Smalridge, George

Smalridge, George, a learned English prelate, was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, in 1663. He was sent to Westminster School in 1678 by Ashmole, the celebrated antiquary. In May, 1682, he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, where, having taken his degree of B.A., he became tutor. In July, 1689, he entered holy orders, and about 1692 was appointed minister of Tothill Fields Chapel. In 1693 he was collated to a prebend in the cathedral of Lichfield. He was chosen lecturer of St. Dunstan's in the West, London, in 1708, which he resigned in 1711, when he was made one of the canons of Christ Church, and succeeded Atterbury in the deanery of Carlisle, as he did likewise in the deanery of Christ Church in 1713. In 1714 he was consecrated bishop of Bristol, and queen Anne soon after appointed him her lord-almoner, in which capacity he for some time served her successor, George I. Refusing to sigi the declaration which the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops in and about London had drawn up against the rebellion in 1715, he was removed from that place. He soon regained the favor of the princess of Wales, afterwards queen Caroline, who was his patron until his death, in 1719. He published, Animadversions on the Eight Theses, etc., in 1687, having for its full title Church Government, Part V, a Relation of the English Reformation,: etc.: — Actio Davisiana (1689, 4to): — -Twelve Sermons (1717, 8vo). Also Sixty Sermons published by his widow (1726 fol.; 2d ed. 1727; new ed. Oxf. 1832, 2 vols. 8vo). See Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. s.v.; Chalmers, Biog. Dict. s.v.