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PRIOR, MATTHEW, son of George Prior, St.Stephen’s Alley, Westminster, joiner, and Elizabeth ---; bapt.St.Margaret, Westminster 2 Aug 1664; at school under Busby three years; left after reaching the middle of the third form to assist his uncle Arthur, a vintner, at the Rhenish Wine House, Channel Row, Westminster; returned to the School under the patronage of Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset (qv); KS 1681; St.John’s Coll.Cambridge, adm.pens. 2 Apr 1683, scholar 1684, matr. 1683; BA 1686/7; MA 1700; Keyton Fellow, St. John’s Coll. 5 Apr 1688; author of The Hind and Panther transvers’d to the Story of the Town and Country Mouse, 1687, written as a reply to Dryden; Secretary to Embassy, The Hague 1690-7; employed as Secretary in negotiations resulting in the Treaty of Ryswick 1697; Chief Secretary to Lords Justices of Ireland May 1697 – Nov 1699, but did not execute duties of post; FRS 23 Mar 1697/8; Secretary to Embassy, Paris 1698-9; author, Carmen Saeculare, 1699; Under Secretary of State, Southern Department May 1699 – Jun 1700; a Commissioner of Trade 1700-7; MP East Grinstead Feb – Nov 1701; joined Tories on accession of Queen Anne; a Commissioner of Customs 1712-4; went to Paris to negotiate peace Jul 1711, subsequently acting as Minister Plenipotentiary there; the Treaty of Utrecht, signed 11 Apr 1713, was familiarly known as “Matt’s Peace”; impeached by Walpole and imprisoned 1715-7; his Poems, published by subscription in 1719, earned him 4000 guineas; presented by his patron Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford (qv), with £4000 for the purchase of Down Hall, Essex; possessed aptitude for business and a knowledge of commerce; Thackeray described Prior’s as “amongst the easiest, the richest, the most charmingly humorous of English lyrical poems” (English Humourists, 1866, 175); d. 18 Sep 1721, buried Westminster Abbey, at his desire “at the feet of Spenser”; 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.

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.

VANE, SIR HENRY, eldest son of Sir Henry Vane, Kt MP, Treasurer of the Household and Secretary of State, Hadlow, Kent, and Raby Castle, co. Durham, and Frances, dau. of Thomas Darcy, Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex; bapt. 26 May 1613; at schoool under Osbaldeston (Wood, Athenae Oxon., iii, 578); became a puritan at age of 15; Magdalen Hall, Oxford, adm. fellow commoner, aged 16, but did not matr., as he objected to taking the oath; went to New England to obtain freedom of worship 1635; Governor of Massachusetts 1636-7; became entangled in doctrinal controversies and returned to England; Joint Treasurer of the Navy Jan 1639- Dec 41; MP Hull 1640-53; knighted 23 Jun 1640; showed Pym his father's notes of Strafford's advice to Charles I at the Council meeting of 5 May 1640; one of the originators of the bill for the abolition of episcopacy 1641; one of the committee appointed to vindicate the privileges of Parliament on the arrest of the five members; a leader of the war party in the House of Commons; Treasurer of the Navy (for Parliament) Aug 1642 - Dec 1650; conducted the negotiations with the Scots 1643; the virtual leader of the House of Commons after Pym's death; proposed and carried the establishment of the Committee of both Kingdoms 1644; one of the Parliamentary Commissioners at Uxbridge 1645; rejected Charles I’s overtures in 1644 and 1646; a Commissioner to treat with the army at Wycombe 1647; distrusted by the Presbyterians and the Levellers; took no part in Charles I’s trial; member of Council of State 14 Feb 1649; active member of the government 1649-53; a Commissioner for settling Scottish affairs 1651; quarrelled with Cromwell over the expulsion of the Long Parliament 1653; retired to Lincolnshire and refused a seat in the Little Parliament; imprisoned at Carisbrooke Castle as a result of the publication of his book Healing Question, propounded and resolved, 1656; MP Whitchurch in Richard Cromwell’s Parliament; assisted in the abolition of the Protectorate; Commissioner of the Navy and manager of foreign affairs in the restored Long Parliament; unsuccessfully endeavoured to reconcile Parliament and the army; became distrusted by all parties; expelled from the House of Commons 9 Jan 1660; partially excluded from the Act of Indemnity; imprisoned in the Tower of London, and subsequently transported to the Scilly Isles; tried for high treason in Court of King’s Bench, and sentenced to death 11 Jun 1662; an able statesman of enormous industry, but although his devotion to the public service and his freedom from corruption were well known, his religious enthusiasm and his subtlety in speculative matters exposed to him to the charge of being a fanatic and an unscrupulous schemer; author, The Retired Man’s Meditations, 1655, and other works; m. 1 Jul 1640 Frances, dau. of Sir Christopher Wray, Bart., Barlings, Lincs.; executed on Tower Hill 14 Jun 1662. DNB.

