HARCOURT-VERNON, GRANVILLE EDWARD, eldest son of Granville Harcourt-Vernon (qv), and his first wife; b. 23 Nov 1816; adm. 16 Sep 1829 (Stikeman's); KS 1830; Capt. of the School 1834; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1835, matr. 4 Jun 1835, Westminster Student; BA 1839; MA 1842; Private Secretary to Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans (qv), when Chief Secretary for Ireland, and to Earl of Lincoln MP, when Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests and Chief Secretary for Ireland; MP (Peelite) Newark 1852-7; m. 23 Nov 1854 Lady Selina Catherine Meade, only dau. of Richard Meade, 3rd Earl of Clanwilliam PC GCH, Ambassador at Berlin; d. 1 Feb 1861.

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].

CAVENDISH-BENTINCK, WILLIAM HENRY, 3RD DUKE OF PORTLAND, elder son of William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland, and Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, only dau. of Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford (qv); b. 14 Apr 1738; styled Marquis of Titchfield to 1762; adm. May 1747 (Watts'); left Dec 1754; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 4 Mar 1755; MA 1 Feb 1757; DCL 7 Oct 1792; LLD Tinity Coll. Dublin 18 May 1782; assumed additional surname of Cavendish 1755; MP Weobley 1761 - 1 May 1762; succ. father as 3rd Duke of Portland 1 May 1762; Lord Chamberlain 15 Jul 1765 - 26 Nov 1766; Privy Councillor 10 Jul 1765; Lord Lieut., Ireland, 10 Apr - 15 Sep 1782; Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury 21 Apr - 19 Dec 1783; although previously a committed Whig politician, he became alarmed by the French Revolution and joined William Pitt’s government in 1794; Secretary of State for Home Affairs, 11 Jul 1794 - 30 Jul 1801, Lord President of the Council 30 Jul 1801 - 14 Jan 1805; KG 16 Jul 1801; Prime Ministry and First Lord of the Treasury 31 Mar 1807 - 28 Sep 1809, when he resigned through ill-health; Chancellor of Oxford University from 27 Sep 1792; Lord Lieut., Nottinghamshire, from 19 Jun 1795; FRS 5 Jun 1766; a Busby Trustee from 14 Mar 1765; m. 8 Nov 1766 Lady Dorothy Cavendish, only dau. of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire PC KG; d. 30 Oct 1809. DNB.

GIBBON, EDWARD, only son of Edward Gibbon (qv), and his first wife; b. 27 Apr 1737; adm. Jan 1747/8 (Porten's); left Aug 1750, on account of ill-health; Magdalen Coll. Oxford, adm. fellow commoner 3 Apr 1752; received into Roman Catholic church 8 Jun 1752, but returned to Protestantism at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1753; became attached to Susanne Curchod (afterwards Mme Necker), but at his father’s wish the engagement was broken off; adm. to Academy, Lausanne 1 Dec 1756; officer in Hampshire Militia 12 Jun 1759-70; author, Essai sur l’Etude de la Litterature, 1761; met John Baker Holroyd (afterwards Lord Sheffield) at Lausanne 1764; in Italy 1764-5; the idea of writing on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire first occurred to him when in Rome on 15 Oct 1764; author, Mémoires Littéraires de la Grande Bretagne, 1767-8, jointly with his Swiss friend Deyverdun; author, Critical Observations on the Sixth Book of the Aeneid, 1770, attacking Warburton; settled in London 1772; elected to The Club 1774; MP Liskeard 1774-80, Lymington 25 Jun 1781-4; a Commissioner for Trade and Foreign Plantations 6 Jul 1779 - Jun 1782; Professor of Ancient History, Royal Academy, from 1787; FSA 20 Nov 1788, FRS 27 Nov 1788; author, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776-87, 4 vols.; defended the chapters on Christianity in a Vindication, 1779; retired to Lausanne 1783; his Miscellaneous Works, edited by his friend Lord Sheffield, and including his Memoirs of My Life and Writings, were published in 1796; d. unm. 16 Jan 1794. 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.