John Dolben

John Dolben (1625-1686) was an English priest and Church of England bishop and archbishop.

Life

Early life

He was the son of William Dolben (died 1631), prebendary of Lincoln and bishop-designate of Gloucester, and Elizabeth Williams, niece of John Williams, Archbishop of York. The leading judge Sir William Dolben was his brother.

He was educated at Westminster School under Richard Busby and at Christ Church, Oxford. He fought on the Royalist side at the Battle of Marston Moor, in 1644, and in the defence of York, and was wounded twice. By 1646, like most of the Royalists, he had abandoned all hope of victory and resumed his studies. In 1648 he was removed from the Christ Church by the Parliamentary Visitations.

Subsequently, he took orders and maintained in private the proscribed Anglican service; He was the first president of the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy when it received its Royal Charter in 1678.

Death and family At Easter 1686, returning to York from London, he came into contact with a smallpox victim, caught the infection and died a few days later. His last months are said to have been greatly troubled by King James II's attempts to re-establish the Roman Catholic faith. and John Dolben, a well-known politician. A daughter named Catherine died in infancy. From a letter Gilbert wrote in 1691 it seems that the Archbishop was much troubled in his last years by John's profligate behaviour: he was a confirmed gambler who went through all his money, and then lost the fortune he had gained by marriage to the heiress Elizabeth Mulso. His uncle the judge disinherited him, and by 1691 his wife and children were living on the charity of friends. According to Gilbert, his father's enemies happily seized on this family tragedy as evidence that the Archbishop was a bad or neglectful parent.

The Archbishop Dolben cup presented at the York International 9s rugby league festival is named after John Dolben.

In literature

John Dryden, in his poem Absalom and Achitophel, mentions Dolben, describing him as:

"Him of the Western dome, whose weighty senseFlows in fit words and heavenly eloquence."

Arms