Henry Wilkinson the Elder
1566–1647
Senior Oxford divine; Lady Margaret Professor; the elder of two Wilkinsons at the Assembly.
Biography
Of Magdalen Hall Oxford and (later) Christ Church, the elder Wilkinson was a long-serving rector of Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire — one of the more substantial Buckinghamshire benefices. He held the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at Oxford from 1646 until his death the following year. He was one of the Assembly's senior figures — over seventy-five at its opening — and rarely spoke, but his weight as an Oxford theologian was useful symbolic capital for the parliamentary cause in the religiously divided university. His nephew Henry Wilkinson the Younger (slot above) succeeded him in the chair. He died at Oxford in March 1647 aged 81.
Principal works
- Three Decads of Sermons (1660)
English Presbyterian divine
The great majority of the sitting members were English parish ministers of Presbyterian conviction. They formed the drafting core of the Assembly, manning its three standing committees and supplying most of the text of the Confession, the two Catechisms, and the Directory for Public Worship.