PRIDEAUX, HUMPHREY, third son of Edmund Prideaux MP, Padstow, Cornwall, and Bridget, dau. of John Moyle, Bake, Cornwall; b. 3 May 1648; at school in 1660; a boarder; KS 1665; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1668, matr. 11 Dec 1668, Westminster Student 26 Dec 1668 – void by marriage 16 Feb 1686, Tutor 1673-80; ordained; Rector of Llandewi Velfrey, Pembs., c. 1677-86; Rector of St. Clement, Oxford 1679 [check]; Prebendary of Norwich 15 Aug 1681 – Jun 1702; Rector of Bladon, Oxfordshire 1682-6; Rector of Saham Tony, Norfolk, 8 Jun 1686-94; Archdeacon of Suffolk from 21 Dec 1688; Rector of Trowse and Newton, Norfolk 12 Feb 1696/7-1710; declined Regius Professorship of Hebrew, Oxford 1691; Dean of Norwich from 8 Jun 1702; author, Life of Mahomet, 1697, The Old and New Yestament connected in the History of the Jews and neighbouring nations, 1716-8, and other works; his correspondence with John Ellis (qv) was edited by Sir E. Maunde Thompson, 1875 (Camden Soc., 2nd series, vol. xv); m. 16 Feb 1686 Bridget, only child of Rev. Anthony Bokenham, Rector of Helmingham, Suffolk; d. 1 Nov 1724. DNB.

ATTERBURY, FRANCIS, brother of Lewis Atterbury (qv); b. 6 Mar 1662/3; adm.; KS 1674; elected head to Christ Church, Oxford 1680, matr. 17 Dec 1680, aged 17, Westminster Student 18 Dec 1680-94 (void, perhaps on marriage), Tutor 1687-90; BA 1684; MA 1687; BD and DD 5 May 1701; replied to Obadiah Walker’s attack upon the Reformation 1687; assisted his pupil Hon. Charles Boyle in his defence of the genuineness of the Epistles of Phalaris against Bentley; ordained; Lecturer, St. Bride’s, London 1701; Chaplain in Ordinary to William III and Queen Mary, subsequently to Queen Anne; warmly opposed Erastianism and protested against the suppression of Convocation; Archdeacon of Totnes 11 Jun 1701-13; Prebendary of Exeter 6 May 1704; Dean of Carlisle 2 Oct 1704; Prolocutor of Lower House of Convocation 1710; Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, 28 Sep 1711-3; installed Dean of Westminster 16 Jun 1713 and consecrated Bishop of Rochester 15 Jul 1713; although he took part officially in the coronation of George I, he refused to sign the declaration of confidence in the government after the rebellion of 1715, and subsequently was in direct communication with the Jacobites; arrested and imprisoned in the Tower 24 Aug 1722, for his alleged connection with an attempt to restore the Stuarts; a bill of pains and penalties was passed through the House of Commons, and carried in the House of Lords by 83 votes to 43; deprived of all his ecclesiastical preferments 1 Jun 1723, and banished from the kingdom; visited in the Tower by some of the senior King’s Scholars before his departure; resided first at Brussels and afterwards in France as general adviser to the Old Pretender; a man of marked attainments, but cursed with an imperious and aggressive temper, and possessed of “a rare talent for fomenting discord”; his old friend George Smalridge (qv), who succeeded him both at Carlisle and at Christ Church, used to say that “Atterbury comes first and sets everything on fire, and I follow with a bucket of water”; regarded as one of the leading preachers of his day, and in Addison’s opinion was “one of the greatest geniuses of his age”; much to the annoyance of Old Westminsters, Atterbury removed the Election in 1718 from the School to the Jerusalem Chamber, and put down the Election Dinner (HMC Portland MSS, v, 561, vii, 275); owing to his insistence the new Dormitory was built on its present site, the first stone being laid 24 Apr 1722; Busby Trustee from 27 Feb 1705/6; m. c. 1695 Catherine Osborne; d. in exile in Paris 22 Feb 1731/2 and buried privately in the south aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey 12 May 1732. DNB.

BARBER, JOHN, son of John Barber, St. Giles’s [check], London; b. 1696; adm.; Min. Can. (aged 15) 1711; QS 1712; Capt. of the School 1716; spoke the Latin oration in College Hall at the funeral of Robert South (qv), for the unlicensed printing of which Curll was tossed in a blanket by the boys; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1717, matr. 27 Jun 1717, Westminster Student 20 Dec 1717-25 (void); BA 1721; MA 1724; Master of the Grammar School, Ripon, 1721-30.

