There were many interesting characters in the Stuart era, willing to stand up for their principles. One of those was William Thomas, Bishop of Worcester from 1683 to 1689. He was also the Dean of Worcester from 1665 to 1683 and Bishop of St. David’s from 1677 to 1683.
Although of a Welsh family, William was born in Bristol in 1613[i]. He attended Jesus College Oxford[ii]. He was a vicar at Laugherne before the Civil War broke out[iii]. He married a Dutch merchant’s daughter, Blanche, and they had many children[iv]. His royalist sympathies meant that he was removed from his post by the Parliamentarians.
He turned to teaching to support himself and ran a school[v]. It was only at the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 that he was again allowed to be a clergyman. He was given his old parish back, and soon made a personal chaplain to James Duke of York. This was evidently not just an honorary position. When James was involved in a sea battle against the Dutch navy, William Thomas was in attendance as his chaplain[vi].
Perhaps it was this royal connection that meant he was promoted to be the Dean of Worcester when that post became vacant in 1665. In 1677, a few months after the death of his first wife Blanche, William was made the Bishop of St. David’s and he was allowed to remain Dean of Worcester[vii]. In 1682 his second wife Elizabeth also died[viii]. In 1683 he was promoted again and made Bishop of Worcester.
As Bishop, he reorganized duties and attendance by the Cathedral clergy[ix]. He was a very charitable person, helping Huguenot refugees and sometimes giving so much to the poor that it almost impoverished his own family[x]. Bishop Thomas made sure that food was distributed daily to the poor from his house[xi]. He was also supportive of the Cathedral’s library[xii]. He donated a Book of Psalms dating to the year 1200, which had left the collection before the Reformation[xiii]. He made sure that occasional sums that were meant to be paid to him by local clergy went towards buying books in the library. The library has a copy of one of his sermons from 1688[xiv]. He also had a reputation for great patience with ill-tempered people[xv].
On 23rd August 1687 King James II visited Worcester on a progress northward[xvi]. Bishop Thomas greeted the King at the gates of his residence with a Latin speech. The next day James performed the ancient ceremony at Worcester Cathedral of touching the sick to cure them of the “King’s Evil”. James II then worshipped at the Catholic chapel located in Foregate Street[xvii]. Afterwards he went to the Bishop’s Palace (the Old Palace). Here Bishop Thomas provided food and drink. However, beforehand, when Bishop Thomas was about to say Grace, King James II insisted that his own Catholic chaplain would do this. Bishop Thomas left the room in protest. When King James II and his entourage left the building, the King’s servants took with them the expensive white broadcloth that Bishop Thomas had specially purchased for the King to walk on from his own gate to the Palace door[xviii].
That the Bishop objected to James II’s policies can be seen by his refusal to enact legislation in the diocese that James II had ordered nationally to allow Catholics greater rights[xix]. Despite this, he was one of the handful of non-juror clergymen who refused to swear allegiance to King William III and Queen Mary at the revolution in 1688. The non-jurors felt that since they had sworn an oath to James II, they could not break it. William Thomas was suspended in 1689 but died on 25th July before he could be deprived of his post for refusing to give the oath of allegiance to William III and Mary[xx].
He was buried in the north cloister just behind where a monument now stands to him in the nave of the Cathedral. He chose to be buried in the cloister because he felt that a church was a place for the living not the dead[xxi]. However, his son thought that he also required a monument because his gravestone in the cloister was very soon worn by people’s feet and the epitaph was beginning to be lost[xxii]. His monument is located by the Prior’s door on the left-hand side.
When you next visit the Cathedral make sure to keep an eye out for Bishop Thomas’ monument. It commemorates a steadfast Welshman who held to his principles, but who also did a great deal of good in the community.
David Morrison
Bibliography:
F. E. Hutchinson, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral, self-published, Oxford 1944
William Moore Ede, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral and their stories, Worcester 1925
Valentine Green, The History and Antiquities of the City and Suburbs of Worcester vol. 1, London 1796
Dr. Nash, History of Worcestershire, vol. II in Appendix pp. clviii-clxii
John Noake, The Monastery and Cathedral of Worcester, Longman, London 1866
Pat Hughes and Annette Leech, The Story of Worcester, Logaston Press, Woonton Almeley 2011
R. M. Thomson (ed.), A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval manuscripts in Worcester Cathedral Library, D.S. Brewer, Cambridge 2001
[i] Dr. Nash, History of Worcestershire, vol. II in Appendix p.clviii
[ii] Valentine Green, The History and Antiquities of the City and Suburbs of Worcester vol. 1, London 1796, p.212
[iii] William Moore Ede, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral and their stories, Worcester 1925, p.175
[iv] Dr. Nash, History of Worcestershire, vol. II in Appendix p.clvix
[v] John Noake, The Monastery and Cathedral of Worcester, Longman, London 1866, p.586
[vi] William Moore Ede, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral and their stories, Worcester 1925, p. 175
[vii] John Noake, The Monastery and Cathedral of Worcester, Longman, London 1866, p.586; F. E. Hutchinson, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral, self-published, Oxford 1944, p. 170
[viii] F. E. Hutchinson, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral, self-published, Oxford 1944, p.170
[ix] William Moore Ede, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral and their stories, Worcester 1925, p. 175
[x] William Moore Ede, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral and their stories, Worcester 1925, p.176
[xi]William Moore Ede, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral and their stories, Worcester 1925, p.176
[xii] Dr. Nash, History of Worcestershire, vol. II in Appendix p.clx
[xiii] Ms F163- see R. M. Thomson (ed.), A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval manuscripts in Worcester Cathedral Library, D.S. Brewer, Cambridge 2001, p.111
[xiv] WCL UK35 (sermon no.7)
[xv] Dr. Nash, History of Worcestershire, vol. II in Appendix p.clxii
[xvi] Valentine Green, The History and Antiquities of the City and Suburbs of Worcester vol. 1, London 1796, p.295
[xvii] Pat Hughes and Annette Leech, The Story of Worcester, Logaston Press, Woonton Almeley 2011, p.115
[xviii] Valentine Green, The History and Antiquities of the City and Suburbs of Worcester vol. 1, London 1796, p.296
[xix] William Moore Ede, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral and their stories, Worcester 1925, p.177
[xx] Valentine Green, The History and Antiquities of the City and Suburbs of Worcester vol. 1, London 1796, p.212
[xxi] William Moore Ede, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral and their stories, Worcester 1925, p.177
[xxii] F. E. Hutchinson, The Monuments of Worcester Cathedral, self-published, Oxford 1944, p. 170
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