MURRAY, WILLIAM, 1ST EARL OF MANSFIELD, fourth son of David Murray, 5th Viscount Stormont (S), and Margery, only child of David Scott, Scotstarvet, Fifeshire; b. 2 Mar 1704/5; adm. May 1718; for his journey from Scotland to Westminster on back of his pony, and for some curious items in the account of monies disbursed on his behalf before and after admission, see Lord Campbell, Lives of the Chief Justices, ii, 313-6; KS (Capt. ) 1719; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1723, matr. 18 Jun 1723, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1723 – void 29 Jun 1737; BA 1727; MA 1730; defeated William Pitt (Earl of Chatham) in competition for prize offered by University for a Latin poem on the death of George I; Grand Tour; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 23 Apr 1724, called to bar 23 Nov 1730, Bencher 15 Dec 1742, Treasurer 1744; practised in Court of Chancery, and within two years of call had appeared in three appeal cases before House of Lords; KC 1742; Solicitor-Gen., 27 Nov 1742 – Apr 1754; MP Boroughbridge 29 Nov 1742 – 8 Nov 1756; his success in the House of Commons was as brilliant as his success at the bar, and he came to be regarded as the ablest government spokesman in the House; to discredit him, an old story was raked up about his toasting the Pretender in the company of James Johnson (adm. 1717/8, qv) and Andrew Stone (qv), but the Privy Council reported that there was no foundation for the charge; it was subsequently the subject of a debate in the House of Lords on 22 Mar 1753, but the Duke of Bedford’s motion for the production of the proceedings before the Privy Council was rejected by 122 votes to 5, and no further enquiry was made (Campbell, ii, 370-6; Walpole, Letters, ed. Toynbee, iii, 148; the papers relating to the charge of toasting are in the British Library, Newcastle MSS 33050, ff. 200-368); Attorney-Gen., 9 Apr 1754 – Nov 1756; defended the Duke of Newcastle’s administration against attacks by Pitt in the House of Commons; on the death in 1756 of Sir Dudley Ryder, Lord Chief Justice, Murray claimed the vacant post and a peerage; Lord Chief Justice of England 8 Nov 1756 – 4 Jun 1788; created Baron Mansfield 8 Nov 1756; Privy Councillor 19 Nov 1756; held seals of Chancellor of the Exchequer Apr – Jun 1757, Sep – Dec 1767; accepted cabinet seat in Duke of Newcastle’s second administration, without office but with disposal of the Scottish patronage, Jul 1757; created Earl of Mansfield 31 Oct 1776, with special remainder to Louisa, wife of his nephew David Murray, 7th Viscount Stormont (S) (qv); owing to his approval of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill of 1778, his house in Bloomsbury Square was sacked and burned by the Gordon Rioters 7 Jun 1780; the loss of his library and MSS was lamented by William Cowper (qv) in some charming verses (Works, ed. Southey, viii, 322-3); spoke for last time in House of Lords 23 Mar 1784; after 1788 lived in retirement at Caen Wood, Highgate; received a new creation as Earl of Mansfield 1 Aug 1792, with special remainder to his nephew David Murray, 7th Viscount Stormont (S) (qv); the position which he held for many years as a Cabinet minister was anomalous; in Feb 1775 he stated in the House of Lords that “he had been a Cabinet Minister part of the late reign, and the whole of the present”, but that he had ceased “to act as an efficient Cabinet minister” shortly before the formation of the Rockingham ministry (Parliamentary History, xviii, 274-5); twice refused post of Lord Chancellor, but acted as Speaker of House of Lords Jan 1770 – Jan 1771 and Feb – Dec 1783; as a parliamentary speaker Pitt was his only rival; by birth a Jacobite and by association a Tory, his politics were more or less dominated by his legal interests; his reputation as a statesman is somewhat blurred by his support of the coercing of the American colonies; as an advocate known as “the silver-tongued Murray”; his ascendancy as Lord Chief Justice is indicated by the claim that during the thirty-two years that he held office there were only two cases in which his opinion was not unanimously adopted by his colleagues, and that only two of his judgments were reversed on appeal (Campbell, ii, 395-6); Mansfield’s charges to juries on the law of libel made him unpopular with contemporary public opinion, and he was violently attacked by Junius; the founder of modern commercial law and one of the greatest of common law judges; as a young man a friend of Pope, who dedicated to him his Sixth Epistle of the First Book of Horace, and cdelebrated his charms in Book IV, Ode I; Busby Trustee 25 Feb 1741/2; m. 20 Sep 1738 Lady Elizabeth Finch, seventh dau. of Daniel Finch, 6th Earl of Winchilsea and 2nd Earl of Nottingham (qv); d. 20 Mar 1793. Buried North Transept, Westminster Abbey (monument), having expressed a desire in his will to be buried there on account of “the love I bear to the place of my early education”. DNB.

