John Gauden
John Gauden was born at
Mayland in 1605.
He was born into a religious
and educated family with his father, John Gauden, being Vicar of
Mayland from 1598.
Gauden was a clever child who
won a place at St John's College, Cambridge in 1621 at the age of 16
years of age.
Following a BA and MA at
Cambridge he attended Wadhams College, Oxford where he obtained a
Divinity Degree.
In 1640 he became Vicar of
Chippenham with sponsorship from Sir Francis Russell who was his
wife's father.
He then entered the politics
of religion by becoming private chaplain of Robert Rich who was the
Earl of Warwick.
During this period he
continued his studies and in 1641 he became a Doctor of Divinity.
Through the Earls influence he
preached a sermon to the House of Commons following which he was
appointed the Dean of Bocking and returned to Essex.
He continued political
involvement with Parliament during the turbulent reign of King
Charles I although with the onset of the civil war and execution of
the King he appears to have changed sympathies from Parliament to
the King and bravely wrote several critical pamphlets.
He is considered a possible
author of a pamphlet called Eikon Basilike which purported to be the
views of King Charles I that was published shortly after his death
to the considerable embarrassment of Cromwell and Parliament.
With the return of the
Monarchy Gauden was rewarded by King Charles II by appointment as
his chaplain and in 1660 made Bishop of Exeter.
Gauden found that the living
from Exeter was not great and on appealing to the King in May 1662
he was appointed as Bishop of Worcester which carried much greater
remuneration.
Gauden was not able to enjoy
the additional income for long as 4 months later he collapsed and
died.
He left a widow Elizabeth nee
Russell and children Lukenor, Charles, John, William and Anne with a
step child from his wife's previous marriage.
