Heneage Dering,

LL.D Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the earl ...

(1665–1750) was an eminent

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

in the first half of the 18th century. He became

Dean of Ripon The Dean of Ripon is a senior cleric in the Church of England Diocese of Leeds. The dean is the head of the chapter at Ripon Cathedral – his predecessors were deans of the same church when it was previously the cathedral of the Diocese of Ripo ...

and was known also as a Latin poet.

Life

He was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the son of the barrister Christopher Dering and his wife Elizabeth Spackman, and godson of

Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, PC (23 December 162018 December 1682), Lord Chancellor of England, was descended from the old family of Finch, many of whose members had attained high legal eminence, and was the eldest son of Sir Heneage ...

, He went to St Albans Grammar School. He was admitted to the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1678, and also studied at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

, where he matriculated in 1680, but left in 1682 without a degree.

Called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1690, Dering went to work as a secretary for John Sharp, once chaplain to Finch and now the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

, the following year. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

in 1701. Dering was

Archdeacon of the East Riding The Archdeacon of the East Riding is a senior ecclesiastical officer of an archdeaconry, or subdivision, of the Church of England Diocese of York in the Province of York. It is named for the East Riding of Yorkshire and consists of the eight rura ...

from 1702 to 1710; held the

living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * Hu ...

Scrayingham Scrayingham is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It was historically part of the East Riding of Yorkshire until 1974. The population was less than 100 at the 2011 census. Details are included in the civil parish of Howsham ...

from 1704 until 1749; and was Dean of Ripon from 1710 until his death on 8 April 1750.

Works

Dering published two book-length poems in Latin

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...

s: *''Reliquiae Eboracenses'' (1743), concerned with Yorkshire under the Romans, translated into English heroic stanzas by

Thomas Gent Thomas Gent (1693–1778) was a printer and writer, born in Ireland, who spent most of his working life in York. He authored several works, mostly histories, but was financially unsuccessful. His poetry and the woodcut illustrations in his pub ...

; *''De senectute'' (1746), related by an oak tree in

Studley Royal Park Studley Royal Park including the ruins of Fountains Abbey is a designated World Heritage Site in North Yorkshire, England. The site, which has an area of features an 18th-century landscaped garden, some of the largest Cistercian ruins in Europe ...

, possibly satirically aimed at

John Aislabie John Aislabie or Aslabie (; 4 December 167018 June 1742), of Studley Royal, near Ripon, Yorkshire, was a British politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1695 to 1721. He was of an independent mind, and did not stick r ...

Family

Dering was a notably wealthy cleric, inheriting family property. He married in 1712 Anne Sharp, eldest daughter of Archbishop John Sharp; they had three sons and five daughters. Of the children: * John (1715–1774) and Heneage (1719–1802) were clerics. * Elizabeth (1713–1777) married Charles Elsley. * Mary (1721–1798) married John Sharp, Archdeacon of Northumberland.

References

Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Deans of Ripon 1655 births 1750 deaths Neo-Latin poets Anglican clergy from London Archdeacons of the East Riding {{ChurchofEngland-dean-stub