WHITGIFT, Archbishop John

Abt 1530 - 1604  (74 years)  Submit Photo / Document

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• Name	WHITGIFT, John
  Prefix	Archbishop
  Birth	Abt 1530	Great Grimsby, Lincoln, England
  Gender	Male
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Death	Mar 1604
  Burial	27 Mar 1604	Croydon, Surrey, England
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I58726	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

  
  

  Father	WHITGIFT, Henry ,   b. Oct 1504, Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, Englandd. 9 Jul 1552, Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England (Age 47 years)
  Mother	DYNEWELL, Anne ,   b. 1508, Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, , England Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, Englandd. 1558, Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England (Age 50 years)
  Family ID	F28322	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

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  John Whitgift (c. 1530 – 29 February 1604) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to his death. Noted for his hospitality, he was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting Canterbury and other towns attended by a retinue of 800 horses. Whitgift's theological views were often controversial. He was the eldest son of Henry Whitgift, a merchant, of Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, where he was born, probably between 1530 and 1533. The Whitgift family is thought to have originated in the relatively close Yorkshire village of Whitgift, adjoining the river Ouse. John Whitgift's early education was entrusted to his uncle, Robert Whitgift, abbot of the neighbouring Wellow Abbey, on whose advice he was sent to St Anthony's School, London. In 1549 he matriculated at Queens' College, Cambridge, and in May 1550 he moved to Pembroke Hall, where the martyr John Bradford was his tutor. In May 1555 he became a fellow of Peterhouse. Whitgift taught Francis Bacon and his older brother Anthony Bacon at Cambridge University in the 1570s.[2] As their tutor, Whitgift bought the brothers their early classical text books, including works by Plato, Cicero and others. Having taken holy orders in 1560, he became chaplain to Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely, who collated (that is, appointed) him to the rectory of Teversham, just to the east of Cambridge. In 1563 he was appointed Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, and his lectures gave such satisfaction to the authorities that on 5 July 1566 they considerably augmented his stipend. The following year he was appointed Regius Professor of Divinity, and became master first of Pembroke Hall and then of Trinity. He had a principal share in compiling the statutes of the university, which passed the great seal on 25 September 1570, and in the November following he was chosen as vice-chancellor. Whitgift is described by his biographer, Sir George Paule, as of "middle stature, strong and well shaped, of a grave countenance and brown complexion, black hair and eyes, his beard neither long nor thick." He left several unpublished works, included in the Manuscripts Angliae. Many of his letters, articles and injunctions are calendared in the published volumes of the State Papers series of the reign of Elizabeth. His Collected Works, edited for the Parker Society by John Ayre (3 vols., Cambridge, 1851–1853), include the controversial tracts mentioned above, two sermons published during his lifetime, a selection from his letters to Cecil and others, and some portions of his previously unpublished manuscripts. Whitgift set up a charitable foundation, now The Whitgift Foundation, in Croydon, the site of a palace, a summer retreat of Archbishops of Canterbury.[5] It supports homes for the elderly and infirm, and runs three independent schools – Whitgift School, founded in 1596,[6] Trinity School of John Whitgift and, more recently, Old Palace School for girls, which is housed in the former palace. Whitgift Street near Lambeth Palace (the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury) is named after him. A comprehensive school in his home town of Grimsby, John Whitgift Academy, is named after him. The Whitgift Centre a shopping centre in Croydon is named after him.