72 Bishop Tanner, his Family and Writings. 
Dect, 18, A.D. 1718, aged 78 years; and of that excellent woman, Mrs. Sarah 
Tanner, his wife, daughter of Joseph Willoughby, of this Town, Gent ; who 
died June 16, A.D. 1711, aged 63 years. To the memory of these his 
honored Parents, their eldest son, Thomas, Bishop of St. Asaph, P.P.” 
This Tablet was first placed on the extreme N.E. wall of the 
Nave; but as Church Restoration has transferred it to the North 
Aisle, the first portion of the Epitaph no longer describes with 
accuracy the resting-place of the old Vicar’s remains. 
The Bishop held his dignified position for only four years. I 
have not been able to learn any particulars of the disease of which 
he died at Christ Church, Oxford, 14th Dec., 1735; aged 62:' He 
was buried in the nave of the Cathedral, near the pulpit; and a 
monument placed against one of the south pillars, sets forth m a 
Latin Inscription, his preferments: his diligence in exploring and 
explaining the Antiquities of his Country ; his integrity ; rare piety ; 
and bountifully diffused charity to the needy. He left a legacy of 
£100 to the widows and orphans of poor clergymen ; and another 
bequest to his native parish, of which the inhabitants still reap the 
advantage. 
The Charity Commissioners appointed in pursuance of an Act 
passed in the 5th and 6th of Wm. IV, make the following Report 
of Bishop Tanner’s Charity at East or Market Lavington :— 
Thomas Tanner, D.D., late Bishop of St. Asaph, by his will bearing date 
22nd November. 1733, and proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 7th 
February, 1735, bequeathed to the Rev. Mr. John Sainwell and five others, all 
of Market Lavington in the county of Wilts, his native place, and to the Vicar 
or his resident Curate there for the time being, the sum of £200 with interest, 
and upon trust, that they, the survivors or survivor of them, should therewith 
purchase some rent charge or some estate in land, the rents of which should be 
applied yearly and every year in the manner and form foilowing: first, to the 
Vicar or his Curate, for a sermon to be preached in the afternoon of the Feast 
day of the Conversion of St. Paul, in the parish church of Lavington, aforesaid, 
on repentance, faith, obedience, good works, humility, meekness, sobriety, con- 
tempt of the world, resignation to Providence, God’s merey to mankind, men’s 
duty in showing mercy to others, or some other practical subject, 13s. 4d. ; to 
the clerk and sexton between them for attending and ringing the bell, 3s. ; to 
1 Hearne, in his Diary 1733—4, Jan. 17, records thus: ‘‘ Bishop Tanner 
pretty well recovered of his late illness. Having so gross a body, Mr. Baker 
doubts (and so do I,) that the rest of his life will be uncomfortable.” Diary 
Il, p. 794. 
= 
