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BRETT, ARTHUR, son of John Brett, Middlesex; b.; adm.; KS (aged 14) 1650; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1653, matr. 20 Jul 1654, Westminster Student; BA 6 Feb 1656/7; MA 1659; ordained; Rector of Templeton, Devon, 1662; Vicar of Market Lavington, Wilts., 10 May 1670, but shortly afterwards resigned his living and came up to London, where he fell into poverty and begged in the street; author, A Poem on the Restoration of King Charles II, 1660, and other poems; d. c. 1677. DNB.

BROWNE, THOMAS GUNTER, second son of Thomas Gunter Browne, St. John’s, Antigua, and Ann, dau. of William Dickinson, Antigua; b. 3 Nov 1756; adm. 17 Jan 1770; KS 1771; elected to Trin. Coll. Camb. 1775, adm. pens. 15 Jun 1775, scholar 26 Apr 1776, did not matr.; Cornet, 3rd Dragoons, 24 Nov 1777; Lieut., 37th Foot 28 Mar 1778; Capt., 102nd Foot, 9 Oct 1781; 60th Foot, 24 Oct 1781; half-pay from 1783; subsequently resided in France; author, Hermes Unmasked, 1795; d. 1834.

BRYDGES, HON. HENRY, brother of James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos (qv); b. 20 Jan 1674/5; adm. 1686; KS 1688; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1691, matr. 4 Jul 1691, aged 15, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1691-9 (void); BA 1695; MA 1698; BD and DD 1711; ordained; Rector of Broadwell with Adlestrop, Gloucs., 1699-1717; Chaplain to Factory at Aleppo, 1701; Proctor in Convocation for Diocese of Gloucester, 1705; Chaplain in Ordinary to Queen Anne and George I; Archdeacon and Prebendary of Rochester from 24 May 1720; Rector of Amersham, Bucks., from 1721; Prebendary of St. Paul’s from 26 Apr 1722; Visitor of Balliol Coll., Oxford, 17 Jun 1723; Busby Trustee from 28 Jan 1719/20; m. 7 Jun 1705 Annabella, dau. of Edward Atkyns (qv); d. 9 May 1728.

CARTWRIGHT, WILLIAM, son of William Cartwright, Leckhampton [check], Gloucs., and Dorothy, dau. of Rowland Coles, Northway, Gloucs.; b. Sep 1611; adm.; KS; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1628, matr. 24 Feb 1631/2, Westminster Student to death; BA 1632; MA 1635; Junior Proctor 1643; his tragi-comedy, The Royal Slave, was performed before the King and Queen by the Students of Christ Church in their Hall 30 Aug 1636, the songs being set to music by Henry Lawes, and Richard Busby (qv) taking the part of Cratander with great applause; ordained; Prebendary of Chichester from 29 Dec 1638; one of Council of War 1 Sep 1642; imprisoned by Viscount Saye and Sele, but released on bail; Precentor of Salisbury from Oct 1642; was “the most florid and seraphical preacher in the University” (Wood, Ath. Oxon., iii, 69); his plays and poems were collected and published by Humphrey Moseley in 1651; Ben Jonson (qv) said of him that “my son Cartwright writes all like a man”; d. from camp fever at Oxford, 29 Nov 1643. Buried in Christ Church Cathedral. DNB.

BUTT, GEORGE, second son of Carey Butt, Lichfield, Staffs., surgeon, and Elizabeth, dau. of John Marten, Lichfield, Staffs., apothecary; b. 26 Dec 1741; in school list 1754; KS 1756; his acting as Demea in the Adelphi in 1759 was so successful that “he was, as he declared, for the only time in his life, overflowing with money forced upon him by the liberality of his audience” (Life and Times of Mrs Sherwood, 1910, 4); Capt. of the School 1760; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1761, matr. 21 May 1761, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1761 - void 8 Oct 1772, expiry year of grace as R. Stanford and V. Clifton; BA 1765; MA 1768; BD and DD 1793; ordained deacon 2 Jun 1765, priest 20 Sep 1767 (both Oxford); Curate of Leigh, Staffs.; had leave of absence from Ch. Ch. to act as tutor in private family (Winnington of Stanford Court), 17 Dec 1765; Rector of Stanford on Teme, Worcs., from 31 Aug 1771; Vicar of Clifton, Worcs., Aug 1771 - res Mar 1787; Vicar of Newchurch, Isle of Wight, 1778-83; Rector of Notgrove, Gloucs., 1783; Chaplain in Ordinary to George III 1783 (still 1793); Vicar of Kidderminster, Worcs., from 23 Feb 1787; one of the circle of minor poets and literary ladies who gathered round Anna Seward, the “Swan” of Lichfield; author, Isaiah Versified, 1784, and other poems; in his Poems, 1793, ii, 107, he refers to his “partialities for Westminster School”; m. 26 Apr 1773 Mary Martha, dau. of Henry Sherwood, Coventry, Warwicks., a London silk merchant; d. 30 Sep 1795. DNB.

