Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/320

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Graham
314
Graham

protuberance on his breast.' He died on 20 July 1779. Graham wrote, under assumed names, a large number of chapbooks, such as 'Jockey and Maggy's Courtship,' 'The History of Buckhaven,' 'Comical Transactions of Lothian Tom,' 'History of John Cheap, the Chapman,' 'Leper the Taylor,' 'The History of Haverel Wives,' 'Simple John and his Twelve Misfortunes,' &c. All his works were exceedingly popular,and early editions have become very rare. Although coarse, they are not wanting in humour, and they are valuable to the student of folklore as containing very numerous references to current superstitions. Sir Walter Scott warmly appreciated Graham's talent, and so late as 1830 entertained the idea of printing a correct copy of the original edition of the rhyming history of the rebellion as his contribution to the Maitland Club publications. The idea was not carried out. Graham's collected writings were edited with notes, together with a biographical and bibliographical introduction, and a sketch of the chap literature of Scotland, by George MacGregor, 2 vols. 1883 (250 copies only).

[MacGregor's Collected Writings of Graham; Spence's Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and Scenery of Scotland, 1811; Motherwell's Paisley Magazine; McVean's Appendix to McUre's History of Glasgow, 1830; Strang's Glasgow and its Clubs.]

W. G. B-k.

GRAHAM, Sir FORTESCUE (1794–1880), general, colonel royal marine artillery 1866-70, son of Colonel Richard Graham, marines (a descendant of the Grahams of Platten, co. Menth), by his wife, Catherine, daughter of Captain Philip Walsh, royal navy, was born at Tintinhull in 1794. He was educated at Martock College, Somersetshire, and on 17 Nov. 1808 was appointed second lieutenant in the royal marine artillery, in which rank he remained seventeen years, twelve of them in the artillery branch of the marine forces. He was with the battalion formed of marines of the squadron which served with the army ashore at Walcheren in 1809, and subsequently served with the 1st battalion of marines in Portugal and in the north of Spain, including the capture and defence of Castro. He proceeded with the battalion to America, and was present under Sir Sydney Beckwith at the attack on Norfolk and taking of Hampton in 1814. When the brigade was broken up, Graham accompanied the battalion to Canada, and was sent in charge of a division of gunboats to attack an American battery at the head of Lake Champlain, with which he was engaged several hours. Afterwards he returned with the battalion to the coast of America, and was present at the attack and capture of Fort Point Peter and the town of St. Mary's, Georgia. He became first lieutenant in the royal marines on 6 May 1825, and after close on thirty years' service as a subaltern obtained his company on 10 July 1837. Soon after he joined the battalion of marines doing duty in Spain during the Carlist war, and subsequently went to China, where he commanded the marine battalion in the demonstration against Nanking at the close of the first Chinese war. He became major on 11 Nov. and lieutenant-colonel on 26 Nov. 1851, and colonel on 20 Jan. 1854. He commanded a brigade of marines at the capture of the fortress of Bomarsund, on the Aland isles, during the Russian war in 1855, and was made C.B. He was commandant of the Portsmouth division of royal marines from 1855 to 1857, aide-de-camp to the queen from 1854 to 1857; was made major-general 1857, lieutenant-general and K.C.B. in 1865, general and colonel of the royal marine artillery in 1866, and retired in 1870.

Graham married first, in 1828, Caroline, daughter of G. Palliser, she died 1859; secondly, Jane Mary, daughter of Captain Lowcay, royal navy, and relict of Admiral Blight, she died 1866. Graham died at his residence, 69 Durnford Street, Stonehouse. Devonshire, on 9 Oct. 1880.

[Dod's Knightage, 1879; Royal Navy List. 1879; London Gazettes under dates; P. Harris Nicolas's Hist. Marine Forces (London, 1845), vol. ii.; Account of Operations at Bomarsund in Prof. Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers, v. 1.]

H. M. C.

GRAHAM, GEORGE (1675–1751), mechanician, was born at Horsgill in the parish of Kirklinton, Cumberland, in 1675. In 1688 he was apprenticed to a watchmaker in London, and attracted the notice of the well-known Tompion. He was treated with the utmost kindness by Tompion, to whose business he eventually succeeded. Graham endeavoured to construct a pendulum which should not be affected by the weather. After many experiments upon the properties of metals when heated, he invented the exceedingly ingenious mercurial pendulum. It was so constructed that the expansion of a steel pendulum was exactly compensated by the expansion of the mercury in a jar connected with it, and the vibrating length of the whole thus preserved constant. To obviate the inconveniences caused by the fluidity of mercury, he suggested the compensating action of bars of two kinds of metal, but did not work out the problem. He also invented the 'dead-beat escapement,' an improvement upon Clement's 'anchor escapement,' which has