Thomas Warmestry (1610 – 30 October 1665) was
Dean of Worcester
The Dean of Worcester is the head of the Chapter of Worcester Cathedral in Worcester, England. The current dean is Peter Atkinson, who lives at The Deanery, College Green, Worcester. Crockford's on-line accessed by subscription Tuesday 11 June ...
from 1661 until his death.
Biography
Warmestry was born in Worcester in 1610,
the son of William Warmestry and younger brother of the poet Gervase Warmestry, into an ancient Worcester family. Gervase succeeded William as registrar of the
Diocese of Worcester, a post which had been in the Warmestry family since 1544.
Thomas Warmestry was educated at the
King's School, Worcester
The King's School, Worcester is an English independent day school refounded by Henry VIII in 1541. It occupies a site adjacent to Worcester Cathedral on the banks of the River Severn in the centre of the city of Worcester. It offers mixed-sex ma ...
and at Oxford (matriculated at
Christ Church in 1628 aged 18, and graduated
BA at
Brasenose College
Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...
in 1628,
MA at Christ Church in 1631,
DD 1642
).
On 13 April 1635 he was instituted rector of
Whitchurch, Warwickshire
Whitchurch is a parish and a small hamlet lying on the left bank of the River Stour in Warwickshire, England, some four miles south-south-east of the town of Stratford-upon-Avon.
Hamlet
The population at the 2011 census was 174. Consisting to ...
, and he was clerk for the diocese of Worcester in both convocations of the clergy held in 1640.
His speech to Convocation in November 1640 expressed reservations regarding the new
Laudian
Laudianism was an early seventeenth-century reform movement within the Church of England, promulgated by Archbishop William Laud and his supporters. It rejected the predestination upheld by the previously dominant Calvinism in favour of free will, ...
canons and church imagery: he declared that worship should be "directed to the right object; not to altars, not to images, but to God". Warmestry was a moderate Anglican, who desired that Anglican episcopal government "may be fatherly, not despotical, much less tyrannical".
In 1646 he was appointed by the city of Worcester to treat with the parliamentary army respecting the city's surrender. Afterwards he joined
King Charles I at Oxford, when he was deprived of his church preferment. Later he removed to London, where he acted as almoner and confessor to royalist sufferers. In May 1653 he compounded for his lands at Paxford in the parish of
Blockley
Blockley is a village, civil parish and ecclesiastical parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, about northwest of Moreton-in-Marsh. Until 1931 Blockley was an exclave of Worcestershire.
The civil and ecclesiastical parish ...
in Worcestershire, and the sequestration was removed. In September of the same year he, with
Thomas Good, met and conferred with
Richard Baxter
Richard Baxter (12 November 1615 – 8 December 1691) was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymnodist, theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he ...
at
Cleobury Mortimer
Cleobury Mortimer (, ) is a market town and civil parish in southeast Shropshire, England, which had a population of 3,036 at the 2011 census. It was granted a market charter by Henry III in 1226.''Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in Turri Londinensi ...
in Shropshire as to the advisability of the clergy of Shropshire joining the Worcestershire association; Warmestry professed his ‘very good liking’ of the design, and signed a paper to that effect on 20 September 1653. He does not, however, seem to have had any real sympathy with Baxter, who complained that after he was silenced Warmestry, when dean of Worcester, went purposely to Baxter's ‘flock’ and preached ‘vehement, tedious invectives.’ He held for a time the post of lecturer at
St Margaret's, Westminster
The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey, is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster a ...
, for his removal from which the parliament petitioned
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
, on 23 June 1657, on account of his delinquency.
While residing in
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
, at the house of Lady Laurence, Warmestry was involved in the conversion to Christianity of Rigep Dandulo, a Muslim from
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mastic ...
. Dandulo was baptised by
Peter Gunning
Peter Gunning (1614 – 6 July 1684) was an English Royalist church leader, Bishop of Chichester and Bishop of Ely.
Life
He was born at Hoo St Werburgh, in Kent, and educated at The King's School, Canterbury and Clare College, Cambridge, wher ...
in 1657. Warmestry's account of the conversion, ''The Baptized Turk'' (1658), includes a description and analysis of a dream experienced by Dandulo.
At 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
...
Warmestry petitioned, in view of his losses during the Civil War and his loyalty to the royalist cause, to be appointed
Master of the Savoy
The Savoy Palace, considered the grandest nobleman's townhouse of medieval London, was the residence of prince John of Gaunt until it was destroyed during rioting in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The palace was on the site of an estate given t ...
, a position to which
Gilbert Sheldon
Gilbert Sheldon (19 June 1598 – 9 November 1677) was an English religious leader who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663 until his death.
Early life
Sheldon was born in Stanton, Staffordshire in the parish of Ellastone, on 19 ...
was instead appointed. However, he did gain the following livings:
* Canon of
Gloucester Cathedral
Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishment of a minster dedicated to S ...
(1660)
*
Dean of Worcester
The Dean of Worcester is the head of the Chapter of Worcester Cathedral in Worcester, England. The current dean is Peter Atkinson, who lives at The Deanery, College Green, Worcester. Crockford's on-line accessed by subscription Tuesday 11 June ...
(1661)
* Vicar of
Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in the ...
, Worcestershire (1662)
As Dean of Worcester, Warmestry experienced difficulties regarding the installation of the great organ in the cathedral. After he complained about organ-builder William Hathaway's workmanship in May 1665, on 5 August
Robert Skinner (Bishop of Worcester) wrote to
Gilbert Sheldon
Gilbert Sheldon (19 June 1598 – 9 November 1677) was an English religious leader who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663 until his death.
Early life
Sheldon was born in Stanton, Staffordshire in the parish of Ellastone, on 19 ...
(Archbishop of Canterbury) that Hathaway and consultant
Christopher Gibbons
Christopher Gibbons ( bapt. 22 August 1615 – 20 October 1676) was an English composer and organist of the Baroque period. He was the second son, and first surviving child of the composer Orlando Gibbons.
Life and career Background
Chri ...
were taking advantage of the Dean's "utter ignorance in re musica": the Dean was "
n ass to the lyre had no more skill in an organ than a beast that hath no understanding."
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
, MS Tanner 45, fol. 19
He died on 30 October 1665, and was buried in
Worcester Cathedral
Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, in Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified ...
.
Published works
He published:
* ''Suspiria Ecclesiæ et Reipublicæ Anglicanæ'', London, 1640.
* ''A Convocation Speech against Images, Altars, Crosses, the New Canons, the Oaths'', London, 1641.
* ''Pax Vobis; or a Charme for Tumultuous Spirits'', London, 1641.
* ''Ramus Olivæ; or an Humble Motion for Peace'', Oxford, 1642, 1644.
* ''An Answer to certain Observations of W. Brydges concerning the Present Warre against his Majestie'', n.p. 1643.
* ''The Preparation for London'', London, 1648.
* ''The Vindication of the Solemnity of the Nativity of Christ'', n.p. 1648.
* ''The Baptised Turk'', London, 1658.
* ''The Countermine of Union: a short Platform of Expedients for Peace'', London, 1660.
* ''An Humble Monitory to the Most Glorious Majesty of Charles II'' (including verses extant in Addit. MS. 23116), London, 1661.
* ''A Box of Spicnard; or a Little Manuel of Sacramental Instruction and Devotion'', London, 1664.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warmestry, Thomas
1610 births
1665 deaths
People educated at King's School, Worcester
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
Deans of Worcester
17th-century Anglican theologians