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form in 1668, when Several Discourses by way of Essays in Prose and Verse appeared for the first time; some hitherto unpublished Verses on the Happy Birth of the Duke of York are printed in the Elizabethan, v, 54-5, viii, 281; d. 28 Jul 1667, and buried in Poets’ Corner, Westminster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

DOLBEN, JOHN, eldest son of William Dolben (elected Oxford 1603, qv); b. 24 Mar 1624/5; adm.; KS 1637; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1640, matr. 3 Jul 1640, Westminster Student 1640 - 7 Jul 1648, when deprived for refusing to submit to the Parliamentary Visitors; BA and MA 9 Dec 1647; BD and DD 3 Oct 1660; joined royalist army as volunteer, wounded at Marston Moor and again during siege of York; promoted for his bravery to the ranks of Capt. and Major; returned to studies at Oxford 1646; ordained deacon (Chichester) 1656; with John Fell and Richard Allestree continued to hold the services of the prescribed Church of England in the house of Dr Thomas Willis in Oxford, an act of loyalty commemorated by Sir Peter Lely in his picture of the three divines in Christ Church Hall; Canon of Christ Church, Oxford 27 Jul 1660- Nov 1666; Rector of Newington cum Britwell, Oxfordshire 1660; Chaplain in Ordinary to Charles II; Prebendary of St. Paul’s 21 Apr 1661 – Nov 1666; Archdeacon of London 11 Oct 1662- May 1664; Vicar of St. Giles, Cripplegate, London, 15 Nov 1662 - res 18 Mar 1663/4; Dean of Westminster 3 Dec 1662 - Aug 1683; he and the Westminster Scholars assisted in saving St. Dunstan in the East from the Great Fire 3 Sep 1666 (Autobiography of William Taswell, Camden Soc. Pub. lv, 12); Clerk of the Closet 1664 - Dec 1667, deprived on Clarendon’s fall; consecrated Bishop of Rochester 25 Nov 1666; Lord High Almoner 21 Oct 1675 - Mar 1684; Archbishop of York from 16 Aug 1683; FRS 29 Mar 1665; a prelate of great presence and courage, and one of the most popular preachers of the day; the subject of lines 868-9 of John Dryden (qv)’s Absalom and Achitophel; m. 14 Jan 1657/8 Catherine, dau. of Ralph Sheldon, Stanton, Derbs. [check], and niece of Most Rev. Gilbert Sheldon DD, Archbishop of Canterbury; d. 11 Apr 1686. DNB.

DRYDEN, JOHN, son of Erasmus Dryden, Titchmarsh, Northants., and Mary, dau. of Rev. Henry Pickering, Rector of Aldwincle All Saints, Northants.; b. 19 Aug 1631; adm.; KS; wrote while a KS an elegy on the death of Lord Hastings, published by R. B. in Lachrymae Musarum, 1649; elected head to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1650, adm. pens. 18 May 1650, scholar 2 Oct 1650; “walled” for a fortnight and not allowed to go outside the college “excepting for sermons” Jul 1652, for disobedience to the Vice-Master (W. W. Rouse Ball, Cambridge Papers, 218-9); forfeited scholarship by non-residence and thus ineligible for a Fellowship; BA 1653/4; MA Lambeth 17 Jun 1668; mourned Cromwell’s death in Heroic Stanzas 1658; celebrated the Restoration in Astraea Redux 1660, and Charles II’s Coronation in a Panegyric 1661; one of original Fellows of Royal Society 20 May 1663; author, Annus Mirabilis 1667; Poet Laureate and Historiographer 18 Aug 1670 - 11 Dec 1688; Sir Martin Mar-All, one of his most successful plays, was produced in 1667, Aurungzebe, his finest rhymed tragedy, in 1675, and All for Love, his finest play, in 1678; his Absalom and Achitophel was published in 1681; defended Anglicanism in Religio Laici, 1682; Collector of Customs, Port of London 17 Dec 1683; a Roman Catholic convert 1686; author, The Hind and the Panther, 1687; translations by him of Juvenal and Persius were published in 1693, and of Livy in 1697; wrote Alexander’s Feast 1697 [check] and Fables Ancient and Modern, 1700; his complete works, with a life by Sir Walter Scott, were published in 1808; in a note to the third satire of Persius Dryden wrote “I remember I translated this satire when I was a King’s Scholar at Westminster School, for a Thurday-night exercise; and believe, that it, and many others of my exercises of the nature in English verse, are still in the hands of my learned master the Rev. Dr. Busby” (Works, xiii, 230); Dryden refers to Busby’s excessive use of the rod in a letter to Charles Montagu (ibid., xviii, 159-60) and to the curious custom of “custos” in Hall in a letter to Busby (ibid., xviii, 98); Dryden’s “form” was long preserved up School; m. 1 Dec 1663 Lady Elizabeth Howard, eldest dau. of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Effingham; d. 1 May 1700. His body lay in state at the College of Physicians for ten days, and he was buried in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

