The Reverend Jacob Duché (1737–1798) was a Rector of Christ Church in

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, and the first

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

to the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

Biography

Duché was born in Philadelphia in 1737, the son of Colonel Jacob Duché, Sr., later

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(1761–1762) and grandson of Anthony Duché, a French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

. He was educated at the Philadelphia Academy and then in the first class of the College of Philadelphia (now the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

), where he also worked as a tutor of Greek and Latin. After graduating as

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in 1757, he studied briefly at

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before being ordained an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

clergyman by the

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and returning to the colonies. In 1759 he married Elizabeth Hopkinson, sister of

Francis Hopkinson Francis Hopkinson (October 2,Hopkinson was born on September 21, 1737, according to the then-used Julian calendar (old style). In 1752, however, Great Britain and all its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar (new style) which moved Hopkinson's ...

, a signer of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

. In 1768, he was elected to the

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. Duché first came to the attention of the

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in September 1774, when he was summoned to

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to lead the opening prayers. Opening the session on the 7th of that month, he read the 35th Psalm, and then broke into extemporaneous prayer. 1st-continental-congress-1

The prayer had a profound effect on the delegates, as recounted by

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to his wife. On July 4, 1776, when the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

was

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, Duché, meeting with the church's vestry, passed a resolution stating that the name of King

George III of Great Britain George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great ...

was no longer to be read in the prayers of the church. Duché complied, crossing out said prayers from his

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...

, committing an act of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

against

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, an extraordinary and dangerous act for a clergyman who had taken an oath of loyalty to the King. On July 9, Congress elected him its first official chaplain. When the British occupied Philadelphia in September 1777, Duché was arrested by

General William Howe William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, (10 August 1729 – 12 July 1814), was a British Army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British land forces in the Colonies during the American War of Independence. Howe was one of three broth ...

and detained, underlining the seriousness of his actions. He was later released, and emerged as a

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

and propagandist for the British, at which time he wrote a famous letter to General

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, camped near

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, in which he begged him to lay down arms and negotiate for peace with the British. Suddenly, Duché went from hero of the Revolutionary cause to outcast in the new

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. He was convicted of high treason to the State of Pennsylvania, and his estate was confiscated. In consequence, Duché fled to England, where he was appointed chaplain to the

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

orphan asylum, and soon made a reputation as an eloquent preacher. He was not able to return to America until 1792, after he had suffered a stroke. On October 1, 1777, Congress appointed joint chaplains, William White, Duché's successor at Christ Church, and

George Duffield __NOTOC__ George Duffield MBE (born 30 November 1946) is an English retired flat racing jockey. He served a seven-year apprenticeship with Jack Waugh, and rode his first winner on 15 June 1967 at Great Yarmouth Racecourse on a horse called Sy ...

, pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. Duché died in 1798 in Philadelphia, where he is buried in St. Peter's churchyard. His daughter, Elizabeth Sophia Duché (born on September 18, 1774, Philadelphia; died on December 11, 1808, Montréal), married Captain

John Henry John Henry most commonly refers to: *John Henry (folklore) John Henry may also refer to: People Artists and entertainers * John Henry (actor) (1738–1794), Irish and early American actor *Seán Ó hEinirí (1915–1998), known in English as John ...

in 1799. Henry was an Army officer and political adventurer who was indirectly instrumental in the declaration of war on Great Britain by the United States in 1812. His son was the painter, Thomas Spence Duché (September 15, 1763 - March 31, 1790).

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Biography and portrait
at the

Duché's letter to George Washington
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Duche, Jacob History of Philadelphia Clergy from Philadelphia 18th-century American Episcopal priests University of Pennsylvania alumni Clergy in the American Revolution Continental Congress Religion and politics People from colonial Pennsylvania Huguenot participants in the American Revolution 1737 births 1798 deaths Burials at St. Peter's churchyard, Philadelphia

Biography

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External links