After his education in law, Bullingham entered the church, becoming Archdeacon of Lincoln in 1549. On the accession of Queen Mary, Bullingham, being married and Protestant, was deprived of the archdeaconry and his other church positions, and went into exile at Emden.
On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, Bullingham returned to England, resumed his church positions, and became a private chaplain to Archbishop Parker, who often consulted him on legal matters. He became Bishop of Lincoln in 1560,[5] and finally returned to his old city as Bishop of Worcester until his death in 1576. While in Worcester, he greeted the Queen on her visit to the city in 1575.[2]
Bullingham is buried in Worcester Cathedral in an unusual tomb, with an inscribed tablet on his stomach.[6]
Marriages and issue
Bullingham married firstly Margaret Sutton (d.1566), daughter of Hamond Sutton of Washingborough, Lincolnshire, by whom he had two sons, Francis BullinghamMP (1553–c.1636) and Nicholas Bullingham (1566–1639), and two daughters, both named Susan, who died in 1561 and 1564 respectively.[7]
He married secondly, about 1569, Elizabeth Lok (1535–c.1581). She was the widow of the London mercer and alderman Richard Hill (d.1568), by whom she had had thirteen children, and was the daughter of Sir William Lok and his first wife, Alice Spenser (d.1522). By his second wife Bullingham had a son, John (baptized 1570).[8][9][7]
Notes
^A GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN HERALDRY by JAMES PARKER
FIRST PUBLISHED in 1894 [1]
^Fixe, John (1583). Foxe's book of Martyrs. p. 2128. Foxe mentions Bullingham's installation after Elizabeth's accession.
^Sherlock, Dr. Peter (2004). "Episcopal Tombs in Early Modern England". The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 55 (4). Cambridge University Press: 654–680. doi:10.1017/S0022046904001502. S2CID162117440.