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GIBBON, EDWARD, only son of Edward Gibbon (qv), and his first wife; b. 27 Apr 1737; adm. Jan 1747/8 (Porten's); left Aug 1750, on account of ill-health; Magdalen Coll. Oxford, adm. fellow commoner 3 Apr 1752; received into Roman Catholic church 8 Jun 1752, but returned to Protestantism at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1753; became attached to Susanne Curchod (afterwards Mme Necker), but at his father’s wish the engagement was broken off; adm. to Academy, Lausanne 1 Dec 1756; officer in Hampshire Militia 12 Jun 1759-70; author, Essai sur l’Etude de la Litterature, 1761; met John Baker Holroyd (afterwards Lord Sheffield) at Lausanne 1764; in Italy 1764-5; the idea of writing on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire first occurred to him when in Rome on 15 Oct 1764; author, Mémoires Littéraires de la Grande Bretagne, 1767-8, jointly with his Swiss friend Deyverdun; author, Critical Observations on the Sixth Book of the Aeneid, 1770, attacking Warburton; settled in London 1772; elected to The Club 1774; MP Liskeard 1774-80, Lymington 25 Jun 1781-4; a Commissioner for Trade and Foreign Plantations 6 Jul 1779 - Jun 1782; Professor of Ancient History, Royal Academy, from 1787; FSA 20 Nov 1788, FRS 27 Nov 1788; author, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776-87, 4 vols.; defended the chapters on Christianity in a Vindication, 1779; retired to Lausanne 1783; his Miscellaneous Works, edited by his friend Lord Sheffield, and including his Memoirs of My Life and Writings, were published in 1796; d. unm. 16 Jan 1794. DNB.

HAKLUYT, RICHARD, brother of Thomas Hakluyt (qv); b. 1553; adm.; QS in 1564; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1570, Westminster Student to 1583; BA 19 Feb 1573/4; MA 27 Jan 1577/8; ordained 1578 [check]; Chaplain to Sir Edward Stafford, Ambassador to Paris 1583-8; Prebendary of Bristol from 1586; Rector of Wetheringsett with Brockford, Suffolk, from 20 Apr 1590; Prebendary of Westminster from 4 May 1602, Archdeacon from 1603; Chaplain of the Savoy 1604; Rector of Gedney, Lincs., from 1612; one of the chief Adventurers in the South Virginia Co.; took a keen interest from his boyhood in geography and discovery; lectured on the construction and use of maps, spheres and nautical instruments; his book, The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation, 1589 (issued in an expanded three-volume edition in 1598-1600), has been described as “the prose epic of the modern English nation”; left a large collection of unpublished MSS, several of which were printed in an abridged form by Purchas in his Pilgrimes; the Hakluyt Society, named in his honour, was founded 15 Dec 1846 for the printing of narratives of voyages and travels, and related records; bequeathed £5 towards repairing the north windows of Westminster Abbey and 10 shillings each to Richard Ireland (adm. 1582, qv) and John Wilson (elected 1602, qv); m. 1st, c. 1594, Douglasse Cavendish, Trimley St. Mary, Suffolk; lic. to m. 2nd, 30 Mar 1604 Frances, widow of William Smithe, St. Botolph’s, Bishopsgate, London; d. 23 Nov 1616. Buried Westminster Abbey.

