Van Dieman’s Land,' 8vo, and in 1836 an essay on ‘Marine Insurances, their Importance, their Rise, Progress, and Decline, and their Claim to Freedom from Taxation,’ 8vo, pp. 34. Bischoff's most important work has the following title: 'A comprehensive History of the Woollen and Worsted Manufactures, and the Natural and Commercial History of Sheep, from the Earliest Records to the Present Period’ (Leeds, 1842, 2 vols. 8vo). His last publication was a pamphlet on ‘Foreign Tariffs; their Injurious Effects on British Manufactures, especially the Woollen Manufacture; with proposed remedies. Being chiefly a series of Articles inserted in the "Leeds Mercury” from October 1842 to February 1843’ (1843 8vo pp. 69).
Bischoff, who married in 1802 Peggy, daughter of Mr. David Stansfeld of Leeds, carried on business as a merchant and insurance broker for many years in London, and died at his residence, Highbury Terrace, on 8 Feb. 1845 in his seventieth year.
Mount Bischoff, in the north-west corner of Tasmania, is said to derive its name from James Bischoff.
[Gent. Mag., April 1845, p. 443; Preface to Bischoff’s Hist. of the Woollen and Worsted Manufactures; Stansfeld pedigree in Foster’s Yorkshire Pedigrees]
BISCOE, JOHN (d. 1679), puritan divine, was born at High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and educated at few Inn Hall, Oxford. In ‘Athenæ Oxonienses’ (ed. Bliss, iii. 1198) Wood states that he was born in 1646, which is probably a literal error for 1606. From the ‘Fasti’ we learn that he took his bachelors degree on 1 Feb, 1626-7. He left the university about two years afterwards, and became a preacher at Abingdon. Having joined the puritan party he was appointed minister of St. Thomas's, Southwark. He served as assistant to the commissioners of Surrey appointed to eject 'scandalous and insufficient ministers.' At the Restoration, being ejected from his living, he preached in conventicles. He died at High Wycombe, where he was buried on 9 June 1679. Biscoe is the author of: 1. 'Glorious Mystery of God's Mercy, or a Precious Cordial for Fainting Souls,' 1647, 8vo. 2. 'The Grand Trial of True conversion, or Sanctifying Grace appearing and acting first and chiefly in their Thoughts,' 8vo, 1655. 3. 'Mystery of Free Grace in the Gospel, and Mystery of the Gospel in the Law,' n.d.
Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses, ed. Bliss, iii. 1198; Wood's Fasti, ed. Bliss, i. 426; Calamy's Nonconformist's Memorial, ed. Palmer, i. 135.]
BISCOE, RICHARD (d. 1748), divine, was educated at an academy kept by Dr. Benion at Shrewsbury, and on 19 Dec. 1716 was made a dissenting minister at a meeting-house in the Old Jewry. In 1727 he conformed and was made rector of St. Martin Outwich, in the city of London. He also held the living of Northwald, near Epping, and was a minor canon of St. Pauls and a chaplain to George II. He died in May 1748. He delivered the Boyle lectures in 1736, 1737, and 1738, and in 1742 published in two volumes the substance of his prelections under the title ‘History of the Acts of the Holy Apostles confirmed from other authors; and considered as full evidence of the truth of christianity, with a prefatory discourse on the nature of that evidence.' The work is highly eulogised by Dr. Doddridge as showing ‘in the most convincing manner how incontestably the Acts of the Apostles demonstrate the truth of christianity.' It was reprinted in 1829 and 1840. A German translation was published at Magdeburg in 1751. He was also the author of ‘Remarks on a Book lately published entitled “A Plain Account of the Nature and End of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper,"’ 1735.
[London Magazine, xvii. (1748) 284; Protestant Dissenters’ Magazine, vi. 306-7; Chalmers's Blog. Dict. v. 298; British Museum Catalogue]
BISHOP, ANN (1814–1884), vocalist, was the daughter of a drawing-master named Rivière, and was born in London in 1814. As a child she showed talent for the pianoforte, and studied under Moscheles. On 12 June 1824 she was elected a student at the Royal Academy of Music, where she soon distinguished herself by her singing. On leaving the academy she became (in 1831) the second wife of Sir Henry Rowley Bishop, the composer, and in the same year appeared at the Philharmonic Concerts as a singer. Her reputation quickly increased, and for the next few years she took a prominent place at Vauxhall, the so-called ‘Oratorios,’ and the country festivals. At first Mrs. Bishop devoted herself to classical music, but she was induced to turn her attention to the Italian school by Bochsa, the harp-player, with whom she went on a provincial tour in the spring of 1839. On their return to London she sang at a benefit concert given by Bochsa, at which she achieved great success, although Grisi, Persiani, and Viardot were among the performers. A few days later she left her husband and eloped with Bochsa to the continent. From September 1839 to May 1843 she visited the principal towns of Europe, and sang at no less than 260 concerts. Among other places
