John Fisher (bishop of Salisbury)

John Fisher (1748, Hampton – 8 May 1825, Seymour Street, London) was a 19th-century Church of England bishop, serving as Bishop of Exeter, then Bishop of Salisbury.

John Fisher by William Daniell, etching, 1793. National Portrait Gallery, London

Life

Painting of Osmington by John Fisher

John Fisher was the eldest son of John Fisher, rector of Calbourne, Isle of Wight. He was educated at Peterborough, St Paul's School and Peterhouse, Cambridge. Graduating BA as 10th Wrangler in 1770, he gained his MA and became a Fellow of St John's College in 1773.[1]

In 1780 he was appointed Preceptor to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and in 1781 chaplain to King George III and Deputy Clerk of the Closet, a post he held until 1785.[2] In 1786 he was made Canon of St George's Chapel, Windsor, and in 1805 was appointed Preceptor to Charlotte, Princess Royal,[3] the only child of the Prince of Wales, the future George IV. Fisher also served as Chancellor of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

John Fisher, nephew of the Bishop, by John Constable, 1816 (Fitzwilliam Museum)

He was consecrated Bishop of Exeter in 1803 and translated to Bishop of Salisbury in 1807, a position he held until his death in 1825. As Bishop of Salisbury he was also ex officio Chancellor of the Order of the Garter.

He is also notable for his friendship with the painter John Constable, presiding at Constable's wedding and commissioning his Salisbury Cathedral. Over time, Fisher became Constable's biggest patron and a close friend. Fisher himself was often called 'King's Fisher,' in reference to his connection to the Royal Family, and his patronage was a valuable asset to Constable.

Later, Fisher introduced the painter to Fisher's nephew, another John Fisher, the son of Fisher's brother Philip, Master of the Charterhouse School of London. The younger John Fisher (later the Archdeacon of Berkshire) became the painter's best friend and another important patron. The painter spent his honeymoon at the younger John Fisher's home in Osmington, Dorset. Relations between the Fisher families and the painter were such that biographer C. R. Leslie based much of his work on Constable – Memoirs of the Life of John Constable of 1843 – on correspondence between the Fishers and the painter.[4]

On Fisher's death, Constable commemorated him in a painting with a rainbow alighting on Fisher's house in the Cathedral Close, Leaden Hall, now part of Salisbury Cathedral School. He is buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor. There is a funerary monument to him in Salisbury Cathedral.

Family

John Fisher married Dorothea (Scrivener) Fisher, daughter of John Freston of Sibton Abbey, Yoxford, Suffolk, who had changed his name to Scrivener on an inheritance. Dorothea brought to the marriage a large income of £1700-a-year from the Scrivener estates in Suffolk. The couple had three children, Edward Fisher, who died unmarried, and two daughters, Dorothea, who married John Frederick Pike, who then assumed the additional name of Scrivener, and Elizabeth, who married John Mirehouse, JP, DL, of Brownslade, Pembrokeshire, Wales, and Common Serjeant of London (1833–1850).[5][6]

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds, c. 1825, John Constable. The couple strolling along elm alley are Bishop of Salisbury John Fisher and his wife.

References

Notes

"Fisher, John (FSR765J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
Britton, John. Wells, Exeter, and Worcester. p. 82.
The History and Antiquities of The Cathedral Church of Salisbury, John Britton, Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London, 1814
John Constable, R.A., 1776–1837, Langham's History, langham.org.uk
"Mirehouse, John [Cambell] (MRHS806JC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
John Constable and the Fishers, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London, 1952

External links

"Fisher, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9500. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Venables, Edmund (1889). "Fisher, John (1748–1825)" . Dictionary of National Biography. 19.

Church of England titles
Preceded by Henry Reginald Courtenay	Bishop of Exeter 1803–1807	Succeeded by George Pelham
Preceded by John Douglas	Bishop of Salisbury 30 May 1807 – 21 May 1825	Succeeded by Thomas Burgess

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[1] "Fisher, John (FSR765J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[2] Britton, John. Wells, Exeter, and Worcester. p. 82.

