VANE, SIR HENRY, eldest son of Sir Henry Vane, Kt MP, Treasurer of the Household and Secretary of State, Hadlow, Kent, and Raby Castle, co. Durham, and Frances, dau. of Thomas Darcy, Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex; bapt. 26 May 1613; at schoool under Osbaldeston (Wood, Athenae Oxon., iii, 578); became a puritan at age of 15; Magdalen Hall, Oxford, adm. fellow commoner, aged 16, but did not matr., as he objected to taking the oath; went to New England to obtain freedom of worship 1635; Governor of Massachusetts 1636-7; became entangled in doctrinal controversies and returned to England; Joint Treasurer of the Navy Jan 1639- Dec 41; MP Hull 1640-53; knighted 23 Jun 1640; showed Pym his father's notes of Strafford's advice to Charles I at the Council meeting of 5 May 1640; one of the originators of the bill for the abolition of episcopacy 1641; one of the committee appointed to vindicate the privileges of Parliament on the arrest of the five members; a leader of the war party in the House of Commons; Treasurer of the Navy (for Parliament) Aug 1642 - Dec 1650; conducted the negotiations with the Scots 1643; the virtual leader of the House of Commons after Pym's death; proposed and carried the establishment of the Committee of both Kingdoms 1644; one of the Parliamentary Commissioners at Uxbridge 1645; rejected Charles I’s overtures in 1644 and 1646; a Commissioner to treat with the army at Wycombe 1647; distrusted by the Presbyterians and the Levellers; took no part in Charles I’s trial; member of Council of State 14 Feb 1649; active member of the government 1649-53; a Commissioner for settling Scottish affairs 1651; quarrelled with Cromwell over the expulsion of the Long Parliament 1653; retired to Lincolnshire and refused a seat in the Little Parliament; imprisoned at Carisbrooke Castle as a result of the publication of his book Healing Question, propounded and resolved, 1656; MP Whitchurch in Richard Cromwell’s Parliament; assisted in the abolition of the Protectorate; Commissioner of the Navy and manager of foreign affairs in the restored Long Parliament; unsuccessfully endeavoured to reconcile Parliament and the army; became distrusted by all parties; expelled from the House of Commons 9 Jan 1660; partially excluded from the Act of Indemnity; imprisoned in the Tower of London, and subsequently transported to the Scilly Isles; tried for high treason in Court of King’s Bench, and sentenced to death 11 Jun 1662; an able statesman of enormous industry, but although his devotion to the public service and his freedom from corruption were well known, his religious enthusiasm and his subtlety in speculative matters exposed to him to the charge of being a fanatic and an unscrupulous schemer; author, The Retired Man’s Meditations, 1655, and other works; m. 1 Jul 1640 Frances, dau. of Sir Christopher Wray, Bart., Barlings, Lincs.; executed on Tower Hill 14 Jun 1662. DNB.

WESLEY, CHARLES, brother of Samuel Wesley (qv); b. 18 Dec 1707; adm. Apr 1716; KS 1721; Capt. of the School 1725; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1726, matr. 13 Jun 1726, Westminster Student 22 Dec 1726 – void by marriage 5 May 1749, Tutor 1732-3; acquired the nickname “Methodist” while at university; BA 1730; MA 12 Mar 1732/3; ordained deacon (Oxford), priest (London) Oct 1735; Secretary to James Oglethorpe, Governor of Georgia 1736-8 (but was only in Georgia to Jul 1736); became “converted” 21 May 1738; settled at Bristol and made evangelistic journeys through the country 1739-56; removed to Bath 1761 and to London 1771; preached at the City Road Chapel; called by Robert Southey (qv) “the sweet singer of Methodism”; composed some 6500 hymns; his poetical works, together with those of his brother John, were published in thirteen volumes 1868-72; m. 8 Apr 1749 Sarah, third dau. of Marmaduke Gwynne, Garth, Llanlleonfel, Breconshire; d. 29 Mar 1788. Tablet to him and his brother John erected in Westminster Abbey 1871. DNB.

