Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 24.djvu/110

 HALL - HOUGHTON, HENRY (d. 1889), founder of prizes at Oxford. [See ] 

HALLAHAN, MARGARET MARY (1803–1868), foundress of the English congregation of St. Catherine of Siena, of the third order of St. Dominic, was born in London on 23 Jan. 1803 of very poor Irish parents. After receiving a scanty education at an orphanage in Somers Town, she became a domestic servant in the family of Madame Caulier, the proprietress of a lace warehouse in Cheapside. About 1820 she was placed in the family of Dr. Morgan, who had been physician to George III. At his death he left her a legacy of 50l., and she resided first with his son, and for twenty years afterwards with Mrs. Thompson, his married daughter, who lived much at Bruges. Margaret's ardour as a catholic was always remarkable. After many vain endeavours to be admitted to the tertiary or third order of St. Dominic, she received the habit in 1834, and in the following year made her profession at Bruges. In 1842 she returned to England, and in 1844 founded a small community of Dominican tertians in Spon Street, Coventry. Dr. Ullathorne, vicar-apostolic of the western district, and afterwards bishop of Birmingham, encouraged the scheme, and in 1848 the community removed to Clifton, near Bristol, where a convent was erected. Another foundation was made at Longton, Staffordshire, in 1851, and in 1853 the whole community there was transferred to St. Dominic's at Stone in the same county. This became the mother-house of the congregation, and is one of the finest specimens of conventual buildings in England. In 1857 another foundation was made at Stoke-upon-Trent. Pius IX decreed, in 1859, that these religious houses should be formed into a congregation, having one general superioress and one novitiate-house. They were placed immediately under the jurisdiction of the master-general of the third order of St. Dominic, who exercises his authority through a delegate nominated by himself. So great was Mother Margaret's administrative ability that she was the direct agent in founding five convents, with poor-schools attached to each, two middle schools, four churches, several orphanages, and the hospital for incurables at Stone. After a long and painful illness she died at Stone on 11 May 1868.



HALLAM, ARTHUR HENRY (1811-1833). [See under ]

HALLAM, HENRY (1777–1859), historian, born at Windsor on 9 July 1777, was the only son of John Hallam, canon of Windsor (1775–1812) and dean of Bristol (1781–1800), a man of high character, and well read in sacred and profane literature. The Hallams had long been settled at Boston in Lincolnshire, and one member of the family was [q. v.], bishop of Salisbury. Later members had been on the puritan side. Hallam's mother, a sister of Dr. Roberts, provost of Eton, was a woman of much intelligence and delicacy of feeling. He was a precocious child, read many books when four years old, and composed sonnets at ten. He was at Eton from 1790 to 1794, and some of his verses are published in the 'Musæ Etonenses' (1795). He was afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, and graduated B.A. in 1799. He was called to the bar, and practised for some years on the Oxford circuit. His father, dying in 1812, left him estates in Lincolnshire, and he was early appointed to a commissionership of stamps, a post with a good salary and light duties. In 1807 he married Julia, daughter of Sir Abraham Elton, bart., of Clevedon Court, Somerset, and sister of Sir [q. v.] His independent means enabled him to withdraw from legal practice and devote himself to the study of history. After ten years' assiduous labour he produced in 1818 his first great work, 'A View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages,' which immediately established his reputation. (A supplementary volume of notes was published separately in 1848.) 'The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII to the Death of George II followed in 1827. Before the completion of his next work he was deeply affected by the death of his eldest son, Arthur Henry (see below). 'I have,' he wrote, 'warnings to gather my sheaves while I can my advanced age, and the reunion in heaven with those who await me.' He fulfilled his purpose by finishing (The Introduction to the Literature of Europe during the 15th, 16th, and 17th Centuries,' published in 1837-9. During the preparation of these works he lived a studious life, interrupted only by occasional travels on the continent. He was familiar with the best literary society of the time, well known to the whig magnates, and a frequent visitor to Holland House and Bowood. His name is often mentioned in memoirs and diaries of the time, and always respectfully, although he never rivalled the conversational supremacy of his