Rosenhagen, Philip (1760-1799)

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Adm. sizar (age 18) at ST JOHN'S, Oct. 20, 1755. S. of Arnold, gent. [of a Danish family, who came to England as head of the household of the Duchess of Kendal], of Middlesex (and Elizabeth Haydon, of Isleworth). B. Nov. 11, 1737, at Isleworth. School, St Paul's. ' Matric. Michs. 1755; Scholar, 1755; B.A. (9th Wrangler) 1760; Members' prize, 1762; M.A. 1763. Fellow, 1761-72. Ord. deacon (Ely) May 22, 1760; priest (London), Dec. 22, 1765; C. of Trumpington, Cambs., 1760. V. of Mountnessing, Essex, 1766-74. R. of Little Easton with Tilty, 1781. Domestic Chaplain to the Earl of Chesterfield, 1766. His excesses in gambling caused him to flee to the Continent, where at one time he held an Army chaplaincy. Archdeacon of Colombo, c. 1794-8. Chiefly known through his connexion with his old school-fellow, Sir Philip Francis, the reputed author of the Letters of Junius. His adventures at home and abroad are vividly portrayed by Lady Francis in Memoirs of Sir P. Francis: ‘speaking the French language and having an infinite fund of humour, his company was always courted both in France and England.’ A friend of the Prince of Wales who, it is said, tried to persuade Rosenhagen to marry him to Mrs Fitzherbert, but without success. Married a sister of Mrs Grosvenor-Lyons. Claimed to be the author of Letters of Junius. Published a pamphlet, A letter to Samuel Johnson in 1770. Died Sept. 1798, at Colombo. (St John's Coll. Adms., III. 640; D.N.B.; Cambridge Chronicle, Mar. 23, 1799.)

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