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.

RUSSELL, JOHN, 1ST EARL RUSSELL, third son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (qv), and his first wife; b. 18 Aug 1792; adm. 23 Sep 1803 (G); fag to his brother Lord Tavistock; kept a diary while at the School, including a list of the School for Oct 1803; left Bartholomewtide 1804; Edinburgh Univ. 1809-12; MP Tavistock 4 May 1813 – Mar 1817, 1818-20, Huntingdonshire 1820-6, Bandon Bridge 19 Dec 1826-30, Tavistock 24 Nov 1830-1, Devon 1831-2, South Devon 1832 – Apr 1835, Stroud 29 May 1835-41, City of London 1841- 30 Jul 1861; made his first speech in favour of parliamentary reform 14 Dec 1819; successfully moved repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts 26 Feb 1828; Privy Councillor 22 Nov 1830; Paymaster-Gen. of the Forces 13 Dec 1830 – Nov 1834, also member of Cabinet Jun 1831 – Nov 1834; moved first reading of Reform Bill 31 Mar 1831; introduced Reform Bill for second time 24 Jun 1831, and for third time 12 Dec 1831; advocated reform of the Irish Church 1833-4; leader of Whigs in House of Commons Apr 1835 onwards; Secretary of State for Home Affairs 18 Apr 1835 – Aug 1839; carried through the Municipal Corporations Bill, and diminished the number of offences liable to capital punishment; Secretary for War and the Colonies 30 Aug 1839 – Aug 1841; declared for total repeal of the Corn Laws in his Edinburgh Letter of 22 Nov 1845, and supported their repeal by Peel in 1846; Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury 6 Jul 1846 – Feb 1852; carried the bill for removing Jewish disabilities through the House of Commons 1848, and responsible for the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill of 1851; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Aberdeen ministry Dec 1852 – Feb 1853, when he resigned but remained in Cabinet without office and continued to lead the House of Commons; Lord President of the Council 12 Jun 1854 – Jan 1855, resigning because of his dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Crimean War; Plenipotentiary to Vienna Congress 11 Feb 1855; Secretary of State for the Colonies 1 May – 13 Jul 1855; opposed Disraeli’s Reform Bill of 1859; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 18 Jun 1859 – Nov 1865; the Reform Bill introduced by him on 1 Mar 1860 was subsequently dropped; created Earl Russell 30 Jul 1861; KG 21 May 1862; Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury 6 Nov 1865 – 18 Jun 1866, resigning on defeat of his Government’s Reform Bill by the ‘Adullamites”; declined Cabinet office in Gladstone’s administration formed in Dec 1868; received freedom City of London 9 Jul 1831; LLD Edinburgh Univ. 8 Nov 1845; FRS 6 May 1847; Lord Rector, Aberdeen Univ., from 1863; GCMG 25 Mar 1869; Busby Trustee 2 Jun 1863; a sincere and able Whig with the courage of his opinions, and a store of constitutional and historical knowledge; although no orator, a skilful debater and creator of telling phrases; edited Letters of the Fourth Duke of Bedford, 1842-6; author, Essay on the English Constitution, and other works; m. 1st, 11 Apr 1835 Adelaide, widow of Thomas Lister, 2nd Baron Ribblesdale (qv), and half-sister of Thomas Henry Lister (qv); m. 2nd, 20 Jul 1841 Lady Frances Anna Maria Elliot, second dau. of Gilbert Elliot, 2nd Earl of Minto; d. 28 May 1878. DNB.

