Francis Wrangham

The Venerable Francis Wrangham (11 June 1769 – 27 December 1842) was the Archdeacon of the East Riding. He was a noted author, translator, book collector and abolitionist.

Wrangham was born 11 June 1769 at Raysthorpe, near Malton, Yorkshire, the son of a farmer. He attended Hull Grammar School and took honours at Cambridge, studying first at Magdalene College and afterwards at Trinity Hall.

He was ordained in 1793 and became rector of Hunmanby in the East Riding. In England in that time it was common for well-connected or conspicuously talented clerics to accumulate church positions, hiring curates to do the actual work. Wrangham's success resulted from his own talent and from an early position as tutor to the brother of the Duke of Manchester, and the lifelong friendship and patronage of the ducal family. In addition to being vicar of Humanby, Wrangham was vicar of Folkton, 1795–1821; Fellow of the Royal Society, 15 November 1804; examining chaplain to Vernon Harcourt, Archbishop of York, 1814–34; Archdeacon of Cleveland, 1820–28; vicar of Thorpe Bassett, 1821–27; Prebendary of York, 1823; rector of Dodleston, Cheshire, and Prebendary of Chester, 1827–42; and Archdeacon of the East Riding, 1828–41.

Wrangham was a member of the Roxburghe Club. He is buried in the lady chapel of Chester Cathedral, which contains a monument to him by Hardman & Co., dating from 1846.

Wrangham was a well-known and widely read poet, essayist and translator of Greek and Latin literature. He was an advocate for the abolition of slavery, the education of women, Catholic rights, charity schools, free libraries, charity hospitals and other progressive social ideas. His theology was orthodox. He opposed deists, dissenters, and Unitarians, and supported foreign missions, writing one book on methods for converting India to Christianity.

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