INTRODUCTION
Gloucester diocese was created out of the medieval diocese of Worcester on 3
September 1541, (fn. 1) and followed the fairly standard pattern for new foundations.
The church of the former abbey of Gloucester was made the cathedral of the new
diocese, its dedication altered from St. Peter to the Holy Trinity. The chapter
consisted of a dean and six canons, all of whose prebends were in the king's gift.
The abbot of Gloucester having died in 1539, (fn. 2) the former abbot of Tewkesbury,
John Wakeman, was made bishop, and the prior of St. Oswald, Gloucester,
became dean. Two former monks of Gloucester, and the former prior of
Tanbridge, Surrey, were appointed canons, and three other ex-religious entered
on subsequent vacancies. The possessions of the former abbey were divided as
the endowments of the bishopric and of the dean and chapter. (fn. 3)
The diocese, as set up in September 1541, consisted of the whole of
Gloucestershire. However, in June 1542, and apparently as an after-thought, the
city of Bristol was detached to form a separate diocese. (fn. 4) Both sees were poor
and barely viable. In 1552, the diocese of Gloucester was dissolved and
combined again with Worcester, and the bishop and his successors were granted
the right of presenting to all archdeaconries and prebends within the cathedrals of
Worcester and Gloucester, because the 'revenues of ... Gloucester [are] too
slender for a bishop'. (fn. 5) This proved a short-lived arrangement, and separate
bishops were appointed on the deprivation of Bishop Hooper two years later. In
1562, Bishop Cheyney was given a royal licence to hold the see of Bristol
together with Gloucester; (fn. 6) his successor, Bishop Bullingham, also held both
sees, but resigned Bristol in 1589. (fn. 7) In the nineteenth century, when it seemed
desirable to suppress a bishopric in order to create a new one in the populous
north of England, the two small neighbouring sees were once again combined
under James Henry Monk in 1836. (fn. 8) The arrangement was unpopular in
Gloucester as well as Bristol. A petition for their severance, sent on 12 June
1856 to the queen from the dean and chapter, argued that the city of Gloucester
had had few visits from the bishop, that the estates of the united sees, if properly
managed, could afford adequate support for two bishops, and that the Church of
England as a whole would benefit from smaller dioceses. The laity, 'of all
parties, sects and opinions', were said to be of the same opinion. (fn. 9) It was not until
1897 that the dioceses were eventually separated.
The six prebends remained in the Crown's gift, until in 1713, by royal letters
patent, confirmed by Act of Parliament, the next vacant prebend was annexed for
ever to the Mastership of Pembroke College, Oxford. (fn. 10) A prebend fell vacant in
1718, and from then onwards each Master of Pembroke College would present
his letters of election to the mastership to the dean and chapter, and would be
installed as canon. (fn. 11)
In the eighteen-thirties, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners recommended that
the number of canons be reduced from six to four (including the Master of
Pembroke College). As in other cathedrals, honorary canons were introduced.
These changes came into effect in the statute 3 & 4 Vic. c. 113, implemented by
detailed Orders in Council. The first and third prebends to fall vacant were
suspended, and the requisite number was reached by 1853. (fn. 12)
Le Neve was clearly dissatisfied with the Gloucester section of his Fasti
Ecclesiae Anglicanae, for he wrote that 'this, howsoever imperfect, is the best
Account I am yet able to give ... wherein I thankfully acknowledge the
Assistance given me by Mr. Robert Moore, Deputy-Register'. (fn. 13) He hoped for
further information before the book went to press, but was disappointed in this.
Bishops, deans and archdeacons are listed from 1541, but the canons only from
1660. References are given to some printed works, but to no more precise
manuscript sources than 'Reg. Glouc.' Thomas Duffus Hardy's revision of Le
Neve gives the canons from 1541, probably drawing his evidence from the
bishops' transcripts in the Public Records although no reference at all is given.
For the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the manuscript sources for
Gloucester fasti are plentiful, with many original documents besides the
episcopal and chapter registers. There are problems, however, before 1616, as no
chapter act books or deeds exist and not all institutions were recorded in the
general act books of the bishops.
At the foundation the canons were appointed to numbered prebends and
subsequent presentations often refer to the number as well as to the name of the
previous holder. After the Restoration in 1660, reference to the prebends'
numbers ceases: in the cathedral choir, there were no fixed stalls for each
prebend by number, but a new canon was admitted into the sixth stall, whereupon
all the others moved up appropriately. (fn. 14) It should therefore theoretically be
possible to list the canons under individual prebends, and several scholars,
including Brown Willis in his Survey of Cathedrals and Samuel Rudder in his
History of Gloucester, have attempted to do this. (fn. 15) These lists vary in the
sequences they posit, and their assumptions and guesses where explicit evidence
is lacking (especially in the sixteenth century) can often be demonstrated to be
faulty in the light of fuller information. However, constructing alternative
sequences is not straightforward in view of the gaps in the sources and the
contradictory information they sometimes give. On many occasions, details
about the predecessor and the alleged number of the prebend are at variance. (fn. 16) It
therefore seems advisable to list all the prebendaries in the order of their
appointment, giving the reader all the evidence of succession that has been
found. Lists of the probable chapter personnel are provided at five-yearly
intervals, and after 1660 at ten-yearly intervals.