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Thomas Wilson (bishop)
Encyclopedia
Thomas Wilson was Anglican Bishop of Sodor and Man
between 1697 and 1755.
He was born in Burton and Ness, in the Wirral
, Cheshire
, in December 1663. Having studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin
, he was ordained priest in 1689. In 1692 the Lord of Mann
, William Stanley the Earl of Derby
, appointed him personal chaplain and tutor to the earl's son. Five years later, at Lord Derby’s urging, Wilson reluctantly accepted promotion to the vacant bishopric of Sodor and Man
.
When he came to the Isle of Man
, he found the buildings of the diocese in a ruinous condition. The building of new churches was one of his first acts, and he eventually rebuilt most of the churches of the diocese along with establishing public libraries. He oversaw the passing in the Tynwald
of the Act of Settlement 1704 that provided tenants with rights to sell and pass on their land, subject only to continued fixed rents and alienation fees. Wilson worked to restore ecclesiastical discipline on the island, although he clashed with civil authorities partly because of the reduction of revenue from Wilson mitigating fines in the spiritual court. He met James Edward Oglethorpe in London and because of that meeting became interested in foreign missions. He was an early advocate of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
Bishop Wilson's relations with the people of the Isle of Man were marked by mutual affection and esteem. His personal piety expressed itself in energetic charitable activity and he often intervened to shield his flock from the demands of the state authorities. He declined preferment to the much wealthier See of Exeter. When he died on 7 March 1755 at the age of 91, it is said that his funeral was attended by nearly the whole adult population of the Isle of Man.
on 20 December 1663. According to Wilson's biographer John Keble
, both sides of his family had been Burton residents for many centuries. Much of Wilson's childhood was spent at the parsonage in Winwick
where his paternal half-uncle, chaplain Richard Sherlock
lived; Sherlock supervised Wilson's training. It was through Sherlock that the earliest connection to the Isle of Man can be made, insofar as he was chaplain to the son of the seventh earl of Derby and Lord of Mann, amongst whose ambitions were to restore order to the church in the Isle of Man after a breakdown in the seventeenth century.
Wilson was tutored at the King's school, Chester and entered Trinity College, Dublin as a sizar
on 29 May 1682. His tutor was John Barton, afterwards dean of Ardagh
. Jonathan Swift
entered in the previous month, and other contemporaries included Peter Browne
and Edward Chandler. He was elected scholar on 4 June 1683. In February 1686 he graduated with a B.A.. The influence of Archdeacon Michael Hewetson (died 1709), a prebendary of St Patrick's Cathedral, turned his thoughts from medicine to the church. He was ordained deacon before attaining the canonical age by William Moreton
, bishop of Kildare
on 29 June 1686 in the cathedral church of Kildare on the day of its consecration.
He left Ireland on 10 February 1687 to become curate to his uncle Sherlock in the chapelry of Newchurch Kenyon at the parish of Winwick. He was ordained priest by Nicholas Stratford
on 20 October 1689 and remained in charge of Newchurch with a salary of £30 until the end of August 1692. He was then appointed domestic chaplain to William Stanley, 9th Earl of Derby. Early in 1693, he was appointed master of the almshouse at Lathom
, yielding £20 more. At Easter he made a vow to set apart a fifth of his small income for charity, especially for the poor. Wilson gave up his parish duties to concentrate on the education of the Earl's heir apparent, continuing in that role for five years. Keble suggests that the Stanley family approved of Wilson's acceptance of the Glorious Revolution
of 1688. Stowall suggests that Wilson became more highly valued by the 9th Earl after giving him strong counsel against his indebtedness and reminding him of the potential for financial crisis arising out of any change in government.
In June 1693 he was offered by Lord Derby the valuable rectory of Badsworth
in the West Riding of Yorkshire
, but refused it, having made a resolution against non-residence. He received his M.A. in 1696. On 27 October 1698 he was married at Winwick to Mary (16 July 1674 – 7 March 1705), daughter of Thomas Patten. The couple had four children, of whom only Thomas survived to adulthood and became prebendary of Westminster and rector of St. Stephen Walbrook.
On 27 November 1696 Lord Derby offered him the Bishopric of Sodor and Man, vacant since the death of Baptist Levinz
, and insisted on his taking it. Derby had previously offered the position to Wilson who had "modestly declined". The background to the insistent offer was a complaint made to William III
by the Archbishop of York
, John Sharp
about the length of the vacancy; the prior and largely absentee incumbent Baptist Levinz had died in 1693. William gave an ultimatum to Derby of an immediate nomination, or else an imposition at the King's will. William assented to Wilson's elevation on December 25, 1697 and ordered the Archbishop of York to consecrate Wilson as bishop. On 10 January 1697 he was created LL.D. by Thomas Tenison
, Archbishop of Canterbury
(a so-called Lambeth degree
). On 16 January 1697, he was consecrated bishop at the Savoy Chapel
, London
. On 28 January the rectory of Badsworth was again offered to him in commendam
, and again refused, though the see of Man was worth no more than £300 a year. His first business was to recover the arrears of royal bounty (an annuity of £100, granted 1675).
