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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form in 1668, when Several Discourses by way of Essays in Prose and Verse appeared for the first time; some hitherto unpublished Verses on the Happy Birth of the Duke of York are printed in the Elizabethan, v, 54-5, viii, 281; d. 28 Jul 1667, and buried in Poets’ Corner, Westminster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.

COWPER, WILLIAM, son of John Cowper (qv), and his first wife; b. 15 Nov 1731; adm. Apr 1742 (Playford's); left 1749; articled to a solicitor 1750-2; adm. Middle Temple 29 Apr 1748, called to bar 14 Jun 1754; fell in love with his cousin Theodora, but the marriage was forbidden by her father; contributed verses to various papers; a member of the Nonsense Club, chiefly composed of Westminster men who dined together weekly; migrated to Inner Temple, adm. there 17 Jun 1757; owned chambers Inner Temple 1757 - still 1781; a Commissioner of Bankrupts (occurs in annual lists 1758-65); Clerk of Journals, House of Lords c. May - Nov 1763; the stress brought on by his acceptance of the appointment caused a suicide attempt and nervous breakdown; an inmate of Nathaniel Cotton’s private lunatic asylum at St. Albans, Dec 1763 - Jun 1765; lived with the Unwins at Huntingdon 1765-7 and subsequently with Mrs Unwin at Olney, where he was employed by the Rev. John Newton as a sort of lay-reader and district visitor; composed hymns, a number of which are printed in Newton’s Olney Hymns, 1779; became engaged to Mrs Unwin; again deranged 1773-5 and for part of that time a guest in Newton’s house; occupied himself in gardening and writing verse; published Anti-Thelypthora, 1781, an anonymous attack on the defence of polygamy written by his cousin Martin Madan (qv) in the previous year; published Poems, Feb 1782; wrote the famous ballad of John Gilpin, first published in The Public Advertiser, Nov 1782; began translating Homer 1784; published The Task, 1785; removed to Weston, Nov. 1786; again became insane 1787; published his translation of Homer, 1791; undertook to edit Milton; removed in 1795 to East Dereham, Norfolk, where Mrs Unwin died in the following year; a complete edition of his works was published in 15 vols. by Robert Southey (qv) in 1834-7; Cowper’s schooldays, to which he frequently refers in his correspondence, were probably the happiest days of his life, and his recollections of them afforded him much pleasure; he appears to have enjoyed playing cricket and football; his favourite friend was Sir William Russell, Bart. (qv), but he was “much intimate” with Walter Bagot (adm. 1739/40, qv); he had a “particular value” for Warren Hastings (qv), to whom he addressed some lines on his impeachment, and he showed his friendly feeling for Robert Lloyd (qv) in the verse epistle which he addressed to him in 1754; his poem Table Talk contains an interesting allusion to the custom in his time of awarding pieces of Maundy Money for a good copy of verses (lines 507-11); d. unm. 25 Apr 1800. Memorial window in baptistery of 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.

CREIGHTON, ROBERT, son of Robert Creighton (elected to Camb. 1613, qv); b. adm.; KS; elected head to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1655, adm. pens. 23 May 1655, scholar 1655, matr. Easter 1656; 10th in “ordo” 1658/9; BA 1658/9; MA 1662; DD 1678; Fellow of Trinity Coll. 1659 - c. 1668, Tutor 1665; Regius Professor of Greek 1666-72; Chaplain in Ordinary to Charles II; Reptor of Uplowman, Devon, 1670; Rector of Ashbrittle, Somerset, from 22 Oct 1670; Prebendary of Wells from 23 Aug 1662, also Precentor and Canon Residentiary from 2 May 1674; in a letter to Richard Busby (qv), dated 15 Dec 1688, preserved among the muniments of the Busby Trustees, Creighton thus acknowledges his obligations to his old master : “I have been your debtor from my childhood, to you I owe my education, and my child’s, my fortune, my Fellowship in Cambridge, my lecture there, my travails, my station in this church, this dividend, myselfe, all, except my infirmities” (Elizabethan xi, 140); composed several services and anthems, one of which, “I will arise” is still a favourite with lovers of church music; m.; d. 17 Feb 1733/4, aged 97. DNB.

CUMBERLAND, RICHARD, only son of Denison Cumberland (qv); b. 19 Feb 1732; adm. from Bury St. Edmunds Sch. Jan 1745/6 (Ludford's); Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 11 Jun 1747, scholar 1748, matr. 1748; 6th Wrangler 1750/1; BA 1750/1; MA 1754; Minor Fellow, Trinity Coll. 1752, Major Fellow 1753; private secretary to George, 2nd Earl of Halifax c. 1754-65; Crown Agent for Nova Scotia c. 1758 - ?; held post of Ulster Secretary Apr 1761 - Apr 1763 during Halifax’s term of office as Lord Lieut. Ireland; Solicitor and Clerk of Reports, Board of Trade 31 May 1765 - Jan 1776, Secretary to Board of Trade 23 Jan 1776 - 2 May 1782, when post abolished; on unsuccessful secret mission to Spain Jun 1780 - Apr 1781, seeking to secure a separate peace with that country; after the abolition of his government appointment he settled in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, holding a commission in local volunteers during Napoleonic Wars; author of numerous comedies, tragedies, translations and novels; his most successful play, The West Indian, was produced by Garrick in 1771 and ran for twenty-eight nights; described by Goldsmith in his Retaliation as “the Terence of England” and caricatured by Sheridan as Sir Fretful Plagiary in The Critic (see Lord Broughton, Recollections of a Long Life, i, 138); wrote with Sir John Bland Burges (qv) an epic called the Exodiad, 1808; author, The Observer, almost the last imitation of The Spectator; his Memoirs, published in 1807, contain several interesting references to the School and to his contemporaries there; m. 19 Feb 1759 Elizabeth, only dau. of George Ridge, Kilmeston, Hants.; d. 7 May 1811. Buried in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

