VICARS-APOSTOLIC IN ENGLAND.
(Vol. vi., pp. 125. 297. 400.; Vol. vii., pp. 242. 243.)
Your correspondent A. S. A. seems very anxious to possess a complete list of the vicars-apostolic of England. With their names, and the date of their consecration and death, collected from various sources, I am able to supply him.
The last survivor of the Roman Catholic bishops consecrated in England prior to the reign of Elizabeth was Dr. Thomas Watson, appointed bishop of Lincoln in 1557 by Queen Mary, and deprived (on the accession of Elizabeth) in 1559.
Upon his death, in 1584, the Catholic clergy in England were left without a head, and the Pope some time after appointed an arch-priest, to superintend them, and the following persons filled the office:
| Consecrated. | Died. | |
| 1598. | Rev. George Blackwell. | |
| — | Rev. George Birkhead | 1614. |
| 1615. | Rev. George Harrison | 1621. |
On the death of the latter the episcopate was revived by the pope in England, and one bishop was consecrated as head of the English Catholics.
| Consecrated. | Died. | |
| 1623. | Dr. William Bishop | 1624. |
| 1625. | Dr. Richard Smith | 1655. |
| 1685. | Dr. John Leyburn, with whom, in 1688, Dr. | |
| Giffard was associated; but almost immediately after this England was divided into four districts, and the order of succession in each was as follows: | ||
| London or Southern District. | ||
| Consecrated. | Died. | |
| 1685. | Bishop Leyburn | 1703. |
| 1688. | Bishop Giffard (translated from the Midland District, 1703) | 1733. |
| 1733. | Bishop Petre | 1758. |
| 1741. | Bishop Challoner | 1781. |
| 1758. | Bishop Honourable James Talbot | 1790. |
| 1790. | Bishop Douglas | 1812. |
| 1803. | Bishop Poynter | 1827. |
| 1823. | Bishop Bramston | 1836. |
| 1828. | Bishop Gradwell | 1833. |
| 1833. | Bishop Griffiths | 1847. |
| Midland or Central District. | ||
| 1688. | Bishop Giffard (translated to London, 1703). | |
| 1703. | Bishop Witham (translated to the Northern District, 1716). | |
| 1716. | Bishop Stonor | 1756. |
| 1753. | Bishop Hornihold | 1779. |
| 1766. | Bishop Honourable T. Talbot | 1795. |
| 1786. | Bishop Berington | 1798. |
| 1801. | Bishop Stapleton | 1802. |
| 1803. | Bishop Milner | 1826. |
| 1825. | Bishop Walsh (translated to London, 1848). | |
| 1840. | Bishop Wiseman (coadjutor). | |
| Western District. | ||
| 1688. | Bishop Ellis | 1726. |
| 1715. | Bishop Prichard | 1750. |
| 1741. | Bishop York | 1770. |
| 1758. | Bishop Walmesley | 1797. |
| 1781. | Bishop Sharrock | 1809. |
| 1807. | Bishop Collingridge | 1829. |
| 1823. | Bishop Baines | 1843. |
| Northern District. | ||
| 1688. | Bishop James Smith | 1711. |
| 1716. | Bishop Witham | 1725. |
| 1726. | Bishop Williams | 1740. |
| 1741. | Bishop Dicconson | 1752. |
| 1750. | Bishop Honourable F. Petre | 1775. |
| 1768. | Bishop Maire (coadjutor to Bishop Petre) | 1769. |
| 1770. | Bishop Walton | 1780. |
| 1780. | Bishop Gibson | 1790. |
| 1790. | Bishop William Gibson (brother to the preceding bishop) | 1821. |
| 1810. | Bishop Thomas Smith | 1831. |
| 1824. | Bishop Penswick | 1836. |
| 1833. | Bishop Briggs, removed to the new district | |
| of Yorkshire in 1840, and became Roman Catholic Bishop of Beverley in 1850. | ||
In 1840, England and Wales were divided among eight vicars-apostolic, and from that time until the year 1850 the following was the arrangement: