John Thomas

Who was John Thomas?

John Thomas was an English churchman, Bishop of Rochester from 1774.

Born in Carlisle, Cumbria, he was the eldest son of John Thomas, vicar of Brampton, Cumberland, by his wife Ann, daughter of Richard Kelsick of Whitehaven, a captain in the merchant service. He was educated at the Carlisle grammar school, and went to The Queen's College, Oxford, matriculating on 17 December 1730. Soon after his admission he received a clerkship from the Provost Joseph Smith.

He became assistant master at an academy in Soho Square, and then private tutor to the younger son of Sir William Clayton, bart., whose sister he later married. On 27 March 1737, Thomas was ordained a deacon, and on 25 September received priest's orders. On 27 January 1738, he was instituted rector of Bletchingley in Surrey, a living in the gift of Sir William Clayton. He graduated B.C.L. on 6 March 1742, and D.C.L. on 25 May 1742, and on 18 January 1749, he was appointed chaplain in ordinary to HM The King, a post which he retained under George III.

On 23 April 1754, he was made a prebendary of Westminster, and in 1762 he was appointed sub-almoner to the archbishop of York. On 7 January 1766, he was instituted to the vicarage of St Bride's, Fleet Street, London, and in 1768 he became Dean of Westminster and of the Order of the Bath.