Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 28.djvu/443

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Inglefield
437
Inglefield

light on the vexed question of the portraiture. That the author made his proposal in no mere spirit of curiosity the book itself will testify, but many published protests proved at once that no such attempt would be tolerated by the public. In 1885 he published 'Shakespeare and the Enclosure of Common Fields at Welcombe,' reproducing in autotype a fragment of Greene's diary, preserved at Stratford-on-Avon, in which reference is made to the poet; and in 1886 appeared his edition of 'Cymbeline,' which, though not free from small errors due to failing health, is a model of what conscientious editing should be. He died at his residence, Valentines, Ilford, Essex, on 26 Sept. 1886. Ingleby married in 1850 the only child of Robert Oakes of Gravesend, J.P., and a distant connection of his own.

Although chiefly known by his work on Shakespeare, Ingleby's essays and lesser writings embrace a far wider range of subjects, and display remarkable versatility. Their subjects include: 'The Principles of Acoustics and the Theory of Sound' 'The Stereoscope;' 'The Ideality of the Rainbow;' 'The Mutual Relation of Theory and Practice;' 'Law and Religion;' 'A Voice for the Mute Creation;' 'Miracles versus Nature;' 'Spelling Reform,' &c. A selection of his essays was published posthumously by his son. Assisted by the late Cecil Munro, and at the request of the president of the Royal Society, he made a comprehensive report on the Newton Leibnitz Papers, upon which the society based its report to the Berlin Academy. He also gave valuable help to Staunton in his edition of Shakespeare. He occasionally wrote verses, which, if not of the highest order, were scholarly and graceful. Some of these appeared from time to time in periodicals, and a full collection was made at his death and printed for private circulation. He was a born, though untrained, musician, was endowed with a beautiful voice, and at intervals composed songs, some of which he published. Unhappily, ill-health seriously curtailed the amount of work he was able to perform.

As foreign secretary and vice-president of the Royal Society of Literature, he occasionally read papers at the meetings, most of which are printed in the society's 'Transactions.' He was for a short time one of the vice-presidents of the New Shakspere Society, and among other work edited for the society the 'Shakespeare Allusion Books,' 1874. He was also elected one of the English honorary members of the Weimar Shakespeare Society, and was an original trustee of Shakespeare's birthplace.

[A biographical sketch in Edgbastonia (1886); Timmins's Memoir in Shakespeariana (1886); private information.]

INGLEFIELD, JOHN NICHOLSON (1748–1828), captain in the navy, was born in 1748. He entered the navy in 1759; and after passing his examination was, in April 1766, rated 'able seaman' on board the Launceston, going out to North America with the flag of Vice-admiral Durell (pay-book of Launceston). In May 1768 he was moved into the Romney, bearing the broad pennant of Commodore Samuel (afterwards Viscount) Hood [q. v.], and in October was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and sent back to the Launceston. In the following July he returned to the Romney, and from that time his service was very closely connected with that of Hood. With Hood he quitted the Romney in December 1770, served with him in the Marlborough and Courageux, and in 1778 in the Robust, with Hood's brother Alexander, afterwards Lord Bridport [q. v.] In the Robust he was present in the action off Ushant on 27 July. In June 1779 he was promoted to the command of the Lively sloop. On 11 Oct. 1780 he was posted to the Barfleur of 90 guns, in which his patron, Sir Samuel Hood, hoisted his flag, and went out to the West Indies as second in command. He thus had an important share in the skirmish with the French fleet off Fort Royal of Martinique on 29 April 1781. In the following August he was moved by Hood into the Centaur of 74 guns, and commanded her in the action off the Chesapeake on 5 Sept., in the action with De Grasse at St. Kitts on 25 Jan. 1782, in the skirmish on 9 April, and in the decisive action of 12 April 1782. In August the Centaur sailed for England with the convoy, under the command of Rear-admiral Thomas (afterwards Lord) Graves [q. v.], and after much bad weather was overtaken by a hurricane on 16 Sept. Many of the ships lay-to on the wrong tack (see Nautical Magazine, xlix. 719), the Centaur apparently among the number. In a violent shift of the wind she was dismasted, lost her rudder, and was thrown on her beam ends. With great difficulty she was kept afloat till the 23rd, when towards evening she went down almost suddenly. The sea ran very high, but Inglefield, with the master, a midshipman, and nine seamen, got into the pinnace, and after sixteen days' wild navigation and fearful suffering reached Fayal, one of the men dying a few hours before they sighted land. These eleven men were all that remained of the crew of the 74-gun ship. On returning to England, Inglefield, with the other survivors, was put on his trial and fully acquitted.