John Dolben | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of York | |
 | |
| Archdiocese | York |
| Installed | 1683 |
| Term ended | 1686 |
| Predecessor | Richard Sterne |
| Successor | Thomas Lamplugh |
| Other post(s) | Dean of Westminster, Bishop of Rochester |
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 1683 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1625 |
| Died | 1686 |
John Dolben (1625–1686) was an English priest and Church of England bishop and archbishop.
He was the son of William Dolben (died 1631), prebendary of Lincoln and bishop-designate of Gloucester, and Elizabeth Williams, niece of John Williams, Archbishop of York. [1] The leading judge Sir William Dolben was his brother.
He was educated at Westminster School under Richard Busby and at Christ Church, Oxford. [2] He fought on the Royalist side at the Battle of Marston Moor, in 1644, and in the defence of York, and was wounded twice. [3] By 1646, like most of the Royalists, he had abandoned all hope of victory and resumed his studies. [4]
Subsequently, he took orders and maintained in private the proscribed Anglican service; during these years he lived at St Aldates, Oxford, home of his wife's father Ralph Sheldon, brother of the future Archbishop Sheldon. [5]
At the Restoration, he became canon of Christ Church (1660) and prebendary of St Paul's, London (1661), no doubt partly due to the influence of Sheldon, now Bishop of London. As Dean of Westminster (1662–1683), he opposed an attempt to bring the abbey under diocesan rule. His charm, eloquence, generosity and frankness gained him enormous popularity. In 1664 he was appointed Clerk of the Closet (until 1668) and in 1666 was made Bishop of Rochester. The fall of his friend Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon the next year is said to have caused him to be in temporary disgrace, but he was quickly restored to favour. In 1675 he was appointed Lord High Almoner and in 1683 he was made Archbishop of York; he distinguished himself by reforming the discipline of the cathedrals in these dioceses. [6] He was the first president of the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy when it received its Royal Charter in 1678.
At Easter 1686, returning to York from London, he came into contact with a smallpox victim, caught the infection and died a few days later. [7] His last months are said to have been greatly troubled by King James II's attempts to re-establish the Roman Catholic faith. [8]
He married Catherine Sheldon, a niece of Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury; her father was Ralph Sheldon of Stanton, Staffordshire. He had two sons, Gilbert, judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) and first of the Dolben baronets, [9] and John Dolben, a well-known politician. A daughter named Catherine died in infancy. From a letter Gilbert wrote in 1691 it seems that the Archbishop was much troubled in his last years by John's profligate behaviour: he was a confirmed gambler who went through all his money, and then lost the fortune he had gained by marriage to the heiress Elizabeth Mulso. His uncle the judge disinherited him, and by 1691 his wife and children were living on the charity of friends. According to Gilbert, his father's enemies happily seized on this family tragedy as evidence that the Archbishop was a bad or neglectful parent.
All descriptions of him agree that he was a man of commanding appearance, tall, handsome and dark, but inclined to be fat.
The Archbishop Dolben cup presented at the York International 9s rugby league festival is named after John Dolben.
John Dryden, in Absalom and Achitophel, gave a portrait of Dolben:
"Him of the Western dome, whose weighty sense
Flows in fit words and heavenly eloquence".
Gilbert Sheldon was an English religious leader who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663 until his death.
Hon. Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt was a Church of England bishop. He was the Bishop of Carlisle from 1791 to 1807 and then the Archbishop of York until his death.
John Dolben, of Epsom, Surrey, was an English barrister and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1707 to 1710. He was deeply involved in the impeachment proceedings against Dr Henry Sacheverell in 1710, and his work on the impeachment is said to have contributed to his early demise.
John Williams was a Welsh clergyman and political advisor to King James I. He served as Bishop of Lincoln 1621–1641, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 1621–1625, and Archbishop of York 1641–1646. He was the last bishop to serve as lord chancellor.
The College of Chaplains of the Ecclesiastical Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom is under the Clerk of the Closet, an office dating from 1437. It is normally held by a diocesan bishop, who may, however, remain in office after leaving his see. The current Clerk is James Newcome, Bishop of Carlisle.
The Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral is the senior cleric of the Protestant St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, elected by the chapter of the cathedral. The office was created in 1219 or 1220, by one of several charters granted to the cathedral by Archbishop Henry de Loundres between 1218 and 1220.
Godfrey Goodman, also called Hugh; was the Anglican Bishop of Gloucester, and a member of the Protestant Church. He was the son of Godfrey Goodman (senior) and Jane Croxton, landed gentry living in Wales. His contemporaries describe him as being a hospitable, quiet man, and lavish in his charity to the poor.
John Sharp, English divine who served as Archbishop of York.
Baptist Levinz, sometimes Baptiste or Baptist Levinge, was an Anglican churchman. He is known as a bishop and also for the part he played in the dramatic election at Magdalen College, Oxford.
Events from the 1620s in England. This decade sees a change of monarch.
William Dolben was a Welsh clergyman.
Laurence Womock (1612–1686) was an English bishop. He is best known for his controversial writings, some of which were signed Tilenus, after Daniel Tilenus, expressing his hostility to Calvinism in general, and the Synod of Dort in particular.
Robert Creighton or Crichton (1593–1672) was a Scottish royalist churchman who became Bishop of Bath and Wells.
Thomas Pierce or Peirse (1622–1691) was an English churchman and controversialist, a high-handed President of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Dean of Salisbury.
David Dolben (1581–1633) was a Welsh bishop of Bangor.
Edward Jones (1641–1703), was a Welsh Anglican bishop who served as Bishop of Cloyne and Bishop of St Asaph.
Sir William Dolben KS KC was an English judge who sat as a Justice of the King's Bench.
Peter Barwick (1619–1705) was an English physician and author.
Sir Gilbert Dolben, 1st Baronet (1658-1722), of Finedon, Northamptonshire, was an English lawyer, landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1685 and 1715. He also served as a High Court judge in Ireland for many years. He was the grandfather of the leading anti-slavery campaigner Sir William Dolben.
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
| Other | |
