Ichabod Chaunc(e)y, (1635–1691) was an English physician and nonconformist

divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

. He was an army chaplain at Dunkirk before 1660, beneficed in Bristol, ejected from his living for nonconformity in 1662, and practised medicine at Bristol from 1662 to 1684. He was banished from England for nonconformity and other offences in 1684, and returned to Bristol in 1686.

Origins

Ichabod Chauncey was born at the

vicarage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or Minister (Christianity), ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of n ...

Ware, Hertfordshire Ware is a town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is close to the county town of Hertford. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the parish had a population of 19,622. Hist ...

, the second son of

Charles Chauncy Charles Chauncy (baptized 5 November 1592 – 19 February 1672) was an Anglo-American Congregational church, Congregational clergyman, educator, and secondarily, a physician. He was the second President of Harvard University, Harvard. Life ...

(1592–1672), the Puritan minister of Ware, by his wife Catherine, (1604–). Charles was suspended for his opposition to

Laudianism Laudianism, also called Old High Churchmanship, or Orthodox Anglicanism as they styled themselves when debating the Tractarians, was an early seventeenth-century reform movement within the Church of England that tried to avoid the extremes of Rom ...

and in 1638 emigrated with his family to colonial

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, where he became a minister and president of

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

.Benedict 2008.

Rise and fall

Ichabod graduated B.A. from Harvard in 1651 and proceeded M.A. in 1654 before returning to England. He was chaplain to Sir Edward Harley's regiment at

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

at the time the Uniformity Act was passed. Shortly afterwards he obtained a living in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, and, being ejected for nonconformity, practised physic there for eighteen years, and obtained a considerable practice. In his ''Innocence vindicated'' he states that in 1684 he was a M.A. of thirty years' standing, and for twenty had been a licentiate of the London College of Physicians.Bickley 1887, p. 169. In 1682 he was prosecuted for not attending church and other religious offences under the

Religion Act 1592 The Religion Act 1592 or the Seditious Sectaries Act 1592 or the Act Against Puritans 1592 or the Conventicle Act 1593 ( 35 Eliz. 1. c. 1) was an act of the Parliament of England. The act imprisoned without bail those over the age of sixteen ...

. His defence was that he accommodated his worship as nearly as he could to that of the primitive church, but he was convicted and fined. In 1684 he was again prosecuted under the same act, and was imprisoned in the common gaol for eighteen weeks before he was tried, when he was sentenced to lose his estate both real and personal, and to leave the realm within three months. From a declaration drawn up by the grand jury, he appears to have been in the habit of defending such

dissenters A dissenter (from the Latin , 'to disagree') is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Dissent may include political opposition to decrees, ideas or doctrines and it may include opposition to those things or the fiat of ...

in Bristol as were prosecuted under the various acts relating to religion; but from the ''Records of the Broadmead Meeting, Bristol'', his persecution appears to have originated in the private malice of the town clerk.

Later life and death

Chauncey resided in

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

, where he studied medicine at

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

and ministered to a congregation, until 1686, when a pardon allowed him to return to Bristol. There he died on 25 July 1691 and was interred on 27 July in St Philip's churchyard. His wife, Mary, and three sons—Staunton, Charles, and Nathaniel (1679–1750)—survived him; the second son was the father of Charles Chauncey, a physician; the third son served an Independent congregation at

Devizes Devizes () is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-cent ...

, Wiltshire, for nearly fifty years.

Works

His only work is ''Innocence vindicated by a Narrative of the Proceedings of the Court of Sessions in Bristol against I. C., Physician, to his Conviction on the Statute of the 36th Elizabeth'', 1684. This was printed in Holland during his exile there, and provided a defence of his actions in England.

References

Sources