Robert Tyrwhitt (1735–1817) was an English academic, known as a Unitarian.

Life

Born in London, he was younger son of Robert Tyrwhitt (1698–1742), residentiary canon of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

, by his wife Elizabeth, eldest daughter of

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Thomas Tyrwhitt Thomas Tyrwhitt (; 27 March 173015 August 1786) was an English classical scholar and critic. Life He was born in London, where he also died. He was educated at Eton College and Queen's College, Oxford. He was elected a fellow of Merton College ...

was his eldest brother. He entered as a

pensioner A pensioner is a person who receives a pension, most commonly because of retirement from the workforce. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom (along with OAP, initialism of old-age pensioner), Ireland and Australia where someone of p ...

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

on 9 March 1753, and graduated B.A. in 1757, M.A. in 1760. On 3 November 1759 he was admitted Fellow of his college. He was early influenced by the theological writings of

Samuel Clarke Samuel Clarke (11 October 1675 – 17 May 1729) was an English philosopher and Anglican cleric. He is considered the major British figure in philosophy between John Locke and George Berkeley. Early life and studies Clarke was born in Norwich, ...

, but he went much further, renounced the doctrine of the

39 Articles The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the ...

, and took part with John Jebb in the movement (1771–72) for abolishing subscription to the articles at graduation. In 1777 he resigned his fellowship, and ceased to attend the college chapel, though still residing in college. On 5 January 1784, he became a member of the largely Unitarian

Society for Promoting the Knowledge of the Scriptures The Society for Promoting the Knowledge of the Scriptures was a group founded in 1783 in London, with a definite but rather constrained plan for Biblical interpretation. While in practical terms it was mainly concerned with promoting Unitarian vie ...

, and contributed papers to the society's ''Commentaries and Essays''. His income was small until, on the death of his brother Thomas in 1786, he came into property. He was one of the founders of the London Unitarian Society (1791), precursor of the

British and Foreign Unitarian Association The British and Foreign Unitarian Association was the major Unitarian body in Britain from 1825. The BFUA was founded as an amalgamation of three older societies: the Unitarian Book Society for literature (1791), The Unitarian Fund for mission wo ...

which led in turn to today's

General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC or colloquially British Unitarians) is the umbrella organisation for Unitarian, Free Christians, and other liberal religious congregations in the United Kingdom and Irelan ...

, but on the introduction into its preamble of the term ‘idolatrous,’ as applied to the worship of Jesus Christ, he withdrew his name and cancelled his donation. From about 1808 he was confined to his rooms by gout. He died unmarried at Jesus College on 25 April 1817. He published two sermons preached before the university, and a reprint (1787) of his two papers in ''Commentaries and Essays''.

Legacy

He left money to the University of Cambridge, used to found the Tyrwhitt Hebrew scholarships.

References

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyrwhitt, Robert 1735 births 1817 deaths Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge English Unitarians