Charles Moss (3 January 1711/12 – 13 April 1802) was an Anglican clergyman who served as

Bishop of St David's The Bishop of St Davids is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St Davids. The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St Davids in Pembrokeshire, ...

from 1766 to 1774 and

Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

from 1774 to 1802.

Biography

Born in Postwick, Norfolk, England, Moss was son of William Moss, a grazier and large landowner of Postwick. He was educated under Mr Reddington at

Norwich School Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a selective English independent day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as a ...

and at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

. He graduated BA in 1731, was ordained by Thomas Gooch at Bristol in 1737, and was a fellow of Caius from 1735 to 1739. Moss served as

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of th ...

Warminster Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-c ...

, (1738–1740) and of Hurstbourne and Burbage, Diocese of Salisbury, (1740–1786); as residential canon of Salisbury, 1746–1786;

Archdeacon of Colchester The Archdeacon of Colchester is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Chelmsford – she or he has responsibilities within her archdeaconry (the Archdeaconry of Colchester) including oversight of church buildings and some supervision, d ...

, St. Paul's Cathedral,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, (1749–1766). In 1752 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

and served as their vice-president from 1766 to 1768. From 1758 to 1766, Moss was a Chaplain to the King. Moss also served as rector of St George's, Hanover Square, London beginning in 1759 and remained in that post when he was appointed

in 1766. He was translated to Bath and Wells in 1774, remaining in that post until his death in 1802. As Bishop of Bath and Wells, he was one of the three bishops to consecrate William White and Samuel Provoost, the second and third American Episcopal bishops, respectively, in 1787. Moss died in

and was buried at

Grosvenor Chapel Grosvenor Chapel is an Anglican church in what is now the City of Westminster, in England, built in the 1730s. It inspired many churches in New England. It is situated on South Audley Street in Mayfair. History The foundation stone of the Gro ...

South Audley Street South Audley Street is a major shopping street in Mayfair, London.'South Audley Street: Introduction', in Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings), ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1980), pp. 290–291. Br ...

, London.

Family

He married Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, of Beaksbourne, 3rd Bt., according to that family's entry in Burke's Extinct Baronetcies. Out of a fortune of £140,000, he bequeathed £20,000 to his only daughter, wife of John King, and the remaining £120,000 to his only surviving son, Dr. Charles Moss, a graduate of Christ Church, Oxford (B.A. 1783 and D.D. 1797), and chaplain of the House of Commons in 1789, whom his father had appointed archdeacon of Carmarthen, January 1767, and archdeacon of St. David's in the December of the same year. He also gave him the sub-deanery of Wells immediately after his translation in 1774, and the precentorship in 1799, and three prebendal stalls in succession ; in 1807 he was made bishop of Oxford, and died on 16 December 1811.

Notes

Attribution

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, Charles 1711 births 1802 deaths People from Broadland (district) Bishops of St Davids Bishops of Bath and Wells Archdeacons of Colchester 18th-century Church of England bishops 19th-century Church of England bishops Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society People educated at Norwich School Chaplains of the House of Commons (UK) 19th-century Welsh Anglican bishops