Stephen Charnock 1628-1680

Stephen CHARNOCK 1628-1680

Biographical Note

Born in London, the son of an attorney. BA Emmanuel College, Cambridge 1646, MA 1649; fellow of New College, Oxford 1650. Chaplain to an army regiment in Wales, 1649, moved to Dublin 1655, where he was an Independent minister to the English troops and their associates. Returned to London 1660, where he appears to have practised medicine, without holding any office; he was involved in a conspiracy for an Irish coup in 1663. In 1675 he became co-pastor of a nonconformist congregation in Bishopsgate Street, London. A number of his sermons and writings were published, mostly posthumously, including Several discourses on the existence and attributes of God (1682). He was praised as a preacher, and described as a very quiet and studious man. He bequeathed his estate mostly among female relatives (he did not apparently have a wife or children living).

Books

His library as it then stood (described by Calamy as “not large”) was destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666. He accumulated a new collection which was auctioned after his death in London, 4 October 1680. The catalogue lists 1330 items, including 2 vols of Latin pamphlets (39 items in all) and 13 vols of English pamphlets (275 items). The remaining books are divided into Latin theology (372), Latin medicine (65), Latin miscellaneous (192), English divinity (256), English miscellaneous (56) and European languages (including French, Italian and Spanish) (75). The imprints were largely 17th century, with a small proportion of 16th century material. The sale made £366 5s 1d.

Characteristic Markings

None of Charnock’s books have been identified.

Sources

• Bibliotheca Charnockiana, 1680 (ESTC ).
• Greaves, Richard L. "Charnock, Stephen (1628–1680), nonconformist minister." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Pearson, D. Patterns of book ownership in late seventeenth-century England, The Library 7th ser 11 (2010), 139-167.