Thomas Herring

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable

Thomas Herring
The Most Reverend and Right Honourable; Thomas Herring
Archbishop of Canterbury
	Portrait by William Hogarth
Church	Church of England
Diocese	Canterbury
In office	1747–1757
Predecessor	John Potter
Successor	Matthew Hutton
Previous post(s)	Bishop of Bangor (1737–1743); Archbishop of York (1743–1747)
Orders
Consecration	15 January 1738; by John Potter
Personal details
Born	1693; Walsoken, Norfolk, England
Died	23 March 1757 (aged 63-64); Croydon, London, England
Nationality	English
Denomination	Anglican
Parents	John Herring & Martha Potts
Education	Wisbech Grammar School
Alma mater	Jesus College, Cambridge
Signature

Thomas Herring (1693 – 23 March 1757) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1747 to 1757.

Early life and education

He was the son of John Herring, rector of Walsoken in Norfolk, who had previously been vicar of Foxton, near Cambridge, and his wife, Martha Potts.^[1]

He was educated at Wisbech Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1710, graduating B.A. 1714, M.A. 1717. Having migrated to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1714, he was a fellow of Corpus Christi from 1716 to 1723, and graduated D.D. (comitia regia) in 1728.^[2]^[3]

At Cambridge, he was an exact contemporary of Matthew Hutton, who succeeded him in turn in each of his dioceses.

Career

Herring became a close friend of Philip Yorke, the Solicitor General, who would later, as Lord Hardwicke, serve for many years as Lord Chancellor, and as such, was able to advance quickly. In 1727 he became a chaplain to King George II, in 1732 Dean of Rochester, and in 1737 he was appointed Bishop of Bangor, consecrated 15 January 1738.

Archbishop of York

On 21 April 1743 he was translated to York and appointed Archbishop of York. On 23 September 1745, during the Jacobite rising, Herring gave a rousing sermon which, as Paul Langford notes, "captured the patriotic imagination as nothing previously had. It was to remain long in the collective mind of patriotic Protestantism."^[4] At a speech at York Castle on 24 September, Herring said:

...these Commotions in the North are but Part of a Great Plan concerted for our Ruin—They have begun under the Countenance, and will be supported by the Forces of France and Spain, our old and inveterate, (and late Experience calls upon me to add, our savage and blood-thirsty) Enemies—A Circumstance that should fire the Indignation of every honest Englishman. If these Designs should succeed, and Popery and Arbitrary Power come in upon us, under the Influence and Direction of these two Tyrannical and Corrupted Courts, I leave you to reflect, what would become of every Thing that is valuable to us! We are now bless'd with the mild Administration of a Just and Protestant King, who is of so strict an Adherence to the Laws of our Country, that not an Instance can be pointed out, during his whole reign, wherein he made the least Attempt upon the Liberty, or Property, or Religion, of a single Person. But if the Ambition and Pride of France and Spain, is to dictate to us, we must submit to a Man to govern us under their hated and accursed Influence, who brings his Religion from Rome, and Rules and Maxims of his Government from Paris and Madrid.^[5]

Horace Walpole said this speech "had as much true spirit, honesty and bravery in it as ever was penned by an historian for an ancient hero".^[6] When Lord Hardwicke, the Lord Chancellor, repeated the speech's contents to King George II, the King ordered that the speech be printed in the Gazette. After Hardwicke enquired whether he should send Herring a message containing the King's admiration of "his zeal and activity", the King said this was not enough: "...you must also tell the Archbishop that I heartily thank him for it."^[7]

Herring organised Yorkshire into resistance against the Jacobites by raising volunteers and money. According to Reed Browning, Herring's behaviour during the rebellion had demonstrated that he was "a resolute Whig, a brave Briton, and a commanding prelate."^[8] Herring supported the Walpoleon Whigs because he viewed the Protestant Succession embodied in the House of Hanover as essential to Britain: "Let us remember that, next under God, Union at Home, and Loyalty and Affection to the King and his Royal Family, are our great and sure Defence."^[9] He was also deeply suspicious of France as a Roman Catholic nation and a threat to the British nation.^[10]

Archbishopric of Canterbury

On 21 Oct 1747, he was nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury. There he generally followed the lead of his friend the Lord Chancellor, and frequently came into disputes with the Duke of Newcastle, the Secretary of State. Herring, like his immediate predecessor, had taken a generally Hanoverian side through the Bangorian controversy and stood against the convocation.

