Thomas Rutherforth (alsoRutherford) (1712–1771) was an English churchman and academic,Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge from 1745, andArchdeacon of Essex from 1752.
He was the son of Thomas Rutherforth, rector ofPapworth Everard,Cambridgeshire, an antiquarian who made collections for acounty history. He was born atPapworth St. Agnes, Cambridgeshire, on 3 October 1712, received his education at Huntingdon school under Mr. Matthews, and was admitted a sizar ofSt John's College, Cambridge, 6 April 1726. He proceeded B.A. in 1729, and commenced M.A. in 1733; he served the office of junior taxor or moderator in the schools in 1736, and graduated B.D. in 1740.[1]
On 28 January 1742 he was elected a member of theGentlemen's Society at Spalding, and on 27 January 1743 he was elected aFellow of the Royal Society. He taught physical science privately at Cambridge, and issued in 1743Ordo Institutionum Physicarum. In 1745 he was appointed Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, and created D.D.
He became chaplain toFrederick, Prince of Wales, and afterwards to the dowagerPrincess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. He also became rector ofShenfield,Essex, and was instituted to the rectory ofBarley, Hertfordshire, 13 April 1751. On 28 November 1752 he was presented to the archdeaconry of Essex.
He died in the house of his wife's brother,Sir Anthony Abdy, on 5 October 1771, and was buried in the chancel of Barley church; a memorial slab placed over his tomb was removed in 1871 to the west wall of the south aisle.
Rutherforth was "at the heart of Cambridgelatitudinarianism".[2] His dissertation for D.D., concerning the sacrifice of Isaac as a type of Christ's death, was published in Latin, and elicited a reply from Joseph Edwards, M.A. Besides sermons, tracts, charges, and a paper read before the Gentlemen's Society at Spalding, onPlutarch's description of the instrument used to renew the Vestal fire, Rutherforth published:
He married Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter ofSir William Abdy, 4th Baronet, and left one son, Thomas Abdy Rutherforth, who became rector ofTheydon Garnon, Essex, and died on 14 October 1798.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Rutherforth, Thomas".Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
