Sir William Dawes, 3rd Baronet (12 September 1671 – 30 April 1724), was an Anglican prelate. He served as

Bishop of Chester The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York. The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the ...

from 1708 to 1714 and then as

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

from 1714 to 1724. Politically he was a

Hanoverian Tory Hanoverian Tories were Tory supporters of the Hanoverian Succession of 1714. At the time many Tories favoured the exiled Jacobite James Francis Edward Stuart to take the British and Irish thrones, while their arch rivals the Whigs supported the ...

, who favoured the

Hanoverian Succession The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...

Education

Dawes was born at Lyons, near Braintree in Essex and from the age of nine attended Merchant Taylors' School in London. Already excelling in Hebrew by the age of 15, he was barely 18 when he wrote his work in verse: ''The Anatomy of Atheisme'', and his eminent ''The Duties of the Closet'' in prose. In 1687, William matriculated at St John's College, Oxford, of which college he also became a fellow, then migrated to St Catharine's Hall, Cambridge in 1689. He graduated

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

(MA Cantab) from St Catharine's in 1695, on royal decree ('' per lit. reg.'') due to his young age; in 1696 he graduated in theology of Doctor of Divinity (DD).

Anglican priest

William Dawes became the permanent pastor of William III (1688–1702) and was later court pastor of Queen Anne (1702–14). From 1698, at a young age, he was Canon of

Worcester Cathedral Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, in Worcestershire, England, situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Bles ...

. He was Master of St Catharine's Hall, Cambridge between 1697 and 1714 and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, 1698–9. In 1698 he was appointed rector in the village of Bocking (where the rector is called Dean of Bocking) near to his estates in Essex. Here he introduced the innovative custom of taking Holy Communion not only on the three great feasts, but once every month. On 8 February 1708 he was consecrated

: this was at the personal wish of Queen Anne, who overruled the advice of her ministers in appointing him. He was

from 1714 until his death in 1724 and a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

. He owed his advancement to the goodwill of the Queen and of his predecessor, John Sharp, who had great regard for him, and had great influence with the Queen: it was Sharp's dying request that Dawes succeed him at York, which the Queen happily granted. He restored the Archbishop's palace in York, the

Bishopthorpe Bishopthorpe is a village and civil parish three miles south of York in the City of York unitary authority area and ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. Bishopthorpe is close to the River Ouse, and has a population of 3,174, in ...

. He died on 30 April 1724 from inflammation of the bowels. He was buried in the chapel of St Catharine's together with his wife. He was the most outstanding preacher of his period, a representative of the ideal of an aristocratic prelate, of a high and authoritative personality.

Family

William Dawes was the son of John Dawes, 1st Baronet of Putney and Jane (Christian) Hawkins the Daughter of Richard Hawkins of Bocking near Braintree Essex. According to Samuel Pepys, his parents' marriage gave rise to a good deal of gossip. His orphaned mother was an heiress, aged only sixteen, and it was claimed that her husband married her without her guardian's consent.A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies ... by John Burke After his father's death his mother remarried the noted shipbuilder Sir Anthony Deane, by whom she had eight more children. William married Frances Cole d'Arcy (1673–1705; daughter of

Thomas d'Arcy Thomas D'Arcy is a Canadian singer and songwriter born in Guernsey, Channel Islands. D'Arcy's family immigrated to Toronto, Ontario in 1981. He has been a member of indie rock bands The Carnations, All Systems Go!, Small Sins, Another Blue Doo ...

and Jane Cole ) on 1 December 1692, at St Edmund King and Martyr, Lombard St,

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. Their daughter Elizabeth married William Milner (?−1745), 1st Baronet of Nun Appleton Hall, MP for York in the early 18th century.

Styles and titles

*1690–1695:

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

William Dawes *1695–1696: ''

The Reverend The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly ...

'' Sir William Dawes *1696–1698: ''The Reverend''

Doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

Sir William Dawes *1698: ''The Reverend''

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

Doctor Sir William Dawes *1698–1708: ''The

Very Reverend The Very Reverend is a Style (manner of address), style given to members of the clergy. The definite article "The" should always precede "Reverend" as "Reverend" is a style or fashion and not a title. Catholic In the Catholic Church, the style i ...

'' Doctor Sir William Dawes *1708–1714: ''The Right Reverend'' Doctor Sir William Dawes *1714–1724: ''The

Most Reverend The Most Reverend is a style applied to certain religious figures, primarily within the historic denominations of Christianity, but occasionally in some more modern traditions also. It is a variant of the more common style "The Reverend". Anglic ...

and

Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...

'' Doctor Sir William Dawes

References

* Stuart Handley
Dawes, Sir William, third baronet (1671–1724)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 * * ''The whole works of ... Sir William Dawes, in 3 volumes, with a preface, giving some account of the life ... of the author.'' London, 1732, 1733.

Attribution

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawes, William 1671 births 1724 deaths Archbishops of York Bishops of Chester 18th-century Anglican archbishops Baronets in the Baronetage of England Doctors of Divinity Masters of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Deans of Bocking People from Braintree District 18th-century Church of England bishops 17th-century Anglican theologians 18th-century Anglican theologians