SKYNNER, SIR JOHN, son of John Skynner, Great Milton, Oxfordshire, and Elizabeth ---; b.; adm. (aged 10) Jan 1734/5; KS 1738; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1742, matr. 19 Jun 1742, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1742 – Dec 1757, Faculty Student 22 Dec 1757 – res 22 Jun 1776; BCL 27 Jan 1750/1; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 21 Nov 1739, called to bar 17 Nov 1748, Bencher 19 Jun 1771; Oxford Circuit; KC Hilary 1771; Attorney-Gen., Duchy of Lancaster Jan 1770 – Nov 1777; MP Woodstock 20 Jan 1771 – Nov 1777; Second Judge, Chester Circuit 3 Apr 1772-7; Recorder of Oxford 12 Apr 1776; knighted 23 Nov 1777; Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer (also Serjeant-at-Law) 27 Nov 1777 until retirement owing to ill-health in Christmas vacation of 1786-7; Privy Councillor 23 Mar 1787; Busby Trustee 17 Apr 1780; m. 6 Mar 1778 Martha, dau. of Edward Burn; d. 26 Nov 1805. DNB.

SKYDMORE, MATTHEW; b.; adm.; QS 1 Apr 1554 (Acts of Chapter, i, 281b).

SKYDDYE, ---, son of Andrew Skyddye, Mayor of Cork, Ireland; b.; adm.; QS in 1579 (CSP Ireland, Elizabeth, ii, 195).

Skrender, Erik Neil, brother of John Brooke Skrender (qv); b. 26 Sept. 1920; adm. Sept. 1933 (H), KS Sept. 1934; left July 1938; Trin. Coll. Camb., matric. 1938, BA 1941; RNVR (Sp.) 1941-5 (Lieut.), despatches (Med.) Nov. 1944; chairman Richard Daleman Ltd, plastics manufactur­ers, 1950-; m. 27 Sept. 1947 Sheila Lorimer, d. of Verus Calvin Montgomery MB, of Feltham, Middx.; d. Jun 1993

SKINNER, ROGER; b.; adm.; KS; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1645, Westminster Student to expulsion by Parliamentary Visitors “upon statutable grounds” Sep 1650, reinstated “towards the end of 1660” (sic); d. 1660.

SKINNER, MATTHEW, son of Matthew Skinner (adm. 1739, qv); b. 18 Dec 1764; adm. 27 Jun 1774; KS (aged 14) 1779; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1783, matr. 26 Jun 1783, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1783 – void 29 May 1804 (expiry year of grace as R. Wood Norton from 3 Jun 1803); BA 1787; MA 1792; ordained; Rector of Wood Norton and Swanton Novers, Norfolk, from 1803; FSA 9 Jun 1796; d. Apr 1825.

SKINNER, MATTHEW, third son of Robert Skinner, Welton, Northants, Judge of the Marshalsea Court, and Anne, eldest dau. of William Buckby, Chief Justice of Carmarthen, Serjeant-at-Law and Recorder of Daventry; b. 22 Oct 1689; adm.; QS 1704; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1709, matr. 18 Jun 1709, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1709 – void 1720; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 20 Jun 1709, called to bar 21 Apr 1716; Oxford Circuit; one of the four Common Pleaders, City of London 1719-22; Recorder of Oxford from 30 May 1721; Serjeant-at-Law 1 Feb 1724; one of King’s Serjeants 11 Jun 1728; King’s Prime Serjeant 12 May 1734; MP Oxford 1734 – Nov 1738; Chief Justice of Chester from 26 Nov 1738; m. 8 Sep 1719 Elizabeth, dau. of Thomas Whitfield, Watford Place, Herts.; d. 21 Oct 1749. Buried Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. DNB.

SKINNER, DANIEL, son of Daniel Skinner, Mark Lane, London, merchant, and Frances, dau. of Robert Corbet, Edgmond, Shropshire; b.; adm.; KS 1666; in a letter written by him to Samuel Pepys in 1676 he states that he was at the School for seven years; described by his contemporary William Taswell (qv) as “proud and empty and void of learning”; elected to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1670, adm. pens. 1 Jul 1670, scholar 1671, matr. 1670; BA 1673/4; MA 1677; Minor Fellow, Trinity Coll. 2 Oct 1674, Major Fellow 23 May 1679 – c. 1685; acted as amanuensis to the poet John Milton 1673-4; was bequeathed by Milton the manuscripts of his Latin State Letters and The Treatise on Christian Doctrine; attempted to get Daniel Elzevier to print them in Amsterdam, but eventually handed them over to Sir Joseph Williamson (qv), then Secretary of State; the packet containing them was discovered in the State Paper Office at Whitehall in 1823 (Papers relating to Milton, Camden Soc. Pub., 1st series, lxxv); visited Barbados in 1680 and Nevis in 1681; in a letter written from Paris, dated 4 Feb 1682, Skinner congratulates Richard Graham, 1st Viscount Preston (qv), on his appointment as Ambassador to France, and mentions “the recollection I have of beginning my studies with Your Excellency at the famous school of Westminster” (HMC, Graham MSS, vii, 380); his sister Mary appears to have become Samuel Pepys’s mistress; living 1684/5. [will of Daniel Skinner, London, merchant, proved PCC 9 Feb 1685 (his father ?); will of Daniel Skinner, St. Paul, Covent Garden, gentleman, proved PCC 11 Oct 1697]

SISSON, WILLIAM, son of Rev. William Sisson, Rector of Norton, co. Durham, and Catherine, dau. of Rev. Thomas Rudd, Prebendary of Ripon; bapt. Norton 20 May 1749 (IGI); adm.; KS (aged 14) 1764; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1769, matr. 24 May 1769, aged 19, Westminster Student from 23 Dec 1769; BA 1773; MA 1776; ordained; Curate to Rev. William Baptist Cadogan (qv) at Reading, Berks.; d. 29 Mar 1794.

Simpson, John Home, son of David Crighton Simpson (qv); b. 8 Feb. 1939; adm. Sept. 1952 (QS); left July 1957; Ch. Ch. Oxf., matric. 1959, BA 1963, Dip. Ed. 1964, MA 1968; asst. master Malvern Coll. 1964-8; sen. Classics master Portsmouth GS 1969-80; Sub-Lieut. RNR 1959, Lieut. -Cdr 1969; m. 12 Aug. 1961 Brigid, d. of Alfred Charles Ranger of Fairseat, Kent; d. 1 June 1993.