GEORGE

See also:

• GEORGE SMALRIDGE (1663-1719)

SMALRIDGE (1663-1719)  , English bishop, was born at Lichfield, where he received his early education, this being completed at Westminster school and at Christ Church, Oxford . His political opinions were largely modelled on those of his friend Francis Atterbury, with whom he was associated at Oxford and elsewhere . After being a tutor at Christ Church, he was minister of two chapels in London, and for six or seven years he acted as deputy for the regius professor of divinity at Oxford; his Jacobite opinions, however, prevented him from securing this position when it fell vacant in 1707 . In 1711 he was made dean of Carlisle and canon of Christ Church, and in 1713 he succeeded Atterbury as dean of Christ Church . In the following year he was appointed bishop of Bristol, but retained his deanery . In 1715 Smalridge refused to sign the declaration against the pre-tender, James Edward, defending his action in his Reasons for not signing the Declaration . In other ways also he showed animus against the house of Hanover, but his only punishment was his removal from the post of lord almoner to the king . He died on the 27th of September 1719 . The bishop was esteemed by Swift, Steele, Whiston and other famous men of his day, while Dr Johnson declared his sermons to be of the highest class . His Sixty Sermons, preached on Several Occasions, was published in 1726; other editions 1827, 1832, 1853 and 1862 .