Thomas Westfield (1573 – 25 June 1644) was an English churchman,

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 ...

and member of the

Westminster Assembly The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and the Assembly's work was adopt ...

Life

He was born in the parish of St. Mary's, Ely, in 1573, and went to the free school there under Master Spight. He proceeded to

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, where he was elected a scholar, and afterwards held a fellowship from 1599 to 1603. He graduated B.A. in 1593, M.A. in 1596, and B.D. in 1604. He was incorporated B.D. at Oxford on 9 July 1611, proceeded D.D. at Cambridge in 1615, and was reincorporated D.D. at Oxford on 26 March 1644. On 5 August 1619 he was admitted a student at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

. After serving as curate at St. Mary-le-Bow under Nicholas Felton, he was presented to the rectory of South Somercotes in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

in 1600, which he exchanged on 18 December 1605 for the London living of St. Bartholomew, Smithfield, where David Dee had been deprived; Westfield was chaplain to

Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick (December 1559 – 24 March 1619), was an English nobleman, known as Baron Rich between 1581 and 1618, when he was created Earl of Warwick. He was the first husband of Penelope Devereux, whom he d ...

, the patron, and his son

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

. On 28 April 1615 he was appointed to the rectory of

Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to the ...

, which he retained until 1637. On 14 November 1631 he was collated archdeacon of St. Albans, and on 17 December 1633 was included in a royal commission to exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England and Wales. In 1631 he became president 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 ...

. On the outbreak of the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...

he continued to reside in London, but, falling under suspicion of royalist sympathies, he was abused in the streets and sequestered from St. Bartholomew. He left for the King's forces, and on 26 April 1642 was consecrated bishop of Bristol, in succession to Robert Skinner. Westfield held his other offices '' in commendam'' with his bishopric, probably without deriving any revenue from them. The emoluments of his bishopric also were at first retained from him by the Parliament, but on 13 May 1643 they were restored to him by order of the parliamentary Committee of sequestrations out of respect for his character, and he was given a pass to Bristol. This good treatment may have been due to his consent to attend the

, which met on 1 July. Although his share in the proceedings was small, he was present at least at the first meeting. He died on 25 June 1644, and was buried in the choir in

Bristol Cathedral Bristol Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is the Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. Founded in 1140 and consecrated in 1148, it was originally St Augustine's Abbey but after the Dissolu ...

, where a monument was erected to him by his wife Elizabeth (d. 1653), daughter of Adolphus van Meetkerke the president of Flanders, and sister of Edward Meetkerke. By her he had a daughter Elizabeth. An emotive preacher, he was known as "Mournful Jeremy" and the "weeping prophet".

Works

He was the author of two collections of sermons: *''Englands Face in Isrels Glasse, or the Sinnes, Mercies, Judgments of both Nations'', eight sermons, London, 1646; London, 1655; reprinted, with three other sermons, under the title 'Eleven choice Sermons as they were delivered . . . by Thomas Westfield . . . Bishop of Bristol,' London, 1656. *''The White Robe, or the Surplice vindicated'', four sermons, 1660; new edit. 1669.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Westfield, Thomas 1573 births 1644 deaths Bishops of Bristol Archdeacons of St Albans Westminster Divines Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge 17th-century Church of England bishops Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge 16th-century Anglican theologians 17th-century Anglican theologians