VANE, SIR HENRY, eldest son of Sir Henry Vane, Kt MP, Treasurer of the Household and Secretary of State, Hadlow, Kent, and Raby Castle, co. Durham, and Frances, dau. of Thomas Darcy, Tolleshunt D’Arcy, Essex; bapt. 26 May 1613; at schoool under Osbaldeston (Wood, Athenae Oxon., iii, 578); became a puritan at age of 15; Magdalen Hall, Oxford, adm. fellow commoner, aged 16, but did not matr., as he objected to taking the oath; went to New England to obtain freedom of worship 1635; Governor of Massachusetts 1636-7; became entangled in doctrinal controversies and returned to England; Joint Treasurer of the Navy Jan 1639- Dec 41; MP Hull 1640-53; knighted 23 Jun 1640; showed Pym his father's notes of Strafford's advice to Charles I at the Council meeting of 5 May 1640; one of the originators of the bill for the abolition of episcopacy 1641; one of the committee appointed to vindicate the privileges of Parliament on the arrest of the five members; a leader of the war party in the House of Commons; Treasurer of the Navy (for Parliament) Aug 1642 - Dec 1650; conducted the negotiations with the Scots 1643; the virtual leader of the House of Commons after Pym's death; proposed and carried the establishment of the Committee of both Kingdoms 1644; one of the Parliamentary Commissioners at Uxbridge 1645; rejected Charles I’s overtures in 1644 and 1646; a Commissioner to treat with the army at Wycombe 1647; distrusted by the Presbyterians and the Levellers; took no part in Charles I’s trial; member of Council of State 14 Feb 1649; active member of the government 1649-53; a Commissioner for settling Scottish affairs 1651; quarrelled with Cromwell over the expulsion of the Long Parliament 1653; retired to Lincolnshire and refused a seat in the Little Parliament; imprisoned at Carisbrooke Castle as a result of the publication of his book Healing Question, propounded and resolved, 1656; MP Whitchurch in Richard Cromwell’s Parliament; assisted in the abolition of the Protectorate; Commissioner of the Navy and manager of foreign affairs in the restored Long Parliament; unsuccessfully endeavoured to reconcile Parliament and the army; became distrusted by all parties; expelled from the House of Commons 9 Jan 1660; partially excluded from the Act of Indemnity; imprisoned in the Tower of London, and subsequently transported to the Scilly Isles; tried for high treason in Court of King’s Bench, and sentenced to death 11 Jun 1662; an able statesman of enormous industry, but although his devotion to the public service and his freedom from corruption were well known, his religious enthusiasm and his subtlety in speculative matters exposed to him to the charge of being a fanatic and an unscrupulous schemer; author, The Retired Man’s Meditations, 1655, and other works; m. 1 Jul 1640 Frances, dau. of Sir Christopher Wray, Bart., Barlings, Lincs.; executed on Tower Hill 14 Jun 1662. DNB.

WREN, SIR CHRISTOPHER, son of Very Rev. Christopher Wren, Dean of Windsor, and Mary, dau. of Robert Cox, Fonthill Abbey, Wilts.; bapt. 10 Nov 1632; adm. 1641; left 1646; Wadham Coll. Oxford, adm. fellow commoner 25 Jun 1649 (or 1650); BA 18 Mar 1650/1; MA 1653; DCL 1661; LLD Cambridge 1662; Fellow, All Souls Coll. Oxford 1653-7; Professor of Astronomy, Gresham Coll., London 1657-61; Savilian Professor of Astronomy, Oxford Univ. 5 Feb 1660/1- 9 Mar 1673; initiated experiments on the cause of the variations of the barometer; conducted research into anatomy and medical subjects; drew up the preamble to the first charter of the Royal Society 1660; one of the Council named in the second charter of the Royal Society 22 Apr 1663; FRS 20 May 1663 (original Fellow); one of the three Commissioners named by Charles II in October 1666 to consider rebuilding the city of London after the Great Fire; Surveyor of the King’s Works Mar 1668/9-1718; knighted 20 Nov 1673; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 25 Apr 1676; President, Royal Society 30 Nov 1680 – 30 Nov 1682; Comptroller of Works, Windsor Castle 1684-1716; MP Plympton 1685-7, Windsor Jan 1688/9 – unseated 14 May 1689, Mar 1689/90 – unseated 17 May 1690, Weymouth and Melcombe Regis Nov 1701-2; Surveyor of St. Paul’s Cathedral from 1675; Surveyor, Greenwich Hospital 1696-1716; Surveyor to the Fabric, Westminster Abbey, from 1699; architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral, many London city churches and halls of City livery companies, Temple Bar, the Monument, Greenwich Hospital, Chelsea Hospital, the Sheldonian Theatre and Old Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Tom Tower, Christ Church, Oxford, and Neville’s Court and the Library, Trinity Coll. Cambridge; made extensive alterations and additions at Hampton Court, Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace and Westminster Abbey; purchased Wroxall Abbey estate, Warwickshire, for his son 1713; m. 1st, 27 Dec 1669 Faith, dau. of Sir Thomas Coghill, Kt, Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire; m. 2nd, 24 Feb 1676/7 Hon. Jane Fitzwilliam, sister of Hon. Charles Fitzwilliam (qv); d. 25 Feb 1722/3. Buried St. Paul’s Cathedral. 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.