BISSET, WILLIAM, son of William Bisset, London; b.; adm.; KS 1684; elected head to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1687, adm. pens. 5 Jun 1687, aged 17, scholar 27 Apr 1688; BA 1690/1; described in a letter from William Gale, who was endeavouring to procure a Fellowship for Bisset, as “an extraordinarily learned man, but without friends, was Captain of Westminster School and senior of his year at Cambridge” (HMC Report, i, 22); ordained priest (London) 23 May 1692; Perpetual Curate of Iver, Bucks.; Rector of Whiston, Northants., from 3 Sep 1697; an Elder Brother of St. Katherine’s by the Tower, 1699; a fierce opponent of Dr Sacheverell; Chaplain to Queen Caroline; Cole describes him as “almost a madman”; author, The Modern Fanatick, 1710, and other works; m. 5 Nov 1704 Hennaretta Panier; d. 7 Nov 1747. DNB.

BLACKBURNE, LANCELOT, son of Richard Blackburne, London; b. 10 Dec 1658; adm.; KS 1671; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1676, matr. 20 Oct 1676, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1676-85 (void); BA 1680; MA (in his absence) 28 Jan 1683/4; ordained 1681; went to Antigua, West Indies, soon after his ordination; a protegé of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bart. (q. v. ), Bishop of Exeter; Prebendary of Exeter 15 Jun 1691, Sub-Dean 1695-1702, 1704-5; Rector of Calstock, Cornwall, 29 May 1696 (dispensation to hold with Bishopric of Exeter 1716/7); Vicar of Altarnun, Cornwall, 1699 (dispensation to hold with Calstock, 1699); Dean of Exeter 3 Nov 1705 - Feb 1716/7; Archdeacon of Cornwall 24 Jan 1714/5 - Feb 1716/7 (but dispensation to hold with Bishopric of Exeter, 1716/7 ?); Chaplain in Ordinary to George I (Chamberlayne 1716); DD Lambeth 28 Jan 1716; consecrated Bishop of Exeter 24 Feb 1716/7; Lord Almoner from 26 Oct 1723; Archbishop of York from 8 Nov 1724; Privy Councillor 10 Dec 1724; Busby Trustee from 18 Feb 1725/6; a gay and witty divine of remarkably free manners, which gave rise to many scandalous stories; was described by Horace Walpole as “the jolly old Archbishop of York who had all the manners of a man of quality, though he had been a buccaneer, and was a clergyman; but he retained nothing of his first profession, except his seraglio” (Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George II, 1847, i, 87); m. 2 Sep 1684 Catherine, widow of Walter Littleton, Lichfield, Staffs., and dau. of William Talbot, Stourton Castle, Staffs.; d. 23 Mar 1742/3. DNB.

BLADEN, MARTIN, son of Nathaniel Bladen, Bolton Percy, Yorks., and Isabella, dau. of Sir William Fairfax, Kt., Steeton, Yorks.; b.; adm.; KS 1695; left 1697; St. John’s Coll. Cambridge, adm. pens. 17 Apr 1697, aged 16, matr. 1697; adm. Inner Temple, 23 Mar 1696/7; Ensign, Col. T. Fairfax’s Regt. of Foot, 12 Dec 1697; Ensign of a company added to this Regt. in Ireland, 1 Mar 1702; Capt., Sir Charles Hotham’s new Regt. of Foot, 25 Mar 1705; served in Low Countries and Spain; ADC to Lord Galway; attained rank of Brevet Col.; Col. of a British Regt. raised in Spain, 26 Oct 1709; sold out 26 Jun 1710; Comptroller of the Mint, 23 Dec 1714-27; MP Stockbridge 1715-34, Maldon 1734-41, Portsmouth from 1741; Joint Secretary to Lord Justices of Ireland and to Lord Lieut. of Ireland Sep 1715 - Apr 1717; MP (I) Bandon Bridge 1715-27; Privy Councillor (I) 1 Nov 1715; director, Royal African Company, 1717-26; a Commissioner of Trade and Plantations from 13 Jul 1717; Joint Commissioner to Court of France for settling plantation boundaries in America, 1719-20; First Commissioner and Plenipotentiary to the Conference for settling commerce at Antwerp, Jun 1732 - Feb 1742; one of Sir Robert Walpole’s steadiest supporters in the House of Commons; author of Solon (a tragi-comedy), 1705, and of an English translation of Caesar’s Commentaries, 1712; m. 1st, Mary, dau. of Col. --- Gibbs; m. 2nd, 29 Mar 1728 Frances, widow of John Foche, Aldborough Hatch, Essex, and niece of Col. Joseph Jory, West India merchant; d. 15 Feb 1745/6. DNB.

