George Lavington, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

George Lavington

British bishop

Date of Birth: 18-Jan-1684

Place of Birth: Mildenhall, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 13-Sep-1762

Profession: priest

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn


Show Famous Birthdays Today, World

👉 Worldwide Celebrity Birthdays Today

About George Lavington

  • George Lavington (18 January 1684 – 13 September 1762) was a Bishop of Exeter from 1746 to 1762. Born in Mildenhall, Wiltshire to Rev Joseph Lavington and his wife Elizabeth née Constable, he was educated at New College, Oxford (becoming a fellow in 1708) and later appointed Chaplain to King George I.
  • He served as a Prebendary at Worcester Cathedral.
  • Later, he served as Weldland Prebendary at St Paul's Cathedral, London.
  • On 8 February 1746, he was consecrated Bishop of Exeter at Lambeth Palace, which post he held until death. He was an ardent opponent of Methodism.
  • On being appointed bishop of Exeter, which included Cornwall, one of his first acts was to close the pulpits of North Cornwall to Methodists.
  • He also produced a stream of letters and pamphlets attacking Methodism and John Wesley.
  • One of these pamphlets contained an accusation against John Wesley concerning his conduct with women, and in particular that he had made indecent advances to the maid of a Mrs Morgan at Mitchell in Cornwall.
  • When Wesley investigated he found that Mrs Morgan was merely a gossip, and that Lavington had never troubled to verify the truth of the statements.
  • Lavington also attacked George Whitfield, although their relations were better and Lavington once came with his clergy to hear Whitfield preach. A reconciliation took place between the Bishop and John Wesley when they had dinner together on 29 August 1762 after receiving the Sacrament together in Exeter Cathedral.
  • The Prelate died a fortnight later. A portrait painting of Lavington from the early 1760s by Thomas Gainsborough survives. An epitaph by Subdean Barton survives on a tablet behind the sedilia in the south aisle of Exeter Cathedral, describing him as a pattern for Christian bishops.

Read more at Wikipedia

See Also