John Chamberlayne

John Chamberlayne (c.1668–1723) was an English writer, translator, and courtier. Life He was a younger son of Edward Chamberlayne and his wife Susannah Clifford. In 1685 he entered Trinity College, Oxford as a commoner. Leaving Oxford without a degree, he proceeded to the University of Leyden, where on 12 May 1688 he entered himself as a student. Here, it would seem, he chiefly studied modern languages, of which, according to contemporary report, he knew sixteen. On his return he filled various offices about the court. He was successively gentleman waiter to Prince George of Denmark, gentleman of the Privy Chamber first to Queen Anne and then to King George I. He was also secretary to Queen Anne's Bounty Commission, and on the commission of the peace for Middlesex. In 1702 Chamberlayne was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. Chamberlayne died at his house in Petty-France (now York Street), Westminster on 2 November 1723, and on 6 November was interred in the family burying-ground at Chelsea, where he had a residence, and where on his church wall a tablet was placed to his memory.