Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 61.djvu/11

 the voyage to Guiana in 1595, the expedition against Cadiz in 1596, and the Islands' voyage in 1597; but his name is not mentioned.

[Edwards's Life of Ralegh; Defeat of the Spanish Armada (Navy Records Soc.); Lediard's Naval Hist.]  WHIDDON, JOHN (d. 1576), judge, was the eldest son of John Whiddon of Chagford in Devonshire, where his family had long been established. His mother, whose maiden name was Rugg, was also a native of Chagford. He studied law at the Inner Temple, and was elected a reader in the autumn of 1528. Failing to read on that occasion, his appointment was renewed for the following Lent; he was again elected to the office on 12 Nov. 1535, and was chosen treasurer on 3 Nov. 1538, holding the office for two years. He was nominated a serjeant at the close of Henry VIII's reign, and constituted by a new writ a week after the king's death. His arguments in court during Edward's reign are reported by Plowden. Whiddon was appointed a judge of the queen's bench, almost immediately after Mary's accession, by patent dated 4 Oct. 1553, and on 27 Jan. 1554–5 he was knighted. He was the first judge to ride to Westminster Hall on a horse or gelding instead of a mule, according to previous custom. In April 1557, after the rising of Thomas Stafford (1531?–1557) [q. v.], he was sent down to Yorkshire to try the prisoners, and it is said that he received the commission of general, giving him authority to raise forces to quell any further risings. It is even stated that, owing to the unsettled state of the country, he sat on the bench in full armour. His patent was renewed on Elizabeth's accession, and he continued in his office until his death. He died at Chagford on 27 Jan. 1575–6, and was buried in the parish church. He was twice married. By his first wife, Anne, daughter of Sir William Hollis, he had one daughter, Joan, married to John Ashley of London; by his second, Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of William Shilston, he had six sons and seven daughters.

[Vivian's Visitations of Devon, 1895; Foss's Judges, v. 545; Prince's Worthies of Devon, 1701, p. 593; Machyn's Diary (Camden Soc.), p. 342; Calendar of Inner Temple Records, 1896, vol. i. passim; Dugdale's Origines Juridiciales, 1680, pp. 38, 118, 164, 170.]  WHINCOP, THOMAS (d. 1730), compiler, came of a London family which produced several divines of fair repute in the seventeenth century. John Whincop or Wincopp was appointed rector of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields in January 1641–2, a post which he resigned in 1643, though two years later he preached two sermons before the House of Commons (Journals, ii. 992). His son, Thomas Whincop, D.D., was appointed rector of St. Mary Abchurch on 10 Nov. 1681, preached the Spital sermon in 1701, and died in 1710 (, Novum Repertorium, p. 297; cf., Athenæ, Add. MS. 5883, f. 23). The compiler may have been a son of this Dr. Whincop, but virtually nothing is known concerning him save that he lost considerable sums in the ‘South Sea bubble’ during 1721, and died at Totteridge, where he was buried on 1 Sept. 1730. Seventeen years after his death was printed, as by the late Thomas Whincop. ‘Scanderbeg; or Love and Liberty: a Tragedy. To which is added a List of all the Dramatic Authors, with some Account of their Lives; and of all the Dramatic Pieces published in the English language to the year 1747’ (London, 1747, 8vo). The work was nominally edited and brought up to date by Martha Whincop, the widow of the compiler, who dedicated the volume to the Earl of Middlesex and obtained a goodly list of subscribers; but it is clear that some of the articles were prepared by the biographical compiler John Mottley [q. v.], and it is probable that the whole ‘List’ was thoroughly revised by his hands (see List, pp. 264–8). The dramatic authors are divided into two alphabetical categories, those who flourished before and those who flourished after 1660, and the double columns are embellished by a number of small medallion portraits engraved by N. Parr. At the end is an index of the titles of plays. The book is neatly arranged, but cannot claim to be more than a hasty compilation, based for the most part upon the ‘English Dramatic Poets’ (1691) of Gerard Langbaine the younger. Whincop's labours have long since been merged in those of Victor, Baker, and Reed. The British Museum has a copy of the ‘List’ with copious manuscript notes by Joseph Haslewood.

[Baker's Biogr. Dram. i. 745; Lowe's Bibl. Account of Theatrical Literature, 1888, p. 360; Notes and Queries, 8th ser. iv. 9; Brit. Mus. Cat. The connection, if any, between Thomas Whincop and the William Whincopp, M.D. (1769–1832), noticed in Davy's Athenæ Suffolcienses, iii. f. 206, has not been discovered.]  WHINYATES, EDWARD CHARLES (1782–1865), general, born on 6 May 1782, was third son of Major Thomas Whinyates (1755–1806) of Abbotsleigh,