Robert Skinner , DD

From the Dictionary of National Biography:

SKINNER, ROBERT (1591-1670), bishop successively of Bristol, Oxford, and Worcester, born on 10 February 1590-1, was the second son of Edmund Skinner, rector of Pitsford, Northamptonshire, and Bridget, daughter of Humphrey Radcliff of Warwickshire. After attending Brixworth grammar school, he was admitted scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, in 1607. He graduated BA in 1610, and MA in 1614. In 1613 he was elected fellow of his college, and until his death interested himself in its welfare. He proceeded to BD in 1621, and became preacher of St Gregory's Church, near St Paul's Cathedral. In 1628 he succeeded his father as rector of Pitsford, and shortly after was chosen by Laud to be chaplain-in-ordinary to the king. In 1631 he was appointed rector of Launton, Oxfordshire, and in 1636 eleventh bishop of Bristol and rector of Greens Norton, Northamptonshire. He retained the livings of Launton and Greens Norton. to which were soon added those of Cuddesden, Oxfordshire, and Beckenham, Kent. In the same year he became DD by diploma. In 1641 he was translated to the see of Oxford. He was one of the bishops who subscribed the protest of 17 December of 1641, declaring themselves prevented from attendance in parliament, and was consequently committed by the lords to the Tower, where he remained eighteen weeks. Being released on bail he retired to Launton. In 1643 he was deprived of Greens Norton 'for his malignity against the parliament.' He was also sequestered from his livings of Cuddesden in 1646 and Beckenham in 1647. During the Commonwealth he secured a license to preach, and continued in his diocese. He also conferred holy orders throughout England. It is stated by Thomas Warton, in his 'Life of R Bathurst' that Bathurst secretly examined the candidates, and officiated at Launton as archdeacon. At the Restoration he became one of the king's commissioners of the university of Oxford, and in 1663 was translated to Worcester. He died on 14 June 1670, and is buried in a chapel at the east end of the choir of Worcester Cathedral. At the head of the inscribed stone, which is now in the crypt, are the arms of the family impaled withh those of the see. He married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Bernard Bangor, esquire bedell of Oxford, and left issue six sons and four daughters. Skinner's eldest son Matthew became fellow of Trinity. The latter's grandson was Matthew Sinner (qv), serjeant-at-law; while from the bishop's fourth son* was descended John Skinner (1772-1839) (qv) the antiquary. [A few Memorials of the Right Rev Robert Skinner, and the authorities there cited; Wood's Athenae Oxon ed Bliss, iv 842 and Fasti, i. 489; Nelson's Bull, p.25; Woolrych's Lives of Eminent Serjeants, ii. 521] ECM

[* The Bishop's fourth son was Samuel, but I have only daughters against his name. There must have been sons to this branch for 100 years before John Skinner [1772-1839] antiquarian, son of Russell Skinner of Newtown House, Lymington, Hampshire. According to the account in the National Dictionary of Biography he was trained as a lawyer but decided to give up law and became curate of South Brent in Somerset before being instituted to the living of Camerton in the same county in September 1800. His accounts of local antiquities were remarkably elaborate.]

[Effie Ray-Jones wrote a note about "The Skinner Chair": That it is in the British Museum, was bequeathed by the Rev John Skinner, Vicar of Cannerton, having belonged to Dr Robert Skinner, Bishop of Buxton 1636. It was used by Prince Albert at the launching of SS Great Britain in 1843, by the Prince of Wales, at the cutting of the first sod of the Royal Edward Dock in 1902, and by King George at the Royal Show, 1913. .......... Buxton?] From the account of Robert Skinner, Bishop of Worcester, by Allan Maclean Skinner QC.


I have kept the spelling of the original, E & OE, and have followed the text of the main part of the book with notes on churches in Britain during the Bishop’s lifetime, and the Indian mutiny, from the Encyclopaedia Britannica – Alan Ray-Jones.

Allan Maclean Skinner wrote, in 1866:


A FEW MEMORIALS OF THE RIGHT REVEREND ROBERT SKINNER D.D.

In visiting the Cathedral at Worcester, the attention of strangers is directed to those monuments, which attract attention by their mutilated appearance, and great antiquity, and enquiry is seldom made, as to the resting place, modestly pointed out by a flat stone at the east end, of one whose life must have been marked, as much as that of any other, by those vicissitudes, to which the civil wars exposed so many. There rest, after the labours of 80 years in this world, and in those times of' anxiety and trouble, the remains of Robert Skinner, Bishop of Worcester. He was the last bishop consecrated before the commencement of the civil war, and the only one, who remained at great peril, during the time of the Commonwealth, steadfastly at his post, in his own diocese at Oxford, comforting the clergy that were left. He secured, by the indulgence of the ruling powers, a license to preach, and never, at any time, desisted from reading prayers, preaching, and discharging those duties, which he had undertaken at his ordination. To no other bishops except to Dr. Brownrigge, Bishop of Exeter, was a similar privilege of preaching conceded. He, fully confiding in the restoration of the Church, zealously recruited its ministers by ordination, not only in his own diocese, but throughout England, and thus made preparation, to have, in readiness, men duly qualified to enter upon their duties, whenever the nation should, by the restoration of the Church, require them. It is said that, with the exception of Bishop King, who ordained Archbishop Dolben, in 1656, and of Bishop Duppa, who ordained Archbishop Tenison about 1659, he was the sole Bishop, who conferred Holy orders during, the interregnum, and that, at his death, he had, himself, ordained more priests, than all the bishops then surviving him. What romantic incidents must have attended his difficult course! What tact to preserve his means of usefulness for those, who welcomed his ministrations, without offence to the enemies surrounding him! What influence to secure the adherence of those, who, by receiving Holy Orders, associated their lot with his fallen fortunes; and what enthusiasm to warm their hearts, to join with him in his Christian course - the probable reward of which was, in this world, poverty, degredation, and scorn ! And how staunch ! Seeing that he did all this, under the discouraging suspicions of Royalist statesmen, and ecclesiastics, of which suspicions, he so touchingly complains in his letter to Sheldon, set out below, wherein he says, "that, he fears to suffer wherein he most deserved, his effective and invaluable services being, with no unusual perverseness, turned by some enemy at Court against him; yet it appears that neither has historian narrated, nor novelist adopted, the incidents of' his career, so curious in detail, by writing any sufficient account of one who, beyond all others, by professional method and foresight, made preparation to secure, when re-established, the efficiency of the Church he so much loved, relying, rather upon the inscrutable ways of Providence, for that desirable result, than seeking to bring it about, by partisan exertions, or political intrigues.

No biographical memoir of him, except the notice in Wood, is to be found printed in any collection, clearly showing, how just, is the complaint, that we have but very meagre information on the lives of individuals, in those stirring times. A zealous prelate, however, has compiled several volumes, still only in manuscript, but preserved in the British Museum, of the lives of distinguished ecclesiastics, and we have extracted from them, with a slight change in the order of the paragraphs, adding thereto some letters and other matter, the following:

From the British Museum, MS. Landsdown, 986, fol. 135. In the handwriting of the Right Rev. Dr. White Kennett, Lord Bishop of Peterborough, once Vicar of Ambrosden. MDCLXX.


Memoirs of Dr. Robert Skinner, Bishop of Worcester, who died June 14th, 1670.

Robert Skinner was second son of Edmonde Skinner, Rector of Pitsford in Northamptonsbire, by Bridget his wife, daughter of Humphrey Radcliffe, of Warwickshire. Edmonde being the son, by his wife Elizabeth Newdigate, who was buried at Pitsford, October 1611, of Thomas Skinner, of the parish of Ledbury, in Herefordshire, a son of Stephen. He (Robert) was born on Wednesday, February 10, baptized Feb. 12, 1590, and educated in grammar learning in a school at Brixworth, near to Pitsford.

He was, in 1607, admitted Scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, aged sixteen years; and in 1613, six years after, Fellow. He took his degrees of' B.A. June 14, 1610, and of M.A. June 14, 1614.

Afterwards proceeding in his faculty, he took holy orders, and became a noted tutor in the college; and some of his pupils proved, afterwards, men of note, as the celebrated William Chillingworth, Fellow of Trinity College, 1628, and afterwards Chancellor of Salisbury, with the prebend of Brixworth annexed; Richard Newdigate, a judge; Bishop Glenham, of St. Asaph; Henry Blount, third son of Sir Thomas Pope Blount of' Tittenhanger, Herts, &c., &c. He took his degree of B.D. April 19, 1621, when he was admitted to the reading of the sentences; and afterwards going to London, was unexpectedly chosen preacher of St. Gregory’s Church, near St. Paul's Cathedral, where, preaching twice, every Sunday for nine years, he obtained love, honour, and applause, especially from the Puritans. When Dr. Laud, in June, 1628, became Bishop of London, he caused him to be sworn Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty, and endeavoured to take him off from the principles he then professed.
His father, Edmonde Skinner, compounded for the first-fruits as Rector of Pitsford, in 1595, and dying, was buried May 21, 1628; and on the following day, the son, Robert Skinner, B D, was admitted rector of that church.

1628, 22 Maii, Robertus Skinner, S.T.B., ad Recto de Pitsford ad pres Ric Mottershead (of Kingsthorpe), et Ric Stockwell (of Northampton).

His father, Edmonde Skinner, was probably owner of the advowson1, and these gentlemen his trustees, as he afterwards resigns, and presents Mr. Wylde, a connection of his cousin, the Rev. Edmund Skynner, rector of Cradley, Herefordshire, who married Katherine, daughter of Thomas Wylde, of the Commandery, nigh Worcester. Probably the advowson was long held by the family, as it appears also, by the Register, that, as early as the year 1560, another Edmonde Skinner was rector of Pitsford.

1635, 10 Febrii, Henricus Wylde, A.M., A.D., Recto de Pytsford, vac per resign, Roberti Skinner, S.T.B., ad pres. Roberti Skinner, Reg. don Ep. Petrib.

He was made Rector of Launton, near Bicester, in Oxfordshire, January 24, 1631 and afterwards, November 17, 1636, he was appointed minister of Greens Norton, near Towcester, Northamptonshire.

Mr Wood seems to think that he became minister of Greens Norton before he was Bishop, but it was given him by the King, as Bishop Elect, to encourage him to accept of the poor see of Bristol.

Reg. Laud. 1636. Robertus Skinner, S.T.P., Electus in Epum Bristol, per translat Georgii Cook, S.T.P., ad sedem Hereford, die 26 Julii, 1636. Confirmatus 14 Janii, prox sequent, consecratus Lambethae ab arch Epo Cant, adsistentibus Epis, Lond, Elyen, Oxon et Norwic. 15 Janii, 1637.

Reg. Don Epi Peterborough. 1636. 17 Novembris, Robert Skinner, S.T.P., Bristol, Epus Electus ad Rect de Greens Norton ad pres Regis per mort ult Incumb.

In July, 1636, elected eleventh Bishop of Bristol, and as Bishop elect of that place, diplomated, Doctor of Divinity of the University of Oxford, on the 13th of August, the same year, and having the temporalities given him the 20th of January following, had liberty allowed him to keep Launton, and Greens Norton, in commendam. He was the last bishop consecrated before the civil war.

In the beginning of 1641 be was translated to the see of Oxon, on the death of Dr. Bancroft, the seventh Bishop, and soon after, being one of the twelve Bishops that subscribed to the presentation (Dec. 17, 1641), was impeached of high treason, and committed to the Tower, where, continuing eighteen weeks, to his great charge, was upon bail released. Whereupon retiring to his rectory at Launton, which he kept also in commendam with Oxon, lived there retiredly, and submitted so much to the men of those times, that he kept the said rectory for the bare maintenance of himself and children.*

In which time he did usually, as it is said, read the Common Prayer, and confer orders according to the Church of England. July 22, 1643, Greens Norton was, by the commissioners, sequestered from him, according to the phraseology of those times, “for his malignity against the parliament, for the use of Daniel Rogers, a Godly and Orthodox Divine." In 1660 he was restored to his bishopric, became one of' his Majesty's Commissioners of the University of Oxon, for the visiting, and rectifying it, then much out of order, taking his seat July 31, 1660, but was not translated to a richer see, which he much expected, occasioned by a great and potent enemy at court, who maligned him, because of' his submission in some in some part to the Usurper. While he lived in the time of usurpation, being deprived of his see, he remained in his diocese, comforting his clergy, and ordaining those who were willing to enter the Church, and was supposed to be the sole bishop that, during that time, conferred Holy Orders;

*See in the State Paper Office, under the date May 13th, 1643, cases upon the ordinances, and the opinion of the committee - Papists, Bishops, Deans, and Chapters, and other delinquents, within this ordinance, are not to have their estates sequestrated, so as to be stripped of all, but to have such a proportion allowed them, as shall be fit, and necessary for their subsistence, according to the discretion of the committee.

and immediately after his Majesty's return all hundred and three persons did, at once take Holy Orders from him, in the Abbey Church at Westminster. At his death it was computed that he had sent more labourers into the vineyard, than all his brethren, he then left behind him, had done. The Rectory of Launton was next adjoining the vicarage of Ambroseden, where the Bishops of Oxford have the impropriation, and therefore, at the King's return, he proposed to make an augmentation to it, but by fraud and corruption was disappointed in it. The case is thus stated in my Parochial Antiquities, vol. 4 p. 444. An attempt was made for the benefit of this church of' Ambroseden (of which the impropriation belongs to the see of Oxford) by the Right Rev. Father in God, Dr. Robert Skinner, who, at the grant of his first lease, ordered an augmentation of twenty pounds, yearly, to be paid by the tenant, to successive vicars. This clause was inserted in the first draught of indentures, with a full determination to continue this charitable intention to all future incumbents, as I am most creditably informed by some neighbours, whose memory is yet a witness of it. But before the scaling of the writings, by some collusion of the ill persons concerned in it, a new copy was drawn and signed with this article emitted, by which the good bishop, and the poor church were both imposed upon. The pious design of one was diverted, and the better support of the other was fraudulently stopt. Those who obstructed this generous intention did not much enjoy the private gain proposed by it. But I spare all names, and am unwilling to impute, what I have heard to be the consequences, as a judgement on them. It was chiefly owing to a bribe given by the lessee to the Bishop's secretary, and both were very unfortunate men.

Reg. Sheldon, 1663. Robertus Skinncr, S.T.P., Epus Oxon ad sedem Wigorn, electus die 12 Octobris, 1663. Confirmatus, 14 Novembris.

1663. 12th October, he was translated to the see of Worcester, of which he was enthroned, 80th bishop, November 20th, 1663, where he became by his many tenants more esteemed than family or friends, because of' his goodness as a landlord. He hath extant a sermon preached before the King, at Whitehall, on the 3rd December, on Psalm 96, v. 9, “O worship the Lord in the Beautie of Holinesse. By Robert Skinner, chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty. Published by his Majesty's command. London, imprinted by J. L., for Andrew Hebb, 1634 " (a copy of this sermon is to be found in the Bodleian Library), and another, preached in 1626, in St. Gregory's Church, which I have not yet seen; and also in the Bodleian Library is preserved his speech, when Bishop of Bristol, at the visitation at Dorchester, Sept. 18th 1637, earnestly but humbly commended to the serious perusal of the present age, by Philo-Clericus. Printed for Jacob Robinson, at the Golden Lion, Ludgate Street, London, 1744.

June 14th, 1670. He died an octogenarian, and was buried in a chapel at the east end of the choir of the cathedral church at Worcester; over his grave was soon after laid a very fair stone, with a plain inscription, according to his own express command. At the head of which stone are engraved the arms of his family, impaled with those of' the see, surmounted by a mitre; and under is the following inscription:-
H J S
Rdus. in Christo Pater ac Dominus
ROBERTUS SKINNER,
Collegii Sanctae Trinitatis, Oxon. Socius Carolo
Primo Britanniarum Monarchoe a sacris; Doctoratum in Sacra
Theologia.
Almae Matris diplomate oblatum
sine ambitu cepit; a rectoria Launton,
diocaeseos Oxon, ad episcopatum Bristolliensem evocatus
(tantus ecclesiae filius meruit cito fieri
parens) mox ad sedem Oxonienseni translatus,
turre Londinensis a Perduellibus diu incarceratus,
tam sine culpa, quam examine, exivit.
a Carolo 2do. ad sedem Vigorniensem promotus.
postquam Presbyteris sauciendis assuetam dextram
sufficiendis praesulibus mutuam dedisset
(eorumque quinque e suo collegio s???µs?s??)
omnibus ante sacrilegam usurpationem Episcopis
superstes. Junii 14o A.D. MDCLXXo, octogenarius,
ad summuim animarum episcopum ascendit,
Prius gratia, nunc gloria, consecratus.

'I'he five contemporary Bishops of Trinity College, alluded to, in the above epitaph, were Gilbert Ironsyde, of Bristol, Gilbert Sheldon, of Canterbury, William Lucy, of St. David's, Seth Ward, of Salisbury, and Hugh Gore, of Waterford and Lismore.

It would appear, that Dr. Kennett was mistaken, in saying the Bishop was born at Pitsford, as in Dr. Kettell's register of Foundationers of Trinity College, Oxford, we find:
1711. Robertiis Skinner, natus apud, Northamptoniam, in Com., Northamp. dioceses, Petriburgens, annorum 16, admissus est scholaris, Junii 2nd A.D. 1607, admissus, socius, Junii 3, A.D. 1613.

He was actual fellow, June 3rd, 1614. His father died, May 19th, 1628.

We find in the register of Pitsford, in the writing of the Bishop, who succeeded his father as Rector, the following entry:- "A.D. 1628. Edmonde Skinner, parson of Pitsford, being of years 74, was buried May 21st, after he had been Parson 34 years. Roberto Skinner, Rectore."

This was apparently the only entry made by him, as all others, during his incumbency, are signed Maurice Tresham, Minister.

His mother Bridget died, January 17th, 1629. The Bishop married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Bernard Bangor, Esquire Bedell in Divinity, in the University of Oxford, of which marriage, were six sons and four daughters, who lived to be men and women. She was born at Oxford, December 12th, 1603, and within a fortnight of her 18th confinement, died there, June 25th, 1644.

On enquiry at Launton, we learn:- That by a fire at the rectory house, Launton, in 1716, all the registers of an earlier date were destroyed. And it would also seem that local tradition is silent as to the curious incidents of' the Bishop’s residence there, though that may be accounted for, by the secrecy, which safety required in his discharge of episcopal powers.

It is probable that in Lambeth Palace, the State Paper Office, and elsewhere, the curious might find many interesting documents relative to this prelate.

In the "Memorials of the Great Civil War in England, from 1646 to 1652, edited from original letters in the Bodleian Library, by Henry Carey, M.A., in 2 vols, 1842, vol. 1st, p. 329," we find a letter from the Bishop, in reply to one from Dr. Sheldon, dated August 4th, 1647, conveying the f'ollowing question:-

“Whether upon extreme necessity, or any exigence of State, it be lawful for a Christian Prince, besides the Religion established, so to tolerate the exercise of other religious in his kingdom, as to oblige himself, not to punish any subject, for the exercise of any of them."

