Thomas Rennell

Thomas Rennell FRS (8 February 1754–31 March 1840) was an English churchman, dean of Winchester Cathedral and Master of the Temple.

He was a diligent student, and though, as a King's man, he could not compete for mathematical honours, he obtained in 1778 one of the member's prizes for bachelors for the best Latin essay on 'Government.'

He made friends with the great lawyers of the day, such as Eldon, Stowell, Kenyon, and Erskine, and cultivated the society of the junior members of the bar and the law students.

Again, via Pitt's influence, he was appointed in 1805 dean of Winchester, and extensive repairs took place in the cathedral's fabric under his direction.

In 1786 he married at Winchester Sarah, eldest daughter of Sir William Blackstone, the judge, by whom he had an only son, Thomas (1787–1824) Rennell's reputation stood high as a scholar and theologian.

He was long an intimate friend of Henry Handley Norris and the rest of the high-churchmen who formed what was called the Hackney phalanx or "Clapton sect".