Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/312

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Church
304
Church

the Chapel Royal, and on 20 July following he was sworn into the full place of a gentleman of the chapel, rendered vacant by the death of James Cobb. In 1712 a collection of the words of anthems used at the Chapel Royal was published under the direction of Dr. Dolben, the sub-dean. The compilation of this work has been ascribed by Dr. Rimbault on deficient authority to Church, but it was more probably the work of Dr. William Croft [q. v.] In 1723 Church published an 'Introduction to Psalmody,' which has now become rare. About the beginning of the century Church became lay vicar and master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey, and so late as 1740 (if an entry in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ for 1741 is to be relied on) he became a vicar choral of St. Paul’s. He died 6 Jan. 1740-1, and was buried (10 Jan.) in the south cloister of Westminster Abbey. His wife Elizabeth and four children predeceased him. By his will (dated 3 July 1734, and proved 13 an. 1740-1) he bequeathed his entire property to be divided equally between his two surviving sons, the Rev. John Church and the Rev. Ralph Church. The former was later rector of Boxford, Suffolk, and died at Norwich 27 Oct. 1785, aged 80; the latter (who in 1738 published an edition of Spenser’s ‘Faery Queen’) was subsequently vicar of Pyrton and Shirburn in Oxfordshire, and died in April 1787, aged 79.

[Grove’s Dict. of Music, i. 356 b: Chapel Royal Cheque Book, 21, 22, 53, 89, 225; Westminster Registers, ed. Chester, 77, 78, 79, 250, 263, 273, 296, 337, 358; Gent. Mag. 1740, p. 38.]

W. B. S.

CHURCH, Sir RICHARD (1784–1873), liberator of Greece, second son of Matthew Church of Cork, by Anne, daughter of John Dearman of Braitliwaite in Yorkshire, was born in 1784. His father and mother were both members of the Society of Friends. He was a boy of high spirit, and ran away from school to enlist. Subsequently his relations purchased him an ensigncy in the 13th (Somersetshire) light infantry, to which he was gazetted on 3 July 1800. Church, though small for his age, went through all the hardships of the Egyptian campaign, and was present at the battles of 8, 13, and 21 March 1801, and at the taking of Alexandria. On 13 Jan. 1803 he was promoted lieutenant into the 37th regiment, then garrisoning Malta, and on 7 Jan. 1806 he was, at the request of Lieutenant-colonel Hudson Lowe, promoted to a captaincglin the Corsican Rangers. Here he learned ow to train and discipline men of the southem temperament. With a detachment of the Corsican Rangers, Church was present with Kempt’s light infantry brigade at the battle of Dfaida, and he was then sent to Capri, which Colonel Lowe was holdi with his own and a Maltese regiment. The place was believed to be impregnable, but Mpurat, the new king of Naples, wanted to perform an exploit, an so decided to seize it. In the night he sent some troops over to Anacapri, but failed to take Church and his men, for with usual coolness and courage Church get through the French lines to Caipri (Sir H. Bunbury, Narratives of some Passages in the Great War with France, p. 348). In the defence of Capri itself the valour of Church was as cons icuously shown. He was wounded in the head, and when Colonel Lowe found it necessary to surrender on condition of being sent to Sicily with his men, he so highly praised Church that he was appointed assistant quartermaster-general to the force sent to take the Ionian islands under Major-general Oswald. He distinguished himself at the capture of Zante, Cephalonia, Paxo, and Ithaca, and especially at the storm of Santa Maura, where his left arm was shattered. While in the Ionian islands Church was ordered, at his own suggestion, to raise a regiment of Greek light infantry, similar to the Maltese Fencibles, for the efence of the islands, of which he himself was made major on 9 Sept. 1809, and the Duke of York lieutenant-colonel. The Suliote chiefs of the mainland, who had been trying to get the French to come over from the islands to free the Peloponnesus, now turned to England, and Church had no difficulty in getting such chiefs as Colocotronis, Metaxas, Nikitas, Plapoutas, Petmesas, and others to be officers, while their tribesmen formed the soldiers. In 1812 a second r iment of Greek light infantry was raised, of which Church was gazetted lieutenant-colonel on 19 Nov. But though he was adored by his men, the English government determined, on the requisition of Turkey, who feared that the disciplined Greek troops would be a danger to her, to disband the Greek regiments in 1815. Church presented a report on the Ionian islands to the congress of Vienna, and afterwards received the appointment of British military resident with ‘Count Nu ent's Austrian army, which drove the Frencgm out of Styria, Croatia, and Istria. He held the same office with General Bianchi’s army in the short campaign against Murat, and with the army of occupation in the south of France. In 1815, at the end of the war, he was made a C.B.

Eager for active service, Church, with the permission of the war office, accepted the rank of maréchal de camp or major-general in the