TRELAWNY, SIR JONATHAN, BART. English prelate, was a younger son of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bart. (1624-1685), and was born at Pelynt, Cornwall, on March 24, 165o. Educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford, Trelawny took holy orders in 1673. His service to James II. during Monmouth's rebellion, was rewarded (Nov. 8, 1685) with the bishopric of Bristol. He was loyal to King James until the first declaration of indulgence in April 1687, when, as a bishop, he used his influence with his clergy against the king, and, as a Corn ish landowner, resisted the attempt to assemble a packed parlia ment. In May 1688 Trelawny signed the petition against the second declaration of indulgence, and in the following month was imprisoned in the Tower of London with Sancroft and five other bishops, sharing their triumphant acquittal. In spite of Burnet's assertion, it is probable that Trelawny did not sign the invitation to William of Orange, although he certainly welcomed his army into Bristol. James II. had nominated him to the see of Exeter,
and the appointment was almost at once confirmed by William III. Trelawny took the oaths of allegiance to William and Mary ; but he was soon estranged from the new king and sided with the princess Anne, who showed him some favour after she became queen. In 1707 Trelawny was appointed bishop of Winchester and became prelate of the Order of the Garter, but henceforward he took very little part in politics. He died at his residence at Chelsea on July 19, 1721, and was buried at Pelynt. Trelawny is the hero, or one of the heroes, of the refrain of R. S. Hawker's (modern) ballad: "And shall Trelawny die, Here's twenty thousand Cornishmen Will know the reason why."