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CHURCHILL, CHARLES, eldest son of Charles Churchill (adm. 1717/8, qv); b. Feb 1731/2; adm. (aged 9) May 1741; KS (Capt. ) 1745; left 1748 [or 1747 ?]; St. John’s Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 8 Jul 1748; ordained deacon (Wells) 22 Sep 1754, priest (Rochester for London) 19 Dec 1756; Curate, South Cadbury and Sparkford, Somerset, 1754-6, and to his father at Rainham, Essex, 1756-8; Curate and Lecturer, St. John the Evangelist, Westminster, 1758-63; became involved in debt, and was in danger of imprisonment until befriended by Pierson Lloyd (qv), who induced the creditors to accept a composition; author of the poems The Rosciad and The Apology, published in 1761; by their sale he is said to have cleared no less than £2000; became an intimate friend of John Wilkes, with whom he worked on The North Briton; his poems satirised Hogarth, Bute, Sandwich, and others; his literary career, although brief, was brilliant; although he led a reckless and extravagant life, his generosity was undoubted and he remained an unwavering friend of Robert Lloyd (qv); William Cowper (qv) held him in high estimation as a poet and called him the “great Churchill” (Works of William Cowper, 1836, vi, 9-10); for an account of Byron’s visit to his grave at Dover, see Lord Broughton’s Recollections of a Long Life, i, 335; his collected works were published in two volumes, 1763-4; m. c. 1749 Martha Scott, Westminster; d. at Boulogne, 4 Nov 1764. 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.

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.

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.

CONYBEARE, JOHN JOSIAS, elder son of William Conybeare (qv); b. 10 Jun 1779; adm.; Min. Can. 1792; KS (Capt) 1793; Capt. of the School 1796; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1797, matr. 19 Jun 1797, Westminster Student 23 Dec 1797 - void 17 Dec 1813 (expiry year of grace as V. Batheaston); Chancellor’s Prize for Latin Verse 1800; BA 1801; MA 1804; Select Preacher 1808-9; Bampton Lecturer 1824; ordained priest (Winchester, lit. dim. from St Asaph) 3 Jul 1803; an Usher at the School 1803-4; Prebendary of York from 13 Jul 1803; Curate, St. Thomas, Oxford, 1805, Cowley, Oxfordshire, 1806; Professor of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford University, 1808-12, of Poetry 1812-21; Vicar of Batheaston, Somerset, from 11 Dec 1812; author, On the Geology of Devon and Cornwall, 1823, and of other geological, chemical, and theological tracts; his Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry were edited by William Daniel Conybeare (qv) in 1826; m. 21 Feb 1814 Mary, dau. of Rev. Charles Davis, Fellow of Pembroke Coll., Oxford; d. 11 Jun 1824. DNB.

CORBET, RICHARD, son of Vincent Corbet, Ewell, Surrey, nurseryman; b.; adm.; QS; failed to obtain election to either university 1598; Broadgates Hall, Oxford, matr. 7 Apr 1598, aged 15; migrated to Christ Church, Oxford, Canoneer Student 1599-1620; BA 1602; MA 1605; BD and DD 1617; Proctor 1612; ordained; Vicar of Cassington, Oxfordshire; Chaplain to James I; Prebendary of Salisbury 11 Jan 1620 – res by Jun 1631; Vicar of Stewkley, Bucks., from 1620; Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, 24 Jun 1620 - Oct 1628; consecrated Bishop of Oxford 19 Oct 1628; translated to Norwich 7 May 1632; a strong churchman who admonished his clergy for puritan practices; an intimate friend of Ben Jonson (qv); famous for his conviviality, witty sayings, and practical jokes; his collected poems were first published in 1647; m. Alice, dau. of Leonard Hutten (qv); d. 28 Jul 1635. DNB.

CORBETT, THOMAS, eldest son of William Corbett, Nanteos, Cardiganshire, and Middle Temple, London, and Eleanor, dau. of Col. John Jones, Nanteos, Cardiganshire; b.; adm.; KS (Capt. ) 1701; joined Royal Navy as ordinary seaman 23 Mar 1703/4; acted initially as clerk, from 14 Dec 1704, and then as secretary, Sep 1705-9, 1711, to Adm. Sir George Byng (afterwards 1st Viscount Torrington); Judge-Advocate and Deputy Treasurer of the Fleet [check]; a clerk in the Admiralty 17 Jan 1715-23; again secretary to Byng when in command of British fleet in Sicilian waters 1718-20 [check]; Secretary to Greenwich Hospital 1716-36; Chief Clerk, Admiralty, 15 Mar 1723-8, Deputy Secretary 27 Jul 1728-41; Secretary to Admiralty from 29 Apr 1741; MP Saltash from 6 Feb 1733/4; m. 31 Jan 1740/1 Mary Lloyd, Duke Street, London; d. 30 Apr 1751. DNB.

COWLEY, ABRAHAM, seventh and posthumous child of Thomas Cowley, St. Michael Le Querne, London, citizen and stationer; b. 1618; adm.; Min. Can. 1630; KS; author, Poetical Blossoms, dedicated to his schoolmaster Lambert Osbaldeston (qv) and published 1633; while in College he also wrote Love’s Riddle, a pastoral comedy, not published until 1638; failed to obtain election to either university 1636; Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 21 Apr 1636, scholar (by dispensatory letter from King) 14 Jun 1637; his Latin play, Naufragium Joculare, was played before the University by members of Trinity Coll. 2 Feb 1638; BA 1639/40; MA 1643; Minor Fellow, Trinity Coll., from 30 Oct 1640; ejected by Parliamentary Visitors 1644 and went to Oxford, taking up residence in St. John’s Coll.; went abroad 1646; employed in diplomatic services by exiled Royalist court; returned to England as Royalist spy 1656; author, Miscellanies, 1656; MD Oxford 2 Dec 1657 (incorp. Cambridge 11 Jul 1664); withdrew to France, but returned at Restoration; applied for Mastership of Savoy 1661, unsuccessfully; one of original fellows of Royal Society; his works were first published in a collected form in 1668, when Several Discourses by way of Essays in Prose and Verse appeared for the first time; some hitherto unpublished Verses on the Happy Birth of the Duke of York are printed in the Elizabethan, v, 54-5, viii, 281; d. 28 Jul 1667, and buried in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

CRAMER, JOHN ANTHONY, son of John Anthony Cramer, Mittoden, Switzerland, and Henrietta Courtet; b.; adm.; KS (aged 14) 1807; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1811, matr. 28 May 1811, Westminster Student, Tutor; 1st cl., Classics and Mathematics, 1814; BA 1814; MA 1817; BD 1830; DD 1831; ordained; Curate, Binsey, Oxfordshire 1822-45; Vice-Principal, St. Alban Hall, Oxford 1823-5; Select Preacher 1826, 1831; Public Orator 1829-42; Principal, New Inn Hall (which he rebuilt) 1831-47; Regius Professor of Modern History from 1842; Dean of Carlisle from 21 Dec 1844; author, A Description of Ancient Italy, 1826, and other works; m. 27 May 1823 (IGI) Henrietta [or Harriet ?] Ashton; d. 24 Aug 1848. DNB.