Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/442

 or revising former ones. He was fond of music and of the study of nature. For sixteen years he resided at a house he built for himself, Loughborough Park Villa, Brixton, and then removed to Purbrook, Crescent Wood Road, Sydenham, where he died on 12 Dec. 1902. He was buried in Norwood cemetery.

Cornwell received the degree of Ph.D. from a German university in 1847, and in 1860 he became a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. A portrait, painted by J. R. Dicksee, was presented by the artist to the Borough Road Training College in Nov. 1903, and is now at the College, Isleworth (cf. reproduction in the Educational Record, Feb. 1904).

Cornwell married on 19 Nov. 1840 Mary Ann Wilson of Besthorpe, Nottinghamshire. There was one daughter of the marriage.

Other works not mentioned above are: 1. ‘The Young Composer, or Progressive Exercises in Composition,’ 1844, 12mo; 17th edit. 1855. 2. ‘Complete Guide to English Composition,’ founded on the above; 49th edit. 1904. 3. ‘Geography for Beginners,’ 1858, 12mo; 70th edit. 1904. In collaboration with Sir Joshua Fitch he published ‘The Science of Arithmetic’ (1855, 12mo; new edit. 1878) and ‘Arithmetic for Beginners’ (1858, 12mo; another edit. 1872).

 CORRY, MONTAGU WILLIAM LOWRY, first (1838–1903), politician and philanthropist, born in London on 8 Oct. 1838, was second son of the four children—two sons and two daughters—of Henry Thomas Lowry Corry [q. v.], a prominent member of the conservative party, by his wife Lady Harriet Ashley (d. 1868), second daughter of Cropley Ashley Cooper, sixth earl of Shaftesbury.

Educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1861, Corry was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1863 and joined the Oxford circuit. He made some progress in his profession, but his personal charm and social accomplishments rendered him popular in society and social diversions occupied much of his time. He was an occasional contributor to (Sir) Algernon Borthwick's society journal called the ‘Owl,’ and was especially well known in fashionable conservative circles. In 1865, while a guest of the duke of Cleveland at Raby Castle, he met for the first time Disraeli, who was impressed by Corry's ingenuity and resource in saving the fortunes of what threatened to be a dull party. When Disraeli became chancellor of the exchequer in June 1866 Corry wrote reminding the statesman of their meeting, and asking his help to some political post. Disraeli replied by inviting Corry to become his private secretary. He served Disraeli in that capacity until the statesman's death. Disraeli succeeded Lord Derby as prime minister in February 1868. On his chief's retirement from office in the following December, Corry refused other offers of employment and remained with him without salary. During Disraeli's second administration, from 1874 to 1880, Corry played a prominent part in public life as the inseparable companion of his chief, who became Lord Beaconsfield in 1876. Corry attended him at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, when he acted as secretary of the special embassy and was made on his return C.B. Although other private secretaries of Lord Beaconsfield fully shared his responsibilities, Corry enjoyed a far closer intimacy with the prime minister than they. He sought no political reputation for himself. On his fall from power in 1880 Lord Beaconsfield acknowledged Corry's personal devotion by recommending him for a peerage. On 6 May 1880 he was created Baron Rowton. Corry took his title from Rowton Castle in Shropshire, the property of his aunt, Lady Charlotte Ashley, who had become possessed of it on the death of her husband, Henry Lyster, on 12 Dec. 1863. Lady Charlotte, who was childless, had already designated her nephew her heir. Lord Rowton succeeded to the estate on his aunt's death on 11 Dec. 1889. Lord Beaconsfield gave a final proof of his confidence in his secretary, who was recalled from a holiday in Algiers to his deathbed in April 1881, by leaving by will to Corry's unfettered discretion the sole responsibility for the use, treatment, and publication of his correspondence and papers. Corry examined the papers, but in private he always deprecated the writing of a life of the statesman. At any rate he felt himself unequal to the task. Although reports to the contrary were occasionally circulated, he made no attempt to grapple with it. After Rowton's death, when his responsibilities passed to Lord Beaconsfield's trustee, Lord Rothschild, the material at Lord Rowton's disposal was placed in the hands of Mr. W. F. Monypenny, and a biography of Lord Beaconsfield was prepared (vol. i. 1910, vol. ii. 1912).

Rowton after Lord Beaconsfield's death remained a prominent figure in London