Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clagett, Nicholas (d.1746)
CLAGETT, NICHOLAS (d. 1746), bishop of Exeter, was son of Nicholas Clagett the younger [q. v.], minister at Bury St. Edmunds, and nephew of William Clagett [q. v.] All the family were more or less connected with Bury St. Edmunds, where the bishop was probably born, but no record of his birth or baptism can now be found. He was doubtless educated at the grammar school in his native town, and proceeded thence to Cambridge, but again no particulars remain. He took the degree of D.D., and was appointed archdeacon of Buckingham on 1 Sept. 1722, succeeding on the death of Samuel Pratt. After this he became dean of Rochester, 8 Feb. 1723-4, and was elected bishop of St. David's, pursuant to the congé d'élire issued on 17 Dec. 1731. He was consecrated on 23 Jan. 1731-2, being allowed to hold in commendam the rectories of Shobrooke and of Overton in the diocese of Winchester. He was a canon and treasurer in the cathedral of St. David's. On 2 Aug. 1742 he was translated to Exeter, where also he held a canonry and the archdeaconry of Exeter. He died on 8 Dec. 1746, and was buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster, with no epitaph, and only the meagre words in the burials register — '11 Dec. 1746, Dr. Nicholas Clegett, L'd Bishop of Exeter.' The portraits at the Palace, Exeter, include his predecessor, Weston, and his successor, Lavington, but there is none of Clagett.
He published 'Articles of Enquiry for the Archdeaconry of Buckingham,' 1732, and eleven sermons. One was preached before the House of Lords on the anniversary of Charles I's martyrdom, another on the consecration of Bishop White. A 'Persuasive to an ingenuous trial of Opinions in Religion' (1685), sometimes ascribed to him, belongs rather to his father, Nicholas Clagett the younger [q. v.]
[Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Gent. Mag. 1746, p. 668; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Gibson's Preservative against Popery; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy), i. 304, 383, ii. 71, 678.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.66
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 366 | ii | 12-9 f.e. | Clagett, Nicholas: for He was doubtless . . . . the degree of D.D. read He was admitted at Trinity College, Cambridge, on 14 April 1702 and graduated B.A. 1705-6, M.A. 1709, and D.D. 1724. He was elected librarian of Trinity 27 Nov. 1706 |