JOHN, D.D., archbishop of Armagh, was born of an ancient family at Pontefract in Yorkshire, A.D. 1593. He was invited to Ireland by the lord deputy Wentworth, and soon afterwards obtained the archdeaconry of Meath, the best in that kingdom. In 1634 he was made bishop of Londonderry. He rendered great service to the church of Ireland by procuring the passing of several acts for abolishing fee-farms and recovering impropriations, by which, as well as by other means, he regained to the church in the space of four years about £40,000 a-year. In the Convocation he was instrumental in persuading the church of Ireland to adopt the Thirty-nine Articles; and he exerted himself, though ineffectually, to get the English canons established in Ireland. Articles of treason were exhibited against him in the Irish parliament; and at the treaty of Uxbridge in 1644, the English parliament made it a preliminary article, that Bishop Bramhall, with Archbishop Laud, and others, should be excepted from the general pardon. Upon this he went abroad; but on the Restoration, he was appointed archbishop of Armagh, primate and metropolitan of Ireland, and was chosen speaker of the House of Lords. He died in 1663. His works were published in 1677, in folio.