William Juxon

William Juxon (1582 - June 4, 1663), English prelate, was the son of Robert Juxon and was born probably at Chichester, being educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, and at St. John's College, Oxford, where he was elected to a scholarship in 1598.

He studied law at Oxford, but afterwards he took holy orders, and in 1609 became vicar of St Giles, Oxford, a living which he retained until he became rector of Somerton, Oxfordshire, in 1615. In December 1621 he succeeded his friend, William Laud, as president of St John's College, and in 1626 and 1627 he was vice-chancellor of the university. Juxon soon obtained other important positions, including that of chaplain-in-ordinary to Charles I.

In 1627 he was made dean of Worcester and in 1632 he was nominated to the bishopric of Hereford, an event which led him to resign the presidency of St John's in January 1633. However, he never took up his episcopal duties at Hereford, as in October 1633 he was consecrated bishop of London in succession to Laud.

He appears to have been an excellent bishop, and in March 1636 Charles I entrusted him with important secular duties by making him lord high treasurer of England; thus for the next five years he was dealing with the many financial and other difficulties which beset the king and his advisers. He resigned the treasurership in May 1641. During the Civil War the bishop, against whom no charges were brought in parliament, lived undisturbed at Fulham Palace[?], and his advice was often sought by the king, who had a very high opinion of him, and who at his execution selected him to be with him on the scaffold and to administer to him the last consolations of religion.

Juxon was deprived of his bishopric in 1649 and retired to Little Compton in Gloucestershire, where he had bought an estate, and here he became famous as the owner of a pack of hounds. At the restoration of Charles II he became archbishop of Canterbury and in his official capacity he took part in the coronation of this king, but his health soon began to fail and he died at Lambeth on June 4, 1663. By his will the archbishop was a benefactor to St John's College, where he was buried; he also aided the work of restoring St Paul's Cathedral and rebuilt the great hail at Lambeth Palace[?].

See WH Marah, Memoirs of Archbishop Juxon and his Times (1869); the best authority for the archbishop's life is the article by WH Hutton in the Dict. of Nat. Biog. (1892).

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

References

• Serving God and Mammon: William Juxon, 1582-1663 by Thomas Mason ISBN 0874132517