“Rev. Sir, - Your letter, of the 4th of this present August, came to my hand, this very day, and to the question propounded, I have subscribed my opinion in simplicity of heart, and plena fide to the best of my understanding, and, 'by extreme necessity,' I understand that necessity of exigence, which, I conceive, our Gracious Sovereign now stands under, for the safety of his Crown, and dignity, and for the settling of Peace, and preserving of True Religion, established by law. In these ends, in such a strait, such a toleration is, in my judgment, not only lawful, but expedient.

This is the clear opinion of your obliged friend, and servant,
R. OXON.

“Launton, Aug. 7th, 1647.
I wrote lately to you about the Headship of Gloucester Hall, and signified (what is most evident) that it was originally part of the endowment of the Bishopricks of Oxford, and the Dean of the Chapel having perused my writings, did assure me, that he would endeavour his part, with His Majesty, that I might have it for my accommodation, in case the Principal died, and this was before my house was burnt, fac quod expedit."
Upon the matter of this letter, Mr. Carey writes: " The Independent Party, who now prevailed, drew up certain proposals for Peace, which were first privately, and afterwards publicly submitted to the King for his approval. Amongst other things, toleration in religion was insisted upon, and that all coercive power in Bishops, and other ecclesiastical officers, extending to civil penalties, was to be taken away.” The above letter is to this point.

There is also preserved in Tanner's MSS. Bodleian Library, vol. 48, a fragment of' a letter to Sheldon:-
" I well hoped to have seen that uniform book of Articles (viz., for visitations) before this day, resting assured that no pretences could take off your Lordship's resolution, from what, so much concerns the honour, and peace of the church. If with the book of Articles, an uniform order of consecrating churches and chapels, came along with it, it would add to the general satisfaction, and pleasure me much, who am called upon to consecrate a chapel at Burford, a most elegant piece.
"Launton, June 26th, 1662. "R. OXON.”

In the English version of the life of Dr. John Barwick, in the Bodleian Library, p. 210, we find a letter from Lord Clarendon to him, dated Sept. 26, 1659, in which is disclosed the unjust distrust of the Bishop, so triumphantly removed, as soon as he heard it, and it shows, that Clarendon was the potent enemy he had at court:

“When I write again I will enlarge upon the business of the Church, in which you would think me more impertinent, if all I had writ were come to your hands. In the mean time you must forgive me to tell you, that I am deceived, if the Bishop of Oxford make good his word, or if he be not less disposed to it, than most of' the function, and if he does deceive me, I will ask his pardon heartily."

He afterwards did admit his own injustice, and substantially seek the Bishop's pardon, by making him Bishop of Worcester.

It would seem, as if Barwick had favoured, if he did not create, the injurious impression which the Chancellor entertained of the Bishop at that time, for in the same book, we find, at page 218:-

“After the death of this great man (Thomas Morton, Bishop of Durham), there were only ten Bishops surviving, who were all, desirous to be thought, equally concerned for the ruined state of the Church, but certainly did not all seem to labour with equal gratitude, and constancy to raise her up, and support her; for there were two of them, the Bishop of Oxford and the Bishop of Exeter, who, with, I know not what, little objections, something retarded the most hearty endeavours of the rest. To these two, and to these only, of the Bishops, the liberty of preaching in public was indulged by those who were then in power, that they might seem forsooth to do some credit to their ill-gotten government, by acts, that were not ill. And this perhaps was the reason, that these venerable persons prosecuted the business of the Church, with less application, than was fit, lest they should seem to render themselves unworthy of this favour of the Usurper, and perhaps, on that account, suffer more severely, for having any share in so good a work.”

It was also alleged against him in the same work, that he was very anxious to be Bishop of Worcester. However that may have been, he so far established his title to such preferment, that, within three years he was advanced to that see, though in that short time three Bishops, among them Dr. Ganden, author of the Icon Basilike, were elected to it before him, and made way for him by dying.

There is part of a letter which, while it establishes his claims, is very remarkable, as illustrating the position of the bishop at the time he wrote it, It is to be found in the Bodleian Library, MS, Tanner 48, fo. 25:-
“To Gilbert, Lord Bishop of -London,
May it please your Lordship,
“………… And here my good Lord I should conclude, but a word sticks with me (I must be plain with your Lordship) whicli my brother of Bangor told me, which makes me fear I may suffer, wherein I least imagined, and wherein I best deserved. For he told me, that my Lord High Chancellor was pleased to say, that the antient bishops were not removed, because they did not (as they were bound in duty) relieve their mother, the Church, when she stood most in need in point of' ordination, wherein if I failed, it had been just and fit, not only to have taken from me, the support of my Bishopricke, but even Bishopricke, and all. The truth is, I ordained priests to the number of betwixt 4 or 500 from the time, we were prohibited, by their sacriligeous ordinance, and the time of His Majesty's blessed Restauration, and not one of them all but subscribed to the Articles, and took the oath of allegiance in those days when, upon discovery, I should have had my books, and my bed taken from me, having little else left me, nay, but I will tell your Lordship more.* Dr.Lamplugh in those dismall dayes rid not fewer than 300 journeys betwixt Oxford and Launton, for the work of confirmation and ordination, so that all this, I hope, will quit me of neglect in point of ordination. Cornwall and York, and all foreign Counties, as well as the nearer, will witness for me.- And for preaching, I never failed one Sunday for 15 years together, and I continue so to do, for I am so distressed, that if I kept a chaplin I must lodge him in the town, that is at an Alehouse – and let me tell your Lordship one truth more, that I took such care for all Scrips that were commanded to be read in churches, that constantly every clause that tended to the dishonour of the King or Church, was branded aforehand with black lead, and this, by my direction, many did, whom I durst to trust. The full truth is (and herein, as in all that I have said, I call the God of Truth to witness) I was not able to present as others did, because I had not wherewithal, for I was deep in debt before I was settled at Bristol, and came thence near £300 in debt, yet the King had what I could give him, my horses and £30, which was all the money I received till the king’s return..

My hond. Lord, I am, your Lordship's
Most obliged Servant,

Ro Oxon.
Launton, August 17-1662.
To my Hond. good Lord Gilbert
Ld Bp of London with my dutv
and service …… these present.”

We may add, from Donkin's Oxfordshire, vol.1, p. 312, “when the Court determined upon enforcing the penalties of the Act of Uniformity in 1662, Dr. Skinner, foreseeing the necessity of providing a supply of ministers for the benefices which would shortly become vacant, ordained nine gentlemen at Launton, between the months of June and August, besides a great number in other places."

Among others he had ordained Bishop Bull, deacon and priest on the same day.

Incidentally it would appear that he also exerted himself to preserve many in the Church by confirmation, and his labours in the cause are further illustrated by an interesting account to be found in Thos. Wharton's life of Ralph Bathurst. London, 1761. 8vo. p. 35.

* Thomas Lamplugh, at one time Rector of Charlton-on-Otmore, Oxfordshire - He died Archbishop of York, May 9th, 1691.



Ralph Bathurst proceeded to the degree of M.A., 17th April, 1641, and on March 2nd, 1641, was ordained priest, by Robert Skinner, Bishop of Oxford. He afterwards turned to medicine, and became M.D. in 1644. However, while engaged in this profession, be did not entirely disclaim his clerical character.;

When Robert Skinner, Bishop of Oxford, was deprived during the usurpation, the Parliament allowed him the revenues of his rectory of Launton, near Bicester, for the support of himself and his family. Being released upon bail from the Tower, to which he had been committed, as one of the twelve protesting Bishops, he retired to this living, and when occasion offered, privately ordained such students of Oxford, as desired episcopal ordination. On this business, in which it was dangerous to be concerned, Bathurst frequently and readily assisted his friend the Bishop. Bathurst was now in priest's orders, and whenever any candidate solicited to be ordained, he privately applied to Bathurst, who examined him, and appointed a day for meeting him at the Bishop's house. At the time appointed, under pretence of visiting patients, he attended the solemnity at Launton, in which he officiated as archdeacon. This service he executed with the utmost fidelity and punctuality, till the Restoration. The ceremony was sometimes performed in the chapel of' Trinity College, where John Martin, afterwards prebendary of Sarum, and others where ordained, 21st Dec, 1645, by Skinner."

From this eve gain a curious insight into the manner in which this business was done. The continued intimacy of the Bishop with the Very Reverend Ralph Bathurst, M.D., Dean of Wells, and President of Trinity College, Oxford, led to the following letters, the rough drafts of which are still preserved in Trinity College:-

“To Bishop Skinner.- Right Reverend Father in God- I have waited some time, for this opportunity of presenting my duty to your Lordship, and withall that I might give you some account, why I was not able to accomplish your Lordship's desire by Mr. Gardiner, for the clloosing Turton scholar of the house, the reason whereof this bearer, our vice-president, will better give your Lordship by word of mouth. He will also acquaint your Lordship of a cointroversye, that happened amongst us, at the last election, whether or not the president hath a double vote in the nomination of scholars. The statute seems pleadable, pro et con, and therefore it is our visitor's desire, in a late letter to me, that we should enquire of your Lordship and the Bishop of Bristoll, what hath been the practice in former times, the case not being within any of our remembrance before the late troubles, and what hath been since, we are not solicitious to enquire. Your Lordship will much oblige us, if you will vouchsafe us your report in a word or two, as farre as you can call to mind, any precedent in this case.

“I shall also refer it to Mr Smart, to acquaint your Lordship with our design and modell of a new building, which, after long deliberation and consulting with the best judgments we could meet with, is at last concluded on, and the foundations now about to be layed; we, at first, intended it in the Fellows’ Garden, but for many reasons have transferred it to the Upper part of the Grove, where it will stand with much more beauty and convenience. My Lord, we are not forgetful of your Lordship’s late bounty to our llibrary, nor ignorant of your continuall good thoughts toward this society, and, therefore, we are bold to entreat your Lordship's assistance, as in all other ways you can, so particularly, in commending this affaire, as occasion shall be offered, to any that hath formerly been members of our foundation. To that end I have herewith sent your Lordship a few copyes of the Decree de gratiis rependendis, which the Bishop of Bristoll occasioned us to print, because himselfe and some others desired to see it, that they might be reminded of their obligation to the college.

“Truly, my Lord, as the work is of great consequence to the college, both for the present and future times, so it will need many hands towards its dispatch, and we doubt not but your Lordship, whom God hath placed in so high a sphere in the Church, will dispense some kind and exemplary influence upon that place, which had the honour of your first education. Your Lordship will hereby not only do an act charitable and honourable and worthy of your selfe, but also will also much oblige our whole society, and add to those many engagements wherein I already stand bound to professe myselfe

Your Lordship's most obedt. son and servant.
Maii (circiter) 30 mo. 1665.

It hath hitherto been the unhappiness of our poor mother, that though no college for the proportion hath had more, or more eminent children, yet none hath had so few and so meane benefactors, for none more sacrilegious than the ecelesiasticks themselves, who transfer the wealth of the Church to set up lay families, which commonly are observed quickly to scatter it by their debauchery. My own resolution is not to dye richer for my church preferment. How few of our fellowes have been benefactors after now 110 years, (except Mr. Rands).”

(The same to the same)

“R R F. Having understood your Lordship's dislike of our late purpose to build at the upper end of the Grove, we have now, in submission to your Lordship's wisdom and advice, transferred it back again into the Fellows’ Garden, where we at first intended it, though much against the will of some, and the judgment of others, especially Dr Wren, who is our chiefe designer. We were afraid, from the beginning, that we should meet with much false ground thereabouts, and accordingly we have found it in several places, so that we have been forced sometimes to go very deepe, no less than five yards, before we could come to a firm foundation. We have now brought it above ground, and (if the providing of timber do not quite exhaust us) ) we hope to raise the stone-work to the height of the first story, this summer. When that is done, it must stand, as cripples do, to move the compassion of all beholders, till such time as our own diligence, and the benevolence of our friends, can bring it to perfection. I thought it my duty to acquaint your Lordship herewith, that it may appeare how much your intimations have the power of command with us. And I hope it will not offend your Lordship that I thus interest myselfe in the public worke. It is a piece of boldness which I naturally affect not, and a trouble which nothing can invite me to, but the desire I have to promote the good of' our poore College, to which I reckon myself so much obliged. And if my late honest importunity may be excused, I know nothing else for which I need deprecate your Lordship's displeasure, being only conscious of doing that which I find the world expects from me, and which I hope will not render me lesse, what I shall always endeavour to be, esteemed

Your Lordship’s most humble and most
obedient son and servant.
July 2, 1665.”

In addition to the gift to the library, above referred to, the Bishop, in 1666, gave £100 towards the new quadrangle of the college he always dearly loved, but in the meantime wrote the following letter, preserved by Mr Wood:

“Good Mr President, I much thanke you for your last letters, which signifie where you resolve to fixe your building for though you have mett with some inconveniences, yet such they are, as soon will be buried, and I hope you will quickly meet with benefactors to complete the worke. So soon as I can finish my own undertakings, I shall begin to thinke of' Trinitie College. In the meantime consilium do. When Orielle College was to be built, is now it is, the Master of St. Cross was then Provost, and Chaplin domestique to the Lord Chancellor Bacon, and with his l,ord's advice he took this course. Letters, elegant, in a winning and persuasive way, were written to all the eminent persons then living, who had been to their college, and let me tell you, Dr Lewes, the Provost did excell in that art, and was, thereupon, secretarie in France to the Duke of Buckingham for many years; and I assure you much monie was procured in that way, which encouraged the work, and advanced it very much. Now, the same letters were written to all parties, but some in Latin and some in English, pro capto lectoris, but all verbatim the same, in either language, mutates mutandis pro dignitate personae.

If you make trial of this course, I hope it will prove successfull, and very beneficiall to you. But then you then you must well bethinke yourselves to whom you write, and by whom to have your letters presented, for I take this latter caution to be of singular importance. No more at this time. Being to return answeres to letters concerning church affaires, received from his Grace and the Bishop of London.

The Lord prospere your pious intendments, and answere in his Providence the desires of your heart.
Your ever assured friend and servant,

Rob Wigorn
Worcester, Julii ult., 1665.”

In the Bodleian M.S., Tanner 45, fol. 19, is another letter to Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury, interesting, though trivial, as applicable to the affairs of Worcester Cathedral. The present organ, however, is probably not the one in question:-

“May it please your Grace,- Tandem aliquando, I present your grace with all the papers that make (and as with humble submission, I conceive) are requisite in Mr Deane of Worcester's defence, against Mr. Hathaway's pretences, and allegations, about the choire organ made and fixt, and the great organ to be made, but now bargained for. And the reason I sent these papers up no sooneri, was my longing hope, and endeavour, to have made Mr George Dallow's testimonie, more pregnant and evident, touching the promise of Hathway and Dr. Gibbons, to helpe him to this organ-worke at Worcester, but:, to my mind there is more than probabilitie, there had been monie enough, to have satisfied Gibbon and Hathaway and Talbott, had it been in the Deane's power to made a bargain, they well knew Mr. Deane’s utter ignorance in re musica. They knew he was, as it is in the Greek proverbe ???? p??? ???a?, had no more skill in an organ, than a beast that hath no understanding, and 'tis very considerable that Hathaway should dare to addresse a complaint at Council Board, when for above a whole yeare, Mr. Deane having forbidden him to proceede to the work of the great organ, he never applied himself. neither to Mr Deane, nor to the Chapter, nor to the Visitor, continuing his visitation for nine months at least, no complaint all this while ever heard of, and for ye materials provided it signifies nothing, unless it did appeare they were provided for this organ, when, soone after he had made the choire organ, he was forbidden to proceed any farther. With Mr Harrison (who was old Dallow's servant and married his daughter) I twice conferred about his testimonie, and he told me he would make good all he said upon oatli, and make it good to all the organists in England, and if your grace shall secretly object, old Hesiod’s testimonie in ye case, ?a? ???aµe?? ???aµe? f???e?e?, an artist malignes his brother artist, I rely very much on Mr. Tomkins’ skill, bred in his cradle and all his life among organs, who is an excellent organist, and has ever maintained an organ in his house, his letter will show what his judgement was before this difference started. Little reason have I had to interpose in the least in Mr. Deane's case, but I cannot forbear to stand up for innocence, though joyned with much follie. I have returned a certificate to his Majestie's instructions about hospitalls, and by the grace of God shall return a full answer to your grace's instructions, about church affaires, in ye due time. The Lord in the mean time preserve your grace in health and safetie, and ye comforts of his blessed spirit.

May it please your grace, I am your grace's most obliged and most obedient humble servant,
Ro. Wigorn
Worcester, Aug 5, 1665.”

Dr. Warmstrey was the unmusical Dean.


