Brian Duppa


Brian Duppa was an English bishop, chaplain to the royal family, Royalist and adviser to Charles I of England.

Life

He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating BA in 1609. He was a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford in 1612. According to the list of Vicars in Westham Church he was vicar at this Sussex parish from 1625 and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1632. He became chaplain to Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset, who as his patron helped him become Dean of Christ Church.
He was chaplain to Charles I from 1634, and tutor to his two sons. He was regarded as a follower of William Laud. He was involved in the approval by Charles I of the manuscript of Eikon Basilike, reading it to the King in Carisbrooke Castle.
Duppa was made Bishop of Chichester. From two years later until death he lived much more quietly at Richmond,, one of the few Anglican bishops to remain in office during the English Interregnum.
In 1660, on the return from exile of Charles II of England to restore the monarchy, Duppa was made Bishop of Winchester, and Lord Almoner. He died two years later.

Works

He was editor of Jonsonus Virbius, a collection of memorial verses from various authors for Ben Jonson.

Eponymous places

A hill and a park bear his name given mostly to sports fields: Bishop Duppas Park in Lower Halliford, Shepperton, Surrey and seemingly Duppas Hill in Waddon, Croydon, London reflecting his influence on the previously ecclesiastical property.
Two sets of Bishop Duppa's almshouses were erected with his funds or endowed with his lands, one with original components, and one a 19th-century successor development:
Bishop Duppa appears in Robert Neil's historical novel "Crown and Mitre", set in 1659. In the last days of the Commonwealth the Bishop, living at a modest house in Richmond, is shown having a clandestine meeting with the emissaries of the exile King Charles II, to discuss plans for the Restoration.