Bray, THOMAS

Bray, THOMAS, divine and philanthropist, born at Marton, in Shropshire, in 1656. From Oswestry School he passed to All Souls, Oxford, where he graduated in 1678. In 1690 he was presented to the rectory of Sheldon, and here he wrote part of his Catechetical Lectures, which brought him a wide reputation. Soon after he was selected to act as the Bishop of London's commissary in Maryland in the settlement of the church there. Not being able to start at once, he devoted himself with characteristic energy to a scheme for establishing parochial libraries in England and America, and had such success that before his death eighty had been founded in England and thirty-nine in America. Out of his library scheme grew the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and he may also be regarded as the founder of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. About the close of 1699 he sailed for Maryland, but in 1706 returned to England to accept the living of St Botolph Without, Aldgate, where he laboured with the utmost devotion. He died February 15, 1730.