Anthony Watson (bishop)


Anthony Watson was an English bishop.

Early life and education

He was born in Durham. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1567, graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1572, and was ordained a deacon and priest on 7 May 1573 at Peterborough. He became a Fellow of Christ's, and graduated Cambridge Master of Arts in 1575; he was incorporated at Oxford in 1577, later becoming a Bachelor of Divinity in 1582 and a Doctor of Divinity in 1596.

Priest

He was Rector of Cheam, Surrey from 1581, presented by John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley. He continued to reside there for the rest of his life. At that point Nonsuch Palace belonged to Lumley, and Watson wrote a significant Latin description of it, from the 1580s, and surviving in manuscript. He became Dean of Bristol in April 1590; in 1592 Lumley presented him as Rector of Storrington, Sussex ; he also served as canon chancellor of Wells.

Bishop

He became Lord High Almoner in 1595, and Bishop of Chichester in 1596; serving as both until death. He attended Elizabeth I during her terminal illness and at her death bed and participated in the Hampton Court Conference of 1604.