The Reverend Lancelot Addison (1632 – 20 April 1703) was an English writer and Church of England clergyman. He was born at
Crosby Ravensworth
Crosby Ravensworth is a village and civil parish in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. The village is about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the M6 motorway, and Shap. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 538, decreasing to 517 ...
[John Julian: ''Dictionary of Hymnology'', 2nd edition, p. 19. London: John Murray, 1907.] in
Westmorland. He was educated at the
Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...
.
Addison worked at
Tangier
Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the ca ...
as a
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 ...
for seven years and upon his return he wrote ''"West Barbary, or a Short Narrative of the Revolutions of the Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco",'' (1671).
In 1670 he was appointed
royal chaplain
A royal chapel is a chapel associated with a monarch, a royal court, or in a royal palace.
A royal chapel may also be a body of clergy or musicians serving at a royal court or employed by a monarch.
Commonwealth countries
Both the United King ...
or Chaplain in Ordinary to the King,
shortly thereafter
Rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of
Milston
__NOTOC__
Milston is a hamlet and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about north of Salisbury and separated from Durrington by the River Avon. The parish covers two hamlets, Milston and Brigmerston, along with farm buildings on Salisbury Plai ...
, Wilts (from 1670 to 1681), and Prebendary in the Cathedral of Salisbury.
In 1681 Milston Rectory burnt down.
[ODNB: Pat Rogers, "Addison, Joseph (1672–1719]
Alastair Hamilton, "Addison, Lancelot (1632–1703)
Retrieved 1 May 2014
/ref> In 1683 he became Lichfield Cathedral, Dean of Lichfield, and in 1684 Archdeacon of Coventry
The Archdeacon of Coventry is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Coventry. The post has been called the '' Archdeacon Pastor'' since 2012.
History
The post was historically within the Diocese of Lichfield beginnin ...
.
Among his other works was ''"The Present State of the Jews"'' (1675), a detailed study of the Jewish population of the Barbary Coast in the seventeenth century, their customs, and their religious behaviour.[Rosenberger Collection, University of Chicago; Early Apologists
and Christian Hebraists #1]
/ref> Scholars have pointed out that part of Addison's book simply repeats material found in the English translation of Johannes Buxtorf
Johannes Buxtorf ( la, Johannes Buxtorfius) (December 25, 1564September 13, 1629) was a celebrated Hebraist, member of a family of Orientalists; professor of Hebrew for thirty-nine years at Basel and was known by the title, "Master of the Rabbis" ...
's work ''Synagoga Judaica: The Jewish Synagogue, or an Historical Narration of the State of the Jewes'' (London, 1657).[University of Pennsylvania Library](_blank)
/ref>
He died in 1703 leaving three sons, the essayist Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 June 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard ...
(1672–1719, eldest child), Gulston Addison
Gulston Addison (1673 – 17 October 1709) was the President of Madras, India from 18 September 1709 to 17 October 1709. He was the younger brother of the famous essayist Joseph Addison, and the second son of Rev. Lancelot Addison
The Reve ...
, who became Governor of Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...
, and the scholar Lancelot Addison (1680–1710), and two daughters: Dorothy Addison (1674–1750) and Anne Addison (1676-Unknown).
Addison was buried in Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires (together with Truro Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), and the only medieva ...
in Staffordshire.
Notes
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Addison, Lancelot
1632 births
1703 deaths
Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford
People from Crosby Ravensworth
Deans of Lichfield
Archdeacons of Coventry
English Anglicans
Burials at Lichfield Cathedral
People in English Tangier