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Richard Busby (; 22 September 1606 – 6 April 1695) was an English
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
priest who served as head master of
Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...
for more than fifty-five years. Among the more illustrious of his pupils were
Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 church ...
,
Robert Hooke Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that ...
, Robert South,
John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the p ...
,
John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism". Considered one of ...
, Matthew Prior,
Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...
, Thomas Millington and
Francis Atterbury Francis Atterbury (6 March 1663 – 22 February 1732) was an English man of letters, politician and bishop. A High Church Tory and Jacobite, he gained patronage under Queen Anne, but was mistrusted by the Hanoverian Whig ministries, and ba ...
.


Early life and education

Busby was born at Lutton in Lincolnshire, and educated at Westminster, where he first showed his academic promise by gaining a King's Scholarship. From Westminster, Busby duly proceeded to
Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...
, graduating in 1628. In his thirty-third year he had already become renowned for the obstinate zeal with which he supported the falling dynasty of the
Stuarts The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter ...
, and was rewarded for his services with the prebend and rectory of Cudworth, with the chapel of Knowle annexed, in
Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...
.


Career at Westminster

In 1638 Busby became headmaster of Westminster, where his reputation as a teacher was soon established. Dr Busby prayed publicly for King Charles I on the morning of his execution nearby, but remained in office throughout the political changes of the
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
and the Restoration. Despite his unapologetic royalism, a popular anecdote held that one day the school was visited by Charles II and Busby refused to doff his hat to the king, explaining that if the boys saw him doing so, it might lead them to believe there was "a greater man on earth than himself." As a headmaster, Busby was as famous for liberally administering corporal punishment as he was for his abilities as a teacher and mentor. Though it was said he once boasted of having birched sixteen of the bishops on the bench, many of his students would later speak affectionately of the role he played in their education. The nonconformist Anglican priest Philip Henry attributed his strong religious convictions to Busby's lessons and recalled being flogged as a student only once – and "deservedly" – for lying.
John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the p ...
dedicated his translation of the Fifth Satire of
Persius Aulus Persius Flaccus (; 4 December 3424 November 62 AD) was a Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan origin. In his works, poems and satires, he shows a Stoic wisdom and a strong criticism for what he considered to be the stylistic abuses of hi ...
to Busby in fond memory of his days at Westminster and sent his two sons to study under Busby as well. In the next century, however, Busby's reputation as a disciplinarian had eclipsed that of his scholarship and pedagogy.
Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...
satirised Dr Busby in the 1743 edition of ''
The Dunciad ''The Dunciad'' is a landmark, mock-heroic, narrative poem by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times from 1728 to 1743. The poem celebrates a goddess Dulness and the progress of her chosen agents as they bri ...
''. The ghost of Busby comes forward, carrying a birch rod "dripping with Infants' blood, and Mothers' tears" (''The Greater Dunciad'' IV 142) and proclaims the virtues of rote memorisation for placing a "jingling padlock" on the mind. Busby built and stocked a library that is still the classroom of the School's Head of Classics, and he wrote and edited many works for the use of his scholars. His original treatises (the best of which are his Greek and Latin
grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes doma ...
s), as well as those he edited, remained in use for centuries. Busby also knew Arabic and Hebrew and wrote grammars in those languages for use in the school, though he does not appear to have published them. Busby died, still in office, aged 88. Sir Charles Lyttelton relates an old story, that "ye people in ye street, when he was expiring, saw flashes and sparks of fire come out of his window, which made them run into ye house to put it out, but when they were there saw none, nor did they of ye house." He is buried in
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
, where his memorial by the sculptor
Francis Bird Francis Bird (1667–1731) was one of the leading English sculptors of his time. He is mainly remembered for sculptures in Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral. He carved a tomb for the dramatist William Congreve in Westminster Abbey and ...
is located in the south transept of the building.Gunnis, Rupert. ''Dictionary of British Sculptors, 1660-1851.'' New revised edition. London: Abbey Library, 1968. He left his considerable fortune to various charitable causes, and the Busby Trustees still administer his wishes.


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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Busby, Richard 1606 births 1695 deaths 17th-century Anglican theologians 17th-century English Anglican priests Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Burials at Westminster Abbey English theologians Head Masters of Westminster School People from South Holland (district) Schoolteachers from Lincolnshire