Shortly before his death, the Bishop made his will as follows:-" In the name of God, Amen, - I, Robert Skinner, by the Divine Providence Bishop of Worcester, doe ordain and make this my last will and testament, and first of all and pre omnibus, I commend my soule into the hands of my Almighty and gracious Creator and Redeemer, hopeing and faithfully beleeving (the Lord be praised for it) that I shall be saved by the merrits and satisfaction and intercession of Jesus Christ., who dyed for me on the crose, and rose again for my justification - for my religion, I professe myself to be a true sone of the Church of England, nothing doubting, but heartilye believing, but the Church of England is a true member of the Holy Catholique Church. And I have ever embraced the liturgy and services of the church, now in use, as one of ye greatest blessings ye Son of Grace ever bestowed upon this nation. And I humbly implore our Lord Jesus Christ, the lover and author of peace, to move all animosities and wilful oppositions against that most excellent piece of Divine service, charging my children, upon my blessing, to embrace and delight themselves in that booke, next to the blessed Booke of God, as the way and means to eternall life, through the grace of our Lord Jesus. Now for the temporall good things which the Lord of his bountiful mercy hath bestowed upon mee, by this last will and testament I thus dispose of them, viz.: Whereas my sonne Matthew Skinner is indebted to me in the summe of four hundred pounds, I doe give and bequeath two hundred pounds thereof to Robert Skinner, my grandsonne, and the other two hundred pounds to Katherine Skinner, my granddaughter, sonne and daughter of my said sonne Matthew. Item, I give and bequeath to my sonne, Samuel Skinner, two hundred pounds. Item, I give and bequeath to my sonne Robert Skinner, five hundred pounds; and its for my plate, brass, pewter, lynnen, bedding, and all my other household goods, except my bookes, I doe give, devise, and bequeath, as is in a codicil hereunto annexed, subscribed with my owne hand. And as for my sonne William Skinner, my daughter Mary Oakley, and my daughter Margaret Sharpe, and my daughter Anne Gardner, I have lately caused their severall portions to be delivered unto them, which I hereby give them, and doe hereby acquitt them from all accompts whatsoever for any moneys, I have caused to be delivered to them, or for either of their uses. Item, I do give and bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth Irons two hundred pounds, which I lately lent her towards purchasing of a copyhold in Claynes, late in the tenure of Thomas Nash, gent, deceased; and alsoe another hundred pounds, which I formerly lent her. Item, I give and bequeath unto my servant, Philippa Skinner, twenty pounds, and to my servant, Mary Bates, five pounds. Item, I give and bequeath unto my sonne, Robertt Skinner, all my convocation robes. Item, I doe give and bequeath my bookes, as shall appeare in some paper under my hand, but in case I shall leave no such paper under my hand, then my will is - That my said bookes shall bee disposed of according as I lately directed, in the presence of my sonnes, Matthew, Robert, and William. And I doe hereby nominate and appoint my sonne, Dr Matthew Skinner, sole executor of this my last will and testament, nothing doubting but that he will be just and kind to his brothers and sisters, and all parties herein and hereby concerned. Item, my will is that my executor shall give to all my household servants mourning suites. Item, I give unto my kinsmaii, Miles Raynesford, a mourning suite and coate. And my will is, that all my children, to whome I have given portions in this my will, shall buy their own mourning weeds, except my daughter, Elizabeth Irons, to whome I give her five pounds, to buy her mourning weeds, Item, I give, and bequeath unto my servants, John Morris, Rowland Brabant, William Laselow, and William Smith, forty shillings apiece. Item, I give and bequeath unto my servant Edmond Skinner, twenty pounds. I give to my servant, Mary Sallaway, twenty sliillings. Item, I give unto my chaplayne Mr Andrew Trebecke, a mourning gowne; and I do hereby revoke all former wills by me made, and doe declare this to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seale, the 2nd day of April, Anne Domini 1670. Item, I give to my chaplayne, Mr Stephen Richardson a mourning gowne; and my will is that all my servants shall have meate, drink, and
lodging for one month after my decease, at the charge of my executors. Item, I give to my Mr. John Pooler, a mourning suit and coat of the best blacke clothe. Robert Wigor. Signed, sealed, and published by the Right Reverend Father in God, Robert Lord Bishop of Worcester, in his chamber at his palace in Worcester, upon Saturday, the second day of April anno domini. 1670, about eight of the clock in the evening, the word [two] being first interlyned in the sixth line from the bottome of'the first page hereof, there being also a razure first made in the eighth lyne, accounted from the top of this page, in the presence of Andrew Trebecke, Edmonde Skinner, John Pooler.

"To my sonne Matthew Skinner, my biggest guilt cupp, with a cover, and one of my guilt plates. To my sonne Robert Skinner, my grate guilt tankard. To my sonne Samuell Skinner, one of lesser guilte cups with a cover and a little silver sconce. To my sonne William Skinner, the other guilte cuppe, without a cover, and alsoe fower small silver salts. To my daughter Mary Oakely, my best silver tankard, white, and the great silver salt. To my daughter Anne Gardner, a dozen of my best spoons and a silver plate. To my daughter Elizabeth Irons, my sugar dish and my other guilt plate. To my daughter Margaret Sharpe, my other silver tankard, my silver cupp with a cover, and six spoones. To my grandchild Katherine Skinner, daughter of my sonne Matthew Skynner, my little guilte tankard. To my sonne Matthew Skinner, my cloth bed and bedding, chares, and stooles, and whatever belongs unto the new chamber. To my sonne Robert Skinner, all the bedding in my owne chamber, presse table, and the bigger clieste of' drawers, and chaires. Alsoe to my sonne Robert, a flocke and bolster, twoe paire of fyne sheets, fower pair of hempen sheets, one dyaper cloth, and sideboard cloth, one dozen and a half of napkins, two flaxen table clothes, twoe sideboard clothes, two dozen of flaxen napkins, fower pewter dishes, some bigger some lesser, one dozen of plates, one pewter bason, one paire of the biggest bi-asse andirons, two kettles, one bigger one lesser, one iron pott, a pair of pewter candlesticks, and my chimmer and silk gowne, and .tippets and hats and the remainder of my hay att my death. To my daughter Mary Oakley, a feather bed and bolster, blankets, and rugge thereto belonging, three lowe chares, and three stooles, two paire of fyne sheets, two paire of hempen sheets, fower pewter dishes, one dozen of plates, one dyaper table cloth, one sideboard cloth of dyaper, two dozen of napkins, one flaxen table cloth, one side board cloth of flaxen, one dozen of flaxen napkins. To my sonne William Skinner, one feather bed and bolster, blankett, and coverlett thereto belonging, two paire of fyne sheets, two paire of hempen sheets, fower pewter dishes, one dozen of plates, one diaper tablecloth, one side board cloth, one dozen of napkins, and flaxen table cloth, one sideboard table cloth, one dozen of napkins, and my other gownes not before given by me to my sonne Robert, and all my cassocks and wearing clothes. To my daughter Margaret Sharpe, two sets of old curtains, two feather bedds, two bolsters, two flock beds, fower flocke bolsters, two payre of fine sheets, eight paire of hempen sheets, that is to say, fower paire of the better sort of my hempen sheets, and fower pair of the worser sort, six table clothes, that is to say, one of diaper, three of flaxen, and two of hempen, six side board clothes, and six towells, fower dozen of napkins, eight pewter dishes, a dozen and halfe of plates, two basons and flagon, two paire of candlesticks, three little kettles, two iron potts, fower skilletts, two paire of little andirons, with fire shovells and tongs, two grates, a pair of little iron rackes, the round table, three little tables, one dozen of old chairs and stooles, three old carpets. To Phillippa Skinner, my servant, a feather bed and feather bolster, a flock bolster, two blanketts, and two paire of hempen sbeets. To Marie Bats, my servant, a feather bed, and feather bolster, a flock bolster, two blanketts, and two paire of sheets. To my daughter Elizabeth Irons, the bed and furniture of her chambers, one paire of holland sheets, a dammaske table cloth, and two side board clothes, and a dozen and halfe of napkins, three pewter dishes, two dozen of plates, and a pair of brasse and irons. 'I'o my sonne Doctor Matthew Skinner, my faire hangings in my dyneing room, three dozen and halfe of Turkey chairs, and the table and carpett in the same roome, the tables in the parlour, with six Spanish tables, my coach and five horses, with hay for them for six weeks after my death. My Parliament roabes of scarlett, and for my plate I bought for my chappell and mace I doe desire it may be sold to my successor, at a reasonable price under the true value, if he shall desire it from executor.
R0BERT WIGORN.*

*Proved by his son Matthew, his executor, in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, July 6th, 1670.

The Bishop's eldest son, Matthew Skinner, was born April 1st, 1624, at St. Bennett’s, London, becoming a scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, June 4, 1640, aetat. 16. On Thursday, June 1, 1643, being B.A., he was elected probationer fellow, and June 4, 1644, actual fellow, Ralph Kettle being President. Matthew Skinner, and his kinsman Bernard Banger, B.A. (of an old Dorsetshire family), were expelled by the Parliamentary Governor of Oxford from their fellowships, June 30, 1648. In 1660, though married to Frances, daughter of John Sympson, D.D. (of a Yorkshire family,), prebendary of Canterbury cathedral, Matthew was restored to his fellowship, and recommended for a degree by special privilege, the Chancellor's letter saying he was well qualified for a "Doctor of Physic."

He resided at Welton, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, and having an estate about £600 a-year in Oxfordshire, was returned by the Commissioners in 1662 as one of the gentlemen qualified for the honour of being made a Knight of the Royal Oak, an order then contemplated. At the last Herald's Visitations for Northamptonshire, held at Daventry, August 6, 1681, he attended and furnished his pedigree, now preserved in Herald's College. He died in 1698 and was buried at . . ………. . in Northampton.

Matthew's oldest son Robert was born at Stratton Audley, May 28, 1655. He is thus, in his own handwriting, described in the entrance book of Trinity College, Oxford. Ego. Robertus Skinner, filius Mathoei Skinner, Armigeri, de Stratton Audley, in Comitatu Oxoniensi, Admissus sum generosus commensalis, sub tutamine Magistri Wills, men., December, 1670. He was B.A., July 2nd, 1674. He was admitted at the Inner Temple, 6th November, 1673, and then described, as filius Domini Skinner, de Hallow in Com. Worcester. He was called to the Bar, 12th February, 1681.

He married Anne, eldest daughter of William Buckby, Serjeant-at-Law, by Mary his wife, only daughter of Sir Richard Raynsford, Knight, of Dullington, Northamptonshire; a Baron of the Exchequer, November 16th, 1663; Judge of the King’s Bench, February 19th, 1669; Lord Chief Justice of England, May 12th, 1676. A fine portrait of Raynsford adorns the Parliament Room in Lincoln's-Inn. It appears, by the Bishop's will, that the Raynsfords were related to him. He was a diligent lawyer, as is shown by "Skinner's Reports," and being, at an early age, Judge of the Marshalsea Court, died March 20tli, 1697-8, and was buried in St. Faith's under St. Paul's. He had three sons and three daughters, Anne, Catherine, and Mary, all born in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields.

His eldest son, Matthew, was born October 22nd, 1689; and in 1704, aged 14, was admitted a Scholar of St. Peter's College, Westminster; was in 1709 elected a Student of Christ Church College, Oxford; and on June 20th, of the same year, was entered as a Student at Lincoln's-Inn, William Melmoth, grandfather of John Skynner, Sub-Dean of York, being his surety. On coming of age, he acquired the family property at Welton, and on April 21st, 1716, was called to the Bar, and joined the Oxford Circuit.

His mother, Anne, died at 6 a.m., June 24th, 1718, and was buried the Thursday night following, within the rails of the Chancel of St. Mary's Church, Bath. In the year following, September 8th, 1719, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Whitfield, Esq., of Watford Place, Herts. He took a residence in Watling Street, London, having been admitted, by purchase, from Simon Urling, Esq., Common Pleader of the City of London, the title given to each of the four Counsel, to whom, till lately, was given the exclusive privilege of practice in the Lord Mayor’s Court. He surrendered this office, July 4th, 1722, to Thomas Gazzard, who was afterwards Judge of the Sherriff's Court, and Common Serjeant. He then removed to the City of Oxford, where he continued in full practice for seventeen years, and constantly travelled the Oxford Circuit.

On May 30th, 1721, he was elected Recorder of Oxford, and in Easter 'I'erm, 1724, was, with eleven others, made Serjeant-at-Law, giving gold rings, with the motto "bonus felixque." At the general election in 1728, he unsuccessfully contested the borough of Andover, and in the same year, he published notes of cases argued in the King’s Bench from the 33 Car. iid., to 9th William III, made by his learned father, Robert, and now quoted as " Skinner's Reports."

He was made a King's Serjeant on June 11th, 1730, and afterwards, bv letters patent, dated May 12th, 1734, " The King's Serjeant," during pleasure then, and till 1811 the highest rank at the Bar. He was, the same year, elected M.P. for the City of Oxford.

He was Treasurer of Serjeant's-lnn, and appears to have provided, in 1737, the official mace, still used by that Society, his name being engraved on it.

He resigned his seat for Oxford in 1738, succeeding, by the appointment of his friend Sir Robert Walpole, as Chief Justice of Chester, John Verney, Esq., made Master of the Rolls; and it appears, by different letters patent, enrolled in 1739, he was made Chief Justice of Chester and Flint, and also of Denbigh and Montgomery, at the several salaries of £500, £200, and £30 a year. In these offices he was in 1740, associated with the Honourable John Talbot, as his puisne judge, ancestor of the Honourable John Chetwynd Talbot, Q.C., who by his death in 1852, made vacant the office of' Recorder of Windsor, since then held by Allan Maclean Skinner, Q.C., on the recommendation of the Right Honourable Spencer H. Walpole. He conducted for the Crown, as Prime Serjeant, on July 28th, 1746, the prosecution of Lord Kilmarnock for high treason, taking precedence, by virtue of his patents, of the Attorney General; though it would seem, that he somewhat tediously delivered his speech, (preserved in the State trials), if his manner justified the joke of Horace Walpole, who thus amusingly alludes to the recollection of Lord Cowper's eloquence, on sentencing Lord Derwentwater and others to death, in February, 1716. "After the second Scotch rebellion, Lord Hardwicke presided at the trials of the rebel Lords. Somebody said to Sir Charles Wyndham, 'Oh, you don't think Lord Hardwicke's speech good, because you heard Lord Cowper's.' 'No,' he replied, 'but I do think it tolerable, because I heard Serjeant Skinner's."'

On October 21st, 1749, he died at Oxford, Premier King's Serjeant, Chief Judge of Chester, and Recorder of Oxford. He was buried in Christ Church Cathedral, and on a slab, placed on a pillar after his wife's death, by their only surviving child Matthew, is found this epitaph to their memory:-

H. S. E.
Matthaeus Skinner, Armiger
Civitatis Oxon Recordator,
Cestriae Justiciarius Capitalis
Serenissimi Regis Georgii 2di,
Serviens ad legem Primarius
Qui hujusce sedis olim alumnus
Hic, inter socios,
Ossa sua recondi voluit
Obiit Oct. XXI. mo., A.D. MDCCXLIX., no.
AEtatis LX mo.
Sub eodem marmore
Prope Conjugis Reliquias
Repositae sunt
Etiam Elizabethae Skinner
Filiae Tliomae Whitfield
De Watford in agro Herfordiensi, arm.
Obiit XXII mo. Dec., A.D. MDCCLX mo.
AEtatis LX mo.

On a stone over the tomb is written, “Hic jacent Matthaeus Skinner, arm. et Elizabetha, uxor ejus, 1761."

His second brother Richard, born May 31, 1693, died July 26, 1746, and was buried August 3, at Low Leyton, Essex. His third brother Samuel, born January 13, 1696, was in the service of the East India Company, and slain by Augria, the pirate, in 1731.

His three eldest sons died young, and were buried in the Chapel of Merton College; where, by the following Epitaphs which be wrote to their memory, he showed not only their promise, but his own enjoyment of the strongly-marked, and hereditary, characteristic of the race-" family affection,"- a quality so strongly exhibited by his surviving child, Matthew.

H S E
Robertus Skinner.
Filius Mathaei Skinner
Servientis ad legem
et hujusce civitatis
Recordatoris
Obiit quarto Aprilis A.D. 1728
Anno aetatis septimo
Qui spe, quam,annis, provectior,
Optimae indolis indicia,
tanquam tenerae plantuloe folia,
Ubertim edlidit,
Nonnullos etiam tulit propagines
quin brevi decerptus
id suis solum reliquit
ominari
Quam dulcis foret maturior messis
Tales cum fuerint primitiae.
HIC etiam cum fratris cineribus suos miscet
Georgius filius alter Mathaei Skinner
Qui obiit primo die Novembris A.D. 1728
Anne aetatis secundo.
HIC juxta fratrum cincres deponit suos
Thomas Skinner
Mathaei Skinner unius servientium
Domini Regis ad Legem,
Et Comitatus Palatini Castriae
Capitalis Justiciarii
Filius,
Mira in parentes pietate, in amicos amore,
In omnes benevolentia insignitus,
Qui puer apud Westmonasterienses
Sub optimo magistro liberaliter institutus,
In collegium divi Johannis Baptistae
se transtulit,
Ubi scientiam umltiplicem feliciter consecutus,
Annum vicessimum vix expleverat,
Cum suis luctuose graviter omnibus
Febris vi consumptus est,
Octobris die 28 Anne Domini 1743
Juvenis,
Quicumque hunc lapidem intueris
Ne quod breves huic labores credas irritos,
Nee cedas idcirco tuis,
Finem studiorum optimum sibi
Proponentibus, vita non eripitur,
Sed mors donatur praemium.

His sixth son and only surviving child Matthew, born at Oxford, March 8, 1729, was admitted at Lincoln's Inn, November 28,1747, called to the Bar Michaelmas Term, 1753. Being of ample means he lived quietly at his residence on Richmond Green, the old Palace, where Queen Elizabeth died. His life, entirely domestic, was passed in the enjoyment of kindly sympathies, most fully expressed in the blank pages of his bible; but among the copious entries upon family matters, his recorded regret for the death of his first born child, is very affecting:-

“On Sunday morning, 7 o'clock, Sept. 11th, 1774, died my dear daughter Elizabeth Skinner, of a fever, aged 12, and was buried on Saturday, Sept. 17, in the vault of her great Aunt Mrs. Catherine James, in the parish Church of Ewell, in Surrey. God's will be done. She was truly a most amiable child, beloved by all, of a sweet mild disposition, obedient, strictly true, piously good and charitable, patient and submissive under many severe illnesses, and in the last, an example worthy of the highest admiration. 0, may my last end be like hers. No fretfulness, thankful for every thing, submitting with astonishing fortitude to every operation that was thought necessary, and, when severe pain would let her, ever putting up pious ejaculations. An Angel upon earth. Take her for all in all, I never shall see her like again.

He that ever lost an Angel, pity me!

“Sept.11th, 1784. Ten years this day, since my dear daughter Elizabeth died, whose dear memory is still and ever will be deeply engrafted in my heart. My loss, her gain! for ever blessed.

“Sept. 11, 1794. Twenty years this ever to be lamented day, since my dearly beloved daughter Elizabeth departed this life, to my heartfelt grief; her dear memory will be always cherished in my breast to the hour of my death.

“Sept. 11, 1804. Thirty years this day, ever to be lamented, since my dearly beloved Elizabeth died, whose loss I shall ever regret. ‘She being made perfect in a short time, (12 years) fulfilled a long time, for her soul pleased the Lord, therefore hasted He to take her away from among the wicked."-Wisdom of Solomon, c. 14, v13, 14.
The just die young and are happy. God’s will is always best, my dear child is infinitely more happy and safe, than she would have been in this world.

Coelitus data, Coelitus recepta.

Heaven gave her (Octr. 7, 1762). Heaven took her again (Sept. 11, 1774).

Fecit ad astra Viam.
She is ascended into Heaven.

He died June 14th, 1814, aged 84 years, three months before the completion of the 10th year since his last, record of regret. Would his sympathies have been,as strong to urge him to renew his lamentations in his 85th year. He married May 11, 1761, Anne, daughter of Hatch Moody, Esq., of Carpenters, Herts. She died before him, June 19, 1798.

Two children survived him.

Matthew, born Dec. 19, 1764; baptized at Richmond, Jan. 15,1765; admitted at St. Peter's College, Westminster, 1779; elected Student of Christ Church, Oxford, 1783; May 18, 1788, ordained Deacon; December 18, 1791, Priest, by the Bishop of Oxford; 24 February, 1792, Chaplain to Horace Walpole, Earl of Oxford; M.A. 1792 and F.A.S.; was appointed June 25, 1801, Chaplain to the Right Honorable George, Earl of Onslow, and in 1803, Rector of Woodsnorton, and of Swanton Novers, Norfolk.