HOBHOUSE, JOHN CAM, 1ST BARON BROUGHTON, eldest son of Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, Bart. , MP, and his first wife Charlotte, dau. of Samuel Cam, Chantry House, near Bradford, Wilts. ; b. 27 Jun 1786; adm. 27 Jan 1802 (Clapham); in school list May 1803; left 1803; Trinity Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 18 Oct 1803, matr. Easter 1806; Hulsean Prize 1808; BA 1808; MA 1811; founded the Cambridge Whig Club; when at Cambridge became an intimate friend of Lord Byron, with whom he travelled in Greece and the Mediterranean in 1809-10; adm. Middle Temple 4 Feb 1806; a partner in firm Whitbread & Co. , brewers; contested Westminster as Radical candidate at 1819 by-election; imprisoned in Newgate Prison for breach of privilege 14 Dec 1819 – 19 Jan 1820; MP (Radical, subsequently Whig) Westminster 1820-33, Nottingham 1834-47, Harwich 1848-51; active member of Greek Committee in London 1823; succeeded father as 2nd baronet 15 Aug 1831; Secretary at War 1 Feb 1832 – Apr 1833; Privy Councillor 23 Feb 1832; Chief Secretary for Ireland 28 Mar – 17 May 1833; Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests 19 Jul – 31 Dec 1834; President, Board of Control 29 Apr 1835 – Sep 1841, Jul 1846 – Feb 1852; created Baron Broughton 26 Feb 1851; GCB 23 Feb 1852; as Byron’s executor, advised the destruction of Byron’s Memoirs 1824, and as Byron’s best man drew up a reply to Lady Byron’s Remarks 1830; FRS 19 May 1814; member, Society of Dilettanti 1839; one of founders of Geographical Society 1830; is said to have invented the phrase “His Majesty’s Opposition”; his Commonplace Book when at the School, containing the themes set, extracts from books, and occasional translations, is in the British Library, Additional MSS; author, Recollections of a Long Life, 1865, and other works; m. 26 Feb 1828 Lady Julia Hay, youngest dau. of George Hay, 7th Marquis of Tweeddale (S); d. 3 Jun 1869. DNB.

BRETT, WILLIAM BALIOL, 1ST VISCOUNT ESHER, brother of Wilford George Brett (qv); b. 13 Aug 1815; adm. (G) 11 Jan 1830; Gonville and Caius Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 25 Jun 1835, matr. Mich. 1835; rowed in Cambridge eight against Leander 1837, 1838, and against Oxford 1839; stroked the Cambridge Subscription Rooms eight which won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley 1841; BA 1840; MA 1845; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 30 Apr 1839, called to bar 29 Jan 1846, Bencher 1861-8; Northern circuit; QC 22 Feb 1861; contested (Cons) Rochdale 1865; MP (Cons) Helston 5 Jul 1866 - Aug 1868; Solicitor-Gen., 10 Feb - Aug 1868; knighted 29 Feb 1868; Serjeant-at-law; Justice of the Common Pleas 24 Aug 1868-75; Judge of the High Court, Queen’s Bench Division, 1875-6; Lord Justice of Appeal 27 Oct 1876 - Apr 1883; Privy Councillor 28 Nov 1876; Master of the Rolls 3 Apr 1883 - Oct 1897; cr. Baron Esher 24 Jul 1885; cr. Viscount Esher 11 Nov 1897; Hon. Fellow, Gonville and Caius Coll., 7 Oct 1886; a Busby Trustee 18 May 1886 - Jun 1890; m. 3 Apr 1850 Eugénie, only dau. of Louis Mayer, Lyon, France, and step-dau. of Col. John Gurwood CB; d. 24 May 1899. 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.