Zachary Pearce, sometimes known as Zachariah (8 September 1690 – 29 June 1774), was an English

Bishop of Bangor The Bishop of Bangor is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor. The see is based in the city of Bangor where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Cathedral Church of Saint Deiniol. The ''Report of the Commissioners appointed ...

and Bishop of Rochester. He was a controversialist and a notable early critical writer defending John Milton, attacking Richard Bentley's 1732 edition of '' Paradise Lost'' the following year.

Life

Pearce was born the son of Thomas or John Pearce, a distiller, in 1690 in the parish of St Giles,

High Holborn High Holborn ( ) is a street in Holborn and Farringdon Without, Central London, which forms a part of the A40 route from London to Fishguard. It starts in the west at the eastern end of St Giles High Street and runs past the Kingsway and ...

. He first attended Great Ealing School. and then

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 ...

. He graduated BA from

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

in 1713/4 and MA in 1717. He was Fellow of

(1716–1720) ''Concise Dictionary of National Biography'' and chaplain to the Lord Chancellor,

Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, (23 July 1666 – 28 April 1732) was an English Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1705 to 1710. He was Lord Chief Justice from 1710 to 1718 and acted briefly as one of the regents befo ...

. Parker became his patron, to whom Pearce dedicated an edition of the '' De oratore'' of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

. He became rector of Stapleford Abbots, Essex (1719–1722) and St Batholemew, Royal Exchange (1720–1724) He was vicar of

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

, London, in 1726. He was then Dean of Winchester in 1739,

in 1748, and Bishop of Rochester in 1756. In 1761 he turned down the position of

bishop of London 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 ca ...

. He was

Dean of Westminster The Dean of Westminster is the head of the chapter at Westminster Abbey. Due to the Abbey's status as a Royal Peculiar, the dean answers directly to the British monarch (not to the Bishop of London as ordinary, nor to the Archbishop of Canterbu ...

(1756–1768). 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 ...

in June 1720. Towards the end of

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...

's life, Pearce assisted him on

chronology Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. I ...

There is a monument to Pearce in the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Bromley. He had married Mary, daughter of Benjamin Adams, a distiller, of Holborn.

Works

''The Miracles of Jesus Vindicated'' (1729) was written against Thomas Woolston. ''A Reply to the Letter to Dr. Waterland'' was against

Conyers Middleton Conyers Middleton (27 December 1683 – 28 July 1750) was an English clergyman. Mired in controversy and disputes, he was also considered one of the best stylists in English of his time. Early life Middleton was born at Richmond, North Yorkshir ...

, defending

Daniel Waterland Daniel Cosgrove Waterland (14 March 1683 – 23 December 1740) was an English theologian. He became Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1714, Chancellor of the Diocese of York in 1722, and Archdeacon of Middlesex in 1730. Waterland opposed ...

; Pearce engaged in this controversy as a former student of

William Wake William Wake (26 January 165724 January 1737) was a priest in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1716 until his death in 1737. Life Wake was born in Blandford Forum, Dorset, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He took ...

. Other works were: *Cicero, ''Dialogi tres de oratore'' (1716) * Longinus, ''De sublimitate commentarius'' (1724) *Cicero, ''De officiis libri tres'' (1745) He also published sermons; he preached at the funeral of

Sir Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

.Chelsea – (part 2 of 3) , British History Online
British-history.ac.uk (2003-06-22). Retrieved on 2012-06-15.

References

*''Lives of Dr. Edward Pocock, the Celebrated Orientalist, by Dr. Twells; of Dr. Zachary Pearce, Bishop of Rochester, and of Dr. Thomas Newton, Bishop of Bristol, by Themselves; and of the Rev. Philip Skelton, by Mr. Bundy'' (1818)
Royal Society Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Zachary 1690 births 1774 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Bishops of Bangor Bishops of Rochester 18th-century Church of England bishops Deans of Westminster Deans of Winchester Fellows of the Royal Society English sermon writers 18th-century Welsh Anglican bishops 17th-century Anglican theologians 18th-century Anglican theologians