Fletcher, Richard, Bishop of London (1545 -1596)

Richard Fletcher, Bishop of London, was the son of Richard Fletcher, Vicar of Bishop Stortford, until deprived by Mary in 1550, and Vicar of Cranbrook in Kent after the accession of Elizabeth. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he matriculated 16 November 1562, was made a Scholar 1563, and took his B.A. 1566, his M.A. 1569. He removed to Corpus Christi College in 1569 as a Fellow of that college, and incorporated his M.A. at Oxford 1572. He was made Prebend of Islington at St Pauls at the same time. He vacated his fellowship in 1573, when he married Elizabeth Holland in Cranbrook Church. In 1574 he was Minister of Rye in Sussex, he took his B.D. in 1576, and D.D. 1581, and was made Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth 1581, and Dean of Peterborough in 1583. He drew up an account of the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, on which occasion he had acted as Chaplain. Made Bishop of Bristol in 1589, translated to Worcester in 1593, he was made Queen's Almoner in 1593, and translated to London in 1594, but fell into disfavour with the Queen over his part in the Lambeth Articles and was suspended by her on account of his second marriage to Mary, daughter of John Gifford, and widow of Sir John Baker of Sissinghurst in Kent. In his will he left his books to his sons Nathaniel and John, the celebrated dramatist. Some of his manuscripts are in the library of St John's College, Cambridge

Stamp(s) Stamp Information
Fletcher, Richard, Bishop of London (1545-1596)   (Stamp 1) Title: Fletcher, Richard, Bishop of London (1545 - 1596) (Stamp 1)
Arms: Two swords in saltire pommels in base (See of London)
Dimensions (height x width): 85mm x 73mm
Impalement: of a plain cross between four escallops (Fletcher)
Heraldic Charges: cross, Heraldic Charges: cross flory, Heraldic Charges: escallops (4), Heraldic Charges: swords (2)