Modern English biography, volume 1 (of 4), A-H by Frederic Boase

BENIOWSKI, BARTHOLOMEW. Educ. at Ecole d’etat major of Paris 1832–33; major in Polish army; attempted to revolutionise art of printing by use of short words cast into one such as, and, but, the; teacher of memory at the Royal Adelaide gallery, Strand, London 1842; took out patents for machinery for printing and composing type 1846, 47 and 49; author of _Phrenotypics_ 1842; _A French vocabulary_ 1843; _The Anti-absurd or phrenotypic alphabet and orthography_ 1844. _d._ 8 Bow st. Covent Garden 29 March 1867 aged 66. BENISCH, ABRAHAM. _b._ Drosan, Bohemia 1811; ed. at Univ. of Vienna; settled in England 1841; edited the _Jewish Chronicle_ 1854 to death; one of chief founders of Society of Hebrew Literature 1870, and of the Anglo Jewish Association 1871; author of _A translation of the Old Testament_ 1851; _An essay on Colenso’s criticism of the Pentateuch and Joshua_ 1863; _Judaism surveyed_ 1874. _d._ 13 Brownswood park, Green Lanes, London 31 July 1878. BENJAMIN, GEORGE. _b._ Sussex 15 April 1799; went to Canada; founded the _Intelligencer_ at Belleville 1834, edited it to 1848; member of legislative assembly Canada 1856–61; grand master of the Orangemen of British North America 1848; author of _Short lessons for members of Parliament compiled from English and other publications_ 1862. _d._ Belleville 6 July or 7 Sep. 1864. BENJAMIN, JUDAH PHILIP. _b._ St. Croix, West Indies 1811; ed. at Yale college, Connecticut 1825–28; called to the bar in New Orleans 16 Dec. 1832; member of firm of Slidell, Benjamin and Conrad 1840; counsellor of the supreme court New Orleans Dec. 1848; practised chiefly in Washington; a senator for Louisiana to the Senate 1852 to 4 Feb. 1861 when he withdrew, expelled the Senate 14 March 1861; attorney general of the Southern Confederacy Feb. 1861; acting secretary of war Aug. 1861 to Feb. 1862; sec. of state Feb. 1862 to April 1865 when the members of the cabinet left Richmond; a student L.I. 13 Jany. 1866, called to bar at L.I. 6 June 1866, bencher 15 April 1875; Q.C. for county palatine of Lancaster July 1869; Q.C. with patent of precedence 29 July 1872; made £15,000 a year for several years; entertained on his retirement, at a banquet in hall of Inner Temple 30 June 1883; author of _Digest of decisions of supreme court of New Orleans_ 1834; _Treatise of the law of sale of personal property_ 1868, _3 ed._ 1883. _d._ Avenue de Jena, Paris 6 May 1884. _J. Davis’s Rise and Fall of the Confederate government i_, 242 (1881), _portrait_; _Law Journal_ (1883) 100–103; _I.L.N. lxxx_ 465 (1884), _portrait_; _Graphic xxix_, 484 (1884), _portrait_. BENN, ANTHONY. _b._ 1814; 2 lieut. R.A. 20 Dec. 1832; col. 27 June 1864 to 6 March 1868; M.G. 6 March 1868. _d._ Plumstead 22 Dec. 1875. BENN, EDWARD (_son of John Benn of Belfast, brewer 1767–1853_). _b._ 1798; purchased with his brother George, an estate at Glenravel near Ballymena where they tried to create a new industry by manufacture of potato spirit; formed a fine archæological collection now in the Belfast Museum; contributed papers to Irish antiquarian journals; founded 3 hospitals in Belfast, the Eye Ear and Throat, the Samaritan and the Skin Diseases. _d._ 1874. BENN, GEORGE (_brother of the preceding_). _b._ Tanderagee co. Armagh 1 Jany. 1801; entered Belfast Academical institution 1816; took gold medals in logic 1817 and moral philosophy 1818; author of _The history of the town of Belfast_ [_anon._] 1823; _A history of the town of Belfast 2 vols._ 1877–80. _d._ 8 Jany. 1882. BENN, PIERCY. _b._ 1800; 2 lieut. R.A. 3 Feb. 1821; col. 7 June 1856 to 16 July 1862; M.G. 16 July 1862. _d._ Farringdon, Hants. 