Item PRS/7/16 - The Flagellant

SOUTHEY, ROBERT, son of Robert Southey, Bristol, linen draper, and Margaret, dau. of Edward Hill, Bedminster, Somerset, attorney; b. 12 Aug 1774; adm. 2 Apr 1788 (Ottley); Min. Can. 1789; an elegy written by him on his sister’s death was refused for publication by the editors of The Trifler; he, Grosvenor Charles Bedford (qv), and Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn (adm. 1784, qv) founded The Flagellant, which appeared for the first time 1 Mar 1792, but he was expelled from the School for writing the article against excessive flogging in the fifth number, dated 29 Mar 1792; refused admittance to Christ Church, Oxford, and went to Balliol Coll. Oxford, matr. 3 Nov 1792, where he resided for a year and a half, making the acquaintance of S. T. Coleridge; author, Joan of Arc 1796; adm. Gray’s Inn 7 Feb 1797; author, Thalaba 1801; settled at Keswick, Cumberland 1803; author, Madoc 1805, The Curse of Kahama, 1810; Poet Laureate from 12 Aug 1813; author, Life of Nelson 1813, Life of Wesley 1820; MP Downton 1826 – Dec 1826, when unseated for not possessing a sufficient property qualification; during his career his political and religious opinions altered, the republican becoming a Tory and the independent thinker a champion of the established church; author of a large number of books, including the standard edition of William Cowper’s (qv) Works in 15 vols, 1833-7; contributed 95 articles to the Quarterly Review; m. 1st, 14 Nov 1795 Edith, dau. of Stephen Fricker, Westbury, Wilts.; m. 2nd, 4 Jun 1839 Caroline Anne, poetess, dau. of Capt. Charles Bowles, EICS Bengal, Buckland Cottage, Lymington, Hampshire; d. 21 Mar 1843. Monument in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

WILLIAMS-WYNN, CHARLES WATKIN, brother of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, Bart. (adm. 1784, qv); b. 9 Oct 1775; adm. 23 Mar 1784; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 24 Dec 1791, Canoneer Student 23 Dec 1791 – void 23 Jun 1805; BA 1795; MA 1798; DCL 1810; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 21 Apr 1795, called to bar 26 Nov 1798, Bencher 30 Jan 1835; MP Old Sarum 29 Jul 1797 – Mar 1799, Montgomeryshire from 14 Mar 1799 (“father” of the House of Commons from 1846); Under-Secretary, Home Office 19 Feb 1806 – Oct 1807; defeated by Manners-Sutton in contest for the Speakership 2 Jun 1817; he had entered politics as a member of the parliamentary group that followed his uncle Lord Grenville, and when the Grenvillites separated themselves from their Whig allies in 1818-9 he sought to form a third party in the House of Commons, but thereafter acted with the Tories, except for a brief period in 1830-1 when he held office in Earl Grey’s incoming Whig government; Privy Councillor 17 Jan 1822; President, Board of Control 8 Feb 1822 – Feb 1828; Secretary at War Nov 1830 – Apr 1831, also member Board of Control; Chancellor, Duchy of Lancaster 26 Dec 1834 – Apr 1835; member, Society of Dilettanti 1805; President, Royal Asiatic Society 1823-41; FRS 24 May 1827; FSA; while at school Wynn assisted Robert Southey (qv) and Grosvenor Charles Bedford (qv) in the production of The Flagellant Mar – Apr 1792; remained an intimate friend of Southey, to whom he made an allowance for some years; took a keen interest in the School, and offered an Indian Writership for competition among the boys in 1826 and 1829; Busby Trustee 15 Jun 1829; author, An Argument upon the Jurisdiction of the House of Commons to commit in Cases of Breach of Privilege, 1810; m. 9 Apr 1806 Mary, eldest dau. of Sir Foster Cunliffe, Bart.; d. 2 Sep 1850. DNB.

BEDFORD, GROSVENOR CHARLES, eldest son of Charles Bedford, Brixton, Surrey, and New P{alace Yard, Westminster, Deputy Usher, Court of Exchequer, and Mary Page; b. 1773; adm. 2 Mar 1784; took the part of the Dauphin in play King John acted by the Town Boys Dec 1789; assisted Robert Southey (qv) and Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn (qv) in the production of the short-lived Flagellant, Mar-Apr 1792; Assistant Clerk, Exchequer Office, 1792-1803, Clerk of the Cash Book 1803-6, Clerk of the Registers and Issues 1806-22, Chief Clerk in Auditor’s Office 1822-34; adm. Gray’s Inn 26 Jan 1797; his correspondence with Southey is printed in Southey’s Life and Correspondence, 1849; translated Musaeus’s Lives of Hero and Leander, 1797; co-editor with Southey of Specimens of the Later English Poets, 1807; d. unm. 14 Jun 1839.

STRACHEY, GEORGE, son of John Strachey (adm. 1750, qv); b. 30 Aug 1776; adm. 12 Jun 1787; was Robert Southey’s “substance” in 1788; Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 25 Jun 1792, scholar 19 Apr 1795; BA 1797; MA 1822; adm. Middle Temple 21 Nov 1792; Writer, EICS Madras 1796; Assistant, Military Secret and Political Dept., 1798; Secretary and Accountant to Commissioners of Sinking Fund 1803; Secretary to Finance Committee 1805; Joint Assay Master 1807; Private Secretary to Governor 1808; Judge and Magistrate, Zillah of Cuddapah 1809; Secretary, Military Department 1811; Junior Secretary to Government 1812; Chief Secretary 1813-21; retd. 1824; d. 17 Jan 1849.