WREN, SIR CHRISTOPHER, son of Very Rev. Christopher Wren, Dean of Windsor, and Mary, dau. of Robert Cox, Fonthill Abbey, Wilts.; bapt. 10 Nov 1632; adm. 1641; left 1646; Wadham Coll. Oxford, adm. fellow commoner 25 Jun 1649 (or 1650); BA 18 Mar 1650/1; MA 1653; DCL 1661; LLD Cambridge 1662; Fellow, All Souls Coll. Oxford 1653-7; Professor of Astronomy, Gresham Coll., London 1657-61; Savilian Professor of Astronomy, Oxford Univ. 5 Feb 1660/1- 9 Mar 1673; initiated experiments on the cause of the variations of the barometer; conducted research into anatomy and medical subjects; drew up the preamble to the first charter of the Royal Society 1660; one of the Council named in the second charter of the Royal Society 22 Apr 1663; FRS 20 May 1663 (original Fellow); one of the three Commissioners named by Charles II in October 1666 to consider rebuilding the city of London after the Great Fire; Surveyor of the King’s Works Mar 1668/9-1718; knighted 20 Nov 1673; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 25 Apr 1676; President, Royal Society 30 Nov 1680 – 30 Nov 1682; Comptroller of Works, Windsor Castle 1684-1716; MP Plympton 1685-7, Windsor Jan 1688/9 – unseated 14 May 1689, Mar 1689/90 – unseated 17 May 1690, Weymouth and Melcombe Regis Nov 1701-2; Surveyor of St. Paul’s Cathedral from 1675; Surveyor, Greenwich Hospital 1696-1716; Surveyor to the Fabric, Westminster Abbey, from 1699; architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral, many London city churches and halls of City livery companies, Temple Bar, the Monument, Greenwich Hospital, Chelsea Hospital, the Sheldonian Theatre and Old Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Tom Tower, Christ Church, Oxford, and Neville’s Court and the Library, Trinity Coll. Cambridge; made extensive alterations and additions at Hampton Court, Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace and Westminster Abbey; purchased Wroxall Abbey estate, Warwickshire, for his son 1713; m. 1st, 27 Dec 1669 Faith, dau. of Sir Thomas Coghill, Kt, Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire; m. 2nd, 24 Feb 1676/7 Hon. Jane Fitzwilliam, sister of Hon. Charles Fitzwilliam (qv); d. 25 Feb 1722/3. Buried St. Paul’s Cathedral. DNB.

PELHAM-HOLLES, THOMAS, 1ST DUKE OF NEWCASTLE (cr. 1715 and 1756), elder son of Thomas Pelham, 1st Baron Pelham, and his second wife Lady Grace Holles, youngest dau. of Gilbert Holles, 3rd Earl of Clare, and sister of John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle; b. 21 Jul 1693; at school under Knipe (Steward, Anniversary Dinner 1728/9, 1756); Clare Hall, Cambridge, adm.nob. 9 Mar 1709/10; LLD 25 Apr 1728; succeeded to estates of his uncle, John, Duke of Newcastle, in Jul 1711, and assumed additional surname of Holles; succ. father as 2nd Baron Pelham 23 Feb 1711/2; created Earl of Clare 19 Oct 1714; Lord Lieut., Middlesex 28 Oct 1714 – 2 Feb 1763, and of Nottinghamshire 28 Oct 1714 – 15 Jan 1763 and from 12 Sep 1765; with his brother Henry Pelham (qv) raised a troop for service against the Pretender in 1715; created Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 11 Aug 1715; Lord Chamberlain of the Household 4 Apr 1717 – May 1724; Privy Councillor 16 Apr 1717; KG 30 Apr 1718; Secretary of State for the Southern Dept. 2 Apr 1724 – Feb 1747/8; joint Secretary of State for Scotland 25 Aug 1725 – 15 May 1730; managed the negotiations which led to the formation of Lord Wilmington’s administration on Walpole’s downfall, while retaining his own post; opposed policy of Carteret and succeeded in obtaining his dismissal from the cabinet; forced George II to accept Pitt as a minister 1746; Secretary of State for the Northern Dept. Feb 1747/8 – Mar 1754; First Lord of the Treasury 6 Mar 1754 – 11 Nov 1756; created Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme 13 Nov 1756 (with special remainder to Earl of Lincoln); formed a coalition with Pitt and was again First Lord of the Treasury Jun 1757 – 26 May 1762; Lord Lieut., Sussex 4 Jul 1761 – 15 Jan 1763; created Baron Pelham of Stanmer 4 May 1762 (with special remainder to Thomas Pelham, afterwards 1st Earl of Chichester (qv)); on his leaving office in May 1762 he and his principal political followers were deprived of their remaining official positions; Lord Privy Seal 25 Aug 1765 – Jul 1766; High Steward, Cambridge University Jul 1737 – Dec 1748, Chancellor from 14 Dec 1748; FRS 26 Dec 1749; Busby Trustee 30 Mar 1732; gave £100 towards building of New Dormitory; m. 2 Apr 1717 Lady Henrietta Godolphin, eldest dau. of Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin; d. 17 Nov 1768. DNB.

