Sir Robert Buxton was born Oct. 27, 1753, the eldest son of John Buxton, of Topcroft and Channon's Hall, in Tybenham, co. Norfolk, by Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Jacob, of Norton, co. Wilts, esq. He was formerly a very active magistrate for the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and a deputy lieutenant of Norfolk. He sat during two parliaments in the House of Commons, first in that of 1790-6, for the borough of Thetford, and afterwards in that of 1802-6, for the borough of Great Bedwin, Wilts. He was created a baronet by patent, dated 25th of November, 1800.

He married May 22, 1777, JulianaMary, second daughter of Sir Thomas Beevor, Bart.; by whom he had issue one son and two daughters: 1. Anne-Elizabeth, married in 1806 to the Rev. Frederick Stephen Bevan, Rector of Rode Carlton, Norfolk; 2. Sir John Jacob Buxton, who has succeeded to the title; he was born in 1788, and married in 1825, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Montague Cholmeley, Bart., and has issue: 3. Juliana- Frances, who was married in 1818 to the Rev. Henry Dawson, M. A. second son of William Dawson, of St. Leonard's, co. Berks, esq., and died in 1825.

LIEUT.-GEN. SIR D. L. T. WID

DRINGTON.

July 3. At the residence of his son, the Rev. Sidney H. Widdrington, Manor-House, Bexley, Lieut.-General Sir David Latimer Tinling Widdrington, K.C.H.

This officer, whose paternal name was Tinling, went to Gibraltar in 1777, and during the memorable siege, until the end of 1783, was actively employed as draftsman, engineer, and Ensign in the 12th foot, his commission in which was given him by Gen. Picton, on the 11th April 1782. On the 4th Oct. 1786 he succeeded to a Lieutenancy by purchase; and in 1790 and 1791, was employed with his regiment on board Lord Howe's fleet, as marines. On the breaking out of the war with France, he was employed to raise an independent company in Ireland, which in 1793 was turned over to the 54th regiment, and he exchanged by purchase to the 17th, which in 1794 sailed from Southampton for the West Indies; but having been driven back by foul weather, was encamped at Cork until the following year, during which interval Capt.

Tinling officiated as Commissary-general. In May 1796 he arrived at St. Domingo, having been appointed a Brigade Major, but he was driven home by disease, and narrowly escaped with his life.

On the 18th Jan. 1797 he succeeded to a Majority in the regiment; and in Aug. 1799 was appointed Lieut.- Colonel of the 2d battalion, then raised from volunteers from the militia. He was actively employed in Holland during the Duke of York's campaigns; and from 1800 to the end of the war in 1802 served with his regiment in the Mediterranean. He was, on returning home, immediately appointed an Inspecting Field-Officer on the recruiting service.

In March 1809 he had the King's authority to assume the name of Widdrington, "out of respect to the memory of his wife's uncles, John and Nathaniel Widdrington, representatives of the Hanxley branch of that ancient family."

He was promoted to the rank of Colonel in 1809, to that of Major-General in 1812, and to that of Lieut.-General in 1825. As Major-General, he resided for some years on the staff at Gibraltar.

His eldest son, Major George John W. T. Widdrington, was slain at the battle of Vittoria.

ADM. JAMES DOUGLAS. June 8. At Dyrham Park, Bath, James Douglas, esq. Admiral of the Red.

This officer was the second son of Sir James Douglas, of Springwood Park, Roxburghshire, Knt. and Bart.* by his first wife, Helen, daughter of Thomas Brisbane, esq. and was descended from Andrew Douglas, of Friarshaw, who married Jane Home, of the family of the Earls of Marchmont.

After passing through the intervening ranks of Midshipman, Lieutenant, and Commander, he was advanced to that of Post-Captain, Oct. 20, 1780, and in the same year commanded the Venus frigate, at the Leeward Islands, from which vessel he was afterwards removed into the Alcmene of 32 guns.

