Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet

Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet (March 24 1650, Trelawne in the parish of Pelynt, Cornwall – July 19 1721, Chelsea, Middlesex) was Bishop of Bristol, Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Winchester. He was educated at Westminster School and then went to Christ Church, Oxford at the start of the Michaelmas term of 1668 where he distinguished himself as a scholar. A staunch royalist, he was ordained in 1673 and became a beneficed clergyman. He was appointed Rector of Southill on 4th October and of St. Ives on 12th December 1677. He was one of the Seven Bishops tried under James II. Trelawny was one of the seven Bishops who petitioned against James II's Declaration of Indulgence in 1687 and 1688, (granting religious tolerance to the Catholics) and as a result of this he was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London on charges of 'seditious libel'. They said they were loyal to the King, but their consciences would not let them sign. The Bishop was held for three weeks before the trial, then tried and acquitted, leading to celebrations through out the country with bells being rung in his home parish of Pelynt. Trelawny became Bishop of Exeter on the accession of William of Orange^{[disambiguation needed]} to the throne, and died in 1721 as Bishop of Winchester. His body was brought back to Pelynt, Cornwall for burial.

His son, Henry Trelawny died with Cloudesley Shovell on HMS Association in 1707. The ship struck rocks near the Isles of Scilly. Bishop Trelawny was immortalised in the Cornish Anthem, The Song of the Western Men, better known simply as Trelawny, written over a century later and composed by Parson Robert Stephen Hawker, vicar of Morwenstow.

And shall Trelawny live?

Or shall Trelawny die!

Here's twenty thousand Cornish men

Will know the reason why!

External links

• Who was Trelawny? by Tom Prout, Editor of the Trelawny's Army Newsletter.