy Napleton, R. of Powderham, Devon, _d._ 1816). _b._ 1811; ed. Worcester coll. Oxf., Bible clerk 1830–2; B.A. 1833; P.C. of Hatfield, Herefordshire 1844–58, and P.C. of Grendon Bishop 1849–58; P.C. of All Saints’, Lambeth 1858 to death; author of Daily services in the cottage 1848, new ed. 1877; The present condition of the working classes 1855; A letter to C. H. Spurgeon, touching his sermon on baptismal regeneration 1864. _d._ Bayswater, London 13 April 1867. NAPOLEON III, CHARLES LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, Emperor of the French (3 son of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte 1778–1847, king of Holland). _b._ Rue Cérutti, now Rue Lafitte, Paris 20 April 1808; became heir to the French empire 22 July 1832; arrived in London from America 10 July 1837; went to Arenenberg to attend his mother’s death bed 5 Oct. 1837; resided in London at Fenton’s hotel, 63 St. James’s st. from 24 Oct. 1838, at Waterloo place, at Carlton ter. to Dec. 1839, and at Carlton gardens to Aug. 1840; one of the ten knight visitors at the Eglinton tournament 28–30 Aug. 1839, tilted on foot with Charles Lamb in the ball room on 29 Aug.; attended on Wimbledon common 3 March 1840 to fight a duel with count Leon, a reputed son of Napoleon I, the police interfered and carried the parties to Bow st. where they were bound over to keep the peace; went from Margate to Boulogne and attempted to seize the government of France 6 Aug. 1840, condemned to perpetual imprisonment 6 Oct. 1840, sent to Ham, North France 10 Oct., escaped to England 25 May 1846; living at the Brunswick hotel, 52 Jermyn st. 27 May 1846; resided in Bath 1846; leased 3a King st. St. James, now 10 King st., from 1 Feb. 1847 at £300 a year, his furniture, etc. sold by auction 22 May 1849; charged Charles Pollard of Essex st. London with stealing two bills of exchange of £1,000 each, prisoner acquitted on technical grounds 3 July 1847; a special constable in London on day of Chartists’ procession 10 April 1848; author of Des Idées Napoleoniennes, London 1839, and of Canal of Nicaragua to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific, London 1846; president of the French republic 20 Dec. 1848; emperor of the French 2 Dec. 1852; _m._ 29 Jany. 1853 Eugénie Marie de Guzman, countess of Téba, _b._ 5 May 1826; with the empress visited the queen at Windsor and Buckingham palace 16–21 April 1855; K.G. 18 April 1855; entertained by city of London 19 April 1855; with the empress visited the queen at Osborne 6–9 Aug. 1857; hon. M.I.C.E. 23 May 1869; declared war against Prussia 15 July 1870, taken prisoner at Sedan 2 Sept., deposed at Paris 4 Sept., confined at Wilhelmshöhe near Cassel 5 Sept., released and landed at Dover 20 March 1871, resided at Camden place, Chislehurst, Kent to his death 9 Jany 1873. _bur._ St. Mary’s ch. Chislehurst 15 Jany., the remains removed to a mausoleum built by the empress at Farnborough, Surrey 9 Jany.