Christopher Urswick

Christopher Urswick (1448? – 1522^[1]) was a priest and confessor of Margaret Beaufort. He was Rector of Puttenham, Hampshire, and later Dean of Windsor. Urswick is thought to have acted as a go-between in the plotting to place her son Henry VII of England on the throne.

He was Archdeacon of Wilts (1488–1522), Archdeacon of Richmond (1494–1500) and Archdeacon of Norfolk (1500–1522). He was also Dean of York from 1488 to 1494, a Canon of St George's Chapel, Windsor from 1492 to 1496 and then Dean of Windsor from 1495 to 1505. He declined the position of Bishop of Norwich in 1498. He was collated Archdeacon of Oxford in 1504.

Amongst his more important positions, Urswick became Rector of the Parish of Hackney in 1502, where he ordered the medieval parish church to be rebuilt. St Augustine's Tower is the only remnant. He also built a new parish house (Urswick House, now demolished), where he lived for a time; and he remains commemorated in Urswick Road in nearby Homerton.

He appears as a minor character in Shakespeare's Richard III.

References

↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Deans of York

High Medieval	Hugh William of St. Barbara Robert of Ghent Robert Butevilain Hubert Walter Henry Marshal Simon of Apulia William Testard Hamo Roger de Insula Geoffrey de Norwich Fulk Basset Walter of Kirkham Sewal de Bovil Godfrey Ludham Roger de Holderness/Skeffling William Langton Robert de Scarborough Henry of Newark

Late Medieval	William Hambleton Raymond de Goth William Pickering Robert Pickering William de Colby William Zouche Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord Cardinal Angelicus Grimaud Edmund Stafford Roger Walden Richard Clifford Thomas Langley John Prophet Thomas Polton William Grey Robert Gilbert William Felter Richard Andrew Robert Booth Christopher Urswick William Sheffield Geoffrey Blythe

Early modern	Christopher Bainbridge James Harrington Thomas Wolsey John Yonge Brian Higden Richard Layton Nicholas Wotton Matthew Hutton John Thornborough George Meriton John Scott Richard Marsh William Sancroft Robert Hitch Tobias Wickham Thomas Gale Henry Finch Richard Osbaldeston John Fountayne

Late modern	George Markham William Cockburn Augustus Duncombe Arthur Purey-Cust William Foxley Norris Lionel Ford Herbert Bate Eric Milner-White Alan Richardson Ronald Jasper John Southgate Raymond Furnell Keith Jones Vivienne Faull

Deans of Windsor

Late Medieval	William Mugge Walter Almaly Thomas Butler Richard Kingston John Arundel Thomas Manning John Faux William Morland William Dudley Peter Courtenay Richard Beauchamp Thomas Danett William Bealey John Morgan Christopher Urswick

Early modern	Christopher Bainbridge Thomas Hobbs Nicholas West John Vesey John Clerk Richard Sampson William Franklyn Owen Oglethorpe Hugh Weston John Boxall George Carew William Day Robert Bennet Giles Thomson Anthony Maxey Marco Antonio de Dominis Henry Beaumont Matthew Wren Christopher Wren Edward Hyde Bruno Ryves John Durell Francis Turner Gregory Hascard Thomas Manningham John Robinson The Lord Willoughby de Broke Peniston Booth The Hon Frederick Keppel The Hon John Harley John Douglas The Hon James Cornwallis Charles Manners-Sutton

Late modern	Edward Legge Henry Hobart George Neville-Grenville Gerald Wellesley George Connor Randall Davidson Philip Eliot Albert Baillie Eric Hamilton Robin Woods Launcelot Fleming Michael Mann Patrick Mitchell David Conner

Christopher Urswick

References

Further reading