142
NOTES AND QUERIES, no s. vn. FEB. 23, 1907.
MAGDALEN COLLEGE SCHOOL AND
THE 'D.N.B.'
(See 10 S. iv. 21, 101, 182, 244, 364 ; v. 22, 122, 284, 362 ; vi. 2, 104, 203 ; vii. 63.) THJ: present instalment concludes my
biographical notes, but I hope to add some
remarks on more general topics connected
with the School.
Robert Francis Walker (1789-1854), divine
and author. Chorister 1800-06. Bloxam
(ii. 115) says of him :
"The great Lord Nelson (upon his only visit to Oxford, during a long vacation, near the close of the eighteenth century), happening to hear him when chorister in the College chapel, spoke to him after the service in commendation ot his singing, and gave him halt'-a-guinea. The next day Lord Nelson visited the College School, and, seeing the same boy engaged in sketching the building, complimented him on his excellence in this respect, and gave him another mark of his approval."
He became curate to the Provost of Oriel at Purleigh, and translated German Evan- gelical theology. Dr. Ellerton (of whom Jie was a favourite pupil) possessed a small full-length portrait of him (in his chorister's gown), which afterwards belonged to Dr. Bloxam.
William of Waynflete or Wainfleet (1395?- 1486), Bishop of Winchester, Lord High Chancellor of England, and founder of Magdalen College, Oxon. Elder son of Richard Patyn, Patten, or Patton, alias Barbour, of Wainfleet. The portrait in M.C.S. is a copy from one in the Royal Collection at Windsor ; a similar picture on panel in the President's lodgings is, perhaps, an earlier copy of the same original, or even a copy of that in the School ; the effigy in his magnificent chantry in Winchester Cathedral, made during his lifetime, repre- sents him as an elderly man ; he appears as M support to the cushion under the head of t he ettigy of his father upon the tomb erected l>y the Bishop in Wainfleet Church, now removed to Magdalen College Chapel ; a mitred head in a window of Thurburn's chantry (c. 1455) at Winchester College may represent him. His mitre, staff, and other relics valued at 2,OOOZ., were delivered up by the College in 1646 to a messenger of the House of Lords, and were sold to a goldsmith, an endeavour, after the Restoration, on the part of Magdalen to regain the relics, or recover compensation for their loss, being un- successful. The episcopal caligae, or stock- ings of crimson silk, embroidered with birds in gold and silver thread, and with flowers in coloured silks, as well as the sandals of
crimson velvet, also elaborately decorated,,
still remain in the possession of the College.
Edward Welchman (1665-1739), theo- logian. Chorister 1679, matriculating the same year at Magd. Hall ; Fellow of Merton ;. Prebendary of St. David's ; of Lichfield, A son of his, who kept an inn at Stratford- on-Avon, used to boast that his father made the Thirty -Nine Articles Welchman having, in fact, published an annotated edition of them.
Francis White (b. 1589 ?). Demy 1610 ; Master of M.C.S. (between Lawrence Snelling and Samuel Barnard) 1614-17 ; vicar of Ashbury 1622-31 ; is mentioned in Heylyn's ' Diary ' as composer of one or more play& acted in the President's lodgings.
William White (1604-78), divine. Master of M.C.S. (between John Allibond and Thos. Houghton) 1632-48, when ejected by Parliamentary Commissioners ; rector of Pusey and Appleton ; published works in Latin under name of ' ; Gulielmus Phalerius."
Robert Whittington, Whytynton, or Whit- inton (fl. 1520), grammarian. Born pro- bably not much later than 1480, he was at M.C.S. under Stanbridge ; B.A. and laureate in grammar 1513, when he assumed title of " Protovates Angliae " ; nicknamed by his foes " Boss," in derisive allusion to a public " boss " or water-tap in the City of London,, originally set up by Lord Mayor Richard Whittington ; published five grammatical treatises and translations from Cicero and Seneca ; two of his works dedicated to Wolsey ; said to have been still alive in 1530 ; William Lily a pupil of his ; Stan- bridge and Whittington authors of first Latin grammars which drove Donatus and Alexander de Villa Dei out of English school- rooms.
Christopher Windebank (b. 1615), a son of Sir Francis (q.v.), may perhaps be added, having become Demy in 1630 ; lived after 1635 at Madrid, where, being " a perfect Spaniard and an honest man," he was found useful as a guide and interpreter by English ambassadors.
Sir Ralph Winwood (1563 ?-1617), diplo- matist and Secretary of State. Although he matriculated from St. John's Coll. Dec., 1577, aged fourteen, he was Demy of Magd. 1578-82 ; Fellow and Proctor ; ambassador to France ; agent to States- General of Hol- land ; Secretary of State for life ; led House of Commons ; largely responsible for Ralegh's release from the Tower in 1616; married (1603) Elizabeth Ball, Sir Thomas Bodley's stepdaughter.
Thomas Wolsey (1475 ?-1530), Cardinal