CARKESSE, JAMES, son of James Carkesse, Hackney, Middlesex, and of City of London, Turkey merchant, and Mary, dau. of Rowland Beresford, London; b.; adm.; KS (aged 13) 1648; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1652, matr. 26 Jan 1652/3, Westminster Student; BA 3 Feb 1656/7; MA 1659; refused grace for BA four times, and before his admission was compelled to apologise for some insult which he had offered his college; in 1658 Busby certified that Carkesse “is of the same standing as those Westminster scholars who take the MA degree this Act 1658”, and that he “was only hindered from residence by the tenuity of his fortunes, which compelled him to reside in Westminster College for a maintenance, and to wait five terms for admission to a student’s place, to which he was elected” (CSP Dom 1658-9, 40); Usher, Magdalen Coll. Sch. 1655, 5 Jan 1662/3-3, Head Master 1663-4; a clerk in the Seamen’s Ticket Office, Navy Office, Aug 1665 - Mar 1667, Mar 1668 - Sep 1670, Mar 1672 - Jun 1673; confined to Bedlam, but released in 1678; Head Master, Chelmsford Sch., 1683; FRS 23 Mar 1663/4, expelled 18 Nov 1675; author, Lucida Intervalla, containing divers miscellaneous poems written at Finsbury and Bethlem by the doctor’s patient extraordinary, 1679; lic. to m. 23 Nov 1663 Arabella Walesson, St. Faith’s, London. DNB.

CLIFFORD, MARTIN; b.; KS (Capt. ); elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1640, adm. scholar 1641, matr. 1640; a buffoon about the Court, 1660; employed by the Duke of Buckingham in producing The Rehearsal (together with Samuel Butler and Thomas Sprat); attacked John Dryden (qv) in a series of letters; Master of the Charterhouse from 1671; author, A Treatise of Human Reason, 1674; d. 10 Dec 1677. DNB.

COLBATCH, JOHN, son of John Colbatch, Ludlow, Shropshire, and Jane ---; bapt. 27 Dec 1663; adm.; KS 1680; rejected 1682, but elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1683, adm. pens. 19 Jun 1683, aged 18, scholar 10 Apr 1684; BA 1686/7; MA 1690; BD 1701; DD 1706; Minor Fellow, Trin. Coll., 2 Oct 1689-90, Major Fellow 1 Jul 1690-1715, Senior Fellow from 1715; ordained priest (London) 20 Dec 1691; Chaplain to British Factory, Lisbon 1688 [check]-96; a protege of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury; tutor, Trinity Coll., 1700, Senior Dean 1705-7; travelling tutor in Italy with Earl of Hertford (later 7th Duke of Somerset) 1706; Knightsbridge Professor of Moral Theology, Cambridge, 1707-44; an opponent of Richard Bentley in internal Trinity College disputes, becoming involved in several resulting lawsuits; Prebendary of Salisbury 7 Aug 1702 - res May 1720; Rector of Orwell, Cambs., from 1720; author, three pamphlets; d. 11 Feb 1747/8. DNB.

CLELAND, JOHN, son of [Col. ?] William Cleland, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, Commissioner of Taxes, and Lucy du Pass; bapt. Kingston upon Thames 24 Sep 1710; adm. (aged 10) Jan 1720/1; KS 1722; left 1723; Consul at Smyrna, “very early in life” [but check : this seems unlikely]; in Bombay as soldier 1728; Writer, EICS Bombay 1731; Secretary to Council, Bombay, 1738; left EICS 1740; left India in a destitute condition, and for many years wandered round Europe; author, Fanny Hill, or the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, 1750; summoned before the Privy Council for writing it, but escaped punishment on pleading his poverty as an excuse; subsequently pensioned by Government, and took to writing for newspapers and the stage; d. 23 Jan 1789. DNB.

COLMAN, GEORGE, son of Francis Colman, British Resident at Court of Tuscany, and Mary, dau. of John Gumley MP, Isleworth, Middlesex, Commissioner-Gen. of Musters, and sister-in-law of William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath (qv); bapt. 18 Apr 1732; adm. Oct 1741; KS 1746; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1751, matr. 5 Jun 1751, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1751 - void 25 Jun 1764; BA 1755; MA 1758; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 14 Jan 1752, called to bar 24 Jan 1757; Oxford circuit; joint editor with Bonnell Thornton (qv) of The Connoisseur, 1754-6; his first play, Polly Honeycombe, was produced at Drury Lane 5 Dec 1760; his Jealous Wife, the most popular comedy of its day, appeared in the following year, and The Clandestine Marriage, written in collaboration with his friend David Garrick, in 1766; manager, Covent Garden Theatre 1767-74, Haymarket Theatre 1777-89; member, Society of Dilettanti, 1778; edited The Dramatic Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, 1778; translated The Comedies of Terence, 1765, and Horace’s Art of Poetry, 1783; m. Sarah Ford, actress; d. 14 Aug 1794. DNB.