Author: Mant, Richard
Biography:
MANT, Richard (1776-1848: ODNB)
He was born in Southampton on 12 Feb. 1776, the son of Elizabeth (Roe) and Rev. Richard Mant and brother of Alicia Catherine Mant (q.v.). He was educated first at his father’s school, then at Winchester College and Trinity College, Oxford (matric. 1793, BA 1797, DD 1815). In 1798 he was made a Fellow of Oriel College but he gave up the fellowship when he married Elizabeth Woods of Chidham, Sussex (bapt. 1789, d 1846), on 22 Dec. 1804; they had four children. Following ordination in 1803 he held a succession of curacies before being appointed rector of Coggeshill, Essex, in 1810. His Bampton Lectures in 1811 demonstrated his talent as an advocate for the Church and led to further advancement. He was made domestic chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury (1813), rector of St. Botolph without Bishopsgate, London (1815), and rector of East Horsley, Surrey (1818). Among his many publications in support of the established church were the annotated Bible that he co-authored with George d’Oyly (1814) and his annotated Book of Common Prayer (1820). In 1820 he accepted the first of a series of steadily larger and more influential Irish bishoprics: Killaloe in the predominantly Catholic South (1820-23); Down and Connor (1823-42); and the united see of Dromore with Down and Connor (1842-8). His History of the Church of Ireland from the Reformation to the Revolution appeared in 2 vols. in 1840. He died on 2 Nov. 1748 while on a visit to the rectory at Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, and was buried in the churchyard of St. James’s, Hillsborough, Co. Down on 7 Nov. His elder surviving son, William Bishop Mant, wrote a memoir (1857). (ODNB 17 Mar. 2023; Alumni Oxonienses; findmypast.com 17 Mar. 2023)