View source for Ralph Widdrington 1614/15-1688

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===[[name::Ralph]] [[name::WIDDRINGTON]]  [[date of birth::1614;1615|1614/15]]-[[date of death::1688]]===

====Biographical Note====
Born at [[place of birth::Cheeseburn Grange, Northumberland]], son of [[family::Lewis Widdrington]], a member of a long-established gentry family of the north east.  BA [[education::Christ's College, Cambridge]] 1636, MA and [[occupation::fellow]] 1639, DD 1661.  Admitted at [[organisations::Gray's Inn]] 1641, but returned to [[education:: University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] where he developed his academic career at [[education::Christ's College, Cambridge|Christ's]] throughout the Civil War and Interregnum period, appointed [[occupation::University orator]] in 1650 and [[occupation::professor]] of Greek in 1654.  He sought to have [[crossreference::Ralph Cudworth 1617-1688|Ralph Cudworth]] removed as Master in 1659 and was much enmeshed in argument and controversy with the College and its fellows for many years.  He was however made [[occupation::professor]] of divinity in 1672, and was preferred to various livings after the Restoration ([[occupation::rector]] of [[location::Thorpe on the Hill, Lincolnshire]] 1661, of [[location::Wendon Lofts, Essex]] 1666, of [[location::Terrington, Norfolk]] 1673).

====Books==== 
In his will, Widdrington directed that the bulk of his estate be converted into an [[bequest::endowment]] for the benefit of [[beneficiary::Christ's College, Cambridge|Christ's]], once his [[family::nephews]] were dead, and that his [[bequest::books]] should contribute to this – "within a year after my death my library in the College should be sold by my executors and the price thereof added to ... the purchase of an indenture or rent charge".  This instruction appears to have been carried out, and Widdrington's books can now be found in libraries around the world; the administration of the will proved complex and troublesome for the College, who had to sue Widdrington's executors, and only a fraction of the total estate value came to them.  The size of his collection is not known but can be assumed to have run to four figures as regards numbers of volumes.  A group of books passed to [[subsequent owner::Henry Godolphin]], provost of Eton College (1648-1733), whose bequest to Eton of ca.150 books included 50 from Widdrington's library.  He also made some gifts of [[bequest::books]] to [[beneficiary::Christ's College, Cambridge|Christ's Library]] during his lifetime.  Examples: Christ's, Cambridge H.8.36, H.8.40; CUL Peterborough B.2.19; Eton College Eh.5.4-5, Eb 7.15; Lincoln College, Oxford K.11.14.
[[File:WiddringtonRalph1.JPG| thumb | 400px |Inscription of Ralph Widdrington (Lincoln College, Oxford D. Erasmus, ''Adagiorum opus'', Basle, 1528) ]]
====Characteristic markings==== 

Widdrington typically inscribed "R Widdrington" on his titlepages, adjacent to the imprint.  Many of his books at Eton are in fairly plain Cambridge calf bindings typical of their period.
[[File:WiddringtonRalph2.jpg| thumb | 400px |Inscription of Ralph Widdrington (Durham UL Routh)]]
====Sources==== 
<div id="sourcelist">
*Birley, R. The history of College Library, Eton, 1970, p.36. 
*Quehen, Hugh de. [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/29355 "Widdrington, Ralph (1614/15–1688), scholar."] ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. 
*Rackham, H. (ed), Christ's College in former days, Cambridge, 1939, 182-91, 280.
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[[Category:Gentry]]
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