Sampson, Thomas

Sampson, Thomas, a Puritan divine, was born (according to Strype) at Playford, in Suffolk, 1517, and educated at Oxford. He was ordained by archbishop Cranmer and bishop Ridley; was chaplain in the army of Lord Russell. In 1551 he was preferred to the rectory of All-hallows, London, and, in 1554, to the deanery of Chichester. During the reign of Mary he resided in Strasburg. Returning home on the accession of Elizabeth, he refused the bishopric of Norwich, because dissatisfied with the nature of the office. In Sept. 1560; he was made prebendary of Durham, and in Michaelmas term, 1561, he was installed dean of Christ Church, Oxford. So open and zealous was he against clerical habits that in 1564 he was deprived of his deanery, and for some time imprisoned. Notwithstanding his nonconformity, he was presented, in 1568, with the mastership of Wigston Hospital at Leicester, and had, according to Wood, a prebend in St. Paul's. He resided at Leicester until his death, April 9, 1589. He married bishop Latimer's niece, by whom he had two sons, John and Nathaniel. Besides editing two Sermons of John Bradford (1574, 8vo), a translation into English of a Sermon of St. Chrysostom (1550, 8vo), he published several Letters, and a Brief Collection of the Church and Ceremonies thereof (1592, 16mo).