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.

FINCH, HENEAGE, 1ST EARL OF NOTTINGHAM, eldest son of Sir Heneage Finch, Kt, MP, Kensington, Middlesex, Recorder of London, Speaker House of Commons, and his first wife Frances, dau. of Sir Edmund Bell, Beaupré Hall, Norfolk; nephew of Francis Finch (qv); b. 23 Dec 1621; at school under Osbaldeston (Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, iv, 66); Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 18 Feb 1635/6, having Richard Busby (qv) as his tutor (HMC Finch MSS, I, 229-30); DCL 7 Nov 1665; adm. Inner Temple 25 Nov 1638, called to bar 30 Jan 1645/6, Bencher 29 Jun 1660, Treasurer 1661-73; MP Canterbury Apr-Oct 1660, Oxford University Apr 1661-Dec 1673; Solicitor-Gen. 6 Jun 1660 - May 1670; created baronet 7 Jun 1660; Attorney-Gen., 10 May 1670 - Nov 1673; Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 9 Nov 1673; Privy Councillor 12 Nov 1673; created Baron Finch 10 Jan 1673/4; Lord Chancellor from 19 Dec 1674; Lord Lieut. Somerset from 1674; presided as Lord High Steward at the trial of the Earl of Pembroke for manslaughter 1677, and at that of Lord Stafford for treason 1680; created Earl of Nottingham 12 May 1681; an able and zealous supporter of the Church of England and the Crown; never the subject of parliamentary attack or ever lost the confidence of Charles II; the Amri of Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel; m. 30 Jul 1646 Elizabeth, eldest dau. of Daniel Harvey, Folkestone, Kent, a Turkey merchant in the City of London; d. 18 Dec 1682. DNB.

FINCH, DANIEL, 6TH EARL OF WINCHILSEA AND 2ND EARL OF NOTTINGHAM, eldest son of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham (qv); b. 2 Jul 1647; adm.; a boarder of Busby’s for over three years (Busby’s Account Book); adm. Inner Temple 28 Jan 1657/8; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 26 Jul 1662; MP Great Bedwyn Feb 1672/3 - Jan 1678/9, Lichfield Aug 1679-81 (check); a Lord of the Admiralty 14 May 1679 - Feb 1680/1; Privy Councillor 4 Feb 1679/80; First Lord of the Admiralty 19 Feb 1680/1 - May 1684; succ. father as 2nd Earl of Nottingham 18 Dec 1682; one of the last to accept the Revolution settlement of 1688-9, although he always kept aloof from the Jacobites; Secretary of State 19 Feb 1688/9 - Nov 1693; carried the Toleration Act, but failed to get his Comprehension Bill passed; again Secretary of State 15 May 1702 - May 1704, when he resigned on the Whigs becoming predominant in the ministry; an active head of the High Church party during the rest of the reign of Queen Anne; carried act forbidding the occasional conformity of dissenters, and opposed preliminaries of peace with France 1711; a leading “Hanoverian Tory” in the years before and immediately after the accession of George I; Lord President of the Council 22 Sep 1714 - Feb 1715/6, when dismissed for advocating leniency to the Jacobite peers then under sentence of death; succ. his second cousin as 6th Earl of Winchilsea 9 Sep 1729; FRS 26 Nov 1668; one of the original trustees of Busby’s will; author, The Answer of the Earl of Nottingham to Mr Whiston’s Letter to him concerning the Eternity of the Son of God, 1721; m. 1st, 16 Jun 1674 Lady Essex Rich, second dau. of Robert Rich, 3rd Earl of Warwick; m. 2nd, 29 Dec 1685 Hon. Anne Hatton, third dau. of Christopher Hatton, 1st Viscount Hatton; d. 1 Jan 1729/30. DNB.

