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SAUNDERS, CHARLES, son of William Saunders, Brentford, Middlesex; b.; adm.; KS 1674; elected head to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1680, adm. pens. 19 Jun 1680, aged 17, scholar 22 Apr 1681; author of tragedy Tamerlane the Great, written when at school and published in 1681; it was performed at the Theatre Royal, London, and also at Oxford before Charles II, with an epilogue written by John Dryden (qv).

SETTLE, ELKANAH, son of Josias Settle, Dunstable, Beds., and Sarah ---; b. 1 Feb 1647/8; adm.; KS 1663; Trinity Coll. Oxford, matr. 13 Jul 1666; his first play, Cambyses, King of Persia, was performed at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1666; his bombastic plays became so popular that Dryden’s jealousy was aroused and a fierce literary warfare ensued between them; at first a violent Whig, but afterwards an equally violent Tory; City Laureate 1691; writer of drolls for Bartholomew Fair; a Poor Brother of the Charterhouse from 1718; author, Minervae Sacellum, or the Muses’ Address to the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Burlington, on the erecting the New Dormitory for King’s Scholars at Westminster, 1722; author, numerous dramatical and poetic works; m. 28 Feb 1673/4 Mary Warner; d. 12 Feb 1723/4. DNB.

SAVAGE, JOHN, son of William Savage, Westminster; b.; adm.; KS (aged 14) 1687; left 1690; Emmanuel Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 13 Feb 1691; 3rd in “ordo” 1694/5; BA 1694/5; MA 1698 (incorp. Oxford 24 May 1705); migr. to Christ Church, Oxford; BD and DD 24 Jun 1707 (incorp. Cambridge 1730); ordained; Rector of Bigrave, Herts., 31 Jan 1700/1 –1708; Rector of Clothall, Herts., from 30 Sep 1708; travelling tutor on European continent with James Cecil, 5th Earl of Salisbury c. 1705 – c. 1710 (?), and subsequently in France and Italy at intervals to 1716; JP Hertfordshire (occurs 1728-46); Lecturer, St. George’s, Hanover Square, London 31 Mar 1732; a “very jolly convivial priest” and much devoted to his old school; wrote the first volume of A Compleat History of Germany, published 1702, and author of a number of translations and other works; d. 24 Mar 1746/7, from the effects of a fall from the stairs of the scaffold erected for the trial of Lord Lovat in Westminster Hall. Tablet to his memory erected in the East Cloisters, Westminster Abbey, by the King’s Scholars 1750, now in Dark Cloister. DNB. [Probably John Savage, son of William Savage and Anne ---, bapt. St. Martin’s in the Fields 9 Oct 1672 (IGI)].

SMALRIDGE, GEORGE, son of Thomas Smalridge, Lichfield, Staffs., dyer; b. 18 May 1662; adm.; KS 1678; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1682, matr. 18 Dec 1682, Westminster Student 18 Dec 1682 – void 1700, Tutor 1687-97, Junior Censor 1693, Senior Censor 1694-5; BA 1686; MA 1689; BD 1698; DD 1701; author, Auctio Davisiana, 1689; with Francis Atterbury (qv) and Anthony Alsop (qv) assisted Charles Boyle in the production of Dr. Bentley’s Dissertations on the Epistles of Phalaris, 1698; ordained; Prebendary of Lichfield 12 Jun 1693-1714; Minister of Broadway Chapel, Westminster 1698-1713; Deputy to Regius Prof. Divinity, Oxford 1700-7; Chaplain in Ordinary to Queen Anne 1710; Canon of Christ Church, Oxford 6 Sep 1711 – Jul 1713, Dean from 18 Jul 1713; Dean of Carlisle 3 Nov 1711 – Jul 1713; consecrated Bishop of Bristol 4 Apr 1714; Lord Almoner Mar 1714 – Nov 1715, when he was dismissed for refusing to sign declaration against the Pretender; the “famous Dr. Smalridge”, as Swift called him, was the most popular bishop of his day; Steele speaks of him in The Tatler as “abounding in the sort of virtue and knowledge which makes religion beautiful”, while Whiston declared him to be one of the most learned and excellent persons in the kingdom; Busby Trustee 14 Feb 1701/2; an edition of sixty of his sermons was published in 1726; he and Robert Freind (KS 1680, qv) married sisters; m. 18 Jul 1700 (IGI) Mary, dau. of Rev. Samuel De L’Angle DD, Prebendary of Westminster and Vicar of Steventon, Berks.; d. 27 Sep 1719. Buried Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. DNB.

SMITH, EDMUND, only son of Edmund Neale, London, merchant, and Margaret, dau. of Sir Nicholas Lechmere, Kt, Baron of the Exchequer; bapt. St. Bartholomew Exchange, London 29 Jan 1671 (IGI); adopted by a kinsman named Smith, whose surname he assumed; adm.; KS 1684; elected head to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1688, but went to Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 25 Jun 1688, aged 16, Canoneer Student 9 Jul 1688 – expulsion 20 Dec 1705; BA 1692; MA 1696; his irregular behaviour frequently brought him into conflict with the authorities at Oxford; admonished for profligate behaviour 24 Dec 1694, conditionally expelled for riotous behaviour 24 Apr 1700 and eventually deprived of his Studentship for lampooning Henry Aldrich (qv), then Dean of Christ Church; adm. Inner Temple 1690; his tragedy Phaedra and Hippolytus, with a prologue by Addison and an epilogue by Prior, was produced at the Haymarket Theatre 21 Apr 1707; Johnson declared that Smith’s Latin ode on the death of Dr. Pococke was unequalled among modern writers, and that his Elegy on John Philips was “among the best elegies which our language can show” (Lives of the Poets, ed. Hill, ii, 12, 16); his Works, with a life by William Oldisworth, were published in 1719; buried Hartham, Wilts., Jul 1710. DNB.

