RIVERS, ANTONY (fl. 1615), jesuit, who also went by the name of Thomas Blewett, was living in London from 1601 to 1603, and was socius or secretary to Father Henry Garnett [q. v.] He corresponded with Robert Parsons (1546–1610) [q. v.], and, after the execution of Garnett in 1606, he seems to have joined Parsons in Italy. From London Rivers wrote letters, extant partly in the Old Clergy Chapter and partly in the Record Office, containing minute accounts of palace intrigues and state secrets. The description of the movement fostered by Elizabeth against the jesuits is interwoven with court news and amusing remarks on the queen's habits.
In 1692 a dedication to a new issue of Shirley's fine tragedy ‘The Traytor’ (then recently revived at Covent Garden) spoke of the play as being originally the work of ‘Mr. Rivers,’ and Motteux, in the ‘Gentleman's Journal’ for April 1692, stated that the real author was a jesuit, who wrote the play in Newgate, where he subsequently died. ‘The Traytor’ was, however, licensed as by James Shirley on 4 May 1631, and produced as by him at the Cockpit in 1635. Both Dyce and Mr. Fleay treat the ascription to Rivers in the dedication of 1692 as a dishonest attempt to claim the play for a Roman catholic (Shirley, Dramatic Works, ed. Dyce, vol. i. p. xiv; Fleay, Biogr. Chronicle, s.v. ‘Rivers’).
[Foley's Records of the Engl. Prov. of the Soc. of Jesus, i. 3 f.; Oliver's Jesuit Collections, p. 180; Baker's Biogr. Dram. ed. 1812, iii. 249.]
RIVERS, THOMAS (1798–1877), nurseryman, the son of Thomas and Jane Rivers of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, was born there on 27 Dec. 1798. His ancestor, John Rivers, a native of Berkshire, established nurseries at Sawbridgeworth between 1720 and 1730. On the retirement of his father in 1827, Rivers directed his efforts to the cultivation of roses, of which he obtained the best collection in England. In 1833 he published his ‘Catalogue of Roses,’ and in 1837 ‘The Rose Amateur's Guide’ (11th edit. enlarged, &c. London, 1877, 8vo). His ‘Miniature Fruit Garden; or the Culture of Pyramidal Fruit Trees,’ &c. 1840, 8vo (20th edit. London, 1891, 8vo), gave an impulse to root-pruning. In 1850 he published ‘The Orchard House; or the Cultivation of Fruit Trees in Pots under Glass’ (London, 8vo, 16th edit.; edited and arranged by T. F. Rivers, London, 1879, 8vo). Rivers also contributed largely to gardening journals, commencing with a paper on apple-culture in ‘Loudon's Gardener's Magazine’ (1827). In 1854 he took part in founding the British Pomological Society. As a memorial of his services his portrait was painted in 1870, and placed in the rooms of the Royal Horticultural Society. He died on 17 Oct. 1877, and was buried at Sawbridgeworth. By his marriage in 1827 Rivers left a son, Mr. Thomas Francis Rivers, the present head of the firm and editor of his father's works. As a practical nurseryman, by the introduction of the ‘Early Rivers’ plum, Rivers both extended the native fruit season and enabled British fruit-growers to compete successfully with their continental rivals; while, by his development of small fruit trees, he gave a valuable lesson to English gardeners in the economy of space.
[Loudon's Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, ii. 350; Journal of Horticulture, 1877, xxxiii. 327–8, 342–4; Repertorium Annuum Literaturæ Botanicæ Periodicæ, vi. 335, vii. 390; information from T. Francis Rivers, esq.]
RIVERS, WILLIAM (1788–1856), lieutenant in the navy and adjutant of Greenwich Hospital, was entered on board the Victory in May 1795. In her he went out to the Mediterranean, was slightly wounded in the action of 13 July 1795, was present in the battle of Cape St. Vincent, 14 Feb. 1797, and on the return of the Victory to England continued in her while she was employed as a depot for prisoners, till paid off in 1799. He again joined the Victory in 1803, when she went out to the Mediterranean as flagship of Lord Nelson, and, continuing in her, was present in the battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805, when he was severely wounded by a splinter in the mouth, and had his left leg shot off in the very beginning of the action. On 8 Jan. 1806 he was promoted to be lieutenant of the Princess of Orange. He received a gratuity from the patriotic fund, and in 1816 was awarded a pension of five shillings a day for the loss of his leg. From April 1806 to January 1807 he served in the Otter sloop in the Channel, from April 1807 to October 1809 he was in the Cossack frigate, in which he was present at the reduction of Copenhagen in September 1807 [see Gambier, James, Lord Gambier], and in the end of 1809 was in the Cretan off Flushing. For the following years, and till the peace, he served in successive guardships at the Nore. After many fruitless applications for employment, he was in November 1824 appointed warden at Woolwich dockyard, and in April 1826 to Greenwich Hospital. Here he remained for upwards of thirty years, during which time he took an active part in the administration and organi-
