Benjamin Lany

Benjamin Lany FRS (or Laney; 1 January 1591 – 24 January 1675) was an English academic and bishop.^[1]

The Right Reverend Benjamin Lany FRS
Bishop of Ely
Diocese	Diocese of Ely
In office	1667–1675
Predecessor	Peter Gunning
Successor	Matthew Wren
Other post(s)	Bishop of Peterborough (1660–1663) Bishop of Lincoln (1663–1667)
Orders
Consecration	2 December 1660 by Accepted Frewen
Personal details
Born	1591 (1591) Ipswich
Died	24 January 1675(1675-01-24) (aged 84)
Buried	Ely Cathedral
Nationality	British
Denomination	Anglican
Alma mater	Christ's College, Cambridge

Monument to Bishop Benjamin Laney in Ely Cathedral

Early life

The son of John Laney,^[2] Benjamin Lany was born in Ipswich.^[3] He entered Christ's College, Cambridge in 1608, graduating B.A. 1612, M.A. 1615, B.D. 1622, D.D. 1630. He became a Fellow of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge in 1616.^[4]

Career (pre Civil War)

He was ordained on 21 February 1619. After a curacy at Madingley he held livings at Hambledon, Hampshire, Bishops Waltham and Buriton.^[5] He was also Chaplain to the Bishop of Winchester from 1628.^[6] He became Master of Pembroke in 1630.

By Richard Neile he was appointed to the rectory of Buriton with Petersfield, Hampshire, and on 31 July 1631.^[7]

He became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 1632.

Civil War years

Lany was appointed on 19 June 1639 to a prebendal stall in Westminster, on the king's nomination. As a devoted royalist and high churchman, Lany on the outbreak of the civil wars become the subject of fierce hostility to the puritan party. He was denounced by Prynne as "one of the professed Arminians, Laud's creatures to prosecute his designs in the university of Cambridge", who, when one Adams was brought before the authorities for preaching in favour of confession to a "priest, had united with the majority of the doctors in acquitting him". When the parliament exercised supreme power he was deprived of all his preferments, his rectory of Buriton being sequestered "to the use of one Robert Harris, a godly and orthodox divine, and member of the Assembly of Ministers"^[7]

In 1643 Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester and Simeon Ashe led a visitation to the University on behalf of Parliament. This saw Lany deprived of his position. He went into exile with the future Charles II of England.^[8]

Career (post Civil War)

After the Restoration of 1660, he became Dean of Rochester — he was instituted on 8 August.^[9] He became Bishop of Peterborough the same year^[10] — he was elected to the See on 20 October 1660, confirmed 17 November, and consecrated a bishop on 2 December 1660.^[11] He then served as Bishop of Lincoln from 1663 — elected 10 March and confirmed 2 April^[12] — and Bishop of Ely from 1667.^[8] He was elected to that See on 24 May and confirmed 12 June.^[13]

He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1666.^[4]

Notes and references

Citations

1. Pepys Diary
2. J.J.C. (1981). "Laney, John (d.1633), of Cratfield and Ipswich, Suff.". In Hasler, P. W. (ed.). The House of Commons 1558–1603. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
3. Soham Town Forum
4. "Laney, Benjamin (LNY608B)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
5. A History of Christianity in Petersfield, Leaton, E. (ed.) (2001, Petersfield, Petersfield Area Historical Society: Monograph Number 4 p17) ISSN 0262-5970
6. "English Historical Facts, 1603-1688" Cook,C./ Wroughton,J. p139: London, Macmillan, 1980 ISBN 978-1-349-02676-0
7. Venables 1885.
8. Concise Dictionary of National Biography
9. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541–1857, vol. 3, 1974, pp. 54–57
10. Peterborough Cathedral: History of the See
11. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541–1857, vol. 8, 1996, pp. 115–118
12. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541–1857, vol. 9, 1999, pp. 1–5
13. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541–1857, vol. 7, 1992, pp. 7–10

Sources

• Venables, Edmund (1885). "Laney, Benjamin" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 82–83.

Academic offices
Preceded by Jerome Beale	Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge 1630–1644	Succeeded by Richard Vines
Preceded by Thomas Comber	Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1632–1633	Succeeded by Richard Love
Preceded by William Moses	Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge 1660–1662	Succeeded by Mark Franck
Church of England titles
Preceded by Thomas Turner vacant from 1644	Dean of Rochester July 1660–December 1660	Succeeded by Nathaniel Hardy
Preceded by John Towers vacant from 1649	Bishop of Peterborough 1660–1663	Succeeded by Joseph Henshaw
Preceded by Robert Sanderson	Bishop of Lincoln 1663–1667	Succeeded by William Fuller
Preceded by Matthew Wren	Bishop of Ely 1667–1675	Succeeded by Peter Gunning