He preached the sermon at the visitation at Walsingham, May 3, 1804; was appointed Chaplain to the Bishop of Norwich, 1805 and June 21, 1813, preached the visitation sermon in the Cathedral of Norwich; he died June 23, 1825, and was buried at Woodsnorton.

His sister Mary Anne, born at Richmond, April 6, 1770, was baptized May 11, her cousin John Skynner, of Lincoln's Inn (afterwards Lord Chief Baron), being a sponsor. She married Alexander Longmore, L L B, Vicar of Great Baddow and of Rainham, Essex. Their eldest son Matthew, born 1794; died 1810; and their second son William Alexander, Lieutenant, Royal Navy, having served, in 1809, in La Niemen frigate 44 guns, in 1812, in the Hannibal, 84 guns, and endured imprisonment from July 26th, 1813, till May 15th, 1814, died January 11th, 1823, and was buried at Castletown, Beerhaven, Ireland.

Owing to the death of his elder brothers without issue, the line of descent is continued by their third son George Longmore, M.R C.S., and his children. He was born, May 25, 1797, and married Dec 27, 1821, Eliza Beckford, daughter of G. Reynolds, Esq. for many years one of the masters of Christ's Hospital, London. Her sister Jane was married to the celebrated wit and poet, Thomas Hood, and her brother, John Hamilton Reynolds, was likewise an author of some note. Their children, viz.

1st. - Eliza Skinner, married John, son of the late John Bentley, Esq., Secretary to the.Bank of England, and has six children.
2nd.- George Moody, died unmarried, April 19, 1855.
3rd.- William Alexander Longmore, architect, born Nov. 7, 1825, christened at Watford, his sponsors being his uncle, T. Hood, and Mrs. Hood. He married at St. Saviour's, Southwark June 28, 1856, *Emma, eldest daughter of the late Thomas Syrett, Esq., of London (buried at St. Clement's, Eastcheap, London), and has seven children, viz.-

1st.- William Syrett Longmore, born Aug. 28, 1857.
2nd.- Reginald Hood, May 31, 1859.
3rd.- Laura Caroline, Oct. 3, 1860.
4th.- Herbert Alexander, Mar.7, 1864.
5th.- Felix Rainsford, Sept. 24, 1866.
6th.- Rosa Skynner, April 1, 1868.
7th -Emma Alexandra, Feb. 15, 1870.

*She died on the 22nd of February, 1870, aged 35, one week after confinement with a 7th child, deeply lamented by her husband and children, and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery.

The above George Longmore has also two younger daughters living, Mary Ann Sophia, and Dora Caroline.

The 4th son of the Rev A Longmore, Samuel James, assumed by the direction of his Uncle Matthew's will, the surname and arms of Skinner only, under Royal Licence, dated Oct. 19, 1825. Born 1798; married in 1827, Charlotte Sophia, eldest daughter of Jacob Elton, of the Grove, Dedham, Essex, and died without issue, June 10, 1866, and was buried by the side of his parents at Great Baddow. He held the rank of Major in the Royal Artillery, was a J.P. and Deputy-Lieutenant for the County of Essex. His younger brother, Philip Longmore, of Hertford Castle, who married Sabine, second daughter of the same Jacob Elton, has had fourteen children, of whom ten grew -up.

1st.-The Rev. Philip Alexander Longmore, M.A,, of Emanuel College, Cambridge,
Incumbent of Hermitage, Berks. Married Mary Lewis, daughter of the Rev. John Blissard, Vicar of Hampstead Norreys, Berks, no children.
2nd.-William James Longmore (deceased), late of Bengal Civil Service, left one son.
3rd., - Captain Charles Matthew Longmore, of the Bengal Staff Corps. Married Ada, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Stockwell, Rector of Wylye, Wilts, has one child.
4th.- Matthew Skinner Longmore, of Hertford, Solicitor. Married Annie, also
daughter of the Rev. S. Stockwell, and has three children
5th.- Mary Annie Sophia, married George Schyler Cardew, M.D., Deputy-Inspector General at Lucknow, has seven children.
6th.- Charlotte Susan, married J. C. Mello, Esq., of Weybridge,
7th- Emmeline Jane, deceased, married. Rev. William Longmore; after his death,
E.Isaac Espinasse, oldest son of the Judge of County Courts, but left no children.
8th., - Ellen Margaret, married to John Marchant, Esq., has two children.
9th & l0th, - Sabine and Jessie Elizabeth.


And so the elder branch of the Bishop's descendants in the male line comes to an end in 200 years, and the property passes, through an heiress, into the family of Longmore; and it may be worthy of remark, as a curious coincidence, that the families of Skinner and Elton, both of Ledbury, should find two brothers, John and Edward Skynner, about 1620, marrying two sisters, Joyce and Constance, daughters of Ambrose Elton, of the Hazells, and two centuries after, Major Skinner and his brother, marrying, in Essex, two sisters of the same family.

But, in the male line, there are still many descendants of the Bishop, who may still perpetuate his name, by doing good service to the State.

The Bishop's' second son - Robert of Whitstone, in the parish of Claynes, in the county of Worcester, born 6th March, 1625, died May, 1681, and, as his will (dated 6th February, 1680; proved 14th July, 1681) directs, he was buried 11th May, in the church of Claynes, by his infant and only son. Married, 1st.- Prudence, daughter of Ralph Thomas, of Lanton, Oxfordshire, and had 3 daughters, Frances, Prudence, and Mary. Married, 2nd.- Eleanor, sister of John Cowcher, of Red Marley D'Abitot, had a son Robert, who died an infant, and 3 daughters: Eleanor, born 1686, married Robert Fox, D.D., Chancellor of the diocese; 2nd, Elizabeth, who died June 5, 1720, buried at Claines, 1720; 3rd, Lucy, married at Claines, July .5, 1716, John, son of Richard Browne, of Hall Court, Bromyard, Herefordshire, where their descendants still continue, and possess her portrait. She died Aug. 23, 1727, and was buried in Froome Church.

The Bishop's third son - Thomas, of Lanton, (aforesaid) died without issue. Married a daughter of T Savage, of Frinkford, county of Oxford. [No mention of Thomas in his father’s will]

(His) fourth son - Samuel, of London, born at Launton, 10th July, 1633 ; buried 6th October, 1709. Married, lst [and] had issue:-

1st.- Anne, eldest daughter, married William Procter, of Epsom, Surrey;
2nd.- Hannah, married David Brattle, Esq.
3rd - Elizabeth, married Ambrose.

Married, 2ndly, in 1681- had one daughter, Frances, who married Christopher Hanbury, Merchant, 1708; and one son, viz. Samuel, Esq., of the parish of St. Leonard, Bromley, county of Middlesex; buried 3rd September, 1757; administration, 14th September, 1758, granted to his relict Catherine, daughter of Elias Russell, of Bromley (aforesaid). Had issue –

1st.-Samuel, of London, named in the will of his grandfather, 1708;
2nd.- Elias, named in the will of his grandfather, 1708;
3rd.- John of St. Botolph, Aldgate, named in the.will of his grandfather, 1708 (of whom presently);
4th.- Russell, died unmarried, of St. Botolph, Aldgate, London;
5th.-Joseph, died unmarried, of the parish of St. Dunstan, Stepney, county of Middlesex;
6th.-Benjamin, died unmarried, of Bromley.
One daughter - Elizabeth, married Dr. Josiah Cole, of Mark Lane, London.

John (aforesaid) of the parish of St. Botolph, Aldgate, in the City of London. Married Mary Rose. Had issue:-

1st- Joseph, of the City of London, and of Wanstead, in the county of
Essex, Esqre., died March, 1797;
2nd - Russell, of Newton House Lymington, county of Hants, Esqre., died 29th December, 1785, of whom hereafter.
[There was] one daughter - Anne, unmarried.

Joseph, of the City of London, and of Wansted, John's eldest son. Married Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Captain Thomas Walker, of London, 20th May, 1762, her descendents under a patent, dated 1828, from Garter and from Clarence, King of Arms, quarter her arms with those of Skinner. Had issue:-

1st.- Russell, of Burton Street, Burton Crescent, county of Middlesex,
Esqre, born 17th July, 1765 (living in 1829). Married Mary, (daughter of Thomas Fenn, Esqre, of Ballington, near Sudbury. Had issue.—

1st.- Samuel, born 18th June,1799; died 1st November, 1811.
2nd.- Russell, born 12th January, 1801 ; died following April.
3rd.- Russell, only surviving son, born 3rd June, 1803, Rector of Sweffling, Saxmundham, Suffolk-, (of whom below).
And Mary, born 15th June, 1804; died September following.

2nd- Joseph, married 31st October 1798, to Frances, daughter of Major Godwin, of the East India Company's Service, He died at Ceylon, without issue, 8th February, 1819.
3rd.-Samuel, of Shirley Park, of whom hereafter.
And five daughters - Mary Anne, Catherine, Marienne, Harriett, Sophia.


The above-mentioned Revd. Russell Skinner, of Sidney, Sussex College, Cambridge,
M.A., Rector of Sweffling, elder male representative of the Bishop's fourth son, married Violetta, daughter of Thomas Williams, Esq., of Cowley Grove, near Uxfield, Middlesex (who died January, 1852)-

His only son, Russell Walton Skinner, of Clare Hall, Cambride, B.A., February 25, 1864, is now occupied in sheep farming, in the Argentine Republic, about 200 miles from Buenos Ayres, South America.

His two daughters are Violetta Mary, born at Sweffling, August 4, 1835, who, with Christian zeal, has given her youth to good works; and, in the most catholic spirit, invited to her friendship, and liberally entertained all those young people, who, away from their homes, laboured, for the benefit of the public, in the Great Exhibition of 1862, in a manner, that while it won for her at the time, the title of "the good Miss Skinner," was calculated to do more honour to the name of her illustrious ancestor the Bishop, than any praise which words can give; and that title she well sustained, not only by her affectionate ministrations among them, but also by the tone of several works written by her in order to raise funds to be expended in works of charity. And, secondly, Lucy Judith, born at Sweffling, December 3, 1836; married June 30, 1858, Edmund Harwick Marriott, eldest son of the Rev. Edmund Harwick Marriott, Incumbent of Farnhurst, Haslemere. She died January 13, 1861, leaving two children, Lennard Clement and Lucy Skinner Marriott.

Samuel Skinner, Esqre., of Shirley Park, near Croydon, Surrey (aforesaid) [3rd son of Joseph], born at Wanstead, Essex, 4th July, 1744, was educated at Eton. Sometime Judge of Circuit at Chitoor, Madras. Married 13th June, 1808, Mary, fourth daughter of Robert Routledge, Esqre., of Kirk Mannington, Co. Durliam. The genial tenderness and hearty hospitality of this most gifted lady are touchingly alluded to incidentally in a poem addressed to her niece, in the following stanzas:-

“And those dear days, and those lov'd friends; and 'mid the crowded hall
Of her, whose smile was kindest, and most cherish'd to us all
The hand that held the fairy chain, the lip that wore the spell,
That held our fireside circle, bound, so tenderly, and well.

“Here, as I blend her name with thine, in one and the same breath,
I bless her with a blessing -- with a blessing until death,
For the sorrows she has softened, the sighs that she hath sighed -
For the hearts that she has gladdened, and the eyes that she has dried."

Her memory is preserved also in the hearts of many yet surviving, whose names and station would show the real attractions of her hospitality, not only to the English but also to foreigners. The present Emperor of the French, in his younger days, found a welcome at her house. Barons Humboldt and Denon, attracted by her knowledge of Persian, made her acquaintance abroad. N. P. Willis, the American author, in her charming house at Shirley Park, not only found a home, but a wife. To extend the catalogue, would be to furnish a list of the talented and polished of her day. Many authors presented her with copies of their works. The Rector of Croydon has also testified that the poor had lost most kind friends when she and her loved husband left Shirley Park. She died 21st April, 1855, having mourned her husband’s loss eleven months, he having died 21st May, 1854. Had Issue:-

1st.- Russell Morland.
2nd - Benjamin (died in infancy).
3rd.- Charles Bruce Graeme.

Russell Morland, born 11th April, 1809. Educated at Harrow (where he was a contemporary and friend of Lord Herbert, of Lee, Augustus Stafford, etc.), and Trinity College, Cambridge. Presented with an appointment to the Bengal Civil Service, A.D. 1829. Sometime Judge of Kishnaghur.

Married, 6th October, 1830, Louisa, daughter of Charles Becher, Esqre., B.C.S., of Chancellor House, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Her brother, Lieut-Col. Chas. Becher, commanding 8th Irregulars, Cavalry, Bengal, was highly mentioned by Lord Gough, Sir Charles Napier, etc, and died in pursuit of Tantia Topee. Issue - seven sons, and two daughters:-

1st, - Charles Bruce, born 7th August, 1834. The following lines were addressed to him when he was nearly four years old, as seated on the ground, with a small basket of flowers, he formed them into a boat, and, tying a rose to a green silk thread, he lowered it, saying -"See my anchor!”

Let thy flowery bark sail on, fair child
Push thy vessel from the shore;
For eyes of brighiter blue ne'er smiled
On so fair a freight before.

The wind will woo it lovingly,
And the ripple bear it on,
While thou wilt stand and laugh to see
Its proress - happy one!

The fairy helm is a jasmine spray
Covered with starry bloom;
The sail is a purple Iris gay,
With its tribute of rich perfume.

The anchor, attached by a silken string,
To serve at the jourrney's close,
Is nature's fairest and sweetest thing,
A half unfolded rose!

Laugh on, thou young and lovely child,
With that bright and beaming brow,
Which no touch of earth has yet defil'd,
Whv should we tell thee now,

How many there are who recklessly,
In this fair world of ours,
Sport with the heart's most lovely throes
As thou dost with thy flowers!

JULIA PARDOE.
Shirley Park, 4th July, 1838.

"The boy who hangs on yonder stream,
Has talents far above his years,
He gilds the father's daily dream,
And wakes a mother's hopes and fears.
A rose, a silken thread had held,
Fell in the stream and sailed along,
The boy with eager look beheld,
Then murmured as with poet's tongue,
'Behold the anchor, which shall glide
My infant bark through life's career-
The lightning from the silk shall glide,
The rose shall warn when danger's near."'

By Sir George Duckett.

He showed such a talent for sculpture, as a boy, that R. Westmacott encouraged him to pursue that art. He was so good an artist that one of his drawings still ornaments his schoolmaster's room. At Haileybury and Calcutta Colleges he was distinguished, and carried off prizes in Persian. He was a most active magistrate and most efficient officer. Subjoined is an account of his early and laniented death, which occurred on the 16th February, 1863, communicated in a letter to his father, from Alonso Money, Esqre., Commissioner of Bhaugalpore. - “Your son, C. B. Skinner, has, it appears, been suffering for a long time from disease of the heart. A violent attack came on yesterday in the afternoon; and in the evening he died. The service has lost a good officer; and all who knew him deplore the loss of a kind-hearted gentleman.
Married, Ist - 3rd June, 1857 - Harriette Catherine, daughter of Lieut.Col. T. C. Tudor. Born 14th November, 1838; died 23rd October, 1860. Issue:-

1st.-Bruce Morland, born 3rd April, 1858.
2nd,-Evelyn Colin, born 12th October, 1860.

Married, 2ndly - 24th May, 1861 - Harriet West, daughter of Revd. J. C. Browne, Vicar of Dudley, Worcestershire. Issue:- Ernest Edward Becher, born 28th May, 1862.


2nd son [of Russell Morland] - Russell Morland, born 11th October, 1837.
Whose career up to this time is shown below:-


CERTIFICATE No. 4.

At the request of Lieut. R. M. Skinner, late 56th N.I., who served under my command, during the years of the mutiny 1857, and 1858, I have pleasure in recording that he performed his duty well, in three actions, in the Teraie, under the Kemaon Hills; and it was reported to me, that in the latter (the battle of Cherpoorah), he saved the life of' his commanding officer, Major Baugh, who commanded the Goorkah contingent, to which Lieut. Skinner was attached.

J. R. McCausland, Brigadier,
Commanding Gwalior District.
H Collier, Lieut
H M 8th Hussars
Morar,
31, July, 1860.

CERTIFICATE No. 5.

DORUNDA CHOTA MAGPORE
8th, Oct. 1861.

Sir,

Consequent on the departure of Lieut Adjt. Wynter, on leave to Calcutta, with a view to obtaining six months medical certificate to the Nielgherries, may I request the favor of your pressing on his honor, the Lieut. Governor, the urgency of' appointing another officer to that situation, the Corps being under orders to take the field, and my having no efficient officer among the uncovenanted men to fill that post. I trust 1 may be excused for bringing to your notice the name of a young officer, who is out of employ at this station, (Lieut. R. M. Skinner, late 56th N. I.) who would accept the appointment. I have known Lieut. Skinner, for many months as Adjutant of the late Ramgurh Irregular Cavalry, and I can vouch for his being an intelligent, smart, and painstaking officer; and I am certain would prove in acquisition to the force, either in its present or amended form, and being on the spot, may perhaps prove a convenience. I shall be very glad to have Lieut. Skinner as Adjutant, should the above recommendation be of any service, and there be no other officer available.

I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
J. L. NATION,
Major Commanding Bengal Police Battalion
H. COLLIER,
To Major RATTRAY, 8th Hussars.
Inspector General of Police Battalion, -
Lower Provinces.

No. 6.

Having been requested by Lieut. R. M. Skinner, 56th Regiment, N. I., Adjutant, and acting 2nd in command of the Ramgurh Irregular Cavalry, to furnish him with a certificate, I do so with much pleasure, but at the same time with diffidence, as this officer has already been recommended to his Excellency the Commander in Chief, by no less a person than Major Becher, (septimus) Deputy Adjutant General, that alone I consider a sufficient guarantee for his aptness to fill any appointment that his Excellency might be pleased to confer upom him, as I feel sure that Major Becher would never bring any but deserving officers to Sir Hugh Rose's notice. And as it further appears that Lieut.R. M. Skinner, in an engagement with the rebels during the mutiny, saved his commanding officer's life, at the risk of his own; that noble act speaks for itself; however, where possibly my statement may be of utility is, that I can conscientiously say that Lieut. R. M. Skinner is perfectly conversant with his duties of Adjutant of an Irregular Cavalry Regiment; and that he has thoroughly mastered the Cavalry Drill, which is the more creditable to him, as he belongs to the Infantry Branch of the Service. Lieut. Skinner has, moreover, conducted his duties to the entire satisfaction of Captain G. Ferris, H. M. 97th Regiment, late commanding Ramgurh Irregular Cavalry, as I have frequently heard Captain Ferris express himself in the most flattering terms of this officer's assiduity, in which commendation I can justly join.

Signed: H. COLLIER, Lieut.
H. M. 8th Hussars.
DORUNDAH,
15th June, 1861.

No. 7.

