Bulkeley, Lancelot, Dd

Bulkeley, Lancelot, D.D.

an Irish prelate, was a native of Beaumaris, and acquired an education at Brazenose College, Oxford, into which he was admitted a commoner in 1587. He took the degree of A.M. at St. Edmund's Hall in November, 1593, and immediately afterwards was' ordained deacon by the bishop of Bangor. He was promoted to the see of Dublin, and consecrated at Drogheda, in St. Peter's Church, Oct. 3, 1619, by Christopher, archbishop of Armagh. In 1623 he revived the controversy concerning the primacy with Dr. Hampton. In 1635 Bulkeley had a confirmation from the king to him and his successors of all former grants, liberties, and privileges belonging to the see. In June, 1646, this prelate was one of the council who signed and issued the proclamation confirmatory of the peace concluded in that month between the marquis of Ormonde and the Roman Catholics. In 1647, on the surrender of Dublin to the commissioners of the Parliament, one of their first acts was to prohibit the use of the book of Common Prayer, and require the Directory for Worship to be adopted in all the churches of the city. The clergy of the Established Church protested against this order, and presented a remonstrance, but without success. The Directory was adopted throughout the city, and the book of Common Prayer only continued to be used in the chapel of Trinity College. In 1649 archbishop Bulkeley preached his farewell sermon to his clergy, and the Common Prayer was read by William Pilsworth, minister; but for doing so the usurping powers visited them with severe punishment, committing the archbishop and all the others present to prison. At the close of the year 1649 an act was passed by the English Parliament for the encouragement and increase of learning, and the true knowledge and worship of God, and the advancement of the Protestant religion in Ireland. Spent with grief for the calamities of his Church, Dr. Bulkeley died at Tallagh, Sept. 8,1650. See D'Alton, Memoirs of the Achbishops of Dublin, p. 258.