On the breaking out of the war with the French republic, Capt. Douglas was appointed to the Saturn, a 74-gun ship, in which he proceeded to the Mediterranean, and was with Admiral Hotham when that officer encountered the enemy's fleet, July 13, 1795. He returned to

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England in company with a squadron under the orders of Rear-Adm. Mann, and was subsequently stationed in the Channel. He was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral, Feb. 14, 1799; ViceAdmiral, Nov. 9, 1805; and Admiral, July 31, 1810.

Mrs. Douglas died May 2, 1819.

CAPT. J. C. WOOLLNOUGH, K.H. April 17. At Twickenham, Joseph Chappell Woollnough, esq. Commander R.N., K. H. and K. St. V.

Capt. Woollnough was the only son of Mr. Joseph Chappell Woollnough, Sur. geon R.N. by Ruth-Cator, daughter of Mr. William Clarke, of Stubbs, co. Norfolk. The name of Chappell was derived from his paternal grandmother, a lady of Stradbrooke, Suffolk. He entered the Navy, in 1800, as a midshipman on board the Monarch 74, then bearing the flag of Vice-Adm. Sir A. Dickson, in the North Sea, and after a few months was moved to the Waaksamheidt 28; but after a short service was obliged to quit that ship for the re-establishment of his health, then impaired by his extraordinarily rapid growth, being at the age of fourteen no less than 6 ft. 3 inc. in height.

During the peace of 1802 he embarked on board the Harriet, a merchant vessel intended for Honduras; but, before sailing, he met with a serious accident, from falling twenty feet into the hold, by which his right thigh was broken, and his voyage deferred. This accident had probably, however, the effect of checking his growth, and perhaps of preserving his life; and on the renewal of the war he re-entered the Royal Navy, on the 26th of Sept. 1803, as midshipman on board the Bloodhound gun-brig, employed in the blockade of Boulogne. In the course of the same year, he was four times engaged with the enemy's flotilla and land batteries. He remained on that service to the 16th of August, 1804, when he joined the Agamemnon 64, Captain John Harvey; in which he assisted in the capture of four valuable Spanish merchantmen, and one of them, the Cleopatra, taken off Cape St. Vincent, December 29, 1804, was entrusted to his charge, and safely conducted to Gibraltar. He rejoined the Agamemnon, off Ushant, on the 25th of May, 1805. At the battle of Trafalgar, on the 21st of October following, that ship was in the midst of the conflict, during which Mr. Woollnough had the command of the forecastle.

She subsequently accompanied Sir J. T. Duckworth to the West Indies, and

mingo, Feb. 6, 1806. In September following she returned home with a large fleet of merchantmen; and, after refitting at Chatham, joined the expedition destined for Copenhagen. Together with the Agamemnon's first lieutenant, he assisted in bringing over thence the Princess Caroline 74, of the Danish navy.

In Dec. 1807, the Agamemnon formed part of the squadron employed in blockading the Tagus ; and on the 28th of that month, Mr. Woollnough was put in charge of the Commerciante of 900 tons, which, through manifold dangers, he safely conducted to St. Helen's.

In Sept. 1808 he rejoined the Aga memnon on the Brazilian station; and on the 5th of August, 1809, she was unfortunately wrecked near Gorita, an island of the Rio de la Plata. Thus ended the services of Nelson's favourite ship, which had been always before a fortunate one. The name will ever be associated with that of Britain's greatest naval hero.

Before the end of the same month, Mr. Woollnough had passed his examination, and was appointed sub-lieutenant of the Steady gun-brig, which, in the spring of 1810, returned home with Mr. Hill, secretary of legation, the bearer of a treaty highly advantageous to the commercial interests of Great Britain. In September following Mr. Woollnough sailed in the same vessel for the Mediterranean, where he was promoted, first to the Undaunted frigate, and afterwards to the Leviathan 74, but was obliged to return home as an invalid.

