Thomas Wagstaffe 1645-1712

Thomas WAGSTAFFE 1645-1712

Biographical Note

Son of Thomas Wagstaffe of Binley, Warwickshire. BA New Inn Hall, Oxford 1664, MA 1667. Rector of Martinsthorpe, Rutland ca.1670, canon of Lichfield 1684, rector of St Margaret Pattens and St Gabriel Fenchurch, London 1685. Deprived in 1690 for refusing the oaths to William and Mary, he acted as a physician while becoming a leading figure among clerical nonjurors; he was consecrated nonjuring Bishop of Ipswich in 1694. He published numerous doctrinal and historical works.

Books

In his will, Wagstaffe directed that his books be sold for the benefit of his family, "except my manuscript sermons and such other as my wife shall judge usefull to herself or to the children". The library was sold by retail sale in London, 13.4.1713 (no catalogue survives). Edward Bernard's Catalogi manuscriptorum, 1697, lists Wagstaffe as owning 48 manuscripts.

Characteristic Markings

None of Wagstaffe's books have been identified.

Sources

• Will of Thomas Wagstaffe, The National Archives PROB 11/530/71.
• Alston, R. C., Inventory of sale catalogues ... 1676-1800, St Philip, 2010.
• Cornwall, Robert D. '"Wagstaffe, Thomas (1645–1712), bishop of the nonjuring Church of England."' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.