Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Killigrew, Charles
KILLIGREW, CHARLES (1655–1725), master of the revels, born at Maestricht on 29 Dec. 1655, was son of Thomas Killigrew the elder [q. v.], by his second wife, Charlotte, daughter of John de Hesse of Holland (Boase, Collectanea Cornubiensia, s. v.) He was gentleman of the privy chamber to Charles II, 1670, James II, 1685, and William and Mary, 1689, master of the revels in 1680, patentee of Drury Lane Theatre in 1682, and commissioner of prizes in 1707. He lived at Somerset House, London, and Thornham Hall, Suffolk. His varied acquirements won him the friendship of Dryden (cf. Dedication of Juvenal, 1693, p. xxiii), Humphrey Prideaux, and others. He was buried in the Savoy on 8 Jan. 1724–5, leaving by his wife Jemima, niece of Richard Bokenham, mercer, of London, two sons, Charles (d. 1756) and Guilford (will registered in P. C. C. 13, Romney). His library was sold in December following.
[Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub.; Malcolm's Anecdotes, pp. 427, 431; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. i. 204, 219; Gent. Mag. 1833, i. 27; Downes's Roscius Anglicanus, pp. 16, 39; Moneys for Secret Services (Camd. Soc.), p. 34; Academy, 25 April 1874, p. 458; Fitzgerald's Hist. of the Stage; Cal. State Papers, Treas. Ser.; Addit. MSS. 12201, 20726 ff. 16, 37, 28227 f. 32; Chester's London Marriage Licences (Foster), col. 792.]