Comments
venn
Adm. pens. (age 18) at TRINITY, June 1, 1763, s. of Matthew (for whom see D.N.B.), of London. [B. Dec. 18, 1744, in London.] School, Westminster. ' Matric. Michs. 1763; Scholar, 1764; B.A. (11th Wrangler) 1767; M.A. 1770. Fellow, 1768. Went abroad for 3 years. Ord. deacon (London) Sept. 23, 1770; priest, May 26, 1771. F.R.S., 1771; Foreign Secretary, 1776; Principal Secretary, 1778-84. Assistant Librarian at the British Museum, 1776. Resigned from the Secretaryship of the Royal Society, 1784, in consequence of controversy about the virtual dismissal of Dr Charles Hutton from the post of Foreign Secretary of the Society, 1776. Chaplain to Lord Stormont (post 2nd Earl of Mansfield). Having doubts about the consistency of the Thirty-nine Articles, refrained from seeking any ecclesiastical appointment after 1776. Married, 1775, a dau. of Joseph Clerke, of Wethersfield, Essex, and had issue a son, who died while at school. Started The New Review (which aimed at giving a bird's-eye view of foreign publications). Author, A General Index to the Philosophical Transactions, Vols. I-LXX; a Translation of Riesbeck's Travels through Germany in a Series of Letters; a French Translation of the text to the 1st volume of Gemmae Marlburienses (to accompany the Latin of James Bryant); a volume of Sermons. Died Jan. 16, 1787, at Bunhill Fields. (Record of Old Westminsters (sub Maty) and Supp.; D.N.B. (sub Maty), which gives B. 1745.)