Thomas Legh Claughton
The Reverend Thomas Legh Claughton (6th November 1808 – 25th July 1892) was a British academic, poet and clergyman. He was professor of poetry at Oxford University from 1852 to 1857, Bishop of Rochester, and the first Bishop of St Albans.
Claughton was born on the 6th November 1808 at Haydock Lodge in Winwick, Warrington, then in Lancashire. He was the son of Lancashire MP Thomas Claughton and his wife Maria. He was educated at Rugby School and was admitted in 1826 to Trinity College, Oxford, where he took a first in Literae Humaniores in 1831.
Remaining at Oxford, he held the post of select preacher to the University four times between 1841 and 1868, and from 1852 to 1857 he held the office of Professor of Poetry.
Ordained in 1834, Claughton was assigned no cure until 1841, when he was appointed vicar of Kidderminster. This post he held for 26 years and was widely acclaimed for his work. In April 1867 Claughton was nominated Bishop of Rochester on the recommendation of Lord Derby, for whose installation as Chancellor of Oxford, Claughton had written an ode. On the 14th June 1842 he married Julia Susannah Ward, sister of the 1st Earl of Dudley, a marriage which produced six children, several of whom became successful people in their own right.
In 1877, the Diocese of St Albans was created. Essentially the new diocese was formed from land north of the Thames in the counties of Essex and Hertfordshire previously ministered under Claughton's see, the Diocese of Rochester. Possibly, as he already resided in the newly created Diocese, Claughton was chosen to become the first Bishop of St Albans, a post which he held until 1890.
From his enthronement as 98th Bishop of Rochester, to his resignation from the bishopric of St Albans in 1890, Claughton resided at Danbury Palace (near Chelmsford), where he died on 25th July 1892 and was buried in St Albans cathedral. It was a distinguished occupancy as one of his daughters married the Duke of Argyll at a ceremony at the Palace.
