Thomas White (c.1550–1624) was an English clergyman, founder 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 ...

, London, and of

White's professorship of moral philosophy The White's Chair of Moral Philosophy was endowed in 1621 by Thomas White (benefactor), Thomas White (c. 1550–1624), Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, Christ Church as the oldest professorial post in philosophy at the University of Oxford. In 2021 ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

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 ...

in ''Worthies of England'' acquits him of being a pluralist or usurer; he made a number of other bequests, and was noted in his lifetime for charitable gifts.

Life

The son of John White, a Gloucestershire clothier, he was born about 1550 in Temple Street, Bristol. He entered as student of

Magdalen Hall, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colleg ...

, in 1566, graduated B.A. 25 June 1570, M.A. 12 October 1573, took holy orders and became a noted preacher. He moved to London, and was rector of St. Gregory by St. Paul's, a short time before being made vicar of St. Dunstan-in-the-West, 23 November 1575. On 11 December 1581 he received the degree of B.D. and that of D.D., on 8 March 1585. He was appointed treasurer of Salisbury on 21 April 1590, canon of Christ Church, Oxford, 1591, and canon of Windsor 1593. He died on 1 March 1624, and was buried in the chancel of St. Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street. Both of his wives were buried in the same church. After his death the university of Oxford honoured his memory in a public oration delivered by William Price, the first reader of the moral philosophy lecture founded by White. There was no monument to his memory until 1876, when Sion College and the trustees of the charities at Bristol caused one, designed by Arthur William Blomfield, to be erected near his grave.

Works

In 1578 Francis Coldock printed for him ''A Sermon preached at Pawles Crosse on Sunday the ninth of December, 1576'', London, in which he attacks the vices of the metropolis (pp. 45–8), and specially refers to theatre-houses and playgoing; and also 'A Sermon preached at Pawles Crosse on Sunday the thirde of Nouember, 1577, in the time of the Plague,' London. The

Paul's Cross St Paul's Cross (alternative spellings – "Powles Crosse") was a preaching cross and open-air pulpit in the grounds of Old St Paul's Cathedral, City of London. It was the most important public pulpit in Tudor and early Stuart England, and many ...

preachings against plays are referred to by

Stephen Gosson Stephen Gosson (April 1554 – 13 February 1624) was an English satirist. Biography Gosson was baptized at St George's church, Canterbury, on 17 April 1554. He entered Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 1572, and on leaving the university in 1576 h ...

(''Playes confuted in Five Actions'', 1590). Fuller states that White 'was afterwards’ related to

Sir Henry Sidney Sir Henry Sidney (20 July 1529 – 5 May 1586), Lord Deputy of Ireland, was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst, a prominent politician and courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received ...

, whose funeral sermon he preached. In 1589 he printed another ''Sermon at Paule's Crosse'', preached on the queen's day.

Legacy

By his will, dated 1 October 1623, besides a long list of smaller legacies, he left money for lectureships at St. Paul's, at St. Dunstan's, and one for the Newgate prisoners; but his chief bequest was £3,000 for the purchase of premises 'fit to make a college for a corporation of all the ministers, parsons, vicars, lecturers, and curates within London and suburbs thereof; as also for a convenient house or place fast by, to make a convenient almeshouse for twenty persons, viz. ten men and ten women.' This was afterwards known as Sion College, designed as a guild of the clergy of the city of London and its suburbs, placing them in the same position as most other callings and professions who enjoyed charters of incorporation, and with common privileges and property. To the exertions of John Simpson, his cousin, and one of his executors are chiefly due the charter obtained in 1630 incorporating the college, and also the erection of the building at

London Wall The London Wall was a defensive wall first built by the Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in AD 200, and is now the name of a modern street in the City of London. It has origins as an initial mound wall and di ...

in 1629, where the library remained until it moved to a new building on the

Victoria Embankment Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London. It runs from the Palace of Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge in the City of London, and acts as a major thoroughfare ...

in 1886. Simpson was the builder and founder of the major library of the institution. In 1613 he erected and endowed a hospital in Temple St., Bristol, called the Temple Hospital, for eight men and two women, and one man and one woman were afterwards added by himself. In 1622 he gave to Bristol houses in

Gray's Inn Lane Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in the Bloomsbury district of Central London, in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at the City of London boundary, where it bisects High Holborn, and ends at King's Cross and ...

, London, to support various charities. He had friendly relations with the

Merchant Taylors' Company ] The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 110 Livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Company, originally known as the ''Guild and Fraternity of St John the Baptist in the City of London'', was founded prio ...

; White in his will made the company nominators to eight out of the twenty places provided in his almshouses at Sion College, and the company were also connected as auditors with the moral philosophy lecture which he had founded at Oxford in 1621. Five exhibitions were made for scholars of Magdalen Hall, and the manor of Langdon Hill,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, was conveyed to the university. He requested

John Vicars John Vicars (1582, London – 12 April 1652, Christ's Hospital, Greyfriars, London) was an English contemporary biographer, poet and polemicist of the English Civil War. His best-known work is ''English Worthies'' or ''England's Worthies'', whose ...

, John Downeham, and John Simpson to examine and perfect his manuscript sermons and lectures on the Hebrews, and print them, as well as a volume of 'Miscellanea,' from his papers. These two wishes were not carried out.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Thomas (1550?-1624) 1550 births 1624 deaths 16th-century English Anglican priests 17th-century English Anglican priests Canons of Windsor Alumni of Magdalen Hall, Oxford