NEWDIGATE, SIR ROGER, BART., brother of Sir Edward Newdigate, Bart. (qv); b. 30 May 1719; adm. Oct 1727; KS (Capt. ) 1732; succ. brother as 5th baronet 4 Apr 1734; left Jan 1736; University Coll. Oxford, matr. 9 Apr 1736; MA 1738; DCL 13 Apr 1749; Grand Tour (France, Italy) 1738-40; of Harefield Place, Middlesex, and Arbury, Warwickshire; MP Middlesex 5 Aug 1742-7, Oxford University 31 Jan 1751-80; again travelling in Europe 1774-6; a staunch Tory, described in 1767 by Horace Walpole as a “half-converted Jacobite”; interested in architecture and classical sculpture; a benefactor of University Coll. and of the Radcliffe Library; founded Newdigate Prize for English verse at Oxford Univ. 1806; m. 1st, 31 May 1743 Sophia, dau. of Edward Conyers MP, Copped Hall, Epping, Essex; m. 2nd, 3 Jun 1776 Hester Margaretta, dau. of Edward Mundy, Shipley, Derbs.; d. 20 Nov 1806. DNB.

PAGET, HENRY WILLIAM, 1ST MARQUIS OF ANGLESEY, eldest son of Henry Paget (formerly Bayly), 1st Earl of Uxbridge, and Jane, only dau. of Very Rev. Arthur Champagné, Dean of Clonmacnoise; b. 17 May 1768; adm. 8 Sep 1777; left 1784; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 14 Oct 1784; MA 1786; Capt., Staffordshire Militia 12 Dec 1790; raised a company of infantry from his father’s tenantry which became known as the 80th Foot, of which he became Lieut. -Col., (temp. rank) 12 Sep 1793; served with it under Duke of York in Flanders 1794; Lieut., 7th Foot 11 Mar 1795; Capt., 23rd Foot 25 Mar 1795; Maj., 65th Foot 29 May 1795; Lieut. -Col. commandant, 80th Foot 30 May 1795; 16th Light Dragoons 16 Jun 1795; Brevet Col., 3 May 1796; Lieut. -Col., 7th Light Dragoons 6 Apr 1797; commanded cavalry brigade in Duke of York’s expedition to Netherlands 1799; Col., 7th Light Dragoons 16 May 1801 – Dec 1842; Major-Gen., 29 Apr 1802; Lieut. -Gen., 25 Apr 1808; in command of cavalry which covered Sir John Moore’s retreat to Corunna 1808; commanded an infantry division in Walcheren expedition 1809; commanded allied cavalry and horse artillery at battle of Waterloo, where he lost a leg; Gen., 12 Aug 1819; Col., Royal Horse Guards, from 20 Dec 1842; Field Marshal 9 Nov 1846; MP Caernarvon 1790-6, Milborne Port 1796 – Jun 1804, 1806 – Jan 1810; succ. father as 2nd Earl of Uxbridge 13 Mar 1812; created Marquis of Anglesey 4 Jul 1815; supported Tory governments to 1829; Master-Gen. of the Ordnance (with a seat in the Cabinet) 30 Apr 1827 – 29 Jan 1828; Privy Councillor 30 Apr 1827; Lord Lieut., Ireland 27 Feb 1828 – dismissal Jan 1829, for adopting conciliatory attitude to Roman Catholic claims; LLD Trinity Coll. Dublin 6 Mar 1828; reappointed Lord Lieut. Ireland by incoming Whig government 23 Dec 1830, holding post to resignation on health grounds Sep 1833; took Whig whip in House of Lords 1830 onwards; Master-Gen. of the Ordnance (without seat in Cabinet) 8 Jul 1846 – 27 Feb 1852; Lord Lieut., Anglesey, from 28 Apr 1812, and Lord Lieut., Staffordshire, from 3 Feb 1849; GCB 2 Jan 1815; GCH 1816; KG 19 Feb 1818; Busby Trustee 27 May 1820; m. 1st, 25 Jul 1795 Lady Caroline Elizabeth Villiers, third dau. of George Villiers, 4th Earl of Jersey; m. 2nd, 1810 Lady Charlotte Cadogan, divorced wife of Hon. Henry Wellesley (afterwards 1st Earl Cowley), and sister of Hon. William Bromley Cadogan (qv); d. 29 Apr 1854. DNB.