No. 3,949, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF'S OFFICE,
HEAD QUARTERS, CALCUTTA,
9th July, 1861

SIR,
With reference to your application of the 16th and 17th ultimo, for re-employment, and the intercession of Major-General A Becher, C.B., for you to receive the appointment of Acting-Adjutant to the Left Wing Of the Mynpoorie Levy, his Excellency desires me to state that he has been much pleased with your good statement of services, and consequently accedes to your wish to remain with that Corps; and, further, that when you wish to leave Dorundah, you are to report to me, in view to his Excellency's giving your case due consideration for further employment.
I have, the honor to be, Sir,
Your most obedient Servant, Signed, H Collier, Lieut,
H. S. ST. JOHN, Major, H M 8th Hussars
Military Secretary to Sir Hugh Rose, G. C.B.,
Commander-in- Chief in India.


Lieut. R. M. SKINNER,
Adjutant late Ramgurh Cavalry, -Dorundah.

The following Certificates which were forwarded to the M ilitary Secetary to the
Commander-in- Chief, had not been returned by him, and duplicates could not be obtained, as the officers had left India.

1st. From the Deputy-Adjutant-General of the Army, who was on the spot, and heard of Lieut. Skinner's good services.
2nd. Col. J. Graham, Commanding 29th N.I., (who recommended him for the Victoria Cross.)
3rd. Major Baugh, Commanding Goorkah Contingent, alluded to in Certificates Nos. 4 and 6.)

R. M. SKINNER, Iate 56th N I
DORUNDAH, 18th,February, 1862.


THE FOLLOWING IS AN ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE AT CHERPOORAH,

February11th, 1858.
(v. Certificate 4.)
The enemy have threatened us on two sides for a long time, so we started off at l0 o'clock p.m. of the 9tb instant, to meet them, and marched to a place 17 miles off, where they were entrenched; we arrived here at about 6 o'clock in the morning. They were expecting some of the party that were encamped on the left side of us, to pay them a visit that very morning, and when their cavalry regiment saw us coming, who were dressed the same as theirs, they fancied we were their friends, and came forward to meet us, but directly they came closer, and found out their mistake, they bolted off to their camp, and gave the alarm; but we had time to fall in and fire a couple of rounds of Shrapnel into them before they had turned out; but when they did begin firing, they did it in earnest. They opened five guns on us, and as we had only two, they got the best of it for sometime, until we disabled their 9-pounders, which were playing on us beautifully, as you may imagine, when I tell you Capt. M -, who commanded one gun, had his hat knocked off his head by one round shot, another grazed his foot and lamed the gunner standing next him, and a third hit one of the wheels of the gun. A man was bowled over on my left, and another shot went so close over my head, that if I had not stooped down it would have done for me, They fired 80 rounds at us with their guns ; we fired about 50 rounds, and then we got the order to charge. The jungle was frightfully thick, and yet so low that they could see us going along the whole way, and kept turning the guns on our left, and firing the grape at us until we got at their flank, while about 500 of the 66th Goorkhas charged them in front. They did not run away as usual, but fought it out at their guns. They came rushing out of their huts, and cut at us with their tulwars. Baugh was nearly polished off. He and I were about the
first into the camp. A man had got hold of his horse's reins, and was just potting him
with his blunderbuss, when I rushed up and seized hold of his gun with my left hand,
and cut him down with my sword in the other hand. They fought like demons; just as
bad as the street fighting at Delhi or Lucknow. There were officers who were there,
who had seen lots of service; and they said they were never in such a smart engagement
before.

EXTRACT FROM ANOTHER LETTER., DATED SEPTEMBER 30TH, 1857, REGARDING THE FIRST BATTLE, NOTICED IN CERTIFICATE No. 4.

It seems a great pity we are obliged to stay up here, when our troops are fighting hard and getting knocked about down below. We expect, however, to go down in.a few
days, directly the force from Delhi marches into Rohilcund. I broke my sword over a rebel's head the other day, and, would you believe it, 1 did not kill him? However, I killed one or two others. Here is an account of the affair:- A report reached us that a party, consisting of 1200 bad characters, had arrived at Huldwani (about twelve miles from this), which was confirmed by our seeing all the villagers running up the hill with all their effects, so we all assembled at the appointed place, and held a Council of War. They determined on converting twenty officers into cavalry (amongst which I had the honour to be), and making these join the thirty men of the 8tb Irregulars, who accompanied their officers up here, and about ten other officers, were made to go along with the Goorkhas. Our little force altogether consisted of 20 Volunteer Cavalry, 30 Irregulars (8th), 180 Goorkhas, l00 Levies, altogether 330 in number; but the Levies were not worth much, as they consisted of Bearers, Coolies, and others of the same class, who (had the enemy made anything of a resistance) would have fled at a place half way down the hill at dark, where we rested till ten o'clock next morning, when we again advanced till we got to the beginning of the Jungle. Here we halted again, and Captain Baugh and I were sent with four Sewars to go to reconnoitre. Directly we saw the enemy we halted till the column came up, and then we all advanced together, cavalry in front, until we got within about 200 yards of them. The order was given to charge, so on we rushed, expecting to have a good fight; but the enemy waited till we got close, and then went to the right about and ran away as hard as they could. However, we killed upwards of 100 of them, only one man killed and two or three wounded on our side.

ANOTHER LETTER, DATED JANUARY 8TH, 1858, HULDWANI, REGARDING BATTLE 2, V. CERTIFICATE 4.

We are now encamped at Huldwani, where we had the fight in September. I have been posted to do duty with a regiment of Goorkas, which has been sent down to us. It, however, only consists of 250 men; but they fight well. We had an opportunity of trying them on the 1st of the month. We were seated quietly at breakfast, not expecting any attack, when a man rushed in and said that the enemy's Sewars had arrived. Well, we turned out and remained under arms for about half an hour, whilst two officers went to reconnoitre. They came across three or four Sewars, who fired at them, and then disappeared. We had scarcely time to fall in before some round shot came flying over our heads; in fact, we were fairly taken by surprise. We had no guns to return their fire, so we let them play on while we were being posted in our respective positions. I had to hold a bridge against any charge of cavalry, which, with forty or fifty inexperienced soldiers (for our new Goorkhas do not know their drill yet) was no easy matter; however, luckily, the enemy had not the courage to charge. As soon as we had collected some 200 men together, we charged their guns; but the enemy only waited to give us a couple of charges of grape, and then fled with their guns. They were about 1500 strong, with Irregular Cavalry and two guns, and we only had 500 men, with no cavalry, and no guns, yet we followed them and did not lose a single man!

Married, August, 1859 - Maria Josephine, daughter of John Dumergus, Esqre., late Judge of Allyghur, Bengal. Issue:-

1st.- Jobn Charles Morland, born 1st July, 1860.
2nd.- Bruce Frederick, born 22nd June, 1863; died 12th October, 1864.
3rd.-Helen Louisa, born 13th February, 1865.

3rd son [of Russell Morland].- Cortlandt, born 3rd September, 1839; educated at Sandurst; presented with a Commission in H. M. 19th Foot, in 1859 - Lieutenant, 25th January, 1862.

4th son [of Russell Morland]- Evelyn Swinton, born 29th January, 1843; educated at Harrow; entered the Madras Army in 1860 - Licutenant, 3rd Madras Light Infantry, July, 1862.

5th son [of Russell Morland] -James Tierney, born 26th July, 1845; E. M. 18th Royal Irish, 1864; gained his commission by competition at the Royal Military College Sandhurst, in one year; and I subsequently obtained an Extra First-class Certificate at the School of Musketry at Fleetwood, 1865.
6th son [of Russell Morland]- Edmund Grey, born 29th January, 1850.
7th son [of Russell Morland]- Becher, born 25th October, 1851.
8th.-Louisa Routledge, died October, 1837.
9th.-Mary Emily.


3rd son [of Samuel Skinner, brother of Russell Morland Skinner].-Charles Bruce Graeme, born 20th October, 1816; educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. Published Sketches in Norway," "Norwegian Tales," “Transfer of-Land Bill," &c. Called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn, November 17th, 1841. Now Judge of Sandhurst, Victoria, Australia. Married Louise Gertrude, daughter of Thomas B. Swinhoe, Esqre., SolicitorGeneral of H.E.I.C.S. Issue-Six Sons and one Daughter:

1st - Russell Grey, born June 25th, 1845.
2nd.-Edward Morland, born March 8th, 1847.
3rd.-William Henry Stock, born June 20th, 1850, R.N. Midshipman, H.M.S. Britannia.
4th.-George Lindsay.
5th.-Charles Ross.
6th.-Allan Swinton.
7th.-Ida May.

Russell Skinner, of Newton House (aforesaid) sometime of the Honourable East India Company's Civil Service, married, 1771, Mary Page, and by her (who survived him, and was buried at Camerton, in the county of Somerset, 1837) he had issue, ten children. He died in 1785, and was buried at Boldre Church. On his grave was the following inscription:-

In this Vault were deposited
on the
29th Dec. 1785, the remains of
RUSSELL SKINNER, Esq.,
of Newton House,
His imtegrity in commercial affairs
His virtues in domestic life
His uprightness as a Magistrate,
were
exact, amiable, unbiased, and exemplary.

The following were his children:-

1st.- Russell, sometime of Queen's College, Oxon, born 1771, died 1832; buried at Camerton, aforesaid; married, in 1795, Sarah Humby, and had issue, one child only (Selina), who died a spinster, 1815.

2nd.- John, of Trinity College, Oxon, Rector of Camerton, M.A., and F.A.S., born 1772; died 1839, and was buried at Camerton, he was Student of Lincoln's Inn, Nov. 29, 1794. He married, in 1805, Anne, eldest daughter of Joseph Holmes, Esqre., and bad issue, six children, viz:-

lst.-Laura, born 1806, died 1820.
2nd.-Fitzowen George, born and died in 1807.
3rd.- Fitzowen, of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law, and sometime of Trinity College, Oxon, M.A., born 29th February, 1808.
4th.-Anna, born 16th February, 1809, married in the year 1839, to W. R. A. Boyle, of Lincoln’s Inn, Barrister-at-Law, and has issue, two sons and two daughters.
5th.-Joseph Henry, born 12th May, 1810; died a bachelor, February, 1833, and buried at Camerton.
6th.-Eliza Tertia, born 7th June, 1811 ; died 2nd February, 1812.

3rd.-Marianne, born 1774, died unmarried, December 1815, and buried in Clerkenwell burying-ground.
4th.-Edward, born 1775, killed by a fall from a tree, 1792, whilst serving as Midshipman aboard the Iphigenia frigate; buried at Milford Haven
5th.-Eliza, born 1776, died unmarried, 1812; buried at Hertford.
6th.-William North born 1777, died S.P., 1823, buried at Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire. Married Charlotte Jane, only daughter of Lieut-Col. Parslow.
7th.-Laura, born 1778, died S.P., 1823, buried at Camerton (aforesaid). Married Henry Manningham, of the Foreign Office, Esqre.
8th.-Henry, Lieutenant in the Honourable East India Company's Military Service, born 1780, died a bachelor, 1801, on vovage from India.
9th.-Fitzowen George, Post Captain, R.N., born 1782, died unmarried, May, 23, 1810, buried at Hertford.
10th.-Emma, born 1783, died a spinster, 1812; buried at Hertford.

Lines by the Rev. John Skinner, on the death of his brother, Edward Skinner, who while serving Midshipman in the Iphegenia frigate, stationed off Milford Haven, was killed by a fall from a tree, which he had climbed whilst sporting with some of his shipmates on shore, A.D. 1792.

Scenes of past joys - oh! why, unbidden, rise
In quick succession thus on mem’ry's glass -
Ceaseless ye flit, whilst tears bedim mine eyes,
And sobs, not smiles, record you as ye pass;
For while I, sorrowing, muse with edge as keen,
And look as rankling as fell Parthian's dart,
Remembrance shoots from ambuscade unseen,
And plants fresh sorrows in my bleeding heart.

From cypress shades, in blackest garb of woe,
Let memory rather call afflictive pain,
Renew past pangs, bid briny torrents flow,
And let my father's loss be mourned again;
But now past joys, like Job's false friends, intrude
In mockery come to irritate my sore,
Instead of balm to soothe my solitude,
They add fresh throbs to wounds scarce heal'd before.

Can sunshine please, bright beaming thro' his grate,
The pining wretch in dreary dungeon pent ?
Can dream of plenty hunger's pangs abate?
Or the void purse atone for treasures spent?
Ah, no, in grief the retrospect alone
Of comforts lost imparts a pang severe;
The mind, retentive, counts them one by one,
Bathing each former treasure with a tear.

Thus, my dear Edward, while in sad review,
Return the thoughts of joys untimely cros't,
And all the halcyon days our boyhood knew,
I mourn you deeply, but myself the most;
From earliest childhood was our friendship tried,
Our love was ever genial, glad, and gay,
Ever you ran to gambol at my side,
Leaving for me the comrades of your play.

For who at school, like your lov'd brother, shared
Your favorite pastimes, or with ready hand
Your bow and arrows, kite, and balls prepared,
Repair'd your hoop, or brought your boat to land?
Or when fatigued, these glad diversions o'er,
And evening came, we sought repose in bed;
Sweet were our slumbers then, we wish'd no more
'Than on one pillow both to rest the head.

And hand in hand, how light we tripp'd along,
Thro' Newtown's glades when spring the hawthorn drest
In budding gems, or listen'd to the song
Of blithesome blackbird thrilling near his nest.

************************************

Can I forget the time when packet bore*
Two sorrowing exiles from their fost’ring home,
When our dim eyes had lost fair England’s shore,
And night clos'd in with more than usual gloom ?

Whilst the light bark heel'd over to and fro,
Adding fresh sufferings to our state forlorn,
Confin’d in cot the night we pass'd below,
A hell of torment till returning morn?
Ah, then how you, my dearest Edward, strove
To veil your deathlike sickness, mental pain;
Thoughtful alone for me, your anxious love
For my convenience thought, nor thought in vain.

Or when those many dreary moons we dwelt
'Mongst Holland's sordid sons, how oft to thee
Confiding every pang my bosom felt,
I drew the sacred balm of sympathy;
And, oh, my brother, friend, companion dear,
What selfish demon could have sway'd my brain,
Home to have sail’d and left thee sorrowing there,
But that I felt we soon should meet again.

No, Edward, no; yet still that mournful look,
When I recall those tears which flow'd so fast,
That squeeze presaging when my hand you took,
All, all foretold that parting was our last.
It was our last, indeed, and never more
Sball I his sweet smile see, his sweet voice hear,
Pluck'd like a flower he fell on Milford's shore
Without a friend to sorrow o'er his bier.


*The two brothers sailed together for Holland in the year 1788, to be under a private tutor at Moordwyk, to learn the modern languages. The elder returned to England, in the year 1790, to matriculate at Oxford, and the brothers never met again.


But was there none? oh, yes; his shipmates all
(They must have been his friends), they mourning shed
The bitter tear to view his fatal fall,
One instant smiling, the next instant dead.
Had the brave boy, contending 'gainst the foe,
For Britain's honour nobly fought and died,
This had in part allay'd his brotlier's woe,
It was his wish, and might have been my pride.

But agonizing thought, that native fire
Which had already shone in battle's rage,
Had urged his soul to hazard and acquire
The meed that works the heroes of our age,
Was in a moment quench'd - his comrades saw
And chid his daring - anxious to excel,
He gained the pine tree's top, in silent awe
They gazed, and shudd’ring as they gazed, he crashing fell.

And oh, did not the spacious harbour round,
Re-echo the deep groan his shipmates made,
When rushing quick to raise him from the ground,
They found the gen'rous youth, their lov'd conipadion, dead

Hail, Milford Haven, fam'd for plaintive scene,
Our bard immortal drew: who sheds a tear
For the feigned death of beauteous Imogene,
May freely weep for there's no fiction here.

And Edward, fair Fidele, was in truth
As good and virtuous. May then Shakespeare's verse,
So oft recited, note the lovely youth,
And better than my pen his dirge rehearse.
See Cymbeline, Act, 4, Scene 4.

The f'ollowing brief memoir of Lieut. Henry Skinner aforesaid, precedes a copy of verses, penned as a tribute to his memory by his brother, the Rev. John Skinner, in 1802-.

"My brother Henry, who, having served a little more than three years in the army, in India, with the esteem of his brother officers, and with the marked approbation of General Harris, who was well acquainted with his merit, died there of the liver complaint, before he had attained the age of twenty-one years. He felt the first approach of this fatal malady at the Siege of Seringapatam, where he served as Lieutenant in the Cavalry; and finding its ravages increase, after his regiment returned from the field, he procured leave of absence, and came back to England.

In the course of a few weeks, he was so entirely recovered, as to be able to accompany me on a tour through Wales, which I made in the year 1800: and after spending a very pleasant time together, amidst the striking scenery of that most interesting country, we parted at Conway, on the 6th of August. It was his wish to secure the earliest passage to India, in order to rejoin his regiment; but feeling also anxious to visit the inland counties, and the University of Cambridge, he accompanied two gentlemen thither, oh their route from Wales. When taking leave of my dear brother, I fully expected that we should meet again in Somersetshire, previously to his a
sailing, but in this expectation I was disappointed, as, on my return to my mother's, three weeks afterwards, I found that be had already started for Portsmouth, from whence he imediately proceeded on his voyage, and performed it without accident; but in less than a year after his return to India, his old complaint returned, with such violence that he was advised, as
the only chaince of saving his life, to make a voyage to China. With this advice he complied; but was so entirely exhausted that be died on the passage off the Andamans Before he sailed, he wrote me a letter wherein he expressed himself fully sensible of his danger; and another I received from his friend Strachey (who accompanied him) shortly after, confirmed my apprehensions, and informed me of the irreparable loss I had sustained. Mr. Strachey's communication is so feelingly expressive of his own regard and testifies so strongly the general opinion entertained of my brotber's worth, that I conclude my brief account with a copy of it.

“FORT ST. GEORGE, 30th January, 1802.

My Dear Sir,

The sooner I tell you your loss, and in the fewer words the better. Notwithstanding the foolish hopes I entertained, you will, I trust, be better prepared to hear of poor Henry’s death. He died the 4th of November, off the Andamans, completely exhausted. For the first week of his voyage he continued to get better; but his disease returned, and never again left him till it prevailed. God bless him, and those those who grieve for him. The praises of the dead are always the same. I shall not, therefore, weary you with trite eulogies respecting your brother, but only say he was a favorite with all who knew him. Years will roll on, and he will be forgotten by many of his companions; but it will be my pleasure to remember him to my last hour; and I will trust the thought of my meeting him again will be one of my comforts then as it is now.

This letter will enable you to break the news to your mother and sisters, as there is little doubt of its arrival in England before any other can reach them. God Almigbtv bless them.

Yours most truly,
G. STRACHEY.”

Lines in memory of Lieut. Henry Skinner, by his brother, the Rev. John Skinner.

When autumn walks his annual round,
Despoils our groves and russet ground
Thick strews with wither'd leaves;
Or when bleeds fatling of the flock,
Or reapers bind the ripen'd sliock,
It is not then one grieves.

