Apocryphal biographies in the Dictionary of National Biography

There are apocryphal biographies in the first edition (1885–1900) of the Dictionary of National Biography (DNB), a major work on historical biography related to the United Kingdom. In other words there is a biography that presents a life of a person asserted to have existed, but (in the light of later scholarship) the evidence for the person having lived has become regarded as tenuous or non-existent.

Examples are in s:Category:Apocryphal biographies, based on the updated Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), where the corresponding article casts serious doubt on the DNB assertions.

Kirkman Finlay

Kirkman Finlay—supposed: (c. 1802–1828) was an alleged Scottish philhellene.

The DNB has an article on this man,^[1] but more modern scholarship refutes its credibility. Monica Clough in the 21st century ODNB explains how the original source for the DNB probably confused fact with fiction and concludes by citing and quoting C. R. Fay (1951):

Perhaps, unless new evidence is found, more reliable than the obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine of April 1828 which called him into being,^[2] ‘the second quite imaginary Kirkman Finlay of the Dictionary of National Biography “who was neither killed in Greece nor born anywhere”’ can be safely buried.

— Monica Clough^[3]

Robert Bruce (died 1094?)

Robert de Brus [Bruce] supposed nobleman, based on late medieval lists of those who fought at Hastings,^[4] which are wholly unreliable.^[5]

Macduff ‘thane’ of Fife

"A half or wholly mythical personage."^[6] If he is not a literary invention, then he represents a supporter of Malcolm III of Scotland, descended from Dub, King of Scotland.^[7]

Notes

1. Goodwin 1889, p. 32.
2. Gentlemen's Magazine staff 1828, p. 372.
3. Clough 2004 citing C. R. Fay, Huskisson and his age (1951)
4. Mackay 1886, p. 114.
5. Cownie 2004.
6.  Henderson, Thomas Finlayson (1893). "Macduff". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
7. Broun, Dauvit. "Dubh (d. 966)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8166. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

References

• Clough, Monica (2004). "Finlay, Kirkman (supp. c.1802–1828)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9466. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Cownie, Emma (2004). "Brus , Robert de (supp. d. 1094)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/3747. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Gentlemen's Magazine staff (April 1828). "Obituary: Finlay". Gentlemen's Magazine 9. p. 372.
•  Goodwin, Gordon (1889). "Finlay, Kirkman (d.1828)". In Stephen, Leslie. Dictionary of National Biography 19. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 32.
•  Mackay, Aeneas James George (1886). "Bruce, Robert (d.1094?)". In Stephen, Leslie. Dictionary of National Biography 7. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 114.