in the Isle of Man. He was installed on 11 April 1687 in the ruins of St. German's Cathedral
, within Peel Castle
at Peel. At once he took up his residence at Bishop's Court, Kirk Michael, which he found also in a ruinous condition, with only a tower and chapel standing. Wilson set about rebuilding the greater part of it, at a cost of £1,400, of which all but £200 came from his own pocket. He soon became 'a very energetic planter' of fruit and forest trees, turning 'the bare slopes' into 'a richly wooded glen'. He was an equally zealous farmer and miller, doing much by his example to develop the resources of the island. For some time he was the only physician in the island. He set up a drug-shop, giving advice and medicine to the poor for free.
He had been on the island for less than two months when he had before him the petition of Christopher Hampton of Kirk Braddon, whose wife had been condemned to seven years' penal servitude for lamb stealing, and who asked the bishop's license for a second marriage in consideration of his "motherless children." On 26 May 1698, Wilson gave him "liberty to make such a choice as may be most for your support and comfort." Yet his views of marriage were usually strict; marriage with a deceased wife's sister he regarded as incest
.
The building of new churches (beginning with the Castletown
chapel, 1698) was one of his earliest cares and, in 1699, he took up the concept of parochial libraries devised by his friend Thomas Bray
and began the establishment of such libraries in his diocese. This led to provision in the Manx language
for the needs of his people. The printing of prayers for the poor families is projected in a memorandum of Whit-Sunday 1699, but was not carried out until 30 May 1707, the date of issue of his Principles and Duties of Christianity ... in English and Manks, with short and plain directions and prayers, 1707. This was the first book published in Manx, and is often styled the Manx Catechism. It was followed in 1733, by A Further Instruction and A Short and Plain Instruction for the Lord's Supper. The Gospel of St. Matthew was translated, with the help of his vicars-general in 1722 and published in 1748 under the sponsorship of his successor as bishop, Mark Hildesley . The remaining Gospels and the Acts were also translated into Manx under his supervision, but not published. He freely issued occasional orders for special services, with new prayers, the Uniformity Act
not specifying the Isle of Man. A public library was established by Wilson at Castletown in 1706 and, from that year, by help of the trustees of the "academic fund" and by benefactions from Lady Elizabeth. He did much to increase the efficiency of the grammar schools and parish schools in the island. He was created JD.D. at Oxford on 3 April 1707 and incorporated at Cambridge on 11 June. In 1724 he founded, and in 1732 endowed, a school at Burton, his birthplace.
of the Act of Settlement 1704. This was seen by islanders as their Magna Carta
. The act provided tenants with rights to sell and pass on their land, subject only to continued fixed rents and alienation fees being paid to the Stanley family.
, and publicly proclaimed on the Tynwald Hill on 6 June. Of these constitutions it was said by Peter King, 1st Baron King
, that "if the ancient discipline of the church were lost, it might be found in all its purity in the Isle of Man".
Improved discipline worked smoothly till 1718, when it came into collision with Earl's civil authorities, owing in part to the reduction of revenue through Wilson's practice of mitigating fines in the spiritual court. Robert Mawdesley, governor from 1703, had been in harmony with Wilson; his successor in 1713, Alexander Horne, became Wilson's determined opponent. The substantive points at issue appear to be whether appeals in ecclesiastical cases should be made to ecclesiastical authorities or to the civil authority of the Lord of Mann; and, later, whether or not soldiers of the Lord of Mann should fall under ecclesiastical rule. The first direct conflict began in 1716. Mary Henricks, a married woman, was excommunicated for adultery, and condemned to penance and prison. She appealed to the lord of the isle, and Horne allowed the appeal. Wilson, rightly maintaining that there was no appeal except to the Archbishop of York
, did not appear at the hearing, and was fined £10; the fine was remitted. The episcopal registrar, John Woods of Kirk Malew, was twice imprisoned (1720 and 1721) for refusing to act without the bishop's direction. In 1721, the governor's wife, Jane Horne, was ordered to ask forgiveness (in mitigation of penance) for slanderous statements. For admitting her to communion and for false doctrine Archdeacon Robert Horrobin, the governor's chaplain, was suspended in 1722. Refusing to recall the sentence, Wilson was fined £60, and his vicars-general £20 apiece, and in default were imprisoned in Castle Rushen
. Wilson appealed to the crown; they were released, but the fines were paid through Thomas Corlett. The dampness of the prison had so affected Wilson's right hand that he was henceforth unable to move his fingers to write. In 1724 the bishopric of Exeter
was offered to Wilson as a means of reimbursement. He refused, reputedly saying to Queen Caroline
, “I will not forsake my wife and children because they are poor”. On his declining, George I
promised to meet his expenses from the privy purse, a pledge which the king's death left unfulfilled.
