Parentalia :

OR,

MEMOIRS OF THE REV. DR. PEGGE,

COMPILED BY HIS SON.

THE REV. SAMUEL PEGGE, LL. D. and F. S. A. was the Representative of one of four Branches of the Family of that name in Derbyshire, derived from a common Ancestor, all which existed together till within a few years. The eldest became extinct by the death of Mr. William Pegge, of Yeldersley, near Ashborne, 1768; and another by that of the Rev. Nathaniel Pegge, M.A. Vicar of Packington, in Leicestershire, 1782.

'The Doctor's immediate Predecessors, as may appear from the Heralds-office, were of Osmaston, near Ashborne, where they resided, in lineal succession, for four generations, antecedently to his

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Father and himself, and where they left a patrimonial inheritance, of which the Doctor died possessed *.

Of the other existing branch, Mr. Edward Pegge having [1662] married Gertrude, sole daughter and heir of William Strelley, Esq. of Beauchief, in the Northern part of Derbyshire, seated himself there, and was appointed High Sheriff of the County in 1667; as was his Grandson, Strelley Pegge, Esq. 1739; and his Greatgrandson, the present Peter Pegge, Esq. 1788.

It was by Katharine Pegge, a daughter of Thomas Pegge, Esq. of Yeldersley, that King Charles II. (who saw her abroad during his exile) had a son born (1647), whom he called Charles Fitz-Charles, to whom he granted the Royal arms, with a baton sinister, Vairé, and whom (1675) his Majesty created Earl of Plymouth, Viscount Totness, and Baron Dartmouth. He was bred to the Sea, and, having been educated abroad, most probably in Spain, was known by the name of Don Carlos. The Earl married the Lady Bridget Osborne, third Daughter of Thomas Earl

* In Church-street, at Ashborne, is an Alins-house, originally founded by Christopher Pegge, Esq. The name occurs also on the table of Benefactors in Ashborne Church. + Docquet-book in the Crown-office.

See Sandford, p. 647, edit. 1707. Granger erroneously calls him Carlo; and also, by mistake, gives him the name of Fitz-roy.

of Danby, Lord High Treasurer (at Wimbledon, in Surrey), 1678 *, and died of a flux at the siege of Tangier, 1680, without issue. The body was brought to England, and interred in Westminster Abbey. The Countess re-married Dr. Philip Bisse, Bishop of Hereford, by whom she had no issue; and who, surviving her, erected a handsome tablet to her memory in his Cathedral.

Katharine Pegge, the Earl's mother, married Sir Edward Greene, Bart. of Samford in Essex, and died without issue by him .

But to return to the Rev. Dr. Pegge, the outline only of whose life we propose to give. His Father (Christopher) was, as we have observed, of Osmaston, though he never resided there, even after he became possessed of it; for, being a younger Brother, it was thought proper to put him to business; and he served his time with a considerable woollen-draper at Derby, which line he followed till the death of his elder Brother (Humphry, who died without issue 1711) at Chester

* See Mr. Lysons's Environs of London, vol. I. p. 537. + Dart's History of Westminster Abbey, vol. II. p. 55.

There is a half-length portrait of the Earl, in a robe de chambre, laced cravat, and flowing hair (with a ship in the back ground of the picture), by Sir Peter Lely, now in the family and also two of his Mother, Lady Greene; one a halflength, with her infant Son standing by her side; the other, a three-quarters; both either by Sir Peter Lely, or by one of his pupils.

field in Derbyshire, when he commenced leadmerchant, then a lucrative branch of traffick there; and, having been for several years a Member of the Corporation, died in his third Mayoralty, 1723.

He had married Gertrude Stephenson (a daughter of Francis Stephenson, of Unston, near Chesterfield, Gent.) whose Mother was Gertrude Pegge, a Daughter of the before-mentioned Edward Pegge, Esq. of Beauchief; by which marriage these two Branches of the Family, which had long been diverging from each other, became reunited, both by blood and name, in the person of Dr. Pegge, their only surviving child.

He was born Nov. 5, 1704, N. S. at Chesterfield, where he had his school education; and was admitted a Pensioner of St. John's College, Cambridge, May 30, 1722, under the tuition of the Rev. Dr. William Edmundson; was matriculated July 7; and, in the following November, was elected a Scholar of the House, upon Lupton's Foundation.

In the same year with his Father (1723) died the Heir of his Maternal Grandfather (Stephenson), a minor; by whose death a moiety of the real estate at Unston (before-mentioned) became the property of our young Collegian, who was

then pursuing his academical studies with intention of taking orders.

Having, however, no immediate prospect of preferment, he looked up to a Fellowship of the College, after he had taken the degree of A. B. in January 1725, N.S.; and became a candidate upon a vacancy which happened favourably in that very year; for it was a Lay-fellowship upon the Beresford Foundation, and appropriated to the Founder's kin, or at least confined to a Native of Derbyshire.

The competitors were, Mr. Michael Burton (afterwards Dr. Burton), and another, whose name we do not find; but the contest lay between Mr. Burton and Mr. Pegge. Mr. Burton had the stronger claim, being indubitably related to the Founder; but, upon examination, was declared to be so very deficient in Literature, that his superior right, as Founder's kin, was set aside, on account of the insufficiency of his learning; and Mr. Pegge was admitted, and sworn Fellow March 21, 1726, O. S.

In consequence of this disappointment, Mr. Burton was obliged to take new ground, to enable him to procure an establishment in the world; and therefore artfully applied to the College for a testimonial, that he might receive orders, and undertake some cure in the vicinity of Cambridge.