ACTON, CHARLES JANUARIUS EDWARD, brother of Sir Ferdinand Richard Edward Dalberg-Acton, Bart. (qv); b. 6 Mar 1803; adm. 30 Sep 1813; left the same year on religious grounds, and went to a private tutor; Magdalene Coll. Cambridge, adm. fellow commoner 18 Jul 1819, matr. Lent 1820, residing to 1823; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 29 Jun 1822; entered Pontifica Accademia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici, Rome; Chamberlain to Pope Leo XII; attaché to Papal Nuncio in Paris 1828; Vice-Legate, Bologna to 1830; Secretary to Congregation for Regular Discipline; Auditor, Apostolic Chamber Jan 1837 - Jan 1842; Cardinal Priest from 24 Jan 1842, with titular church of Sta Maria della Pace; all English affairs of consequence were referred to Acton by Pope Gregory XVI and it was owing to his zeal that England was divided into eight instead of four Catholic districts in 1840; d. unm. at Naples 23 Jun 1847. DNB.

HOBHOUSE, JOHN CAM, 1ST BARON BROUGHTON, eldest son of Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, Bart. , MP, and his first wife Charlotte, dau. of Samuel Cam, Chantry House, near Bradford, Wilts. ; b. 27 Jun 1786; adm. 27 Jan 1802 (Clapham); in school list May 1803; left 1803; Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 18 Oct 1803, matr. Easter 1806; Hulsean Prize 1808; BA 1808; MA 1811; founded the Cambridge Whig Club; when at Cambridge became an intimate friend of Lord Byron, with whom he travelled in Greece and the Mediterranean in 1809-10; adm. Middle Temple 4 Feb 1806; a partner in firm Whitbread & Co. , brewers; contested Westminster as Radical candidate at 1819 by-election; imprisoned in Newgate Prison for breach of privilege 14 Dec 1819 – 19 Jan 1820; MP (Radical, subsequently Whig) Westminster 1820-33, Nottingham 1834-47, Harwich 1848-51; active member of Greek Committee in London 1823; succeeded father as 2nd baronet 15 Aug 1831; Secretary at War 1 Feb 1832 – Apr 1833; Privy Councillor 23 Feb 1832; Chief Secretary for Ireland 28 Mar – 17 May 1833; Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests 19 Jul – 31 Dec 1834; President, Board of Control 29 Apr 1835 – Sep 1841, Jul 1846 – Feb 1852; created Baron Broughton 26 Feb 1851; GCB 23 Feb 1852; as Byron’s executor, advised the destruction of Byron’s Memoirs 1824, and as Byron’s best man drew up a reply to Lady Byron’s Remarks 1830; FRS 19 May 1814; member, Society of Dilettanti 1839; one of founders of Geographical Society 1830; is said to have invented the phrase “His Majesty’s Opposition”; his Commonplace Book when at the School, containing the themes set, extracts from books, and occasional translations, is in the British Library, Additional MSS; author, Recollections of a Long Life, 1865, and other works; m. 26 Feb 1828 Lady Julia Hay, youngest dau. of George Hay, 7th Marquis of Tweeddale (S); d. 3 Jun 1869. DNB.

