The Right Reverend Benjamin Hoadly
Bishop of Winchester
Benjamin Hoadly, painted bySarah Hoadly
Diocese	Diocese of Winchester
In office	1734–1761 (died)
Predecessor	Richard Willis
Successor	John Thomas
Other posts	Bishop of Bangor (1716–1721) Bishop of Hereford (6 October 1721 {elected}[1]–1723) Bishop of Salisbury (9 December 1723 {translation}–1734) Prelate ofthe Garter (c. 1734–1761)
Personal details
Born	(1676-11-14)14 November 1676 Westerham,Kent,England[2]
Died	17 April 1761(1761-04-17) (aged 84) Chelsea,Middlesex,Great Britain[2]
Buried	Winchester Cathedral[3]
Nationality	British (formerlyEnglish)
Denomination	Anglican
Residence	Winchester House, Chelsea (official; at death)[3]
Parents	Samuel Hoadly & Martha Hoadly (née Pickering)[2]
Spouse	1.Sarah Hoadly (née Curtis; 30 May 1701 {married}–11 January 1743 {she died}) 2. Mary Hoadly (née Newey; 23 July 1745 {married}–17 April 1761 (he died))[2]
Children	John Hoadly, four other sons (plus two stillborn; all with Sarah)[2]
Profession	lecturer
Alma mater	St Catharine's College, Cambridge

Benjamin Hoadly (14 November 1676 – 17 April 1761) was anEnglish clergyman, who was successivelyBishop of Bangor,of Hereford,of Salisbury, and finallyof Winchester. He is best known as the initiator of theBangorian Controversy.

He was educated atSt Catharine's College, Cambridge and ordained a priest in 1700.^[3] He was rector ofSt Peter-le-Poer,London, from 1704 to 1724, and of St Leonard's, Streatham, from 1710 to 1723.^[6] His participation in controversy began at the beginning of his career, when he advocated conformity of the religious rites from theScottish andEnglish churches for the sake of union. He became a leader of thelow church and found favour with theWhig party and was regarded as one of the more radicalCommonwealthmen.^[7]

He battled withFrancis Atterbury, who was the spokesman for thehigh church group andTory 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 theEstablished Church practices). TheHouse of Commons, dominated by Whigs, recommended him toQueen Anne, and he became rector ofStreatham in 1710. WhenGeorge I succeeded to the throne, he became chaplain to the King and made bishop of Bangor in 1716. He took up the See on theconfirmation of hiselection, atSt Mary-le-Bow on 17 March 1716.^[8]

In 1717, his sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" provoked the Bangorian controversy.^[2] He was then translated three more times, taking up different bishoprics. He maintained that theeucharist was purely a commemorative act without any divine intervention. During his time as bishop, he rarely visited his dioceses and lived, instead, in London, where he was very active in politics.

From later summer 1722 to January 1725 Hoadly published letters on contemporary topics, articulating his Whig principles and defending theGlorious Revolution of 1688.^[9] The Revolution had created "that Limited Form of Government which is our only Security" and such a government secured freedom of expression, without which Britons would suffer "all theMischiefs, ofDarkness in theIntellectual World, ofBaseness in theMoral World, and ofSlavery in thePolitical World".^[10] Hoadly also criticised thePretender, who issued a declaration that he would extinguish opposition. Hoadly wrote that he would impose uniformity on all if he ruled: "Not only that hemust destroy yourCivil andReligious Rights, but that he plainly before-hand has heretold You,to your Face, He will do so".^[11]

William Hogarth (1697–1764) painted his portrait as Bishop of Winchester and "Prelate of the Most NobleOrder of the Garter" about 1743, etched byBernard Baron (1696–1762). Hoadly's sonBenjamin aided Hogarth with hisThe Analysis of Beauty.^[12]

• 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)

• Guglielmo Sanna, Religione e vita publica nell' Inghilterra del '700: Le avventure di Benjamin Hoadly, Milan, FrancoAngeli Storia, 2012
• Robbins, Caroline (1959).The Eighteenth-Century Commonwealthman: Studies in the Transmission, Development, and Circumstance of English Liberal Thought from the Restoration of Charles II until the War with the Thirteen Colonies (1961 ed.).

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

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911)."Hoadly, Benjamin" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 542.
• Hutchinson, John (1892)."Benjamin Hoadly" .Men of Kent and Kentishmen (Subscription ed.). Canterbury: Cross & Jackman. pp. 72–74.

• 1676 births
• 1761 deaths
• 18th-century Church of England bishops
• Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge
• Bishops of Bangor
• Bishops of Hereford
• Bishops of Salisbury
• Bishops of Winchester
• English theologians
• Chancellors of the Order of the Garter
• 18th-century Welsh Anglican bishops
• 17th-century Anglican theologians
• 18th-century Anglican theologians
• Commonwealthmen

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