Bishop of St David's from 1744 to 1752 and Lord Bishop of Durham from 1752 until his death. Canon of Christchurch Oxford from 1735. 4th son of Baron Trevor.

Richard Trevor, youngest son of Thomas, Lord Trevor, was the first of his family to make the church his profession, an indication that the social status of the clergy was rising by the eighteenth century. He was educated at Queen's College, Oxford; by the age of 20 he was fellow of All Souls; at 24 Doctor of Civil Law and a priest and at 27 Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. In 1744 he became Bishop of St. Davids and in 1752 he was translated to Durham. He was a great favourite with George II and seemed destined for the highest honours.

He suffered two disappointments: he failed to secure election as Chancellor of Oxford University because his two opponents combined their votes against him and the greatest prize of all--Canterbury--eluded him. Horace Walpole had reported in 1758 'It is believed that St. Durham goes to Canterbury and St. Asaph follow him' but it was not to be. Walpole's 'St. Durham' was a gibe at Trevor's reputation for saintliness. Even his appearance earned him the nickname of 'the Beauty of Holiness.' He performed his duties as bishop of Durham in a manner that impressed his contemporaries, used to absentee bishops, for he lived 'all the summer months at Durham or Auckland, but chiefly the latter, where he made great improvements in the castle and park and took much exercise in walking.' It was no wonder that the preacher at his funeral said of him that 'never were the shining qualities of the Palatine more justly tempered by the milder graces of the Diocesan.'

The remainder of the year Trevor spent in London or at Glynde. No single owner of Glynde Place did so much to change the appearance of the mansion or the village. He spent a great deal of his considerable income on improving Glynde Place. The entrance to the house was altered and a new range of stables built. The Bishop bought pictures and bronzes to adorn the mansion, transforming the Elizabethan country house to a charming and comfortable residence fit for a man of taste. The old Glynde church was demolished and an elegant Georgian structure erected in its place at the Bishop's expense. The establishment at Glynde revolved around the visits of the new owner, whose influence is reflected in the number of estate papers and accounts for the period 1744-71. The Bishop enlarged the estate by buying properties in Horsted Keynes and Steyning and consolidated the nucleus of the estate in Glynde and Beddingham.

In 1756 he acquired for £124 the thirteen paintings by Francisco de Zurbarán which hang in the Long Dining Room at Auckland Castle, the seat of the Bishop of Durham. Each painting stands eight feet tall. Painted between 1640 and 1645, they are of patriarchs, Jacob and his twelve sons. The twelfth son, ‘Benjamin', is not in fact the work of de Zurburán, but a copy by Arthur Pond, an artist, copyist and art critic of the 18th century.

Bishop Trevor believed in religious, political and social tolerance, and so he persuaded his fellow bishops in the House of Lords to support the Jewish Naturalisation Bill which would allow Jewish immigrants to naturalise as British citizens. This support proved crucial and the Bill was passed in 1753. Later however Parliament repealed the Act and the paintings were acquired from the estate of a Jewish merchant as a symbolic endorsement of the Bill which he had championed.


From Wikisource:

TREVOR, RICHARD (1707–1771), successively bishop of St. David's and of Durham, born on 30 Sept. 1707, was second surviving son of Thomas Trevor, baron Trevor of Bromham [q. v.], by his second wife, Anne, daughter of Colonel Robert Weldon, and widow of Sir Robert Bernard, bart. Richard was educated at Bishop Stortford in Hertfordshire, and afterwards at Westminster school. On 6 July 1724 he matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford, graduating B.A. on 13 May 1727 and M.A. on 28 Jan. 1730–1. In November 1727 he was elected a fellow of All Souls' College. In 1732 his half-brother, Sir John Bernard, presented him to the living of Houghton with Wilton in Huntingdonshire, and on 8 Nov. 1735 he was appointed a canon of Christ Church, retaining his prebend till 1752. On 10 June 1736 he proceeded to the degree of D.C.L., and on 1 April 1744 he was consecrated bishop of St. David's, whence he was elected to the see of Durham on 9 Nov. 1752. In 1759 he competed for the office of chancellor of Oxford University against George Henry Lee, third earl of Lichfield [q. v.] and John Fane, seventh earl of Westmorland [q. v.], and had the advantage of his competitors singly, but was defeated by Lichfield giving his interest to Westmoreland. Trevor died unmarried at Bishop Auckland in Durham on 9 June 1771, and was buried at Glynde in Sussex. He was a munificent patron of merit, a man of considerable learning and exceptional benevolence. By his will he left large sums for charitable purposes. A monument was erected to him in the antechapel at Auckland. His portrait, drawn by Robert Hutchinson and engraved in 1776 by Joseph Collyer, was prefixed to a memoir by George Allan [q. v.] published in that year. A portrait in oils is preserved at Glynde Place near Lewes, the seat of Viscount Hampden. Trevor was the author of several published sermons.


