Thomas Morton (bishop)

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Thomas Morton (15641659), was an English churchman, bishop of several dioceses.

He was born at York, and was educated at York and Halifax grammar schools and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow on taking his degree. He was ordained in 1592, and held the office of university lecturer in logic till in 1598 he obtained the living of Long Marston, Yorkshire. He gained a considerable reputation as a Protestant controversialist, and published numerous works against Roman Catholicism, chief among them being the Apologia catholica (1605) and A Catholicke Appeale (1609).

He held successively the deaneries of Gloucester (1606), Winchester (1609), and a canonry at York (1610). In 1616 he became Bishop of Chester, in 1618 Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, and in 1632 Bishop of Durham. On the abolition of the episcopate in 1646 he was assigned a pension, but it was never paid, and the remainder of his life was passed in retirement.

Religious titles
Preceded by
George Lloyd
Bishop of Chester
1616–1618
Succeeded by
John Bridgeman
Preceded by
John Overal
Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry
1618–1632
Succeeded by
Robert Wright
Preceded by
John Howson
Bishop of Durham
1632–1646
Succeeded by
John Cosin
Political offices
Preceded by
John Howson
Lord Lieutenant of Durham
1632–1642
Succeeded by
Sir Henry Vane
(Parliamentary)

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