1893 text

Citizen and grocer of London; most severely handled by Pope. Two statues were erected to his memory—one in the College of Physicians, and the other in the Grocers’ Hall. They were erected and one removed (that in the College of Physicians) before Pope stigmatized “sage Cutler.” Pope says that Sir John Cutler had an only daughter; in fact, he had two: one married to Lord Radnor; the other, mentioned afterwards by Pepys, the wife of Sir William Portman.—B.


This text comes from a footnote on a diary entry in the 1893 edition edited by Henry B. Wheatley.

5 Annotations

First Reading

Wim van der Meij  •  Link

Warrington adds that he was stigmatized by Pope for his avarice.

Pedro  •  Link

A little about Cutler (No relation)

The Grocer’s Company of the city of London.

The Great Fire in 1666 nearly ruined the Company, destroying not only its Hall, but its property in the City. The generosity of some of its members, notably Sir John Moore and Sir John Cutler, permitted the renovation of the Hall. The Hall was then let as a residence for the Lord Mayor.

http://www.grocershall.co.uk/comp…

Robert Hooke

In 1664 Sir John Cutler instituted for his benefit a mechanical lectureship of £50 annually, and in the following year he was nominated professor of geometry in Gresham College, where he subsequently resided.

(Book of Days)…The College of Physicians…
We must, however, take a glance at the statues of Charles II. and Sir John Cutler, within the court; especially as the latter assists to expose an act of public meanness. It appears by the College books that, in 1674, Sir John Cutler promised to bear the expense of a specified part of the new building: the committee thanked him, and in 1680, statues of the King and Sir John were voted by the members: nine years afterwards, when the College was completed, it was resolved to borrow money of Sir John, to discharge the College debt; what the sum was is not specified; it appears, however, that in 1699, Sir John's executors made a demand on the College for £7,000, supposed to include money actually lent, money pretended to be given, and interest on both. The executors accepted £2,000, and dropped their claim for the other five. The statue was allowed to stand; but the inscription, 'Omnis Cutleri cedat Labor Amphitheatre,' was very properly obliterated.

Pedro  •  Link

Sir John Cutler.

Financer of six Cutlerian lectures, which were founded for Hooke in 1664 and were used by Hooke to announce some of his most important discoveries. True to form it appears that Cutler claimed that Hooke had given insufficient time to the “History of Trades” concerned with one of the Lectures, but he was able to show that he had fulfilled the terms of the endownment.

Terry Foreman  •  Link

Cutler, Sir John (1607/8-1693), merchant and financier, was the son of Thomas Cutler, a member of the Grocers' Company. Early in his career he abandoned commerce for finance and specialized in lending money to impoverished landowners on the security of their estates. In this way he made a fortune and amassed considerable landed property during the interregnum, while discreetly avoiding any serious involvement in politics. ...

For one week at:
http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/l…

Thanks to Michael Robinson for making this available.

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

CUTLER, Sir JOHN (1608?-1693), London merchant; promoted the subscriptions raised by the city of London for Charles II, 1660; created baronet, 1660; treasurer of St. Paul's, 1663; founded lectureship on mechanics at Gresham College, London, 1664; honorary F.H.S., 1064; four times master warden of the Grocers' Company; benefactor of the College of Physicians, 1679; benefactor of the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, 1682; personally parsimonious, and the occasion of Wycherley's 'Praise of Avarice.'
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1663