COLVIN, John Russell (2 son of James Colvin of London and Calcutta, merchant). b. Calcutta May 1807; ed. at St. Andrew’s, Fifeshire and Haileybury; went to Bengal 1826; assistant to Registrar of the Sudder Court 1826, to Resident at Hyderabad 14 Dec. 1827; assistant sec. in Revenue and Judicial department at Calcutta 4 Jany. 1831; Sec. to Board of Revenue in Lower Provinces 13 March 1835; private sec. to Lord Auckland the Governor General 1836–42; resident in Nepaul 1845; commissioner of Tenasserim provinces 1846; judge of Sudder Court at Calcutta 1849; lieut. governor of north western provinces 1853. d. Agra 9 Sep. 1857. G.M. iv, 212–19 (1858).
COMBE, Boyce (2 son of Harvey Christian Combe of Cobham park, Surrey 1752–1818). b. London 1789; ed. at Harrow; barrister L.I. 19 Nov. 1813, bencher; magistrate at Thames police court 1833, at Lambeth St. near Whitechapel 1838, at Hatton garden 1839, at Clerkenwell 1842, at Southwark 1851 to death. d. 43 Upper Seymour st. Portman sq. London 7 Jany. 1864. I.L.N. x, 332 (1847), portrait.
COMBE, George (son of George Combe of Edinburgh, brewer, who d. 29 Sep. 1815 in 60 year.) b. Livingston’s yards, Edin. 21 Oct. 1788; studied at Univ. of Edin. 1802–4; admitted a writer to the signet 31 Jany. 1812, practised in Edin 1812–36; a founder of Phrenological Society, Feb. 1820; delivered 158 lectures on phrenology and education in United States 1838–40; author of Elements of phrenology 1824, 8 ed. 1855; Outlines of phrenology 1824, 9 ed. 1854; The constitution of man considered in relation to external objects 1828, 9 ed. 1860; Notes on the United States 3 vols. 1841, and numerous other works. d. Moor Park, Farnham, Surrey 14 Aug. 1858. bur. in the Dean cemetery, Edin. The life of George Combe by Charles Gibbon 2 vols. 1878, portrait; Charles Mackay’s Forty years recollections (1877) ii, 241–70; H. Martineau’s Biographical sketches, 4 ed. (1876) 265–77; R. Capen’s Reminiscences of Spurzheim and Combe 1881; Crombie’s Modern Athenians (1882) 161–6, portrait.
COMBE, Richard Thomas (2 son of John Maddison of Alvingham, Lincs, who d. 1849). b. 1813; ed. at Winchester and Univ. coll. Ox., B.A. 1835; barrister M.T. 1840; assumed name of Combe in lieu of Maddison by royal license 18 Dec. 1849; chairman of Ilminster bench of magistrates; recorder of Langport; sheriff of Somerset 1867. Shot himself 8 May 1880.
COMBE, Thomas (son of Thomas Combe of Leicester, bookseller). b. June 1796; assistant to Joseph Parker of Oxford bookseller to 1823, to M. A. Nattali of London 1823–7; partner with his father 1827; senior partner in University press, Oxford; manager of classical side of Clarendon press, Ox.; architypographer to Univ. of Ox.; managing partner of the Bible press, Ox.; built and endowed church of St. Barnabas’s, Jericho, Oxford 1869; built chapel attached to Radcliffe infirmary, Ox.; owner of Holman Hunt’s picture ‘The light of the world’ which his widow gave to Keble college, Ox. d. The Clarendon press, Oxford 29 Oct. 1872.
