Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/149

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Oliver
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Oliver

Spectator;' the article was subsequently rewritten, and appeared in the 'Exeter Flying Post,' 22 and 29 June 1867. 8. 'Collections towards illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, English, and Irish Members of the Society of Jesus,' Exeter, 1838, 8vo; a second edition, limited to 250 copies, London, 1845, 8to. Theea valuable biographical notices appeared originally in the 'London and Dublin Weekly Orthodox Journal,' vols. ii.-iv. (1836-7). An interleaved copy of the work, with numerous corrections and additional notes by Canon Tierney, and notes and transcripts by W. B. Turnbull, is in the possesion of the Bishop of Southwark (Boase and Courtney, Bibl. Cornub. p. 410). 9. 'Merrye Englaunde; or the Goldene Daies of Goode Queene Besse' (anon.), London, 1841, 12mo. This first appeared as a serial story in the 'Catholic Magazine,' vols, ii., iii. {1838-9). The plot is laid in Cornwall, and is based upon the adventures and persecutions of some catholic families in that county. 10. 'Description of the Guildhall, Eieter,' in conjunction with Pitman Jones, Exeter, 1846, 13mo;9nd edit. 186S. 11. 'A View of Devonshire in MDCXXX, with a Pedigree of most of its Gentry, by Thomas Westcote,' edited by Oliver in conjunction with Pitman Jones, Exeter, 1845, 4to. 12. 'Monasticon Diœcesis Exonientis, being a Collection of Records and Instruments illustrating the ancient conventual, collegiate, and eleemosynary Foundations in the Counties of Cornwall and Devon, with Historical Notices, and a Supplement, comprising a list of the dedications of Churches in the Diocese, an amended edition of the Taxation of Pope Nicholas, and an Abstract of the Chantry Rolls,' Exeter, 1846, fol. An 'Additional Supplement . . . with a Map of the Diocese, Deaneries, and Sites of Religious Houses,' appeared in 1654. Without these additions the edition of Dugdale's 'Monasticon' by Ellis and Bandinel must be considered incomplete. 13. 'Collections illustrating the History of the Catholic Religion in the Counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wilts, and Gloucester. . . , With notices of the Dominican, Benedictine, and Franciscan Orders in England,' London, 1857, 8vo. Some of the manuscripts of this work are in the Cambridge University Library (Mm. vi. 40); others are at Stonyhurst College (Cat. of MSS. in Univ. Library, Cambridge, iv. 401), The copyright he presented to Dr. F. C. Husenbeth, together with very copious additions, and several corrections for a second edition. 14. 'Lives of the Bishops of Exeter, and a History of the Cathedral,' Exeter, 1861, 8vo. 15. Letters on ecclesiastical and parochial antiquities, family history, and biography, extending over a period of nine yeare, and communicated, under the signature of 'Curiosus,' to local newspapers, and principally to the 'Exeter Flying Post.' Upwards of two hundred of these communications were collected and inserted in two folio volumes by Pitman Jones, who added many valuable notes. Sir Winslow Jones, son of the latter, presented these volumes in 1877 to the library of the Devon and Exeter Institution. Forty-eight of the communications contain the memoirs of about seventy-five celebrated Exonians,

Oliver was a contributor to all the English catholic periodicals of his time, his articles relating generally to catholic biography, history, or antiquities. He also had the principal share in preparing for publication the 'Liber Pontificalis of Edmund Lacy, bishop of Exeter, which appeared in 1847, as edited by Robert Barnes, without any mention of its chief editor, A copy of Polwhele's 'History of Devonshire,' with copious manuscript notes by Oliver, is preserved in the British Museum.

A very characteristic lithographed portrait of Oliver was published shortly after his death by George G. Palmer of Exeter. This was reproduced as a frontispiece to Dr. Brushfield's 'Bibliography.' There is also an excellent statuette (Western Antiquary, v. 153).

[The Bibliography of the Rev. G. Oliver, D.D., of Exeter, by T. N. Brushfield, M.D.. was reprinted in 1885, 8vo, from the Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art, xvii. 266-76. Use has been made in this article of a copy of Dr. Bruahfleld's Bibliogruphy, with Dumsrous manuscript additions, kindly lent by the author. See also Boase and Courtney's Bill. Cornubiensis, i. 379, 410; Catholic Miscellany, 1828, ii. 148; Gent. Mag. May 1861. p. 576; Husenbeth's Life of Milner, pp. 121. 361; Journal of Archæological Institute, xviii, 405; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), p. 1723; Martin's Privately Printed Books, 1854, p. 360; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. ix. 404, 514, 3rd ser. v. 137, 202, 6th ser. v. 396. 7th ser. i. 467, 514; Oliver's Cornwall, p. 368. and Jesuit Collections, p. 188; Tablet, 13 April 1861 p. 235 (by Dr. Hasenbeth), and 20 April p. 261; Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, 27 March 1861; Weekly Register, 6 April 1861 p. 2, 13 April p. 2, 20 April p. 10.]

T. C.

OLIVER, GEORGE, D.D. (1782–1867), topographer and writer on freemasonry, was descended from an ancient Scottish family, some members of which came to England in the reign of James I, and were subsequently settled at Clipstone Park, Nottinghamshire. He was eldest son of Samuel Oliver, rector