Richard Greenham

Richard Greenham (also Grenham) (1535?–1594?) was an English clergyman of Puritan views, well known for his strong Puritan doctrine of the Sabbath. His many sermons and theological treatises had a significant influence on the Puritan movement in England. His Puritanism was moderate: he had scruples about vestments, and strong views about such abuses as non-residence, but was more concerned for the substance of religion and the co-operation of all religious men within the Church than for theories of ecclesiastical government. His name, 'Richardus Grenham,' is appended with twenty-one others to the letters (3 July and 11 Aug. 1570), asking Lord Burghley, the Chancellor, to reinstate Thomas Cartwright in his office as Lady Margaret's divinity reader. Daniel Neal's statement that at a subsequent period he declared his approbation of Cartwright's 'book of discipline' is somewhat suspect; but John Strype says he was at one of Cartwright's synods.

On 24 November 1570 he was instituted to the rectory of Dry Drayton, Cambridgeshire. He served there for 20 years. He also preached at St Mary's, Cambridge, where he reproved young divines for engaging in controversies, as tantamount to rearing a roof before laying a foundation. In his parish he preached frequently, choosing the earliest hours of the morning for sermon before the work of the day. He devoted Sunday evenings and Thursday mornings to catechizing; he was also known for giving pastoral and spiritual counselling to those who were in need of comfort. The poem was entitled Upon Greenham’s ‘Sabbath’ . It was the earliest of the Puritan treatises on the observance of the Lord's day, more moderate than the 'Sabbathvm' (1595) of his step-son Nicholas Bownde, who borrowed from Greenham.

Greenham was one of the most famous and well known Elizabethan Puritan ministers of his time, and close friends with other great Puritan divines, such as Laurence Chaderton, Richard Rogers, and William Perkins. Greenham had a significant influence on the rise of English Puritanism through his many sermons and theological treatises.

Death Samuel Clarke says Greenham died about 1591, in about his sixtieth year, while Fuller says his death was unrecorded, because he died of the plague which raged in 1592. It is mentioned by Waddington that on 2 April 1593 Greenham visited John Penry in the Poultry Compter. Henry Holland implies that he survived the affair of Lopez, February–June 1594.

Works Greenham's Workes were collected and edited by Henry Holland.

Other publications include;

A godlie exhortation, and fruitfull admonition to vertuous parents and modest matrons, 1584 A fruitful and Godly sermon, 1595 A most sweete and assured comfort, 1595 Propositions containing answers to certaine demaunds in divers spirituall matters, 1597

Family The Dictionary of National Biography states that he married the widow of Rev. Nicholas Bownde; however, Nicholas died in 1613, so this is highly unlikely.

It appears that he married Nicholas’s mother, who was the widow of Robert Bownde, M.D., physician to the Duke of Norfolk.

Greenham and his wife had no children, but his stepdaughter, Anne Bownde, was the first wife of John Dod.