ELLIS, WELBORE, 1ST BARON MENDIP, younger son of Welbore Ellis (qv); b. 15 Dec 1713; adm. Jul 1727; KS (Capt. ) 1728; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1732, matr. 15 Jun 1732, Westminster Student 29 Dec 1732 - resignation 25 Apr 1739; BA 1736; DCL 7 Jul 1773; inherited fortune of his uncle John Ellis (KS 1660, qv) in 1738; Grand Tour (Italy) 1739-40; MP Cricklade 24 Dec 1741-7, Weymouth 1747-61, Aylesbury 1761-8, Petersfield 1768-74, Weymouth 1774-90, Petersfield 29 Apr 1791- 13 Aug 1794; an active and useful member of the House of Commons; a Lord of the Admiralty 1747-55; Vice-Treasurer for Ireland 1755-62; Privy Councillor 20 Mar 1760; Secretary at War 1762-5; Vice-Treasurer of Ireland (again) 1765-6, 1770-7; Treasurer of the Navy 12 Jun 1777 – Apr 1782; Secretary of State for the American Colonies 11 Feb - Mar 1782; created Baron Mendip 13 Aug 1794, with special remainder to his great-nephew Henry Welbore Agar-Ellis, 2nd Viscount Clifden (qv); member, Society of Dilettanti 1740/1; FRS 20 Jun 1745; Trustee of the British Museum 1780; Busby Trustee 25 Mar 1777; was accustomed to boast of having slept both in the Old Dormitory and in the New Dormitory; m. 1st, 18 Nov 1747 Elizabeth, only dau. of Hon. Sir William Stanhope KB MP; m. 2nd, 20 Jul 1765 Anne, eldest dau. of George Stanley, Paultons, Hampshire; d. 2 Feb 1802. Buried in North Transept, Westminster Abbery. DNB.

Davidson, John Colin Campbell, 1st Viscount Davidson, only son of Sir James Mackenzie Davidson, Kt., M.B., C. M., of London, by Georgiana Barbara Watt, daughter of William Henderson, of Aberdeen; b. Feb. 23, 1889; adm. Jan. 15, 1903 (A); left July 1907; Pembroke Coll. Camb., matric. Michaelmas 1907; B.A. 1910; Private Secretary to several Cabinet Ministers, including the Rt. Hon. A. Bonar Law when Prime Minister, 1910-23; called to the bar at the Middle Temple June 4, 1913; M. P. Herts (Hemel Hempstead Div.) Nov. 1920 - Nov. 1923, and from Oct. 1924; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster June 1923 - Jan. 1924; Financial Secretary to the Admiralty Nov. 1924 - Nov. 1926; Chairman of the Conservative Party organization 1926-30; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1931-7; served in Home Guard in Great War II; Controller of Production, Ministry of Information 1941; C. B. Jan. 1, 1919; C. H. March 25, 1923; P. C. 1928; G. C. V. O. 1935; created a Viscount May 28, 1937; a Governor of the School July 1927; Busby Trustee 1929; president of the Elizabethan Club 1946-49; represented Westminster on Governing Bodies' Assn. 1949-59; m. April 10, 1919, the Hon. Frances Joan, younger daughter of Willoughby, 1st Baron Dickinson; d. 11 Dec. 1970.

COURTENAY, WILLIAM REGINALD, 11TH EARL OF DEVON, elder son of William Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (qv); b. 14 Apr 1807; adm. (G) 16 Sep 1818; Christ Church, Oxford, matr. 30 Mar 1824; President, Oxford Union 1827; 1st cl. Classics 1827; BA 1828; BCL 1831; DCL 1838; Fellow, All Souls Coll., 1828-30; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 22 Mar 1828, called to bar 27 Jan 1832; MP (Cons) South Devon 1841 - Feb 1849; a Poor Law Inspector 1849-50; Secretary, Poor Law Board 1850-9; succ. father as 11th Earl of Devon 19 Mar 1859; took Conservative whip in House of Lords; member, Public Schools Commission, 1862; Chancellor, Duchy of Lancaster, Jul 1866 - May 1867; Privy Councillor 10 Jul 1866; President, Poor Law Board, May 1867 - Dec 1868; known in Devon as “the good earl”; Chairman, Devon QS, for fifty-two years; DL JP Devon, JP co. Limerick; Busby Trustee 11 May 1861; member governing body, Westminster School, from 1869; edited with others vol. 6 of Cases decided in the House of Lords on appeal from the Courts of Scotland, 1832-3; m. 27 Dec 1830 Lady Elizabeth Fortescue, seventh dau. of Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue; d. 18 Nov 1888. DNB.

