London, Bishop of

From the earliest days of the Virginia colony the Bishop of London had a vague responsibility for the Church of England in the American colonies. This may have been because Bishop John King of London was a member of the first Council of the Virginia Company. William Laud was Bishop of London from 1628 until 1633. In 1632 Laud sent a suggestion to the Privy Council “for the purpose of extending conformity to the national church to the English subjects beyond the sea.” On Oct. 1, 1633, the Privy Council ordered with regard to the colonies that “. . . in all things concerning their church government they should be under the jurisdiction of the Lord Bishop of London.” In 1638, when Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury, he proposed sending a bishop to New England. Lord Thomas Culpeper became Governor of Virginia in 1679. His instructions permitted appointment to cures of only those clergy who had certificates of conformity from the Bishop of London. This was the first specific reference to the traditional jurisdiction of the Bishop of London over the colonies. The American Revolution ended any jurisdiction held by the Bishop of London over the former American colonies. See Laud, William.