Thomas Ken

Thomas Ken 1637-1711, English prelate and hymn writer, prominent among the nonjuring bishops. He became chaplain to Charles II in 1680 and was nominated by that monarch to the bishopric of Bath and Wells in 1684. Under James II, Ken refused to publish the Declaration of Indulgence in accordance with the king's order; for this he was sent to the Tower with six other bishops in 1688. On the accession of William of Orange (William III) Bishop Ken would not take the oath of allegiance to him after having given it to the Stuarts, and in 1691 his see was taken from him as a nonjuror. Most noted of his hymns is the doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."

Bibliography: See biographies by E. H. Plumptre (1888), F. A. Clarke (1896), and H. A. L. Rice (1958).

Ken, Thomas (1637–1711). Bishop of Bath and Wells. Educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, Ken was chaplain to Morley, bishop of Winchester (1665), and to Princess Mary (later Mary II) at The Hague (1679–80). He became bishop of Bath and Wells (1684) and attended Monmouth on the scaffold (1685). As one of the seven bishops petitioning James II to withdraw the Declaration of Indulgence he was imprisoned in the Tower (1688), but acquitted. Nevertheless, a man of conscience, he refused to recognize James's abdication or William's accession, was deprived of his see April 1691), and lived at Longleat until his death.

Ken, Thomas (1637–1711), Nonjuror. In 1683 he refused the use of his house to Nell Gwyn, the royal mistress; Charles II respected his boldness and in 1684 appointed him Bp. of Bath and Wells. Ken was one of the Seven Bishops who refused to read James II's Declaration of Indulgence in 1688, but he declined to take the oath to William and Mary and was deposed from his see. He opposed the consecration of further Nonjuring bishops. His writings include the hymns ‘Awake my soul, and with the sun’ and ‘Glory to Thee, my God, this night’. Feast day in the American BCP (1979), 21 Mar.; in CW, 8 June.