Humphrey Sydenham (1591 – c. 1650), known as "Silver Tongue Sydenham," was an English royalist divine and clergyman, renowned for his eloquence as a preacher.
Origins
He was born in 1591 at Dulverton in Somerset, a younger son of Humphrey I Sydenham of Combe, Dulverton, by his first wife Jane Champneys, eldest daughter of John Champneys (1518–1569) of Uffculme, Devon, and widow of Martin Sandford of Harberton, Devon.
Education and Academic Career
Sydenham matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford, in Lent term 1606, and graduated B.A. on 24 January 1610–11. In 1613 he became a Fellow of the newly founded Wadham College, Oxford. He was the first to graduate as Master of Arts from that foundation on 3 December 1613. He took priest's orders in 1621, became librarian at Wadham in 1623, and was incorporated at Cambridge in 1625. He resigned his fellowship in 1628.
Ecclesiastical Career
He was appointed chaplain to Lord Howard of Escrick, and on 15 December 1627 was presented by the king to the vicarage of Ashbrittle, Somerset, holding that preferment until 1645. On 18 May 1629 he was presented by Sir Hugh Portman to the rectory of Puckington, Somerset. He was collated to the Prebend of Wedmore Tertia in Wells Cathedral in 1642, and on 14 December 1644 was instituted to the rectory of Odcombe, Somerset, upon the presentation of the king. He held this preferment for little more than a year before being ejected from all his benefices by the parliamentary commissioners during the English Civil War.
Character and Reputation
Sydenham was a devout and learned biblical scholar but an unbending royalist, and he suffered accordingly. Described as consummata eloquentia celeberrimus ("most famous in consummate eloquence"), he was noted by the historian David Lloyd as "happy in having the tongue of men and angels." According to Anthony Wood, he was "a person of a quaint and curious style, better at practical than at school divinity," and was so eloquent and fluent a preacher that he was "commonly called Silver Tongue Sydenham."
Inheritance
When his elder brother, John Sydenham of Combe, died without male children, Humphrey inherited the paternal estates.
Marriage and Children
He married Mary Cox, daughter of William Cox of Crewkerne, Somerset. They had children, including a son named Humphrey Sydenham of Combe, who married Jane Pole, second daughter and eventual co-heiress of Sir William Pole, Knight (1614–1649).
Death
He appears to have died in 1650 and was buried at Dulverton, Somerset.
Works
Sydenham's published works include:
- Natures Overthrow and Deaths Triumph (1626, 1636) — a funeral sermon for Sir John Sydenham
- Five Sermons upon severall occasions preached at Paul's Crosse and at St. Maries in Oxford (1626)
- Sermons by Humph. Sydenham, late Fellow of Wadham College (1630) — including "The Rich Man's Warning Peece" and "Waters of Marah," directed against the "Pseudo-Zealots of our Age"
- Sermons upon Solemn Occasions: preached in severall Auditories (1637), dedicated to William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury
