Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/452

 Ephesus, Delphi, Corinth, and Attica. He gave an account of the antiquities of Athens, and brought home marbles and inscriptions. He made considerable use of coins in his book, and paid much attention to botany. He brought from the east several plants that had not been cultivated in Britain, including ‘St. John's wort of Olympus.’ The botanists Ray, Morison, and Plukenet acknowledge their obligations for rare plants received from Wheler (, Progress of Botany, i. 359). At Smyrna he caught a chameleon, which he describes in detail.

Wheler returned to England in November 1676. On 1 Sept. 1682 he received knighthood. About 1683 he took holy orders. In 1684 he received a canonry in Durham Cathedral, and from 1685 to 1702 was vicar of Basingstoke, Hampshire. In 1706 he was promoted to the rectory of Winston, and in 1709 to the rectory of Houghton-le-Spring, both in the county of Durham. He died at Durham, after a short illness, on 15 Jan. 1723, being at that time canon and rector of Houghton-le-Spring, where he founded and endowed a school for girls. He was buried in the galilee of Durham Cathedral.

Wheler bequeathed his Greek and Latin manuscripts to Lincoln College, and his dried plants, arranged in four volumes, to the university of Oxford, to which in 1683 he had presented the marbles and antiquities brought by him from Greece. He left his coins (English, Greek, and Roman) to the dean and chapter of Durham. By his will he secured a provision for the minister officiating at the chapel in Spital Fields, built in 1693, chiefly at his own expense. This building, formerly known as Wheler Chapel, was modernised in 1842, and is now St. Mary's, Spital Square. Wheler had considerable property in Spital Fields and Westminster, and estates in Hampshire and Kent. In 1692 he purchased the ancient archiepiscopal palace at Charing, Kent.

A portrait of Wheler, engraved by William Bromley from a painting, is published in Surtees's ‘Durham,’ i. 171 (see also Gent. Mag. 1833, ii. 105). Wheler married Grace, daughter of Sir Thomas Higgons [q. v.] of Grewel, near Odiham, Hampshire, and had by her a family of eighteen children.

Wheler published: 1. ‘A Journey into Greece,’ London, 1682, fol., with illustrations; French translation, Amsterdam, 1689, 12mo. 2. ‘Account of Churches and Places of Assembly of the Primitive Christians,’ 1689. 3. ‘The Protestant Monastery; or Christian Œconomicks, containing Directions for the Religious Conduct of a Family’ [London], 1698, 8vo.

(1701–1770), third son of Sir George Wheler, born in August 1701, was fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge (1722–4), becoming rector of Leake and prebendary of Southwell, Nottinghamshire. He was elected F.R.S. in 1728, and at his house, Otterden Place, near Charing, Kent, carried on many experiments in electricity with Stephen Gray [q. v.] After Gray's death (1736) he published his own observations as to the repulsive power of electricity, in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1739. He died in May 1770, and was buried in Otterden church. He married, first, Lady Catherine Maria, daughter of Theophilus Hastings, seventh earl of Huntingdon [q. v.], and had by her seven children; secondly, Mary, daughter of John Dove of London. His library was sold in 1771 (, Lit. Anecdotes, iii. 669).

 WHELER, ROBERT BELL (1785–1857), antiquary, born at Stratford-on-Avon on 1 Jan. 1785, was son of Robert Wheler (1742–1819), a solicitor of that town. His mother was Elizabeth Loder of Meon Hall, Lower Quinton, Gloucestershire. His christian name was derived from his godfather, Robert Bell, who belonged to an old Worcestershire family. Robert Bell Wheler was educated at Stratford, and was subsequently articled to his father. He appears scarcely to have left his native town, except when he went to London for a month at the date of his formal admission as a solicitor. He practised his profession at Stratford until his death, residing continuously in a pleasant old house (Avon Croft 2), part of a mansion formerly belonging to the Clopton family, in Old Town, near the parish church.

In youth he joined the Stratford volunteer corps, and afterwards became a lieutenant and quartermaster in the 3rd regiment of Warwickshire militia, which was stationed at Stratford under Colonel Sheldon. But his main interest through life was in Shakespearean research and local topography. He had scarcely attained his majority when he published his first book, ‘The History and Antiquities of Stratford-upon-Avon,’ 1806. This accurate and careful compilation remains a standard work of reference. The eight plates illustrating the ‘History’ were engraved by F. Eginton of Birmingham from Wheler's own sketches. In 1814 was published Wheler's ‘Guide to Stratford-upon-Avon,’ a useful volume, which was reprinted in 1850. Although the ‘Guide’ excludes