HURST, SIR CECIL JAMES BARRINGTON, third son of Robert Henry Hurst (adm. 1831, qv); b. 28 Oct 1870; adm. 26 Jan 1883 ( R); left Jul 1888; Trinity Coll. Cambridge (with Triplett), adm. pens. 21 May 1888, matr. Mich. 1888; 2nd cl. Law Tripos pt. i, 1891, 1st cl. Law Tripos pt. ii, 1892; LLB 1892; LLM 1896; hon. LLD 1928; adm. Middle Temple 9 Oct 1890, called to bar 17 Nov 1893, KC 1913, Bencher 1922, Treasurer 1940 ; South-Eastern Circuit; Junior Counsel to Post Office on S. E. Circuit 1901-2; Assistant Legal Adviser, Foreign Office 1 Apr 1902-18, Legal Adviser Aug 1918-29; Legal Secretary to British Plenipotentiaries at Second Peace Conference, The Hague 1 May 1907; largely responsible for the general drafting of the Peace Treaty of 1919; member, Permanent Court of International Justice, The Hague 1929-45, President 1934-7; President, United Nations War Crimes Commission 1943-5; CB 9 Nov 1907; KCB 5 Jun 1920; KCMG 7 Nov 1924; GCMG 1 Jan 1926; hon LLD Edinburgh; editor, British Yearbook of International Law, 1919-; Busby Trustee 19 May 1925; of Rusper Nunnery, Horsham, Sussex; JP Sussex 1931; m. 21 Dec 1901 Sibyl Gabriel Lumley, elder dau. of His Hon. Sir Lumley Smith KC, Cadogan Square, Chelsea, Judge of City of London Court; d. 1963.

NEILE, RICHARD, son of Paul Neile, King Street, Westminster, tallow chandler, and Sybil Hasinge; bapt. 11 Mar 1561/2; at school under Grant (Wood, Athenae Oxon. , ii, 341); according to Leighton’s Epitome, 1646, 66, “the Schoolmaster was never off his Breech, by which he became so sorry a Dunce, that untill that hour he could never make a right Latin Theame”; St. John’s Coll. Camb. , adm. 22 Apr 1580, Burghley scholar (on nomination of Dean Goodman), matr. 1580; BA 1583/4; MA 1587; BD 1595; DD 1600 (incorp. Oxford 15 Jul 1600); ordained deacon and priest (Peterborough) 6 Jul 1589; Chaplain to Lord Burghley; held various ecclesiastical preferments; Treasurer of Chichester 5 Jul 1598 – Dec 1610, Prebendary 30 Apr 1604 – Jan 1613/4, also Canon Residentiary 20 Jan 1609/10- Jan 1613/4; Master of the Savoy 24 Jan 1602/3-5; Dean of Westminster 5 Nov 1605 – Dec 1610; took a great interest in the School, and while Dean is said to have sent two or three scholars yearly to the Universities at his own cost; Rector of Southfleet, Kent 1608-10; consecrated Bishop of Rochester 9 Oct 1608; translated to Lichfield and Coventry 6 Dec 1610, and to Lincoln 18 Feb 1613/4; made a violent attack on the House of Commons 24 May 1614, for which he finally apologised with tears; translated to Durham 9 Oct 1617; Privy Councillor 29 Apr 1627; translated to Winchester 7 Feb 1627/8; accused of Arminianism by the Commons 13 Jun 1629; sat regularly in Court of High Commission and in the Star Chamber; Archbishop of York from 19 Mar 1631/2; an uncompromising churchman and strict disciplinarian; of little learning, but of much address and capacity for business; m. ; d. 31 Oct 1640. DNB.

In the account which he drew up of what had been done by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster during the time that he was Dean he records “Myself have yearly sent out of this School (besides those six that have been elected), whom I have gotten placed in other colleges besides Trinity College and Christ Church, some years two, some years three, and with some charge to me ; which I have carefully done in a thankful remembrance of God’s goodness showed to me in my being preferred from this School to St.John’s College, Cambridge, by the honourable bounty of my foundress and patroness, the Lady Mildred Burghley”.

