John Thomas | |
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Bishop of Rochester | |
John Thomas (Joshua Reynolds)
|
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Church | Church of England |
Diocese | Diocese of Rochester |
Elected | 1774 |
Term ended | 1793 (death) |
Predecessor | Zachary Pearce |
Successor | Samuel Horsley |
Other posts |
Dean of Westminster 1768 |
Orders | |
Ordination | 25 September 1737 (priest) |
Consecration | 13 November 1774 |
Personal details | |
Born |
Carlisle, Cumbria |
14 October 1712
Died | 22 August 1793 Bromley, Kent |
(aged 80)
Buried | Bletchingley, Surrey |
Nationality | British |
Denomination | Anglican |
Residence | Bromley Palace |
Parents | John Thomas & Ann Kelsick |
Spouse | Anne Clayton m. 1742; d. 1772 Elizabeth Baldwin m. 1776 |
Alma mater | The Queen's College, Oxford |
John Thomas (14 October 1712 – 22 August 1793) was an English churchman, Bishop of Rochester from 1774.
Born in Carlisle, Cumbria, he was the eldest son of John Thomas (died 1747), vicar of Brampton, Cumberland, by his wife Ann, daughter of Richard Kelsick of Whitehaven, a captain in the merchant service. He was educated at the Carlisle grammar school, and went to The Queen's College, Oxford, matriculating on 17 December 1730. Soon after his admission he received a clerkship from the Provost Joseph Smith (1670–1756).
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.
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.
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.