James Arderne

He was apparently afterwards resident in London; for he is stated to have been a member, in 1659, of a coterie that met nightly at the Turk's Head, New Palace Yard, Westminster, under the chairmanship of James Harrington, the author of 'Oceana'.

From the double inducement, we are told, of the public library and the society, he became a fellow-commoner of Brasenose College, Oxford, and in 1673 was admitted D.D.

He is said to have had the promise of succession to the bishopric of Chester, but the events of the revolution prevented James II from giving him any further promotion.

He was buried in the choir of his cathedral, with a monument on which, in accordance with his will, was inscribed: "Here lies the body of Dr. James Arderne, brother of Sir John Arderne, awhile dean of this church; who, though he bore a more than common affection to his private relations, yet gave the substance of his bequeathable estate to this cathedral, which gift, his will was, should be mentioned, that clergymen may consider whether it be not a sort of sacrilege to sweep away all from the church and charity into the possession of their lay kindred who are not needy".

[3] George Ormerod, in printing the dean's will, observes that it is one "which the dean would certainly never have executed if he could have imagined that, from subsequent contingencies, it would have been the means of wresting from his family a very large share of one of the most ancient estates in the county, and have involved the representatives of two of his brothers in a series of law expenses, which compelled them to alienate a considerable portion of Mrs. Jane Done's bequest, the successive turns of presentation to the rectory of Tarporley".