Tizard, Sir Henry Thomas, only son of Capt. Thomas Henry Tizard, R.N., C.B., F.R.S., asst. hydrographer to the Admiralty, by Mary Elizabeth, daughter of William H. Church­ward, C.E., of Woking, Surrey; b. Aug. 23, 1885; adm. as exhibitioner Sept. 28, 1899 (R); Q.S. Jan. 1900; left (with Triplett) July 1904; Magd. Coll. Oxon., matric. Michaelmas 1904; demy (Science) 1905; 1st class Maths. (Mods.) 1905; 1st class Nat. Science (Chemistry) 1908; B.A. 1908; senior demy 1909; Fellow of Oriel Coll. and lecturer in Nat. Science 1911-20; M.A. 1911; served in Great War I; Lieut.-Col. R.A.F. April 1, 1918; director of Technical Research and Experiment R.A.F.; mentioned in despatches; A.F.C. Nov. 2, 1918; principal asst. sec. Dept. of Scientific and Industrial Research; F.R.S. 1926; C.I.E. Jan. 1, 1927; Rector of the Imperial Coll. of Science and Technology 1929-42; Hon. Fellow of Oriel Coll. Oxon. 1933; a trustee of the British Museum 1937; K.C.B. Feb. 1, 1937; member of the Air Council 1941-3; president of Magd. Coll. Oxon. 1942-6; chairman of the Defence Research Policy Committee and of the Advisory Council on Scientific Policy 1946-52; Hon. Fellow of Magd. Coll. 1946; Hon. Sc.D., Cambridge, London and Leeds; Hon. LL.D. Queensland and Edinburgh; Hon. D.C.L. Durham; Gold Medallist of the Franklin Society of Philadelphia 1946; president of the British Association 1948; G.C.B. Jan. 1, 1949; a Busby Trustee 1938; a Governor of the School 1939; he was one of the leading scientists of his day, and it was in great part due to his prescience in the development of radar that the R.A.F. won the Battle of Britain in 1940; m. April 24, 1915, Kathleen Eleanor, second daughter of Arthur Prangley Wilson, of Rudgarick, Surrey; d. Oct. 9, 1959; the Henry Tizard Memorial Fund for the promotion of science at Westminster was founded in his memory 1960.

WREN, SIR CHRISTOPHER, son of Very Rev. Christopher Wren, Dean of Windsor, and Mary, dau. of Robert Cox, Fonthill Abbey, Wilts.; bapt. 10 Nov 1632; adm. 1641; left 1646; Wadham Coll. Oxford, adm. fellow commoner 25 Jun 1649 (or 1650); BA 18 Mar 1650/1; MA 1653; DCL 1661; LLD Cambridge 1662; Fellow, All Souls Coll. Oxford 1653-7; Professor of Astronomy, Gresham Coll., London 1657-61; Savilian Professor of Astronomy, Oxford Univ. 5 Feb 1660/1- 9 Mar 1673; initiated experiments on the cause of the variations of the barometer; conducted research into anatomy and medical subjects; drew up the preamble to the first charter of the Royal Society 1660; one of the Council named in the second charter of the Royal Society 22 Apr 1663; FRS 20 May 1663 (original Fellow); one of the three Commissioners named by Charles II in October 1666 to consider rebuilding the city of London after the Great Fire; Surveyor of the King’s Works Mar 1668/9-1718; knighted 20 Nov 1673; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 25 Apr 1676; President, Royal Society 30 Nov 1680 – 30 Nov 1682; Comptroller of Works, Windsor Castle 1684-1716; MP Plympton 1685-7, Windsor Jan 1688/9 – unseated 14 May 1689, Mar 1689/90 – unseated 17 May 1690, Weymouth and Melcombe Regis Nov 1701-2; Surveyor of St. Paul’s Cathedral from 1675; Surveyor, Greenwich Hospital 1696-1716; Surveyor to the Fabric, Westminster Abbey, from 1699; architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral, many London city churches and halls of City livery companies, Temple Bar, the Monument, Greenwich Hospital, Chelsea Hospital, the Sheldonian Theatre and Old Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Tom Tower, Christ Church, Oxford, and Neville’s Court and the Library, Trinity Coll. Cambridge; made extensive alterations and additions at Hampton Court, Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace and Westminster Abbey; purchased Wroxall Abbey estate, Warwickshire, for his son 1713; m. 1st, 27 Dec 1669 Faith, dau. of Sir Thomas Coghill, Kt, Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire; m. 2nd, 24 Feb 1676/7 Hon. Jane Fitzwilliam, sister of Hon. Charles Fitzwilliam (qv); d. 25 Feb 1722/3. Buried St. Paul’s Cathedral. DNB.

