Editing Richard Busby

{{Short description|English Anglican priest (1606–1695)}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox clergy
| name        = Richard Busby 
| image       = Richard Busby from NPG.jpg
| image_size  = 
| caption     = 
| birth_date  = {{birth date|df=y|1606|9|22}}
| birth_place = [[Lutton, Lincolnshire|Lutton]], Lincolnshire, England
| death_date  = {{death date and age|df=y|1695|4|6|1606|9|22}}<ref>[[s:Busby, Richard (DNB00)|"Busby, Richard", ''Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900,'' Volume 8]]</ref>
| death_place = [[City of Westminster|Westminster]], England
| church      = [[Church of England]]
| other_names = 
| education   = [[Westminster School]]<br/>[[Christ Church, Oxford]]
| ordained    = 
| writings    = 
| congregations = 
| offices_held = 
| title       = Head Master of [[Westminster School]]
| spouse      = 
| children    = 
| parents     = 
| footnotes   =
}}
'''Richard Busby''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ʌ|z|b|i}}; 22 September 1606 – 6 April 1695) was an English [[Anglican]] priest who served as head master of [[Westminster School]] for more than fifty-five years. Among the more illustrious of his pupils were [[Christopher Wren]], [[Robert Hooke]], [[Robert South]], [[John Dryden]], [[John Locke]], [[Matthew Prior]], [[Henry Purcell]], [[Sir Thomas Millington|Thomas Millington]] and [[Francis Atterbury]].

==Early life and education==
Busby was born at [[Lutton, Lincolnshire|Lutton]] in Lincolnshire, and educated at Westminster, where he first showed his academic promise by gaining a [[King's Scholar]]ship. From Westminster, Busby duly proceeded to [[Christ Church, Oxford]], graduating in 1628. In his thirty-third year he had already become renowned for the obstinate zeal with which he supported the falling dynasty of the [[Stuart dynasty|Stuarts]], and was rewarded for his services with the prebend and rectory of Cudworth, with the chapel of Knowle annexed, in [[Somerset]].

==Career at Westminster==

In 1638, Busby became headmaster of Westminster, where his reputation as a teacher was soon established. Dr. Busby prayed publicly for [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]] on the morning of his execution nearby, but remained in office throughout the political changes of the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]] and the [[Stuart Restoration|Restoration]]. Despite his unapologetic royalism, a popular anecdote held that one day the school was visited by [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] and Busby refused to doff his hat to the king, explaining that if the boys saw him doing so, it might lead them to believe there was "a greater man on earth than himself."<ref name="Barker1895">{{cite book|author=George Fisher Russell Barker|title=Memoir of Richard Busby, D.D. (1606–1695): With Some Account of Westminster School in the Seventeenth Century|url=https://archive.org/details/memoirrichardbu00barkgoog|year=1895|publisher=Lawrence and Bullen|pages=[https://archive.org/details/memoirrichardbu00barkgoog/page/n70 51]–}}</ref>

As a headmaster, Busby was as famous for liberally administering [[corporal punishment]] as he was for his abilities as a teacher and mentor. Though it was said he once boasted of having birched sixteen of the bishops on the [[Lords Spiritual|bench]], many of his students would later speak affectionately of the role he played in their education. The [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] Anglican priest [[Philip Henry]] attributed his strong religious convictions to Busby's lessons and recalled being flogged as a student only once, and "deservedly", for lying.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/memoirofrichardb00bark#page/84/mode/2up archive.org ]</ref> [[John Dryden]] dedicated his translation of the Fifth Satire of [[Persius]] to Busby in fond memory of his days at Westminster and sent his two sons to study under Busby as well.<ref name="Dryden1893">{{cite book|author=John Dryden|title=The Poetical Works of John Dryden: Edited with a Memoir, Revised Text, and Notes|url=https://archive.org/details/poeticalworksjo13drydgoog|year=1893|publisher=Macmillan and Company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/poeticalworksjo13drydgoog/page/n516 18]–}}</ref> In the next century, however, Busby's reputation as a disciplinarian had eclipsed that of his scholarship and pedagogy. [[Alexander Pope]] satirised Busby in the 1743 edition of ''[[The Dunciad]]''. The ghost of Busby comes forward, carrying a birch rod "dripping with Infants' blood, and Mothers' tears" (''The Greater Dunciad'' IV 142) and proclaims the virtues of rote memorisation for placing a "jingling padlock" on the mind.
[[File:Monument to Richard Busby, Westminster Abbey 01.jpg|thumb|Memorial to Busby in Westminster Abbey]]
Busby built and stocked a library that is still the classroom of the School's Head of Classics, and he wrote and edited many works for the use of his scholars. His original treatises (the best of which are his Greek and Latin [[grammar]]s), as well as those he edited, remained in use for centuries. Busby also knew Arabic and Hebrew and wrote grammars in those languages for use in the school, though he does not appear to have published them.<ref name="Barker1895 p44">{{cite book|author=George Fisher Russell Barker|title=Memoir of Richard Busby, D.D. (1606–1695): With Some Account of Westminster School in the Seventeenth Century|url=https://archive.org/details/memoirrichardbu00barkgoog|year=1895|publisher=Lawrence and Bullen|pages=[https://archive.org/details/memoirrichardbu00barkgoog/page/n63 44]–}}</ref>

Busby died, still in office, aged 88. Sir Charles Lyttelton relates an old story, that "ye people in ye street, when he was expiring, saw flashes and sparks 
of fire come out of his window, which made them run into ye house to put it out, but when they were there saw none, nor did they of ye house." He is buried in [[Westminster Abbey]], where his memorial by the sculptor [[Francis Bird]] is located in the south transept of the building.<ref>Gunnis, Rupert. ''Dictionary of British Sculptors, 1660-1851.'' New revised edition. London: Abbey Library, 1968.</ref> 

He left his considerable fortune to various charitable causes, and the Busby Trustees still administer his wishes.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book | author = Barker, G. F. Russell | title = Memoir of Richard Busby, D.D. (1606–1695): With Some Account of Westminster School in the Seventeenth Century | url = https://archive.org/details/memoirrichardbu00barkgoog | year = 1895 | publisher = Lawrence and Bullen | location = London }}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Busby, Richard}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Busby, Richard}}
[[Category:1606 births]]
[[Category:1695 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Anglican theologians]]
[[Category:17th-century English Anglican priests]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]]
[[Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey]]
[[Category:English theologians]]
[[Category:Head Masters of Westminster School]]
[[Category:People from South Holland (district)]]
[[Category:Schoolteachers from Lincolnshire]]