On this day in Tudor history, 27th June 1578, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, seventy-one-year-old William Bradbridge, Bishop of Exeter, died at Newton Ferrers in Devon. He was buried on the north side of Exeter Cathedral choir.
Bradbridge was about sixty-three when he was appointed, making him one of the oldest men to be made a bishop in Elizabeth’s reign.
As well as his religious work, Bradbridge enjoyed farming. Historian Kenneth Carleton writes that he owned 100 sheep and 3 dozen horses, pigs and cattle at his death.
Sadly, he died in poverty due to his sub-collector of taxes, Henry Borough, embezzling taxes rather than paying them to the Exchequer. At his death, the bishop owed more than 1000 pounds to the exchequer due to Borough’s deceit.
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