MONTAGU, CHARLES, 1ST EARL OF HALIFAX, fourth son of Hon. George Montagu MP, Horton, Northants, and Elizabeth, dau. of Sir Anthony Irby, Kt, Boston, Lincs.; b. 16 Apr 1661; adm. 1675; KS (Capt. ) 1677; Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. fellow commoner 8 Nov 1679; MA 1682; LLD 1705; Fellow, Trinity Coll. 1683 – c. 1689; High Steward, Cambridge Univ., from 1697; wrote with Matthew Prior (qv) The Hind and the Panther transvers’d to the story of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse, 1687; MP Maldon 1689-95, Westminster 1695 – 13 Dec 1700; a Clerk of the Privy Council 1689-92; a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury 21 Mar 1692 – Apr 1698; his proposal of 15 Dec 1692 to raise a million pounds by life annuities was the origin of the National Debt; his bill to establish the Bank of England became law 1694; Chancellor of the Exchequer 30 Apr 1694 – May 1699; Privy Councillor 10 May 1694; introduced the Recoinage Bill, and instituted the Window Tax to pay for the expense of the recoinage; issued the first Exchequer Bills and carried his bill for the formation of a consolidated fund to meet interest on the various government loans; First Lord of the Treasury 1 May 1697 – Nov 1699; Auditor of the Receipt of Exchequer 17 Nov 1699 – 30 Sep 1714; created Baron Halifax 13 Dec 1700; impeached by the House of Lords for obtaining grants from the King in the names of others for himself, and for his share in the Partition Treaty, but the impeachment was dismissed for want of prosecution 24 Jun 1701; charged by House of Commons for neglect of his duties as Auditor of the Exchequer, but his conduct as such was unanimously approved by the House of Lords 1703; successfully moved the rejection of the Occasional Conformity Bill 14 Dec 1703; a Commissioner for negotiating the Union with Scotland 10 Apr 1706; acted as one of the Lords Justices from Queen Anne’s death until the arrival of George I; First Lord of the Treasury from 11 Oct 1714; KG 16 Oct 1714; created Earl of Halifax 19 Oct 1714; Lord Lieutenant, Surrey, from 24 Dec 1714; a great parliamentary orator and brilliant financier; the lifelong friend of Sir Isaac Newton and a munificent patron of literature; FRS 30 Nov 1695, President 30 Nov 1695 – 30 Nov 1698; his collected poems were published in 1715; [? m. 1st, 3 Sep 1685 Elisabeth, dau. of Francis Forster, South Bailey, Durham]; m. Feb 1688 Anne, widow of his cousin Robert Montagu, 3rd Earl of Manchester, and dau. of Sir Christopher Yelverton, Bart.; d. 19 May 1715. Buried in Duke of Albemarle’s vault, Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

HANMER, SIR THOMAS, BART., only surviving son of William Hanmer, Bettisfield, Flints., and Peregrina, dau. of Sir Henry North, Bart.; b. 24 Sep 1677; at school under Busby (Sir H. E. Bunbury, Bart, ed., The Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bart., 1838, 5); Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 17 Oct 1693; LLD Cambridge 16 Apr 1705; succ. uncle as 4th baronet 1701; MP Thetford 19 Mar 1700/1-2, Flintshire 1702-5, Thetford 1705-8, Suffolk 1708-27; Chairman of the Committee which drew up the “Representation” 1712; travelling in Italy 1713; Speaker, House of Commons 16 Feb 1713/4 – 5 Jan 1714/5; editor of an edition of Shakespeare’s plays, 6 vols, 1743-4; m. 1st, Oct 1698 Isabella, Duchess of Grafton, widow of Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton KG, and dau. of Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington (qv); m. 2nd, 1725 Elizabeth, only dau. of Thomas Folkes, Barton, Suffolk; d. 7 May 1746. DNB.

HERBERT, GEORGE, fourth son of Sir Richard Herbert, Kt, Montgomery Castle, Montgomeryshire, and Magdalen, dau. of Sir Richard Newport, Kt; b. 3 Apr 1593; adm. in twelfth year; KS ; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1608, adm. scholar 1609, matr. 18 Dec 1609; 2nd in “ordo” 1612/3; BA 1612/3; MA 1616; Minor Fellow, Trinity Coll. 3 Oct 1614, Major Fellow 15 Mar 1615/6 – c. 1621 [check]; Praelector in Rhetoric and Deputy Public Orator 1618, Public Orator 1619-27; ordained deacon by Jul 1626, priest (Salisbury) 19 Sep 1630; Prebendary of Lincoln from 8 Jul 1626; Herbert had earlier aspired to preferment in service of the State, but after forming an intimate friendship with Nicholas Ferrar (of Little Gidding), he decided to eschew the “painted pleasures of the Court”; Rector of Fugglestone with Bemerton, Wilts., from 26 Apr 1630; repaired Bemerton Church and rebuilt the parsonage, where he wrote his famous sacred poems, edited by Ferrar and published posthumously under the title The Temple, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations, 1633; m. 5 Mar 1628/9 Jane, dau. of Charles Danvers, Baynton, Wilts.; d. 3 Mar 1632/3. Memorial window in baptistery, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

