Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ingelo, Nathaniel
INGELO, NATHANIEL (1621?–1683), divine, born about 1621, was apparently a native of Bristol. He graduated M.A. at Edinburgh, was incorporated on that degree at Cambridge in 1644, and on 11 June of the same year was appointed fellow of Queens' College by order of the Earl of Manchester. He is said to have been examined by the assembly of divines at Westminster. He was chosen Greek lecturer on 24 June 1644, junior bursar on 31 Jan. 1644-5, and dean in 1645. In December of the latter year he was granted leave of absence for a year, and ceased to be fellow before 6 Oct. 1647. On 18 March 1650 he became fellow of Eton. Wood asserts that he was at one time fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge (Fasti Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 174). Ingelo was a great encourager of music, and skilled in it himself. He lived at Bristol after leaving Oxford, and administered the sacrament to a small body of dissenters who met in Christmas Street, but he is described as `giving offence to the rigid notions of the communicants by his careful attention to dress, and especially by his love of music. To a remonstrance upon which species of indulgence Mr. Ingelo replied: "Take away Music, take away my life'" (John Evans, Chronological Outline of the History of Bristol, Bristol, 1824, p. 192 note). When appointed chaplain and 'rector chori' to Bulstrode Whitelocke (whose acquaintance he made during the latter's recordership of Bristol) on his embassy to Sweden in November 1653, Ingelo carried with him some compositions of Benjamin Rogers [q.v.], who obtained the degree of Mus.B. at Cambridge in 1658 through his intervention. Rogers's pieces were played several times before Queen Christina. On leaving England Andrew Marvell addressed to him the most elaborate of his Latin poems, which he also translated into English (Marvell, Works, ed. Grosart, i. 403-13). When Ingelo departed from Sweden the queen presented him with a gold medal. In 1658 he proceeded D.D. at Oxford. He was readmitted to his Eton fellowship on 12 July 1660 (Harwood, Alumni Eton. p. 76). He died in August 1683, aged 62, and was buried in Eton College Chapel (ib. pp. 73-4; epitaph in Cole MS. 5831, f. 55). By his wife Mary he had four or five sons and a daughter (will, P. C. C. 114, Drax). Two of his sons, Nathaniel and John, were scholars of Eton and afterwards fellows of King's College, Cambridge (Harwood, pp. 256, 260). He was the friend and correspondent of Dr. John Worthington.
Ingelo was author of a religious romance entitled 'Bentivolio and Urania,' 2 pts., fol., London, 1660, of which other editions appeared in 1669, 1673, and 1682; two sermons which were printed in 1659; and `A Discourse concerning Repentance,' 8vo, London, 1677. He composed a Latin poem called 'Hymnus Eucharisticus,' which, set to music by Rogers in four parts, was performed on 5 July 1660 in the Guildhall, when the corporation of London entertained the royal family and the two houses of parliament (Hawkins, Hist. of Music, ed. 1853, ii. 583, 933). In 1739 Francis Peck published ‘Nineteen Letters,' written by Henry Hammond, D.D., 'to Mr. P. Staninough and Dr. N. Ingelo,' but only the last letter is addressed to Ingelo.
[Cole MS. 5873, f. 6; Chalmers's Biog. Dict. xix. 232; Worthington's Diary and Correspondence (Chetham Soc.), i. 36, 112, and elsewhere; Whitelocke's Swedish Embassy (Reeve), i. 77, and elsewhere; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1652-3 pp. 125, 130, 487, 1653-4 p. 164; notes kindly supplied by the Rev. Dr. Luard and the Rev. W. G. Searle.]