Thomas Thurlow (bishop)

The Right Reverend

Thomas Thurlow
Bishop of Durham
DioceseDiocese of Durham
In office1787 – 1791 (death)
PredecessorJohn Egerton
SuccessorShute Barrington
Other post(s)Bishop of Lincoln (1779–1787)
Orders
Ordination1758
Consecration30 May 1779
by Frederick Cornwallis
Personal details
Born1737 (1737)
Ashfield, Suffolk
Died(1791-05-27)27 May 1791
Portland Place, Marylebone, Middlesex, Great Britain
BuriedTemple Church, City of London, Great Britain
NationalityEnglish
DenominationAnglican
SpouseAnne Beere
Alma materThe Queen's College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford

Thomas Thurlow (1737–1791) was an English Anglican bishop who served as Bishop of Lincoln and as Bishop of Durham in the late eighteenth century.

Life

Thurlow was born in 1737 in Ashfield, Suffolk, the second son Thomas Thurlow (died 1762), Rector of Little Ashfield. His older brother was Lord Chancellor Edward, Lord Thurlow.[1]

Coat of Arms of Thomas Thurlow as Bishop of Durham

Thurlow matriculated at The Queen's College, Oxford in 1754, aged 18, but transferred to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he held a demyship 1755–1759 then a fellowship 1759–1772, graduating Bachelor of Arts (BA) 1758, Master of Arts (Oxford) (MA Oxon) 1761, Bachelor of Divinity (BD) 1769, Doctor of Divinity (DD) 1772.[2] He was made deacon on 23 April 1758, by John Thomas (Bishop of Salisbury) at his palace;[3] and ordained priest on 24 December 1758 by Frederick Cornwallis, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, at Grosvenor Chapel (on letters dimissory from Salisbury).[4]

He became Rector of Street, Somerset (1769–1770), of Stanhope, County Durham (1770–1771), Master of the Temple in 1772, Dean of Rochester (1775–1779), Bishop of Lincoln in 1779, additionally Dean of St Paul's in commendam in 1782, and was Bishop of Durham from 1787 until his death.[1][2][5] His election to Lincoln was confirmed on 29 May 1779 (at St Mary-le-Bow)[6] and he was consecrated a bishop on 30 May 1779 by Cornwallis (then Archbishop of Canterbury) at Lambeth Palace;[7] he was translated to Durham on 10 March 1787, by the confirmation of his election at St Mary-le-Bow.[8]

He died in Portland Place, London, on 27 May 1791, and was buried in Temple Church.[1]

Legacy

His rectum is displayed in the Hunterian Museum in London, with the following description:

"A rectum showing the effects of both haemorrhoids and bowel cancer. The patient in this case was Thomas Thurlow (1737-1791), the Bishop of Durham. Thurlow had suffered from some time from a bowel complaint, which he initially thought was the result of piles. He consulted John Hunter after a number of other physicians and surgeons had failed to provide him with a satisfactory diagnosis. Hunter successfully identified the tumour through rectal examination, but recognised that it was incurable. Thurlow died 10 months later."[9]

Family

Thurlow married Anne Beere, daughter of William Beere. They had the following children:[10]

  • Amelia Anne Thurlow (1779–1809), married in 1799 Lieut.-Gen. Sir Edward Howarth KCB
  • Edward Hovell-Thurlow (1781–1829), poet, succeeded as 2nd Baron Thurlow in 1806, married in 1813 Mary Catherine Bolton, actress
  • Elizabeth Thurlow
  • Anne Elizabeth Thurlow (1784–1875), married in 1804 Charles Godfrey
  • Rev. Thomas Thurlow (1788–1874), Rector of Boxford, Suffolk,[11] married in 1811 Maria Frances Lyon, daughter of Thomas Lyon MP

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Thurlow, Thomas" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 56. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ^ a b Foster, Joseph. "Thurlow, Thomas" . Alumni Oxonienses  – via Wikisource.
  3. ^ "Thurlow, Thomas". The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835. CCEd Ordination ID 143872. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Thurlow, Thomas". The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835. CCEd Ordination ID 103261. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  5. ^ "Thurlow, Thomas (1758–1787)". The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835. CCEd Person ID 2519. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Thurlow, Thomas (at Lincoln)". The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835. CCEd Appointment ID 303598. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Thurlow, Thomas (at Lincoln)". The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835. CCEd Appointment ID 303599. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Vacancy Evidence Record: Thurlow, Thomas (CCEd Record ID 308852)". The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  9. ^ Abrahams, Marc (27 April 2010). "The bishop's rectum: The Hunterian Museum in London displays the rectum of Thomas Thurlow, an unfortunate bishop who died of a tumour in 1791". The Guardian. Improbable research ... Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  10. ^ The Annual Peerage of the British Empire. Vol. 2. 1827. p. 307. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  11. ^ "Thurlow, Thomas (THRW806T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
Church of England titles
Preceded by
Benjamin Newcombe
 Dean of Rochester
1775–1779 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Bishop of Lincoln
1779–1787 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Dean of St Paul's
1782–1787
Preceded by Bishop of Durham
1787–1791 		Succeeded by


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