Richard Kidder | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Bath and Wells | |
 Richard Kidder, Bishop of Bath and Wells | |
| Church | Church of England |
| Province | Canterbury |
| Diocese | Bath and Wells |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | November 1658 by Ralph Brownrigg |
| Consecration | 30 August 1691 by John Tillotson |
| Personal details | |
| Baptized | 8 February 1663 |
| Died | 26 November 1703 Bishop's Palace, Wells |
| Buried | Wells Cathedral |
| Denomination | Anglicanism |
| Residence | Bishop's Palace, Wells |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Kidder |
| Alma mater | Emmanuel College, Cambridge |
Richard Kidder (1633–1703) was an English Anglican churchman, Bishop of Bath and Wells, from 1691 to his death. He was a noted theologian.
He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was a sizar, from 1649, graduating 1652.[1] He became a Fellow there in 1655, and vicar of Stanground, Huntingdonshire, in 1659.[2] He was deprived in 1662.[3]
He was rector of Rayne Parva, Essex, from 1664 to 1674, having conformed to the Act of Uniformity 1662. He was later vicar of St. Martin Outwich, London, and in 1689 a royal chaplain,[4] and dean of Peterborough.
His A Demonstration of the Messias[5] has been identified as a significant influence on the librettist Charles Jennens, in writing the words for the Messiah of Handel.[6] This book also took up suggestions of Joseph Mede on multiple authorship of the Book of Zechariah.[7]
He was killed in the Great Storm of 1703, on 26 November (7 December in today's calendar);[8] he was in bed with his wife in the episcopal palace at Wells when the chimney fell on both of them.[9]
