Alexander Nasmyth [q. v.], after which he practised with considerable success at Glasgow and Greenock alternately, as a painter of portraits and of miniatures. In 1810 he came to London and established himself in Newman Street, contributing some forty-four portraits to the Royal Academy exhibitions between 1813 and 1841. He died in London on 6 May 1863. His portraits of George Chalmers, of Professor G. Bell, and of Henry Bell are in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. His younger brother, William Tannock, also practised as a portrait-painter, and exhibited several works between 1820 and 1830.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Irving's Eminent Scotsmen.]
TANS’UR, WILLIAM (1699?–1783), psalmodist, stated to have been born at Barnes, Surrey, in 1699, and at Dunchurch, Warwickshire, in 1700, was baptised at Dunchurch on 6 Nov. 1706. The parish register describes him as ‘William Tanzer [sic], son of Edward and Joan Tanzer of Dunchurch.’ He seems to have become a teacher of music at an early date, and to have published his psalmodies in succession at Barnes, Surrey (1737), Cambridge (1754 and 1776), Stamford (1756 and 1759), and Boston (1761). He is said to have been living subsequently at Leicester. He can be traced at Witham, Lincolnshire, as well as at Market Harborough. The last forty years of his life were spent chiefly at St. Neots, where he was a stationer, bookseller, and teacher of music. He died there on 2 (or 7) Oct. 1783, and was buried on 9 Oct., aged 83. At Ware on 20 May 1730 he married Elizabeth Butler, who died there on 9 Jan. 1767. His son David was buried at Market Harborough on 8 Jan. 1743. Another son was a chorister at Trinity College, Cambridge, and afterwards joined his father as a teacher of music.
In later years Tans’ur adopted the name and style of ‘William Tans’ur, senior, musico theorico.’ He also called himself ‘psalmodist, philo music and theology, and professor, corrector, and teacher of musick above fifty years.’ Tans’ur's various publications contain the earliest known copies of what were formerly familiar psalm-tunes. His principal works are:
- ‘A Compleat Melody, or The Harmony of Sion’ (1736, preface dated 1734).
- ‘The Melody of the Heart,’ 1737.
- ‘Heaven on Earth, or the Beauty of Holiness,’ 1738.
- ‘Sacred Mirth, or the Pious Soul's Daily Delight,’ 1739.
- ‘A New Musical Grammar, or the Harmonical Spectator,’ 1746.
- ‘The Royal Melody Compleat, or the New Harmony of Zion,’ 1754–5; 8th ed., 1830.
- ‘The Psalm-singer's Jewel,’ 1760.
- ‘Melodia Sacra,’ 1772.
- ‘The Elements of Musick displayed,’ 1772.
[Love's Scottish Church Music, 1891; Grove's Dict. of Music; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
TANSWELL, JOHN (1800–1864), archæologist, sixth and last surviving son of Stephen Cock, who married Ann Tanswell or Taswell, a connection of the Rev. William Taswell, D.D., rector of St. Mary's, Newington, Surrey, was born at Bedford Square, London, on 3 Sept. 1800. He was bred to the law and admitted solicitor in Michaelmas term 1834, having offices at 5 King's Bench Walk, Temple. On the evening of 17 Oct., when returning from business, he was seized with apoplexy, and died at his home, Temple House, Nunhead, Surrey, on 18 Oct. 1864. He was buried at Nunhead cemetery, and, as he was unmarried, his property passed to his nephew, Thomas Pitt Taswell-Langmead [q. v.] Tanswell was a lover of archæological pursuits, and published in 1858 an excellent volume on ‘The History and Antiquities of Lambeth.’ The family of Taswell formerly resided at the old manor-house of Limington, Somerset, part of which still remains; and extracts from a paper by him on that parish appeared in the ‘Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archæological Society,’ vol. vii. pt. ii. pp. 1–8. He was an occasional contributor to ‘Notes and Queries.’
[Gent. Mag. 1864, ii. 793–4; Law List, 1864; information from Rev. S. T. Taylor-Taswell.]
TANY, THOMAS (fl. 1649–1655), fanatic, was a goldsmith at the sign of the ‘Three Golden Lions’ in the Strand, London. His surname is spelled in nine different ways, and seems to have been pronounced ‘tawny.’ A contemporary calls him ‘a mad Transilvanian’ (Mercurius Fumigosus, No. 32, 3–10 Jan. 1655, p. 252), but he was probably a native of London; there are traces of his family in the parish of St. Mary Aldermary. He seems to have been epileptic, and stuttered in his speech. He claimed to have had it revealed to him, on 23 Nov. 1649, that he was ‘a Jew of the tribe of Reuben,’ and that he must change his name from Thomas to Theaurau John. Hence Lodowicke Muggleton [q. v.] calls him John Tany. On 25 April 1650 he issued a proclamation announcing the return of the Jews to the Holy Land and the rebuilding of the temple, thus endorsing the mad scheme of John Robins (fl. 1650–1652) [q. v.] the ranter. He soon announced
