Francis Gastrell was bishop of Chester

Bishop of Chester

The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York.The diocese expands across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the City of Chester where the seat is located at the Cathedral...

 and a writer on deism

Deism

Deism in religious philosophy is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that the universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the...

. He was a friend of Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...

, mentioned several times in A Journal to Stella

A Journal to Stella

A Journal to Stella is a work by Jonathan Swift first partly published posthumously in 1766.It consists of 65 letters to his friend, Esther Johnson.Amongst the references to contemporaries of the dean, frequent mention is made of Elizabeth Germain....

, and chaplain to Robert Harley, when Harley was speaker of the House of Commons

Speaker of the British House of Commons

The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...

.

Life

He was born on 10 May 1662 at Slapton

Slapton

Slapton is a common place name.In the United Kingdom:*Slapton, Buckinghamshire*Slapton, Devon*Slapton, Northamptonshire...

, Northamptonshire and educated at Westminster School

Westminster School

The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...

 and Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

. He was Boyle Lecturer in 1697.

One of a group of Tory High Churchmen, he was on good terms with Francis Atterbury

Francis Atterbury

Francis Atterbury was an English man of letters, politician and bishop.-Early life:He was born at Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, where his father was rector. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he became a tutor...

, George Smalridge

George Smalridge

-Life:George Smalridge was born at Lichfield, son of the Sheriff of Lichfield Thomas Smalridge, George received his early education, this being completed at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford....

 and Robert Nelson

Robert Nelson (nonjuror)

Robert Nelson was an English lay religious writer and nonjuror.-Life:He was born in London on 22 June 1656, the only surviving son of John Nelson, a merchant in the Turkey trade, by Delicia, daughter of Lewis and sister of Sir Gabriel Roberts, who, like John Nelson, was a member of the Levant...

, and one of the Commission of the end of the reign of Queen Anne. In 1714, the year of her death, he became bishop of Chester through Harley's influence (consecrated on 14 April of that year in Somerset House Chapel). When Atterbury was put on trial in 1723, Gastrell spoke in his defence.

He was a noted controversialist, but considered to hold moderate views. He criticised Anthony Collins

Anthony Collins

Anthony Collins , was an English philosopher, and a proponent of deism.-Life and Writings:...

, but was quite approving of John Locke

John Locke

John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...

. He criticised the Trinitarian theories of William Sherlock

William Sherlock

Not to be confused with William Sherlock William Sherlock was an English church leader.-Life:He was born at Southwark, and was educated at St. Saviour's School and Eton, and then at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1669 he became rector of St George's, Botolph Lane, London, and in 1681 he was appointed a...

 as innovative.

As a diocesan bishop, he is noted for the fine-grained survey he made of every parish, published in the nineteenth century as Notitia Cestriensis. Along with it was published the so-called Gastrell Manuscript, or Chronicle of St. Werburg, edited by F. R. Raines.

Works

• The Certainty and Necessity of Religion in general; or the first Grounds and Principles of Human Duty Established (1697) Boyle Lecture
• Some Considerations Concerning the Trinity (1698)
• Principles of Deism truly represented (1709) attributed, dialogues
• Christian Institutes (1707)
• The Bishop of Chester's case, with relation to the wardenship of Manchester (1721)
• A Moral Proof of the Certainty of a Future State (1725)
• Notitia Cestriensis published around 1850, Chetham Society
  Chetham Society
  The Chetham Society was founded in Manchester, England, in 1843, by James Crossley, a lawyer, and the Reverend Thomas Corser. The Society's stated aim is to maintain the "Historical and Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester"...