Thomas Whincop d.1713

Thomas WHINCOP d.1713

Biographical Note

Probably the son of Samuel Whincop, vicar of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. BA Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 1668, MA 1671, fellow 1670-82, BD 1679, DD 1684. Rector of St Benedict, Cambridge 1676-83, of St Mary Abchurch and St Laurence Pountney, London 1681-1713.

Books

In his will, besides leaving the bulk of his estate to be invested in East India bonds in trust for his son Thomas's 24th birthday, Whincop directed that his "library of books" should also go to his son, "not [to] be sold but preserved safe and intire for him" by his executors. If Thomas died before the age of 21, the books were then to be given to Corpus Christi. Whincop also instructed his executors to burn "all my papers (vizt. sermons notes in books or papers and whatever written things (not belonging to any temporal concern)" as soon as his study was opened.

The younger Whincop reached the age of 21 in 1718 and shortly after that his father's library was being sold by the bookseller Nathaniel Noel. There are several references in Wanley's diary to the selection of some of Whincop's books by Lord Harley in the first half of 1720, and at least one Harleian MS (2403) came from Whincop (Wanley refers to "two of Dr Whincopps MSS" in his diary entry for 10 March 1720). It is not known how large the collection was. The East India bonds failed after the South Sea Bubble of 1720-1, but the decision to dispose of the library predates that, suggesting that the son decided he did not want the books, and/or preferred to cash them in.

Characteristic markings

None of Whincop’s printed books have been identified.

Sources

• Brayne, Charles. '"Whincop, Thomas (1697–1730), playwright and literary biographer."' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Heyworth, P. L. (ed), Letters of Humfrey Wanley, Oxford, 1989.
• Wright, C. E. and R. C. (eds), The diary of Humfrey Wanley, London, 1968.
• Wright, C. E., Fontes Harleianae, London, 1972.