THIBLWALL, CONNOP, an English bishop and historian; born in Stepney, Middlesex, England, Jan. 11, 1797; was a child of almost unexampled precocity, learned Latin at three, read Greek at four, and at 11 published "Primitive" (1809), a volume of poems and sermons. He next went to Charterhouse; entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in October, 1814, and in February following carried off the Craven and Belle scholarship and the highest honors. In October he was elected to a Trinity fellowship, and next spent about a year on the Continent, making fast friendship with Bunsen at Rome. He entered as a law student at Lincoln's Inn in February, 1820. He was called to the bar in 1825, but the natural bent of his mind prevailed, and in 1827 he took orders. Already in 1825 he had translated Schleiermacher's "Essay on St. Luke" and written an introduction—a remarkable performance for a barrister. His return to Cambridge was marked by the commencement, in conjunction with his dear friend Julius Hare, of a transla tion of Niebuhr's "History of Rome" (vol. i. 1828; ii. 1832). Their famous "Philolog ical Museum" (1831-1833) saw only six numbers, but contained some remarkable papers, among them Thirlwall's "On the Irony of Sophocles." In 1834 he signed the petition in favor of the admission of dissenters to academical degrees, and in May put forth a weighty pamphlet in defense of the measure. The master of
the college, Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, called on him to resign the assistant tutorship, which he did at once, though under protest. Almost immediately he was presented by Lord Brougham to the quiet Yorkshire living of Kirby-Under dale. Here he wrote for "Lardner's Cyclo pmdia" his "History of Greece" (8 vols. 1835-1847; improved ed. 1847-1852).
In 1840 Lord Melbourne raised Thirl wall to the see of St. David's, and within six months thereafter he preached in perfect Welsh. For 34 years he labored with the utmost diligence in his diocese, building churches, parsonages, and schools, and augmenting poor livings (to the extent of $150,000 from his own pocket). His "Primary Charge" (1840) was a catholic-spirited apology for the Tractarian party. Thirlwall joined in the encyclical letter censuring "Essays and Reviews," but was one of the four bishops who refused to inhibit Bishop Colenso. He supported the Maynooth grant, the admission of Jews to Parlia ment, and alone among the bishops voted for the disestablishment of the Irish Church. He was appointed chairman of the Old Testament Revision Committee, and resigned his see in May, 1874, retir ing to Bath, where he died July 27, 1875. The nobilty of his character is revealed in "Letters to a Friend," edited by Dean Stanley, in 1881.