Minor Queries with Answers.
Dr. John Hartcliffe, Dr. Wm. Cokayne, Dr. Samuel Kettilby.—Can any of your correspondents tell me whether John Hartcliffe, D.D., Fellow of King's, Cambridge, and Head-master of Merchant Taylors' from 1681 to 1686, is the Dr. Hartcliffe whom James II. wishes to instal illegally in the Provostship of King's, as he attempted to impose a President on Magdalen, Oxon?
I should be glad also to know whether there is any continuation of Ward's Lives of the Gresham Professors, reaching to the present time; and, in particular, the dates of the appointments or deaths of William Cokayne, D.D., Professor of Astronomy, and William Roman, B.C.L., Professor of Geometry?
Likewise, of what faculty was Samuel Kettilby, D.D., Professor; and when did he die?
James Hessey.
Merchant Taylors'.
[It was Dr. John Hartcliffe, of Merchant Taylors', that wished to become Provost of King's College: but the mandate was obtained from King William, not from James II. Hartcliffe's Discourse against Purgatory, 1685, which Anthony à Wood thinks was publicly burnt in France, was not likely to recommend him to the favour of the latter king. The affair of the Provostship is thus stated by Cole (Hist. of King's College, vol. iv. Addit. MSS. 5817.)—"On the death of Dr. Copleston, Hartcliffe made a great stir, in order to become Provost, and actually obtained a mandate of King William to the society to choose him; but he was far from being agreeable to the Fellows of the college, who, when they heard he was in town, and upon what errand he came, directly shut up the college gates, and proceeded to an election, when Dr. Roderick was chosen, with the odds of ten votes to one. This being transacted in the infancy of King William's reign, he chose not to stir much in it; but after having shown the Fellows, by the very petition they made to him, which was presented by Mr. Newborough and Mr. Fleetwood, that he had a right to present, he dismissed them." A biographical notice of Dr. Hartcliffe is given in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. pp. 63, 64., and in Wood's Athenæ (Bliss), vol. iv. p. 790.
No one appears to have continued Ward's Lives of the Gresham Professors. Maitland, in his History of London, has brought the history of the institution down to 1755. Dr. Ward himself had prepared a new edition, containing considerable additions, which was presented to the British Museum by his residuary legatee. Among the Additional MSS. also will be found a large mass of papers and correspondence relating to the Lives. From one document, entitled "Minutes relating to the Lives of the Professors of Gresham College, being Additions to the printed Work," we extract the following notice of "William Cokayne, who was the son of George Cokayne, of Dovebridge in Devonshire, clerk. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, in London, and from thence elected probationer Fellow of St. John's College, where he was matriculated 9th July, 1736. He commenced A.M. 9th July, 1744; made Junior Proctor 1750; and B.D. 4th July, 1751." The date of his appointment as Astronomy Professor is not given; but his resignation, in 1795, will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxv. p. 711. He appears to have died in 1798 (see Ib., vol. lxviii. p. 641.), when the Rev. Joseph Monkhouse succeeded him as Rector of Kilkhampton, co. Cornwall.
The MS. "Minutes" also contain a notice of William Roman, the thirteenth Geometry Professor, "who was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, and from thence elected to St. John's College, Oxford, in 1740, being matriculated as the son of Richard Roman, of London, Gent., ætat. 17. He commenced B.C.L., May 5th, 1747; Deacon at Christ Church, 21st Sept., 1746; Priest at Christ Church, 20th Sept., 1747." No date of his appointment, but he was Professor in 1755, when Maitland wrote his account of the college. Dr. Samuel Kettilby succeeded the Rev. Samuel Birch as Geometry Lecturer, and died June 25, 1808.—See Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxviii. p. 657.]
"Haulf Naked."—In poring over an old deed the other night, I stumbled upon the above name, which I take to be that of a manor in the county of Sussex. Is it so? and, if so, by what name is the property now known?
Charles Reed.
[In Dallaway's Western Sussex, art. Washington, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 133., is the following entry:—"In 1310, Henry Balduyne sold to Walter de Halfenaked one messuage, two acres of arable, and two acres of meadow, in Washington and Sullington. Ped. fin. 3 Edw. II.">[