Part of Horrobin's doctrine was his approval of a book which Wilson had censured. On 19 January 1722 John Stevenson, a layman of Balladoole, forwarded to Wilson a copy of the Independent Whig, 1721, which had been circulated in the island and sent to Stevenson by Richard Worthington for the public library. Wilson issued a pastoral letter to his clergy, bidding them excommunicate the "agents and abettors" of "such-like blasphemous books". For suppressing the book Stevenson was imprisoned in Castle Rushen by Horne, who required Wilson to deliver up the volume as a condition of Stevenson's release. This he did under protest. When the book reached William Koss, the librarian, he said "he would as soon take poison as receive that book into the library upon any other terms or conditions than immediately to burn it". Horrobin, on the other hand, affirmed that the work "had rules and directions in it sufficient to bring us to heaven, if we could observe them".
Horne was superseded in 1728. Floyd, his successor, was generally unpopular. With the appointment of Thomas Horton in 1725, began a new conflict between civil and ecclesiastical authority. Lord Derby now claimed, on 5 October 1725, that the act of Henry VIII, placing Man in the province of York, abrogated all insular laws in matters spiritual. The immediate result was that Horton refused to carry out a recent decision of the House of Keys, granting soldiers to execute orders of the ecclesiastical court. A revision of the "spiritual statutes" was proposed by the House of Keys, with Wilson's concurrence. Horton took the step of suspending the whole code until "amended and revised". He further deprived the sumner-general and appointed another. Unavailing petitions for redress were sent to Lord Derby; the House of Keys appealed on 6 November 1728 to the king in council, but nothing came of it.
On 1 February 1736 the tenth Lord Derby died and the lordship of Man passed to James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl
. The revision of statutes proposed in 1725 was at once carried through, with the result of "a marked absence of disputes between the civil and ecclesiastical courts". The intricate suit about impropriations (to all of which Atholl had a legal claim) jeopardised for a time the temporalities of the church, and was not finally settled till 7 July 1757 after Wilson's death. In 1737, with the aid of Sir Joseph Jekyll
, Wilson and his son were able to recover certain deeds securing to the clergy an equivalent for their tithe. Between Wilson and Atholl (and the governors of his appointment) there seems never to have been any personal friction. Under the revised ecclesiastical law presentments for moral offences were less frequent, procedure being less summary. But, while health lasted, Wilson was sedulous in administering the discipline through the spiritual courts, and there was an increase of clerical cases. The extreme difficulty of obtaining suitable candidates for the miserably poor paying benefices led Wilson to get leave from the archbishop of York to ordain before the canonical age.
Wilson was not by nature an intolerant man, nor were his sympathies limited to the Anglican fold. It is said that Cardinal Fleury
wrote to him, "as they were the two oldest bishops", and, he believed, "the poorest in Europe" invited him to France. He was so pleased with Wilson's reply that he got an order prohibiting French privateers from ravaging the Isle of Man. Roman Catholics "not unfrequently attended" his services. He allowed dissenters to sit or stand at the communion and not being compelled to kneel, they did so. The Quakers
loved and respected him.
In 1735, he met James Edward Oglethorpe in London, and this was the beginning of his practical interest in foreign missions, though he was an early advocate of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and still earlier of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. His Essay towards an Instruction for the Indians ... in ... Dialogues, written in 1740, was begun at Oglethorpe's
instance, and dedicated to the Georgia trustees. Wilson's son was entrusted with its revision for the press, and he submitted the manuscript to Isaac Watts
. It must be remembered that most of the Georgia trustees were dissenters
. Since 1738 Wilson had "been interested in Zinzendorf
, through friends who had met him at Oxford and London in 1737. In 1739, he corresponded with Henry Cossart, author of a Short Account of the Moravian Churches and received from Zinzendorf and his coadjutors a copy of the Moravian catechism, with a letter dated 28 July 1740. Zinzendorf was again in London in 1749, holding there a synod from 11 to 30 September. On 23 September, news came of the death of Cochius of Berlin, 'artistes' of the 'reformed tropus' (one of three) in the Moravian church. The vacant and somewhat shadowy office was tendered to Wilson, with liberty to employ his son as substitute, Zinzendorf sending him a seal-ring. On 19 December Wilson wrote his acceptance.
.
, 1847–63, 7 vols, preceded by a Life, 1863, 2 vols., to which Keble had devoted sixteen years' labour. Besides works noted above, many sermons and devotional pieces, he published:
Posthumous publications were:
Bishop of Sodor and Man
The Bishop of Sodor and Man is the Ordinary of the Diocese of Sodor and Man in the Province of York in the Church of England. The diocese covers the Isle of Man. The see is in the town of Peel where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of St German, elevated to cathedral status on 1...
between 1697 and 1755.
He was born in Burton and Ness, in the Wirral
Wirral Peninsula
Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, in December 1663. Having studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, he was ordained priest in 1689. In 1692 the Lord of Mann
Lord of Mann
The title Lord of Mann is used on the Isle of Man to refer to Queen Elizabeth II, who is the island's Lord Proprietor and head of state.-Relationship with the Crown:The title is not correctly used on its own...
