CUMBERLAND, RICHARD, only son of Denison Cumberland (qv); b. 19 Feb 1732; adm. from Bury St. Edmunds Sch. Jan 1745/6 (Ludford's); Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 11 Jun 1747, scholar 1748, matr. 1748; 6th Wrangler 1750/1; BA 1750/1; MA 1754; Minor Fellow, Trinity Coll. 1752, Major Fellow 1753; private secretary to George, 2nd Earl of Halifax c. 1754-65; Crown Agent for Nova Scotia c. 1758 - ?; held post of Ulster Secretary Apr 1761 - Apr 1763 during Halifax’s term of office as Lord Lieut. Ireland; Solicitor and Clerk of Reports, Board of Trade 31 May 1765 - Jan 1776, Secretary to Board of Trade 23 Jan 1776 - 2 May 1782, when post abolished; on unsuccessful secret mission to Spain Jun 1780 - Apr 1781, seeking to secure a separate peace with that country; after the abolition of his government appointment he settled in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, holding a commission in local volunteers during Napoleonic Wars; author of numerous comedies, tragedies, translations and novels; his most successful play, The West Indian, was produced by Garrick in 1771 and ran for twenty-eight nights; described by Goldsmith in his Retaliation as “the Terence of England” and caricatured by Sheridan as Sir Fretful Plagiary in The Critic (see Lord Broughton, Recollections of a Long Life, i, 138); wrote with Sir John Bland Burges (qv) an epic called the Exodiad, 1808; author, The Observer, almost the last imitation of The Spectator; his Memoirs, published in 1807, contain several interesting references to the School and to his contemporaries there; m. 19 Feb 1759 Elizabeth, only dau. of George Ridge, Kilmeston, Hants.; d. 7 May 1811. Buried in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey. DNB.
