Thomas, an eminent antiquary, was born in 1674. His father, Thomas Tanner, was vicar of Market Lavington, in Wiltshire. The son was sent to Queen's College, Oxford, in 1689; took the degree of A.B. in 1693, and that of A.M. in 1696, and was elected a fellow of All Souls College in 1697. He became prebendary of Ely in 1713, archdeacon of Norfolk in 1701, and canon of Christ Church in 1724. He was consecrated bishop of St Asaph on the 23rd of January 1732, and died at Christ Church on the 14th of December 1735. He was thrice married. Dr Tanner was a very industrious antiquary, and left an immense collection of papers, which are preserved in the Bodleian Library. He had a considerable share in the second edition of Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses. He published a work entitled, Notitia Monastica; or a Short History of Religious Houses in England and Wales, Lond. 1695, 8vo. After the author's death, an enlarged edition was published by his brother, the Rev. John Tanner, Lond., 1744, fol. And an improved edition was published by Nasmith in 1787. His principal work, with which he had been more or less occupied for the space of forty years, bears the title of Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica; sive, de Scriptoribus qui in Anglia, Scotia, et Hibernia, ad seculi xvii. initium floruerunt, Lond. 1748, fol. The preface was written by Dr Wilkins, who did not live to see the completion of the work.