very numerous addresses, lectures, and papers to scientific societies, were edited by Mr. E. F. Bamber, after his death, in three volumes (1889), uniform with the ‘Life’ by Dr. William Pole, F.R.S.
A portrait by Rudolph Lehmann is at the Institution of Civil Engineers; another, by the same artist, was in the possession of Lady Siemens.
[Dr. Pole's Life of Sir William Siemens (London, 1888) was compiled from materials supplied by the family. Supplemented by personal knowledge, it has formed the basis of this memoir. Of the very numerous obituary notices published after Sir W. Siemens's death, the following are worth mention: Times, 20 Nov. 1883; Nature (by Lord Kelvin), 29 Nov. 1883; Proc. Inst. Civil Engineers (by Dr. Pole), lxxvii. 352; Journ. Soc. Arts, xxxii. 7; Roy. Soc. Proc. xxxvii. 1; Journ. Iron and Steel Inst. 1883, No. ii. 651.]
SIEVIER, ROBERT WILLIAM (1794–1865), engraver and sculptor, was born in London on 24 July 1794. Having in 1812 gained the Society of Arts silver medal for a pen-and-ink drawing, he entered the schools of the Royal Academy, studied modelling and anatomy, and was instructed in engraving by John Young (1755–1825) [q. v.] and Edward Scriven [q. v.] Working almost wholly in stipple, he produced some excellent plates, of which the most important are the portraits of John Latham, M.D., after Jackson, 1815, and Lord Ellenborough, after Lawrence, 1819; ‘The Captive’ and ‘The Dream,’ a pair, after M. Haughton, 1820; ‘The Importunate Author,’ after G. S. Newton, 1824; and ‘Venus Descending,’ after Etty, 1824. About 1824 Sievier gave up engraving in favour of sculpture, which he practised successfully for about twenty years; the prince consort, the king of Prussia, Lord Eldon, Lord Brougham, and many other distinguished persons sat to him for their busts, and he received various public commissions, including the statue of Jenner in Gloucester Cathedral, that of Charles Dibdin at Greenwich Hospital, and that of Sir W. Curtis at the Foundling Hospital. He also executed a few fancy subjects, such as ‘Musidora,’ ‘Bacchante,’ ‘Girl with a Lamb,’ and ‘Boy with a Tortoise,’ and was an exhibitor at the Royal Academy from 1822 to 1844. During the latter part of his life Sievier, who had always a great taste for scientific pursuits, became absorbed in inventions for the improvement of various manufactures and the development of the electric telegraph, wholly abandoning art. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1840. Sievier resided for many years in Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square, London, where he built himself a studio, but later removed to Rochester Road, Kentish Town, and there he died suddenly on 28 April 1865, and was buried at Kensal Green.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1893; Times, 1 May 1865.]
SIGEBERT or SEBERT (d. 616?), king of the East-Saxons. [See Sebert.]
SIGEBERT or SEBERT, called the Little (fl. 626), king of the East-Saxons, was son of Sæward, who was a son of Sebert or Saberet (d. 616?) [q. v.], king of the East-Saxons. He seems to have succeeded his father and uncles. The latter were slain in a battle with the West-Saxons, dated by Henry of Huntingdon in 626 [see under Sexred], though Bede seems to place the battle soon after the expulsion of Mellitus [q. v.], about 617. Sigebert probably reigned more or less in dependence on the West-Saxon king Cynegils [q. v.] He left a son named Sigheri [q. v.], but was succeeded by his kinsman Sigebert or Sebert, called the Good (fl. 653) [q. v.]
[Bede's Hist. Eccl. iii. c. 22; Mon. Hist. Brit. pp. 629, 637; Hen. Hunt. p. 57 (Rolls Ser.); Dict. Chr. Biogr. art. ‘Sigebert’ (5), by Bishop Stubbs.]
SIGEBERT (d. 637?), king of the East-Angles, was brother of Earpwald, king of the East-Angles, and probably a stepson of Redwald [q. v.], Earpwald's father. He was driven into exile by Redwald's enmity, took refuge in Gaul, and remained there during Earpwald's reign. While he was there he was baptised, and became devout and learned. After the death of Earpwald, who was slain by a heathen named Ricbert about 627, East-Anglia relapsed into heathenism, and was apparently in a state of anarchy for three years, at the end of which Sigebert became king, in or about 631, and at once set about the conversion of his people. In this work he was greatly aided by Bishop Felix [see Felix, Saint], who perhaps came over with him from Gaul, and whose see he placed at Dunwich in Suffolk. He also received the Irish missionary Fursa [q. v.], and gave him land to build a monastery at Cnobheresburg, now Burghcastle, in Suffolk. During his exile he had become well acquainted with the monastic schools of Gaul, and with the help of Felix established a school for boys in his kingdom after their model, bringing masters and teachers for it from Canterbury. His religious feelings led him to resign his kingdom to his kinsman Egrice, who had previously