From Oxford DNB

Trevor, Richard (1707–1771), bishop of Durham, was born on 30 September 1707 at Peckham, Surrey, the youngest son of Thomas Trevor, first Baron Trevor (bap. 1658, d. 1730), judge, and his second wife, Anne (d. 1746), the daughter of Colonel Robert Weldon and widow of Sir Robert Bernard. Trevor was educated first at Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, and then at Westminster School. On 6 July 1724 he entered Queen's College, Oxford, as a gentleman commoner; he graduated BA in 1727. In November 1727 he was elected fellow of All Souls, and in 1731 received his MA; he took holy orders in the same year. In 1732 his half-brother Sir John Bernard presented him to the valuable living of Houghton-with-Wilton in Huntingdonshire. He was appointed canon of Christ Church on 8 November 1735, and proceeded DCL in 1736.

Trevor was consecrated bishop of St David's on 1 April 1744, and translated to the see of Durham on 9 November 1752. He owed the former episcopal office to the patronage of the duke of Newcastle, and the latter to Henry Pelham. However, he failed to gain promotion to the primacy when the archbishopric of Canterbury became vacant in 1758; and he was unsuccessful in his attempt to be elected chancellor of Oxford University in 1759, when his two competitors, the earls of Lichfield and Westmorland, combined their votes against him.

Trevor was actively involved in the ‘improvement’ of his two major places of residence: the palace of the bishops of Durham, in which he lived in summer, and the Sussex family estate where, after 1744, he spent the winter months. Thus he is said to have spent £8000 at Bishop Auckland, in order to begin the south front and build a Gothic gateway to the park. As for his other residence, Glynde Place, near Lewes, he not only improved the mansion, but also had the church rebuilt in Georgian style.

Horace Walpole and his correspondents jokingly referred to Trevor as St Durham—a jest aimed at his reputation for saintliness. His record of ecclesiastical patronage in the long Durham episcopate provides evidence of his consistent concern for the high standard expected of clerics to whom he offered preferments. A very benevolent man, Trevor bequeathed £3450 to several public charities and to the poor of the places he had lived in (TNA: PRO). The full-length portrait in oils that is preserved at Glynde Place conveys the confident image of a prelate of great human stature, though not as ‘fat-bellied’ (Walpole, 10.257) as Horace Walpole's correspondence suggests. Two of Trevor's five published sermons were in support of the Hanoverian establishment in times of crisis.

Bishop Trevor, who was unmarried, died of gangrene in London on 9 June 1771, and was buried ‘very privately (according to his own directions)’ (Allan, 24) at Glynde in Sussex on 19 June. A monument by J. Nollekens was erected to him in the chapel at Bishop Auckland in 1775.

Françoise Deconinck-Brossard


From Nat Library of Wales

RICHARD TREVOR ( 1701 - 1771 ), bishop of S. Davids and of Durham , was born at Glynde and educated at Westminster and at Queen's , Oxford ( 1724-7 ), becoming a Fellow of All Souls in 1727 , a D.C.L. in 1736 , and a canon of Christ Church , 1735-52 . As bishop of S. Davids from 1 April 1744 till his translation to Durham on 9 Nov. 1752 , he bore a high reputation for learning and benevolence and was distinguished among early 18th cent. occupants of the see by the conscientiousness with which he discharged his episcopal duties and the length of his stay. He inherited Glynde from his cousin John Trevor (d. 1743 ) (see above) and bequeathed it to his brother, Robert Hampden-Trevor ( 1706 - 1783 ), 1st viscount Hampden , a diplomat of some distinction, as was also the 3rd viscount Hampden ( John Hampden-Trevor , 1749 - 1824 ), the last of his line.