Joseph Wilcocks (19 December 1673 – 28 February 1756) was an English churchman,

bishop of Gloucester The Bishop of Gloucester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester, England, Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Gloucestershire, County of Gloucestershire and part ...

, and

bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...

and

dean of Westminster The Dean of Westminster is the head of the chapter at Westminster Abbey. Due to the abbey's status as a royal peculiar, the dean answers directly to the British monarch (not to the Bishop of London as ordinary, nor to the Archbishop of Canterb ...

. Wilcocks was the son of Joseph Wilcocks, a physician of

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 ...

. He entered Merchant Taylors' School on 11 September 1684, and matriculated from

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

, on 25 February 1692. From 1692 until 1703 he held a demyship at

Magdalen College Magdalen College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and one of the strongest academically, se ...

and a fellowship from 1703 until 15 February 1722. He graduated B.A. on 31 October 1695, M.A. on 28 June 1698, and B.D. and D.D. on 16 May 1709. Joseph Wilcocks has a newspaper, the Upper Canada Guardian, a publication that was all over Upper Canada. He won the 1812 election over Henry Ecker, right before the war of 1812 struck. He was chaplain to the English factory at

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

in 1709, and to the English embassy, and on his return was appointed chaplain-in-ordinary to

George I George I or 1 may refer to: People * Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631) * George I of Constantinople (d. 686) * George of Beltan (d. 790) * George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9) * George I of Georgia (d. 1027) * Yuri Dolgoruk ...

and preceptor to the daughters of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

. On 11 March 1721 he was installed a prebendary of Westminster, and on 3 December 1721 he was consecrated bishop of Gloucester, holding his stall ''

in commendam In canon law, commenda (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastica ...

''. On 21 June 1731 he was installed dean of Westminster, and on the same day was nominated bishop of Rochester. He refused further promotion, declining the

archbishopric of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

, and devoted himself to completing the west front of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

. He died on 28 February 1756, and was buried in the Abbey on 9 March under the

consistory court A consistory court is a type of ecclesiastical court, especially within the Church of England where they were originally established pursuant to a charter of King William the Conqueror, and still exist today, although since about the middle of th ...

, where his son erected a monument to his memory in 1761. He married Jane (died 27 March 1725), the daughter of John Milner, British consul at Lisbon. He published several sermons.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilcocks, Joseph 1673 births 1756 deaths Bishops of Gloucester Bishops of Rochester Deans of Westminster Canons of Westminster 18th-century Church of England bishops 17th-century Anglican theologians 18th-century Anglican theologians