Ken, THOMAS, an English bishop of saintly memory, was born at Little Berkhamstead, Herts, in July 1637. His step-sister Anne Ken, twenty-seven years his senior, was the second wife of Izaak Walton. He had his education at Winchester, and at Hart Hall and New College, Oxford, obtained a fellowship in the last named in 1657, and proceeded B.A. in 1661 and M.A. in 1664. He took orders at twenty-five, and held in succession the country livings of Little Easton in Essex, Brixton in the Isle of Wight, and East Woodhay in Hants. Already he had been elected a Fellow of Winchester College, and he now became also chaplain to the bishop, Dr George Morley. Here it was that he prepared his Manual of Prayers for the use of the Scholars of Winchester College (1674), and wrote his famous morning, evening, and midnight hymns, the first two of which, 'Awake, my soul, and with the sun,' and 'Glory to Thee, my God, this night,' are perhaps more widely known than any other English hymns. In 1674 Ken visited Rome, and five years later was appointed by Charles II. chaplain to the Princess Mary, wife of William of Orange, but offended William by insisting that a relative's promise of marriage should be kept, and returned home in 1680, when he was appointed one of the chaplains of the king. It was in March 1683, on the king's visit to Winchester, that Ken refused to give up his house for the accommodation of Nell Gwynne. Later in the same year he sailed to Tangiers as chaplain to Lord Dartmouth, and seven months after his return (in April 1684) was appointed Bishop of Bath and Wells. It is said that as soon as the king heard of the vacancy he remembered Ken's fearless honesty at Winchester, and asked, 'Where is the little man who wouldn't give poor Nelly a lodging? Give it to him.' He was consecrated in January 1685, and one of his first duties was to attend the death-bed of Charles. The chief public event of his bishopric was his trial and acquittal among the 'Seven Bishops' in 1688, for refusing to read the Declaration of Indulgence. At the Revolution he found himself unable in conscience to take the oath to William, having already sworn allegiance to King James, and was therefore superseded in his bishopric by Dr Kidder in 1691. He spent the remainder of his days in quiet retirement at Lord Weymouth's seat of Longleat, refusing to perpetuate the schism by consecrating non-juring bishops. On account of his growing weakness he declined to resume the duties of his diocese on Kidder's death in 1703, and gladly recognised his successor, ceasing to sign himself 'Bath and Wells' from that time. He died at Longleat, 19th March 1711, and was buried at sunrise of the 21st, beneath the chancel window in the churchyard of Frome Selwood.
Bishop Ken was esteemed a great preacher in his day, but his name survives now only from his hymns, and from his saintly personal character and the intensity of his devotion. And his morning and evening hymns deserve the world-wide reputation they enjoy, from the transparent simplicity, fervour, and truth with which throughout they are informed. His Exposition on the Church Catechism (1685) is his most important work in prose.
Ken's poetical works were collected by his great-nephew and executor, W. Hawkins, in four volumes in 1721; his prose works by J. T. Round in one volume in 1838. Hawkins published a selection from the works, with a Life, in 1713. A convenient collection of the prose works is that by the Rev. W. Benham in 1889 for the 'Ancient and Modern Library of Theological Literature.' There are Lives by the Rev. W. L. Bowles (2 vols. 1830-31), by 'A Layman'—Mr Anderdon—(1851), Dean Plumptre (2 vols. 1888), and F. A. Clarke (1896).