, William Stanley the Earl of Derby
William Stanley, 9th Earl of Derby
William Richard George Stanley, 9th Earl of Derby , styled Lord Strange from 1655 to 1672, was an English peer.Derby was the eldest son of Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby, and Dorotha Helena Kirkhoven...
, appointed him personal chaplain and tutor to the earl's son. Five years later, at Lord Derby’s urging, Wilson reluctantly accepted promotion to the vacant bishopric of Sodor and Man
Diocese of Sodor and Man
Sodor and Man is a diocese of the Church of England. Originally much larger, today it covers just the Isle of Man and its adjacent islets.-Early history:...
.
When he came to the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, he found the buildings of the diocese in a ruinous condition. The building of new churches was one of his first acts, and he eventually rebuilt most of the churches of the diocese along with establishing public libraries. He oversaw the passing in the Tynwald
Tynwald
The Tynwald , or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It is claimed to be the oldest continuous parliamentary body in the world, consisting of the directly elected House of Keys and the indirectly chosen Legislative Council.The Houses sit jointly, for...
of the Act of Settlement 1704 that provided tenants with rights to sell and pass on their land, subject only to continued fixed rents and alienation fees. Wilson worked to restore ecclesiastical discipline on the island, although he clashed with civil authorities partly because of the reduction of revenue from Wilson mitigating fines in the spiritual court. He met James Edward Oglethorpe in London and because of that meeting became interested in foreign missions. He was an early advocate of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
Bishop Wilson's relations with the people of the Isle of Man were marked by mutual affection and esteem. His personal piety expressed itself in energetic charitable activity and he often intervened to shield his flock from the demands of the state authorities. He declined preferment to the much wealthier See of Exeter. When he died on 7 March 1755 at the age of 91, it is said that his funeral was attended by nearly the whole adult population of the Isle of Man.
Early life (1663-87)
Wilson was the sixth of seven children and fifth son of Nathaniel Wilson (died 29 May 1702) and Alice Wilson née Browne (died 16 August 1708). He was born at Burton, CheshireCheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
on 20 December 1663. According to Wilson's biographer John Keble
John Keble
John Keble was an English churchman and poet, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement, and gave his name to Keble College, Oxford.-Early life:...
, both sides of his family had been Burton residents for many centuries. Much of Wilson's childhood was spent at the parsonage in Winwick
Winwick, Cheshire
Winwick is a village and civil parish in the borough of Warrington in Cheshire, England. Historically within Lancashire, until 1 April 1974, Winwick was administered as part of Lancashire with the rest of north Warrington. It is situated about three miles north of Warrington town centre, near...
where his paternal half-uncle, chaplain Richard Sherlock
Richard Sherlock (clergyman)
Richard Sherlock was a seventeenth century English clergyman.-Early life:Sherlock was born at Oxton, then a village in the Cheshire peninsula of Wirral, on 11 November 1612, and was baptised at Woodchurch on the 15th of that month. His father, William, a small yeoman, died while Richard was still...
lived; Sherlock supervised Wilson's training. It was through Sherlock that the earliest connection to the Isle of Man can be made, insofar as he was chaplain to the son of the seventh earl of Derby and Lord of Mann, amongst whose ambitions were to restore order to the church in the Isle of Man after a breakdown in the seventeenth century.
Wilson was tutored at the King's school, Chester and entered Trinity College, Dublin as a sizar
Sizar
At Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is a student who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in return for doing a defined job....
on 29 May 1682. His tutor was John Barton, afterwards dean of Ardagh
Ardagh, County Longford
Ardagh is a village in County Longford, Ireland about from Longford Town. It is located off the N4 road.There are several important Early Christian sites in and near Ardagh, including the Church of St. Mel...
. Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
entered in the previous month, and other contemporaries included Peter Browne
Peter Browne
Peter Browne , Irish divine and bishop of Cork and Ross, was born in County Dublin, not long after the Restoration.He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1682, and after ten years' residence obtained a fellowship...
and Edward Chandler. He was elected scholar on 4 June 1683. In February 1686 he graduated with a B.A.. The influence of Archdeacon Michael Hewetson (died 1709), a prebendary of St Patrick's Cathedral, turned his thoughts from medicine to the church. He was ordained deacon before attaining the canonical age by William Moreton
William Moreton
William Moreton was an English prelate in the Church of Ireland who served as the Bishop of Meath from 1705-1716.-Life:...
, bishop of Kildare
Diocese of Meath and Kildare
The United Dioceses of Meath and Kildare is a diocese in the Church of Ireland located in Ireland. The diocese is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin.-Overview and history:...
on 29 June 1686 in the cathedral church of Kildare on the day of its consecration.
