Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gardiner, James (d.1732)

948160Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 20 — Gardiner, James (d.1732)1889Edmund Venables

GARDINER, JAMES, the younger (d. 1732), sub-dean of Lincoln, son of James Gardiner, bishop of Lincoln [q. v.], entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1695. He proceeded B.A. as sixteenth wrangler in 1699, and was elected fellow of Jesus College in 1700. He became M.A. in 1702. On 20 April 1704 he was presented by his father to the mastership of St. John's Hospital, Peterborough, and 29 April of the same year was installed sub-dean of Lincoln Cathedral on the death of Dr. Knighton, and at the same time became prebendary of Asgarby. He is described by Browne Willis as 'an extraordinary benefactor to the church of Lincoln, having improved the house belonging to his dignity, rebuilt by his father, so very much that it may be esteemed the best house belonging to the minster' (Willis, Cathedrals, i. 99). He died at Lincoln, 24 March 1731-2, and was buried in the retrochoir of the cathedral, by the side of his father. His only daughter, Susanna, who had nursed him assiduously, followed him to the grave in little more than a month, 27 April, and was buried in the same grave in which his wife, Dinah, was also buried, 4 Sept. 1734. His monument bears a very lengthy epitaph, from which we may gather that he was a man of great suavity of disposition and beneficence, a cultured and popular preacher, and of some success as an author.

He published:

  1. 'The Duty of Peace amongst Members of the same State. A Sermon on Rom. xiv. 19,' London, 1713.
  2. 'Practical Exposition of the Beatitudes,' 1713 (this, as well as the sermon, went to a second edition).

He also translated 'Rapin of Gardens,' 1718, and contributed to the 'Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany Poems,' Lintot, 1709.

[Browne Willis's Cathedrals, i. 99; Le Neve's Fasti.]

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