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Thomas Wilson (20 December 1663 – 7 March 1755) was Anglican Bishop of Sodor and Man between 1697 and 1755. He was born in Burton and Ness, in the Wirral, Cheshire, in December 1663. Having studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, he was ordained priest in 1689. In 1692 the Lord of Mann, William Stanley the Earl of Derby, appointed him personal chaplain and tutor to the earl's son. Five years later, at Lord Derby's urging, Wilson reluctantly accepted promotion to the vacant bishopric of Sodor and Man. When he came to the Isle of Man, he found the buildings of the diocese in a ruinous condition. The building of new churches was one of his first acts, and he eventually rebuilt most of the churches of the diocese along with establishing public libraries. He oversaw the passing in the Tynwald of the Act of Settlement 1704 that provided tenants with rights to sell and pass on their land, subject only to continued fixed rents and alienation fees. Wilson worked to restore ecclesiastical discipline on the island, although he clashed with civil authorities partly because of the reduction of revenue from Wilson mitigating fines in the spiritual court. He met James Edward Oglethorpe in London and because of that meeting became interested in foreign missions. He was an early advocate of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Bishop Wilson's relations with the people of the Isle of Man were marked by mutual affection and esteem. His personal piety expressed itself in energetic charitable activity and he often intervened to shield his flock from the demands of the state authorities. He declined preferment to the much wealthier See of Exeter. When he died on 7 March 1755 at the age of 91, it is said that his funeral was attended by nearly the whole adult population of the Isle of Man. ==Early life (1663–87)== Wilson was the sixth of seven children and fifth son of Nathaniel Wilson (died 29 May 1702) and Alice Wilson née Browne (died 16 August 1708). He was born at Burton, Cheshire on 20 December 1663. According to Wilson's biographer John Keble, both sides of his family had been Burton residents for many centuries. Much of Wilson's childhood was spent at the parsonage in Winwick where his paternal half-uncle, chaplain Richard Sherlock lived; Sherlock supervised Wilson's training. It was through Sherlock that the earliest connection to the Isle of Man can be made, insofar as he was chaplain to the son of the seventh earl of Derby and Lord of Mann, amongst whose ambitions were to restore order to the church in the Isle of Man after a breakdown in the seventeenth century. Wilson was tutored at The King's School, Chester〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.kingschester.co.uk/extras/KingsAlumni/inspirationalAlumni.html )〕 and entered Trinity College, Dublin as a sizar on 29 May 1682. His tutor was John Barton, afterwards dean of Ardagh. Jonathan Swift entered in the previous month, and other contemporaries included Peter Browne and Edward Chandler. He was elected scholar on 4 June 1683. In February 1686 he graduated with a B.A.. The influence of Archdeacon Michael Hewetson (died 1709), a prebendary of St Patrick's Cathedral,〔 turned his thoughts from medicine to the church.〔 He was ordained deacon before attaining the canonical age by William Moreton, bishop of Kildare on 29 June 1686〔 in the cathedral church of Kildare on the day of its consecration.〔 He left Ireland on 10 February 1687 to become curate to his uncle Sherlock in the chapelry of Newchurch Kenyon at the parish of Winwick. He was ordained priest by Nicholas Stratford on 20 October 1689 and remained in charge of Newchurch with a salary of £30 until the end of August 1692. He was then appointed domestic chaplain to William Stanley, 9th Earl of Derby. Early in 1693, he was appointed master of the almshouse at Lathom, yielding £20 more. At Easter he made a vow to set apart a fifth of his small income for charity, especially for the poor.〔 Wilson gave up his parish duties to concentrate on the education of the Earl's heir apparent, continuing in that role for five years. Keble suggests that the Stanley family approved of Wilson's acceptance of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Stowall suggests that Wilson became more highly valued by the 9th Earl after giving him strong counsel against his indebtedness and reminding him of the potential for financial crisis arising out of any change in government.〔 In June 1693 he was offered by Lord Derby the valuable rectory of Badsworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, but refused it, having made a resolution against non-residence. He received his M.A. in 1696. On 27 October 1698 he was married at Winwick to Mary (16 July 1674 – 7 March 1705), daughter of Thomas Patten.〔 The couple had four children, of whom only Thomas survived to adulthood and became prebendary of Westminster and rector of St. Stephen Walbrook.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thomas Wilson (bishop)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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