Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 29.djvu/52

Ironside  Collections for the County of Middlesex,’ 4to, London, 1797, issued in Nichols's ‘Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica,’ vol. x. No. 6. It was to have been followed by a history of Isleworth, which he did not complete.

 IRONSIDE, GILBERT, the elder (1588–1671), bishop of Bristol, elder son of Ralph Ironside, by Jane, daughter of William Gilbert, M.A., of Magdalen College, Oxford, superior beadle of arts, was born at Hawkesbury, near Sodbury, Gloucestershire, on 25 Nov. 1588. His father, Ralph Ironside (1550?–1609), born at Houghton-le-Spring, Durham, about 1550, was third son of John Ironside of Houghton-le-Spring (d. 1581); matriculated from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, 20 Dec. 1577, and graduated B.A. in 1580–1. Elected a fellow of University College, he graduated M.A. in 1585, and B.D. in 1601. He was rector of Long Bredy and of Winterbourne Abbas, both in Dorset, and died 25 May 1629. He is often confused with his second son, Ralph (1590–1683), who took holy orders, became rector of Long Bredy in succession to his father, and is said to have been ejected from his benefice by the Long parliament, and to have been reduced to the utmost poverty (, Hist. of Dorset, ii. 194). On the Restoration the younger Ralph was reinstated in his living; was chosen proctor of the clergy in convocation, and became archdeacon of Dorset in 1661. He died 5 March 1683, and was buried in Long Bredy church, where there is a monument to him.

Gilbert Ironside matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, 22 June 1604, and became scholar of his college 28 May 1605, B.A. 1608, M.A. 1612, B.D. 1619, and D.D. 1620, and fellow of Trinity 1613. In 1618 he was presented to the rectory of Winterbourne Steepleton, Dorsetshire, by Sir Robert Miller. In 1629 he succeeded his father in the benefice of Winterbourne Abbas. He was also rector of Yeovilton in Somerset. Wood says that he kept his preferments during the protectorate, but this statement seems doubtful (ib. ii. 198). Either by marriage or other means he amassed a large fortune before the Restoration. On 13 Oct. 1660 he was appointed to a prebendal stall in York Minster, but resigned the post next year, when on 13 Jan. 1661 he was consecrated bishop of Bristol. As a man of wealth he was considered fitted to maintain the dignity of the episcopate with the reduced revenues of the see (, Athenæ Oxon. iii. 940, iv. 849). At Bristol Ironside showed much forbearance to nonconforming ministers. Calamy gives the particulars of a long conference between him and John Wesley [q. v.] of Whitchurch (father of Samuel Wesley [q. v.] of Epworth and grandfather of the famous John Wesley [q. v.]). Wesley refused to use the Book of Common Prayer, and, according to Kennett, 'the bishop was more civil to him than he to the bishop.' Finding him impracticable, Ironside is said to have closed the interview with the words, 'I will not meddle with you, and will do you all the good I can' (, Register, p. 919; Calamy, Memorial, pp. 438–47). Ironside died on 19 Sept. 1671, and was buried in his cathedral without any memorial, near the steps of the bishop's throne. He married (1) Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Frenchman of East Compton, Dorsetshire, and (2) Alice, daughter of William Glisson of Marnhull, Dorsetshire. By his first wife he was father of four sons, of whom Gilbert, the third son, is separately noticed.

He was the author of 'Ten Questions of the Sabbath freely described,' Oxford, 1637; and two separately published sermons, 1660 and 1684.

 IRONSIDE, GILBERT, the younger (1632–1701), bishop of Bristol and of Hereford, third son of Gilbert Ironside the elder [q. v.], was born at Winterbourne Abbas in 1632. On 14 Nov. 1650 he matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. on 4 Feb. 1652–3, M.A. 22 June 1655, B.D. 12 Oct. 1664, D.D. 30 June 1666. He became scholar of his college in 1651, fellow in 1656, and was appointed public reader in grammar in 1659, bursar in 1659 and 1661, sub-warden in 1660, and librarian in 1662. He was presented in 1663 to the rectory of Winterbourne Faringdon by Sir John Miller, with which he held from 1666, in succession to his father, the rectory of Winterbourne Steepleton. On the promotion of Dr. Blandford to the see of Oxford in 1667, he was elected warden of Wadham, an office which he held for twenty-five years. According to Wood he was 'strongly averse to Dr. Fell's arbitrary proceedings,' and refused to serve the office of vice-chancellor during his life. After Fell's death in 1686, he filled the office from 1687 to 1689, and when James II made his memorable visit to Oxford in September 1687, with the view of compelling the society of Magdalen College to admit his nominee as president, Ironside