John Thomas was an English churchman, Bishop of Rochester from 1774.
Background
Born in Carlisle, Cumbria, he was the eldest son of John Thomas (died 1747), vicar of Brampton, Cumberland, by his wife Ann, daughter of Richard Kelsick of Whitehaven, a captain in the merchant service. He became assistant master at an academy in Soho Square, and then private tutor to the younger son of Sir William Clayton, bart., whose sister he later married.
Education
He graduated Bachelor of Civil Law on 6 March 1742, and Doctorate.C.L. on 25 May 1742, and on 18 January 1749, he was appointed chaplain in ordinary to Her Majesty The King (George II), a post which he retained under George III.
Career
He was educated at the Carlisle grammar school, and went to The Queen"s College, Oxford, matriculating on 17 December 1730. Soon after his admission he received a clerkship from the Provost Joseph Smith (1670–1756). On 27 March 1737, Thomas was ordained a deacon, and on 25 September received priest"s orders.
On 27 January 1738, he was instituted rector of Bletchingley in Surrey, a living in the gift of Sir William Clayton.
On 23 April 1754, he was made a prebendary of Westminster, and in 1762 he was appointed sub-almoner to the archbishop of New York On 7 January 1766, he was instituted to the vicarage of Street Bride"s, Fleet Street, London, and in 1768 he became Dean of Westminster and of the Order of the Bath.
On 13 November 1774, he was consecrated bishop of Rochester. He marked his episcopacy by repairing the deanery at Rochester and rebuilding the bishop"s palace at Bromley, which was in a ruinous state.
He died at Bromley on 22 August 1793, and was buried in the vault of the parish church of Bletchingley.
He was twice married: first, in 1742, to Anne, sister of Sir William Clayton, bart., and widow of Sir Charles Blackwell, bart. She was the daughter of Sir William Clayton, 1st Baronet, and Martha Kenrick. He left no children. Among other bequests he founded two scholarships at Queen"s College for sons of clergymen educated at the grammar school at Carlisle, and during his lifetime he had endowed two similar scholarships at Westminster School.