PERSIGNY, Jean Gilbert Victor Fialin, duc de (son of M. Fialin, killed at Salamanca 1812). b. St. Germain-Lespinasse, Loire, France 11 Jany. 1808; served in the army 1828–31; a journalist in Paris 1831; resumed family title of vicomte de Persigny; the principal contriver of prince Louis Napoleon’s Strasburg expedition 1836, of which he wrote an account entitled Relation de l’enterprise du prince Napoléon-Louis, London 1837; a refugee in England 1836–48; one of the ten knights visitors at the Eglinton tournament 28–30 Aug. 1839; sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for his share in Louis Napoleon’s Boulogne expedition 1840; returned to Paris 1848; minister of the interior Jany. 1852 to June 1854 and Nov. 1860 to June 1863; ambassador to England May 1855 to March 1858 and May 1859 to Nov. 1860; grand cross of the legion of honour 16 June 1857; created duc de Persigny 13 Sept. 1863; a refugee in England 1871. d. Nice 12 Jany. 1872. H. Castille’s Portraits politiques (1857) pp. 1–60 portrait, No. 20; Weekly Reporter xi 146 (1863).
PERSIVANI, (stage name of R. Brown). b. Plymouth 1841; clown and acrobat; played in the pantomime at the Alexandra theatre, London, Christmas 1865–6; performed in music halls in London and the provinces in partnership with D’Ronde to 1870 and in partnership with Frank Van de Velde 1871–6. d. of cancer of the tongue 1 Feb. 1890. bur. Edgbaston old church, Birmingham 5 Feb. Illust. sporting news 6 Jany. 1866 p. 689 portrait.
PERSSE, Burton Robert Parsons (1 son of Burton Persse of Moyode castle, Galway, d. 1859). b. 4 Nov. 1828; sheriff of Galway 1862; master of the Moyode castle hounds; master of the Galway hounds, known as the Galway blazers 1855 to death. d. Moyode castle, Galway July 1885. Baily’s Mag. xliv 295 (1885).
PESTER, Henry. b. 1791; 2 lieut. R.A. 1 May 1809, colonel 28 Nov. 1854; retired on full pay 24 Jany. 1863; L.G. 11 Sept. 1864. d. 8 Great Quebec st. London 23 Oct. 1870.
PETER, William (eld. son of Henry Peter, d. 1821). b. Harlyn, St. Merryn, Cornwall 22 March 1788; educ. Ch. Ch. Oxf., B.A. 1807, M.A. 1809; barrister L.I. 28 May 1813; M.P. Bodmin 11 Dec. 1832 to 29 Dec. 1834; British consul in Pennsylvania and New Jersey 13 March 1841 to death; author or editor of Thoughts on the present crisis in a letter from a constituent to his representative 1815; Speeches of sir Samuel Romilly in the house of commons, 2 vols. 1820; Sacred songs being an attempted paraphrase of some portions of the psalms by W. Peter 1828, new ed. with other poems by a Layman 1834; Poems by Ralph Ferrars (i.e. Wm. Peter) new ed. 1833; William Tell from the German of Schiller, Heidelberg 1839, 2 ed. Lucerne 1867; Mary Stuart from the German of Schiller, Heidelberg 1841; Maid of Orleans, Cambridge 1843; Agamemnon of Æschylus, Philadelphia 1852; Specimens of the poets of Greece and Rome by various translators, Philadelphia 1847. d. Philadelphia 6 Feb. 1853. bur. St. Peter’s churchyard, where is monument.
PETERKIN, Alexander (elder son of Alexander Peterkin of Edinburgh, lawyer and author of many works 1780–1846). b. 1814; editor of the Berwick Advertiser; shorthand reporter and sub-editor of the Edinburgh Advertiser; on the staff of The Times, retired about 1853; author of The study of art 1870, a poem. d. 1889.
PETERMANN, August Heinrich. b. Bleichrode near Nordhausen, Saxony 18 April 1822; a pupil of Dr. Heinrich Berghaus at the Potsdam cartographic institution 1839; came to Edinburgh 1845 to assist Dr. Keith Johnstone in an English edition of Berghaus’ Atlas of physical geography 1847; came to London 1847; physical geographer royal; returned to Germany 1854; professor of geography Gotha university, and in charge of Perthes’ Geographic institution at Gotha to his death; all the German expeditions to Africa and to the Poles he planned, described and mapped; contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the English Cyclopædia, and the Athenæum; author of The search for Franklin, a suggestion 1852; An account of the expedition to Central Africa by Richardson, Barth, Over and Vogel 1854; and other works published at Gotha and Vratislaviæ; committed suicide at Gotha 25 Sept. 1878. The Times 28 Sept. 1878 p. 5; The Athenæum 5 Oct. 1878 p. 437.
PETERS, Mary (dau. of Richard Bowly). b. Cirencester, Gloucs. 17 April 1813; m. John McWilliam Peters, rector of Quennington, Gloucs. and afterwards vicar of Langford, Oxfordshire, d. 1834; contributed hymns to the Plymouth Brethrens’ Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs 1842; author of Hymns intended to help the communion of saints 1847, selections from this book were printed in various hymnals 1855–72; Universal history, or the world’s history from the creation to the accession of queen Victoria, London, S. Bagster and Sons, 7 vols. 1862, anon., this work is also known as Bagster’s Universal history. d. Clifton 29 July 1856. Julian’s Hymnology (1892) 891–2.
PETERS, William Cumming. b. Woodbury, near Exmouth, Devon 10 March 1805; opened a music store in Louisville, Kentucky 1829; established branch houses in Cincinnati 1839 and in Baltimore 1849; a leader of concerts and choirs; revised and enlarged J. F. Burrowes’ Pianoforte primer 1849; wrote Mass in G for soprano and bass voices 1863, and other music published in Baltimore, New York and Cincinnati 1841–71; compiled The Catholic harmonist 1850; The eclectic piano instructor 1855; and The Catholic harp 1862. d. Cincinnati 20 April 1866.
PETERSDORFF, Charles Erdman (3 son of Christian Frederick Petersdorff of 14 Gough sq. Fleet st. London, furrier). b. London 4 Nov. 1800; student of Inner Temple 24 Sept. 1818; barrister I.T. 25 Jany. 1833; one of the counsel to the admiralty; serjeant-at-law 20 May 1858; judge of county courts, circuit 57, North Devon and Somerset 1 Jany. 1865, resigned Dec. 1885; author of A general index to the precedents in civil and criminal pleadings 1822; A practical treatise on the law of bail 1824; A practical abridgment of cases in the king’s bench, common pleas, exchequer and nisi prius from the restoration, 15 vols. 1825–30; A practical abridgment of the common law, 5 vols. 1841–4, 2 ed. 6 vols. 1861–4, supplement 1870, 2 ed. 1871; The principles and practice of the law of bankruptcy 1861, 2 ed. 1862; Law students and practitioners’ commonplace book of law and equity. By A Barrister 1871; A practical compendium of the law of master and servant 1876; killed by falling into the area of his house 23 Harley st. London 29 July 1886. Law Journal 7 Aug. 1886 p. 467.