BRADY, NICHOLAS, son of Maj. Nicholas Brady, Bandon, co. Cork, and Martha, dau. of Luke Gernon, Second Justice, Presidentiary Court of Munster, Ireland; b. 28 Oct 1659; adm.; KS (Capt. ) 1673; elected to Ch. Ch. Oxford 1678, matr. 4 Feb 1678/9, Westminster Student 26 Dec 1678 - deprived 1682; Trinity Coll. Dublin; BA 1685; MA 1686; BD and DD 1699; ordained priest (Cork) 28 Sep 1687; Chaplain to Right Rev. Edward Wetenhall (qv), Bishop of Cork; actively resisted the pro-Roman Catholic policy of James II; Prebendary of Cork, 9 Jul 1688- Sep 1692; held incumbencies in co. Cork 1688-92; Rector of St. Catherine Cree, London, 13 Jul 1691 – 30 Jun 1696; Chaplain to William III and Mary II, and to Queen Anne; Perpetual Curate of Richmond, Surrey, from 1696; kept a private school there, referred to in no. 168 of The Spectator; Rector of Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, 10 Nov 1702 – Jun 1705; Rector of Clapham, Surrey, from 21 Feb 1705/6; Chaplain to Caroline, Princess of Wales; joint author with Nahum Tate of a metrical version of the Psalms; author, The Rape, or the Innocent Impostors, 1692, and other works; m. 29 Jun 1690 Letitia, dau. of Ven. Richard Synge, Archdeacon of Cork; d. 20 May 1726. DNB.

BROWNE, THOMAS GUNTER, second son of Thomas Gunter Browne, St. John’s, Antigua, and Ann, dau. of William Dickinson, Antigua; b. 3 Nov 1756; adm. 17 Jan 1770; KS 1771; elected to Trin. Coll. Camb. 1775, adm. pens. 15 Jun 1775, scholar 26 Apr 1776, did not matr.; Cornet, 3rd Dragoons, 24 Nov 1777; Lieut., 37th Foot 28 Mar 1778; Capt., 102nd Foot, 9 Oct 1781; 60th Foot, 24 Oct 1781; half-pay from 1783; subsequently resided in France; author, Hermes Unmasked, 1795; d. 1834.

BRYDGES, HON. HENRY, brother of James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos (qv); b. 20 Jan 1674/5; adm. 1686; KS 1688; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1691, matr. 4 Jul 1691, aged 15, Westminster Student 24 Dec 1691-9 (void); BA 1695; MA 1698; BD and DD 1711; ordained; Rector of Broadwell with Adlestrop, Gloucs., 1699-1717; Chaplain to Factory at Aleppo, 1701; Proctor in Convocation for Diocese of Gloucester, 1705; Chaplain in Ordinary to Queen Anne and George I; Archdeacon and Prebendary of Rochester from 24 May 1720; Rector of Amersham, Bucks., from 1721; Prebendary of St. Paul’s from 26 Apr 1722; Visitor of Balliol Coll., Oxford, 17 Jun 1723; Busby Trustee from 28 Jan 1719/20; m. 7 Jun 1705 Annabella, dau. of Edward Atkyns (qv); d. 9 May 1728.

CREIGHTON, ROBERT, son of Robert Creighton (elected to Camb. 1613, qv); b. adm.; KS; elected head to Trinity Coll. Cambridge 1655, adm. pens. 23 May 1655, scholar 1655, matr. Easter 1656; 10th in “ordo” 1658/9; BA 1658/9; MA 1662; DD 1678; Fellow of Trinity Coll. 1659 - c. 1668, Tutor 1665; Regius Professor of Greek 1666-72; Chaplain in Ordinary to Charles II; Reptor of Uplowman, Devon, 1670; Rector of Ashbrittle, Somerset, from 22 Oct 1670; Prebendary of Wells from 23 Aug 1662, also Precentor and Canon Residentiary from 2 May 1674; in a letter to Richard Busby (qv), dated 15 Dec 1688, preserved among the muniments of the Busby Trustees, Creighton thus acknowledges his obligations to his old master : “I have been your debtor from my childhood, to you I owe my education, and my child’s, my fortune, my Fellowship in Cambridge, my lecture there, my travails, my station in this church, this dividend, myselfe, all, except my infirmities” (Elizabethan xi, 140); composed several services and anthems, one of which, “I will arise” is still a favourite with lovers of church music; m.; d. 17 Feb 1733/4, aged 97. DNB.