PELHAM-HOLLES, THOMAS, 1ST DUKE OF NEWCASTLE (cr. 1715 and 1756), elder son of Thomas Pelham, 1st Baron Pelham, and his second wife Lady Grace Holles, youngest dau. of Gilbert Holles, 3rd Earl of Clare, and sister of John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle; b. 21 Jul 1693; at school under Knipe (Steward, Anniversary Dinner 1728/9, 1756); Clare Hall, Cambridge, adm.nob. 9 Mar 1709/10; LLD 25 Apr 1728; succeeded to estates of his uncle, John, Duke of Newcastle, in Jul 1711, and assumed additional surname of Holles; succ. father as 2nd Baron Pelham 23 Feb 1711/2; created Earl of Clare 19 Oct 1714; Lord Lieut., Middlesex 28 Oct 1714 – 2 Feb 1763, and of Nottinghamshire 28 Oct 1714 – 15 Jan 1763 and from 12 Sep 1765; with his brother Henry Pelham (qv) raised a troop for service against the Pretender in 1715; created Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 11 Aug 1715; Lord Chamberlain of the Household 4 Apr 1717 – May 1724; Privy Councillor 16 Apr 1717; KG 30 Apr 1718; Secretary of State for the Southern Dept. 2 Apr 1724 – Feb 1747/8; joint Secretary of State for Scotland 25 Aug 1725 – 15 May 1730; managed the negotiations which led to the formation of Lord Wilmington’s administration on Walpole’s downfall, while retaining his own post; opposed policy of Carteret and succeeded in obtaining his dismissal from the cabinet; forced George II to accept Pitt as a minister 1746; Secretary of State for the Northern Dept. Feb 1747/8 – Mar 1754; First Lord of the Treasury 6 Mar 1754 – 11 Nov 1756; created Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme 13 Nov 1756 (with special remainder to Earl of Lincoln); formed a coalition with Pitt and was again First Lord of the Treasury Jun 1757 – 26 May 1762; Lord Lieut., Sussex 4 Jul 1761 – 15 Jan 1763; created Baron Pelham of Stanmer 4 May 1762 (with special remainder to Thomas Pelham, afterwards 1st Earl of Chichester (qv)); on his leaving office in May 1762 he and his principal political followers were deprived of their remaining official positions; Lord Privy Seal 25 Aug 1765 – Jul 1766; High Steward, Cambridge University Jul 1737 – Dec 1748, Chancellor from 14 Dec 1748; FRS 26 Dec 1749; Busby Trustee 30 Mar 1732; gave £100 towards building of New Dormitory; m. 2 Apr 1717 Lady Henrietta Godolphin, eldest dau. of Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin; d. 17 Nov 1768. DNB.

PETTY-FITZMAURICE, HENRY, 3RD MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE, only son of William Petty, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne KG PC, Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, and his second wife Lady Louisa Fitzpatrick, sister of John Fitzpatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory (I) (qv); grandson of John Petty, 1st Earl of Shelburne (qv); b. 2 Jul 1780; at school 1789; up Clapham’s; in school list 1795; still at school 1796; Edinburgh Univ.; Trinity Coll. Oxford, adm. nob. 26 Oct 1798; MA 1801; Hon. LLD 1811; styled Lord Henry Petty to 1809; MP Calne 1802 – Jan 1806, Cambridge Univ. 7 Feb 1806-7, Camelford 1807 – 15 Nov 1809; took Whig whip in House of Commons; Chancellor of the Exchequer 10 Feb 1806 – 31 Mar 1807; Privy Councillor 5 Feb 1806; succeeded half-brother as 3rd Marquis of Lansdowne 15 Nov 1809, and cousin as Earl of Kerry (I) 4 Jul 1818; an active member of the Whig opposition in the House of Lords 1809-27, acting as its de facto leader 1823-7; supported the abolition of the slave trade and the removal of Roman Catholic and Jewish disabilities; led the main body of the Whig Party into coalition in Apr 1827 with the liberal wing of the Tory Party, headed by George Canning, serving in Canning’s cabinet as Minister without Portfolio Apr – Jul 1827 and as Secretary of State for Home Affairs in Canning and Goderich administrations 16 Jul 1827 – Jan 1828; Lord President of the Council in Whig administrations 22 Nov 1830 – Nov 1834, 18 Apr 1835 – Sep 1841 and 6 Jul 1846 – Feb 1852; led Whig peers in House of Lords 1843-55; declined to form government on Lord Derby’s resignation Dec 1852; member of cabinet in Aberdeen and Palmerston administrations Dec 1852 – Feb 1858, without holding any official position; refused offer of a dukedom Sep 1857; Lord Lieut., Wiltshire, from 23 Nov 1827; one of original members of Judicial Committee of Privy Council 14 Aug 1833; KG 5 Feb 1836; FRS 4 Apr 1811; member, Society of Dilettanti 1815; Busby Trustee 18 May 1813; a man of wide social influence and moderate political views; m. 30 Mar 1808 Lady Louisa Emma Fox-Strangways, sister of William Thomas Horner Fox-Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (qv); d. 31 Jan 1863, from the effects of a fall. Memorial bust, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

