Busby, Richard Dd

Busby, Richard D.D., was born at Lutton, in Lincolnshire, Sept. 22, 1606. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. "So low were his finances that his fees for the degrees of bachelor and master of arts were defrayed by donation from the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, £5 having been given him for the former, and £6 13s. 4d. for the latter. This favor he gratefully acknowledged in his will by leaving £50 to the poor housekeepers in that parish, having already bequeathed to the parish for charitable purposes an estate of £525 per annum, and very nearly £5000 in personal property. In 1639 he was admitted to the prebend and rectory of Cudworth in the church of Wells, and on the 13th of December in the following year he was appointed head master of Westminster School; in which occupation he labored more than half a century, and by his diligence, learning, and assiduity has become the proverbial representative of his class. In July, 1660, he was installed as prebendary of Westminster, and in the following August he became canon residentiary and treasurer of Wells. At the coronation of Charles II in 1661, he had the honor of carrying the ampulla. His benefactions were numerous and most liberal, and he was a man of great personal piety. He died April 6,1695, full of years and reputation, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His works were principally for the use of his school, and consist for the most part either of expurgated editions of certain classics which he wished his boys to read in a harmless form, or grammatical treatises, chiefly in a metrical form. The severity of his discipline is traditional, but it does not appear to rest upon any sound authority; and, strange as it may appear, no records are preserved of him in the school over which he so long presided." — English Cyclopedia; Hook, Eccl. Biog., 2, 320.