Adrian, Edgar Douglas, 1st Baron Adrian; brother of Harold Douglas Adrian (q.v.); b. Nov. 30, 1889; adm. Sept. 24, 1903; K.S. (non-resident) Sept. 22, 1904 (G); elected head to Trin. Coll. Camb. (with Samwaies) July 1908, scholar 1908, fellow Oct. 9, 1913; St class Nat. Science Trip., part 1, 1910, part 2 (Physiology), 1911; B.A. 1911; M.A. 1915; M.B. and B.C. 1915; M. D. 1919; represented Camb. in the Inter-University Foils Competition 1912; joint Coutts Trotter student 1912; Walsingham Gold Medal for Physiology 1912; Gedge Prize 1914; Rolleston Memorial Prize 1916; Horton-Smith Prize 1919; Lecturer at Trin. Coll. 1919; University Lecturer in Advanced Physiology 1920; was a student at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, M.R.C.P. (London), 1916; F.R.S. 1923; F.R.C.P. 1924; a Governor of the School March 1926; Foulerton Research Professor of the Royal Society 1929-37; Nobel Prize 1932; Hon. D.Sc. Oxon. 1936; various degrees later from British and foreign universities; Professor of Physiology, Cambridge, 1937-51; Master of Trinity Coll. Camb. since 1951; Vice-Chancellor 1957-59; first Chancellor of Univ. of Leicester 1958; Copley Medal of the Royal Soc. 1946; Foreign Secretary of the Royal Soc. 1946-50, and President 1950-55; President of the British Association 1954; President, Royal Society of Medicine, 1960-62; O.M. June 11, 1942; created Baron Adrian 1955; a Busby Trustee 1949; elected a Trustee of the Rockefeller Institute 1962; temp. Lieut. R.A.M.C. Jan. 1, 1916, Capt. Jan. 1, 1917-19; m. June 14, 1923, Hester Agnes, daughter of Hume Chancellor Pinsent, of Boar's Hill, Oxford; d. 4 Aug. 1977.

AMHERST, WILLIAM PITT, 1ST EARL AMHERST, only son of Lieut. -Gen. William Amherst MP, and Elizabeth, dau. of Thomas Paterson, London; b. 14 Jan 1773; adm. 19 Feb 1781; in school lists 1786, Christmas 1788; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 13 Oct 1789, commoner, Canoneer Student 23 Dec 1789 - 5 Aug 1800 (void, by marriage); BA 1793; MA 1797; Grand Tour (Switzerland, Italy) 1793-6; succ. uncle by special remainder as 2nd Baron Amherst 3 Aug 1797; a Lord of the Bedchamber 27 Apr 1802 - May 1804, Jun 1804- Mar 1812; Envoy to Court of Sicily 1809-11; again a Lord of the Bedchamber 18 Apr 1815- Mar 1823; Privy Councillor 30 Dec 1815; appointed Ambassador to China 20 Jan 1816, but was unable to obtain audience of the Chinese Emperor, and returned to England 1817; appointed Governor-General of Bengal 23 Oct 1822, taking office 1 Aug 1823; declared war against Burma 24 Feb 1824; supported claims of Rajah of Bhurtpore against Doorjan Sal; created Earl Amherst 19 Dec 1826; returned to England 1828; again a Lord of the Bedchamber 20 Nov 1829- May 1835; GCH 1834; nominated Governor of Canada by Sir Robert Peel when leaving office in 1835, but the appointment was cancelled by the new Whig ministry; LLD Cambridge 1835; Busby Trustee 11 May 1819; m. 1st, 24 Jul 1800 Sarah, Countess of Plymouth, widow of Other Windsor, 5th Earl of Plymouth, and eldest dau. of Andrew Archer, 2nd Baron Archer; m. 2nd, 25 May 1839 Mary, Countess of Plymouth, widow of Other Windsor, 6th Earl of Plymouth, and eldest dau. of John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset (qv); d. 13 Mar 1857. DNB.