The clergy who benefit by the foundation are the incumbents of the City parishes, of parishes which adjoined the city bounds when the college was founded, and of parishes subsequently formed out of these.
History
Sion College was created by the first charter granted by King Charles I in 1630.
The original buildings in London Wall were on a site previously occupied by Elsing Spital, a hospital for the blind founded in 1329, and earlier still by a nunnery. They comprised the almshouses, a hall and chapel, and the library added to the foundation by John Simson, rector of St Olave Hart Street, one of White's executors. There were also, at least originally, apartments for students. The site was bounded by London Wall, Philip Lane, and Gayspur Lane (now Aldermanbury),[2] roughly where Aldermanbury Square now stands. The first Court (committee) from 1630 consisted of John Gifford (President), Thomas Worrall and John Simson (Deans), and Francis Dee, Cornelius Burges, Edward Abbott and Thomas Wood (Assistants).[3]
In the 1640s Sion College was regarded as a stronghold of the London presbyterians, their "de facto headquarters", and it took on a collective role from around 1645.[4] The administration of the College fell into the hands of the parliamentarian side during 1643, as John Sedgwick of St Alphage London Wall took on the royalists President James Marsh, archdeacon of Chichester, and Edward Sparke.[5] A work from 1646 by Anthony Burges claimed support from College members including the President Arthur Jackson,[6] There were attacks on the College by the IndependentsJohn Goodwin (Sion-Colledg visited and Neophytopresbyteros) and John Price (1625?–1691) (The Pulpit Incendiary, 1648), and it was defended by Cornelius Burges (Sion College what it is, and doeth, 1648). William Jenkyn also attacked Goodwin (The Busie Bishop, or the Visitor Visited, and The Blind Guide, or Doling Doctor, 1648).[7]
Sion College, the North Front (1800)
From 1647 to 1659 the provincial synod met there, leading to the name "Sion College Conclave";[8] There was a practical distinction, the London Provincial Assembly consisting of elders rather than all ministers.[9] The first synod took particular aim at John Milton's divorce tracts, beginning a polemic relationship with Milton. The Serious and Faithfull Representation (January 1649) of 47 London ministers, a work against Oliver Cromwell, arose from an assembly in the College;[10] Milton's The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates from February of that year is in part an answer, and snipes at the ministers.[11]
The College was badly damaged in the Great Fire of London. In 1884 the almshouses were abolished, and the almsfolk became out-pensioners. It was subsequently found possible to extend their numbers from the original number of two men and two women to 40 in all, and to increase the pension. In 1886 Sion College was moved to new buildings at 56 Victoria Embankment, between Carmelite Street and John Carpenter Street. It became principally known for its theological library which served as a lending library to members of the college, and was accessible to the public. A governing body appointed by the members to administer the foundation includes a president, two deans and four assistants.
In 1996, the college disposed of its large Victorian premises on the banks of the River Thames. The building has been converted into offices. The library was closed June 1996, with the manuscripts, pamphlets, and pre-1850 printed books going to Lambeth Palace Library, and newer books to The Maughan Library, King's College London. Its activities now take place in a variety of locations.
Presidents
Source: Pearce, Appendix A.
Charter to 1699
Charter. John Gifford D.D. Rector of St Michael Bassishaw.
1631, 1632. Thomas Westfield D.D. Rector of St Bartholomew the Great.
1633. John Hackett,[12] D.D. Rector of St Andrew Holborn and Archdeacon of Bedford.
1634. Thomas Worrall D.D. of St Buttolphes Bishopsgate.
1635. William Fuller D.D. Vicar of St Giles without Criplegate.
1636. 1637. Jonathan Browne D.D. Dean of Hereford, Rector of St Faiths.
1638. William Brough D.D.. Rector of St Michael Cornhill.
Charles James Blomfield was a British divine and classicist, and a Church of England bishop for 32 years.
John Lake was a 17th-century Bishop of Sodor and Man, Bishop of Bristol and Bishop of Chichester in the British Isles.
St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate is a Church of England church in the Bishopsgate Without area of the City of London, and also, by virtue of lying outside the city's eastern walls, part of London's East End.
The Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks is one of the Guilds of the City of London. It has no livery, because "in the 16th century, the Parish Clerks declined to take the Livery on the grounds that the surplice was older than the Livery and was the proper garb of members of the Company." It is not, therefore, technically a livery company although to all intents and purposes it acts as such. It is one of two such historic companies without livery, the other being the Company of Watermen and Lightermen.
Francis Mallet was an English churchman and academic, and chaplain to Mary Tudor.
Thomas Westfield was an English churchman, Bishop of Bristol and member of the Westminster Assembly.
Francis Dee was an English churchman and Bishop of Peterborough from 1634.
Hugh Weston was an English churchman and academic, Dean of Westminster and Dean of Windsor, and Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford.
Andrew Boardman was an English clergyman who was a minister at St. Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds as well as a vicar at Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick.
Thomas Playfere was an English churchman and theologian, Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at Cambridge from 1596.
Samuel Fuller or Fulwar (1635–1700), was Dean of Lincoln.
Edward Sparke was an orthodox Anglican English clergyman and devotional writer in prose and poetry, who despite being ejected from his living during the English Rebellion survived to see his work and teaching gain a wide currency during the Restoration period. He is most remembered as the author of Scintilla Altaris, first published in 1652. It was a major influence in re-establishing the Anglican liturgical calendar.
Edward Grey was an Anglican bishop who served in the Church of England as the Bishop of Hereford from 1832 to 1837.
John Pridden was an English cleric and antiquary.
Robert Pory or Porey (c.1608?–1669) was an English churchman, archdeacon of Middlesex from 1660.
Edward Layfield was a Church of England priest in the 17th century.
John Whalley was an English academic at the University of Cambridge, clergyman, and poet.
Henry James was an English clergyman and academic at the University of Cambridge, who served as President of Queens' College, Cambridge 1675–1717 and Regius Professor of Divinity 1699–1717.
References
Ernest Harold Pearce (1913) Sion College and Library. 373 p.Cambridge: The University Press
Further reading
P. J. Anderson, Sion College and the London Provincial Assembly, 1647–1660. Journal of Ecclesiastical History 37, no. 1 (1986): 68–90.
Gordon Huelin (1992) Sion College and Library (1912–1990). London: Sion College ISBN0-9518880-0-5
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sion College.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
