Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/449

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Haigh
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Haighton

catholics among whom he worked. He made his house an asylum for orphans. On resigning his Erdington mission he went to live in the college at Oscott, and died there on 10 May 1879, aged 59. He had suffered much from chronic bronchitis.

Haigh's varied learning embraced Assyrian lore, Anglo-Saxon antiquities, numismatics, and biblical archæology. He was the chief authority in England on runic literature, and was of much assistance to Professor G. Stephens, who dedicated the English section of his work on ‘Runic Monuments’ to him. The bulk of his literary work is preserved in the transactions of societies, especially in the ‘Numismatic Chronicle,’ ‘Archæologia Cantiana,’ ‘Archæologia,’ ‘Æliana,’ ‘Royal Irish Academy,’ ‘Yorkshire Archæological Journal,’ ‘Archæological Journal,’ ‘Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society,’ British Archæological Association (Winchester Congress, 1845), and ‘Zeitschrift fur ägyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde.’ He published also the following independent works: 1. ‘An Essay on the Numismatic History of the Ancient Kingdom of the Angles,’ Leeds, 1845, 8vo. 2. ‘On the Fragments of Crosses discovered in Leeds in 1838,’ Leeds, 1857, 8vo. 3. ‘The Conquest of Britain by the Saxons,’ &c., 1861, 8vo. 4. ‘The Anglo-Saxon Sagas; an examination of their value as aids to History,’ 1861, 8vo.

[Tablet, 24 May 1879, p. 659; Yorkshire Arch. and Topogr. Journal, vi. 53; Gillow's Bibl. Dict. of English Catholics, iii. 84; C. Roach Smith's Retrospections, ii. 78; Palatine Note-book, September 1881.]

C. W. S.


HAIGH, THOMAS (1769–1808), violinist, pianist, and composer, was born in London in 1769 (Brown), and studied composition under Haydn in 1791 and 1792. Haigh's numerous compositions, which deserve some praise, show Haydn's influence very distinctly. They include sonatas for pianoforte solo and for pianoforte and violin or flute, serenatas, capriccios, and arrangements. Some of them were reprinted at Paris and others at Offenbach. The better known of them are: Two sets of three sonatas, each for pianoforte, dedicated to Haydn, 1796(?); three sonatas for pianoforte, with accompaniment for violin or flute, London, 1798(?); three sonatas for pianoforte, airs by Giardini introduced, Op. 13, 1800(?); sonata for pianoforte, with air from ‘Beggar's Opera’ introduced, Op. 28, 1800(?); sonata, with air Viva tutte, accompaniment flute or violin, 1812(?); sonata, pianoforte, dedicated to Miss Bain, 1817(?); grand sonata, dedicated to Miss Heathcote, 1819; ‘Yesterday,’ ‘Whan you told us,’ and other ballads, about 1800. A violin concerto and a parody on the 'Lodoiska' for flute (see Clementi's Catalogue) are also ascribed to Haigh in the ‘Dictionary of Music’ of 1827. From 1793 to 1801 Haigh lived in Manchester, where he probably had family connections. He died in London in April 1808 (Brown).

[Grove's Dict. of Music, i. 644; Brown's Dict. of Musicians, p. 296; Gerber's Tonkünstler-lexikon, 1812, p. 483; Haigh's musical works in British Museum Library.]

L. M. M.


HAIGHTON, JOHN (1755–1823), physician and physiologist, was born in Lancashire about 1755, and, after being a pupil of Else at St. Thomas's Hospital, became a surgeon to the guards, but resigned on being appointed demonstrator of anatomy at St.Thomas's, under Henry Cline [q. v.] He had already become a skilful surgeon. He was so promising an anatomist that John Hunter (1728–1793) [q. v.] had almost concluded an agreement for him to assist him in his lectures. Haighton, however, was not so agreeable and accessible to students as his junior, Astley Paston Cooper [q. v.], whose developing talent and influence hindered his advancement. Consequently Haighton resigned his demonstratorship in 1789 and turned his attention to physiology (in which he succeeded Dr. Skeete as lecturer in 1788 or 1789) and to midwifery, in which he at first lectured in conjunction with Dr. Lowder. Both these courses were for the united hospitals, St. Thomas's and Guy's. He never succeeded to a physiciancy, though he obtained the degree of M.D. He was somewhat suspicious, irritable, and argumentative, but a good lecturer on physiology and an excellent obstetric operator. For his physiological experiments, which were certainly ruthless and numerous, he was called by his opponents 'the Merciless Doctor' (see Pursuits of Literature, p. 419). When Sir Astley Cooper disputed the result of some of Haighton's experiments, the latter killed a favourite spaniel, on which he had previously operated, in order to prove Sir Astley in the wrong. He often presided at the meetings of the Physical Society at Guy's Hospital, was joint editor of 'Medical Records and Researches' (1798), and assisted Dr. William Saunders in his 'Treatise on the Liver (1793). The silver medal of the Medical Society of London for 1790 was adjudged to him for his paper on 'Deafness.' In later years he suffered much from asthma, and his nephew, Dr. James Blundell [q. v.], began to assist him in his lectures in 1814, and took the entire course from 1818. Haighton died on 23 March 1823. Blundell describes him