Herring is generally credited as being the author of "A New Form of Common Prayer", published anonymously in 1753 in response to John Jones's Free and Candid Disquisitions (1749). However, as a conciliator he eschewed controversy and rejoiced that he was "called up to this high station, at a time, when spite, and rancour, and bitterness of spirit are out of countenance; when we breathe the benign and comfortable air of liberty and toleration."^[11]

He died in 1757 and was buried in Croydon Minster in Surrey.

Notes

^ Holtby, Robert T. (2004). "Herring, Thomas (1693–1757), archbishop of Canterbury". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13098. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ "Thomas Herring (HRN710T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ A biographical dictionary of America by the Rev. John L. Blake, 1788–1857]
^ Paul Langford, A Polite and Commercial People: England 1727–1783 (Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 202–3.
^ Thomas Herring, A Sermon Preach'd at the Cathedral Church of York. September, the 22d, 1745: On Occasion of the present Rebellion in Scotland (York, 1745), pp. 28–29.
^ W. A. Speck, The Butcher. The Duke of Cumberland and the Suppression of the 45 (Welsh Academic Press, 1995), p. 55.
^ Speck, p. 56.
^ Reed Browning, 'Thomas Herring, the Court Whig as Pastor', Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Court Whigs (Louisiana State University Press, 1982) p. 90.
^ Browning, p. 100.
^ Browning, pp. 104–5.
^ Letter to William Duncombe, quoted by E. Carpenter in "Cantuar" p243 -Mowbray, Oxford, 1988.

Church of England titles
Preceded by Charles Cecil	Bishop of Bangor 1737–1743	Succeeded by Matthew Hutton
Preceded by Lancelot Blackburne	Archbishop of York 1743–1747
Preceded by John Potter	Archbishop of Canterbury 1747–1757

v t e Archbishops of Canterbury
List of archbishops of Canterbury
Pre-Conquest	Augustine Laurence Mellitus Justus Honorius Deusdedit Wighard Theodore of Tarsus Berhtwald Tatwine Nothhelm Cuthbert Bregowine Jænberht Æthelhard Wulfred Feologild Ceolnoth Æthelred Plegmund Athelm Wulfhelm Oda Ælfsige Byrhthelm Dunstan Æthelgar Sigeric Ælfric of Abingdon Ælfheah Lyfing Æthelnoth Eadsige Robert of Jumièges Stigand
Conquest to Reformation	Lanfranc Anselm Ralph d'Escures William de Corbeil Theobald of Bec Thomas Becket Roger de Bailleul Richard of Dover Baldwin of Forde Reginald Fitz Jocelin Hubert Walter Reginald John de Gray Stephen Langton Walter d'Eynsham Richard le Grant Ralph Neville John of Sittingbourne John Blund Edmund of Abingdon Boniface William Chillenden Robert Kilwardby Robert Burnell John Peckham Robert Winchelsey Thomas Cobham Walter Reynolds Simon Mepeham John de Stratford John de Ufford Thomas Bradwardine Simon Islip William Edington Simon Langham William Whittlesey Simon Sudbury William Courtenay Thomas Arundel Roger Walden Thomas Arundel Henry Chichele John Stafford John Kemp Thomas Bourchier John Morton Thomas Langton Henry Deane William Warham Thomas Cranmer Reginald Pole
Post-Reformation	Matthew Parker Edmund Grindal John Whitgift Richard Bancroft George Abbot William Laud Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) William Juxon Gilbert Sheldon William Sancroft John Tillotson Thomas Tenison William Wake John Potter Thomas Herring Matthew Hutton Thomas Secker Frederick Cornwallis John Moore Charles Manners-Sutton William Howley John Bird Sumner Charles Longley Archibald Campbell Tait Edward White Benson Frederick Temple Randall Davidson Cosmo Lang William Temple Geoffrey Fisher Michael Ramsey Donald Coggan Robert Runcie George Carey Rowan Williams Justin Welby
Italics indicate a person who was elected but not confirmed.