DASENT, SIR GEORGE WEBBE, son of John Roche Dasent (qv) and his second wife; b. 22 May 1817; adm. 14 Apr 1830 (Stelfox's); Min. Can. 1832; left 1834; Magdalen Hall, Oxford, matr. 28 Apr 1836; BA 1840; MA 1843; DCL 1852; secretary to Sir Thomas Cartwright, British Minister at Stockholm, 1840-5; adm. Middle Temple 30 May 1844, called to bar 30 Jan 1852; adm. advocate, Doctors’ Commons 2 Nov 1852; assistant editor, The Times 1845-70, during its editorship by his brother-in-law John Delane; Professor of English Literature and Modern History, King’s Coll. London 1853; a Civil Service Commissioner Jan 1870 - Aug 1892; knighted 27 Jun 1876; a Scandinavian scholar; author, The Story of Burnt Njal, 1861, and other works; his Annals of an Eventful Life contain some interesting reminiscences of the School; m. 4 Apr 1846 Fanny Louisa, third dau. of William Frederick Augustus Delane, Easthampstead, Berks., barrister; d. 11 Jun 1896. DNB.

DELAVAL, EDWARD HUSSEY, brother of Sir Francis Blake Delaval (qv); bapt. 12 Jun 1729; adm. (aged 8) Apr 1738 (Hutton's); left 1748; Pembroke Coll. Cambridge, adm. fellow commoner 4 Jul 1747, matr. 1748; BA 1750/1; MA 1754; Fellow of Pembroke Coll. 1751; contested Newcastle 1754; studied chemistry and experimental philosophy; FRS 6 Dec 1759, Copley Medal 1766; member, Royal Societies of Göttingen and Uppsala, and of Institute of Bologna; inherited Seaton Delaval estate, Northumberland, on death of his elder brother John Hussey Delaval, Baron Delaval (qv), in 1808; author, The Cause of Changes in Opaque and Coloured Bodies, 1777, and of various papers published in Philosophical Transactions; m. 22 Dec 1808 Sarah, dau. of George Scott, Methley, Yorks.; d. 14 Aug 1814. Buried in nave, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

DIBBEN, THOMAS, second son of Richard Dibben, Clare Market, London; b.; adm.; KS 1692; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1696, adm. pens. 17 Jun 1696, aged 18, scholar 23 Apr 1697, readm. as fellow commoner 1702, matr. 1699; BA 1699/1700; MA 1703; BD 1710; DD 1721; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 26 Jun 1699; ordained deacon (London) 16 Jun 1700, dispensation for priest’s orders 12 Jul 1701; Rector of Fontmell Magna, Dorset, from 16 Jul 1701; Chaplain to Right Rev. John Robinson, Bishop of Bristol, at Congress of Utrecht 1713; Precentor of St. Paul’s from 16 Jun 1714; Proctor for Bristol diocese in Convocations of 1715 and 1727; several references to “Dirty Dibben of Dorsetshire” will be found in HMC Bath MSS, vol. iii; became mentally deranged and lost all his money; a Latin poet of some celebrity; translated the Carmen Saeculare of Matthew Prior (qv) into Latin verse, 1700; m.; d. in The Poultry Compter, London 5 Apr 1741. DNB.

DODD, JAMES WILLIAM, son of James William Dodd, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, actor, and Martha Dodd, actress; b.; adm. 24 Sep 1770; KS 1774; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1779, adm. pens. 2 Jun 1779, scholar 7 Apr 1780, matr. Mich. 1781; BA 1783; MA 1786; Minor Fellow 2 Oct 1784, Major Fellow 5 Jul 1785; Westminster School Usher 1784 – death 27 Aug 1818, when described as “Second Usher” ; House Usher to Mrs Clough (by 1796), Mrs.Glover and Mrs.Packharness (Dames, qvv), successive Dames of the Centre House on the Terrace, Dean’s Yard; Vicar of Swineshead, Lincs., 7 Apr 1800-11; Rector of North Runcton, Norfolk, 20 Apr 1811; author, Ballads of Archery, Sonnets etc., 1818; m. 1st, ---; m. 2nd, 16 [check] May 1811 Ann Whitaker, St. Pancras, Middlesex; d. 27 Aug 1818, aged 58. Buried in the East Cloister, Westminster Abbey, memorial tablet in Dark Cloister.