On recovery, he was appointed to the Providence armed brig, on the North Sea station; and afterwards to the Arab sloop, in which he brought home the news of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. The Arab next sailed to Barbadoes; where Mr. Woollnough was again invalided, and returned home in the Tartarus 20. In October, 1813, he was appointed to the Blazer sloop, employed at Cuxhaven, where he had the charge of about 300 prisoners, in the castle. In March following the Blazer and Shamrock sloops moved to Hamburgh, for the assistance of the British flotilla; and after the restoration of Louis XVIII. Lieut. Woollnough was the bearer of a flag of truce, with a letter from Comm. Marshall, sanctioning, on the part of England, the convention by which Hamburgh (then commanded by Davoust) was to be surrendered. He was then sent to Gluckstadt, to claim the Danish flotilla and brass ordnance belonging to that fortress, and, after some difficulty, had the satisfaction to bring away all the vessels, except those sunk, together with

3 I

pleting, and he never delivered one of them.*

Mr. Wilkins's figure was tall and muscular, to appearance strongly framed, but lately much altered by illness. In society he was cheerful, and his conversation displayed a mind stored with various useful information.

The following remarks on his professional works are extracted from the Athenæum :

"Of his public buildings, the University Club-House, St. George's Hospital, the London University, and the National Gallery, in London; his Colleges of Corpus Christi, Downing, and his additions to Trinity and King's, at Cambridge; his national monuments at Dublin and Yarmouth-all bespeak taste and genius; and, although the opinions as to the degree of merit to which these may be thought entitled are various, yet, now that he is no more, hypercriticism must be silent, and every allowance must be made, in respect of which so many are oblivious, for that dissimilarity of taste, and that dissonance of feeling, which characterize bodies of men with whom the appointment of architect so frequently rests; for, to those conversant with such things, it is well known and admitted, how often the taste and spirit of a design is crippled and injured by the overruling ordinances of those who will not give scope to the aim and imagination of the designer.

Perhaps of all his public buildings, none was so generally admired and approved of, and none upon which he prided himself more, than the College of Corpus Christi (in the chapel of which his remains are interred). It was in this work that he was left to the full scope of his genius, without restraint, his employ. ers resting wholly upon the responsibility of his professional character. The same may be very nearly said of King's; and whoever was acquainted with the previous buildings, and the only data upon which he could work at Trinity, will appreciate his ingenuity in producing such a building as the King's Court out of such difficult and heterogeneous limitations."

Of his works of literature, his Antiquities of Magna Græcia, fol. 1807, his translation of Vitruvius, 4to. 1813, and his editorial labours upon the works of the Dilettanti Society, place him amongst the most accomplished scholars of the architectural school; whilst his restoration of the mutilated Greek inscriptions

* Two years for preparation are allowed to each Professor, from the time of his being appointed to his commencing to give lectures.

relating to the public edifices of Athens, bear ample testimony to the depth and extent of his scholarship. He communicated to the Society of Antiquaries in 1801 an account of the Prior's Chapel at Ely, printed in vol. xiv. 105-115, with six plates.

"Mr. Wilkins was a great and ardent lover of the arts, which he encouraged to the extent of his means. In all the relations of private life, he was most amiable; and these combined high qualities of his head and heart obtained for him the friendship and sincere attachment of men in the highest walks of literature and fame. We, who have seen many of his designs for public works, some of which were selected for execution by the government, but afterwards abandoned for want of means to complete them, know, that had they been executed, his fame as an architect would have been more highly appreciated; but, from those which exist, sufficient testimony may be drawn to exemplify a strong and vigorous mind, and an exceedingly high, correct, and polished taste."-Athenæum.

EDGAR TAYLOR, ESQ. F.S.A.

Aug. 19. At his house in Bedford Row, Mr. Edgar Taylor, at the age of forty-six, an eminent solicitor, engaged in a very extensive practice, till the state of his health, about a year and a half before his decease, compelled him to withdraw from

it.

and lay gentlemen, which the Dissenters of Lancashire and the northern counties founded at Warrington in 1757, and with which were connected afterwards the names of Priestley, Aikin, Enfield, and Wakefield, all names of celebrity in the body to which they give dignity and importance, and some of them very eminent in science or literature.

