Author: Corbet, Richard
Biography:
CORBET, Richard (1582-1635: ODNB)
Corbet or Corbett is a prior author most of whose poems were printed during his lifetime. However, the 1807 edition included in this bibliography and edited by Octavius Gilchrist includes some poems that had previously been known only in manuscript. He was the son of Vincent Corbet, a nurseryman in Twickenham, and his wife Benet Corbet. He was born in Ewell, Surrey, and attended Westminster School where he was a Queen’s Scholar but failed to gain election to either Oxford or Cambridge university in 1598. He entered Broadgates Hall at Oxford and in 1599 migrated to Christ Church (BA 1602, MA 1605, BD and DD 1617, Proctor 1612). Unusually, he was ordained deacon and priest on the same day, 26 Mar. 1613. He married Alice Hutton, the daughter of an antiquary, in London in 1624. They had a daughter (Alice, 1625-82) and a son (Vincent, 1627-65) before Alice Corbet’s death from smallpox; she was buried in Westminster Abbey on 12 Apr. 1628. Corbet had a very successful ecclesiastical career that included court duties. He was named Bishop of Oxford in 1628 and translated to the see of Norwich in 1632. A friend of Ben Jonson, he was known to be gregarious and witty. He died at Norwich on 28 July 1635 and was buried in the cathedral. His will, drawn up just before his death, divided his estate between his children and named his mother-in-law, Anne Hutton, as the executrix and guardian of the children. Although Corbet’s will urged his son “to apply himself to his books studiously and industriously,” Vincent seems not to have followed the advice and, although he entered Westminster School, he did not prosper. (ODNB 21 Feb. 2024; ancestry.co.uk 21 Feb. 2024; National Archives UK PROB 11/169/14; Westminster School Archives)
Other Names:
- Bishop Corbet