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LEWIS, MATTHEW GREGORY, elder son of Matthew Lewis (qv); b. 9 Jul 1775; adm. 19 Jul 1783; a successful actor in the Town Boys’ plays; played Falconbridge in King John and My Lord Duke in High Life below Stairs to great applause (Letters and Correspondence, i, 42); Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 27 Apr 1790, Canoneer Student 23 Dec 1790 – void 25 Jun 1803; BA 1794; MA 1797; attaché to British Embassy, The Hague May – Dec 1794; author, Ambrosio, or the Monk, 1795, a best-selling novel which made him famous as “Monk” Lewis; MP Hindon 1796-1802; his play, The Castle Spectre, ran for sixty nights from 14 Dec 1797 under Sheridan’s management at Drury Lane; author, Tales of Wonder, 1801, also poems and other plays; visited West Indies estates to make arrangements for welfare of his slaves 1815-6, 1817-8; d. unm. at sea on his voyage home from Jamaica 14 May 1818. DNB.

LYNDE (or LINDE), SIR HUMPHREY, son of Cuthbert Lynde, Westminster, citizen and grocer, and Margery Baylie; bapt. 27 Aug 1579; adm.; QS; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1596, matr. 14 Jan 1596/7, Westminster Stufdent to 1601; BA 1600; adm. Middle Temple 12 Jun 1601; of Cobham, Surrey; knighted 29 Oct 1613; MP Breconshire Feb – Jun 1626; a puritan controversialist, being “a severe enemy to the ponteficians as well in his common discourse, as in his writings” (Wood, Ath. Oxon., ii, dci); author, Via Tuta, the safe way to the true, antient, and Catholic faith, now professed in the Church of England, 1628, and other works; d. 8 Jun 1636. DNB.

MARKHAM, SIR CLEMENTS ROBERT, son of David Frederick Markham (qv); b. 20 Jul 1830; adm. 26 May 1842 (Benthall); Min. Can. 1843; left Jun 1844; Cadet, Royal Navy 18 Jul 1844; Midshipman 28 Jun 1846; served in Capt. Austin’s Arctic expedition in search of Sir John Franklin May 1850 – Oct 1851; left Navy 28 Dec 1851; travelled in Peru 1852-3; Clerk, Legacy Duty Office, Inland Revenue Dec 1853 – Jul 1854; Clerk, Board of Control Jul 1854; Clerk, Correspondence Dept., India Office; Private Secretary to T. G. Baring MP when Parliamentary Under-Secretary, India Office 1862-4; Assistant Secretary, Public Works Dept., India Office 1867-71, Judicial Public and Revenue Dept. 1871-7; CB 17 May 1871; KCB 20 May 1896; introduced the cultivation of cinchona into British India from Peru 1859-61; geographer with British Army in Ethiopia 1867-8; took an active interest in Polar expedition and largely responsible for the despatch of Sir George Nares’s expedition in 1874 and that of Capt. R. F. Scott in 1901; Secretary, Hakluyt Society 1858-86, President 1886-1909; Secretary to Royal Geographical Society 1863-88, Gold Medallist 1888, President 1893-1905; President, International Geographical Congress, London 1895; FSA 12 Dec 1861; FRS 12 Jun 1873; DSc Cambridge 12 Jun 1907, Leeds 11 Jun 1910; an enthusiastic Old Westminster; acted as Secretary to OW Crimean and Indian Memorial Committee, and Chairman of the Committee for the decoration of the School walls with the arms of distinguished OWW; contemplated writing his reminiscences of the School, and left in MS his recollections as a small boy up Benthall’s in 1842-4; President, Elizabethan Club 1898-1912; Busby Trustee from 16 May 1899; a Governor of the School 16 Nov 1899 – 28 Jul 1913; a voluminous writer on Peru and the history of geographical discovery; m. 23 Apr 1857 Mary Anne (Minna), dau. of Rev. James Hamilton John Chichester, Rector of Arlington, Devon; d. 30 Jan 1916, after a shock from a fire in his room by which he was seriously injured. DNB.

