hospital of St. Oswald's near Worcester. He died at Ledbury 8 Aug. 1631, and was buried in the church there, where is an epitaph. He married Frances, daughter of Francis Bourne (whose widow married John Hoskins the elder), and by her had four sons and a daughter. Hoskins wrote ‘Sermons preached at Paul's Cross and Elsewhere,’ 1615, 4to. Wood also mentions a catechism published 1678–9.
[Woolrych's Serjeants, i. 242–8; Bell's Lives of Poets, ii. 143–7; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 208, 250, 510, 624–9; Wotton's Baronetage, vol. iii. pt. iii. p. 604; Robinson's Herefordshire Mansions, pp. 2–3, 131–3; Kirby's Winchester Scholars, pp. 148, 155; Clark's Oxford Reg. vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 141, pt. iii. p. 148; J. Hunter's Bath and Literature, pp. 92–3; Prince's Worthies, 1810, p. 578; information from the Rev. Dr. Sewell of New College, Oxford.]
HOSKINS, JOHN (d. 1664), miniature-painter, ‘was a very eminent Limner in the reign of King Charles I, whom he drew with his queen and most of his court. He was bred a face-painter in oil, but afterwards taking to miniature, he far exceeded what he did before.’ Other details of his life are wanting, but his miniature portraits were as much admired by his contemporaries as they are at the present day. Some fine examples were exhibited at the South Kensington Exhibition of Miniatures in 1862, and at the exhibition of miniatures at the Burlington Arts Club in 1889. He painted many celebrities of his time, including Lord Falkland, Sir Kenelm Digby, Sir John Maynard, William Cavendish, duke of Newcastle, John Selden, and others. Perhaps his finest miniature is the large portrait of Catherine Bruce, countess of Dysart, painted in 1638, in the collection of the Earl of Dysart at Ham House. Hoskins made two drawings for the great seal of Charles I, which were preserved in the royal collection. His nephews, Alexander and Samuel Cooper [q. v.], were his pupils. The latter excelled Hoskins as a miniature-painter, and has somewhat overshadowed his fame. Hoskins died in February 1664, and was buried in St. Paul's, Covent Garden. He left a son, John Hoskins the younger, who also practised with success as a miniature-painter, and painted James II, Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey, and others. It is difficult to distinguish his paintings from those of his father.
[Buckeridge's Suppl. to De Piles's Lives of the Painters; Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Wornum; Propert's Hist. of Miniature Painting; Catalogues of Exhibitions at South Kensington, 1862, and Burlington Club, 1889.]
HOSKINS or HOSKYNS, Sir JOHN (1634–1705), president of the Royal Society, eldest son of Sir Bennet Hoskyns, first baronet, of Harewood and Morehampton Park, Herefordshire, and grandson of Serjeant John Hoskins [q. v.], was born in Herefordshire on 23 July 1634 (monumental inscription). He was educated in the rudiments of Latin by his mother, Anne, daughter of Sir John Bingley of Temple Combe, Somerset, and was afterwards sent to Westminster School under Dr. Busby (Sloane MS.) He was subsequently called to the bar at the Middle Temple, and although he is said not to have practised, acquired some reputation as a lawyer, and was made a master in chancery. Roger North, whose brother, Lord-keeper Guilford, was long intimate with Hoskins, eulogises his integrity in performing the duties of his office. In 1680 he succeeded his father in the baronetcy (having been knighted previously), and five years afterwards was chosen M.P. for Herefordshire, the county in which his estates lay, but took no active part in politics. The bent of his mind was towards philosophical pursuits, and in recognition of his eminence therein he was elected president of the Royal Society in 1682, in succession to his friend Sir Christopher Wren. Evelyn, who had been solicited to stand for the post of president, retired in favour of Sir John, whom he describes as ‘a most learned virtuoso as well as lawyer.’ Hoskins resigned the chair in the following year, but from 1685 to 1687 discharged the duties of secretary. Lord-keeper Guilford was wont to say that he never was more happy than when enjoying with Hoskins an ‘ample Feast of Discourse.’ Aubrey was another of Hoskins's friends (cf. Lives, vol. ii. passim). He died on 12 Sept. 1705, and was buried at Harewood, Herefordshire. He married Jane, daughter of Sir Gabriel Low, and his two sons, Bennet and Hungerford (d. 1766), were third and fourth baronets successively. According to North, Hoskins was ‘one of the most hard-favoured men of his time,’ and very careless in his dress. His portrait was engraved by R. White.
Sloane MS. 4222; Weld's Hist. of Royal Society, p. 281; Evelyn's Diary; North's Lives, ed. Jessopp, i. 372–3; Granger's Biog. Dict. iv. 314; Burke's Baronetage.
HOSKINS, SAMUEL ELLIOTT, M.D. (1799–1888), physician, was born at Guernsey in 1799. His father, Samuel Hoskins, a native of Honiton, Devonshire, was in business at 66 Mark Lane, London, with the firm of Merrick, Hoskins, & Co. till 1798, when he
