Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Trevor, Richard
TREVOR, RICHARD (1707–1771), successively bishop of St. David's and of Durham, born on 30 Sept. 1707, was second surviving son of Thomas Trevor, baron Trevor of Bromham [q. v.], by his second wife, Anne, daughter of Colonel Robert Weldon, and widow of Sir Robert Bernard, bart. Richard was educated at Bishop Stortford in Hertfordshire, and afterwards at Westminster school. On 6 July 1724 he matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford, graduating B.A. on 13 May 1727 and M.A. on 28 Jan. 1730–1. In November 1727 he was elected a fellow of All Souls' College. In 1732 his half-brother, Sir John Bernard, presented him to the living of Houghton with Wilton in Huntingdonshire, and on 8 Nov. 1735 he was appointed a canon of Christ Church, retaining his prebend till 1752. On 10 June 1736 he proceeded to the degree of D.C.L., and on 1 April 1744 he was consecrated bishop of St. David's, whence he was elected to the see of Durham on 9 Nov. 1752. In 1759 he competed for the office of chancellor of Oxford University against George Henry Lee, third earl of Lichfield [q. v.] and John Fane, seventh earl of Westmorland [q. v.], and had the advantage of his competitors singly, but was defeated by Lichfield giving his interest to Westmoreland. Trevor died unmarried at Bishop Auckland in Durham on 9 June 1771, and was buried at Glynde in Sussex. He was a munificent patron of merit, a man of considerable learning and exceptional benevolence. By his will he left large sums for charitable purposes. A monument was erected to him in the antechapel at Auckland. His portrait, drawn by Robert Hutchinson and engraved in 1776 by Joseph Collyer, was prefixed to a memoir by George Allan [q. v.] published in that year. A portrait in oils is preserved at Glynde Place near Lewes, the seat of Viscount Hampden. Trevor was the author of several published sermons.
[Allan's Sketch of the Life of Richard Trevor, Darlington, 1776, reprinted in Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, ix. 241–50; Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, passim; Hist. MSS. Comm. 14th Rep. ix. 153–4, 296; Letters of Radcliffe and James, ed. Evans (Oxford Hist. Soc.), p. 13; Notes and Queries, 7th ser. ix. 208, 257, 338; Gent. Mag. 1777, pp. 224, 625; Surtees's Hist. of Durham, vol. i. p. cxxiii.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.268
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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