John Willis Clark

“ In 1775 he designed and put up the four spires and battlement which still crown the central tower, ‘an admirable finish to a magnificent design.’ For this and his other works the dean and chapter presented to him, in 1784, a silver salver, bearing a suitable inscription. Essex also restored the tower of Winchester College Chapel, altered Madingley Hall, Cambridge, built the steeple of the parish church at Debden, Essex, and the cross to commemorate Queen Catherine of Arragon erected at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, in 1773 by the Earl of Ossory. ”

“ In 1814 the professorship of anatomy in the university of Cambridge became vacant by the death of Sir Busick Harwood. Clark offered himself as a candidate, but was defeated by John Haviland, who obtained 150 votes to 135 given to Clark, John Thomas Woodhouse securing 60. On this occasion Byron came up to Cambridge to vote for Clark, and was cheered by the undergraduates in the senate house. In 1817 the professorship of anatomy became again vacant by the election of Haviland to the regius professorship of physic. ”

“ A translation of Lacroix's work on the ‘Differential and Integral Calculus’ was published at Cambridge in 1816, with appendices or ‘notes,’ as they are called, the first twelve of which were written by Peacock. In 1816–17 he held the office of moderator, and introduced the symbols of differentiation into the papers set in the senate-house. This innovation was regarded with a good deal of disfavour (cf. Todhunter, Life of Whewell, ii. 16) . Peacock himself, nothing daunted, wrote to a friend on 17 March 1817: ‘I shall never cease to exert myself to the utmost in the cause of reform. ”

“ Both these commissions were greatly disliked in the university. The report of the first, published in 1852, was so conciliatory that the commissioners recovered much of their personal popularity; but the draft statutes for the colleges of Trinity and St. John's were condemned by both conservatives and liberals. It was generally believed that Peacock, from his recognised influence with the commissioners, was responsible for all that was most obnoxious. ”

“ Of his previous life nothing has as yet been discovered. The accounts of King's College show that he was frequently employed on important business, and in 1447 he became overseer of the building works ('magister operum') . In 1448 he was made warden of King's Hall in the same university. In 1449 (10 July) he appears as one of the English commissioners for proclaiming a truce with Scotland, and is described in the letters patent as chancellor of the university of Cambridge. ”

“ In 1818 Clark was appointed physician to Sir Mark Masterman Sykes, bart., and in his company made an extended tour through Italy and Sicily, which occupied the greater part of two years. During the journey he formed the acquaintance of several foreign men of science, studied the museums of Italy, and made arrangements with Caldani of Florence for the execution of a series of wax models of the anatomy of the human body, which are still in use in the medical school at Cambridge. ”

“ His insight into character was remarkable, and, though he had decided preferences in favour of certain qualities and pursuits over others, he was tolerant of tendencies with which he could not sympathise, and would look on the more harmless vagaries of young and active minds rather as an amused spectator than as a stern censor and critic’ (Thompson, Funeral Sermon, p. 13) . ”

“ He was F.S.A., and a great collector of pictures, prints, and medals. In private life he was much esteemed, and his contemporaries speak of him with affection and respect. He was buried in the antechapel of his college. ”

“ When Clark was first elected professor of anatomy, his duty was confined to the deliverance of an annual course of lectures on the anatomy and physiology of the human body, and in 1822 he published an 'Analysis' of such a course. ”

“ The date of his arrival in England is uncertain, but it must have been before 1653, if Vertue be right in assigning his earliest portrait to that year (Walpole, ed. Dallaway, v. 185) . In 1665 he was residing at Nuffeild, near Oxford, and had made the acquaintance of Anthony à Wood. In 1669 (30 March) he was appointed engraver to the university of Oxford, with an annual salary of 20s. In or about 1671 he married a daughter of Robert Jordan, esq., of Kencote Hall in Oxfordshire, by whom he had at least one son, John Loggan, who matriculated at Trinity College on 20 Aug. ”

“ Lightfoot, who died in 1675, as ‘very lately Master’ (nuperrimè magister) , and does not mention his successor. It was therefore probably drawn in 1676. A similar inscription on the view of Pembroke mentions that it was taken when the master, Nathaniel Coga, was vice-chancellor, i.e. in 1681–2; the view of the south side of King's College Chapel is dedicated to Provost Page, who died in 1681; the view of Trinity Hall and the plan of Cambridge are dated 1688; and lastly, the view of Magdalene College mentions Gabriel Quadring as master, who was not elected until 1690. ”

“ Though nonresident, except for about three months, on an average, in each year, he kept a watchful eye on all that was going forward in the parish, took infinite pains to select a really good curate, restored the church, built schools, made the rectory-house habitable, and in all ways allowed his zeal for the place. He held this living until 1869, when failing health compelled him to resign it. ”

