Parker's letters to him are printed in the ‘Parker Correspondence.’
[Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. i. 109; information very kindly furnished by Dr. Venn; Norfolk Arch. i. 124; Letters and Papers of Henry VIII; Wright's Suppression Letters, p. 48; Dingley's Hist. from Marble, ii. 96; Narrative of the Reformation, p. 248 (Camd. Soc.); Gasquet and Bishop's Edward VI and the Book of Common Prayer, pp. 140, 171; Dixon's Hist. of the Church of England, iii. 268; Cranmer's Works (Parker Soc.), I. xvii, II. 81, 152.]
SKIPPE or SKIPP, JOHN (1742?–1796?), amateur artist, was son of John Skipp of Ledbury, Herefordshire. His family had long been settled at Ledbury, a J. Skipp of that place having supported Sir Henry Lingen [q. v.] in 1646. He matriculated at Merton College, Oxford, in 1760, at the age of eighteen. After leaving the university he travelled in north Italy, and made many drawings, not without merit, from the old masters. A series of careful studies, done in 1773 from the frescoes by Andrea Mantegna in the church of the Eremitani at Padua, is in the print-room of the British Museum. Skippe is chiefly noted for his series of wood engravings in chiaroscuro, done in imitation of those works of Ugo da Carpi and other early Italian artists. He had probably seen the chiaroscuro engravings of John Baptist Jackson [q. v.]; but Skippe's are more artistic than Jackson's, and more nearly approach the work of the older masters. Drawings by Skippe of landscape, sacred and other subjects, executed in bistre with some vigour, are occasionally met with in collections and attributed to the old masters. Skippe died unmarried, 14 Oct. 1812.
[Chambers's Worcestershire Worthies, p. 464 n.; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Chatto and Jackson's Hist. of Wood Engraving; Foster's Alumni Oxonienses; Skippe's own works.]
SKIPPON, PHILIP (d. 1660), soldier, was son of Luke Skippon of West Lexham, Norfolk, and his wife Anne. He took military service early, and, as he was married at Frankenthal in 1622, evidently served in the palatinate under Sir Horace Vere (Carthew, Hundred of Launditch, pp. 440–3). Skippon was wounded during the siege of Breda by Spinola in 1625, and again at its recapture by the Prince of Orange in 1637. He served also under the command of Lord Vere at the sieges of Bois le Duc and Maastricht in 1629 (Markham, The Fighting Veres, pp. 428, 436; Hexham, Journal of the Taking of Venlo, &c., 4to, Delft, 1633, pp. 9, 25, Journal of the Siege of Breda, 1637, 4to, p. 24). Skippon, who attained the rank of captain in the Dutch service, returned to England about 1639, and was recommended by the king to the artillery company for election as leader, and was admitted on 23 Oct. 1639 (Raikes, History of the Honourable Artillery Company, i. 96). According to Clarendon, he left the Dutch service on account of some scruples of conscience concerning the Book of Common Prayer (Rebellion, iv. 198). After the attempted arrest of the five members, in January 1642, the House of Commons applied to the city for a guard, and the common council appointed Skippon (10 Jan. 1642) to take command of the trained bands of the city, and to raise a guard for the defence of the parliament (Gardiner, History of England, x. 148, 154). The common council agreed to pay Skippon 300l. a year so long as he remained in the service of the city (Sharpe, London and the Kingdom, ii. 161). He had been made a freeman of the city on 8 Jan., and on 12 Jan. he was made commander of the guards of the parliament, with the title of sergeant-major-general. By the order of the House of Commons Skippon blockaded the Tower, and even attempted to obtain possession of it by surprise; but the removal of Sir John Byron put an end to the supposed danger (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1641–3, pp. 249, 265, 269). On 4 Feb. 1642 parliament passed an ordinance for Skippon's indemnity, praising his ‘great care and faithfulness’ (Commons' Journal, ii. 371, 414; Husbands, Ordinances, 4to, 1643, p. 77). On 13 May following the king ordered Skippon to attend him at York; but the two houses agreed in declaring the order illegal and prohibiting his going (ib. p. 194; Commons' Journals, ii. 579).
Skippon was not at Edgehill, but on 12 Nov. 1642, when the king threatened London, and the London trained bands marched to Turnham Green, Skippon appeared at their head. ‘He made,’ writes Whitelocke, ‘short and encouraging speeches to his soldiers, which were to this purpose: “Come, my boys, my brave boys, let us pray heartily and fight heartily. I will run the same fortunes and hazards with you. Remember, the cause is for God, and for the defence of yourselves, your wives, and children. Come, my honest brave boys, pray heartily and fight heartily, and God will bless us.” Thus he went all along with the soldiers, talking to them, sometimes to one company, and sometimes to another; and the soldiers seemed to be more taken with it than with a set formal oration’ (Memorials, i. 190 ed. 1853). Essex saw Skippon's value,