MARSHAM, SIR JOHN, BART., second son of Thomas Marsham, Alderman of London, and Magdalen, dau. of Richard Springham, London, merchant; b. 23 Aug 1602; adm. Jun 1617; St. John’s Coll. Oxford, matr. 22 Oct 1619; BA 17 Feb 1622/3; MA 1625; Grand Tour 1625-7 (France, Italy, Germany); adm. Middle Temple 5 Feb 1627/8; one of Six Clerks in Chancery 15 Feb 1637/8 – deprived by Parliament 1641, reinstated Jun 1660 – Oct 1680, when he resigned and the post passed to his son Robert; MP Rochester Apr – Dec 1660; knighted 1 Jul 1660; created baronet 12 Aug 1663; an antiquary interested in Egyptology; author, Chronicus Canon Aegypticus, Ebraicus, Graecus, et Disquisitiones, 1672, and other treatises; m. 13 Jan 1630/1 Elizabeth, dau. of Sir William Hammond, St. Albans, Nonnington, Kent; d. 25 May 1685. DNB.

MEREDITH, SIR WILLIAM, BART., second son of Amos Meredith, Chester, Cheshire, and Joanna, dau. of Thomas Cholmondeley, Vale Royal, Cheshire; bapt. St. John the Baptist, Chester 10 Mar 1724 (IGI); adm. (aged 13) Oct 1738 (Playford's); left 1742; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 24 Mar 1742/3; DCL 14 Apr 1749 (incorp. LLD Cambridge 1758); succ. grandfather as 3rd baronet Jan 1752; of Henbury, Cheshire; MP Wigan 1754-61, Liverpool 1761-80; Lord of the Admiralty Aug 1765 – Nov 1766; Comptroller of the Household Mar 1774 – Dec 1777, resigning on grounds of his opposition to the American war; Privy Councillor 9 Mar 1774; a prominent member of the House of Commons; author, Historical Remarks on the Taxation of Free States, 1778, and other pamphlets; d. unm. at Lyon, France 2 Jan 1790. DNB.

MONTAGU, EDWARD WORTLEY, eldest son of Edward Wortley Montagu (b. 1678, qv); b. May 1713; inoculated for smallpox at Belgrade 18 Mar 1718, being the first native of this country to undergo that operation; at school under Freind (Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, iv, 626-7); ran away more than once; sent to the West Indies under charge of a tutor; returned to England c. 1733; Grand Tour (Italy) 1740; Leyden Univ., adm. 6 Sep 1741; studied Arabic and European languages; Cornet, 7th Dragoons 1743; Capt. -Lieut., 1st Foot 1745; retd. 1748; served at battle of Fontenoy; MP Huntingdonshire 1747-54, Bossiney 1754-68; one of the Secretaries at Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle 1748; Society of Dilettanti 1749; FRS 31 May 1750; FSA 17 Dec 1761; successfully sued by Abraham Payba for cheating at faro in Paris 1751; finally left England early in 1761; travelled in Italy, Egypt and Palestine; adopted Islamic dress and professed Islamic beliefs, but died a Roman Catholic, into which church he had been received at Jerusalem 29 Oct 1764 (Notes and Queries, 4th series, xi, 7-8); author, Reflections on the Rise and Fall of the Antient Republics, 1759, and other works; m. in or after 1733 “a handsome honest laundress older than himself, of whom he got tired in a few weeks” (but he paid her a small annuity until his death) (Doran, In and about Drury Lane, 1881, ii, 288, 324); subsequently went through the ceremony of marriage several times, and left several illegitimate children for whom he provided in his will, including a black boy; d. at Padua, Italy, from effects of swallowing a fishbone, 29 Apr 1776. DNB.

MORRIS, EDWARD, brother of Charles Morris (qv); b. Jul 1768; adm. 12 Jan 1778; Trinity Hall, Cambridge, adm. pens. 4 Jun 1783, aged 14, scholar 1 Mar 1784; migrated to Peterhouse, Cambridge, adm. pens. 17 Dec 1784, Wort’s Travelling Bachelor 1788; 10th Wrangler 1788; BA 1788; MA 1791; Fellow, Peterhouse 1791; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 1 May 1787, Inner Temple 16 May 1795, called to bar 19 Jun 1795; a Commissioner of Bankrupts (occurs in annual lists 1807-8); MP Newport (Cornwall) 20 Jun 1803-12; Solicitor to the Ordnance 1806-7; a Master in Chancery from 1 Apr 1807; FRS 18 Jun 1812; author The Adventurers, 1790, and two other plays; m. 26 Jan 1805 Hon. Mary Erskine, third dau. of Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine PC, Lord Chancellor; d. 13 Apr 1815.