The only son of Dr. Taylor was a manufacturer and merchant at Norwich; and he and his descendants, as long as they remained in that place, were among the more considerable and influential of its citizens. The father of the gentleman of whom we have principally to speak, was engaged in bringing into cultivation a large tract of land at Banham Haugh, in Norfolk, at the time of the birth of his son, who was his sixth child, and born on the 28th of January, 1793. The mother died when he was two years of age; but he was brought up with his brothers and sisters at home, till the year 1804, when he was sent to a school at Palgrave, near Diss, which had risen to celebrity when under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld, but which was then under the direction of the Rev. Dr. Lloyd, who was a good scholar and an able schoolmaster. We may mention, as a contribution to the literary history of the last generation, that Dr. Lloyd is the anonymous subject of an anonymous piece of biography, published in 1813, entitled Particulars of the Life of a Dissenting Minister, which is in no part a fiction, but a genuine history of his own life, coloured a little, perhaps, with the hues of Dr. Lloyd's own mind. Mr. Taylor soon became a favourite pupil, and, at the time of leaving the school, he was accounted one of the best scholars whom Dr. Lloyd had sent into the world.

His own study must have supplied the place of higher academical learning, and the results showed that it had not been ill supplied. As early as 1807 he entered the office of his uncle, Mr. Meadows Taylor, a very eminent country solicitor at Diss, where the next seven years of his life were spent. During the whole of this time, all his leisure was devoted "to study and the bettering of his mind." In 1814 he came to London; and in 1816 he established himself in business there as a solicitor, being at first alone, but afterwards associating with himself Mr. R. Roscoe, one of the sons of Mr. Roscoe of Liverpool, a name well known in politics and literature.

The

business had to be created, and the flourishing state to which it was raised chiefly by Mr. Taylor's own exertions, is, of itself, a sufficient proof of his

eminent talents for business, and of what may be done by regularity, assiduity, and minute attention, under the guidance of an enlightened and cultivated mind, and high principles of rectitude and honour. His name will be referred to, in time to come, as that of one who reflects honour on the confidential profession to which he had devoted himself.

In the course of his practice he was engaged in several cases of great importance. In the still undecided case of the Wolverhampton Chapel (Attorney General and Pearson), he had from the beginning the chief management of it, on the part of the original possessors of the chapel; and in the progress of the still more important cause of the same kind, The Attorney General and Shore, he became associated with those who conducted the case for the original trustees, giving it the benefit of his knowledge and genius, even when his infirmities had compelled him to retire from the active practice of his profession. These are the two cases, both still before the courts, one in Chancery, the other before the House of Lords, in which there is an attempt on the part of the Independent Dissenters to wrest from the hands of the English Presbyterians the meeting-houses and funds which their ancestors had established for the perpetual maintenance of the body, at the time when the Toleration Act of 1689 first gave them a legal existence. Mr. Taylor may be considered as having been, for several years, the principal legal adviser of the body of Dissenters to which by birth, education and prin. ciple he belonged, a body which is represented as having maintained the free spirit of their ancestors, but without that hostility to the principle of an Establishment, which seems to be the characteristic of some modern Dissenters, and without sacrificing that respect to which any institution of the country, and above all the Church and its ministry, is so fully entitled. Yet he not only concurred in the efforts which have been made by the body of Dissenters for the removal of civil disabilities, which he deemed no longer necessary, or expedient, or just, but he was very strenuous in his exertions to accomplish this object. In the affair of the Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, in the Dissenters' Marriage Bill, and in all that has been done in respect of Dissenters' registrations, Mr. Taylor had much to do, both in what was printed on the subjects, and in personal communications with the ministers and other public functionaries.

While Mr. Taylor was actively engaged in the detail of the business of his profession, he looked upon it with a philosophic