Owen Oglethorpe (1557-1559), Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Living in the troublous times of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. he had, somewhat reluctantly, given his adhesion to the new order and form of service of the holy communion. He was raised to the bishopric of Carlisle by Mary in 1557. The following year she died, and the bishop being called upon to say mass before the new queen, elevated the Host, although she had expressly forbidden it. "A good-natur'd man, and when single by himself very plyable to please Queen Elizabeth," he crowned her queen when the rest of his order refused to perform the ceremony. But "when in conjunction with other Popish Bishops, such principles of stubbornness were distilled into him" that he refused to take the oath of supremacy, and was accordingly deprived of his bishopric the following May. His death, which occurred 31st December 1559, is said to have been hastened by his remorse at having crowned Elizabeth—an enemy of the "true Church"—queen of England.
John Best (1560-1570). After the death of Oglethorpe, the bishopric was offered to "the excellent and pious" Bernard Gilpin, "the apostle of the north," but he refused it.
John Best was then consecrated. He was educated at
Oxford. At the beginning of Queen Mary's reign he had given up all his preferments and lived privately and obscurely. Four years after his consecration he had permission from the queen "to arm himself against the ill-doings of papists and other disaffected persons in his diocese." He died in 1570, and was buried in the cathedral.
Richard Barnes (1570-1577), Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford; Suffragan-Bishop of Nottingham 1567; translated to Durham 1577. In a letter dated 1576 Barnes alludes to Carlisle as "this poore and bare living."
John Maye (1577-1598), Master of Catherine Hall; Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge. He died in February 1598 while the plague was ravaging Carlisle, and was buried in the cathedral.
Henry Robinson (1598-1616). Educated at Queen's College, Oxford, of which college he became Provost 1581. He took part in the Hampton Court Conference 1603, and was a great benefactor to his college. He died of the plague in 1616, and was buried in the cathedral, where his brother placed a brass to his memory.
Robert Snowden (1616-1621), Prebendary of Southwell. Died 1621.
Richard Milburn (1621-1624), Dean of Rochester. Translated from St. David's. He died 1624.
Richard Senhouse (1624-1626). Educated at Trinity College, and St. John's College, Cambridge. Dean of Gloucester. He preached at the coronation of Charles I. His death, which was caused by a fall from his horse, took place in 1626, and he was buried in the cathedral.