FINCH, DANIEL, 6TH EARL OF WINCHILSEA AND 2ND EARL OF NOTTINGHAM, eldest son of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham (qv); b. 2 Jul 1647; adm.; a boarder of Busby’s for over three years (Busby’s Account Book); adm. Inner Temple 28 Jan 1657/8; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 26 Jul 1662; MP Great Bedwyn Feb 1672/3 - Jan 1678/9, Lichfield Aug 1679-81 (check); a Lord of the Admiralty 14 May 1679 - Feb 1680/1; Privy Councillor 4 Feb 1679/80; First Lord of the Admiralty 19 Feb 1680/1 - May 1684; succ. father as 2nd Earl of Nottingham 18 Dec 1682; one of the last to accept the Revolution settlement of 1688-9, although he always kept aloof from the Jacobites; Secretary of State 19 Feb 1688/9 - Nov 1693; carried the Toleration Act, but failed to get his Comprehension Bill passed; again Secretary of State 15 May 1702 - May 1704, when he resigned on the Whigs becoming predominant in the ministry; an active head of the High Church party during the rest of the reign of Queen Anne; carried act forbidding the occasional conformity of dissenters, and opposed preliminaries of peace with France 1711; a leading “Hanoverian Tory” in the years before and immediately after the accession of George I; Lord President of the Council 22 Sep 1714 - Feb 1715/6, when dismissed for advocating leniency to the Jacobite peers then under sentence of death; succ. his second cousin as 6th Earl of Winchilsea 9 Sep 1729; FRS 26 Nov 1668; one of the original trustees of Busby’s will; author, The Answer of the Earl of Nottingham to Mr Whiston’s Letter to him concerning the Eternity of the Son of God, 1721; m. 1st, 16 Jun 1674 Lady Essex Rich, second dau. of Robert Rich, 3rd Earl of Warwick; m. 2nd, 29 Dec 1685 Hon. Anne Hatton, third dau. of Christopher Hatton, 1st Viscount Hatton; d. 1 Jan 1729/30. DNB.

FINCH, HENEAGE, 1ST EARL OF NOTTINGHAM, eldest son of Sir Heneage Finch, Kt, MP, Kensington, Middlesex, Recorder of London, Speaker House of Commons, and his first wife Frances, dau. of Sir Edmund Bell, Beaupré Hall, Norfolk; nephew of Francis Finch (qv); b. 23 Dec 1621; at school under Osbaldeston (Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, iv, 66); Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 18 Feb 1635/6, having Richard Busby (qv) as his tutor (HMC Finch MSS, I, 229-30); DCL 7 Nov 1665; adm. Inner Temple 25 Nov 1638, called to bar 30 Jan 1645/6, Bencher 29 Jun 1660, Treasurer 1661-73; MP Canterbury Apr-Oct 1660, Oxford University Apr 1661-Dec 1673; Solicitor-Gen. 6 Jun 1660 - May 1670; created baronet 7 Jun 1660; Attorney-Gen., 10 May 1670 - Nov 1673; Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 9 Nov 1673; Privy Councillor 12 Nov 1673; created Baron Finch 10 Jan 1673/4; Lord Chancellor from 19 Dec 1674; Lord Lieut. Somerset from 1674; presided as Lord High Steward at the trial of the Earl of Pembroke for manslaughter 1677, and at that of Lord Stafford for treason 1680; created Earl of Nottingham 12 May 1681; an able and zealous supporter of the Church of England and the Crown; never the subject of parliamentary attack or ever lost the confidence of Charles II; the Amri of Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel; m. 30 Jul 1646 Elizabeth, eldest dau. of Daniel Harvey, Folkestone, Kent, a Turkey merchant in the City of London; d. 18 Dec 1682. DNB.

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.