Francis Dillingham (born in

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Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

– died 1625 in Wilden, Bedfordshire) was an

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Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

scholar, cleric and Bible translator.

Career

Dillingham was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, becoming a Fellow there in 1594. He was appointed to the "First Cambridge Company", charged by

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

with translating parts of the Old Testament for the King James Version of the Bible. He was renowned for his mastery of the

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and wrote several theological treatises, including a ''Manual of the Christian Faith''. Francis Dillingham was the eldest son of Walter Dillingham (died 1581), yeoman of Over Dean, who was himself a son of John and Joan Dillingham. In his nuncupative will, Walter mentions his wife Ales or Alice, and his father-in-law, Thomas Rolte. Francis Dillingham, who rates an entry in the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', although this does not recognise his parentage or his maternal connection with the Roltes, was baptised at Dean, Bedfordshire, as the son of Walter, on 15 August 1568. After completing his education at Christ's College, Cambridge, Francis was put forward by his uncle, John Rolte, as Rector of Wilden, Bedfordshire, in 1601. The Roltes were from a branch of the Milton-Ernest family, which held Wilden Manor for 200 years. Walter's marriage into the family was a social advance. Francis was a prolific writer on religious themes and a member of the committee of divines appointed by James I to produce the 1611 translation of the Bible.

References

*Alexander McClure (1858), ''The Translators Revived: A Biographical Memoir of the Authors of the English Version of the Holy Bible''. Mobile, Alabama: R. E. Publications (republished by the Marantha Bible Society, 1984 ASIN B0006YJPI8) *Adam Nicolson (2003), ''God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible''. New York: HarperCollins *Stephen Wrigh
"Dillingham, Francis (d. 1625)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press, 2004 *John Taplin (2019), ''The Welles family and their connections to the Hall and Dillingham families''. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust OS 93.2 Hall/TAP 1625 deaths People from the Borough of Bedford Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge Translators of the King James Version Year of birth unknown {{Christianity-bio-stub 17th-century Anglican theologians 16th-century Anglican theologians