more attention to polemical theology than to his profession. He was an ardent supporter of the church of England, and distinguished himself by various writings against the independents and presbyterians. He died on the 17th and was buried in Exeter Cathedral on 24 Jan. 1704–5, leaving by his wife Frances (d. 1715) a son John (1701–1726). There is a monument to their memory on the south side of the lady-chapel in Exeter Cathedral.
Northleigh wrote:
- ‘Exercitationes Philologicæ tres: prima Infanticidium, poema credulam exprimens matrem … prolem suam interfecisse. Secunda Spes extatica … Tertia Philosophia vindicata,’ &c., 4to, Oxford, 1681.
- ‘The Parallel, or the new specious Association an old rebellious Covenant; closing with a disparity between a true Patriot and a factious Associator’ [anon.], folio, London, 1682, highly commended by Dr. Laurence Womack in his ‘Letter containing a farther Justification of the Church of England against the Dissenters,’ 1682 (p. 59).
- ‘A Genteel Reflection on the Modest Account [by Lord Shaftesbury], and a Vindication of the Loyal Abhorrers from the calumnies of a factious pen,’ folio, London, 1682.
- ‘The Triumph of our Monarchy over the Plots and Principles of our Rebels and Republicans, being Remarks on their most Eminent Libels,’ 8vo, London, 1685.
- ‘Parliamentum Pacificum, or the Happy Union of King and People in an healing Parliament,’ 4to, London, March 1688. This ingenious, smartly written defence of James II elicited three answers in Dutch, besides being translated into French and Dutch. Gilbert Burnet [q. v.], afterwards bishop of Salisbury, who had been assailed in it on account of his letter addressed from the Hague to Lord Middleton on 3 May 1687, replied in a ‘Vindication of himself,’ whereupon Northleigh rejoined with
- ‘Dr. Burnet's Reflections upon a Book, entituled “Parliamentum Pacificum” … answered,’ 4to, London, July 1688.
- ‘Topographical Descriptions, with Historico-Political and Medico-Physical Observations made in two several Voyages through most parts of Europe,’ 8vo, London, 1702 (reprinted in vol. ii. of J. Harris's ‘Bibliotheca,’ edits. 1705 and 1744). A second volume was to have contained Italy, and a third Germany, Hungary, Denmark, and Sweden, but only the first volume, containing the Netherlands, France, Savoy, and Piedmont, appeared. There is no indication of the periods at which the tours were made.
Two letters from Northleigh to Archbishop Sancroft, dated respectively 2 June 1688 and January 1692–3, are among the Tanner MSS. in the Bodleian Library (xxviii. 92 and xxv. 420). A copy of the second letter is in Rawlinson MS. C. 739, f. 138.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iv. 502; Boase's Registrum Collegii Exoniensis, ii. 233; Exeter Cathedral Burial Register; Tanner MS. cccxl. 291; information from J. Brooking Rowe, esq., F.S.A.; Visitations of Devonshire, ed. Vivian, p. 584; Munk's Medical Worthies of Devon in Exeter Western Times for September 1855.]
NORTHMORE, THOMAS (1766–1851), miscellaneous writer and inventor, eldest son of Thomas Northmore, esq. of Cleve House, Devon, by Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Richard Osgood, esq., of Fulham, was born at Cleve in 1766, and educated first at Tiverton School, and next at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1789, and M.A. in 1792 (Graduati Cantabr., 1846, p. 231). On 19 May 1791 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (Gough, Chronological List, p. 50). Afterwards he retired to cultivate his paternal estate, where he resided until his death, dividing his time between mechanics, literature, and politics. In the liberal or radical interest he contested the city of Exeter in June 1818, when he only polled 293 votes. He also unsuccessfully contested Barnstaple. His favourite branches of study were geology and the early British languages. The most interesting event in his life was the discovery about 1824 of the ossiferous nature of Kent's cavern at Torquay. He found beneath the bed of mud which lies under the stalagmitic flooring of the cavern the tusk of a hyæna, and soon afterwards a metatarsal bone of the cavern bear. These were the first fruits of a series of excavations which produced a rich harvest of fossil remains, and had an important bearing on speculations as to the antiquity of the human race (The Torquay Guide, 1841, p. 121). The subsequent exploration of the cavern, undertaken by William Pengelly [q. v.] under the auspices of the British Association, occupied sixteen years (Times, 20 March 1894, p. 5, col. 6). Northmore died at Furzebook House, near Axminster, on 20 May 1851.
He married, first, Penelope, eldest daughter of Sir William Earle Welby, bart., of Denton Hall, Lincolnshire, and, secondly Emmeline, fifth daughter of Sir John Eden, bart., of Windlestone Park and Beamish Park, Durham. By his first wife he had one son, and by his second wife one son and nine daughters. The eldest son, Thomas Welby Northmore, married his cousin Katherine, third daughter of Sir William Earle Welby, bart., and died before his father, leaving