v t e Bishops and Archbishops of York
Pre-Reformation bishops	Paulinus Chad Wilfrid Bosa John of Beverley Wilfrid II
Pre-Reformation archbishops	Egbert Æthelbert Eanbald I Eanbald II Wulfsige Wigmund Wulfhere Æthelbald Hrotheweard Wulfstan I Oscytel Edwald Oswald Ealdwulf Wulfstan II Ælfric Puttoc Cynesige Ealdred Thomas of Bayeux Gerard Thomas II Thurstan William FitzHerbert Henry Murdac William FitzHerbert Roger de Pont L'Évêque Geoffrey Plantagenet Simon Langton Walter de Gray Sewal de Bovil Godfrey Ludham William Langton Bonaventure Walter Giffard William de Wickwane John le Romeyn Henry of Newark Thomas of Corbridge William Greenfield William Melton William Zouche John of Thoresby Alexander Neville Thomas Arundel Robert Waldby Richard le Scrope Thomas Langley Robert Hallam Henry Bowet Philip Morgan Richard Fleming John Kemp William Booth George Neville Lawrence Booth Thomas Rotherham Thomas Savage Christopher Bainbridge Thomas Wolsey
Post-Reformation archbishops	Edward Lee Robert Holgate Nicholas Heath Thomas Young Edmund Grindal Edwin Sandys John Piers Matthew Hutton Tobias Matthew George Montaigne Samuel Harsnett Richard Neile John Williams Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) Accepted Frewen Richard Sterne John Dolben Thomas Lamplugh John Sharp Sir William Dawes Bt Lancelot Blackburne Thomas Herring Matthew Hutton John Gilbert Robert Hay Drummond William Markham Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt Thomas Musgrave Charles Longley William Thomson William Connor Magee William Maclagan Cosmo Lang William Temple Cyril Garbett Michael Ramsey Donald Coggan Stuart Blanch John Habgood David Hope John Sentamu Paul Ferguson (acting diocesan) Stephen Cottrell

v t e Bishops of Bangor
Early & High Medieval	Deiniol Elfodd Mordaf Dyfan Revedun Hervey le Breton David the Scot Meurig Arthur of Bardsey Gwion Rotoland Alan Robert of Shrewsbury Cadwgan of Llandyfai Hywel ap Ednyfed Richard Anian
Late Medieval	Gruffydd ap Iorwerth Einion Sais Matthew de Englefeld Ithel ap Robert Thomas de Ringstead Alexander Dalby Gervase de Castro Hywel ab Goronwy John Gilbert Geoffrey Herdeby John Swaffham Lewis Aber Richard Young Lewis Byford Gruffydd Young Benedict Nichols William Barrow John Clederowe Thomas Cheriton John Stanberry James Blakedon Richard Edenham Henry Deane Thomas Pigot John Penny Thomas Skevington John Capon John Bird
Early modern	Arthur Bulkeley William Glyn Maurice Clenock Rowland Meyrick Nicholas Robinson Hugh Bellot Richard Vaughan Henry Rowlands Lewis Bayly David Dolben Edmund Griffith William Roberts Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) William Roberts Robert Price Robert Morgan Humphrey Lloyd Humphrey Humphreys John Evans Benjamin Hoadly Richard Reynolds William Baker Thomas Sherlock Charles Cecil Thomas Herring Matthew Hutton Zachary Pearce John Egerton John Ewer John Moore John Warren William Cleaver John Randolph Henry Majendie Christopher Bethell James Colquhoun Campbell Daniel Lewis Lloyd Watkin Williams
Church in Wales	Watkin Williams Daniel Davies Charles Green (Archbishop of Wales) David Edwardes Davies John Jones Gwilym Williams (Archbishop of Wales) Cledan Mears Barry Morgan Saunders Davies Anthony Crockett Andy John (Archbishop of Wales)

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Early life and education

Career

Archbishop of York

Archbishopric of Canterbury

Notes

Further reading