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Wells, William Thomas, son of William Thomas Wells, professional boxer known as "Bombar­dier" Billy Wells and Ellen Kilroy; b. 9 Feb. 1915; adm. Jan. 1929 (R); left Oct. 1930.

Grant's was opened as an independent boarding house by Mrs Margaret Grant, or Mother Grant I, in 1749, when keeping boarders was one of the few respectable occupations for middle-class women. The house continued under the Grants’ management until Mrs Dixon, the last of the family, sold the building to the then housemaster, Charles Alfred Jones in 1868. As well as income from the sale of the house, Mrs Dixon also had a share of the profits of Dixon's antibilious pills, the world-famous 'pill to cure all ills'.

Many traditions survive at Westminster, but one that has been discontinued at Grant’s is the custom that saw new boarders ‘walk the mantelpiece’ in Hall. Lawrence Tanner, a pupil who kept a thorough diary of his time at Westminster, records his own experience of walking the mantelpiece here.

Grantites of particular interest include Lord John Russell (1792-1878), a Whig and Liberal Prime Minister and keen reformist; Charles Longley (1794-1868), Archbishop of Canterbury; Edgar Adrian (1899- 1977), winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology; the actor John Gielgud (1904-2000) and Dominic Grieve MP (1956-).

DRYDEN, CHARLES, eldest son of John Dryden (elected to Trin. Coll. Camb. 1650, qv); b. 6 Sep 1666; adm.; KS (Capt. ) 1680; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1683, adm. pens. 26 Jun 1683, aged 17, scholar 10 Apr 1684, matr. 1683; became a Roman Catholic; resident in Italy 1692-8; Chamberlain to Pope Innocent XII; translated the seventh satire of Juvenal for his father’s English version, and author of at least two published poems; drowned in the Thames, near Datchet, Bucks., 20 Aug 1704. DNB.

DRYDEN, JOHN, second son of John Dryden (elected to Trin. Coll. Camb. 1650, qv); b. 1667; adm.; KS 1682; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1685, but did not take up his election and was placed by his father under the care of Rev. Obadiah Walker, Master of Univ. Coll. Oxford and a Roman Catholic; as a Roman Catholic convert nominated Fellow of Magdalen Coll. Oxford by James II 31 Dec 1687, admitted 11 Jan 1687/8, but removed by the Visitor 25 Oct 1688; went to Rome with his brother Charles Dryden (qv), and officiated as his brother’s deputy and perhaps replacement in the Papal household; accompanied Hon. William Cecil to Naples, Sicily and Malta Oct 1700- Jan 1701, his account of their tour being published posthumously in 1776; translated the 14th satire of Juvenal for his father’s English version; author, The Husband, his own Cuckold, a play performed at the theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1696; d. unm. at Rome 16 Apr 1703. DNB.

Berger, John Stephen, son of Major-General Ernest Archibald Berger, of Baling, by Margaret C., daughter of Thomas Brereton, of Nenagh, co. Tipperary; b. March 4, 1876; adm. Sept. 1889 (H); left July 1892; a mining engineer in S. America, and in Mines Dept., Federated Malay States, 1908-31; m. April 12, 1909, Violet Frances, daughter of Basil Grey, of Ceylon; d. Dec. 15, 1946.

DOUGLAS, JAMES ST. LEGER, brother of John St. Leger Douglas (qv); b.; adm. (aged 9) Jan 1742/3 (Smalridge's); left 1748; Ensign, 3rd Foot Guards 12 Jun 1753; Lieut. and Capt. in Army 3 Sep 1756; Lieut. and Capt., 3rd Foot Guards 5 Jun 1758; Lieut. -Col. in Army 26 Jan 1763; Capt. and Lieut. -Col., 3rd Foot Guards 25 Mar 1768; retd. 1773; British Consul in Naples 28 Aug. 1779 until his death; knighted 20 Apr. 1785; d. 6 May 1795.