He left Ireland on 10 February 1687 to become curate to his uncle Sherlock in the chapelry of Newchurch Kenyon at the parish of Winwick. He was ordained priest by Nicholas Stratford
Nicholas Stratford
Nicholas Stratford was an Anglican prelate. He served as Bishop of Chester from 1689 to 1707.He was born at Hemel Hempstead,, graduated M.A. at Trinity College, Oxford in 1656, and was Fellow there in 1657. He contributed to the royalist poetry anthology Britannia Rediviva in 1660, writing in Latin...
on 20 October 1689 and remained in charge of Newchurch with a salary of £30 until the end of August 1692. He was then appointed domestic chaplain to William Stanley, 9th Earl of Derby. Early in 1693, he was appointed master of the almshouse at Lathom
Lathom
Lathom is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England, about 5 km northeast of Ormskirk. It is in the district of West Lancashire, and with the parish of Newburgh forms part of Newburgh ward...
, yielding £20 more. At Easter he made a vow to set apart a fifth of his small income for charity, especially for the poor. Wilson gave up his parish duties to concentrate on the education of the Earl's heir apparent, continuing in that role for five years. Keble suggests that the Stanley family approved of Wilson's acceptance of the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
of 1688. Stowall suggests that Wilson became more highly valued by the 9th Earl after giving him strong counsel against his indebtedness and reminding him of the potential for financial crisis arising out of any change in government.
In June 1693 he was offered by Lord Derby the valuable rectory of Badsworth
Badsworth
Badsworth is a village and civil parish in the City of Wakefield metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 583. The village is located south of Pontefract....
in the West Riding of Yorkshire
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...
, but refused it, having made a resolution against non-residence. He received his M.A. in 1696. On 27 October 1698 he was married at Winwick to Mary (16 July 1674 – 7 March 1705), daughter of Thomas Patten. The couple had four children, of whom only Thomas survived to adulthood and became prebendary of Westminster and rector of St. Stephen Walbrook.
Preferment
Baptist Levinz
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.-Life:...
, and insisted on his taking it. Derby had previously offered the position to Wilson who had "modestly declined". The background to the insistent offer was a complaint made to William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
by the Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
, John Sharp
John Sharp, Archbishop of York
John Sharp , English divine, Archbishop of York, was born at Bradford, and educated at Christ's College, Cambridge.-Biography:...
about the length of the vacancy; the prior and largely absentee incumbent Baptist Levinz had died in 1693. William gave an ultimatum to Derby of an immediate nomination, or else an imposition at the King's will. William assented to Wilson's elevation on December 25, 1697 and ordered the Archbishop of York to consecrate Wilson as bishop. On 10 January 1697 he was created LL.D. by Thomas Tenison
Thomas Tenison
Thomas Tenison was an English church leader, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs.-Life:...
, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
(a so-called Lambeth degree
Lambeth degree
A Lambeth degree is an academic degree conferred by the Archbishop of Canterbury under the authority of the Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533 as successor of the papal legate in England...
). On 16 January 1697, he was consecrated bishop at the Savoy Chapel
Savoy Chapel
The Savoy Chapel or the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy is a chapel off the Strand, London, dedicated to St John the Baptist. It was originally built in the medieval era off the main church of the Savoy Palace...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. On 28 January the rectory of Badsworth was again offered to him in commendam
In Commendam
In canon law, commendam was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice in trust to the custody of a patron...
, and again refused, though the see of Man was worth no more than £300 a year. His first business was to recover the arrears of royal bounty (an annuity of £100, granted 1675).
Work in the Isle of Man (1687-1749)
On 6 April he landed at DerbyhavenDerbyhaven
Derbyhaven is a hamlet near Castletown in the southern parish of Malew, Isle of Man. It is located on the isthmus connecting Langness Peninsula to the rest of the island, on the bay of the same name, and also on Castletown Bay on the other side of the isthmus.In the 17th century it was a...
in the Isle of Man. He was installed on 11 April 1687 in the ruins of St. German's Cathedral
Peel Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint German or Peel Cathedral is located in Peel, Isle of Man. The cathedral is the parish church of the parish of German, which includes the town of Peel, and was built 1879-84. It was made the cathedral by Act of Tynwald in 1980...
, within Peel Castle
Peel Castle
thumb|250px|right|Chancel of the Cathedral of St. GermanPeel Castle is a castle in Peel, Isle of Man originally constructed by Vikings. The castle stands on St Patrick's Isle which is connected to the town by causeway...
at Peel. At once he took up his residence at Bishop's Court, Kirk Michael, which he found also in a ruinous condition, with only a tower and chapel standing. Wilson set about rebuilding the greater part of it, at a cost of £1,400, of which all but £200 came from his own pocket. He soon became 'a very energetic planter' of fruit and forest trees, turning 'the bare slopes' into 'a richly wooded glen'. He was an equally zealous farmer and miller, doing much by his example to develop the resources of the island. For some time he was the only physician in the island. He set up a drug-shop, giving advice and medicine to the poor for free.
He had been on the island for less than two months when he had before him the petition of Christopher Hampton of Kirk Braddon, whose wife had been condemned to seven years' penal servitude for lamb stealing, and who asked the bishop's license for a second marriage in consideration of his "motherless children." On 26 May 1698, Wilson gave him "liberty to make such a choice as may be most for your support and comfort." Yet his views of marriage were usually strict; marriage with a deceased wife's sister he regarded as incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
.
