WILLIAM

See also:

• FLEETWOOD
• FLEETWOOD, CHARLES (d. 1692)
• WILLIAM FLEETWOOD (1656-1723)

FLEETWOOD (1656-1723)  , English divine, was descended of an ancient Lancashire family, and was born in the Tower of London on New Year's Day 1656 . He received his education at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge . About the time of the Revolution he took orders, and was shortly afterwards made rector of St Austin's, London, and lecturer of St Dunstan's in the West . He became a canon of Windsor in 1702, and in 1708 he was nominated to the see of St Asaph, from which he was translated in 1714 to that of Ely . He died at Tottenham, Middlesex, on the 4th of August 1723 . Fleetwood was regarded as the best preacher of his time . He was accurate in learning, and effective in delivery, and his character stood deservedly high in general estimation . In episcopal administration he far excelled most of his contemporaries . He was a zealous Hanoverian, and a favourite with Queen Anne in spite of his Whiggism . His opposition to the doctrine of non-resistance brought him into conflict with the tory ministry of 1712 and with Swift, but he never entered into personal controversy . His principal writings are—An Essay on Miracles (1701) ; Chronicum preciosum (an account of the English coinage, 1707) ; and Free Sermons (1712), containing discourses on the. death of Queen Mary, ' He had lost his first wife, Frances Smith; and later he had a third wife, Mary, daughter of Sir John Coke and widow of Sir Edward Hartopp . the duke of Gloucester and King William .

The

preface to this last was condemned to public burning by parliament, but, as No . 384 of The Spectator, circulated more widely than ever .