Thomas Rutherforth
Thomas Rutherforth (also Rutherford) (1712–1771) was an English churchman and academic,
Life
He was the son of Thomas Rutherforth, rector of
On 28 January 1742 he was elected a member of the
He became chaplain to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and afterwards to the dowager Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. He also became rector of Shenfield, Essex, and was instituted to the rectory of Barley, Hertfordshire, 13 April 1751. On 28 November 1752 he was presented to the archdeaconry of Essex.
He died in the house of his wife's brother, Sir Anthony Abdy, on 5 October 1771, and was buried in the chancel of Barley church; a memorial slab placed over his tomb was removed in 1871 to the west wall of the south aisle.
Works
Rutherforth was "at the heart of Cambridge
- ‘An Essay on the Nature and Obligations of Virtue,’ Cambridge, 1744. Catherine Cockburn also wrote a confutation, which William Warburtonpublished with a preface of his own as ‘Remarks upon … Dr. Rutherforth's Essay … in Vindication of the contrary Principles and Reasonings inforced in the Writings of the late Dr. Samuel Clarke,’ 1747.
- ‘A System of Natural Philosophy, being a Course of Lectures in Mechanics, Optics, Hydrostatics, and Astronomy,’ 2 vols. Cambridge, 1748.
- ‘A Defence of the Bishop of London's Discourses concerning the use and intent of Prophecy; in a Letter to Dr. Middleton;’ 2nd edit. London, 1750. On behalf of Thomas Sherlock, against Conyers Middleton.
- ‘The Credibility of Miracles defended against the Author of Philosophical Essays,’ Cambridge, 1751. Against David Hume.
- ‘Institutes of Natural Law; being the substance of a Course of Lectures on Grotius de Jure Belli et Pacis,’ 2 vols. Cambridge, 1754–6, 8vo; second American edition, revised, Baltimore, 1832.
- ‘A Letter to … Mr. Kennicott, in which his Defence of the Samaritan Pentateuch is examined, and his second Dissertation on the State of the printed Hebrew Text of the Old Testament is shewn to be in many instances Injudicious and Inaccurate,’ Cambridge, 1761. Benjamin Kennicott published in 1762 an answer, to which Rutherforth retorted in ‘A Second Letter.’
- ‘A Vindication of the Right of Protestant Churches to require the Clergy to subscribe to an established Confession of Faith and Doctrines, in a Charge delivered at a Visitation in July 1766,’ Cambridge [1766]. ‘An Examination’ of this charge ‘by a Clergyman of the Church of England’ (Benjamin Dawson) reached a fifth edition in 1767.
- ‘A Second Vindication of the Right of Protestant Churches,’ &c., Cambridge, 1766. This was also answered anonymously by Dawson.
- ‘A Defence of a Charge concerning Subscriptions, in a Letter to the Author of the Confessional,’ Cambridge, 1767. Against Francis Blackburne, this caused further controversy.
Family
He married Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter of
References
- . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Notes
- ^ "Rutherford, Thomas (RTRT726T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Knud Haakonssen, Natural Law and Moral Philosophy: From Grotius to the Scottish Enlightenment (1996), p. 312. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5378. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
External links
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Rutherforth, Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
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