The building of new churches (beginning with the Castletown
Castletown
Castletown is a town geographically within the Malew parish of the Isle of Man but administered separately. Lying at the south of the island, it is the former Manx capital. The centre of town is dominated by Castle Rushen, a well-preserved castle.-History:...
chapel, 1698) was one of his earliest cares and, in 1699, he took up the concept of parochial libraries devised by his friend Thomas Bray
Thomas Bray
The Reverend Dr Thomas Bray was an English clergyman, who spent time in Maryland as an Anglican representative.-Life:...
and began the establishment of such libraries in his diocese. This led to provision in the Manx language
Manx language
Manx , also known as Manx Gaelic, and as the Manks language, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, historically spoken by the Manx people. Only a small minority of the Island's population is fluent in the language, but a larger minority has some knowledge of it...
for the needs of his people. The printing of prayers for the poor families is projected in a memorandum of Whit-Sunday 1699, but was not carried out until 30 May 1707, the date of issue of his Principles and Duties of Christianity ... in English and Manks, with short and plain directions and prayers, 1707. This was the first book published in Manx, and is often styled the Manx Catechism. It was followed in 1733, by A Further Instruction and A Short and Plain Instruction for the Lord's Supper. The Gospel of St. Matthew was translated, with the help of his vicars-general in 1722 and published in 1748 under the sponsorship of his successor as bishop, Mark Hildesley . The remaining Gospels and the Acts were also translated into Manx under his supervision, but not published. He freely issued occasional orders for special services, with new prayers, the Uniformity Act
Act of Uniformity 1662
The Act of Uniformity was an Act of the Parliament of England, 13&14 Ch.2 c. 4 ,The '16 Charles II c. 2' nomenclature is reference to the statute book of the numbered year of the reign of the named King in the stated chapter...
not specifying the Isle of Man. A public library was established by Wilson at Castletown in 1706 and, from that year, by help of the trustees of the "academic fund" and by benefactions from Lady Elizabeth. He did much to increase the efficiency of the grammar schools and parish schools in the island. He was created JD.D. at Oxford on 3 April 1707 and incorporated at Cambridge on 11 June. In 1724 he founded, and in 1732 endowed, a school at Burton, his birthplace.
Land tenancy issues
Wilson was centrally involved in another needed improvement to the island than the construction of libraries and chapels and the dissemination of contemporary farming methods. Land tenure issues were a major source of instability for tenants on the island, which had not yet made a clean break from more ancient feudal traditions. Attempts by previous earls of Derby to assert landlord rights had considerably unsettled the community. Wilson was charged by the ninth earl with gathering proposals for change from tenants, work which led to fruition under the tenth Earl, with the passing in the TynwaldTynwald
The Tynwald , or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It is claimed to be the oldest continuous parliamentary body in the world, consisting of the directly elected House of Keys and the indirectly chosen Legislative Council.The Houses sit jointly, for...
of the Act of Settlement 1704. This was seen by islanders as their Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
. The act provided tenants with rights to sell and pass on their land, subject only to continued fixed rents and alienation fees being paid to the Stanley family.
Restoration of ecclesiastical discipline
The restoration of ecclesiastical discipline on the island was a serious task for Wilson. Scandals, frequently involving the morals of the clergy, gave him much trouble. The "spiritual statutes" of the island (valid, where not superseded by the Anglican canons of 1603) were of native growth, and often uncouth in their provisions. Without attempting to disturb these, with the single exception of abolishing commutation of penance by fine, Wilson drew a set of ten Ecclesiastical Constitutions which were subscribed by the clergy in a convocation at Bishops Court on 3 February 1704 and ratified by the governor and council the next day. These were then confirmed by James Stanley, 10th Earl of DerbyJames Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby
James Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby PC , styled The Honourable until 1702, was a British peer and politician.Derby was the second son of Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby, and Dorothea Helena Kirkhoven...
, and publicly proclaimed on the Tynwald Hill on 6 June. Of these constitutions it was said by Peter King, 1st Baron King
Peter King, 1st Baron King
Peter King, 1st Baron King PC, FRS was an English lawyer and politician, who became lord chancellor of England.-Life:He was born in Exeter in 1669....
, that "if the ancient discipline of the church were lost, it might be found in all its purity in the Isle of Man".
Civil and ecclesiastical conflict
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
, did not appear at the hearing, and was fined £10; the fine was remitted. The episcopal registrar, John Woods of Kirk Malew, was twice imprisoned (1720 and 1721) for refusing to act without the bishop's direction. In 1721, the governor's wife, Jane Horne, was ordered to ask forgiveness (in mitigation of penance) for slanderous statements. For admitting her to communion and for false doctrine Archdeacon Robert Horrobin, the governor's chaplain, was suspended in 1722. Refusing to recall the sentence, Wilson was fined £60, and his vicars-general £20 apiece, and in default were imprisoned in Castle Rushen
Castle Rushen
Castle Rushen is a medieval castle located in the Isle of Man's historic capital, Castletown in the south of the island. It towers over the Market Square to the south-east and the harbour to the north-east...
