MEREWETHER, Sir William Lockyer (son of H. A. Merewether 1780–1864). b. 51 Chancery lane, London 6 Feb 1825; ed. at Westminster 1834–40; ensign 21 Bombay N.I. 26 Sep. 1841; lieut 3 Bombay European regiment 1853, captain 1856–61; lieut.-col. Bombay staff corps 18 March 1867 to death; served on the frontier of Upper Sinde 1847–61, present at siege of Multán, battle of Gujrát and occupation of Pesháwar 1848–9; military secretary to government of Bombay 1861; political resident at Aden 1865; commanded the pioneer force despatched from Bombay against King Theodore of Abyssinia, Sep. 1867; chief comr. in Sind 12 June 1868 to 1876; a member of council of India 1876 to death; C.B. 18 May 1860; K.C.S.I. 24 Aug. 1868; author of Report relating to the enlargement of the Bigaree canal in Upper Sind 1857. d. 31 Linden gardens, Kensington 4 Oct. 1880. C. R. Markham’s History of Abyssinian expedition (1869) passim; I.L.N. liii 222, 225 (1868), portrait.
MERIVALE, Charles (2 son of John Herman Merivale of Barton Place, Devon 1779–1844, comr. in bankruptcy). b. 1808; ed. at Harrow, Haileybury and St. John’s coll. Camb., rowed No. 4 in Cambridge boat against Oxford at the first university boat race 10 June 1829; B.A. 1830, M.A. 1833, B.D. 1840, D.D. 1871; scholar of his coll. 1830, fellow and tutor 1833, senior fellow 9 May 1848 to March 1849, hon. fellow June 1874; select preacher before Univ. of Camb. 1838–40; one of the preachers at Whitehall 1839–41; R. of Lawford, Essex 1848–70; Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge 1861, Boyle lecturer 1864 and 1865; chaplain to speaker of house of commons 1863–69; dean of Ely 11 Dec. 1869 to death, installed 29 Dec. 1869; celebrated the 1200th anniversary of the foundation of the monastery of Ely by St. Etheldreda, Oct. 1873; author of Fall of the Roman republic 1853; History of the Romans under the Empire 8 vols. 1859–62, new ed. 8 vols. 1865; Keatsii Hyperionis libri 1, 2, Latine reddidit 1862; Homer’s Iliad in English rhymed verse 2 vols. 1869; Four lectures on epochs of early church history 1879. d. Ely 27 Dec. 1893. bur. Ely 2 Jany. 1894. I.L.N. 6 Jany. 1894 p. 5, portrait; Edinburgh Review, Oct. 1884 pp. 545–65.
MERIVALE, Herman (brother of the preceding). b. Cockwood house, Dawlish, Devon 8 Nov. 1806; ed. at Harrow 1817–23, captain of the school 1822–3; began residence at Oriel coll. Oxf. Jany. 1824; open scholar at Trin. coll. 1825–8; the first Ireland scholar 1825, Eldon scholar 1831; fellow of Balliol coll. Dec. 1828–34; B.A. 1827, M.A. 1833, D.C.L. 1870; barrister I.T. 16 Nov. 1832, bencher 1865 to death; Drummond professor of political economy at Oxford 2 March 1837 to 1842, his lectures upon the colonies 1840–2 made a great impression; recorder of Falmouth, Helston and Penzance 1841–8; assistant under-secretary of state for the colonies Nov. 1847, permanent under-secretary 3 May 1848 to May 1860; permanent under-secretary for India, May 1860 to death; C.B. 30 Nov. 1858; wrote 66 articles in Edinburgh Review 1832–74; author of The character of Socrates as drawn by Xenophon and Plato 1830; An introductory lecture on political economy 1837; Introduction to a course of lectures on colonisation 1839; Lectures on colonisation and the colonies 2 vols. 1841–2, 2 ed. 1861; Historical studies 1865; Memoirs of sir Philip Francis 1867; The life of sir Henry Lawrence, vol. 2, 1872; author with Henry Davison of Reports of cases in the court of queen’s bench and upon writs of error to the exchequer chamber 1843–1844, 1 vol. 1844. d. 13 Cornwall gardens, South Kensington, London 8 Feb. 1874. bur. Fulham cemet. Transactions of Devonshire Association (1884) 570–80; A. W. Merivale’s Family Memorials. Privately printed (1884); I.L.N. lxiv 163, 168, 170 (1874), portrait; Graphic, ix 172, 178 (1874), portrait.
MERIVALE, John Lewis (5 son of John Herman Merivale of Barton place, Devon). b. London 1815; ed. at Harrow and St. John’s coll. Camb., B.A. 1838; clerk in chancery registrar’s office Aug. 1841, senior registrar in supreme court 1882 to June 1885 when he retired on a pension. d. Seagrove, Dawlish, Devon 14 Dec. 1886.
