Editing Henry Killigrew (playwright)

{{short description|17th-century English chaplain and playwright}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Henry Killigrew
| image       =
| birth_name  =
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1613|02|11|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Hanworth]], [[Middlesex]], [[England]]
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1700|03|14|1613|02|11|df=y}}
| death_place = England
| nationality = British
| other_names =
| known_for   =
| education   =
| employer    =
| occupation  = Playwright, clergyman
| office      = [[Master of the Savoy]]
| spouse      =
| children    =
| parents     =
}}
[[File:KilligrewArms.PNG|thumb|200px|Arms of Killigrew: ''Argent, an eagle displayed with two heads sable a bordure of the second [[bezant]]ée''. The bezantée bordure indicates a connection to the ancient [[Earl of Cornwall|Earls of Cornwall]]]]

'''Henry Killigrew''' (11 February 1613 – 14 March 1700) was an English clergyman and playwright. He became a [[chaplain]] to [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], and chaplain and [[almoner]] to James, Duke of York (the future [[James II of England|James II]]). Following the [[English Restoration|Restoration]], he became [[Master of the Savoy]].<ref name="Gaze">{{cite book |editor-last1=Gaze |editor-first1=Delia |editor-last2=Mihajlovic |editor-first2=Maja |editor-last3=Shrimpton |editor-first3=Leanda |title=Dictionary of Women Artists: Introductory surveys; Artists, A-I |chapter=Court Artists |date=1997 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |pages=37–39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05_v5b_ZcAMC&pg=PA37 |access-date=26 June 2021}}</ref>

==Life==
Killigrew was born in [[Hanworth]] on 11 February 1613, the fifth and youngest son of [[Robert Killigrew]] and his wife [[Mary Woodhouse]]. He was the brother of the dramatist [[Thomas Killigrew]] and of [[Elizabeth Killigrew, Viscountess Shannon]], mistress of the future [[Charles II of England|Charles II]].

He was educated at Cripplegate, London and at [[Christ Church, Oxford]], graduating [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] 1632, [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|M.A.]] 1638, [[Doctor of Divinity|D.D.]] 1642.<ref>{{cite book|last=Foster|first=Joseph|authorlink=Joseph Foster (genealogist)|title=Alumni Oxonienses: Killigrew, Henry|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp837-867|access-date=5 September 2019|year=1891}}</ref>

He served as a chaplain in [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]'s army during the [[English Civil War]] and was chaplain to James, Duke of York (the future [[James II of England|James II]]) during his time in exile.  He was also appointed almoner to James, Duke of York.<ref name="HK">{{cite web |title=KILLIGREW, Henry (c.1652-1712), of St. Julians, nr. St. Albans, Herts. |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/killigrew-henry-1652-1712 |website=History of Parliament Online |access-date=5 July 2021|quote="His father [also Henry Killigrew], who had been chaplain to the King’s army during the Civil War, was for many years chaplain and almoner to James, Duke of York when in exile, and after the Restoration became master of the Savoy Hospital."}}</ref>
He served as a canon of [[Westminster Abbey]] in 1642 and from 1660 to his death<ref name="Family">{{cite web |title=Killigrew Family |url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/killigrew-family |website=Westminster Abbey |access-date=12 April 2021}}</ref> and as rector of [[St Helen's Church, Wheathampstead|Wheathampstead]].<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Killigrew, Henry (1613-1700)|first=George Atherton|last=Aitken |authorlink=George Atherton Aitken|volume=31}}</ref>

In 1663, Henry Killigrew was appointed [[Master of the Savoy]]. According to some writers the final ruin of the Savoy Hospital was due to Killigrew's "improvidence, greed, and other bad qualities".<ref>{{cite book|last=Loftie|first=William John|date=1878|title=Memorials of the Savoy|pages=[https://archive.org/details/memorialsofsavoy00loftuoft/page/110 110]–114|place=London|publisher=Macmillan and Co|url=https://archive.org/details/memorialsofsavoy00loftuoft|access-date=4 September 2019}}</ref> A bill was passed in 1697 abolishing its privileges of sanctuary. The hospital was leased out in tenements, and the master appropriated the profits; among the leases granted was one (1699) to Henry Killigrew, the patentee of [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane Theatre]], for his lodgings in the Savoy, at a rent of 1 shilling per year for forty years.<ref name="DNB"/> A commission appointed by [[William III of England|William III]] reported that the relief of the poor (the hospital's intended purpose) was being utterly neglected.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Page|editor-first=William|date=1909|title=The Hospital of the Savoy|pages=546–549|series=A History of the County of London|volume=1|place=London|publisher=Victoria County History|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=35379|access-date=10 September 2019}}</ref> In 1702, shortly after Killigrew's death, the hospital was dissolved.

A juvenile play of his, ''The Conspiracy'', was printed surreptitiously in 1638, and in an authenticated version in 1653 as ''Pallantus and Eudora''.

===Family===
He married Judith and had four children:

* [[Henry Killigrew (Royal Navy officer)|Henry Killigrew]] (died 1712), an admiral
* [[James Killigrew]], also a naval officer, who was killed in an encounter with the French in January 1695 during the [[Nine Years' War]]
* [[Anne Killigrew]] (1660-1685), poet and painter, who was maid of honour to [[Mary of Modena]] ([[Duchess of York]]), and was the subject of an ode by [[John Dryden|Dryden]], which [[Samuel Johnson]] thought the noblest in the language
* Elizabeth Killigrew (died 1701) married at [[Wheathampstead]] John Lambe, her father's curate, and produced 10 children

==References==
{{reflist}}
* {{cite book|last=Langbaine|first=Gerard|author-link=Gerard Langbaine|year=1691|title=An Account of the English Dramatick Poets|page=330|url=http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/BiographyRecord.php?action=GET&bioid=33358|access-date=5 September 2019}}

{{Masters of the Savoy}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Killigrew, Henry}}
[[Category:1613 births]]
[[Category:1700 deaths]]
[[Category:English dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]]
[[Category:English military chaplains]]
[[Category:Masters of the Savoy]]
[[Category:Killigrew family|Henry]]
[[Category:English male dramatists and playwrights]]