Richard Cumberland

Playwright and novelist Richard Cumberland is buried in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. His grave is next to that of actor John Henderson, and near to the grave of his friend Dr Samuel Johnson. The Latin inscription on the stone can be translated:

Richard Cumberland Died May 7th 1811, Aged 79

His Life

He was born on 19th February 1732 in Cambridge, a son of the Revd. Denison Cumberland and his wife Joanna (Bentley). His great grandfather was Richard Cumberland, bishop of Peterborough. He attended Westminster School and Trinity College Cambridge. The Earl of Halifax employed him as his private secretary. By his influence Richard was appointed crown agent to Nova Scotia. Later, as secretary to the Board of Trade, he travelled to Spain regarding a treaty between that country and England.

In 1759 he married Elizabeth Ridge (died 1801) and they had four sons and three daughers. His son Richard was in the army and died on the island of Tobago.This Richard married Lady Albinia Hobart and their son, Richard Francis George, was an army officer and aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington.

He started to write plays, and novels, prose work and poems followed. His best known prose work is the Memoirs of Richard Cumberland, Written by Himself. His music drama The Summer's Tale was produced at Covent Garden theatre, and his comedy The Brothers followed. He received an honorary degree of doctor of civil law from Dublin university.

He died at Tunbridge Wells in Kent. The Abbey burial service was taken by his old friend William Vincent, Dean of Westminster. His son, his grandson, the Honourable and Reverend William Bentinck (son of Richard's daughter Elizabeth and Lord Edward Bentinck), and two nephews, Bentinck and Cumberland Hughes, were the chief mourners. At the close of the service the Dean gave an oration:

Good People, the person you see now deposited is Richard Cumberland, an author of no small merit; his writings were chiefly for the stage, but of strict moral tendency; they were not without faults but they were not gross... his works will be held in the highest estimation as long as the English language shall be understood...

Further reading

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004, for the playwright and his grandson Richard, and bishop Cumberland.

S.T.Williams "Richard Cumberland, his life and works", 1917