Henry Reginald Courtenay (1741–1803) was an English

Bishop of Bristol A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

(1794–1797) and Bishop of Exeter 1797–1803.

Life

He was the eldest surviving son of Henry Reginald Courtenay, M.P., who married Catherine, daughter of

Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst, (16 November 168416 September 1775), of Bathurst in the County of Sussex, known as The Lord Bathurst from 1712 to 1772, was a British Tory politician. Bathurst sat in the English and British House of Commons f ...

. He was born in the parish of St. James, Piccadilly, 27 December 1741, and admitted at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

in 1755. He went on in 1759 to Christ Church, Oxford, where he took the degrees of B.A. 1763, M.A. 1766, and D.C.L. 1774. Having taken orders in the English church, he had rapid preferment. The rectory of Lee in Kent and the second prebendal stall in

Rochester Cathedral Rochester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an English church of Norman architecture in Rochester, Medway, Rochester, Kent. The church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rochester in the Church o ...

were conferred upon him in 1773. In the following year he was appointed to the rectory of St. George, Hanover Square, and he vacated his stall at Rochester; but he was one of the prebendaries of Exeter from 1772 to 1794, and he retained the fourth prebend at Rochester from 1783 to 1797. Early in 1794 he was nominated to the bishopric of Bristol, his consecration taking place on 11 May; and after three years was translated to the see of Exeter (March 1797), holding the archdeaconry of Exeter '' in commendam'' from that year until his death, and retaining as long as he lived his London rectory. He died in Lower Grosvenor Street, London, 9 June 1803, and was buried in the cemetery of

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 ...

Family

His wife, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of

Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham Lieutenant-General Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham (1714 – 19 November 1763), styled Lord Howard from 1731 to 1743, was a British nobleman and Army officer, the son of Francis Howard, 1st Earl of Effingham. Lord Howard was appointed a d ...

, whom he married in January 1774, lived till 31 October 1815. They had two sons and four daughters. The elder son, William, who worked as clerk-assistant of the parliament, became in 1835 the 10th Earl of Devon; the younger son was Thomas Peregrine Courtenay.

Memorial chimneypiece at Powderham

A monument to Bishop Reginald Courtenay exists in

Powderham Castle Powderham Castle is a fortified manor house situated within the parish and former manor of Powderham, within the former hundred of Exminster, Devon, about south of the city of Exeter and mile (0.4 km) north-east of the village of ...

, seat of the

Earl of Devon Earl of Devon was created several times in the English peerage, and was possessed first (after the Norman Conquest of 1066) by the de Redvers (''alias'' de Reviers, Revieres, etc.) family, and later by the Courtenay family. It is not to be co ...

, in the Victorian Dining Hall, built between 1847 and 1860, in the form of a heraldic chimneypiece. It is copied from the mediaeval chimneypiece in the Bishop's Palace, Exeter, installed c.1485 by

Peter Courtenay Peter Courtenay ( – 23 September 1492) was Bishop of Exeter (1478–87) and Bishop of Winchester (1487-92), and also had a successful political career during the tumultuous years of the Wars of the Roses. Origins Courtenay was the third so ...

(d.1492) Bishop of Exeter, a younger son of Sir Philip Courtenay (1404–1463) of Powderham. It was erected by

William Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon William Reginald Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon PC (14 April 1807 – 18 November 1888), styled Lord Courtenay between 1835 and 1859, was a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1866 to 1867 and as Presid ...

(d.1888) as a memorial to his grandfather Reginald Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter.Powderham Castle guidebook, 2011, p.10 The armorials on the lowest row are from left to right: *Arms of Bishop Reginald Courtenay: See of Exeter

impaling Impalement, as a method of torture and execution, is the penetration of a human by an object such as a stake, pole, spear, or hook, often by the complete or partial perforation of the torso. It was particularly used in response to "crimes aga ...

Courtenay (Grandfather of 11th Earl of Devon) *Arms of William Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (d.1859), impaling the arms of his wife Hariet Leslie: Quarterly 1st & 4th: Pepys, Baronets of Juniper Hill; 2nd & 3rd: Leslie, Earls of Rothes. (Parents of 11th Earl of Devon) *Arms of 11th Earl of Devon impaling arms of his wife Elizabeth Fortescue

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Courtenay, Harold Reginald 1741 births 1803 deaths Bishops of Bristol Bishops of Exeter People educated at Westminster School, London Anglican clergy from London 18th-century Church of England bishops 19th-century Church of England bishops