Nor when within her tranquil breast,
His troubles o'er, his labours ceas'd,
Our mother earth receives
The corpse of some age-burthen'd sire,
Whose hopes to brighter realms aspire,
It is not then one grieves.

But when with well earn'd praise elate,
Some youthful warrior meets his fate
Upon the ensanguin'd plain;
Wbilst his fond friends twixt hope and dread,
The fight's result refuse to read,
Or note the list of slain.

Too soon the fatal news arrives,
No more the darling hero lives,
No more will he return;
Amidst the tears his kindred shed,
Due to the merits of the dead,
Can we forbear to mourn?

If others losses can suffice
To force warm tribute from our eyes,
With pangs our bosoms rend;
Must not our hearts be rent yet more,
When we the untimely death deplore
Of brother and of friend ?

Oh, yes, and now a second time
Sucb loss seeks record in my rhyme,
More lasting, tho' impress'd;
The mem'ry of past woes remains,
Of Eclward's fall, and dying pains
Of Henry-in my breast.

Brothers alike both good and brave,
Yet both within the narrow grave
By stranger bands were laid
No brother, relative, was nigh
To smooth the bier, or heave a sigh
O'er each departed shade.

Edward, on Milford Haven's coast,
l,ike flow'ret cropt by biting frost,
A palsied victim lay;
Whilst Henry, parch'd by torrid fire,
Would fain to cooler climes retire,
Retiring pin'd away.

But 'ere reluctantly he sped,
When withering sickness droop'd his head,
From India’s fatal shore;
'Gainst Tippoo's force in tented field,
His noble arm his sword could wield
Amidst the canon's roar.

His charger skilfully could rein,
Or urge him o'er the ensanguin'd plain,
Whilst sepoys skirmish’d wide;
Nor halted till from city wall
His steed receiv'd a musket ball,
And 'neath his master died.

The sultan fallen, his spoil the prize
Of such as brav'd those sultry skies,
A poor return indeed ;
For, say what power exists in wealth,
To compensate for loss of health,
Or stanch the wounds that bleed.

Exhausted by this sharp campaign,
And struggling with disease and pain,
To England he returned;
Hoping amidst her groves to share
The comforts of her bracing air,
And sun which milder burn'd.

Like fam'd Alceus, as the earth
He touch'd which gave his vigour birth,
He instantly reviv'd;
With health and spirits soon restor'd,
Awhile he shared my frugal board,
And in my cottage liv'd.

When oft be spoke of Brahmin's race,
Their modes of worship, forms, and face,
Their temples, tombs, and streams;
Their caves and sculptur’d deities,
That glare on rash intruders' eyes,
Like shades in Fancy's dreams.

Oft then reflection backwards ran,
And strove to trace the tribes of man,
Which peopl'd earth's domain;
Which drove their herds from Asia's sands,
To spread o'er Europe's verdant lands,
And Egypt's fertile plain.

Conversing thus, we longed to see
Samples of dark idolatry,
By Scythian's wanderers brought
To Greece, and thence to Mona's isle,
Whose carnedds, circles, Cromlech pile,
Proclaim where Druids taught.

So soon we cross'd hoarse Severn's tide,
Travers'd those steppes extending wide,
Where freedom's flag unfurl'd,
The untam’d Britons long withstood,
Fenc'd by their mountains, vales, and wood,
The victors of the world.


Across the straits of Mona's shore,
The mystic shades we next explore,
Where dauntless Druid stood;
Whilst Roman falchions wildly gleamed,
Midst crackling flames, and altars steamed
With noblest British blood.

Bangor next past, whose sacred fane
Was spoil'd by Glendower's lawless train,
We Conway's turret view;
Here much for pleasing thought I found,
Whilst traversing its ancient ground,
But much for sorrow, too.

For Henry’s voice here last I heard,
Here last his kind affection shar'd,
Here last I rung his hand;
When parting from the ferry's side,
I watch'd his vessel stem the tide,
And mournful left the strand.

His active spirit ill could bear
Idly to breathe his native air;
Whilst others bore the toil.
And generous ardour press'd him on
To meet among the fainting throng
Pale death on Asia's shore.

Fondly I'd hop'd it parents' seat
Again his much lov'd voice to greet,
Revisiting my home.
For Henry absent from my side,
It seem’d but dull and drear to ride,
And further on to roam.

But when three weeks but scarcely o'er,
Way worn I gain'd my mother's door,
'Twas still, and silent all;
No sound of joy or festive mirth,
Of kindred round the social hearth,
Or menials in the hall.

Henry was gone! and not one smile
The gloom of sorrow could beguile;
But downcast and alone
Each brother griev'd for brother, kind
Sister for friend in friendship joined,
And mother for her son.

Alas! too prosp’rous blew the gales,
Too swift from port the vessel sails,
And down the channel borne;
Too soon bless'd Albion disappears,
Prophetic fall the exile's tears,
Gone never to return.

His safety from the treacherous main,
Expecting comrades' hail in vain,
Arrived on Gange's shore.
For tho' escap'd the raging seas,
Too soon within, that fell disease,
Worse rages than before.

Arid tbo' lov'd youth, I was denied,
The loving care to tend thy side,
And close thy darkening eyes;
Tho’ seas immeasurably flow
‘Twixt you and me, my feelings shew
Affection never dies.

And in bright realms and happier day
Reliev'd from this dull load of clay,
I fervently aspire
To greet thy kindred soul above,
And join in hymning songs of love
Before the Eternal Sire.


The following obituary notice of Capt. Fitzowen George Skinner, appeared on his death.

“Captain Skinner was sent to sea at the age of eleven, with Sir Harry Burrard Neale, on board the Saint Fiorenzo frigate, and was with him when he brought his ship, with so much judgment, from among the mutineers of the Nore. He was also with Sir H B. Neale when, in company with the Amelia, he fought three French frigates on the coast of France, but which escaped, in consequence of the latter being disabled, and their being so close to the French ports. Seven years after, be was promoted, by George the Third at Weymouth. His captain, finding him an admirable officer, in 1804 succeeded in getting him made a commander. On the breaking out of the war, after the short of Anvers, Captain Skinner continually made offer of his services, and in 1808 was appointed to the Hindostan, 24 guns and 150 men, employed as a store ship in victualling the fleet of Sir Charles Cotton, then blockading Lisbon. In the autumn of that year he was appointed to the Goldfinch, of 10 guns and 74 men, a class of vessels intended for the destruction of small French privateers, infesting the Straits of Dover. In this vessel, on the 18th May, 1809, cruising, off Bilboa in the night, he fell in with a large French corvette of 20 guns, La Mouche, which he engaged about 3. am and continued in close engagement till 8, when the French captain took advantage of a breeze to escape; the Goldfinch, from damage to the masts and rigging, being unable to pursue. Captain Skinner had three men killed and twelve wounded. A few davs later, the corvette was taken off St. Andero by the Amelia, Captain Irby, who, in his letter to the Admiralty, made honorable mention of Captain Skinner's spirited conduct.

The corvette, in action with the Goldfinch, lost two men killed and nine wounded. Captain Skinner received the most flattering letters from the Admiral of the Fleet and the Port Admiral, and before he returned from his subsequent voyage to Cadiz, the Admiralty appointed him to the Trinculo, just launched, and one of the finest sloops in the service; but, unhappily, returning from Cadiz he caught a severe cold, through his considerate kindness to a gentleman, a guest of his, affected with asthma, in keeping open his cabin window. His disease was much worse by the time he was off Falmouth, and lie incurred much bad weather in October, from his anxiety to hasten the delivery of despatches from the Marquis Wellesley, then at Seville. In making use of a speaking trumpet, in a gale of wind, he broke a blood-vessel; he, however, proceeded to Portsmoutb, and had nearly fitted out his ship, when the blood-vessel again breaking, he gradually declined and died at Hertford, May 23rd, 1810. He was admirable as an officer, unremitting in his attention to his duty, with perfect knowledge of his profession, and the greatest intrepidity. He was always anxious for the comfort of his crew; on board his ship he never allowed the meanest cabin boy to be struck, and, perhaps, there was no other in which there were so few punisbments.- Gentlelman's Maqazine, vol. 80, 2nd part, page 88 - 1810


Fitzowen Skinner, of Lincoln's Inn aforesaid, [grandson of Russell Skinner of Newton House] married 22nd February, 1838, Laura Eliza, second daughter of the Revd. John Francis Stuart, Rector of Lower Gravenhurst, in the County of Bedfordshire, and has issue by her, six children, viz.:-

1st.- Fitzowen John, of Trinity College, Oxon, M.A.C. of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister-at-Law, born December, 1838.
2nd.-Laura, born January, 1840.
3rd.-Russell, Captain in Her Majesty's 37th Regiment of Foot, January 5, 1866, having received his commission from Sandhurst in the year 1860, gaining the First Prize in Mathematics; born March, 1842.
4th.-John Francis, born April, 1843.
5th.-Robert George, born December, 1844, gone out as a Colonist to New Zealand.
6th.-Stephen, born January, 1846.
So numerous are the male representatives of the Bishop's 4th son Samuel.

The fifth son of the Bishop, William, at one time Fellow of New College, Oxford, was, on May 13, 1670, by his father, appointed rector of Hartleybury, Worcester, and there is a monument to his memory in that church, bearing the following inscription:-

R. M.
Gul. Skinner.
"Qui munus pastorale hic per 25 annos constanter,
fideliter, et feliciter subivit, aedificia quae ad mansam
pertinent maxima ex parte de novo erexit: caetera plu r
mum ornavit. Mensa liberali, alacri vultu, sermone non
minus utili quam festivo exteros pariter et parochiano
semper excepit. Obiit 26 die Augusti, AEtatis suae 59,
A.D. 1695."

He was twice married; first to Miss Anne Turton, who had issue, three sons, and
seven daughters, second to Miss Littleton.

Among the worthies of Herefordshire we find another member of this ancient family:

The Right Honourable Sir John Skyinner, Knight, Lord Chief Baron, whose father and mother are described on brass tablets on the floor of the north aisle of the church of Great Milton, Oxfordshire, as “John Skynner, Esquire, son of Edward Skynner, of Ledbury, and of Margaret Browne, died May 18, 1729."

Elizabeth, his wife, daughter and heiress of John Smythe, Esquire, of this place, and Elizabeth Gandry, died March 8,1769, added 75.

Her father, John Smythe, who was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, as a gentleman Commoner, recorded in the list of benefactors to Trinity College, and also to Great Milton Church, died June 8, 1764.

She became heiress, by the death of her only brother, thus stated on his monument:

H. S. E
Johannes Smyth
de Milton in agro Oxomensi generosi,
Magnae spei Juvenis vixit annos tredecim,
duosque menses, tantae vero pietatis,
Ingemi conditionis, et modestiae,
quantae ejus aetabulae vir quisquam alius,
Innocentiae exemplum amabile,
Abiit 22 die Nov. Anno Domini 1699,
Hoc Monumentum filii charissimi
Parentes Maestissimi posuere.

Sir John, like his kinsman Matthew, Chief Judge of Chester and Recorder of Oxford,
was scholar of St. Peter's College, Westminster, to which be was admitted in 1738, and
elected in 1742, student of Christ Church, Oxford; and in January 21, 1750, took his
degree, B.C.L. Having been admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn, Nov. 21st, 1739, he was, on Nov. 17, 1748, called to the bar by that Society, and joined the Oxford Circuit; and on the 15th of March, 1757, he was one of the counsel present in Court at the Worcester Assizes, when, between two and three o'clock, p.m., as Sir Eardley Wilmot began to sum up in the last cause, a stack of chimneys fell through the roof, killing many. The counsel then in Court, being five in number, saved themselves under the stout table, and of these, four - Aston, Nares, Ashurst, and Skynner - after became Judges, the fifth (Mr. Griffith Price, afterwards eminent as a Chancery lawyer), dying a King’s Counsel. A graphic account of this is given by the Judge, ancestor of Sir John Eardley Wilmor Bart., now a Judge of County Courts.

“WORCESTER, 15th March, 1757.
FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON.

I send this by express, on purpose to prevent your being frightened, in consequence of a most terrible accident at this place. Between two and three, as we were trying causes, a stack of chimneys blew upon the top of that part of the Hall where I was sitting, and beat the roof down upon us, but, as I sat up close to the wall, I have escaped without the least hurt. When I saw it begin to yield and open, I despaired of my own life, and the lives of all within the compass of the roof. John Lawes, my clerk, is killed, and the attorney in the cause which was trying is killed, and I am afraid some others. There were many wounded and bruised. It was the most frightful scene I ever beheld. I was just beginning to sum up the evidence, in the cause which was trying, to the Jury, and intending to go immediately after I had finished. Most of the counsel had gone, and they who remained in Court are very little hurt, though they seem to have been in the place of greatest danger. If I am thus miraculously preserved for any good purpose, rejoice at the event, and both you and the little ones will have reason to join me in returning God thanks for this signal deliverance; but if I have escaped, to lose, either my honour, or my virtue, I shall think, and you ought all to concur with me, in thinking, that the escape is the greatest misfortune. I desire you will communicate this to my friends, lest the news of such a tragedy, which fame always magnifies, should affect them with fears for me. Two of the jurymen who were trying the cause were killed, and they are carrying dead and wounded bodies out of the ruins still, &e.
JOHN EARDLY WILMOT.

He was, in 1768, elected member for Woodstock, in the parliament which met May 10; and June 19, 1771, became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, on being made a King’s Counsel. April 3, 1772, he was appointed a Puisne Judge for Chester, Montgomery, Flint, and Denbigh, and was re-elected member for Woodstock. This same year he had the honour of acting as steward at the Westminster Anniversary. At the general election in 1774 he was again elected M.P. for Woodstock, and in 1775 he showed his interest in Herefordshire, which be always cherished, as the original seat of his familly, by subscribing £100 to the Hereford Infirmary, then about to be established. His mother's grandfather, Thomas, in 1644, being on the King's side, accepted the office of Mayor of Oxford, and was Colonel of the townsmen of Oxford, reviewed on Bullingdon Green by Charles I. The influence of the family long continued at Oxford, and Sir John was on April 12, 1776, elected Recorder of Oxford, with the freedom of that city. In the inventory of their corporate plate, article 13, is “a soup tureen, cover, and ladle," on both,
“the gift of the Honourable Sir John Skynner, Recorder of the City, for the use of the Mayor, 1789;” and on each were engraven, as they now appear on the walls of Lincoln’s Inn dining hall, the Skynner arms, on a ground sable a chevron or, three griffins’ heads, argent, erased. He left the Society of Lincoln’s Inn, according to custom, Nov 27, 1777, on taking the degree of Serjeant-at-Law, when his friend, Francis Burton, gave his rings, with the motto “Morem Servare," and December 1st he was made Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and received the bouour of knighthood. In December, 1786, he resigned the office of Lord Chief Baron, and on March 23rd, 1787, he was sworn in, as a member of the Privy Council. On September 8, 1778, he appointed his friend Francis Burton, his deputy, as Recorder of Oxford, and afterwards, May 26, 1797, resigned, by deed, the office of Recorder of Oxford, in favour of his friend Francis Burton, then a Puisne Judge of Chester, &-e., who (having been treasurer of Lincoln’s Inn in 1792), gave to that society, dear to them both, the excellent picture of the Chief Baron, by Gainisborough, bequeathed to him by Sir John, and which now adorns the Parliament room there, in the same spirit, as that, in which the present Earl of Harrowby has recently given to Lincoln's Inn, the portrait of his ancestor Sir Dudley Ryder, as the most appropriate place for its permanent appreciation. He had the honour, as an old Westminster scholar, to be appointed April 17, 1780, one of the trustees of Dr. Busby's charity; he always took great interest in Westminster School, and to the last kept up his friendship for his old school-fellow Sir Elijah Impey. After he had resigned the office of Lord Chief Baron, he retired to the seat he inherited from his mother, Witley Court, Great Milton, Oxfordshire, which he enlarged and beautified, enjoying frequently the society of his old friend and brother Judge, Ashurst, who resided at Waterstock, the adjoining parish. On her monument in Milton church, we find that Martha, wife of Sir John Skynner, and daughter of Edward Burn and Martha Davie, died December 4, 1797. It may be pleasing to those who think that the education of eminent men is most frequently conducted by their mothers, to direct attention to the fact, that his father died when he was five years old. Sir John died at Bath, aged 82, and was buried in the vault of his mother's family, in the church of Great Milton, where, on a plate over his grave, is written:

In a vault beneath
lie the remains of Sir John Skynner,
son of John and Elizabeth Skynner,
one of His Majesty's
Most Honorable Privy Council,
and sometime
Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer,
who died the 26th day of November, 1805.

His only child, Martha Frederica, was married, by special license, at Lambeth Palace, August 1st, l799, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, (who was connected with the Skynner family, by the marriage of his sister Jane (who died April 29th, 1799) with his old College friend, and Sir John's cousin, the Rev. William Skynner, M.A., of Pembroke College, Oxford, (son of William Skynner, of Oriel College, Oxford, M.A., Rector of Sherston, Wilts), Prebendary of Hereford, Rector of Brasted, Kent, and of Eastnor, Herefordshire, and Chaplain to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, who, dying May 15th, 1795, in the 68th year of his age, was buried at Hampton Bishop, Herefordshire,) to the Right Honorable Richard Ryder, M.P. for Tiverton, and brother of the Earl of Harrowby, she having, as announced by the Annual Register, according to the quaint fashion of that day, £100,000 for her fortune. She died August 8th, 1821.

It would appear,.by a brass plate in the south aisle of Great Milton Church, that a brother and sister of the Judge are buried with him.

In a vault beneath
lie the remains of William Skynner, Esq.,
son of John and Elizabeth Skynner,
he died the first day of July, 1797

Also of
Elizabeth Skynner, daughter of
John and Elizabeth Skynner, died the
14th, day of October, 1802

His brother, the Rev. Thomas Skynner, who was born at Great Milton, and baptized there January 17th, 1727, admitted scholar of St. Peter's College, Westminster, in 1742, aged 14; elected to a studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, 1746; published, in 175 I, some latin hexameters among the academical lamentations on the death of Frederick Prince of Wales; M.A., 1753, Prependary of Exeter Cathedral, 1768, Canon Residentiary of Exeter and Archdeacon of Totness, 1769, D.C.L. March 7th, 1772, Precentor of Exeter, 1775; he was also Rector of Pinhoe, Devon; he was Steward of the Westminster Anniversary in 1784. On his death, he had a monument, in the south aisle of Exeter Cathedral, with this inscription-

Near this place rest interred the remains
of Thomas Skinner D.D,,
successively A.D. of Totness,
and Precentor of this Church,
whose honor and interests
he was always zealous to promote;
to the calls of Charity, or public spirit,
his purse was never shut;
at every place of duty,
hid attendance was regular and exemplary,
even when ill health might have pleaded a dispensation;
to his houses a munificent benefactor,
the one he re-built from the ground,
and added to the ornaments and convenience of the other:
at length, lamented by all, he closed a valuable life
in his 61st year, August 7, 1789.

