John Thomas (bishop of Rochester)

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For the 18th-century Bishop of Lincoln and Salisbury, see John Thomas (bishop of Salisbury). For the 18th-century Bishop of Peterborough, Salisbury and Winchester, see John Thomas (bishop of Winchester). For other people named John Thomas, see John Thomas (disambiguation).

Carlisle, Cumbria
Died22 August 1793(1793-08-22) (aged 80)
Bromley, Kent
BuriedBletchingley, Surrey
NationalityBritish
DenominationAnglican
ResidenceBromley Palace
ParentsJohn Thomas & Ann Kelsick
SpouseAnne Clayton
m. 1742; d. 1772
Elizabeth Baldwin
m. 1776
Alma materThe Queen's College, Oxford

John Thomas (14 October 1712 – 22 August 1793) was an English churchman, Bishop of Rochester from 1774.

Life

Born in

Joseph Smith (1670–1756).[1]

He became assistant master at an academy in Soho Square, and then private tutor to the younger son of Sir William Clayton, bart., whose sister he later married. On 27 March 1737, Thomas was ordained a deacon, and on 25 September received priest's orders. On 27 January 1738, he was instituted rector of Bletchingley in Surrey, a living in the gift of Sir William Clayton. He graduated B.C.L. on 6 March 1742, and D.C.L. on 25 May 1742, and on 18 January 1749, he was appointed chaplain in ordinary to HM The King (George II), a post which he retained under George III.[1]

On 23 April 1754, he was made a prebendary of Westminster, and in 1762 he was appointed sub-almoner to the archbishop of York. On 7 January 1766, he was instituted to the vicarage of

St Bride's, Fleet Street, London, and in 1768 he became Dean of Westminster and of the Order of the Bath.[1]

On 13 November 1774, he was consecrated bishop of Rochester. He marked his episcopacy by repairing the deanery at Rochester and rebuilding the bishop's palace at Bromley, which was in a ruinous state. He died at Bromley on 22 August 1793, and was buried in the vault of the parish church of Bletchingley.[1]

Works

Thomas's ‘Sermons and Charges’ were collected and edited after his death by his nephew, George Andrew Thomas, in 1796 (London; 3rd ed. 1803). Several of his sermons were published separately in his lifetime. His portrait in the robes of the Bath, painted by

Sir Joshua Reynolds, was formerly in the library of Queen's College. An engraving from it by Joseph Baker is prefixed to his ‘Sermons and Charges.’[1]

Family

He was twice married: first, in 1742, to Anne Blackwell, widow of Sir Charles Blackwell, Bt and daughter of

Sir Joseph Yates, judge of the court of king's bench. He left no children. Among other bequests he founded two scholarships at Queen's College for sons of clergymen educated at the grammar school at Carlisle, and during his lifetime he had endowed two similar scholarships at Westminster School.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Thomas, John (1712-1793)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 56. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ^ Lundy, Darryl (16 August 2008). "Rt. Rev. John Thomas". The Peerage. Lundy Consulting Ltd. Retrieved 7 April 2009.
  3. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27224. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Thomas, John (1712-1793)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 56. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

Church of England titles
Preceded by Dean of Westminster
1768–1793 		Succeeded by
Bishop of Rochester
1774–1793
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