IMPEY, SIR ELIJAH, brother of Michael Impey (adm. 1730, qv); b. 13 Jun 1732; adm. Sep 1740; KS 1747; Capt. of the School 1751; Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 28 Jan 1752, scholar 24 Apr 1752, matr. Easter 1754; Chancellor’s Second Medal 1756; BA 1756; MA 1759; Minor Fellow, Trinity Coll. 3 Oct 1757, Major Fellow 4 Jul 1759; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 8 Nov 1751, called to bar 23 Nov 1756; Western Circuit; Recorder of Basingstoke 11 Apr 1766-73; adm. Inner Temple 20 Nov 1766, tenant chambers there 21 Nov 1766 – 16 Jun 1768; Counsel for East India Company before House of Commons 1772; Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Bengal 22 Mar 1774 – 1 Nov 1787; knighted 30 Mar 1774; confirmed committal of Nuncomar for forgery and sentenced him to death 1775; ruled that Warren Hastings (qv) had not resigned the post of Governor-General 1777; his judicial powers were restricted by a compromise between Hastings and Philip Francis 1779; President of new Appeal Court (Sadar Diwani Adalat) over local tribunals 1780-2; recalled to defend himself against charges of illegality brought by Francis 1783; defended himself successfully against six charges at bar of House of Commons 1788, including the proceedings against Nuncomar and the exercise of extended judicial powers contrary to his patent; MP New Romney 1790-6; his biography was written by his son, Elijah Barwell Impey (qv), and published in 1846; m. 18 Jan 1768 Mary, dau. of Sir John Reade, Bart., Shipton Court, Oxfordshire; d. 1 Oct 1809. DNB.

BRITTON, JAMES, only son of Rev. James Britton, Head Master of Durham GS, subsequently Vicar of Bossall, Yorkshire North Riding, and Isabella, sister of Henry Forster Mills (qv); b. 25 Oct 1790; in school list 1803; KS (aged 14) 1805; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1809, matr. 17 May 1809; BA 1813; MA 1815; ordained deacon 6 Mar 1812 (Chester, lit. dim. from York), priest 18 Dec 1814 (York); Curate, Ware, Herts.; Vicar of Great Bardfield, Essex, 17 Jul 1829-40; m. 22 Aug 1818 Julia, dau. of Richard Down, Bartholomew Lane, London, banker; d. 18 May 1871.

BROWN, GEORGE FRANCIS, son of John Brown, Batcombe, Somerset; b. 12 Nov 1828; adm. 28 Sep 1841 (Scott's); QS 1843; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1847, adm. pens. 13 May 1847, scholar 1848, matr. 1847; ordained deacon 1854 (Guiana), priest 1857 (Bath & Wells); Curate, St. Ives, Cornwall, 1859, subsequently Batcombe, Somerset, and Bridport, Dorset; d. 14 Jun 1872.

