Nicholas Greaves, D.D. (1605?–1673) was an English churchman who was Dean of Dromore cathedral,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

.Atkinson, E.D., R.S.A.I. (1911)
''Dromore An Ulster Diocese''
p. 62. Greaves' tenure lasted until 1673, probably his death.

Life

He was the second son of John Greaves, rector of

Colemore Colemore is a hamlet and former village in the Hampshire Downs about northwest of Petersfield. It was united with Priors Dean to form the civil parish of Colemore and Priors Dean in 1932. Colemore is a largely abandoned village. There were ho ...

, near Alresford,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. His brothers were

John Greaves John Greaves (1602 – 8 October 1652) was an English mathematician, astronomer and antiquarian. Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, he was elected a Fellow of Merton College in 1624. He studied Persian and Arabic, acquired a number of old boo ...

, Sir Edward Greaves and Thomas Greaves. Dromore Cathedral — Geograph-1158456-by-james-denham

He studied as a

commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...

at St. Mary Hall,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He was elected fellow of

All Souls' College All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...

in 1627, and junior

Proctor Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: * In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...

of the university in 1640 (a position also held by his brother John's nemesis,

Nathaniel Brent Sir Nathaniel Brent (c. 1573 – 6 November 1652) was an English college head. Life He was the son of Anchor Brent of Little Wolford, Warwickshire, where he was born about 1573. He became 'portionist,' or postmaster, of Merton College, Oxford, i ...

in 1607) ''The Historical Register of The University of Oxford completed to the end of Trinity Term 1888''.
Part 1, p.33. Oxford: The Clarendon Press (1888) retrieved 12 May 2011 In 1642 he became the rector of

Tullylish Tullylish ()PlaceNamesNI - Tullylish
Co. Down. The parish, in the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

diocese of Dromore, is part of the original endowment of the Dromore deanery. The church had been partially destroyed during the Irish rebellion the previous year. Greaves held the living until 1673. On 1 November 1642 he took his

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD or BDiv; la, Baccalaureus Divinitatis) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology ...

degree, and

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ra ...

on 6 July 1643. He was presented as

Dean of Dromore The Dean of Dromore has responsibility for Dromore Cathedral in the Diocese of Down and Dromore in the Church of Ireland. Deans of Dromore *1693/4 Isaac Plume *1609 William Todd *1621 Thomas Wilson *1622 John Wall *1623 Robert Dawson *1628/9 W ...

Cathedral on 21 March 1643, but not necessarily installed. The

Bishop of Dromore The Bishop of Dromore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the original monastery of Dromore in County Down, Northern Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church the title still continues as a separate bishopric, but in the Church of Irela ...

was

Theophilus Buckworth Theophilus Buckworth, (b,d Wisbech) a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, was an Irish Anglican priest: he was Bishop of DromoreAtkinson, 'Dromore - An Ulster Diocese', P 69 from 1613 until his death on 8 September 1652. References

...

, the brother-in-law of archbishop

James Ussher James Ussher (or Usher; 4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for his ident ...

. Ussher was a friend and correspondent of Greaves' oldest brother,

. Buckworth had restored the old Dromore cathedral between 1613–1622 and begun to build a new bishop's palace; but they had been burned down along with the rest of the town on 15 November 1641 during the rebellion of that year. Buckworth was forced to flee to England, and returned to his place of birth at White Hall manor near

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. This is probably connected with Greaves' time at

St. John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

. He was the rector of the valuable living of

Welwyn Welwyn is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The parish also includes the villages of Digswell and Oaklands, Hertfordshire, Oaklands. It is sometimes referred to as Old Welwyn or Welwyn Village, ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

(the

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, ...

of All Souls' College), from 1651 until he was deprived of it by the

Act of Uniformity 1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 (14 Car 2 c 4) is an Act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Ch.2 c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayers, adm ...

. This act only applied to the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, so his position within the

was not affected. His successor at Welwyn was Gabriel Towerson. When his brother John Greaves died in 1652, Nicholas was the executor of his will. John had left his astronomical instruments (including an

astrolabe An astrolabe ( grc, ἀστρολάβος ; ar, ٱلأَسْطُرلاب ; persian, ستاره‌یاب ) is an ancient astronomical instrument that was a handheld model of the universe. Its various functions also make it an elaborate inclin ...

belonging to

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

) to Oxford University, for the use of the

Savilian Professors of Astronomy The position of Savilian Professor of Astronomy was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded (at the same time as the Savilian Professorship of Geometry) by Sir Henry Savile, a mathematician and classical scholar who was ...

. Nicholas kept hold of the instruments until the end of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

and didn't present them to the university until 1659, with suitable inscriptions. After Bishop Buckworth died (also in 1652), the diocese of Dromore remained vacant until the

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

. In 1653 Greaves was involved in a dispute over "money matters in Oxfordshire" with Francis and Henry Babington. The new bishop of Dromore, Robert Leslie, was consecrated in January 1661, and Greaves was finally installed as Dean on 26 March 1661. The rebuilding of the new cathedral took place between 1661–1667 under the caretaker bishop

Jeremy Taylor Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is fr ...

; it has been enlarged several times since. Greaves became the Treasurer of the Chapter of

Lisburn Cathedral Christ Church Cathedral, Lisburn (also known as Lisburn Cathedral), is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Connor in the Church of Ireland. It is situated in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, in the ecclesiastical province of Armagh. Previously St ...

in 1668. Lisburn, like so many other places in Ulster, was burned down in 1641, and its replacement was constituted as the cathedral church of the newly created Church of Ireland

diocese of Down and Connor The Diocese of Down and Connor, ( ga, Deoise an Dúin agus Chonaire) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland. It is one of eight suffragan dioceses in the ecclesiastical province of the me ...

. Greaves probably died in 1673.The new dean of Dromore, William Smith, was presented on 23 April 1673, the same year as the new rector of Tullylish.

References

;Citations ;Sources * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Greaves, Nicholas Year of birth uncertain 1673 deaths People from East Hampshire District Alumni of St Mary Hall, Oxford Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Deans of Dromore Ejected English ministers of 1662

Life

See also

References