John Favour ca.1557-1624

John FAVOUR ca.1557-1624

Biographical Note

Born at Southampton. Fellow of New College, Oxford 1578, BCL 1584, DCL 1592. Vicar of Halifax 1594, where his puritan views met with some opposition before his energy and sincerity eventually won most of his parishioners round. He was active in restoring decayed chapelries, founding a new school and encouraging preaching. He became a canon of Southwell in 1611 and of York in 1614 (precentor of York, 1617).

Books

Favour had a substantial library, mostly bequeathed to his son John (rector of Sutton upon Derwent, Yorkshire from 1625), apart from his duplicates to his son in law Henry Power, and other specific bequests. He is also known to have made use of the library of Toby Matthew, Archbishop of York, whose chaplain he was, in compiling his anti-Catholic work Antiquitie triumphing over noveltie (1619), which includes a reference to the poor access to books which medieval clergymen had.

Characteristic Markings

None of Favour's books have been identified.

Sources

• Leedham-Green, E. and Webber, T. (eds), The Cambridge history of libraries vol.1, Cambridge, 2006, p.400.
• Sheils, William Joseph. '"Favour, John (c. 1557–1624), Church of England clergyman."' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.