Sir John was descended from Stephen Skynner, of Le Byrtons, near Ledbury, eldest brother of Thomas, the Bishop's Grandfather, - which Stephen is the ancestor, of numerous other branches, of the family of Skynner, of Ledbury. His burial at Ledbury, Sept. 14th, 1557, is one of the earliest entries in the eldest resister of that church; and his will, an antiquarian curiosity, is preserved in Cardinal Pole's register, now in the library at Lambeth Palace, where it was proved November 27th, 1557, the See of Hereford being vacant, and the Bishop's there closed, by reason of the death of Bishop Purefoy.



IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN:

The Sixte daie of September, in the Yere of Our Lord God, 1557, I, Stephen Skynner, of the parrishe of Ledbury, in the Dioces of Heref: being sicke in bodie, and of good and perfecte memorie, - lawde and praise be vnto Almighty God - do make this my present Testament, conteyninge therein my last Will, in manner and form following. First and principallie I bequeathe my Sowle vnto Almighty God, my maker and Redeemer; and my body to be buried within the parrishe Churche of Ledbury, aforesaid; as nere vnto my wife as may be convenientlie. And I geve and bequeathe to the Cathedral Church of Hereford, in lawful money, the some of 8s.4d. And I geve and bequeathe to the High Alter, within the parrishe Churche of Ledbury, aforesaid, for forgotten Tithes, in lawful money, the some of 12d. And I geve and bequeath towardest the reparacons of the saied parrishe Churche of Ledbury, in lawful money, the some of 6s 8d. And I will that myne Executor and Overseares shall bestowe, in the daie of my funerall at their good discreacons, for the wealthe of my sowle, in lawful money, the some of £16 13s. 4d. And I geve and bequeathe to my Sonne John, Junr., in lawfull money, the Some of £30. And I geve and bequeathe to Edward, my Sonne, in lawfull money, the some of £30. And I geve and bequeathe to Thomas, my Sonne, in lawfull money, the some of £30. And I geve and bequeaths to Joan, my Dawghter, in lawfull money, the some of £30. And I will, that if any of my said children shall happen to decease, before they shall accomplish their lawfull age of 21 yeres, or else to be maried, then the parte and portion of them, or any of them so deceasing, before to them bequeathed, shall wholie remaine amongest the survyvor or survyvors of them equallie, to be distributed by mine Executor and Oversears, or any of them. And I geve and bequeath to my Sonne John, Senr., in lawful money, the some of £10: my second best iron-bound wayne, with all things to the same belonginge, or in any wise apperteyninge, to yoke 8 oxen. And I geve and bequeathe to my said Sonne Thomas, as well all my Landes, Tenements, rents, charges, and holdinges whatsoever it be, within the Borowgh of Ledbury aforesaid, as also all Evidences, writinges, pattents, Escriptes, scrolls, and munyments concerninge the same, and every parcel thereof. And, I geve, bequeathe, and assigne vnto my Sonne Willm, as well my lease, or Counterpaine, of Kemplaie, within the Countie of Glouc, as, also all my rights, title, interest, possession, and terme of lease, for Yeres yet to come, comprised within the same. And I geve and bequeathe to my Dawghter Alice, the Wyfe of Willm Hall, my Wyfe's best beades, her harness girdell, two stone of my wooll, my best bering shete, a paier of my flaxen shetes, a paier of my hunder shetes, my best Feather bed and bolster, my best bed healinge, a paier of my Blanketts, my second best brass pot, my second best Cathome, my second best platter, my second best potinger and Candlestick. And I geve and bequeathe to my said Daughter Jone, my third best brasse potte, my third best Cawdren, my third best platter, potenger, and Candlestick. And, I geve and bequeathe to Willm and Alice, the Sonne and Dawghter of the said Willm Hall and Alice, eight.of my yereling calves. And, I geve and bequeathe to my servant Alyner Kiste, over and besides her ordinarie waiges, my wife's best Kirtle, best smocke, and two kerchers of the best. And, I geve and bequeathe to Jane, the Wyfe of John Morell, of Kempley, my Wyfe's best kirtell, and her best petticote. And, I geve and bequeathe to my said Dawghters, Alice and Joane, the residue of all my wyfe's wering gere, not before bequeathed, equally to be divided between them, by myne Executor and Oversears. And, I will that myne Executor shall well and trulie contente and paie, or cause to be contented and paied, unto my Brother, John Skynner, or to his Assignes, the sum of £10 of lawful money, yeerlie, during the terme of the natural life of Joane, now the Wife of the said John Skinn. And I geve and bequeathe to Thomas Bayliss, my best Russet Cote. And I geve and bequeath to Thomas Whorne, my best Tauring Cote, my work daie hose, with the dublet to the same. And, to William Apperly, one of my shirtes. And, I will that my Son Richard, and heire apparainte, shall enter into bondes, by Obligacon, to my Oversears, in the some two hundred pounds, well and trulie to contente, paie, and deliver, or cause to be contented, paied, and delivered, unto t’hands of myne Oversears, or some of them. All and singular, before to my seven Children bequeathed, at such time and times, as he the said Richard shall be, by my Oversears, or one of them, thereunto lawfullie required, to th' interest that my said Ovelsears shall see these, and every parcel thereof, well bestowed, and employed to th' use and behoof of my saied Children, during their non ages of 21 yeres, or else to be maried. The residue of all and singular my goodes, cattels and debtes, not bequeathed, my debtes paied, my bequests fulfilled, ancl my funerall expences pformed, and done, I wholie geve and bequeathe to my said Sonne Richard, whome I do constitute myne Executor, that he
shall vse the same as he will; and for the better accomplishement of all and singular the pemisses, I ordeine and constitute Henry Appary, Gent, my saied Brother John Skynner, Richard Hooper, my Cosin John Skynner of Dymocke, my said Son John, Sen., Oversears, to see that this my present testament and last will, be well and trulie performed and done, with effecte, according to the true meaning hereof, and every of them to have for their paynes in this behalfe the some of 6s. 8d. of lawfwl money. This Witness, Henrie Appary, Gent,, Thomas Hill, Gent., John Skynner, Richard Hooper, Edmund Turner, John Oky, John Wills, and other.


He appears to have left two sons, named John, both surviving him, aaid the bequests for his soul's sake stand in remarkable contrast to the simplicity of the will of his grandson Richard, made after the establishment of the Reformation, and proved at Hereford, April 11th, 1662:-

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. Jan 1, 1659

I, Richard Skynner, of Pixley, in the County of Hereford, Gent., being sick and weak in body, but of perfect minde and memory, thanks be to Almighty God, do make and declare this my last will and testament in writing, in manner and form following: that is to say, first and principally, I give and bequeathe my soul into the hands of Almighty God, my maker, hoping and undoubtedly believing, to be saved by the merits, death, passover, and resurrection of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and my body to the earth, whence it came; to be decently interred by my executors, hereinafter named, in Ledbury Church, as near unto my dear wife as conveniently it may be placed; and as for any outward and worldly estate, which God hath been pleased to bestow upon me, I dispose thereof as followeth: - First, I give, bequeathe, and devise unto my son Joseph Skynner, and to his heirs for ever, all that parcell of ground called the Castle, or Old Castle, lying in Aylton, in the said County of Hereford; neverthelesse upon condition that my said son Joseph shall sattisfie and pay, or cause to be paid unto my sonne-in-law, Mr Robert Charles, the summe of ten pounds; and unto my grandson Stephen Charles, the sum of twenty pounds (both which sommes are the proper debt of my son John Skynner), which if my said , sonne Joseph shall refuse or neglect to do by the space of three months next after my decease, then my will and meaning is that the said Robert Charles and Stephen Charles, their executors and administrators, shall make sale of the said lands, and pay themselves out of the money had for the same, rendering the surplus to my executor hereafter named, towards the satisfaction of my debts, legacies, and defraying my funeral expenses. Also I geve and bequeathe to John Jones of the City of Hereford (who married my daughter Elizabeth) tenne shillings, as a marriage portion with the said Elizabeth. Also I give and bequeathe towards the setting forth of two such poor children of the Parish of Pixley to be apprenticed as my executors and two Justices of the Peace shall think fit, the sum of twenty shillings. Also I geve and bequeathe to the poor of Ledbury twenty shillings, and to the poor of Aylton tenne shillings, to be distributed as the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of each parish shall think fit. Also I geve and bequeatbe to John Showell, of Ashperton, who was formerly my servant, five shillings, and to Elizabeth Baynton, who formerly attended upon me in my sickness, six shillings and eightpence. Also I give and bequeathe unto John Morgan, one of my grandson Richard Clarke, his servants, six shillings and eightpence; and to Anne Jonson, other of his servants, five shillings. Also I geve and bequeathe unto my daughter, Rebekah Merrick, my wife's wedding ring. And for debts owing to me I do fully forgive Thomas Turner (who hath been my faithful servant and workman) his seventy-nine pounds tenne shillings; and for the debt that my sonne-in-law, James Gamond, owes me upon two several bonds, I give and bequeathe the one half thereof unto his sonne Richard Gamond, and the other half thereof unto all the rest of my said sonne-in-law's children, to be equally divided between them. All the rest of my goods, cattle, and chattels, I geve and bequeathe unto my said sonne Joseph Skynner, whom I make and ordain executor of this my last will and testament.

RICHARD SKYNNER.
Witnesses - WILLIAM CHARLES.
HENRY CLARlKE.
KATHERINE CLARKE.
RI CLARKE
(Sealed, Skynner Arms, without crest or motto).


From Richard, Stephen's eldest son, are descended, among others, the subject of a fine monument, with bust, in Ledbury Church, bearing this inscription:-

Here lies the body of Captain SAMUEL SKYNNER,
Who was no mean proficient in maritime affairs,
Having been conversant therein near forty years.
He left to this parish six pounds a year for ever, to be divided as follows:-
One pound to the Vicar, for the time being, for a Sermon on Candlemas day,
and the other five, on the same day, to twenty poor Housekeepers, not
receiving alms.
He departed this life the 23rd of July, 1725. Aged 73.

Samuel's eldest brother, William Skynner, M.A, was Vicar of Sunbury, Middlesex, and died there July 20, 1717.

Also John Skynner (eldest brother of Captain Launcelot Skynner, R.N., killed in the Biddeford frigate, 1760), who was educated at Reading School, under that great scholar, Dr. Hiley, grandfather of the first Lord Sidmouth, and, through life, retained a grateful recollection of its usefulness; his name is found, in April, 1780, in the list of donors to the building fund.

He was admitted at St. John's College, Cambridge, Pensionarius minor, Oct. 25th, 1740, aet: 16; he became B.A., 1744 ; Fellow, April 6th, 1747, and M.A., 1748. He was Chaplain to Elizabeth, Countess of Gainsborough, and on March 21st, 1750, preached a sermon (afterwards printed) from Psalm xxxix, 8, on the death of her eldest son, Baptist 4th Earl. He was elected Public Orator at Cambridge, succeeding Bishop Younge, Oct. 26th, 1752 and when, in 1755, the Duke of Newcastle laid the first stone of' the New Public Library, he spoke the Latin Oration. He was B.D., 1756, and resigned the office of'Public Orator in 1762, on being made Stib-dean of York, Rector of Blatherwick, and of Easton near Stamford. He died in Lamb's Conduit Street, London, in 1805, aged 81.

He was born and died in the same years as his cousin Sir John. His sons, John Melmoth, Launcelot (Captain R.N., lost in H.M.S. Lutine), John, called to the Bar, at Lincoln's Inn, in 1803, and William, of St. John's College, Cambridge, M.A., Rector of Bradley, Derbyshire, Cuxwold, Lincolnshire, and Vicar of Rushden, Herts, who died April 13, 1858, aged 80, were all unmarried, so that of his immediate family, except the children of his daughters, remain only Major Augustus Charles Skyntier, of Berridon, Devon, only child of his nephew William Augustus Skynner, of Moor Hall, Cookham, who died there, February l0th, 1833, aged 85.

From the second marriage of Richard, the son of Stephen, with Mary Clynton, is descended Allan Maclean Skinner, born July 14, 1809, at No. 9, Cadogan Place, Chelsea, who (having been previously at school for six years at Blemell House, Brompton, and at Versailles, in- France), studied at Eton, as an Oppidan, under Dr. Oakes, the present Provost of King's College, Cambridge, from April 15th, 1823, till August 1st, 1826; took his degree of B.A., at Balliol College, Oxford, May 24th, 1832; was called to the Bar, at Lincoln's Inn, on June 5th ' 1834, and joined the Oxford circuit, the Bristol, Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire Sessions. He was appointed Revising Barrister, on August 5th, 1837 ; Acting Counsel in the counties of Hereford and Gloucester, for the Mint and the Office of Woods, in 1842; and in the same year, at the Quarter Sessions, only for those counties, Counsel for the Post Office; Recorder of Windsor, June 26th, 1852, and Deputy-Recorder of Gloucester, in the same month; and, under the Great Seal, Chief Commissioner of Escheats, on the Oxford Circuit, July l0th, 1856 ; which last office, as well as that of Revising Barrister, he resigned, on being appointed one of Her Majesty's Council, learned in the Law, June 22nd, 1857. He was invited, by the Society of Lincoln's Inn, to be a Master of the Bench, on November 2nd, 1857, and was appointed Judge of County Courts in South Staffordshire, August 5th, 1859; qualifying as a Magistrate for the counties of Stafford and Worcester, at the October Sessions, 1859.

His eldest son, John Edwin Hilary, is a Barrister of Lincoln's Inn, a member of the Northern Circuit, a Knight of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog, and author of “The Tale of Danish Heroism," having been an eye-witness of their gallant struggles against the German invaders. He has also travelled in Holland, Belgium, France, Sweden, Canada, the 'United States of America, (where his first child, John Allan Cleveland, was born at Cleveland, Ohio, September 19th, 1865), and is now exploring the New Kingdom of Mexico. The sympathy and good will, cherished by members of the family, for one another, not only facilitate a record of descent like this, by the care, with which, in all branches, are preserved traces of their lineage, but also exhibited a generous vitality, in the practice adopted by parents, of giving portions of land, as a provision to their children, which, though it impaired the strength of the family, secured to each generation, its share of enjoyment and comfort, from the extensive property formerly held by the family in Ledbury, and adjoining parishes of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire.

This practice had multiplied the holdings greatly, about the year 1600, and now, all have passed into other families; none, that I am aware of, by improvidence, but in nearly every case, through the marriage of heiresses, by whom the senior branches were eventually represented. Of the property of Stephen's son, Richard alone, Le Byrtons passed through Elizabeth, born 1625, only child of the Rev. Edmund Skynner, Rector of Cradley. Walton, in Bishop's Froome, through Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Skynner, in 1814, and the Knapp, with the manor of Pixley, through Sarah, daughter of Harry Skynner, in 1763. The most affluent member of the family, and the founder of several branches, was Stephen's fourth son Edward, who bestowed upon his eldest son Richard, the manor of Cofton Hacket, Worcestershire, which he purchased from Francis Dyneley of Charlton, Sheriff of Worcestershire, 39th Elizabetb, and whose 4th daughter Anne, was Richard's first wife, but she, having two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, died 1616, and Richard married Margaret, daughter of Sir Edward Littleton, of Pilliton Hall, Staffordshire, ancestor of the present Lord Hatherton, she died August 25, 1651, aged 63, and their daughter and heiress Margaret, married Thomas Jolliffe, of Cofton, High Sheriff of Staffordshire, 26th Charles 2nd, by whom she had issue, five sons and two daughters, and died January 6, 1647, aged 27 years.

Her eldest son Benjamin's daughter Anne, who married Robert Biddulph, of Ledbury brought to the Biddulphs the family estates, under the will of her grandfather Thomas, (to the exclusion of her brother John), together with his portrait, by Vandyke, representing him with a key in his hand; the family tradition being, that the key was given to him by Charles 1st, when under restraint, that Jolliffe might have access to him, when he pleased. To the last, faithful to the King, he was present at his execution.

Richard was High Sheriff of Worcestershire, 1628; his will, dated August 6, 1632, shows, in the selection of his executors, how the civil war must have shaken family ties; his brother-in-law, Sir Edward Littleton, Bart., was fined £1347, and Sir Edward Sebright, Bart., £1809, for their Royalist principles; while the third Humphrey Salwey, who married another sister of Sir E. Littleton, and whom he calls his dear brother Humphrey Solwey, had a son, Humphrey, who sat as one of the Judges, on the trial of King Charles 1st, and was M.P. for Worcestershire, in the Long Parliament.

Edward's second son, Edward, married Joyce, daughter of Ambrose Elton, of the Hazells, High Sheriff of Herefordshire, 15th James 1st, and had a son, Edward, born 1630, and a daughter Elizabeth, born 1632.

Edward's third son, William, was Jurist-fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, 1612, L.L.B., I)ec. 10, 1617; L.L.D., March 31, 1625; Chancellor of Hereford, April 29, 1626, and a Magistrate of the county, Rector of Beckenham, Kent, 1628, and was deprived by Parliament, in favor of John Soter, and was never restored, as he died in 1657. He charged his estate of Fairtrees, with an annual gift to the poor of Dymock, and left two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary.

Edward's fourth son, John, married Constance, a daughter of Ambrose Elton, December 12th, 1627, mid was Sheriff for the county in 1649 (during the Interregnum).

John's eldest son, William, succeeded to the estate of Underdown, near Ledbury, which, through the descendant of his eldest son John, Milly Hallings, passed, by her marriage with John Miles, to the family of Miles of Leigh Court, near Bristol, her uncle, William Skynner of Underdown, having been High Sheriff in 1738, and dying, S P.

John's second son, Edward, born 1634, and died 1672, was grandfather, I believe, of Sir John Skynner.

William's third son, Edmund, born January 11th, 1657, acquired the estate of Wichenford, Worcestershire, and was High Sheriff of that county, 1726. By the marriage of his daughter and heiress Anne, it passed to the family of Woodroffe.

In the Chancel of Ledbury church, on a beautiful monument, with figures kneeling, is:-

Hic jacet EDWARDUS SKYNNER de Ledbury Generosus,
et ELIZABETHA uxor ejus.
Elizabetha obiit, Mar 10, 1628, anno aetatis suae 80.
Edwardus obiit Maii 3, 1631, anno aetatis 87.
Hunc tumulam in memoria parentum posuere Filii Ricardus Skynner, de
Cofton, in comitatu Wigorn: Armiger, filius Natu Maximus, et Gulielmus
Skynner, L.L Doctor, Cancellarius Dioces: Herefordensis.
Repaired by John Miles of Underdown, Esquire, 1801.

John Skynner, of Bickerton, in Much Marele, near Ledbury, was High Sheriff in 1738; Bickerton passed from the family, by Elizabeth Skinner, the heiress, who died at Upton-on-Severn, January, 1784.

