Thomas Thurlow (bishop)
{{Short description|English bishop (1737–1791)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
|honorific-prefix = The Right Reverend
|name =Thomas Thurlow
|honorific-suffix =
|image =Thomas Thurlow British Museum.jpg
|caption =
|title =Bishop of Durham
|diocese =Diocese of Durham
|term =1787{{snd}}1791 (death)
|predecessor=John Egerton
|successor =Shute Barrington
| ordination = 1758
| consecration = 30 May 1779
| consecrated_by = Frederick Cornwallis
|other_post =Bishop of Lincoln (1779–1787)
|birth_date ={{birth year|1737}}
|birth_place=Ashfield, Suffolk
|death_date ={{death date|1791|5|27|df=y}}
|death_place=Portland Place, Marylebone, Middlesex, Great Britain
|buried =Temple Church, City of London, Great Britain
|nationality=English
|religion =Anglican
|parents =
|profession =
|spouse =Anne Beere
|education =
|alma_mater =The Queen's College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
}}
Thomas Thurlow (1737–1791) was an English Anglican bishop who served as Bishop of Lincoln and as Bishop of Durham in the late eighteenth century.
Life
Thurlow was born in 1737 in Ashfield, Suffolk, the second son Thomas Thurlow (died 1762), Rector of Little Ashfield. His older brother was Lord Chancellor Edward, Lord Thurlow.{{cite DNB|wstitle=Thurlow, Thomas|volume=56}}
File:Coats of Arms of Thomas Thurlow, bishop of Durham.svg
Thurlow matriculated at The Queen's College, Oxford in 1754, aged 18, but transferred to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he held a demyship 1755–1759 then a fellowship 1759–1772, graduating Bachelor of Arts (BA) 1758, Master of Arts (Oxford) (MA Oxon) 1761, Bachelor of Divinity (BD) 1769, Doctor of Divinity (DD) 1772.{{cite wikisource|title=Alumni Oxonienses|chapter=Thurlow, Thomas|wslink=Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886|last=Foster|first=Joseph|authorlink=Joseph Foster (genealogist)}} He was made deacon on 23 April 1758, by John Thomas (Bishop of Salisbury) at his palace;{{CCEd |type=ordination |id=143872 |name=Thurlow, Thomas|accessed=19 August 2024 }} and ordained priest on 24 December 1758 by Frederick Cornwallis, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, at Grosvenor Chapel (on letters dimissory from Salisbury).{{CCEd |type=ordination |id=103261 |name=Thurlow, Thomas|accessed=19 August 2024 }}
He became Rector of Street, Somerset (1769–1770), of Stanhope, County Durham (1770–1771), Master of the Temple in 1772, Dean of Rochester (1775–1779), Bishop of Lincoln in 1779, additionally Dean of St Paul's in commendam in 1782, and was Bishop of Durham from 1787 until his death.{{CCEd |type=person |id=2519 |name=Thurlow, Thomas |year1=1758 |year2=1787 |accessed=19 August 2024 }} His election to Lincoln was confirmed on 29 May 1779 (at St Mary-le-Bow){{CCEd |type=appointment |id=303598 |name=Thurlow, Thomas |location=Lincoln |accessed=19 August 2024 }} and he was consecrated a bishop on 30 May 1779 by Cornwallis (then Archbishop of Canterbury) at Lambeth Palace;{{CCEd |type=appointment |id=303599 |name=Thurlow, Thomas |location=Lincoln |accessed=19 August 2024 }} he was translated to Durham on 10 March 1787, by the confirmation of his election at St Mary-le-Bow.{{cite web | title= Vacancy Evidence Record: Thurlow, Thomas (CCEd Record ID 308852) | url=https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/DisplayVacancy.jsp?CDBAppRedID=308852 | access-date=19 August 2024 | website=The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835 }}
He died in Portland Place, London, on 27 May 1791, and was buried in Temple Church.
Legacy
His rectum is displayed in the Hunterian Museum in London, with the following description:
"A rectum showing the effects of both haemorrhoids and bowel cancer. The patient in this case was Thomas Thurlow (1737-1791), the Bishop of Durham. Thurlow had suffered from some time from a bowel complaint, which he initially thought was the result of piles. He consulted John Hunter after a number of other physicians and surgeons had failed to provide him with a satisfactory diagnosis. Hunter successfully identified the tumour through rectal examination, but recognised that it was incurable. Thurlow died 10 months later."{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/apr/27/improbable-research-bishop-durham|newspaper=The Guardian|series=Improbable research ...|title=The bishop's rectum: The Hunterian Museum in London displays the rectum of Thomas Thurlow, an unfortunate bishop who died of a tumour in 1791|first=Marc|last=Abrahams|author-link=Marc Abrahams|date=27 April 2010|access-date=8 September 2012}}
Family
Thurlow married Anne Beere, daughter of William Beere. They had the following children:{{cite book|year=1827|title=The Annual Peerage of the British Empire|volume=2|page=307|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mf-eJ-i5vN0C&pg=PA307|access-date=18 October 2020}}
- Amelia Anne Thurlow (1779–1809), married in 1799 Lieut.-Gen. Sir Edward Howarth {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCB}}
- Edward Hovell-Thurlow (1781–1829), poet, succeeded as 2nd Baron Thurlow in 1806, married in 1813 Mary Catherine Bolton, actress
- Elizabeth Thurlow
- Anne Elizabeth Thurlow (1784–1875), married in 1804 Charles Godfrey
- Rev. Thomas Thurlow (1788–1874), Rector of Boxford, Suffolk,{{acad|id=THRW806T|name=Thurlow, Thomas}} married in 1811 Maria Frances Lyon, daughter of Thomas Lyon {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MP}}
Notes
{{Reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|en}}
{{s-bef|before=Benjamin Newcombe}}
{{s-ttl|title=Dean of Rochester|years=1775–1779}}
{{s-aft|after=Richard Cust}}
{{s-bef|before=John Green}}
{{s-ttl|title=Bishop of Lincoln|years=1779–1787}}
{{s-aft|after=George Pretyman Tomline|rows=2}}
{{s-bef|before=Thomas Newton}}
{{s-ttl|title=Dean of St Paul's|years=1782–1787}}
{{s-bef|before=John Egerton}}
{{s-ttl|title=Bishop of Durham|years=1787–1791}}
{{s-aft|after=Shute Barrington}}
{{s-end}}
{{Deans of Rochester}}
{{St Paul's Cathedral}}
{{Bishops of Lincoln}}
{{Bishops of Durham}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurlow, Thomas}}
Category:Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford
Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
Category:Masters of the Temple
Category:18th-century Church of England bishops
Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer in the United Kingdom
{{BishopofDurham-stub}}