[3] The History and Antiquities of The Cathedral Church of Salisbury, John Britton, Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, London, 1814

[4] John Constable, R.A., 1776–1837, Langham's History, langham.org.uk

[5] "Mirehouse, John [Cambell] (MRHS806JC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[6] John Constable and the Fishers, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London, 1952

Bishops of Exeter
Bishops of Crediton	Werstan (bishop at Tawton) Putta (bishop at Tawton) Eadwulf Æthelgar Ælfwold I Sideman Ælfric Ælfwold II Ælfwold III Eadnoth Lyfing of Winchester Leofric see translated to Exeter
High Medieval	Leofric Osbern FitzOsbern William Warelwast Robert Warelwast Robert of Chichester Bartholomew Iscanus John the Chanter Henry Marshal Simon of Apulia William Briwere Richard Blund Walter Branscombe Peter Quinel Thomas Bitton
Late Medieval	Walter de Stapledon James Berkeley John Godeley John Grandisson Thomas de Brantingham Edmund Stafford John Catterick Edmund Lacey John Hales George Neville John Booth Peter Courtenay Richard Foxe Oliver King Richard Redman
Early modern	John Arundel Hugh Oldham John Vesey Myles Coverdale John Vesey James Turberville William Alley William Bradbridge John Woolton Gervase Babington William Cotton Valentine Cary Joseph Hall Ralph Brownrigg John Gauden Seth Ward Anthony Sparrow Thomas Lamplugh Sir Jonathan Trelawney Bt Ofspring Blackall Lancelot Blackburne Stephen Weston Nicholas Clagett George Lavington Frederick Keppel John Ross William Buller Reginald Courtenay
Late modern	John Fisher George Pelham William Carey Christopher Bethell Henry Phillpotts Frederick Temple Edward Bickersteth Herbert Edward Ryle Archibald Robertson Lord William Cecil Charles Curzon Robert Mortimer Eric Mercer Hewlett Thompson Michael Langrish John Ford (acting) Nick McKinnel (acting) Robert Atwell

Bishops of Salisbury
see at Sherborne	see erected from Winchester St Aldhelm Forthhere Herewald Æthelmod Denefrith Wigberht Eahlstan St Heahmund Æthelheah Wulfsige Asser Æthelweard Wærstan Æthelbald Sigehelm Alfred Wulfsige II Ælfwold I Æthelsige I Wulfsige III Æthelric Æthelsige II Brithwine I Ælfmær Brithwine II St Ælfwold II Herman see united with Ramsbury and removed to Old Sarum
see at Old Sarum	united from Sherborne & Ramsbury Herman St. Osmund Roger Henry de Sully Philip de Harcourt Josceline de Bohon Hubert Walter Herbert Poore Richard Poore see removed to New Sarum
Medieval	Richard Poore Robert de Bingham William de York Giles of Bridport Walter de la Wyle Robert Wickhampton Walter Scammel Henry Brandeston Lawrence de Awkeburne William de la Corner Nicholas Longespee Simon of Ghent Roger Martival Robert Wyvil Ralph Ergham John Waltham Richard Mitford Nicholas Bubwith Robert Hallam John Chandler Robert Neville William Ayscough Richard Beauchamp Lionel Woodville Thomas Langton John Blyth Henry Deane
Early modern	Edmund Audley Lorenzo Campeggio Nicholas Shaxton John Capon Gasparo Contarini William Petow Francis Mallet John Jewel Edmund Gheast John Piers John Coldwell Henry Cotton Robert Abbot Martin Fotherby Robert Tounson John Davenant Brian Duppa Humphrey Henchman John Earle Alexander Hyde Seth Ward Gilbert Burnet William Talbot Richard Willis Benjamin Hoadly Thomas Sherlock John Gilbert John Thomas (I) Robert Hay Drummond John Thomas (II) John Hume Shute Barrington John Douglas
Late modern	John Fisher Thomas Burgess Edward Denison Walter Kerr Hamilton George Moberly John Wordsworth Frederick Ridgeway St Clair Donaldson Neville Lovett Geoffrey Lunt William Anderson Joseph Fison George Reindorp John Baker David Stancliffe Nick Holtam

Chancellors of the Order of the Garter
Bishops of Salisbury (1477–1550)	Richard Beauchamp Lionel Woodville Thomas Langton John Blyth Henry Deane Edmund Audley
Lay Chancellors (1551–1671)	Sir William Cecil Sir William Petre Sir Thomas Smith Sir Francis Walsingham Sir Amias Paulet Sir John Wolley Sir Edward Dyer Sir John Herbert Sir George More Sir Francis Crane Sir Thomas Roe Sir James Palmer Sir Henry de Vic
Bishops of Salisbury (1671–1837)	Seth Ward Gilbert Burnet William Talbot Richard Willis Benjamin Hoadly Thomas Sherlock John Gilbert John Thomas The Hon. Robert Hay Drummond John Thomas John Hume Shute Barrington John Douglas John Fisher Thomas Burgess
Bishops of Oxford (1837–1937)	Richard Bagot Samuel Wilberforce John Mackarness William Stubbs Francis Paget Charles Gore Hubert Burge Thomas Strong
Knights Companion (from 1937)	William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham John Nevill, 5th Marquess of Abergavenny Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn