The Reverend Lancelot Addison (1632 – 20 April 1703) was an English writer and Church of England clergyman. He was born at Crosby RavensworthJohn Julian: ''Dictionary of Hymnology'', 2nd edition, p. 19. London: John Murray, 1907. in

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

. He was educated at the

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

. Addison worked at

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

as a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intelligence ...

for seven years and upon his return he wrote ''"West Barbary, or a Short Narrative of the Revolutions of the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco",'' (1671). In 1670 he was appointed

royal chaplain A royal chapel is a chapel associated with a monarch, a royal court, or in a royal palace. A royal chapel may also be a body of clergy or musicians serving at a royal court or employed by a monarch. Commonwealth countries Both the United Kin ...

or Chaplain in Ordinary to the King, shortly thereafter

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

Milston __NOTOC__ Milston is a hamlet and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about north of Salisbury and separated from Durrington by the River Avon. The parish covers two hamlets, Milston and Brigmerston, along with farm buildings on Salisbury Pl ...

, Wilts (from 1670 to 1681), and Prebendary in the Cathedral of Salisbury. In 1681 Milston Rectory burnt down.ODNB: Pat Rogers, "Addison, Joseph (1672–1719

Alastair Hamilton, "Addison, Lancelot (1632–1703)
Retrieved 1 May 2014
/ref> In 1683 he became Lichfield Cathedral, Dean of Lichfield, and in 1684

Archdeacon of Coventry The Archdeacon of Coventry is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Coventry. The post has been called the '' Archdeacon Pastor'' since 2012. History The post was historically within the Diocese of Lichfield beginnin ...

. Among his other works was ''"The Present State of the Jews"'' (1675), a detailed study of the Jewish population of the Barbary Coast in the seventeenth century, their customs, and their religious behaviour.Rosenberger Collection, University of Chicago; Early Apologists and Christian Hebraists #1

/ref> Scholars have pointed out that part of Addison's book simply repeats material found in the English translation of Johannes Buxtorf's work ''Synagoga Judaica: The Jewish Synagogue, or an Historical Narration of the State of the Jewes'' (London, 1657).University of Pennsylvania Library
/ref> He died in 1703 leaving three sons, the essayist

Joseph Addison Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 June 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richar ...

(1672–1719, eldest child),

Gulston Addison Gulston Addison (1673 – 17 October 1709) was the President of Madras, India from 18 September 1709 to 17 October 1709. He was the younger brother of the famous essayist Joseph Addison, and the second son of Rev. Lancelot Addison. Early li ...

, who became Governor of

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, and the scholar Lancelot Addison (1680–1710), and two daughters: Dorothy Addison (1674–1750) and Anne Addison (1676-Unknown). Addison was buried in

Lichfield Cathedral Lichfield Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires (together with Truro Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), and the only medie ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Addison, Lancelot 1632 births 1703 deaths Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford People from Crosby Ravensworth Deans of Lichfield Archdeacons of Coventry English Anglicans Burials at Lichfield Cathedral People in English Tangier