Thomas Comber (dean of Durham)

Thomas was born at Westerham on 19 March 1645; his father was driven by the war to take refuge in Flanders for four years, during which time his son was left entirely under the care of his mother.

His family was poor, but he procured an annual exhibition and received support from a relative of Dr. Richard Minshall, Master of the college.

He was ordained priest in York Minster by Archbishop Richard Sterne on 20 September 1664, In May 1666 he performed the exercise for his degree of M.A.

While he was curate of Stonegrave he was invited to reside with William Thornton of East Newton, Yorkshire, and he afterwards married his daughter Alice.

[1] In 1672 appeared the first instalment of his major work, the Companion to the Temple, intended to reconcile Protestant dissenters to the church of England.

On 5 July 1677, he was installed prebendary of Holme in the church of York, and on 10 January 1678 he was presented, by Sir Hugh Cholmeley, 4th Baronet, to the living of Thornton-le-Clay, ten miles from Stonegrave.

When the king sent a silver crozier to York, and a congé d'élire with a recommendation of Dr. Smith, a Roman Catholic, the precentor determined to accept the invitation formerly given him by the Princess of Orange to take refuge with her.

[1] His works, in addition to some occasional sermons, are:[1] Comber supported the Glorious Revolution, and published two pamphlets in defence of the government: A modest Vindication of the Protestants of England who joined with the Prince of Orange; and An Apology for the Oath of Allegiance.

When the French invasion was projected in 1692, he published a pamphlet called The Pretences of the French Invasion examined for the information of the People of England; and in the preface to a new edition of William King's State of the Protestants of Ireland he undertook to show that James II carried on the design of destroying liberty, property, and Protestantism.