Anthony Ellys (1690–1761) was an English churchman who became
bishop of St David's
The Bishop of St Davids is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St Davids.
The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St Davids in Pembrokeshire, ...
in 1752.
Life
Born at
Yarmouth in
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, he was baptised on 8 June 1690. His father and grandfather were merchants there, and mayors of the borough. He was educated at
Clare Hall, Cambridge
Clare Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. Founded in 1966 by Clare College, Clare Hall is a college for advanced study, admitting only postgraduate students alongside postdoctoral researchers and fellows. It ...
, where he graduated B.A. in 1712, M.A. in 1716, and D.D. in 1728, on the occasion of a royal visit to the university. He became a fellow of his college and took holy orders. In 1719, his father being mayor, the Yarmouth corporation appointed him minister of St George's Chapel in the own.
He became in 1721 a chaplain to Lord-chancellor
Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield
Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, (23 July 1666 – 28 April 1732) was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1705 to 1710. He was Lord Chief Justice from 1710 to 1718 and acted briefly as one of the regents befo ...
, in 1724 vicar of
St Olave, Jewry, and prebendary of Gloucester, and in 1729 vicar of
Great Marlow
Great Marlow is a civil parish within Wycombe district in the English county of Buckinghamshire, lying north of the town of Marlow and south of High Wycombe. The parish includes the hamlets of Bovingdon Green, Burroughs Grove, Chisbridge Cro ...
also, without surrendering earlier preferments. In 1723 he was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...
.
In October 1752 he was appointed bishop of St. David's, and consecrated on 28 January in the following year. Ellys continued to hold his prebend and his city living ''
in commendam'', and went every Sunday morning in winter from his house in
Queen Square to preach to his parishioners. He died at Gloucester on 16 January 1761, and was buried in the south aisle of
Gloucester Cathedral.
Views
Ellys was a moderate Whig. There was some objection to the nomination of an upholder of the
Test Act
The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and nonconformists. The underlying principle was that only people taking communion in ...
as bishop; But Archbishop
Thomas Herring
Thomas Herring (169323 March 1757) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1747 to 1757.
Early life and education
He was the son of John Herring, rector of Walsoken in Norfolk, who had previously been vicar of Foxton, near Cambridge, and his wife, ...
, supported Ellys's preferment, a safe pair of hands and attached to the ecclesiastical establishment.
Ellys gave little support to the scheme of
John Jones of Welwyn for establishing a seminary for clerical education in his diocese. The books offered by Jones to the bishop were transferred to the presbyterian academy at
Carmarthen
Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...
.
Works
In 1736 he published 'A Plea for the Sacramental Test as best Security for the Church established, and very conducive to the Welfare of the State.' In 1752 he published anonymously some 'Remarks on Mr. Hume's Essay concerning Miracles,' which, though 'written in a sensible and genteel manner,' 'did not excite the attention they deserved.'
His appointment as bishop was by some attributed to reputation which he had gained as being engaged on a major work in defence of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...
; his 'Defence of the Reformation' never appeared. He published nothing more in his lifetime but a few sermons, preached on special occasions before the Lords, the Commons, and the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organization (registered charity no. 234518).
It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Part ...
. After his death his friends published his ''Tracts on the Liberty spiritual and temporal of the Protestants of England'', which was either a fragment or the whole of the long-expected great work. The first part, which appeared in 1763, was largely an anti-Catholic polemic; the second part, issued in 1765, was a treatise on
constitutional liberty based around the
Glorious Revolution.
Family
He married Anne, eldest daughter of Sir Stephen Anderson of
Eyworth,
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...
, and left one daughter, who married unhappily and became insane.
Notes
References
*
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellys, Anthony
1690 births
1761 deaths
18th-century Welsh Anglican bishops
Bishops of St Davids
Fellows of the Royal Society
18th-century Anglican theologians