Playwright and novelist. Cumberland wrote much but has been remembered most for his plays and memoirs. In 1771 his hit play The West Indian was first staged. 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.Cumberland's youngest sister Mary became recognized later as the poet Mary Alcock.
In 1780, he was sent on a confidential mission to Spain to negotiate a separate peace treaty during the American War of Independence in an effort to weaken the anti-British coallition. Although he was well received by King Charles III of Spain and his minister José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca, the question of dominion over Gibraltar prevented resolution.
Cumberland is buried in Poets' Corner near to the grave of his friend Dr Samuel Johnson. His grandson, the Hon.and Revd. William Bentinck (son of Richard's daughter Elizabeth and Lord Edward Bentinck), and two nephews, Bentinck and Cumberland Hughes, were the chief mourners.
In 1780, he was sent on a confidential mission to Spain to negotiate a separate peace treaty during the American War of Independence in an effort to weaken the anti-British coallition. Although he was well received by King Charles III of Spain and his minister José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca, the question of dominion over Gibraltar prevented resolution.
Cumberland is buried in Poets' Corner near to the grave of his friend Dr Samuel Johnson. His grandson, the Hon.and Revd. William Bentinck (son of Richard's daughter Elizabeth and Lord Edward Bentinck), and two nephews, Bentinck and Cumberland Hughes, were the chief mourners.
Playwright and novelist. Cumberland wrote much but has been remembered most for his plays and memoirs. In 1771 his hit play The West Indian was first staged. 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.Cumberland's youngest sister Mary became recognized later as the poet Mary Alcock.
In 1780, he was sent on a confidential mission to Spain to negotiate a separate peace treaty during the American War of Independence in an effort to weaken the anti-British coallition. Although he was well received by King Charles III of Spain and his minister José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca, the question of dominion over Gibraltar prevented resolution.
Cumberland is buried in Poets' Corner near to the grave of his friend Dr Samuel Johnson. His grandson, the Hon.and Revd. William Bentinck (son of Richard's daughter Elizabeth and Lord Edward Bentinck), and two nephews, Bentinck and Cumberland Hughes, were the chief mourners.
In 1780, he was sent on a confidential mission to Spain to negotiate a separate peace treaty during the American War of Independence in an effort to weaken the anti-British coallition. Although he was well received by King Charles III of Spain and his minister José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca, the question of dominion over Gibraltar prevented resolution.
Cumberland is buried in Poets' Corner near to the grave of his friend Dr Samuel Johnson. His grandson, the Hon.and Revd. William Bentinck (son of Richard's daughter Elizabeth and Lord Edward Bentinck), and two nephews, Bentinck and Cumberland Hughes, were the chief mourners.
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