Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/453

 and noble mien (for nature had given him singular beauty of countenance), who played, without effort and with instinctive humility, an eminent part in things great and small, and moulded himself to the responsibilities of an illustrious station and name. He lies buried in Hertingfordbury churchyard outside the gates of Panshanger, A beautiful recumbent effigy has been erected in the church by his widow. There are portraits of an earlier period painted (kitcat size) by G. F. Watts, R.A., at Panshanger; by Lord Leighton, P.R.A., at Wrest Park; and by Ellis Roberts (three-quarters length) at Panshanger.

Lord Cowper left no children, and his numerous estates were divided upon his death. Of his many titles the earldom of Cowper with the viscounty of Fordwich, the barony of Cowper, and the baronetcy became extinct. He had been declared on 15 Aug. 1871 to have inherited as heir general to Thomas Butler, earl of Ossory, whose attainder of 1715 was reversed in July 1871, the English barony of Butler and the Scottish barony of Dingwall. The barony of Butler went into abeyance between Lord Cowper's sisters and their heirs. The barony of Lucas, which he derived from his mother, passed together with the Scottish barony of Dingwall to his nephew and heir-general, Auberon Thomas Herbert, son of his second sister.

 COX, GEORGE (called GEORGE) WILLIAM (1827–1902), historical writer, born at Benares on 10 Jan. 1827, was eldest son of the six children of Captain George Hamilton Cox (d. 1841), of the East India Company's service, and Eliza Kearton, daughter of John Home, planter, of St. Vincent in the West Indies. A brother, Colonel Edmund Henry Cox of the royal marine artillery, fired the first shot against Sevastopol in the Crimean war. Sent to England in 1836, Cox attended a preparatory school at Bath and the grammar school, Ilminster. In August 1842 he was admitted to Rugby under [q. v.]. In 1843 Cox won the senior school scholarship at Rugby, and in 1845 he was elected scholar of Trinity College, Oxford. Although he obtained only a second class in the final classical school in 1848, his scholarship was commended by the examiners. He both graduated B.A. and proceeded M.A. in 1859. The Oxford movement excited Cox's sympathy, and in 1850 he was ordained by Dr. Wilberforce, bishop of Oxford. After serving a curacy at Salcombe Regis, he resigned owing to ill - health, and in 1851 accepted the post of English chaplain at Gibraltar. But Cox's high church views, which coloured his 'Life of Boniface' in 1853, met with the disapproval of his bishop, Dr. Tomlinson, and he gladly embraced the opportunity of accompanying [q. v.] on his first visit to South Africa as bishop of Natal (1853-4). On his return to England he became curate of St. Paul's, Exeter, in 1854 and for a year (1859-60) he was a master at Cheltenham.

Meanwhile Cox's religious principles completely changed, largely under the influence of historical study. An article in the 'Edinburgh Review' (January 1858) on Milman's 'History of Latin Christianity' illustrates the development of his views on broad church lines, He ardently supported Bishop Colenso in his stand for liberal criticism of the scriptures and in his struggle over his episcopal status in South Africa. He defended Colenso in a long correspondence with [q. v.], and warmly supported the bishop during his sojourn in England (1863-5). Cox's association with Colenso gave him abundant material for his life of the bishop, which he published in 1888. In the same year he issued a last vindication of Colenso, in 'The Church of England and the Teaching of Bishop Colenso,' maintaining Colenso's loyalty to the church.

Throughout his life Cox was largely occupied by literary or historical work of varied kinds. His earliest volume, 'Poems Legendary and Historical' (1850), was written in collaboration with his friend [q. v. Suppl. I]. From 1861 to 1885 he was literary adviser to Messrs. Longmans & Co., and for many years he was engaged in writing historical works of popular character. These included 'The Great Persian War' (1861), 'Latin and Teutonic Christendom' (1870), 'The Crusades' (1874), 'The Greeks and the Persians' (1876), 'The Athenian Empire' (1876), 'History of the Establishment of British Rule in India' (1881), 'Lives of Greek Statesmen' (2 vols. 1886), 'A Concise History of England' (1887). His most elaborate work was a well-written 'History of Greece' (2 vols. 1874), which, largely based on Grote, has long since been superseded. He showed to best advantage in the study of mythology, where he followed Max Müller with