Coles, Lionel (1686-1718)

Comments

VENN: Adm. sizar at CLARE, June 13, 1683. Of Rutland. ' Matric. 1683; B.A. 1686-7; M.A. 1690. R. of Abington Pigotts, Cambs., 1704-18. Buried Mar. 30, 1718.
Notes for career modelling:
The evidence records for Lionel Coles provide date relating to six events in his career:
(1) Ordination as deacon, the earliest possible date for which is 24 Feb 1686 O.S. The evidence for this event is Coles's subscription prior to his ordination, which took place on 24 Feb.
(2) Ordination as priest, 10 Apr 1687. For this we have the record of the event itself.
(3) Appointment as vicar of Bassingbourne. We do not possess evidence of the event itself, but only of his subscription prior to this appointment. Subscriptions on institution to a living often took place on the same day as the institution. Therefore, the probable date of Coles's institution to Bassingbourne was 29 May 1700.
(4) Coles's cession, or resignation, of the vicarage of Bassingbourne. The evidence for this event is the institution of his successor, Thomas Hewerdine, on 8 June 1704. The latest possible date for Coles's cession of the living is, therefore, 8 June 1704. Furthermore, it is likely that Coles's cession of Bassingbourne occurred as a result of his appointment to Abbington (see 5 below). Thus, the probable date of Coles's cession was 28 March 1704; the latest possible date, 8 June 1704.
(5) Coles's institution to the rectory of Abbington. The evidence for this event presents problems. The institution record itself gives a date of 28 March 1703. The subscription record, recording Coles's subscription prior to this institution, however, gives a date of 28 March 1704. It seems likely that '1703' in the institution record represents a slip by the clerk -- the year 1703 old style had ended only 3 days earlier on 25 March. This interpretation of the records is supported by the record of Coles's cession of Bassingbourne (see event 4 above), the latest possible date for which is 8 June 1704. Cession is a term which is generally used when someone vacates a living 'automatically' on being instituted to another living. If the living of Bassingbourne, vacated by Coles, was filled on 8 June 1704, it is far more likely that Coles vacated it in March of that year rather than in March 1703, over 14 months earlier. Thus, Coles's institution will be given a probable date of 28 March 1704.
(6) Coles's death. The evidence for this is the institution of Joseph Bentham to the rectory of Abbington on 25 June 1718. The living had been made vacant by Coles's death. Thus, the latest possible date for Coles's death is 25 June 1718. In fact, we know from Venn (extracted above) that Coles was buried on 30 Mar 1718. However, this information is regarded as unconfirmed by the Database Project (no specific source has been provided by Venn). Thus, while the information from Venn will remain in the Comment box for Coles (and will be available to users of the Database in that form), it will not become part of the formal Database account of Venn's career. Only when we have a confirmation and source for the date of burial, possibly from a monumental inscription, will the formal record be amended.

Evidence