BRUCE, THOMAS, 7TH EARL OF ELGIN AND 11TH EARL OF KINCARDINE (S), second son of Charles Bruce, 5th Earl of Elgin and 9th Earl of Kincardine (S), and Martha, dau. of Thomas Whyte, London, banker; b. 20 Jul 1766; succ. elder brother as 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine (S), 15 Jul 1771; adm. 5 Oct 1778, having previously been at Harrow Sch.; left 1782; St. Andrews Univ.; Univ. Paris; Ensign, 3rd Foot Guards, 6 Apr 1785; Capt., 65th Foot, 9 May 1789; Maj., local rank on continent, 8 May 1793; Lieut. -Col., Elgin’s Fencible Infantry, 28 Nov 1794-1802, and also of a second Regt. Fencible Infantry, which he raised, 17 Apr 1795-1802; Brevet Col., 29 Apr 1802; Maj. -Gen., 25 Oct 1809; Lieut. -Gen., 4 Jun 1814; Gen., 10 Jan 1837; a Scottish Representative Peer 1790-1807, 1820-41; British Envoy on special mission to Vienna 1790-1; Envoy to Brussels, 18 Aug 1792-4; Minister Plenipotentiary to Berlin, 15 Aug 1795-8; Ambassador to Constantinople, 13 Apr 1799- Jan 1803; Privy Councillor 3 Jul 1799; while in Constantinople employed agents to acquire for him the Elgin Marbles (purchased from him by the British Government in 1816 and deposited in the British Museum); while on way home to Britain from Turkey, detained in France as prisoner of war May 1803- Jun 1806; m. 1st, 11 Mar 1799 Mary, only child of William Nisbet MP, Dirleton, Haddingtonshire; m. 2nd, 21 Sep 1810 Elizabeth, youngest dau. of James Townshend Oswald MP, Dunnikier, Fifeshire; d. at Paris 14 Nov 1841. DNB.

BRYDGES, JAMES, 1ST DUKE OF CHANDOS, fourth but eldest surviving son of James Brydges, 8th Baron Chandos, Ambassador to Constantinople, and Elizabeth, eldest dau. of Sir Henry Bernard, Kt., Bridgnorth, Shropshire, Turkey merchant; b. 6 Jan 1673/4; adm. 1686; an interesting letter, written by his father from Constantinople, confides his “three poor little boys (all the treasure the kind God of his kind mercy hath spared me)” to Richard Busby (qv), then Head Master (GM 1792, i, 39); New Coll. Oxford, matr. 21 Jun 1690; FRS 30 Nov 1694; MP Hereford Jul 1698 - 16 Oct 1714; member, Council to Lord High Admiral, 29 Mar 1703 - 5 Apr 1705; Paymaster-Gen. of the Forces Abroad, 10 May 1705 – Sep 1713; succ. father as 9th Baron Chandos 16 Oct 1714; cr. Earl of Carnarvon 19 Oct 1714 and Duke of Chandos 29 Apr 1719; Lord Lieut., Herefordshire 11 Sep 1721 - 16 Jul 1741, and of Radnorshire from 11 Sep 1721; Privy Councillor 11 Nov 1721; Chancellor, Univ. of St. Andrews; the “princely” Chandos expended some £200, 000 in building his country house at Canons, near Edgware, Middlesex; Handel spent two years there composing anthems for the chapel, and writing Esther, his first English oratorio; Defoe describes the splendour of the house in his Tour through England, and Pope refers to it as “Timon’s Villa” in his Epistle to Lord Burlington; m. 1st, 27 Feb 1695/6 Mary, dau. of Sir Thomas Lake, Kt., Canons, Whitchurch, Middlesex; m. 2nd, 4 Aug 1713 Cassandra, dau. of Francis Willoughby FRS, naturalist, Wollaton, Notts.  ; m. 3rd, Apr 1736 Lydia Catharine, widow of Sir Thomas Davall MP, and dau. of John Vanhatten; d. 9 Aug 1744. DNB.

BULL, HENRY EDWARD, elder son of Henry Bull (qv); b. 8 Mar 1843; adm. 4 Oct 1856 (James'); Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 16 Oct 1861; played cricket v. Cambridge 1863, and for Gentlemen v. Players 1864; hon. sec. and treasurer, Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club; landowner; JP (1889) Buckinghamshire; m. 1st, 24 Sep 1867 Florentia, elder dau. of William Watts, Hanslope Park, Bucks.; m. 2nd, by 1881, Caroline H. ---; d. 31 May 1905.