VERNON, FRANCIS, son of Francis Vernon, London, and Ann, widow of William Welby, Gedney, Lincs., and dau. of George Smithes, London, goldsmith [Alderman of London ?]; b.; adm.; KS 1649; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1654, matr. 10 Nov 1654, Westminster Student; BA 28 Jan 1657/8; MA 1660; a great traveller; on one of his expeditions he was taken by pirates and sold; Secretary to Embassy, Sweden 1668, Paris 1669-71; a medium of communication between French and English scientists; FRS 22 May 1672; travelled through Dalmatia and Greece to Persia; author, Oxonium, Poema; his MS journal for 8 Jul 1675 - 14 Sep 1676 is in the possession of the Royal Society; murdered near Ispahan, Persia, during a quarrel about a penknife 1677. DNB.

WARING, ROBERT, son of Edmund Waring, The Lea, Staffs., and Mary, dau. of Richard Broughton, Owlbury, Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire; b.; adm.; KS ; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1630, matr. 24 Feb 1631/2, aged 18, Westminster Student (still 1642); BA 1634; MA 1637; bore arms for Royalist side during siege of Oxford; Proctor 1647; Camden Professor of Ancient History, Oxford Univ., 2 Aug 1647; took an active part in resisting Parliamentary Visitors and ordered into custody, but escaped by flight; “adjudged guilty of high contempt, and denyall of authority of Parliament”, and ordered to be removed as Proctor and Camden Professor 14 Sep 1648 (Burrows, 185-6); retired to Apley, Shropshire; travelled with Sir William Whitmore in France; a Latin and English poet; author, Amoris Effigies, 1648, and other works; d. unm. 10 May 1658. DNB.

WELLS, EDWARD, son of Rev. Edward Wells, Vicar of Corsham, Wilts., and Elizabeth, dau. of Rev. John Whitborne, Vicar of Croscombe, Somerset; b. 27 Dec 1667; adm.; KS 1680; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1686, matr. 17 Dec 1686, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1686 – void 1704 (expiry year of grace as R. Cotesbach from 26 Mar 1701/2), Tutor 1691-1702, Catechist 1702-3; BA 1690; MA 1693; BD and DD 1704; delivered the first Fell oration at Christ Church 10 Jul 1694 (Thompson, Christ Church, 99); ordained; Rector of Cotesbach, Leics., from 2 Jan 1701/2; Rector of Bletchley, Bucks., from 28 Mar 1716; quarrelled with his patron and former pupil Browne Willis (qv), and slandered him from the pulpit; a mathematician, geographer and divine; author, A Treatise of Ancient and Present Geography, 1701, and numerous other works; d. 11 Jul 1727. DNB.

WESLEY, SAMUEL, eldest son of Rev. Samuel Wesley LLD, Rector of Epworth, Lincs., and Susanna, youngest dau. of Rev. Samuel Annesley, Vicar of St. Giles’s, Cripplegate, London, afterwards a Nonconformist minister; b. 10 Feb 1690/1; adm. 1704; BB 1705; QS 1707; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1711, matr. 9 Jun 1711, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1711 – void 1723; BA 1715; MA 1718; an Usher at the School 1713-33; ordained; helped to promote the first Infirmary at Westminster (the origin of both Westminster and St. George’s Hospitals); passed over for post of Under Master on Nicholl’s promotion to the Head Mastership in May 1733; Head Master, Blundell’s Sch., Tiverton, from 1733; author, Poems on Several Occasions, 1736, and other poems; m. by 1724 Ursula, dau. of Rev. Samuel Berry, Vicar of Watton, Norfolk (and proprietor of a boarding house for Westminster boys); d. 6 Nov 1739. DNB.

WETENHALL, EDWARD, son of Francis Wetenhall, Tixall, Staffs.; b. 7 Oct 1636; adm.; KS 1651; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1655, adm. pens. 23 Mayy 1655, scholar 1655, matr. Easter 1658; BA 1658/9 (incorp. Oxford 18 Jun 1661); migr. to Lincoln Coll. Oxford 1660; MA 10 Jul 1691; BD 1669 (incorp. Cambridge 1670); DD Dublin 1674 (ad eundem Oxford); ordained; Chaplain, Lincoln Coll.; Perpetual Curate of Combe Long, Oxfordshire 1661; Vicar of St. Stephen’s, St. Albans, Herts., 1661-3; Prebendary of Exeter 11 Jun 1667-74; Master of Cathedral Sch., Exeter 1667-72; Master of Blue Coat Sch., Dublin May 1672-6; Curate, St. Werburgh’s, Dublin 1676-9; Prebendary of St. Patrick’s, Dublin 23 Jul 1674; Precentor of Christ Church, Dublin 1675; consecrated Bishop of Cork and Ross 23 Mar 1678/9; translated to Kilmore and Ardagh 18 Apr 1699; FRS 4 Jul 1683; held an OW dinner at Cork 8 Apr 1696; author of a Greek and Latin Grammar, of An Earnest and Compassionate Suit for Forbearance, 1691, and other works; m. 1st, ---; m. 2nd, Philippa, sixth dau. of Sir William D’Oyly, Bart.; d. 12 Nov 1713. Buried South Transept, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

WHITEHALL, ROBERT, second son of Rev. Robert Whitehall, Rector of Addington, Bucks., and his first wife; bapt. 18 Mar 1625; adm.; KS 1639; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1643, Westminster Student; BA 1647; ejected from his Studentship by Parliamentary Visitors for non-submission 7 Jul 1648; afterwards submitted; Fellow of Merton Coll. from 1651, Sub-Warden in 1671; MA 1652; when “Terrae Filius” in 1655 he derided the Puritan discipline under which the University was then governed; MB 7 Sep 1657 (by letters from Richard Cromwell, Chancellor of the University); allowed leave of absence in 1657 to give instruction at Trinity Coll. Dublin (Brodrick, Memorials of Merton, 106); licensed to practice medicine 21 Jun 1665; Wood describes him as “no better than a meer poetaster, and time serving poet”, who made “divers sallies into the practice of physic” (Ath. Oxon., iv, 177); author Technepolemogamia, or the Marriage of Arms and Art, and other minor poems; d. 8 Jul 1685. DNB.

