Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hues, Robert
HUES, ROBERT (1553?–1632), mathematician and geographer, born at Little Hereford about 1553, entered Brasenose College, Oxford, as a servitor in 1571, or perhaps later. He subsequently removed to Magdalen Hall, from which he graduated B.A. as 'Robert Hughes' on 12 July 1578 (Reg. of Univ. of Oxf., Oxf. Hist. Soc., vol. ii. pt. iii. p. 76). His skill as a scientific geographer commended him to the notice of Thomas Cavendish [q. v.], the voyager, with whom he sailed at least once round the world. His society was sought, too, by Thomas, lord Grey of Wilton, whom he frequently visited when confined in the Tower. After Lord Grey's death, on 6 July 1614, Hues was patronised by Henry, earl of Northumberland, and became tutor to his son Algernon when the latter was at Christ Church. The earl allowed him an annuity. Hues is mentioned by Thomas Chapman [q.v.] in the preface to his 'Homer,' 1611, as one of the learned and valued friends to whose advice he was indebted. He died unmarried at Kidlington, Oxfordshire, on 24 May 1632, aged 79, and was buried in the divinity chapel at Christ Church (epitaph in Wood, Colleges and Halls, ed. Gutch,p. 503). He is author of 'Tractatus de Globis et eorum Usu, accommodatus iis qui Londini editi sunt anno 1593, sumptibus Gulielmi Sandersoni civis Londinensis,'8vo, London, 1594, dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh. Other editions were published at Amsterdam in 1611 and 1624 (the latter with notes and illustrations by J. I. Pontanus), and at Heidelberg in 1613. An English translation by J. Chilmead was issued at London in 1638. The treatise was written for the special purpose of being used in connection with a set of globes by Emery Molyneux, now in the library of the Middle Temple. Chilmead's English version was re-issued in 1889 by the Hakluyt Society, under the editorship of Clements R. Markham. Wood mentions as another work of Hues a treatise entitled `Breviarium totius Orbis,' which he says was several times printed; this is most probably identical with the 'Breviarium Orbis Terrarum,' stated by Watt to have been printed at Oxford in 1651 (Bibl. Brit. i. 523).
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 534-5; Warton's Hist. of Engl. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, iv. 317; Will registered in P. C. C. 30, Russell.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.162
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 156 | ii | 18 | Hues, Robert: for Thomas Chapman read George Chapman |