Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/328

 him. He published 'A Catechetical Course of Sermons' in 1702, 8vo, 2 vols., and single sermons (1705-37). His portrait was engraved by Vertue. His grandson Peter is separately noticed.

[Newcome's Autobiography, 1852 (Chetham Soc.); Newcome's Diary, 1849 (Chetham Soc.); Funeral Sermon by Chorlton, 1696; Calamy's Account, 1713, pp. 391 sq.; Calamy's Continuation, 1727, i. 556; Halley's Lancashire, 1869; Baker's Memorials of a Dissenting Chapel, 1884, pp. xv sq., 2 sq., 136 sq.; Minutes of Manchester Presbyterian Classis, 1891, ii. 260 sq., iii. 350 sq. (Chetham Soc.); Nightingale's Lancashire Nonconformity, 1893, v. 81 sq.; Addit. MS. 24485 (extracts from Jollie's church-book); Drysdale's History of the Presbyterians in England.]  NEWCOME, PETER (1727–1797), antiquary, born at Wellow in Hampshire in 1727, was son of Peter Newcome (1684–1744), rector of Shenley, Hertfordshire, and grandson of Peter Newcome (1656–1738) [see under ]. He was educated at Hackney School, entered Queens' College, Cambridge, on 7 Nov. 1743, and graduated LL.B. in 1750 (College Register). He was instituted rector of Shenley, on his own petition, on 23 Dec. 1752, was collated to a prebend at Llandaff on 15 March 1757 (, Fasti, ed. Hardy, ii. 268), and to a prebend at St. Asaph on 4 May 1764 (ib. i. 90). The last preferment he handed over to his brother, Henry, in 1766, on being presented to the sinecure rectory of Dârowen, Montgomeryshire. By the appointment of his friend, J. Heathcote, he twice preached Lady Moyer's lectures in St. Paul's, and was the last preacher on that endowment. In 1786 Sir Gilbert Heathcote gave him the rectory of Pitsea, Essex. He died unmarried in his sister's house at Hadley, near Barnet, Middlesex, on 2 April 1797 (, Hertfordshire, ‘Hundred of Dacorum,’ pp. 320, 323).

Newcome was author of: 1. ‘Maccabeis,’ a Latin poem, 4to, 1787. 2. ‘The History of the … Abbey of St. Alban,’ 4to, 1793–1795, in two volumes, a creditable compilation.

[Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ix. 134; Gent. Mag. 1797 pt. i. p. 437.]   NEWCOME, WILLIAM (1729–1800), archbishop of Armagh, was born at Abingdon, Berkshire, on 10 April 1729. He was the second son of Joseph Newcome, vicar of St. Helen's, Abingdon, rector of Barton-in-the-Clay, Bedfordshire, and grand-nephew of Henry Newcome [q. v.] After passing through Abingdon grammar school, he obtained (1745) a scholarship at Pembroke College, Oxford; he removed to Hertford College, and graduated M.A. 1753, and D.D. 1765. He was elected (1753) fellow, and afterwards vice-principal of Hertford College, and was an eminent tutor; among his pupils was (1764–5) Charles James Fox [q. v.] It is said by Mant that some sportiveness of Fox was the occasion of Newcome's left arm being crushed in a door, necessitating its amputation. In 1766 Francis Seymour Conway [q. v.], then Earl of Hertford, was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland; he took Newcome with him as his chaplain. Before the end of the year Newcome was promoted to the see of Dromore, which had become vacant in April. He was translated to Ossory in 1775; to Waterford and Lismore in 1779; finally he was made archbishop of Armagh and primate of all Ireland on 25 Jan. 1795, during the short-lived viceroyalty of Fitzwilliam.

Newcome's elevation to the primacy was said to be the express act of George III. He had no English patron but Fox, who was not then in power. His appointment was described by Lord Charlemont as the reward of character, principles, and erudition. His private fortune was large; he was able to advance without difficulty a sum of between fifteen and sixteen thousand pounds, assigned by parliament to the heirs of his predecessor, Richard Robinson, baron Rokeby. In his primary visitation of the province (1795) he strongly urged the neglected duty of clerical residence. He spent large sums on the improvement of the cathedral and palace at Armagh, and though quiet and domestic in his own tastes, dispensed a dignified hospitality. During his whole episcopal career he was an exemplary prelate.

Most of his leisure he devoted to biblical studies, chiefly exegetical, and especially with a view to an amended English version of the scriptures. His first important publication was ‘An Harmony of the Gospels,’ &c., Dublin, 1778, fol., on the basis of Le Clerc, the Greek text being given with various readings from Wetstein. In this work he criticised Priestley's adoption (1777) of the hypothesis (1733) of Nicholas Mann [q. v.], limiting our Lord's ministry to a single year. Priestley defended himself in his English ‘Harmony’ (1780), and Newcome replied in a small volume, ‘The Duration of our Lord's Ministry,’ &c., Dublin, 1780, 12mo. The controversy was continued in two pamphlets by Priestley and one by Newcome, ‘A Reply,’ &c., Dublin, 1781, 12mo; it closed with a private letter from