Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/219

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Moulton
205
Mowbray

the greater part of his time to his duties as head of a public school and taking great interest in the work of teaching, Moulton still continued his literary labours. In 1878 he published a 'History of the English Bible,' a popular exposition of the researches undertaken in connection with his labours as a reviser. It had originally been printed in the form of articles in Cassell's 'Bible Educator;' a second edition appeared in 1882, and was followed by others. He contributed to Bishop Ellicott's 'Commentaries' the volume on Hebrews (1879), and, in conjunction with William Milligan [q. v. Suppl.], that on St. John's Gospel (1880) in Schaff's International Series. In 1879 he wrote a preface to Rush's 'Synthetic Latin Delectus,' in 1889 an introduction to the life of the Rev. B. Hellier, and in 1893 a preface to Pocock's 'Methodist New Testament Commentary.' Moulton and Geden's 'Concordance to the Greek Testament' (1897) was revised by him, though he was obliged to leave most of the actual work to Professor Geden and his own son, the Rev. James Hope Moulton. At the time of his death he had very nearly completed the marginal references to the revised version of the New Testament. In 1890 he was president of the Wesleyan conference, and preached the memorial sermon on John Wesley, which was printed. In addition to his educational and literary work, he also undertook in his later years the duties of a justice of the peace at Cambridge.

Moulton died suddenly while walking near the Leys school on 5 Feb. 1898. He was held in high estimation for his personal character, and enjoyed the friendship of eminent Anglican divines, and others outside his own communion. As a Greek scholar he was among the foremost of his time, while he was also a learned hebraist, an able mathematician, and a devoted student of English literature. He gained the affection as well as the respect of his pupils, and under him the Leys school early attained an excellent standing among public schools. He was also an admirable preacher. Moulton married a daughter of the Rev. Samuel Hope, and left two sons, the Rev. James Hope Moulton, sometime fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and the Rev. William Fiddian Moulton, formerly fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge.

[William F. Moulton: a Memoir by his son, W. Fiddian Moulton, 1899; Methodist Times, 10 Feb. 1898 (by Mr. P. W. Bunting, the bishop of Durham, Judge Waddy, and others); Methodist Recorder, 17 Feb. 1898 (with portrait), by Rev. J. H. Moulton; British Weekly, 10 Feb. (by the Rev. Professor G. Findlay and the Rev. T. G. Selby); Leys Fortnightly (special number); Sunday Magazine, April 1898 (illustrated); West Cambs. Free Churchman, March 1898; Times, 7 Feb. 1898; Men of the Time, 14th edit.]

G. Le G. N.

MOWBRAY (formerly Cornish), Sir JOHN ROBERT, first baronet (1815–1899), 'father of the House of Commons,' born at Exeter on 3 June 1815, was the only son of Robert Stribling Cornish of that city, and his wife Marianne, daughter of John Powning of Hill's Court, near Exeter. Admitted at Westminster School on 16 Sept. 1829, he matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on 23 May 1833, was elected student in 1835, was president of the Union, and graduated B.A. in 1837 with a second class in lit. hum., and M.A. in 1839. In 1841 he was called to the bar from the Inner Temple and went the western circuit. On 19 Aug. 1847 he married Elizabeth Gray, only surviving child of George Isaac Mowbray of Bishopwearmouth, Durham, and Mortimer, Berkshire, having previously on 26 July assumed by royal license the surname Mowbray. He now abandoned law for politics, and on 25 June 1853 was elected in the conservative interest member of parliament for Durham city, which he represented until the general election of 1868; he then succeeded Sir William Heathcote as junior member for Oxford University, for which he sat until his death. In 1858 and again in 1866 Lord Derby appointed Mowbray judge-advocate-general; and from 1866 to 1868 and from 1871 to 1892 he was church estates commissioner. On 30 Nov. 1868 he was created hon. D.C.L. of Oxford, in 1875 he was elected hon. fellow of Hertford College, and in 1877 hon. student of Christ Church. On 3 May 1880 he was created a baronet and sworn of the privy council. From 1874 to his death Mowbray was chairman of the House of Commons' committee of selection and committee on standing orders, and on the death of Charles Pelham Villiers [q. v.] in 1898 he became 'father of the house.' He was held in highest respect by both parties, but rarely spoke except on such ceremonial occasions as when moving the re-election of Mr. Speaker Peel in January 1886, the election of Sir Matthew White (now Viscount) Ridley as speaker in April 1895, in which he was unsuccessful, and the re-election of Mr. Speaker Gully after the general election in the following August. His 'Seventy Years at Westminster,' parts of which appeared in 'Blackwood's Magazine,' was posthumously published (London, 1900, 8vo), and contains some instructive and