SHERIDAN, THOMAS, third son of Rev. Thomas Sheridan DD, King’s Mint House, Capel Street, Dublin, schoolmaster, and Elizabeth, only child of Charles MacFadden, Quilca House, co. Cavan; b.; adm. (aged 11) Feb 1732/3; KS 1734; left 1734; Trinity Coll. Dublin, matr. 26 May 1735, scholar 1738; BA 1739; became an actor; appeared as Richard III at Dublin Jan 1743; for several years manager of Theatre Royal, Smock Alley, Dublin; played at Covent Garden 1754-5 and at Drury Lane 1744, 1763; ranked by Churchill in the Rosciad as next to Garrick as a tragic actor; a successful lecturer on elocution; gave readings with Henderson in London; procured the grant of a government pension to Samuel Johnson and also to himself (G. B. Hill, ed, Boswell’s Johnson, i, 372-7, 385-6); MA Oxford 28 Nov 1758, Cambridge 16 Mar 1769; hon. freeman, City of Edinburgh 8 Jul 1761; a voluminous writer; author, A General; Dictionary of the English Language, 1780; father of Right Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan PC MP, politician and playwright; m. 1747 Frances, dau. of Ven. Philip Chamberlayne DD, Archdeacon of Glendalough; d. 14 Aug 1788. DNB.

STEPNEY, GEORGE, son of George Stepney, Groom of the Chamber to Charles II [sic, but check], and Mary, eldest dau. of Sir Bernard Whetstone, Kt, Woodford, Essex; b. 1663; adm.; KS 1676; elected head to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1682, adm. pens. 28 Jun 1682, scholar 9 May 1683, matr. 1682; 4th in “ordo” 1685/6; BA 1685/6; MA 1689; Fellow, Trinity Coll. 6 Jul 1689 – c. 1698; entered on a successful diplomatic career with the aid of his friend and schoolfellow Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax (qv); Envoy to Brandenburg 1692, 1693, Vienna 1693, Saxony 1695, German Princes and Congress at Frankfurt 1696-7, Vienna again 1702-5; a Commissioner of Trade from 9 Jun 1699; Envoy to the Hague from 1706; taken ill and returned to England Aug 1707; FRS 30 Nov 1697; contributed to Dryden’s Miscellany Poems, 1684, and to Dryden’s translation of Juvenal, 1693; his poems were reprinted in Chalmers’s English Poets; d. unm. 15 Sep 1707. Buried South Aisle, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

STANYAN, TEMPLE, younger son of Lawrence Stanyan, Monken Hadley, Middlesex, merchant, farmer and Commissioner of Revenue (I), and Dorothy, dau. of Henry Knapp, Woodcote, South Stoke, Oxfordshire; b.; adm.; KS 1691; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1695, matr. 18 Jun 1695, aged 18, Westminster Student 30 Dec 1695 – void 1700; Clerk, Secretary of State’s Office Feb 1708 – Feb 1709, Chief Clerk Feb 1709 – Jul 1711, Sep 1713 – Aug 1715, Under-Secretary Oct 1715 – Jun 1729; Clerk in Ordinary, Privy Council, from 3 Feb 1719/20 [previously Clerk Extraordinary from 1717 ?]; FRS 12 May 1726; author, Grecian History, 1739; m. 1st, Elizabeth, widow of William Boys, Hawkhurst, Kent, and dau. of Sir Anthony Shirley, Bart.; m. 2nd, 2 Jan 1720/1 Susanna, only dau. of Dr. Thomas Hobbs, Asley, Hampshire; m. 3rd, 28 Apr 1726 Grace, dau. of Grimbold Pauncefort, Clater Park, Herefs.; d. 29 Mar 1752. DNB.

STRODE, WILLIAM, elder son of Philip Strode, Plympton, Devon, and Wilmot, dau. of William Houghton, Houghton Towers, Lancs.; bapt. 11 Jan 1602/3; adm.; KS; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1617, matr. 1 Jun 1621, aged 19, Westminster Student; BA 1621; MA 1624 (incorp. Cambridge 1628); BD 1631; DD 1638; Public Orator, Oxford Univ. from 1629; Proctor 1629; ordained; Rector of East Bradenham, Norfolk, 1633; Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, from 1 Jul 1638; Vicar of Black Bourton, Oxfordshire 1638; Vicar of Badby, Northants 22 Aug 1639-42; author The Floating Island, a tragi-comedy acted by the Students of Christ Church before Charles I 29 Aug 1636 (a published version appeared in 1655), and of some occasional verse; m. 17 Jul 1642 Mary, dau. of Rev. John Sympson DD, Prebendary of Canterbury; d. 10 Mar 1644/5. Buried Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. DNB.

STUBBE, EDMUND, son of Francis Stubbe, Scottowe, Norfolk, and Anne, dau. of Robert Coke, Mileham, Norfolk, and sister of Sir Edward Coke, Kt, Chief Justice of the King’s Bench; b.; adm.; KS ; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1610, adm. scholar 1611, matr. Easter 1611; BA 1614/5; MA 1618; BD 1631; Fellow, Trinity Coll. 1616 – c. 1621; ordained; Rector of Huntingfield, Suffolk, from 1621; Rector of Longford, Derbyshire 1630; Rector of Cookley, Suffolk 1635; adm. Gray’s Inn 16 Nov 1635 [sic : check]; author, Fraus Honesta, a Latin comedy acted at Cambridge, afterwards published in 1635; m. 15 Oct 1627 (IGI) Margaret, dau. of Wolfran Smith, Lackfield, Suffolk; d. 9 Apr 1659.