Richard Cumberland (playwright)

Richard Cumberland
detail of an oil painting by George Romney
Born	(1732-02-19)19 February 1732 Master's lodge, Trinity College, Cambridge, England
Died	7 May 1811(1811-05-07) (aged 79) London, England
Occupation	Dramatist
Nationality	British

Richard Cumberland (19 February 1731/2 – 7 May 1811) was an English dramatist and civil servant. In 1771 his hit play The West Indian was first staged. During the American War of Independence he acted as a secret negotiator with Spain in an effort to secure a peace agreement between the two nations. He also edited a short-lived critical journal called The London Review (1809). His plays are often remembered for their sympathetic depiction of colonial characters and others generally considered to be margins of society.
N.b. Cambridgeshire Family History Society have transcribed his baptism record & quote his birth as 19th Feb 1731, Baptism date 5 Mar 1731.
The Oxford University and City Herald 18 May 1811 : Deaths : Richard Cumberland esq., author of the Observer Aged 80.
The Society of Genealogists have a burial record for Richard Cumberland 1731-1811 buried at Westminster Abbey.

Richard Cumberland was born in the master's lodge of Trinity College, Cambridge on 19 February 1731/2. His father was a clergyman, Doctor Denison Cumberland, who became successively Bishop of Clonfert and Bishop of Kilmore. His mother was Johanna Bentley, youngest daughter of Joanna Bernard and the classical scholar Richard Bentley, longtime master at Trinity College. She was featured as the heroine of John Byrom's popular eclogue, Cohn and Phoebe. Cumberland's youngest sister Mary became recognized later as the poet Mary Alcock. One great-grandfather was the bishop of Peterborough. A great-great grandfather was Oliver St John, the statesman.