COTTON, STAPLETON, 1ST VISCOUNT COMBERMERE, second son of Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton, Bart. (qv); b. 14 Nov 1773; adm. 28 Jan 1785; at school four years; 2nd Lieut., 23rd Foot, 26 Feb 1790; 1st Lieut., 13 Apr 1791; Capt., 6th Dragoon Guards, 28 Feb 1793; Maj., 59th Foot, 1794; Lieut. -Col., 25th Light Dragoons, 9 Mar 1794; Brevet Col., 1 Jan 1800; Lieut. -Col., 16th Light Dragoons, 14 Feb 1800; served in Flanders 1793-4, at Cape Town 1795, in campaign against Tippoo Sahib 1799, and in Dublin during Emmett’s insurrection 1800; Brig. -Gen., 11 Feb 1804; Maj. -Gen., 30 Oct 1805; commanded allied cavalry during part of Peninsular War; wounded at Salamanca 1812; Lieut. -Gen., 1 Jan 1812; Col., 20th Light Dragoons, 27 Jan 1813 – Jan 1821 [check]; took part in Pyrenees Campaign, 1813-4; commanded allied cavalry in France, 1815-6; Governor of Barbados 1816-20; Col., 3rd Dragoons, 25 Jan 1821 – Sep 1828; Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, 1822-5; Gen., 27 May 1825; Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, 9 Feb 1825 - 1 Jan 1830; captured city of Bhurtpore, 28 Jan 1826; Col., 1st Life Guards, from 16 Sep 1829; Constable of the Tower (and Lord Lieut., Tower Hamlets) from 11 Oct 1852; Field-Marshal, 2 Oct 1855; MP Newark 1806 - 17 May 1814; succ. father as 6th baronet 24 Aug 1809; KB 21 Aug 1812; created Baron Combermere 17 May 1814, with annuity of £2000 p. a. for two generations; GCB 2 Jan 1815; GCH 1817; Governor of Sheerness 25 Jan 1821 – still 1829; Privy Councillor (I) 21 Nov 1822; created Viscount Combermere 8 Feb 1827; DCL Oxford Univ. 23 Jun 1830; Privy Councillor 16 Dec 1834; KCSI 19 Aug 1861; m. 1st, 1 Jan 1801 Lady Anne Maria Pelham-Clinton, eldest dau. of Thomas Pelham-Clinton, 3rd Duke of Newcastle, Major-Gen. in the Army; m. 2nd, 22 Jun 1814 Caroline, second dau. of Capt. William Fulke Greville RN; m. 3rd, 2 Oct 1838 Mary Woolley, dau. of Thomas Gibbings MD, Gibbings Grove, co. Cork; d. 21 Feb 1865. DNB.

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.

CAVENDISH-BENTINCK, LORD WILLIAM, second son of William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (qv); b. 14 Sep 1774; at school under Vincent (Steward, Anniversary Dinner 1798, 1809); Ensign, 2nd Foot Guards, 21 Jan 1791; Capt., 2nd Light Dragoons, 1 Aug 1792; 11th Light Dragoons, 20 Feb 1793; Maj., 28th Foot, 21 Feb 1794; Lieut. -Col., 24th Light Dragoons, 20 Mar 1794; ADC to King George III and Brevet Col., 1 Jan 1798; Major-Gen., 1 Jan 1805; Col., 20th Light Dragoons, 4 Jan 1810 – Jan 1813 [check]; Lieut. -Gen., 4 Jun 1811; Col., 11th Light Dragoons, from 27 Jan 1813; Gen., 27 May 1825; served on Duke of York’s staff in the Netherlands 1794, with Marshal Suvorov’s army in Northern Italy 1799, and subsequently with Austrian forces until 1801; MP Camelford 19 Mar 1796-96, Nottinghamshire 1796 - Apr 1803; Governor of Madras, 17 Nov 1802, arriving in India 30 Aug 1803 and holding post until 11 Sep 1807; recalled by Directors of East India Co. following mutiny at Vellore, for which he was held mainly responsible; on staff of Sir Henry Burrard in Portugal, Aug 1808; commanded a brigade at battle of Corunna; Envoy Extraordinary to Court of Sicily, and Commander-in-Chief of British Forces there, 1811-4, conducting expeditions against enemy forces on east coast of Spain and at Genoa; MP Nottinghamshire 1812 - 12 Mar 1814, 8 Jul 1816-26, King’s Lynn 1826 - Jan 1828; KB 1 Feb 1813; GCB 2 Jan 1815; GCH 1817; Governor-General of Bengal 4 Jul 1827 - Nov 1834, also Commander-in-Chief 16 May 1833; Privy Councillor 17 Aug 1827; Governor-General of India 14 Nov 1834 - 20 Mar 1835; the first British statesman who adopted the policy of governing India in the interests of the people of that country; MP (Whig) Glasgow from 17 Feb 1836; Clerk of the Pipe in the Exchequer Oct 1783 - Oct 1833 (office abolished); m. 19 Feb 1803 Lady Mary Acheson, second dau. of Arthur Acheson, 1st Earl of Gosford (I); d. at Paris 17 Jun 1839. DNB.