Richard Holdsworth (or Houldsworth, Oldsworth) (1590, in

Newcastle-on-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

– 22 August 1649) was an English academic theologian, and Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge from 1637 to 1643. Although Emmanuel was a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

stronghold, Holdsworth, who in religion agreed, in the political sphere resisted Parliamentary interference, and showed Royalist sympathies.

Life

Richard Holdsworth was the son of Richard Holdswourth, Vicar of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and baptised at St Nicholas, Newcastle on 20 December 1590. He entered

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 ...

as a scholar in 1607, graduated B.A. in 1610, and became a Fellow in 1613. He was chaplain to

Sir Henry Hobart, 1st Baronet Sir Henry Hobart, 1st Baronet (1 Jan 1560 – 29 December 1625), of Blickling Hall, was an English politician who succeeded Sir Edward Coke to become Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. Background and education The son of Thomas H ...

. He was rector of St Peter-le-Poor, London in 1624.''Concise Dictionary of National Biography'' He was in 1629 the first

Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England. It does not enroll students or award degrees. It was founded in 1596 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, and hosts ove ...

divinity lecturer appointed from the Puritan camp; he held the position until 1637. A London reputation brought him the presidency of

Sion College Sion College, in London, is an institution founded by Royal Charter in 1630 as a college, guild of parochial clergy and almshouse, under the 1623 will of Thomas White, vicar of St Dunstan's in the West. The clergy who benefit by the foundation ...

in 1639. He became Archdeacon of Huntingdon. He was a member of the

Westminster Assembly The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and the Assembly's work was adopt ...

. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, for two years, and

Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity The Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity is the oldest professorship at the University of Cambridge. It was founded initially as a readership by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, in 1502. Since its re-endowment at the end o ...

, from 1643. He lost his position as Master of Emmanuel, because of expressed royalist opinions; and was briefly imprisoned by Parliament. He was appointed Dean of Worcester by the King, in 1647. It is also claimed that the King wanted to appoint him

Bishop of Bristol A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

; this is mentioned by

Thomas Fuller Thomas Fuller (baptised 19 June 1608 – 16 August 1661) was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his ''Worthies of England'', published in 1662, after his death. He was a prolific author, and ...

. Given the wartime conditions, these appointments could have been taken up only with difficulty.

Educational views

He is said to have been a modernizer in education, in the line of

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

and

Comenius John Amos Comenius (; cs, Jan Amos Komenský; pl, Jan Amos Komeński; german: Johann Amos Comenius; Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considere ...

, and a proponent of unadorned prose. His students at St. John's included

Simonds D'Ewes Sir Simonds d'Ewes, 1st Baronet (18 December 1602 – 18 April 1650) was an English antiquary and politician. He was bred for the bar, was a member of the Long Parliament and left notes on its transactions. D'Ewes took the Puritan side in the Civ ...

, whom he instructed by means of a system of note-taking. He provided John Wallis with an introduction to

William Oughtred William Oughtred ( ; 5 March 1574 – 30 June 1660), also Owtred, Uhtred, etc., was an English mathematician and Anglican clergyman.'Oughtred (William)', in P. Bayle, translated and revised by J.P. Bernard, T. Birch and J. Lockman, ''A General ...

, steering Wallis towards mathematics (Wallis graduated BA at Emmanuel as Holdsworth arrived). He was also a bibliophile who amassed a private collection of 10,000 books, bequeathed to the

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...

. It arrived there in 1664, after a long legal limbo caused by testamentary conditions. It is said to have been the largest private collection of the time in England. The ''Directions for a Student in the Universite'' has been attributed to him. The attribution is questioned by Hill as not certain. This work is a scheme of a four-year classical education. Mordecai Feingold, ''The Humanities'' p. 258, in ''The History of the University of Oxford'' IV, Seventeenth-Century Oxford (1997) edited by Nicholas Tyacke.

Notes

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Holdsworth, Richard 1590 births 1649 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge English Calvinist and Reformed theologians Masters of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Westminster Divines People from Newcastle upon Tyne Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians Lady Margaret's Professors of Divinity

Life

Educational views

Notes

Further reading

External links