. Wilson appealed to the crown; they were released, but the fines were paid through Thomas Corlett. The dampness of the prison had so affected Wilson's right hand that he was henceforth unable to move his fingers to write. In 1724 the bishopric of Exeter
Diocese of Exeter
The Diocese of Exeter is a Church of England diocese covering the county of Devon. It is one of the largest dioceses in England. The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter is the seat of the diocesan bishop, the Right Reverend Michael Langrish, Bishop of Exeter. It is part of the Province of...
was offered to Wilson as a means of reimbursement. He refused, reputedly saying to Queen Caroline
Caroline of Ansbach
Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach was the queen consort of King George II of Great Britain.Her father, John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, was the ruler of a small German state...
, “I will not forsake my wife and children because they are poor”. On his declining, George I
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
promised to meet his expenses from the privy purse, a pledge which the king's death left unfulfilled.
Horne was superseded in 1728. Floyd, his successor, was generally unpopular. With the appointment of Thomas Horton in 1725, began a new conflict between civil and ecclesiastical authority. Lord Derby now claimed, on 5 October 1725, that the act of Henry VIII, placing Man in the province of York, abrogated all insular laws in matters spiritual. The immediate result was that Horton refused to carry out a recent decision of the House of Keys, granting soldiers to execute orders of the ecclesiastical court. A revision of the "spiritual statutes" was proposed by the House of Keys, with Wilson's concurrence. Horton took the step of suspending the whole code until "amended and revised". He further deprived the sumner-general and appointed another. Unavailing petitions for redress were sent to Lord Derby; the House of Keys appealed on 6 November 1728 to the king in council, but nothing came of it.
On 1 February 1736 the tenth Lord Derby died and the lordship of Man passed to James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl
James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl
James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl KT PC , styled Marquess of Tullibardine between 1715 and 1746, was a Scottish peer.-Background:...
. The revision of statutes proposed in 1725 was at once carried through, with the result of "a marked absence of disputes between the civil and ecclesiastical courts". The intricate suit about impropriations (to all of which Atholl had a legal claim) jeopardised for a time the temporalities of the church, and was not finally settled till 7 July 1757 after Wilson's death. In 1737, with the aid of Sir Joseph Jekyll
Joseph Jekyll
Sir Joseph Jekyll KS was a British barrister, politician and judge. Born to John Jekyll, he initially attended a seminary before joining the Middle Temple in 1680. Thanks to his association with Lord Somers Jekyll advanced rapidly, becoming Chief Justice of Chester in 1697 and a King's Serjeant in...
, Wilson and his son were able to recover certain deeds securing to the clergy an equivalent for their tithe. Between Wilson and Atholl (and the governors of his appointment) there seems never to have been any personal friction. Under the revised ecclesiastical law presentments for moral offences were less frequent, procedure being less summary. But, while health lasted, Wilson was sedulous in administering the discipline through the spiritual courts, and there was an increase of clerical cases. The extreme difficulty of obtaining suitable candidates for the miserably poor paying benefices led Wilson to get leave from the archbishop of York to ordain before the canonical age.
Toleration and wider interests
André-Hercule Cardinal de Fleury
André-Hercule de Fleury, Bishop of Fréjus was a French cardinal who served as the chief minister of Louis XV.-Biography:...
wrote to him, "as they were the two oldest bishops", and, he believed, "the poorest in Europe" invited him to France. He was so pleased with Wilson's reply that he got an order prohibiting French privateers from ravaging the Isle of Man. Roman Catholics "not unfrequently attended" his services. He allowed dissenters to sit or stand at the communion and not being compelled to kneel, they did so. The Quakers
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
loved and respected him.
In 1735, he met James Edward Oglethorpe in London, and this was the beginning of his practical interest in foreign missions, though he was an early advocate of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and still earlier of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. His Essay towards an Instruction for the Indians ... in ... Dialogues, written in 1740, was begun at Oglethorpe's
James Oglethorpe
James Edward Oglethorpe was a British general, member of Parliament, philanthropist, and founder of the colony of Georgia...
instance, and dedicated to the Georgia trustees. Wilson's son was entrusted with its revision for the press, and he submitted the manuscript to Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
. It must be remembered that most of the Georgia trustees were dissenters
English Dissenters
English Dissenters were Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.They originally agitated for a wide reaching Protestant Reformation of the Established Church, and triumphed briefly under Oliver Cromwell....
. Since 1738 Wilson had "been interested in Zinzendorf
Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf
Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, Imperial Count of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf, , German religious and social reformer and bishop of the Moravian Church, was born at Dresden....