HERVEY, JOHN, 2nd BARON HERVEY OF ICKWORTH, eldest son of John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, and his second wife Elizabeth, only dau. of Sir Thomas Felton, Bart. MP; b. 15 Oct 1696; adm. 28 Jan 1711/2; left Jul 1713; Clare Hall, Cambridge, adm. 20 Nov 1713, matr. 1714; MA 1715; styled Lord Hervey from 1723; MP Bury St. Edmunds 2 Apr 1725 – 11 Jun 1733; travelling in Italy for health in 1728-9; Vice-Chamberlain of the Household 7 May 1730 – Apr 1740; Privy Councillor 8 May 1730; having initially been a follower in politics of Frederick, Prince of Wales, he subsequently became a supporter of Sir Robert Walpole and a trusted confidant of Queen Caroline; fought a duel with William Pulteney (qv) in the “Upper St. James’s Park” 25 Jan 1730/1; created Baron Hervey of Ickworth 11 Jun 1733; Lord Privy Seal 1 May 1740 – Jul 1742; one of the Lord Justices of the Realm May 1741; author, Memoirs of the Reign of George II, first published from his manuscript in 1848, and of other political pamphlets; the expenses of his “schooling” at Westminster, and of that of his three brothers, are recorded in the Diary of John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, 1894; m. 21 Apr 1720 Mary, Maid of Honour to Caroline, Princess of Wales, dau. of Brig. -Gen. Nicholas Lepell, Groom of the Bedchamber to George, Prince of Denmark; d. 5 Aug 1743. DNB.

JONSON, BENJAMIN (better known as JONSON, BEN); b. probably in Westminster 1573; at school under Grant, his school expenses being paid by William Camden, then Second Master; escaped from his trade as a bricklayer to join English army in Flanders; on return to England began to work for the stage, and in 1597 was both “player” and “playwright” in the Admiral’s Company; briefly imprisoned in 1598 for killing a fellow actor in a brawl or duel; his first extant comedy, Every Man in his Humour, was performed in 1598 at the Globe Theatre by the Lord Chamberlain’s Company, with Shakespeare in the cast; his first extant tragedy, Sejanus, was performed in 1603 at the Globe Theatre by Shakespeare’s company; The Masque of Blackness, the first of his long series of Court Masques, was performed at Whitehall on Twelfth Night 1605; MA Oxford 19 Jul 1619, receiving degree when on a visit to his friend Richard Corbet (qv); although he states himself that he was MA of both Universities, no record of a Cambridge degree has been found; Chronologer to the City of London, 1628; his works have been edited by W. Gifford, 1816, and Lieut. -Col. Cunningham, 1875; d. 6 Aug 1637. Buried North Aisle of Nave, Westminster Abbey, memorial in Poets’ Corner. DNB.

LONGLEY, CHARLES THOMAS, sixteenth child of John Longley, Boley Hill, Rochester, Kent, barrister, Recorder of Rochester and Magistrate, Thames Police Court, and Elizabeth, dau. of Thomas Bond, Battersea Rise, Surrey; b. 28 Jul 1794; adm. Christmas 1807 (G); KS (Capt. ) 1808; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1812, matr. 9 May 1812, Westminster Student, Tutor and Censor 1825-8; 1st cl. Classics 1815; BA 1815; MA 1818; BD and DD 1829; Examiner, Classical Schools 1825, 1826; Proctor 1827; Whitehall Preacher 1829; ordained deacon 1818, priest 1819 (both Oxford); Vicar of Cowley, Oxfordshire 1 Nov 1823; Rector of West Tytherley, Hampshire 30 Aug 1827; Head Master, Harrow Sch., Easter 1829 – Easter 1836; consecrated Bishop of Ripon 6 Nov 1836; the first to hold this see; translated to Durham 13 Oct 1856; Archbishop of York 1 Jun 1860 – Oct 1862; Privy Councillor 9 Jun 1860; Archbishop of Canterbury from 20 Oct 1862; presided over Pan-Anglican Synod 1867; FSA 24 Nov 1831; Busby Trustee 27 Jun 1848; m. 15 Dec 1831 Hon. Caroline Sophia Parnell, dau. of Henry Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton PC, politician and economist; d. 27 Oct 1868. DNB.