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Thomas Herring (169323 March 1757) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1747 to 1757.


Early life and education

He was the son of John Herring, rector of Walsoken in Norfolk, who had previously been vicar of Foxton, near Cambridge, and his wife, Martha Potts. He was educated at
Wisbech Grammar School Wisbech Grammar School is an 11–18 mixed, Church of England, independent day school and sixth form in Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. Founded by the Guild of the Holy Trinity in 1379, it is one of the oldest schools in the co ...
and
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 f ...
, matriculating in 1710, graduating
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...
1714, M.A. 1717. Having migrated to
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th centur ...
in 1714, he was a fellow of Corpus Christi from 1716 to 1723, and graduated
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 ran ...
(''comitia regia'') in 1728. At Cambridge, he was an exact contemporary of Matthew Hutton, who succeeded him in turn in each of his dioceses.


Career

Herring became a close friend of Philip Yorke, the Solicitor General, who would later, as Lord Hardwicke, serve for many years as
Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. T ...
, and as such, was able to advance quickly. In 1727 he became a chaplain to King George II, in 1732
Dean of Rochester The Dean of Rochester is the head of the chapter of canons at Rochester Cathedral, the mother church of the Church of England Diocese of Rochester. The current dean is Philip Hesketh, who has served in that role since June 2016. List of deans ...
, and in 1737 he was appointed
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 Bangor Cathedral ( cy, Eglwys Gadeiriol Ban ...
, consecrated 15 January 1738.


Archbishop of York

On 21 April 1743 he was translated to York and appointed
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 ...
. On 23 September 1745, during the Jacobite rising, Herring gave a rousing sermon which, as Paul Langford notes, "captured the patriotic imagination as nothing previously had. It was to remain long in the collective mind of patriotic Protestantism." At a speech at
York Castle York Castle is a fortified complex in the city of York, England. It consists of a sequence of castles, prisons, law courts and other buildings, which were built over the last nine centuries on the south side of the River Foss. The now-ruined ...
on 24 September, Herring said:
...these Commotions in the ''North'' are but Part of a Great Plan concerted for our Ruin—They have begun under the Countenance, and will be supported by the Forces of ''France'' and ''Spain'', our old and inveterate, (and late Experience calls upon me to add, our savage and blood-thirsty) Enemies—A Circumstance that should ''fire'' the Indignation of every honest ''Englishman''. If these Designs should succeed, and Popery and Arbitrary Power come in upon us, under the Influence and Direction of these two Tyrannical and Corrupted Courts, I leave you to reflect, what would become of every Thing that is valuable to us! We are now bless'd with the mild Administration of a Just and Protestant King, who is of so strict an Adherence to the Laws of our Country, that not an Instance can be pointed out, during his whole reign, wherein he made the least Attempt upon the Liberty, or Property, or Religion, of a single Person. But if the Ambition and Pride of ''France'' and ''Spain'', is to dictate to us, we must submit to a Man to govern us under their hated and accursed Influence, who brings his Religion from ''Rome'', and Rules and Maxims of his Government from ''Paris'' and ''Madrid''.
Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twi ...
said this speech "had as much true spirit, honesty and bravery in it as ever was penned by an historian for an ancient hero". When Lord Hardwicke, the Lord Chancellor, repeated the speech's contents to King George II, the King ordered that the speech be printed in the ''Gazette''. After Hardwicke enquired whether he should send Herring a message containing the King's admiration of "his zeal and activity", the King said this was not enough: "...you must also tell the Archbishop that I heartily thank him for it." Herring organised Yorkshire into resistance against the Jacobites by raising volunteers and money. According to
Reed Browning Reed Browning (born 1938, New York City) is an American retired professor of history. Browning gained his B.A. from Dartmouth College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University. He also studied at the University of Vienna. He taught at Amherst ...
, Herring's behaviour during the rebellion had demonstrated that he was "a resolute Whig, a brave Briton, and a commanding prelate." Herring supported the Walpoleon Whigs because he viewed the Protestant Succession embodied in the House of Hanover as essential to Britain: "Let us remember that, next under God, Union at Home, and Loyalty and Affection to the King and his Royal Family, are our great and sure Defence." He was also deeply suspicious of France as a Roman Catholic nation and a threat to the British nation.


Archbishopric of Canterbury

On 21 Oct 1747, he was nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury. There he generally followed the lead of his friend the Lord Chancellor, and frequently came into disputes with the
Duke of Newcastle Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Marquess of Newcastle ...
, the Secretary of State. Herring, like his immediate predecessor, had taken a generally Hanoverian side through the Bangorian controversy and stood against the
convocation A convocation (from the Latin '' convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Greek ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a special purpose, mostly ecclesiastical or academic. In ac ...
. Herring is generally credited as being the author of "A New Form of Common Prayer", published anonymously in 1753 in response to John Jones' "Candid Disquisitions" (1749). However, as a conciliator he eschewed controversy and rejoiced that he was "called up to this high station, at a time, when spite, and rancour, and bitterness of spirit are out of countenance; when we breathe the benign and comfortable air of liberty and toleration."Letter to
William Duncombe William Duncombe (19 January 1690 – 26 February 1769) was a British author and playwright. Life Duncombe worked in the Navy Office from 1706 until 1725. That year, he and Elizabeth Hughes won a very large lottery sum on a joint ticket. He mar ...
, quoted by E. Carpenter in "Cantuar" p243 -Mowbray, Oxford, 1988.
He died in 1757 and was buried in Croydon Minster in Surrey.


Notes


Further reading

*R. Garnett, 'Correspondence of Archbishop Herring and Lord Hardwicke during the Rebellion of 1745', ''English Historical Review'', XIX (1904), pp. 529–31. *Aldred W. Rowden ''The Primates of the Four Georges'' (London, 1916), pp. 167–229. {{DEFAULTSORT:Herring, Thomas 1693 births 1757 deaths Archbishops of Canterbury Archbishops of York 18th-century Anglican archbishops Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Bishops of Bangor Deans of Rochester Doctors of Divinity Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain People of the Jacobite rising of 1745 People educated at Wisbech Grammar School Burials at Croydon Minster People from Walsoken 18th-century Welsh Anglican bishops 17th-century Anglican theologians 18th-century Anglican theologians