Thirlwall, Connop

Connop (1797-1875), an English historian and a prelate. He was born at Stepney and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won a fellowship. He studied for the law, but changed to the church, being ordained in 1828. He was for a number of years pastor of a church in Yorkshire, where he occupied himself with various literary labors, among others the translation of Niebuhr's History of Rome. In 1834-1844 he published his History of Greece, which appeared, oddly enough, in eight volumes of Lardner's Cabinet Encyclopedia.

Thirlwall's history is meritorious but it was superseded shortly by the appearance of Grote's more pretentious work. Grote himself said that if Thirlwall's history had appeared a little earlier he would not have written his own work. In 1840 Thirlwall was appointed Bishop of St. David in Wales. He applied himself to the duties of his new office. He traveled and preached constantly, founding churches, building parsonages, and establishing schools. He is said to have given $150,000 of his own money to this work amongst the Welsh. As bishop he had a seat in the British Parliament. He was a man of broad sympathies. He voted for Gladstone's bill to disestablish the Irish Church, that is, to excuse the Irish people from paying taxes towards a church which they did not and could not attend.

See Grote