By a deed, May 7th, 1657, Stephen Skynner bought from William, son and heir of Sir John Wintour, Knight of Lydney, lands at Newent, and those lands passed from the family, as is shown by an epitaph in Low Leyton Church, Essex:-

In a vault under this tomb are deposited the remains of
STEPHEN SKYNNER, of Walthamstow, Esquire,
formerly of this parish,
Who departed this life, the 5th day of September, 1764.
Aged 70 years.
He was son and heir of Stephen Skynner of Newent, in the county of
Gloucester, Esquire. Married Mary, the only daughter and heir of
Samuel Remington, Esquire, of this parish, by whom he bad issue, four sons
and four daughters, viz., Mary. married to James Colebrook, Esquire, M.P.
for Gatton, in Surrey, afterwards created a Baronet, both deceased; Emma,
married to William Harvey, Esquire, deceased, who was Knight of the
Shire for this County; Deborah, married to Thomas Grosvenor, Esquire,
M.P. for the City of Chester; Stephen, who died 10th August, 1746, aged
12 years; and four others, who died very young.

The property was divided between the three daughters. Mary left two daughters, of whom Emma, the second, married Charles, 4th Earl of Tankerville.

The Skynners of Preston, near Ledbury, of whom the name of Stephen is found, as dealing with property in Ledbury Forein, in 1657; and of William (who died March 1726), were lately represented by Robert Skynner, of the Middle Temple, Conveyancer, who, at his death, December 31st 1857, aged 74, had been for 45 years steward and receiver for the Duke of Portland’s London estates. He married the eldest daughter of George Wood, Esq., of Town Malling, Kent, of the ancient family of that name in Oxfordshire, of which family Basil Thomas Woodd is now is now M P.for Knaresborough. By her he had ten children, of whom survive – William Henry, of 7, Cavendish Place, London, and of the Middle Temple, Conveyancer, who has succeeded his much trusted and estimable father as steward, etc, to the Duke of Portland; Henry, a solicitor; and two daughters - two daughters and four sons having died; of whom Robert was studying medicine; John and Thomas serving in the Indian Navy, and Lieut. Colonel Leslie Skynner, who, served with the 55th Regiment in China (medal), and with the 89th at the siege and fall of Sebastopol, from the 15th December 1854, acting in the attacks of June 18th, and September 8th, (medal and clasp, and Sardinian medal). He went from the C ape of Good Hope, in command of the 89th to India, to assist in suppressing the great mutiny there; and while, on that trying service, died from sunstroke, in May, 1858, leaving a widow, but no children. The rest of the family are unmarried.

END
1. Advowson: Orig., the guardianship or patronage of an ecclesiastical house or benefice. Now, the right of presentation to a benefice. (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary).
[Effie Ray-Jones wrote a note about “The Skinner Chair”: That it is in the British Museum, was bequeathed by the Rev John Skinner, Vicar of Cannerton, having belonged to Dr Robert Skinner, Bishop of Buxton 1636. It was used by Prince Albert at the launching of SS Great Britain in 1843, by the Prince of Wales at the cutting of the first sod of the Royal Edward Dock in 1902, and by King George at the Royal Show, 1913. This is a mystery. As far as I know Buxton has no cathedral and no bishop, and the account above has no mention of Buxton. What did she mean?]


PROTESTANTISM AND CIVIL WAR, FROM THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA:

Events under Charles I
Despite the presence of controversy, Puritan and non-Puritan Protestants under Elizabeth and James had been united by adherence to a broadly Calvinistic theology of grace. Much of Whitgift's restraint in handling Puritans, for instance, can be traced to the prevailing Calvinist consensus he shared with the Nonconformists. Even as late as 1618 the English delegation to the Synod of Dort supported the strongly Calvinistic decisions of that body. Under Charles I, however, this consensus broke down, driving yet another rift into the Church of England. Anti-Puritanism in matters of liturgy and organization became linked with anti-Calvinism in theology.
The leaders of the anti-Puritan and anti-Calvinist party, notably Richard Montagu, whose New Gagg for an Old Goose (1624) first linked Calvinism with the abusive term "Puritan," drew upon the development of Arminianism in Holland. Arminians stressed God's universal offer of salvation to mankind in contrast to the Calvinistic doctrine according to which God predestined a few to salvation, with the rest of humanity reprobated or damned. Early English Arminians added to this an increased reverence for the sacraments and liturgical ceremony. Richard Neile, bishop of Durham, was the first significant patron of Arminians among the hierarchy, but by the time William Laud was appointed bishop of London in 1628, he was the acknowledged leader of the anti-Puritan party. London was regarded as the stronghold of Puritanism, and a policy of thorough anti-Puritanism was begun there. Men who were not Separatists found their positions increasingly difficult to maintain.
Laud, who became archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, was clearly a favourite of Charles. He oversaw the advance of Arminians to influential positions in the church and subtly promoted the propagation of Arminian theology. His fortunes began to turn, however, when he attempted to introduce into the Church of Scotland a liturgy comparable to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. When "Laud's Liturgy" was introduced at the Church of St. Giles at Edinburgh, a riot broke out leading to a popular uprising that restored Presbyterianism in Scotland.
Charles sought to put down the Scots, but his armies were no match for the Scottish forces. In 1640 he was faced with an army of occupation in northern England demanding money as a part of its settlement. Short of funds, Charles was forced to call Parliament, without which he had been trying to rule since 1629.
Religion played perhaps the key role in the parliamentary elections, and Calvinists came to dominate the Commons. Puritans, who had been increasingly alienated from the ecclesiastical and civil hierarchy since the mid-1620s, suddenly saw an opportunity to return the Church of England to its original doctrinal system and to carry out reforms that had been held in check since the Elizabethan Settlement. Arminianism in theology, liturgy, and government was linked in the popular mind with Catholicism, as fears of a Spanish conspiracy to undermine Protestant England became widespread. The first act of the Long Parliament, as it came to be called (1640-53), was to set aside Nov. 17, 1640, as a day of fasting and humiliation. Cornelius Burges and Stephen Marshall were appointed to preach that day to members of Parliament. Their sermons urged the nation to renew its covenant with God in order to bring about true religion through the maintenance of "an able, godly, faithful, zealous, profitable, preaching ministry in every parish church and chapel throughout England and Wales" and through the establishment of a civil magistracy that would be "ever at hand to back such a ministry."
Hundreds of similar sermons were preached on monthly fast days and on other occasions before Parliament during the next few years, urging the people to adopt true doctrine, pure worship, and the maintenance of discipline as a means to claim God's blessing so that England might become "our Jerusalem, a praise in the midst of the earth."
Civil war
In the course of his reign it had become apparent that Charles himself was the patron of Arminians and their attempt to redefine the doctrine of the Church of England. Arminians in turn favoured Charles's causes against Puritans and Parliament. This alliance held despite increasing pressure on Charles to cooperate with Parliament on economic and military matters. The resulting civil war between the forces of the King and the troops of Parliament was hardly just a religious struggle between Arminians and Calvinists, but conflict over religion played an undeniably large role in bringing about the Puritan Revolution. As Protestantism split, so did English society.
Fighting broke out in 1642, and after the first battles members of Parliament called together a committee of over a hundred clergymen from all over England to advise them on "the good government of the Church." This body, the Westminster Assembly of Divines, convened on July 1, 1643, and continued daily meetings for more than five years.
A majority of the Puritan clergy of England probably would still have opted for a modified episcopal church government. Parliament, however, needed Scotland's military help. It adopted the Solemn League and Covenant, which committed the Westminster Assembly to develop a church polity close to Scotland's presbyterian form. A small, determined Assembly group of "Dissenting Brethren" held out for the freedom of the congregation, or "Independency," as opposed to the power of presbytery. Others, called Erastians, wanted to limit the offenses under the power of church discipline. Because both groups had support in Parliament, the reform of church government and discipline was frustrated.
Dissent within the assembly was negligible compared with dissent outside it. Pamphlets by John Milton, Roger Williams, and others schooled in Puritanism pleaded for greater freedom of the press and of religion. Such dissent was supported in the New Model Army, a Parliamentarian army of 22,000 men organized and disciplined under Sir Thomas Fairfax (1612-71) as commander in chief and Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), and the real power in England was passing to the military leaders who had defeated all Royalist forces. Late in 1648 the victors feared that the Westminster Assembly and Parliament would reach a compromise with the defeated Charles that would destroy their gains for Puritanism. In December 1648 Parliament was purged of members unsatisfactory to the Army, and in January 1649 King Charles was tried and executed.
The age of Cromwell (1649-60)
Both Parliament and the assembly continued to sit on a "rump" basis (containing only a remnant after the purges), and Oliver Cromwell emerged as England's Lord Protector. Cromwell was a typical Puritan in that he saw the judgment and mercy of God in events. Military successes to him were definite signs of the blessing of God upon his work.
The Independent clergyman John Owen guided the religious settlement under Cromwell. He maintained that the "reformation of England shall be more glorious than of any Nation in the world, being carried on, neither by might nor power, but only by the spirit of the Lord of Hosts." Error was a problem for both Cromwell and Owen, but, as Owen expressed it, it was better for 500 errors to be scattered among individuals than for one error to have power and jurisdiction over all others.
Such was the basis for a pluralistic religious settlement in England under the Commonwealth in which parish churches were led by men of Presbyterian, Independent, Baptist, or other opinions. Jews were permitted to live in England. But it was unacceptable for such groups as Roman Catholics or Unitarians to hold religious views publicly. Cromwell was personally willing to tolerate The Book of Common Prayer, but his Parliament was not. Voluntary associations of churches were formed, such as the Worcestershire Association, to keep up a semblance of church order among churches and pastors of differing persuasions.
In the upheaval brought on by the wars radical groups appeared that both challenged and advanced the Puritan vision of the New Jerusalem. The Levellers (a republican and democratic political party) in the New Model Army in 1647 and 1648 interpreted the liberty that comes from the free grace of God offered to all men in Christ as having direct implications for political democracy. The Diggers (agrarian communists) in 1649 planted crops on common land, first at St. George's Hill near Kingston and later at Cobham Manor, also near Kingston, to encourage God to bring soon the day when all men would live in an unstructured community of love with a communal economy. The Fifth Monarchy Men (an extreme Puritan millennialist sect) in 1649 presented their message of no compromise with the old political structures and advocated a new structure, composed of saints joined together in congregations with ascending representative assemblies, to bring all men under the kingship of Jesus Christ. As distinct units these groups were short-lived. A more enduring group was founded by George Fox (1624-91) as the Society of Friends, or Quakers, which pushed the Puritan logic disallowing any remnants of popery to its ultimate limit with a program of no ministers, no sacraments, and no liturgy. Puritanism had never been a monolithic movement, and accession to power had brought the factions to bear. The limits of the Puritan spirit of reform showed clearly in the widespread persecution of the Quakers.
The Restoration (1660-85)
After the death of Cromwell chaos threatened, and in the interest of order even some Puritans supported the restoration of Charles II. They hoped for a modified episcopal government, such as had been suggested in 1641 by the archbishop of Armagh, James Ussher (1581-1656). Such a proposal was satisfactory to many Episcopals, Presbyterians, and Independents. When some veterans of the Westminster Assembly went to Holland in 1660 to meet with Charles before he returned, the King made it clear that there would be modifications to satisfy "tender consciences."
These Puritans were outmaneuvered in their attempt to obtain a comprehensive church, however, by those who favoured the strict episcopal pattern. A new Act of Uniformity was passed on May 19, 1662, by the Cavalier Parliament. The act required reordination of many pastors, gave unconditional consent to The Book of Common Prayer, advocated the taking of the oath of canonical obedience, and renounced the Solemn League and Covenant. Between 1660 and when the act was enforced on Aug. 24, 1662, almost 2,000 Puritan ministers were ejected from their positions.
As a result of the Act of Uniformity, English Puritanism entered the period of the Great Persecution. The Conventicle Act of 1664 punished any person over 16 years of age for attending a religious meeting not conducted according to The Book of Common Prayer. The Five Mile Act of 1665 prohibited any ejected minister from living within five miles of a corporate town or any place where he had formerly served. Still, some Puritans did not give up the idea of comprehension (inclusiveness of various persuasions). There were conferences with sympathetic bishops and brief periods of indulgence for Puritans to preach, but fines and jailings set the tone. Puritanism became a form of Nonconformist Protestantism.
During the short reign of Charles's Roman Catholic brother, James II (1685-88), fear of Roman Catholic tyranny united politically both establishment and Nonconformist Protestants. This new unity brought about the "Glorious Revolution" (1688), establishing William and Mary on the throne. The last attempt at comprehension failed to receive approval by either Parliament or the Convocation under the new rulers. In 1689 England's religious solution was defined by an Act of Toleration that continued the established church as episcopal but also made it possible for dissenting groups to have licensed chapels. The Puritan goal to further reform the nation as a whole was transmuted into the more individualistic spiritual concerns of Pietism or else the more secular concerns of the Age of Reason.

Indian Mutiny
also called SEPOY MUTINY, (1857-58), widespread but unsuccessful rebellion against British rule in India begun by Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the British East India Company. It began in Meerut and then spread to Delhi, Agra, Cawnpore, and Lucknow.
To regard the rebellion merely as a sepoy mutiny is to underestimate the increasing pace of Westernization after the establishment of British paramountcy in India in 1818. Hindu society was being affected by the introduction of Western ideas. Missionaries were challenging the religious beliefs of the Hindus. The humanitarian movement led to reforms that went deeper than the political superstructure. Lord Dalhousie had made efforts for the emancipation of women and had introduced a bill to remove all legal obstacles to the remarriage of Hindu widows. Converts to Christianity were to share with their Hindu brethren in the property of the family estate. There was a widespread belief that the British aimed at breaking down the caste system. The introduction of western methods of education was a direct challenge to orthodoxy, both Hindu and Muslim. To these problems may be added the growing discontent of the noble Brahmans, many of whom had been dispossessed of their revenues or had lost lucrative positions. Everywhere the old Indian aristocracy was being replaced by British officials.
The mutiny broke out in the Bengal army because it was only in the military sphere that Indians were organized. The pretext for revolt was the introduction of the new Enfield rifle; to load it the sepoys had to bite off the ends of lubricated cartridges. There appears to be some foundation for the sepoys' belief that the grease used to lubricate the cartridges was a mixture of pigs' and cows' lard; thus, to have oral contact with it was an insult to both Muslims and Hindus. Late in April 1857, sepoy troopers at Meerut refused the cartridges; as punishment, they were given long prison terms, fettered, and put in jail. This punishment incensed their comrades, who rose on May 10, shot their British officers, and marched to Delhi, where there were no European troops. There the local sepoy garrison joined the Meerut men, and by nightfall the aged pensionary Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II had been nominally restored to power by a tumultuous soldiery.
The seizure of Delhi provided a focus and set the pattern for the whole mutiny, which then spread throughout northern India. With the exception of the Mughal emperor and his sons and Nana Sahib, the adopted son of the deposed Maratha peshwa, none of the important Indian princes joined the mutineers.
From the time of the mutineers' seizure of Delhi, the British operations to suppress the mutiny were divided into three parts. First came the desperate struggles at Delhi, Cawnpore, and Lucknow during the summer; then the operations around Lucknow in the winter of 1857-58 directed by Sir Colin Campbell; and finally the "mopping up" campaigns of Sir Hugh Rose in early 1858. Peace was officially declared on July 8, 1858.
A grim feature of the mutiny was the ferocity that accompanied it. The mutineers commonly shot their British officers on rising and were responsible for massacres at Delhi, Cawnpore, and elsewhere. The murder of women and children enraged the British, but in fact some British officers began to take severe measures before they knew that any such murders had occurred. In the end the reprisals far outweighed the original excesses. Hundreds of sepoys were shot from cannons in a frenzy of British vengeance (though some British officers did protest the bloodshed).
The immediate result of the mutiny was a general housecleaning of the Indian administration. The East India Company was abolished in favour of the direct rule of India by the British government. In concrete terms this did not mean much, but it introduced a more personal note into the government and removed the unimaginative commercialism that had lingered in the Court of Directors. The financial crisis caused by the mutiny led to a reorganization of the Indian administration's finances on a modern basis. The Indian army was also extensively reorganized.
Another significant result of the mutiny was the beginning of the policy of consultation with Indians. The Legislative Council of 1853 had contained only Europeans and had behaved arrogantly as if it had been a full-fledged parliament. It was widely felt that lack of communication with Indian opinion had helped to precipitate the crisis. Accordingly, the new council of 1861 was given an Indian-nominated element. The educational and public works programs, roads, railways, telegraphs, and irrigation continued with little interruption; in fact some were stimulated by the thought of their value for the transport of troops in a crisis. But insensitive, British-imposed social measures that affected Hindu society came to an abrupt end.
Finally, there was the effect of the mutiny on the people of India themselves. Traditional society had made its protest against the incoming alien influences, and it had failed; the princes and other natural leaders had either held aloof from the mutiny or had proved for the most part incompetent. From this time all serious hope of a revival of the past or an exclusion of the West diminished. The traditional structure of Indian society began to break down and was eventually superseded by a westernized class system, from which emerged a strong middle class with a heightened sense of Indian nationalism.




From Foster's Alumni Oxonienes:-

Skinner, Robert, of Northants, clr fil, TRINITY COLL., matric 11 July 1606 aged 15, B.A. 14
June 1610, fellow 1613, M.A. 25 June 1614 (In corporated at Cambridge 1615), B.D. 19 April
1621 (re-incorporated at Cambridge 1621), licenced to preach 14 Jan., 1621-2, created D.D. 13 Aug 1636 (s. Edmund of Pisford, Northants, cler.) preacher of St Gregory's, near St. Pauls, London, 1621-30 chaplain in ordinary to Charles I., rector 0f Pisford 1628-35, rector of Launton, Oxon, 1631, and of Greens Norton, Northants, 1636, until sequestered 1643, sequestered also from the vicarage of Cuddesden 1646, and from the rectory of Beckenham 1647; bishop of Bristol 1637-41, and of Oxford 1641, imprisoned in the Tower 1641, restored 1660, bishop of Worcester 1663, until his death 14 June 1670; father of Mathew 1639. See Ath. iv. 842; Fasti, i. 489; Lansdowne MS. 986, ff 135,137: & Foster's Index Eccl. In Nash's History of Worcestershire, vol. 2, we read that in the east window of the south aisle of Little Malvern Church are the arms of
John Alcock, who was Bishop of Worcester from 1476 to
1486, and, in the south part of the same window is written
"Orate pro animabus Roberti Skinner et Isabellse, uxoris
ejus, et filiorum suorum et filiarum." Richard Skinner, of
Cofton, served the office of sheriff of Worcestershire in the
4th of Charles I (1628), and Edmund Skinner, of Wich-
enford, in the 12th George I (1726). The arms of Skinner
are " Sable, a chevron or, between three griffins' heads
argent."