[A.D. 1636-1646.] George Coke, translated from Bristol. He was brother of Sir John Coke, Secretary of State under James I. and Charles I. Bishop Coke fell upon the evil days of the civil war, and like the rest of the bishops, was deprived of his see. “He was a meek, grave, and quiet man,” says Fuller, “much beloved of such as were subjected to his jurisdiction[58].” He died in 1650.
For fifteen years the see remained vacant. In
[A.D. 1661, died the same year,] Nicholas Monk, Provost of Eton, was consecrated Bishop of Hereford. He was the brother of the great Duke of Albemarle. Bishop Monk never visited his diocese, but, dying at Westminster, was interred in the abbey church there.
[A.D. 1662-1691.] Herbert Croft, had been Dean of Hereford before the Rebellion. In his youth he had embraced Romanism, and had been received into the Order of Jesuits, but was reconverted by Bishop Morton of Durham. Bishop Croft is said to have been especially careful to promote none but the clergy of his own diocese to honourable positions within it.
[A.D. 1691-1701.] Gilbert Ironside, translated from Bristol.
[A.D. 1701-1712.] Humfrey Humphries, translated from Bangor. Wood declares him to have been “excellently versed in antiquities.”
[A.D. 1713-1721.] Philip Bisse, translated from St. David’s. Bishop Bisse expended much on the cathedral and on the palace. In the former he erected a Grecian altar-screen, which has been happily removed during the late restoration.
[A.D. 1721, trans. to Salisbury 1723.] Benjamin Hoadly, trans. from Bangor. See Winchester Cathedral, (to which see he was trans. from Salisbury,) Pt. II.; but it should be added that the passage there quoted from Hallam’s Constitutional History is far too favourable to the character of Bishop Hoadly.
[A.D. 1724-1746.] Henry Egerton, fifth son of the third Earl of Bridgewater.
[A.D. 1746-1787.] James Beauclerk, eighth son of the Duke of St. Alban’s.