PHILLIMORE, SIR ROBERT JOSEPH, BART., third son of Joseph Phillimore (b. 1775, qv); b. 5 Nov 1810; adm. 1 Feb 1820 (G); KS 1824; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1828, matr. 16 May 1828, Westminster Student; BA 1832; MA 1834; BCL 1835; DCL 1838; Clerk, Board of Control 20 Feb 1832 – 6 Apr 1835; adm. Middle Temple 17 Nov 1837, called to bar 7 May 1841, Bencher 1858, Treasurer 1859; adm. advocate, Doctors’ Commons 2 Nov 1839; Chancellor, Dioceses of Chichester 1844, Salisbury 1845 and London 1855; QC 16 Jan 1858; MP (Peelite/Liberal) Tavistock Feb 1853-7; Admiralty Advocate 1855-62; Judge of Cinque Ports 1855-75; Queen’s Advocate 1862-7; knighted 17 Sep 1862; Dean of Arches 1867-75, Master of the Faculties 1873-5; Judge of High Court of Admiralty 1867-75; Privy Councillor 3 Aug 1867; Judge of Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division, High Court of Justice 1875-83; Judge Advocate-General 17 May 1871 – Aug 1873; created baronet 28 Dec 1881; a personal friend and political supporter of Gladstone; gave evidence before the Public Schools Commission 23 Jun 1862 (Parliamentary Papers 1864, vol. xxi, pp 428-32); Busby Trustee 19 May 1868- Jun 1884; Governor of the School from 1869; benefactor to the School; President, Elizabethan Club, from 1876; translated Lessing, Laocoon 1874; author, Commentaries on International law, 1854-61, and other legal works; m. 19 Dec 1844 Charlotte Anne, third dau. of John Denison MP, Ossington Hall, near Newark, Notts.; d. 4 Feb 1885. DNB.

In 1863 and 1864 he gave prizes for an English essay, and in the latter year he expressed his intention of giving an annual prize of £6 6s for the essay, and a further prize of £3 3s. for translation into English. These prizes were awarded by him up to his death in 1885, and continued to be awarded after his death from funding supplied by his son Walter George Frank Phillimore, 1st Baron Phillimore (qv), also one of the School’s benefactors.

POWELL, WILLIAM THOMAS ROWLAND, elder son of William Edward Powell (qv), and his first wife; b. 4 Aug 1815; adm. 24 May 1830 (Stikeman's); Ensign, 37th Foot 1 Jun 1832; Lieut., 26 Jun 1835; Capt., 6 Apr 1838; retd. 1 Mar 1839; MP (Conservative) Cardiganshire 1859-65; DL JP Cardiganshire; m. 1 May 1839 Rosa Edwyna, elder dau. of William George Cherry, Buckland, Herefs.; d. 13 May 1878. [Perhaps “Thomas Powell, Esq., Aberystwyth”, who signed Play Protest 1847].

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.

PULTENEY, WILLIAM, 1ST EARL OF BATH, son of Col. William Pulteney, Misterton, Leics., and his first wife Mary Floyd; nephew of John Pulteney (qv); b. 22 Mar 1684; adm.; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 31 Oct 1700; Grand Tour (Italy) 1704-5; MP Hedon 1705-34, Middlesex 1734 – 14 Jul 1742; Secretary at War 25 Sep 1714 – 11 Apr 1717; one of the committee of secrecy concerning the peace negotiations Apr 1715; Privy Councillor 16 Jul 1716; one of the “three grand allies”; declined peerage in lieu of office 1721; Cofferer of the Household 28 May 1723 – Apr 1725, dismissed after quarrel with Walpole; alled himself with Bolingbroke and wrote for The Craftsman; joined Wyndham and became a “patriot”; author of pamphlet On the State of the National Debt, 1727; quarrelled with John Hervey, Lord Hervey (qv), with whom he fought a duel in Green Park 25 Jan 1731; leader of the parliamentary opposition to Walpole; struck off the Privy Council 1 Jul 1731; refused to form a ministry on Walpole’s downfall, but entered Lord Wilmington’s Cabinet without office and was readm. to Privy Council 20 Feb 1742; created Earl of Bath 14 Jul 1742; his acceptance of a peerage diminished his political significance; lampooned by Sir Charles Hanbury Williams in a series of odes; endeavoured to form an administration at George II’s request, and accepte post of First Lord of the Treasury 10 Feb 1746, but his short-lived ministry only lasted two days, and he never held political office again; Lord Lieut., Yorkshire East Riding 7 Dec 1721 – 15 Jul 1728, Shropshire from 13 Jul 1761; a brilliant parliamentary orator and great debater; a scholar and a versatile and witty writer; gave £50 towards the New Dormitory; m. 27 Dec 1714 Anna Maria, dau. of John Gumley MP, Isleworth, Middlesex, Commissary-Gen. to the Army; d. 7 Jul 1764. Buried Islip Chapel, Westminster Abbey. DNB.