Ken, Thomas

(1637-1711)

   The son of an attorney, he was born at Great, or at Little, Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire. He was educated at Winchester College and graduated B.A. (1661) and M.A. (1664) from New College, Oxford, and took the degree of doctor of divinity in 1679. He held a tutorship at New College, lecturing on logic and mathematics. From 1679 to 1680 he was chaplain at the Hague to Mary, wife of William II, Prince of Orange. He was one of the chaplains to Charles II and in 1685 was appointed bishop of Bath and Wells. In 1688 he, with five other bishops, was imprisoned in the Tower of London and tried for sedition (but were later acquitted) for refusing to publish in their dioceses the Declaration of Indulgence of James II (toward Roman Catholics). For refusing to swear allegiance to the new regime of William and Mary, Ken was deprived of his office in 1691 and spent the remaining 20 years of his life in retirement. Some of his hymns/poems: "An Anodyne," "An Evening Hymn," "Direct This Day," "Morning Hymn," "Praise God, from Whom all Blessings Flow (The Doxology)," "The Priest of Christ."

   Sources: A Sacrifice of Praise: An Anthology of Christian Poetry in English from Caedmon to the Mid-Twentieth Century. James H. Trott, ed. Cumberland House Publishing, 1999. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Cyber Hymnal (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/index.htm). The Family Album of Favorite Poems. Ernest P. Edward, ed. Grosset and Dunlap, 1959. The Oxford Book of Children's Verse. Iona Opie and Peter Opie, eds. Oxford University Press, 1973. The Oxford Book of Christian Verse. Lord David Cecil, ed. Oxford University Press, 1940. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Treasury of Religious Verse. Donald T. Kauffman, ed. Fleming H. Revell, 1962.