not then at the admiralty.’ As, however, Schomberg persisted in his right to accept the appointment of the lord-lieutenant, Sandwich could only write that ‘he is either extremely indigent, extremely infatuated, or may think my situation here [at the admiralty] not permanent’ (Hist. MSS. Comm. 11th Rep. pt. iv. pp. 410–12). Unfortunately for Schomberg, Sandwich remained at the admiralty long enough to prevent his having any active service, or getting his flag during the American war. He continued therefore in command of the Dorset, was knighted by the lord-lieutenant in 1777, and died in Dublin on 19 March 1804, having for many years headed the list of captains. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Peter's, Dublin. A good portrait, by Hogarth, is in the possession of the family. He was the author of ‘A Sea Manual recommended to the Young Officers of the Royal Navy as a Companion to the Signal-book’ (London, 8vo, 1789), a book now extremely rare. He married, in August 1763, Arabella Susanna, only child of the Rev. James Chalmers, by Arabella, sister and heiress of Sir Edmond Alleyne, last baronet of Hatfield Peveril, and had issue. His youngest son, Sir Charles Marsh Schomberg, is separately noticed.
His second son, Alexander Wilmot Schomberg (1774–1850), born 24 Feb. 1774, having served for some time in the Dorset, and afterwards in the Porcupine, Lowestoft, Impregnable, and Trusty, was promoted to be lieutenant on 26 July 1793. In that rank he served at the reduction of Martinique and the defence of Guadeloupe, and in the Boyne with Sir John Jervis [q. v.], in the Glatton with Sir Henry Trollope [q. v.], and was promoted to the rank of commander on 2 April 1798. On 1 Jan. 1801 he was advanced to post rank, and continued actively serving during the war, holding several important commands, and among others that of the Loire frigate, 1807–12. He became a rear-admiral in 1830, vice-admiral in 1841, admiral in 1849, and died in 1850. Some ‘Naval Suggestions’ by him were privately printed in 1818, and he published at Chichester in 1832 some ‘Practical Remarks on the Building, Rigging, and Equipping of Warships.’ He was twice married, and left issue (by the first wife) Herbert, who died a retired rear-admiral in 1867; and (by the second wife) Charles Frederick, who died a retired vice-admiral in 1874, and General Sir George Augustus Schomberg, K.C.B.
[Charnock's Biogr. Nav. vi. 272; official letters, journals, logs, &c., in the Publ. Rec. Office; information from Sir George Schomberg.]
SCHOMBERG, ALEXANDER CROWCHER (1756–1792), poet and writer on jurisprudence, son of Raphael or Ralph Schomberg [q. v.] of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, was born there on 6 July 1756, and from Southampton School was admitted a scholar of Winchester in 1770 (Kirby, Winchester Scholars, p. 265). In his fourteenth year he wrote a tragedy in collaboration with Herbert (afterwards the Rev. Sir Herbert) Croft (1751–1816) [q. v.] He was matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, on 9 May 1775, was elected a demy of Magdalen College in that university in 1776, graduated B.A. on 20 Jan. 1779, and commenced M.A. on 9 Nov. 1781. He became a probationer fellow of Magdalen College in 1782, and senior dean of arts in 1791. The myrtle wreath of Lady Miller often crowned his poetical productions, to which her volumes were indebted for some of their principal ornaments [see Miller, Anna, Lady]. He was likewise a contributor to the periodical ‘Olla Podrida,’ edited by Thomas Monro, (1788). Subsequently he studied political economy (Gent. Mag. 1792, i. 389). In the midst of his studies he was attacked by a painful disease. Robert Southey, then a youth, often sat by his bedside when he was vainly seeking relief at Bath (Early Life of Southey, p. 36). He died at Bath on 6 April 1792, and was buried in the abbey. He was the earliest patron of William Crotch [q. v.] the composer.
His works are: 1. ‘Bagley; a descriptive Poem; with the Annotations of Scriblerus Secundus: To which are prefixed, by the same, Prolegomena on the Poetry of the present age,’ Oxford, 1777, 4to. The authorship has been erroneously ascribed to Dr. Thomas Burgess (Halkett and Laing, Dict. of Anonymous Literature, i. 210). 2. ‘Ode on the present state of English Poetry … By Cornelius Scriblerus Nothus,’ with ‘a translation of a fragment of Simonides,’ Greek and English, Oxford, 1779, 4to. 3. ‘An historical and chronological View of Roman Law. With Notes and Illustrations,’ Oxford, 1785 8vo; 2nd edit. Oxford, 1857, 8vo; translated into French by A. M. H. Boulard, 2nd edit. Paris, 1808, 12mo. 4. ‘A Treatise on the Maritime Laws of Rhodes,’ Oxford, 1786, 8vo. 5. ‘Historical and Political Remarks on the Tariff of the Commercial Treaty with France,’ 1787. 6. ‘Present State of Trade and Manufactures in France’ (partly printed but never completed or published).
[Bloxam's Magdalen Coll. Reg. vii. 51, 77; Gent. Mag. 1792 i. 389, 1854 i. 114; MacCulloch's Lit. of Pol. Econ. pp. 123, 124; Nichols's Illustr. Lit. v. 278; Notes and Queries, 5th ser. v. 288, vii. 54; Turner's Sepulchral Reminiscences, p. 75.]