COMBERMERE, Stapleton Cotton, 1 Viscount (2 son of Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton, 5 baronet, who d. 24 Aug. 1809). b. Llewenny hall, co. Denbigh 14 Nov. 1773; ed. at Westminster; 2 lieut. 23 foot 26 Feb. 1790; lieut.-col. 25 light dragoons 9 March 1794 to 14 Feb. 1800; lieut.-col. 16 light dragoons 14 Feb. 1800 to 27 Jany. 1813; succeeded 24 Aug. 1809; M.P. for Newark 1806–1814; commanded a brigade of cavalry in Portugal 1808; commanded whole allied cavalry under Duke of Wellington 1810–14; col. 20 light dragoons 27 Jany. 1813–1819 when regiment was disbanded; created Baron Combermere of Combermere Abbey 17 May 1814 for his brilliant services during Peninsula war, with an annuity of £2000 for two generations; commanded allied cavalry in France 1815–16, the forces in West Indies 21 Dec. 1816 to 9 Feb. 1821; governor of Barbados 14 Feb. 1817 to 2 March 1821; commander in chief in Ireland 1822–5; col. 3 light dragoons 25 Jan. 1821 to 16 Sep. 1829; governor of Sheerness 25 Jany. 1821 to 11 Oct. 1852; commander in chief in India 9 Feb. 1825 to 1 Jany. 1830, captured city of Bhurtpoor, Hindostan 18 Jany. 1826; created Viscount Combermere 2 Dec. 1826; col. 1 life guards 16 Sep. 1829 to death; P.C. 15 Dec. 1834; constable of Tower of London 11 Oct. 1852 to death, sworn in 21 Feb. 1853; field marshal 2 Oct. 1855; G.C.B. 21 Aug. 1813, G.C.H. 24 July 1817, K.S.I. 19 Aug. 1861; portrait in National portrait gallery. d. Clifton 21 Feb. 1865. bur. Wrenbury ch. where is a monument; statue by Marochetti at Chester castle. Memoirs 2 vols. 1866, 2 portraits; Army and navy mag. iii, 481–5 (1882), portrait.
COMER, John. Popular singer at concerts in Bath 1821; sang in principal cities in Italy 1830–5; Mus. Doc. Bologna 1832; principal bass singer in Italian opera at Her Majesty’s theatre, London 1835; lived at Taunton from 1836 to death; leader of the Taunton Madrigal Soc. many years. d. Ilchester 17 March 1886 aged 86.
COMER, Thomas (brother of the preceding). b. Bath 19 Dec. 1790; first appeared on stage at Bath theatre 1803 as Don Cæsar in The castle of Andalusia; first appeared in London 1816 as the Officer in The Slave; went to United States 1827; director of music at Tremont theatre, Boston 1828 and at other houses there. d. Bromfield house, Boston 27 July 1862. Ireland’s New York Stage i, 224, 556 (1866).
COMPTON, Henry, stage name of Charles Mackenzie (6 child of John Mackenzie of Huntingdon). b. Huntingdon 22 March 1805; clerk in office of Mr. Symonds of Aldermanbury, London, cloth merchant; acted on the Bedford, Lincoln and York circuits 1826–37; first appeared in London at Lyceum theatre 24 July 1837 as Robin in The Waterman; played at Drury Lane 1837–8, 1839 and 1843–4, at Lyceum 1838–9, at Princess’s 1844–7, at Olympic 1847–50 and 1850–3, at Strand 1849–50, at Haymarket 1853–70, at Globe 1871, at Lyceum 1874; went on a tour with the Vezin-Chippendale company; last appeared at Prince of Wales’s theatre, Liverpool 14 July 1877; the best Shakespearean clown of his time. d. 12 Stanford road, Victoria road, Kensington 15 Sep. 1877. Memoir of H. Compton edited by C. and E. Compton 1879, portrait; Actors by daylight i, 289 (1838), portrait; Tallis’s Drawing room table book, part 11, portrait as Launce; The Players ii, 25 (1860), portrait; Theatrical times ii, 1 (1847), portrait.
COMPTON, Henry Combe. b. 6 Jany. 1789; ed. at Eton and Merton coll. Ox; M.P. for South Hants. 1835–57. d. Minstead manor house, Lyndhurst, Hants. 27 Nov. 1866.