William Sherlock

William Sherlock (c. 1639/1641 – June 19, 1707)[1] was an English church leader.

Life

He was born at Southwark, the son of a tradesman,[2][3] and was educated at St Saviour's Grammar School and Eton, and then at Peterhouse, Cambridge.[4] In 1669 he became rector of St George's, Botolph Lane, London, and in 1681, he was appointed a prebendary of St Paul's. In 1684 he was made Master of the Temple.[5]

In 1686, he was reproved for his antipapal preaching and his controversy with the king's chaplain, Lewis Sabran; his pension was stopped. After the Glorious Revolution, he was suspended for refusing the oaths to William III and Mary II but yielded before losing his position.[5]

He became Dean of St Paul's in 1691.

About this time he became involved in the Socinian controversy over Unitarian ideas. In 1690 and 1693, he published works on the doctrine of the Trinity, which ironically helped rather than injured the Socinian cause and involved him in a controversy with Robert South and others.[5] His doctrine was even condemned as heretical at Oxford University. Sherlock defended himself in The Distinction... and Present State... (both 1696), which however practically gave up on the positions that had been impugned.

He died at Hampstead in 1707.[5] By his wife, Elizabeth (née Gardner),[6][7] he was the father of Bishop Thomas Sherlock.

Works

His sermons, collected in two volumes, went through several editions.

Notes

  1. ^ Burns, William E. (2004). "Sherlock, William (1639/40–1707), Church of England clergyman and religious controversialist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25381. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Burns, William E. (2004). "Sherlock, William (1639/40–1707), Church of England clergyman and religious controversialist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25381. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ The record of his marriage on 8 Feb. 1672/3- "Sherlock, William, of St George, Botolph Lane, London, clerk, bachelor, about 31, and Elizabeth Gardner, of St Andrew Undershaft, spinster, about 20- mentions also a "William Sherlock, of Christchurch, Surrey, gent.", possibly the groom's father, to whom is attributed a statement regarding the death of the bride's parents- see London marriage licences 1521-1869, ed. Joseph Foster, Bernard Quaritch (London), 1887, p. 1219-1220
  4. ^ "Sherlock, William (SHRK657W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  5. ^ a b c d e  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sherlock, William". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 850.
  6. ^ Burns, William E. (2004). "Sherlock, William (1639/40–1707), Church of England clergyman and religious controversialist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25381. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  7. ^ London marriage licences 1521-1869, ed. Joseph Foster, Bernard Quaritch (London), 1887, p. 1219-1220

External links

St Paul's Cathedral
Authority control databases
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