“ Catharine's College; in 1758 he repaired and altered Nevile's Court at Trinity College; in 1760 he designed and built the new west range at Queens' College, and built the doctors' gallery in Great St. Mary's Church (Burrough, architect) ; in 1764 he repaired and altered the hall at Emmanuel College; in 1766 he designed and built the stone bridge at Trinity College; in 1768 he completed the west end of the senate-house, left unfinished by Gibbs; in 1769 he ashlared the quadrangle of Christ's College, and completed the chapel at Clare College after the death of Burrough ”

“ Jowett was principal tutor of Trinity Hall from 1775 to 1795, when he accepted the vicarage of Wethersfield in Essex, where he resided during the long vacations. He held strict evangelical opinions, which were unpopular in the university; but his sincerity and his high moral character gained for him general respect and much influence. His most intimate friend was Dr. Milner, president of Queens', with whom he never failed to pass two evenings alone each week. To Dr. Milner's influence may be ascribed the part he took in the refusal of Trinity Hall to elect Mr. ”

“ Luard was by temperament and conviction a conservative, and he was opposed to most of the recent changes in the university and in Trinity College, against which he wrote several flysheets and short pamphlets. ”

“ He enables one to walk into the quadrangles of the colleges, and discover their style of architecture. Every detail of the buildings, the courts, and the gardens is carefully noted, so that they present not merely a record of the architecture, but of the life of the period.
Loggan was one of the most celebrated engravers of portraits of his time, many of his engravings being done ad vivum, such as Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon, General Monck, Dr. ”

“ Some of these are in the British Museum. Loggan does not appear ever to have painted portraits. Among other plates engraved by Loggan were illustrations to Dr. Robert Morison's ‘Plantarum Historia Universalis Oxoniensis;’ the triumphal arches erected in the city of London on the coronation of Charles II; two views of Stonehenge, &c. A portrait, drawn on vellum in plumbago by Robert White (in the print room at the British Museum) , is stated to be a portrait of Loggan. According to Vertue, ‘The Picture of D. Loggan, Engraver, drawn on Vellom with Black Lead by himself, ætat. ”

“ He delivered lectures each term, and discharged all the duties of his office with ability and assiduity. His lectures are said to have been popular, and his comparison of the Roman and English law is specially commended. ”

“ Tradition, however, has called him the architect. The works which are unquestionably his are: the cupola over the combination room at his own college (1728) ; the transformation of the hall of Queens' College into an Italian chamber (1732) , for which he received twenty-five guineas ”

“ He spent some time in Paris, but left on the taking of the Bastille. On returning to England he worked as an artist in London till 1798, when he removed to Cambridge. In old age he resided at Trumpington, near Cambridge, where he died 2 June 1838, aged 82. ”

“ He was an active parish clergyman, zealous in visiting the poor, and an eloquent preacher. He found St. Mary's still encumbered by the hideous eastern gallery, nicknamed Golgotha, in which the vice-chancellor and heads of colleges sat ”

“ Peacock married, in 1847, Frances Elizabeth, second daughter of William Selwyn, Q.C. He left no children.
He was the author of the following works: 1. ‘Collection of Examples of the Applications of the Differential and Integral Calculus,’ Cambridge, 1820, 8vo. 2. ‘Arithmetic: Encyclopædia Metropolitana,’ 1825–6. 3. ‘A Treatise on Algebra,’ Cambridge, 1830, 8vo. 4. ‘Observations on the Plans for the New Library, &c. By a Member of the First Syndicate,’ Cambridge, 1831, 8vo. 5. ‘Remarks on the Replies to the Observations,’ &c., Cambridge, 1831, 8vo. 6. ”

“ Babbage's Passages from the Life of a Philosopher, London, 1864, p. 29; Edinb. Review, Oct. 1837, p. 114; Ball's History of the Study of Mathematics at Cambridge, 8vo, 1889, pp. 119–21, 124; personal knowledge. ”

“ Academiæ Procancellarius cum sex Bedellis et virgifero præeuntibus (a folding plate occupying the space of two) ; 3. Ss. Theologiæ Doctor ea toga coccinea indutus qua solemniorum in Academiâ conventuum celebritatem cohonestare soleat; 4. Ss. Theologiæ Doctor eo Habitu coccineo quo tempore minus solenni indutus apparet; 5. Doctor in Medicina Toga ordinaria indutus cui per omnia conformis est ea qua utuntur Doctores in Iure Ciuili; 6. Procurator; 7. Artium Magister; 8. Commensalis superioris ordinis; 9. Artium Baccalaureus; 10. Commensalis inferioris ordinis; 11. ”