John Hough 1651-1743

John HOUGH 1651-1743

Hough's bookplate (British Museum Franks Collection *603)

Biographical Note

Son of John Hough of London. BA Magdalen College, Oxford 1673, MA 1676, after which he became domestic chaplain to James Butler, Duke or Ormond; BD 1686. Prebendary of Worcester 1686. He was at the centre of the political storm at Magdalen College when James II sought to impose a Roman Catholic President in 1687; the fellows elected Hough instead and although he was expelled for a while in the controversy that ensued, he was restored as President in 1688, and made Bishop of Oxford in 1690. In 1699 he was translated to Lichfield and Coventry and ended his career as Bishop of Worcester from 1717.

Books

Hough used an engraved armorial bookplate, dated 1703, when he was Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (Franks *603). The extent of his library is not known; in his will, he left his books to Thomas Byrch of Leacroft, Staffordshire, a relation on his mother's side.

Sources

• Will of John Hough, The National Archives PROB 11/726/367.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.
• Lock, Julian. "Hough, John (1651–1743), college head and bishop of Worcester." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.