THOMPSON, Giles (1552/3-1612)

Orphan of a London Grocer who died while he was still an infant, Thompson was educated at Merchant Taylors’ school and University College, Oxford, which he attended on a scholarship, before being elected in 1580 to a fellowship at All Souls’ College. In 1584 he was collated as a prebend of Exeter Cathedral by Bishop John Woolton^†, whose son, also named John Woolton^‡, was then a student at All Souls’. However, this was doubtless a sinecure, as Thompson served as his university’s junior proctor in 1586-7, and proceeded BD in 1590. Thereafter he migrated to Herefordshire, succeeding Gervase Babington^* (later bishop of Worcester) as cathedral preacher in 1591, on the latter’s consecration as bishop of Llandaff. Instituted as rector of Pembridge, Herefordshire in 1593, Thompson acquired a cathedral prebend at Hereford in 1594, and in 1596 – following Babington’s translation to Exeter diocese – he swapped his Exeter prebend for Babington’s post as canon residentiary at Hereford.18 PROB 11/42B, f. 193; Fasti, xii. 54; xiii. 82, 115, 128-9; CCEd; Al. Ox. (John Wolton).

Thompson preached at least twice at court in the final years of Elizabeth’s reign, and was appointed a royal chaplain early in 1603, apparently on the occasion of his nomination as dean of St George’s Chapel, Windsor.19 P.E. McCullough, Sermons at Ct. (suppl. cal. 77, 80); Chamberlain Letters, i. 182; Windsor Chapter Acts ed. S. Bond, 47. Scheduled to have preached in the Closet on the Sunday after the queen’s death, he was abruptly replaced by John King^* (later bishop of London). When he finally preached two weeks later, one witness noted his ‘sounding, laboured, artificial pronunciation’; the gravity of the occasion may have caused him to restrain the gift for extemporisation he had displayed as a student. Amid much jockeying for position under the new monarch, he delivered a timely reminder to courtiers that ‘this [was] the highest point of their honour, to serve God’. King James reappointed him a royal chaplain, and he continued to preach regularly at court thereafter.20 Manningham Diary, 211, 232; McCullough, 102-4, (suppl. cal. 97, 108, 116, 137, 144); J. Harington, Briefe View of the State of the Church of Eng. (1653), 152; Fincham, 305. Although Thompson attended the Hampton Court Conference of January 1604, he is not recorded as having spoken. However, William Barlow^* (later bishop of Lincoln) subsequently consulted his notes to help him compile an official account of its proceedings. The only important consequence of this meeting was the project for a new translation of the bible; Thompson was one of the Oxford team assigned to the Gospels, Acts and Revelations.21 Barlow, sig. A3v; D. Norton, King James Bible, 59.

Apparently not a talented manager, Thompson quarrelled with the choristers and the poor knights while at Windsor, but he improved the chapter’s finances by arranging for the surrender of two long leases of chapter lands, and oversaw an expensive project to reconstruct the chapel organ and recast its bells.22 Windsor Chapter Acts, 50-4, 57-61, 62-6, 69, 71-2, 75, 77; HMC Hatfield, xxiv. 95. In June 1611 he was consecrated as bishop of Gloucester. Given his regular access to the king, it is, perhaps, surprising that he had not been preferred earlier; but his selection on this occasion, against competition from William Tooker, dean of Lichfield, then writing a tract about the oath of allegiance, suggests it was bestowed as a reward for the refurbishment he had overseen at Windsor.23 T. Birch, Ct. and Times Jas. I, i. 107-8; HMC Downshire, iii. 56.

Valued at only £284 p.a., Gloucester was one of the poorest dioceses in England. For this reason Thompson was allowed to retain Windsor for a year, and his other preferments indefinitely, and given four years to pay his first fruits.24 CSP Dom. 1611-18, 154; CCEd. His successor at Windsor, Anthony Maxey, was nominated in February 1612, but Thompson never held a primary visitation, nor even visited his diocese before his death in June.25 Glos. RO, GDR 27A, p. 353; Chamberlain Letters, i. 334-5, 361; Ath. Ox. ii. 851 (which differ on the exact date of his death). For his failure to sit in his own consistory court, see Glos. RO, GDR/117, pp. 1-142. In his will, drafted in 1605, Thompson divided the bulk of his estate between his half-brother Richard Lane alias Thompson and his servant Gregory Baker. He also gave £50 to his sister Mary and her family, and several works of divinity to All Souls’. Buried at Windsor,26 PROB 11/120, f. 89v. he was succeeded at Gloucester by another canon of Hereford, Miles Smith^*. He never sat in Parliament.