Nicholas Greaves

Nicholas Greaves, D.D. (1605?–1673) was an English churchman who was Dean of Dromore cathedral, County Down.[1][2][3]

Life

He was the second son of John Greaves, rector of Colemore, near Alresford, Hampshire. His brothers were John Greaves, Sir Edward Greaves and Thomas Greaves.

He studied as a commoner at St. Mary Hall, Oxford.[4] He was elected fellow of All Souls' College in 1627, and junior Proctor of the University in 1640.[5] [6] In 1642 he became the rector of Tullylish, Co. Down.[7] The parish, in the Church of Ireland diocese of Dromore, is part of the original endowment of the Dromore deanery.[8] The church had been partially destroyed during the Irish rebellion the previous year. Greaves held the living until 1673.

On 1 November 1642 he took his Bachelor of Divinity degree, and D.D. on 6 July 1643. He was presented as Dean of Dromore Cathedral on 21 March 1643, but not necessarily installed.[2] The Bishop of Dromore was Theophilus Buckworth, the brother-in-law of archbishop James Ussher. Ussher was a friend and correspondent of Greaves' oldest brother, John Greaves. Buckworth had restored the old Dromore cathedral between 1613–1622 and begun to build a new bishop's palace; but they had been burned down along with the rest of the town on 15 November 1641 during the rebellion of that year.[9] Buckworth was forced to flee to England.

When his brother John Greaves died in 1652, Nicholas was the executor of his will.[10] After Buckworth died (also in 1652), the diocese of Dromore remained vacant until the Restoration. The new bishop, Robert Leslie, was consecrated in January 1661, and Greaves was finally installed as Dean on 26 March 1661.[2] The rebuilding of the new cathedral took place between 1661–1667 under the next bishop, Jeremy Taylor; it has been enlarged several times since.

Greaves became the Treasurer of the Chapter of Lisburn Cathedral in 1668.[11] Lisburn, like so many other places in Ulster, was burned down in 1641, and its replacement was constituted as the cathedral church of the newly created Church of Ireland diocese of Down and Connor.

Greaves probably died in 1673.[12]

Disambiguation

A certain Nicholas Greaves (probably not the same person) was the rector of Welwyn, Hertfordshire, from 1651 until he was deprived of it by the Act of Uniformity 1662. See Gabriel Towerson.

References

Citations
  1. ↑ Nicholas Greaves was possibly born around 1605; he was the second son, born between 1602 (his eldest bro, John) and 1608 (his next bro Edward); Thomas was the youngest, born in 1612.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Atkinson, E.D., R.S.A.I. (1911). Dromore An Ulster Diocese, p. 62. Greaves' tenure lasted until 1673, probably his death.
  3. ↑ Charles Cooper, in Memorials of Cambridge, Vol II p. 117 lists a Nicholas Greaves (also died 1673), who was at St. John's College, Cambridge (not a fellow) and gives him as Dean of Dromore. It is possible Greaves went to both Oxford and Cambridge.
  4. ↑ Chalmers 1814, p. 233.
  5. ↑ Ward 1740, p. 152.
  6. ↑ The Historical Register of The University of Oxford completed to the end of Trinity Term 1888. Part 1, p.33. Oxford: The Clarendon Press (1888) retrieved 12 May 2011
  7. ↑ Davies, Rosalind. "Tullylish Parish". Co. Down family history research site. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  8. ↑ Along with Aghaderg and Magheradrool. Atkinson (1911), p. 19
  9. ↑ McMahon, Fr. Andrew. "The Parish of Dromore". The diocese of Dromore past and present. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  10. ↑ Abstracts of probate acts in the Prerogative court of Canterbury (Volume 6). Will proved 19th? October 1652. Thomas Greaves was probably an executor as well, the source shows both Dean of Dromore and Rector of Dunsby, Lincs., Thomas Greaves' living.
  11. ↑ Carmody, W.P. Rev. (1926). "Ch.4". Lisburn Cathedral and its past rectors. Belfast: R. Carswell. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
  12. ↑ The new dean of Dromore, William Smith, was presented on 23 April 1673, the same year as the new rector of Tullylish.
Sources