Benjamin Hoadly, painted by William Hogarth, c. 1743

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Benjamin Hoadly (14 November 1676–17 April 1761¹), was an English clergyman, who was successively bishop of Bangor, Hereford, Salisbury, and Winchester, famous for initiating the Bangorian Controversy.

He was educated at St Catharine's College Cambridge University and ordained in 1701. He was rector of St. Peter-le-Poor, London, from 1704 to 1724. His participation in controversy began at the beginning of his career, when he advocated conformity of the religious rites from the Scottish and English churches for the sake of union. He became a leader of the low church and found favor with the Whig party.

He battled with Francis Atterbury, spokesman for the high church group and Tory leader on the subject of passive obedience and non-resistance (i.e. obedience of divines that would not involve swearing allegiance or changing their eucharistic rites but would also not involve denunciation of the Established Church practices). The House of Commons, dominated by Whigs, recommended him to Queen Anne, and he became rector of Streatham in 1710. When George I succeeded to the throne, he became chaplain to the King and made bishop of Bangor in 1716.

In 1717, his sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" provoked the Bangorian controversy. He was then translated three more times, taking up different bishoprics. He maintained that the eucharist was purely a commemorative act without any divine intervention. During his time as bishop, he rarely even visited his dioceses and lived, instead, in London, where he was very active in politics. He has been rehabilitated in a new biographical study by Professor William Gibson entitled Enlightenment Prelate, Benjamin Hoadly 1676-1761, published by James Clarke & Co, Cambridge, 2004

William Hogarth (1697-1764) painted his portrait as Bishop of Winchester and "Prelate of the Most Noble Order of the Garter" about 1743, etched by Bernard Baron (1696-1762).

Selected works

• A Defence of the Reasonableness of Conformity (1707)
• A Plain Account of the Nature and End of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper (1735)
• The Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts (1736)

Notes

Further reading

• William Gibson: Enlightenment Prelate: Benjamin Hoadly, 1676-1761. Cambridge 2004, ISBN 978-0-227-67978-4.