William Connor Sydney

“ In 1747 Keith published an uninteresting pamphlet, consisting of thirty-two pages, entitled ‘Observations on the Act for preventing Clandestine Marriages,’ with an engraving inscribed ‘The Rev. Mr. Keith, D.D.’ No copy is in the British Museum. While Keith remained in the Fleet prison the contemporary gossips declared, without authority, that he had a little chapel there, where in one year he married thousands of people ”

“ To the ecclesiastical patronage of the see he added the rectory of Richard's Castle in the diocese of Hereford. He died at Bath on 28 Nov. 1774, in consequence of a fall from his horse, and was interred among his ancestors at Laycock in Wiltshire. A monument, designed by Nollekens, was shortly afterwards erected to his memory in Worcester Cathedral. Johnson's amiability was unvarying. His private wealth was large. ”

“ JONES, WILLIAM HENRY RICH (1817–1885) , antiquary, eldest son of William Jones, chief secretary of the Religious Tract Society, was born in the parish of Christchurch, Blackfriars, on 31 Aug. 1817. He was educated at a private school at Totteridge, Hertfordshire, at King's College, London, and at Magdalen Hall (now Hertford College) , Oxford. ”

“ Among his friends Hill was held in the highest esteem on account of his simplicity and kindliness. Kenyon declared that he knew not ‘within the circle of human nature a better man than Sir Richard Hill.’ Hill's writings consist chiefly of religious pamphlets, the most remarkable of which are noticed above. ”

“ Wood states that ‘by the benefit of good discipline and natural parts he became a well qualified gentleman,’ and that after taking his degree in arts he retired to his father's seat at Dixton, near Alderton, was appointed a justice of the peace, and was highly respected by the neighbouring nobility and gentry, particularly Grey Brydges, lord Chandos [q. v.] ”

“ James's, Curtain Road, Shoreditch, and in 1851 vicar of Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire. From 1861 to 1873 he acted as rural dean of Potterne. In 1872 he was appointed surrogate of the diocese of Salisbury and canon of Salisbury. He died suddenly at the vicarage, Bradford-on-Avon, on 28 Oct. 1885. He was twice married, and left a widow, one son, and three daughters. ”

“ His works, which display ingenuity in misapplying learning, are:
‘A New Method of Stating and Explaining the Scriptures Chronologically upon Mosaic Astronomical Principles, Mediums, and Data, as laid down in the Pentateuch,’ London, 1751. ‘Examination of the Reverend Mr. Jackson's Chronological Antiquities, in which the errors and defects of that Elaborate Performance are demonstrated in a Letter to the Author,’ 1753. ‘A Complete System of Astronomical Chronology unfolding the Scriptures,’ 1762, with a dedication to George III, which, although signed by Kennedy, was the composition of Dr. ”

“ Mangey,’ by ‘A Seeker after Truth,’ on his sermon on Christ's eternal existence, 1719, under the pseudonym of ‘Philanagnostes Criticus.’ Herne issued in 1719 an account of all the considerable pamphlets issued in the Bangorian controversy to the end of 1718 ”

“ Oxford Graduates; Bubb Doddington's Diary, 22 March 1753; Green's Hist. of Worcester, ed. 1796, i. 216; Bishop Newton's Autob., in Works, ed. 1782, i. 101–2; Walpole's Memoirs of George II, i. 304; G. Butt's Funeral Sermon at Bath; Gent. Mag. 1774, p. 598; Brit. Mus. Cat. ”