, through friends who had met him at Oxford and London in 1737. In 1739, he corresponded with Henry Cossart, author of a Short Account of the Moravian Churches and received from Zinzendorf and his coadjutors a copy of the Moravian catechism, with a letter dated 28 July 1740. Zinzendorf was again in London in 1749, holding there a synod from 11 to 30 September. On 23 September, news came of the death of Cochius of Berlin, 'artistes' of the 'reformed tropus' (one of three) in the Moravian church. The vacant and somewhat shadowy office was tendered to Wilson, with liberty to employ his son as substitute, Zinzendorf sending him a seal-ring. On 19 December Wilson wrote his acceptance.
Later years and death (1749-55)
From his eighty-sixth year, Wilson was burdened with gout. He died at Bishop's Court on 7 March 1755, the fiftieth anniversary of his wife's death. His coffin was made from an elm tree planted by himself, and made into planks for that purpose some years before his death. He had a strong objection, mentioned in his will, to interments within churches, and was buried (11 March) at the east end of Kirk Michael churchyard, where a square marble monument marks his grave. Philip Moore preached the funeral sermon.Legacy
Wilson acted with the single aim of the moral and religious improvement of his people was recognised by them, and his strictness, joined with his self-denying charities, drew to him the affectionate veneration of those to whom he dedicated his work. Certainly, his fifty-eight years of service to the island as a resident bishop; his interest in the language and history of the island, and his involvement in improving so many aspects of the life of the island are his legacy. To the extent that any controversy arises, as a later biographer remarks, it is "centred on his championing of ecclesiastical supervision of individual and family life, a function that was increasingly questioned in the eighteenth century". A century after he lived, he was described by John Henry Newman as being "a burning and shining light", and several of his writings were republished in Tracts for the TimesTracts for the Times
The Tracts for the Times were a series of 90 theological publications, varying in length from a few pages to book-length, produced by members of the English Oxford Movement, an Anglo-Catholic revival group, from 1833 to 1841...
.
Works
Wilson's 'Works' were collected (under his son's direction) by Clement Cruttwell, 1781, 2 vols., including a Life (reprinted 1785, 3 vols.), and by John Keble, with additions, in the Library of Anglo-Catholic TheologyLibrary of Anglo-Catholic Theology
The Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology was a series of 19th-century editions of theological works by Church of England writers, devoted as the title suggests to significant Anglo-Catholic figures...
, 1847–63, 7 vols, preceded by a Life, 1863, 2 vols., to which Keble had devoted sixteen years' labour. Besides works noted above, many sermons and devotional pieces, he published:
- Life, profiled to the Practical Christian, 1713, by Richard Sherlock.
- History of the Isle of Man in Gibson's (2nd) edit, of Camden's Britannia, 1722
- Observations included in Abstract of the Historical Part of the Old Testament, 1735. (His 'Notes' are in an edition of the Bible, 1785.)
Posthumous publications were:
- Sacra Privata, first published by Cruttwell, 1781.
- Maxims of Piety and Christianity, first published by Cruttwell, 1781.
- Sharmaneyn Liorsh Thomase Wilson, published once only by Cruttwell, 1783. This single volume containing 22 of Wilson's sermons in ManxManx languageManx , also known as Manx Gaelic, and as the Manks language, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, historically spoken by the Manx people. Only a small minority of the Island's population is fluent in the language, but a larger minority has some knowledge of it...
was translated from English to "Gailck" (this is how Manx is referred to on the title page) by Thomas Corlett.
External links
- Works by Thomas Wilson, from Google Book SearchGoogle Book SearchGoogle Books is a service from Google that searches the full text of books that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October...
unless otherwise indicated- The Knowledge and Practice of Christianity Made Easy to the Meanest Capacities, or An Essay Towards Instruction for the Indians, 1759
- Sharmaneyn, 1783
- Sermons: By the Right Reverend Father in God Thomas Wilson D.D, volume II, 1796,
- The principles and duties of Christianity, 1821
- Parochialia, or Instructions to the Clergy in the discharge of their Parochial Duty by Thomas Wilson, in The Clergyman's Instructor: Or, a Collection of Tracts on the Ministerial Duties, fourth edition, 1827
- Sacra Privata: The Private Meditations and Prayers of Right Rev. T. Wilson, D.D., 1847
- Miscellanies: Being a Selection from the Poems and Correspondence of the Rev. Thomas Wilson B.D. with the memoirs of his life, by Rev. F. R. Raines M.A., F.S.A., 1858
- Cyfarwyddyd byr ac eglur er deall yn well swpper yr Arglwydd, 1848
- Life of R. Sherlock D. D. in The Practical Christian: Or, The Devout Penitent. A Book of Devotion, 1843
- The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Thomas Wilson, D.D., Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man, edited by John KebleJohn KebleJohn Keble was an English churchman and poet, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement, and gave his name to Keble College, Oxford.-Early life:...
, 1847–1863, from Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- Other publications
- The life of the Right Reverend Father In God Thomas Wilson, in The Annual Biography and Obituary for the Year 1821, volume V, 1821, from Google Book Search
- A Manx Notebook