WELSTED, LEONARD, eldest son of Leonard Welsted (qv); bapt. 3 Jun 1688; adm.; QS 1703; elected head to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1707, adm. pens. 12 Jun 1707, aged 18, but did not matr.; Clerk, Secretary of State’s Office; afterwards Clerk Extraordinary (by 1725) and Clerk in Ordinary (from 1730) to Clerk of Deliveries, Ordnance Office; Commissioner for managing State Lottery May 1731; quarrelled with the poet Alexander Pope, who immortalised him in the Dunciad; translated Longinus on the Sublime, 1712; author, Apple-Pye, 1704, and numerous other poems; m. 1st, Frances, dau. of Henry Purcell, Organist of Westminster Abbey; m. 2nd, 4 Dec 1712 (IGI) Anna Maria, dau., of Col. William Walker, Tankerstown, Queen’s Co., Ireland; d. Aug 1747. DNB.

YONGE, PHILIP, son of Francis Yonge, Lisbon, Portugal, Commissary of the Ordnance duruing War of the Spanish Succession, subsequently London Agent for Plantation of South Carolina, and his first wife ---, widow of George Fletcher, Governor of Barbados; b.; adm. (aged 7) Sep 1718; Min. Can. 1724; KS 1725; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1728, adm. pens. 1 Jul 1728, scholar 2 May 1729, matr. 1728; BA 1731/2; MA 1735; DD 1750; Minor Fellow, Trinity Coll. 2 Oct 1734, Major Fellow 3 Jul 1735, Tutor 1738-50, Junior Bursar 1746-8, Junior Dean 1748/9; spoke the Latin oration at Bentley’s funeral in Trinity Coll. Chapel Jul 1742; Public Orator, Cambridge Univ. 18 Jun 1746-52; Master, Jesus Coll. Cambridge 1752-8; Vice-Chancellor, Cambridge Univ. 1753; managed the University of Cambridge for many years in the interest of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle (qv) (Winstanley, Cambridge in the XVIIIth Century, passim); ordained deacon (Lincoln) 1 Jun 1735; Vicar of Barrington, Cambs., 1748; Prebendary of Westminster 2 Nov 1750; Chaplain in Ordinary to George II (occurs 1751-8); Rector of Loughton, Bucks., 3 Apr 1752; Prebendary of St. Paul’s 6 Apr 1754-61; Rector of Therfield, Herts., 5 Oct 1757-61; consecrated Bishop of Bristol 29 Jun 1758; translated to Norwich 25 Nov 1761; m. 15 Dec 1761 Anne, elder dau. of Calverley Bewicke, Clapham, Surrey; d. 23 Apr 1783.

WOODROFFE, BENJAMIN, son of Rev. Timothy Woodroffe, Rector of Kingsland, Herefs., and Elizabeth, dau. of Thomas Sylvester, Burford, Oxfordshire; bapt. 29 Apr 1638; adm.; KS ; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1656, matr. 23 Jul 1656, Westminster Student, Tutor; BA 1659; MA 1662 (incorp. Cambridge 1664); BD and DD 14 Jan 1672/3; ordained; Chaplain to Duke of York at naval battle of Southwold Bay; Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, from 17 Dec 1672, Sub-Dean 1674; Rector of St. Bartholomew, Royal Exchange, London, from 19 Aug 1676; Prebendary of Lichfield from 21 Sep 1678; nominated Dean of Christ Church by James II 8 Dec 1688, but never installed; Principal of Gloucester Hall, Oxford, from 15 Aug 1692; founded a Greek college at Oxford 1697; fell into debt owing to losses through litigation; confined in the Fleet Prison 1708-9, and canonry sequestered; FRS 30 May 1668; author, Somnium Navale, 1673 (Latin poem on battle of Southwold Bay), and other works; lic. to m. 1st, 15 Nov 1676 Dorothy, sister of Sir Blewet Stonehouse, Bart.; m. 2nd, Mary, dau. of Thomas Marbury, Marbury, Cheshire; d. 14 Aug 1711. DNB.

Kinchin Smith, Michael, son of Francis John Kinchin Smith, lecturer in Classics, Univ. of Lon­don, and Dione Jean Elizabeth, d. of Sir Francis Henry May GCMG, Governor of Hong Kong, of Clare Priory, Suffolk; b. 8 May 1921; adm. Jan. 1935 (KS); left July 1939; Ch. Ch. Oxf., matric. 1939, Pres. Oxford Union 1941, BA 1945 (1st class hons Mod. Hist. 1941), MA 1947; Coldstream Guards 1942-5 (Capt.), despatches (Italy) Nov. 1945; ICI Ltd 1947-50; BBC 1950-78, Controller Staff Admin. 1967-76; lay assistant to Archbishop of Canterbury 1979-84; appointments secretary to Archbishops of Canterbury and York and Sec. of Crown Appointments Commission 1984-7; chairman exec. council RIPA 1975-7; CIPM 1980; OBE Jan. 1987; m. 20 Sept. 1947 Rachel Frances, d. of Rt Hon. Sir Henry Willink Bt PC MC QC DCL, Master of Magdalene Coll. Cambridge; d. 2002