Christopher Bethell (21 April 1773 – 19 April 1859) was

Bishop of Bangor The Bishop of Bangor is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor. The see is based in the city of Bangor where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Cathedral Church of Saint Deiniol. The ''Report of the Commissioners appointed ...

. Bethell was the second son of the Reverend Richard Bethell, the rector of St Peter's

Wallingford, Berkshire Wallingford () is a historic market town and civil parish located between Oxford and Reading on the River Thames in England. Although belonging to the historic county of Berkshire, it is within the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire for admi ...

, who died 12 January 1806 having married his wife Ann in 1771 (she was the daughter of James Clitherow of Boston House, Middlesex). He was born at Isleworth, Surrey and educated at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, where he graduated BA in 1796, MA in 1799 and DD in 1817; obtained a fellowship and was second member's prizeman in 1797. Bethell was rector of

Kirby Wiske Kirby Wiske is an English village and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire. It lies beside the River Wiske, about north-west of Thirsk. History The village appears in the 1086 ''Domesday Book'' as Kirkebi in the Allerton ...

, Yorkshire, from 1808 to 1830;

Dean of Chichester The Dean of Chichester is the dean of Chichester Cathedral in Sussex, England. Bishop Ralph is credited with the foundation of the current cathedral after the original structure built by Stigand was largely destroyed by fire in 1114. Ralph di ...

from 5 April 1814 and a prebendary of Exeter from 22 June 1830. Lord Liverpool nominated him as the Bishop of Gloucester on 11 March 1824.

The Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

transferred him to the more lucrative see of Exeter on 8 April 1830 and again, on 28 October in the same year, to the still more lucrative see of Bangor, which he held up to the time of his death. Bethell was during the whole of his life identified with the High Church party. He was the author of several theological works, the principal of which is ''A General View of the Doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism'' (1821). His other works are chiefly charges and sermons. His ignorance of the Welsh language was a very great hindrance to his usefulness in the Diocese of Bangor, where 195,000 out of 200,000 people understood little more than their native tongue. Bethell died at his episcopal residence in Bangor on 19 April 1859 and was buried in

Llandegai Llandygái (; ; ; also Llandegai) is a small village and community on the A5 road between Bangor and Tal-y-bont in Gwynedd, Wales. It affords a view of the nearby Carneddau mountain range. The population of the community taken at the 2011 ...

churchyard on 27 April. At the time of his death he was the oldest of the active Welsh bishops.

References

Attribution

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethell, Christopher 1773 births 1859 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Bishops of Bangor 19th-century Welsh Anglican bishops People from Isleworth Deans of Chichester 19th-century Church of England bishops 18th-century Anglican theologians 19th-century Anglican theologians