Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Sir George Wheler
Sir George Wheler,
TRAVELLER AND SCHOLAR,
Was the son of Colonel Wheler, of Charing, and though actually born at Breda, in Holland (in 1650) where his parents were in exile as royalists, must be included in the catalogue of Kentish men. He was educated at Oxford, but, before taking a degree, commenced a course of travels into Greece and the East, with a view of studying the antiquities of those countries. On his return he presented to Lincoln College a valuable collection of Greek MSS. he had collected, upon which the University conferred upon him the degree of M.A. He then took orders, and was presented to the livings of Basingstoke and Houghton-le-Spring, and became a prebend in the Cathedral of Durham. He died in 1724, and was buried in Durham Cathedral. In 1682, he published an account of his journey into Greece, in company with Dr. Spon, of Lyons, and in 1689, "An Account of Early Christian Churches in the East," and other writings. Sir George Wheler's name is preserved in London, where he built a chapel at Spitalfields, still known as Wheler's Chapel.
[See Wood's "Athenæ Oxon." and "Biographia Britannica."]