PURLAND, Theodosius. b. 6 Jany. 1805; surgeon dentist Wilson st. Finsbury, London 1830, lived at 7 Mortimer st. Cavendish sq. 1850 to death; M.A.; Ph.D.; his library, including his own Recollections of Vauxhall 1814–59, was sold at Hodgson’s, Chancery lane 16 March 1882; his Alsatian eccentricities, cuttings and pictures relating to murders etc. 1700–1782, 2 vols. 1847, 4to is in the British Museum 1243 k. d. 7 Mortimer st. London 16 Aug. 1881. N. and Q. 6 s. v 168, 293, 317, vi 154 (1882).
Note.—In his rooms he had some curious mechanical toys, which served to distract the minds of his youthful patients while he drew their teeth.
PURNELL, Thomas (son of Robert Purnell). b. Tenby 1834; matric. at Trin. coll. Dublin 1852; assistant secretary and librarian of Archæological institute of Great Britain and Ireland 1862–6; contributed a series of dramatic criticisms under the signature Q to the Athenæum 1870–1; founded a club known as the Decemviri; invented the nickname tea-cup and saucer comedy for the Robertsonian school of plays; edited James Hind’s Historia quatuor regum Angliæ for the Roxburghe club 1868; and The correspondence and works of C. Lamb, 4 vols. 1870; author of Literature and its professors 1867; Dramatists of the present day. By Q 1871; To London and elsewhere 1881; The Lady Drusilla, a psychological romance 1887; Dust and diamonds, essays 1888. d. Lloyd sq. Pentonville, London 17 Dec. 1889. London Figaro 28 Dec. 1889 p. 11 portrait; Athenæum 21 Dec. 1889 p. 860.
PURNELL, William Paston (2 son of Purnell Bransby Cooper of Stancombe park, Gloucs. 1791–1866, assumed name of Purnell). b. 12 June 1821; ensign 90 foot 24 March 1838, lieut. col. 9 Oct. 1855 to 13 Jany. 1860; served in the Crimea and in India; ensign of yeomen of the guard 2 Feb. 1866 to death; C.B. 24 March 1858. d. Cookham, Berks. 14 May 1869.
PURSER, John. Farmer of Willington, Beds.; a breeder of dogs; a member of the Cardington club; his bitch Pansey and his dog Pilot won numerous stakes and cups at Cardington and Newmarket 1847–9; William Purser, the brother, was a farmer and racer. Sporting Review Dec. 1850 pp. 435–7 portrait.
PURSER, Richard (a natural son of Mr. Loveridge, a builder). Claimed to have been b. Redmarley d’Abitot, Worcs. 14 July 1756; a cowman at Hempstead; a day labourer at Cheltenham; the Queen gave him £5 a year from 1863 on the erroneous statements made to her; m. 12 Sept. 1808 Ann Rollings. d. Cheltenham 12 Oct. 1868, claiming to be 112 but probably about 80. W. J. Thoms’s Human longevity (1879) 4, 139, 224–35; G. H. Townsend’s Handbook (1869) 127.
PURTON, Walter Onions. b. 1833; educ. St. Catherine’s coll. Camb., B.A. 1859; C. of Petworth, Sussex 1859–65; C. of Blackpool, Lancs. 1865–6; R. of Coombe, Sussex 1866–70; R. of Kingston-by-Sea, Sussex 1870–88; R. of Poynings, Sussex 1888 to death; chaplain to 7 earl of Shaftesbury; a prominent evangelical who exercised influence in the religious press; held successively three editorships; editor of The Churchman 1879; author of The Communicant 1881. d. Poynings rectory 14 Sept. 1892. Times 21 Sept. 1892 p. 4; Guardian 21 Sept. 1892 p. 1391.
PURVES, David Laing. b. 1838; had a Doctor’s degree; leader writer on the Scotsman, then on Daily Telegraph; edited The Canterbury tales and Faerie queene 1870; The English circumnavigators, voyages round the world 1874; wrote The life of Jonathan Swift in The works of J. Swift 1869. d. 214 Lancaster road, Notting hill, London 9 Aug. 1873.
PURVES, John (1 son of William Purves of Edinburgh). b. 1840; educ. Balliol coll. Oxf., exhibitioner 1860–5, B.A. 1864, M.A. 1867, fellow 1866; classical lecturer Wadham coll. 1864–6; lecturer Balliol 1875, junior dean 1868, junior bursar 1872; Pusey and Ellerton scholar 1862, Craven scholar 1864, and Kennicott scholar 1865; edited Selections from the dialogues of Plato 1883, 2 ed. 1891; The Iliad, translated into English prose 1891; assisted Dr. Jowett in his works on Plato and Thucydides. d. Oxford 10 Jany. 1890. Times 31 Jany. 1890 p. 6.
PURVIS, Charles. b. 19 Feb. 1777; cornet 1 dragoons 3 June 1796; major 7 May 1812 to 11 June 1818, when placed on h.p. d. Royal crescent, Brighton 6 Nov. 1859.