Showing 285 results

CAVENDISH-BENTINCK, WILLIAM HENRY, 3RD DUKE OF PORTLAND, elder son of William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland, and Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, only dau. of Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford (qv); b. 14 Apr 1738; styled Marquis of Titchfield to 1762; adm. May 1747 (Watts'); left Dec 1754; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 4 Mar 1755; MA 1 Feb 1757; DCL 7 Oct 1792; LLD Tinity Coll. Dublin 18 May 1782; assumed additional surname of Cavendish 1755; MP Weobley 1761 - 1 May 1762; succ. father as 3rd Duke of Portland 1 May 1762; Lord Chamberlain 15 Jul 1765 - 26 Nov 1766; Privy Councillor 10 Jul 1765; Lord Lieut., Ireland, 10 Apr - 15 Sep 1782; Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury 21 Apr - 19 Dec 1783; although previously a committed Whig politician, he became alarmed by the French Revolution and joined William Pitt’s government in 1794; Secretary of State for Home Affairs, 11 Jul 1794 - 30 Jul 1801, Lord President of the Council 30 Jul 1801 - 14 Jan 1805; KG 16 Jul 1801; Prime Ministry and First Lord of the Treasury 31 Mar 1807 - 28 Sep 1809, when he resigned through ill-health; Chancellor of Oxford University from 27 Sep 1792; Lord Lieut., Nottinghamshire, from 19 Jun 1795; FRS 5 Jun 1766; a Busby Trustee from 14 Mar 1765; m. 8 Nov 1766 Lady Dorothy Cavendish, only dau. of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire PC KG; d. 30 Oct 1809. DNB.

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.

COWPER, WILLIAM, son of John Cowper (qv), and his first wife; b. 15 Nov 1731; adm. Apr 1742 (Playford's); left 1749; articled to a solicitor 1750-2; adm. Middle Temple 29 Apr 1748, called to bar 14 Jun 1754; fell in love with his cousin Theodora, but the marriage was forbidden by her father; contributed verses to various papers; a member of the Nonsense Club, chiefly composed of Westminster men who dined together weekly; migrated to Inner Temple, adm. there 17 Jun 1757; owned chambers Inner Temple 1757 - still 1781; a Commissioner of Bankrupts (occurs in annual lists 1758-65); Clerk of Journals, House of Lords c. May - Nov 1763; the stress brought on by his acceptance of the appointment caused a suicide attempt and nervous breakdown; an inmate of Nathaniel Cotton’s private lunatic asylum at St. Albans, Dec 1763 - Jun 1765; lived with the Unwins at Huntingdon 1765-7 and subsequently with Mrs Unwin at Olney, where he was employed by the Rev. John Newton as a sort of lay-reader and district visitor; composed hymns, a number of which are printed in Newton’s Olney Hymns, 1779; became engaged to Mrs Unwin; again deranged 1773-5 and for part of that time a guest in Newton’s house; occupied himself in gardening and writing verse; published Anti-Thelypthora, 1781, an anonymous attack on the defence of polygamy written by his cousin Martin Madan (qv) in the previous year; published Poems, Feb 1782; wrote the famous ballad of John Gilpin, first published in The Public Advertiser, Nov 1782; began translating Homer 1784; published The Task, 1785; removed to Weston, Nov. 1786; again became insane 1787; published his translation of Homer, 1791; undertook to edit Milton; removed in 1795 to East Dereham, Norfolk, where Mrs Unwin died in the following year; a complete edition of his works was published in 15 vols. by Robert Southey (qv) in 1834-7; Cowper’s schooldays, to which he frequently refers in his correspondence, were probably the happiest days of his life, and his recollections of them afforded him much pleasure; he appears to have enjoyed playing cricket and football; his favourite friend was Sir William Russell, Bart. (qv), but he was “much intimate” with Walter Bagot (adm. 1739/40, qv); he had a “particular value” for Warren Hastings (qv), to whom he addressed some lines on his impeachment, and he showed his friendly feeling for Robert Lloyd (qv) in the verse epistle which he addressed to him in 1754; his poem Table Talk contains an interesting allusion to the custom in his time of awarding pieces of Maundy Money for a good copy of verses (lines 507-11); d. unm. 25 Apr 1800. Memorial window in baptistery of Westminster Abbey. DNB.

MURE, REGINALD JAMES, eldest son of James Mure (adm. 1807, qv), and his second wife; b. 22 Dec 1842; adm. 22 May 1856 (James'); QS 1857; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1861, matr. 23 May 1861; BA 1866; MA 1873; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 26 Oct 1866, called to bar 17 Nov 1869; equity draughtsman and conveyancer; Secretary to Sir Robert Joseph Phillimore, Bart. (qv) 1878-83; Treasurer, Elizabethan Club 1872-95; Busby Trustee 22 May 1900; joint editor with James Gow and John Sargeaunt of Lusus Alteri Westmonasterienses iii, 1906; m. 23 Dec 1878 Anna Charlotte, dau. of Sheffield Neave, Oakhill, Hampstead, Middlesex; d. 23 Dec 1908.

WOOD, GEORGE EDWARD, younger brother of Charles James Wood (qv) (IGI); b. 13 Jan 1809; adm. 13 Jan 1823 (Singleton's).

BLACKWELL, THOMAS WILLIAM; b. 22 May 1808; adm. 9 Oct 1822 (Singleton's).

COOPER, ALLEN TREVELYAN, son of Allen Cooper (qv) and his first wife; b. 11 Jun 1825; adm. 17 Jan 1838 (Scott's); QS 1839; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1843, adm. pens. 29 May 1843, scholar 1844, matr. Mich. 1843; BA 1847; MA 1852; ordained deacon 1848, priest 1849 (both London); Chaplain to Embassy at Lisbon; Curate, Buckland, Devon, subsequently Swanscombe, Kent; m. 16 Mar 1865 Lucy Evans (IGI); d. 24 Jul 1866.

SEAGRAVE, JOHN YOUNG, eldest son of Rev. Samuel Young Seagrave, Vicar of Tysoe, Warwickshire, and Henrietta, dau. of Henry Tooke, Wakefield, Yorks.; b. 13 Jul 1825; adm. 1 Feb 1838 (Scott's); QS (Capt. ) 1839; Capt. of the School 1842; rowed v. Eton 26 Jul 1842; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1843, matr. 9 Jun 1843, Westminster Student; BA 1847; MA 1850; ordained deacon 1849, priest 1850; Curate, Lovington and Castle Cary, Somerset; Vicar of Bramham, Yorks., 1852-62; m. 9 Aug 1853 Frances Henrietta, youngest dau. of Benjamin Johnson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; d. 14 Nov 1891.

BROWN, GEORGE FRANCIS, son of John Brown, Batcombe, Somerset; b. 12 Nov 1828; adm. 28 Sep 1841 (Scott's); QS 1843; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1847, adm. pens. 13 May 1847, scholar 1848, matr. 1847; ordained deacon 1854 (Guiana), priest 1857 (Bath & Wells); Curate, St. Ives, Cornwall, 1859, subsequently Batcombe, Somerset, and Bridport, Dorset; d. 14 Jun 1872.