MERLE, Gibbons. Edited London Courier; correspondent in London of Journal des Debats; editor and publisher of The white dwarf 1817–18, thirteen numbers; one of editors of Galignani’s Messenger 1830 to death; Paris correspondent of the Globe about 1829 to death; author of The domestic dictionary and housekeepers’ manual 1842; Letter to lord Sidmouth 2 ed. 1818, this letter denounced Sidmouth’s conduct to the author in connection with The white dwarf. d. Paris 19 Jany. 1855. G.M. xliii 654 (1855).
MERRICK, Joseph (son of an engine driver, his mother was knocked down in a circus by an elephant when bearing him). b. Leicester 1857; known as the Elephant man, having bony exostoses on his frontal bone, and a deformity of the superior maxilla, which gave a trunk-like appearance to the nose and upper lip; exhibited in the Whitechapel road, London 1884; taken abroad by an Austrian adventurer who after exhibiting him on the continent decamped, taking with him all Merrick’s savings namely £50 in 1885; the public gave sufficient to pay his expenses in the London hospital for life from 1885. d. in London hospital, the weight of his head suffocating him while he was asleep 11 April 1890. Times 16 April 1890 p. 6; British Medical Journal 11 Dec. 1886 pp. 1188–9, 4 portraits; Trans. Pathological Soc. xxxvi 494–8 (1885), 2 portraits.
MERRIDEW, Henry Melville. b. 1837; English bookseller at Boulogne; rendered great service to the French ambulances during the German war 1870–1, superintended the unloading of the seed corn for the peasants on the conclusion of the war; author of Merridew’s Visitor’s guide to Boulogne-sur-Mer 1864, 8 ed. 1886. d. Boulogne, April 1879. Publishers’ Circular (1879) 323.
MERRIDEW, John (eld. son of Nathaniel Merridew of Cross Cheaping, Coventry, printer and bookseller). b. 1790; bookseller and printer in High st. Warwick about 1820, removed to Leamington, afterwards to Coventry; retired from business and returned to Leamington about 1853; author of Merridew’s Improved edition of Moncrieff’s original guide to Leamington Spa 1837; A catalogue of engraved portraits of nobility, gentry, clergymen and others born or resident in or connected with the county of Warwick 1849. d. Leamington Spa 26 June 1862. Gent. Mag. xiii 639 (1862).
MERRIFIELD, Charles Watkins (eld. son of John Merrifield of Tavistock, conveyancing barrister at Brighton). b. London 20 Oct. 1827; educ. at Warwick house and Tamworth house, Brighton, then under Dr. Morris and Dr. Turrell at Brighton to 1842; assisted his mother Mary P. Merrifield in researches on behalf of the British government in the libraries of Paris and Italy on the methods of painting 1844–5; barrister M.T. 31 Jany. 1851 but never practised; of the education department of the privy council office, Whitehall 1847; examiner in the education department 1851–67 and 1873 to May 1883; hon. sec. of E. Instit. of naval architecture 1864 to 1875, contributed 100 papers to the Transactions; F.R.S. 4 June 1863; principal of school of naval architecture and marine engineering at South Kensington 1867–73; vice president of mechanical section, British association 1875 and 1876, drew up the report on Babbage’s analytical machine 1878; member of London mathematical soc. 19 March 1866, president 1878–80; an assessor to Mr. Rothery in the wreck court; acted on the unseaworthy ships commission 1869; author of Miscellaneous memoirs on pure mathematics 1861; Technical arithmetic and mensuration 1872; edited Longmans’ Text books of science 1870 etc. d. from the effects of a third attack of paralysis at 45 Church road, Hove, Brighton 1 Jany. 1884. Proc. of Royal Soc. xxxvi 1–3 (1884); Nature, xxix 270; Sussex Daily News 9 Jany. 1884.
MERRIFIELD, John. b. Peter Tavy near Tavistock 24 Aug. 1834; schoolmaster at Mary Tavy; founder of a navigation school Gascoyne place, Plymouth 1860, head master to his death; Ph.D. 1870; member of Plymouth school board 1880 to death; discovered a method of clearing the lunar distance in finding the longitude at sea; invented an artificial horizon for use at sea; author of Magnetism and deviation of the compass 1872; A treatise on navigation for the use of students 1883; A treatise on nautical astronomy 1886; and with Henry Evers, Navigation and nautical astronomy 1868. d. 7 Hobart terrace, Plymouth 27 June 1891. bur. Dolvin cemetery, Tavistock 30 June. The Western Morning News 29 June 1891 p. 5, 1 July p. 3.