Francis Ayscough (19 December 1701 – 16 August 1763) was an English tutor who taught

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

and

Clerk of the Closet The College of Chaplains of the Ecclesiastical Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom is under the Clerk of the Closet, an office dating from 1437. It is normally held by a diocesan bishop, who may, however, remain in office after leav ...

to George's father

Frederick, Prince of Wales Frederick, Prince of Wales (Frederick Louis, German: ''Friedrich Ludwig''; 31 January 1707 – 31 March 1751) was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen C ...

Leicester Square, North Side, and Lisle Street Area: Leicester Estate: Lisle Street'
Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho (1966), pp. 472–476. Date accessed: 10 June 2009. and later Dean of

Bristol Cathedral Bristol Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bristol. The cathedral was originally an abbey dedicated to St ...

Biography

Francis was born in the English county of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

on 19 December 1701, and baptised on 25 December in St Olave's Church, Southwark. He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

, where he gained a scholarship in 1715, and at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

, where he matriculated in 1717, graduating

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

1720, M.A. 1723, B.D. 1731, D.D. 1735. He was initially rejected for a fellowship at Oxford, but was admitted after the intercession of the

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' the offic ...

, Richard Willis, who threatened to sack all of those involved if Ayscough was not appointed in 15 minutes."Memoirs of a royal chaplain, 1729–1763
the correspondence of Edmund Pyle, D.D. chaplain in ordinary to George II, with Samuel Kerrich D.D., vicar of Dersingham, rector of Wolferton, and rector of West Newton". Retrieved June 2009 He was appointed as the first tutor to George who was to be the future King

of Great Britain. Reportedly Ayscough was appointed by the intercession of Sir George Lyttlelton, who had some influence with George's father. Ayscough had married Anne Lyttleton who was George's sister. In 1735, it was Ayscough as Chaplain to the Prince of Wales who was called on to give a sermon to the House of Commons to commemorate the "martyrdom of Charles I". The boy's father retained Francis' services, but in 1749 he made a further appointment of an assistant to Ayscough. The new assistant, Lewis Scott, was a mathematician and a member of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

and it was through him that George III became the first British monarch to have a scientific education. On the death of Frederick in 1751, Ayscough and North were both replaced by the Whig politicians. Ayscough was replaced by the

Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), ordinary of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Norwich, Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. Th ...

Thomas Hayter Thomas Hayter (1702 – 9 January 1762) was an English whig divine, who served as a Church of England bishop for 13 years as Bishop of Norwich (1749–1761) then Bishop of London (1761–1762), and was a royal chaplain. As a party advocate of t ...

. In 1754, he officiated at the wedding of William Pitt and Hester Grenville. In 1755, he had a sermon published on the wrongs of "self murder". In 1756, Ayscough became the Canon (of 12th prebend) for

Winchester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity,Historic England. "Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (1095509)". ''National Heritage List for England''. Retrieved 8 September 2014. Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun, commonly known as Winches ...

, 1756–1763, Ayscough was also appointed to be the Dean of Bristol in 1761, a post that he also held until his deathFastis Ecclesiea Anglicane
, Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved June 2009'Houses of Augustinian canons: The abbey of St Augustine, Bristol', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 2 (1907), pp. 75–79. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40273 Date accessed: 11 June 2009 which took place in Bristol on 16 August 1763; he was buried in Bristol Cathedral three days later. Anne, his wife, outlived him and died in their house in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, on 16 August 1776, aged 64. Ayscough's children included Anne Augusta who became Lady Cockburn, and George Edward Ayscough who was a Guards officer and sometime dramatist.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayscough, Francis Clerks of the Closet Deans of Bristol 1701 births 1763 deaths People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford