FIRTH, Mark (elder son of Thomas Firth of Sheffield, steel manufacturer, who d. 1848). b. Sheffield 25 April 1819; worked as a steel smelter for 20/- a week; a steel manufacturer at Sheffield with his father and brother Thomas 1843, they erected the Norfolk works covering 13 acres 1849; master cutler 1867–69; mayor of Sheffield 1875; erected the Mark Firth almshouses at Ranmoor, Sheffield at cost of £30,000, 1869; gave the Firth park of 36 acres to town of Sheffield, park was opened by Prince of Wales 16 Aug. 1875; erected and fitted up Firth college, Sheffield at cost of £20,000, opened by Prince Leopold 20 Oct. 1879, he also endowed it at cost of £5000; famous for castings for gun blocks, and for their refined steel; cast the steel cores for the government great guns; supplied to Italian government a 100 ton gun. d. Oakbrook, Sheffield 28 Nov. 1880, personalty sworn under £600,000, Jany. 1881. Practical mag. vi, 289–91 (1876), portrait; I.L.N. lxvii, 208 (1875), portrait.
FISCHER, John George Paul. b. Hanover 16 Sep. 1786; pupil of John Henry Ramberg, court painter 1800 when he painted portraits and theatrical scenery; went to England 1810, painted miniatures of Queen Charlotte, produced a series of military costumes for the Prince Regent, painted Queen Victoria 1819 and 1820; exhibited 80 paintings at R.A. and 17 at Suffolk st., chiefly portraits in miniature 1817–52. d. 4 Upper Spring st. Marylebone 12 Sep. 1875.
FISH, Thomas Liversedge (son of Mr. Fish, magistrate at Union hall police office, London). Lived at Knowle cottage, Sidmouth, Devon; known as the “Golden Fish” from his immense wealth, having no less than 400 public houses; author of Guide to Knowle Cottage 1837. d. 18 Penton row, Walworth road, Newington, London 22 March 1861 aged 79.
FISH, William. b. Norwich 1775; violinist Norwich theatre; studied under Sharp oboist, and Bond pianist and organist; organist of St. Andrew’s, Norwich; kept a music warehouse; he wrote Sonata for pianoforte, Op. i, 1800; The Morning Star 1842 a ballad, words by the composer, an oboe concerto and some fantasias for the harp. d. 90 Rose lane, Conisford, Norwich 15 March 1866.
FISHBOURNE, Edmund Gardiner. b. 1811; entered navy 1 Feb. 1824; captain 25 Feb. 1853, retired 1 March 1866; retired admiral 2 Aug. 1879; C.B. 23 June 1859; hon. sec. to Royal patriotic fund and to Naval and military Bible Soc. many years; one of most active of Lord Shaftesbury’s colleagues in work of evangelizing the masses of London; author of Current fallacies in naval architecture 1871; Our ironclads and merchant ships 1874; Stability the seaman’s safeguard 1878 and 20 other books. d. 26 Hogarth road, Kensington, London 12 May 1887.
FISHER, Charles (2 son of David Fisher, manager of Suffolk circuit, who d. 6 Aug. 1832 aged 71). Educ. at Cambridge; trained in singing, dancing, fencing and the drama by his father; good in tragedy, comedy and melodrama, acted in Norfolk and Suffolk; appeared at Drury Lane in Lionel and Clarissa 1818; manager of theatres on Norwich circuit 1832 to 1843; violinist, violoncellist and player of double bass; a fine organist; leader of band Norwich theatre 1843; violoncellist in various theatres. d. Glasgow 17 April 1869 aged 76. Theatre i, 193–99 (1880); Era 25 April 1869, p. 10, col. 1.
FISHER, David (brother of the preceding). b. 1788; manager on the Suffolk circuit; first appeared in London at Drury Lane as Macbeth 3 Dec. 1817, the original Titus in Howard Payne’s Brutus 3 Dec. 1818, and Angelo in Buck’s Italians 3 April 1819; played at Bath 1823; built theatres at Bungay, Beccles, Halesworth, Eye, Lowestoft, Dereham, North Walsham and other places; leader of Norwich choral concerts; retired about 1838 to Woodbridge, Suffolk. d. Woodbridge 20 Aug. 1858. Theatrical Inquisitor xi, 479, 481 (1818).
FISHER, David (son of the preceding). b. East Dereham, Norfolk 1816; violinist at local concerts; acted at Prince’s theatre, Glasgow 1849–53; appeared in London at Princess’s theatre as Victor in The Lancers 2 Nov. 1853, remained at Princess’s 6 years where he played in his own piece Music hath charms in June 1858; acted at Adelphi as Abbé Latour in The Dead Heart 1859; gave an entertainment Facts and Fancies at Hanover sq. rooms and St. James’ hall 1863; played at Princess’s 1863, at Haymarket 1865 and at Ampitheatre and Alexandra theatres, Liverpool 1866–68, at opening of Globe theatre, London 28 Nov. 1868 played Major Treherne in Byron’s Cyril’s Success; appeared at Drury Lane, Olympic, Globe, Opera Comique, Criterion, Mirror, Princess’s and Lyceum to 1884. d. St. Augustine’s road, Camden Town, London 4 Oct. 1887. The Players ii, 73 (1860), portrait; Saturday Programme 5 Feb. 1876, portrait; London Figaro 15 Oct. 1887 p. 14, col. 2, portrait.
FISHER, Ven. Edmund Henry. b. 31 Jany. 1835; ed. at Rugby and Trin. coll. Cam., fellow 1860; 20 wrangler 1858; B.A. 1858, M.A. 1861; assistant master at Marlborough 1860; V. of St. Mark, Kennington, London 1869 to death; chaplain to Abp. of Canterbury 1869 to death; hon. canon of Winchester cathedral 1874 to death; archdeacon of Southwark 1878 to death; author of The Goth and the Saracen 1859. d. Monk’s Eleigh rectory 6 May 1879. bur. Barnes cemetery 10 May.
FISHER, Rev. George. b. Sunbury, Middlesex 31 July 1794; clerk in Westminster insurance office 1808; entered St. Cath. coll. Cam. 1817; B.A. 1821, M.A. 1825; astronomer to ships Dorothea and Trent in Arctic expedition 1818; chaplain and astronomer to Parry’s expedition to discover North West passage 1821–23; C. of Stanstead, Essex 1825–27; C. of Ampthill, Beds. 1827; F.R.S. 27 Jany. 1825; F.R.A.S. 1827, mem. of council 1835–63; chaplain to H.M.’s ships Spartiate and Asia 1827–32; retired on h.p. 1832; principal and chaplain of Greenwich hospital school 2 Dec. 1834 to 4 Sep. 1863; made experiments on pendulums, chronometers, velocity of sound, liquefaction of gases and refraction; author of papers in Phil. Trans., Proc. of Royal Soc. and other journals. d. 19 Hillmorton road, Rugby 14 May 1873. Monthly notices of Royal Astronom. Soc. xxxiv, 140–44 (1875).