17 June 1876. BENNETT, CHARLES FOX, formerly of Clifton, Bristol; late premier of Newfoundland. _d._ St. John’s, Newfoundland 5 Dec. 1883. BENNETT, CHARLES HENRY. Draughtsman on wood; contributed sketches signed in the corner with the figure of an owl to _Diogenes_ comic weekly paper 1853 and portraits of members of Parliament to _Illustrated Times_; contributed sketches to _Fun_ down to 1866 and to _Punch_ 1866 to death; published _Fables of Æsop and others translated into human nature_ 1858; _Proverbs with pictures_ 1858; _London people sketched from life_ 1863; _Adventures of Young Munchausen_ 1864. _d._ Caversham road, Kentish Town 2 April 1867 in 38 year. _Punch 13 April 1867 p._ 151. BENNETT, GEORGE (_2 son of John Bennett, Judge of Irish court of King’s Bench who d. 25 Dec. 1791_). _b._ Cork 20 Sep. 1777; called to Irish bar 1800; went Munster circuit; K.C. 18 Feb. 1822; crown prosecutor for Munster circuit Feb. 1832; bencher of King’s Inns Dublin 1836, retired about 1849. _d._ Sodylt hall, Shropshire 26 May 1856. _Dublin univ. mag. xxxiv_, 526–32 (1849), _portrait_. BENNETT, GEORGE JOHN (_son of George Bennett of Norwich, comedian_). _b._ Ripon 9 March 1800; served in the navy 1813–17; first appeared on the stage at Lynn 1818, and in London at Covent Garden 27 Jany. 1823 as Richard iii; acted at Covent Garden 1830–38, at Drury Lane 1841–43 and at Sadler’s Wells 27 May 1844 to 15 March 1862 when he left the stage, his best parts were Bossola in the _Duchess of Malfi_, and Caliban in _The Tempest_; author of a five act play called _Retribution or love’s trials_ produced at Sadlers Wells 11 Feb. 1850, and of a drama called _The Justice_ produced at Birmingham. _d._ Edmonton 21 Sep. 1879. _Theatrical times i_, 241 (1847), _portrait_; _Tallis’s Drawing room table book, parts 8, 10, 17 and 21_, _4 portraits_; _The Players iv_, 17 (1861), _portrait_. BENNETT, JAMES. _b._ Falfield, Thornbury, Gloucs. 10 May 1785; apprenticed to George Robbins of Bath, printer; printer and bookseller in Tewkesbury 1810–52; published _History of Tewkesbury_ 1830; _Tewkesbury Register and Magazine_ 1830–49. _d._ Tewkesbury 29 Jany. 1856. BENNETT, REV. JAMES. _b._ London 22 May 1774; preached his first sermon 24 Dec. 1792; Congregational minister at Romsey Feb. 1796; ordained 5 April 1797; theological tutor and pastor at Rotherham 22 Aug. 1813; pastor of Silver st. church, London Nov. 1828, and of Falcon sq. church, London 1843 to Nov. 1860; one of foreign secs. to London Missionary society May 1830 to 1832; chairman of Congregational Board 1840; author of _Lectures on preaching of Christ_ 1836; _Lectures on Acts of the Apostles_ 1846; author with Rev. David Bogue of _History of dissenters from the Revolution in 1688 to the year 1808 4 vols._ 1808, _2 ed. 3 vols._ 1833; wrote much in the _Eclectic Review_ and _Evangelical Mag._ _d._ 49 Gibson sq. Islington 4 Dec. 1862. _Memorials of the late Rev. James Bennett_ 1863. BENNETT, JAMES. Member of company of T.R. Birmingham many years; made his début in London at Lyceum theatre 18 March 1859 as Iago in _Othello_; acted in the provinces. _d._ London 9 March 1885. _Tallis’s Drawing room table book_ (1851) 41, _portrait_. BENNETT, JAMES GORDON. _b._ New Mill, Keith, Banffshire 1 Sep. 1800; went to Halifax, Nova Scotia 1819; a printer’s reader, bookseller’s clerk and assistant in a newspaper office at Boston; went to New York about 1822; started the _New York Globe_ Oct. 1832 a two cent paper which lived only 30 days; partner with Messrs. Anderson and Smith of New York, printers 1835; founded the _New York Herald_ a one cent daily paper 6 May 1835 all of which he wrote; in 1841 the circulation was 20,000 and the receipts 100,000 dollars, during the civil war its circulation doubled; sent Henry M. Stanley to Central Africa in search of Dr. Livingstone at cost of £10,000 in 1871. (_m._ 6 June 1840 Henrietta Agnes Crean, she _d._ 31 March 1873). _d._ New York 1 June 1872. _Memoir of J. G. Bennett by a Journalist_ 1855, _portrait_; _F. Hudson’s Journalism in the United States_ 1873; _J. Parton’s Famous Americans of recent times_ (1867) 259–305; _Democratic Review xxxi_, 409–19 1853, _portrait_; _C. F. Wingate’s Views and interviews_ (1875) 275–86; _Graphic v_, 600, 611 (1872), _portrait_. BENNETT, JOHN HUGHES. _b._ London 31 Aug. 1812; ed. at Exeter gr. sch. and Univ. of Edin., M.D. 1837, LLD. Aug. 1875; founded in Paris the Parisian Medical Society 1837, pres. 1837; pathologist to Royal infirmary Edin. 1843; discovered a remarkable disease of the blood which he called Leucocythemia or white cell blood 1845; editor of _Edinburgh Monthly Journal of medical science_ 1846; professor of Institutes of medicine in Univ. of Edin. July 1848 to July 1874; F.R.S. Edin. 1842, F.R.C.P. Edin. 1842; author of _An