NEWDIGATE, SIR ROGER, BART., brother of Sir Edward Newdigate, Bart. (qv); b. 30 May 1719; adm. Oct 1727; KS (Capt. ) 1732; succ. brother as 5th baronet 4 Apr 1734; left Jan 1736; University Coll. Oxford, matr. 9 Apr 1736; MA 1738; DCL 13 Apr 1749; Grand Tour (France, Italy) 1738-40; of Harefield Place, Middlesex, and Arbury, Warwickshire; MP Middlesex 5 Aug 1742-7, Oxford University 31 Jan 1751-80; again travelling in Europe 1774-6; a staunch Tory, described in 1767 by Horace Walpole as a “half-converted Jacobite”; interested in architecture and classical sculpture; a benefactor of University Coll. and of the Radcliffe Library; founded Newdigate Prize for English verse at Oxford Univ. 1806; m. 1st, 31 May 1743 Sophia, dau. of Edward Conyers MP, Copped Hall, Epping, Essex; m. 2nd, 3 Jun 1776 Hester Margaretta, dau. of Edward Mundy, Shipley, Derbs.; d. 20 Nov 1806. DNB.

BURGOYNE, JOHN, second son of Capt. John Burgoyne, Sherborne, Warwicks., and Anna Maria, dau. of Charles Burneston, Hackney, Middlesex; b. 4 Feb 1722/3; in school lists 1733, 1735-8; an intimate friend of James Smith Stanley, Lord Strange (qv); Cornet, 1st Royal Dragoons, 14 Jul 1743; Lieut., 22 Feb 1745; Capt., 1 Jul 1745; sold out 31 Oct 1751, on account of his debts, and resided for some years in France and Italy; re-entered Army as Capt., 11th Dragoons, 14 Jun 1756; Capt. -Lieut. and Lieut. -Col., 2nd Foot Guards, 10 May 1758; served in expeditions to Cherbourg and St. Malo 1758-9; raised 16th Dragoons and gazetted as Lieut. -Col. commandant, 4 Aug 1759; served in Portugal as Brig. -Gen., 1762; Brevet Col., 8 Oct 1762; Col. 16th Dragoons, 18 Mar 1763 - Oct 1779; Governor of Fort William 1769-79; Maj. -Gen., 25 May 1772; served in America 1775; present at battle of Bunker Hill; second in command under Sir Guy Carleton in Canada, 1776, in supreme command 1777; Lieut. -Gen., 29 Aug 1777; surrendered to Gates at Saratoga, 17 Oct 1777; allowed by Washington to return to England on parole, where he resigned his regiment and governorship; on the return of his political friends to power in 1782 became Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, 7 Jun 1782, holding post to 1784; Col., 4th Foot, from 7 Jun 1782; MP Midhurst 1761-8, Preston from 29 Nov 1768; proposed in 1772 that the East India Company should be controlled by the government; made a violent attack on Clive in May 1773, and was a manager of the impeachment of Warren Hastings, 1787; Privy Councillor (I) 4 May 1782; member, Society of Dilettanti, 1772; contributed to the Rolliad and Probationary Odes; author, The Heiress, 1786, and other plays; m. 1743 Lady Charlotte Stanley, sister of James Smith Stanley, Lord Strange (qv); d. 4 Aug 1792; buried North Cloister, 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.

Radcliffe, Geoffrey Reynolds Yonge, brother of John Edward Yonge Radcliffe (q.v.); b. April 3, 1886; adm. as exhibitioner Sept. 28, 1899 (G); K.S. (non-resident) 1901; elected to an exhibition at Ch. Ch. Oxon. July 1905, matric. Michaelmas 1905; 1st class Lit. Hum. 1909; B.A. 1909; Eldon Scholar 1911; M.A. 1912; adm. to Lincoln's Inn 1906 called to the bar Jan. 27, 1913; Fellow, Tutor, and Law lecturer New Coll. Oxon. 1920; Bursar 1924; member of the Hebdomadal Council 1926; Principal of the Law Society's School of Law 1928-40; Bursar of New College 1924-56; Emeritus Fellow since 1956; Upper Bailiff of the Weavers Company 1929, 1941 and 1952; a Governor of the School 1942; a Busby Trustee 1949; President of the Elizabethan Club 1955-8; 2nd Lieut. 23rd London Regt. (T.F.) Nov. 14, 1914; served in France 1915, and was wounded; Capt. June 1, 1916; General Staff Officer Nov. 10, 1916; Brevet Major 1918; m. Jan. 18, 1918, Sylvia, youngest daughter of Ernest Capel Cure, of South Kensington; d. July 18, 1959.