1. John Whitgift was the eldest son of Henry Whitgift, a merchant, of Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, where he was born, probably between 1530 and 1533.
13 Facts About John Whitgift
1. 2.
The Whitgift family is thought to have originated in the relatively close Yorkshire village of Whitgift, adjoining the River Ouse.
3.
John Whitgift taught Francis Bacon and his older brother Anthony Bacon at Cambridge University in the 1570s.
4.
Bacon would later disavow John Whitgift, writing to Elizabeth I to warn her against John Whitgift's attempts to root out the "careful and diligent preachers in each parish".
5.
John Whitgift placed his stamp on the church of the Reformation, and shared Elizabeth's hatred of Puritans.
6.
John Whitgift drew up articles aimed at nonconforming ministers, and obtained increased powers for the Court of High Commission.
7.
John Whitgift's actions gave rise to the Martin Marprelate tracts, in which the bishops and clergy were strongly opposed.
8.
John Whitgift repeatedly interrogated them through the High Commission, and at the Privy Council.
9.
John Whitgift is neither ecclesiastical nor civil, even that second beast spoken of in revelation.
10.
In 1587, he had Welsh preacher John Penry brought before the High Commission, and imprisoned; Whitgift signed Penry's death warrant six years later.
11.
John Whitgift died at Lambeth at the end of the following month.
12.
John Whitgift was buried in Croydon at the Parish Church of St John Baptist : his monument there with his recumbent effigy was practically destroyed when the church burnt down in 1867.
13.
John Whitgift set up charitable foundations, now The John Whitgift Foundation, in Croydon, the site of a palace, a summer retreat of Archbishops of Canterbury.