Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Cottenham, in Cambridgeshire, on the 29th of September 1636; and studied at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge. In his youth he applied himself to physic; but afterward went into orders, and was some time minister of St Andrew's Church, Cambridge, where he showed great attention to the sick during the plague in 1665. He showed himself very active against the growth of popery, by his writings both in the reign of King Charles and in that of King James. In 1680 he was presented to the vicarage of St Martin's-in-the-Fields, London, to which parish he made several donations. He endowed a free school, and built a handsome library, which he furnished with useful books. William and Mary, in 1689, presented him to the archdeaconry of London; in 1691 he was nominated to the see of Lincoln; and in 1694 he succeeded Dr Tillotson as archbishop of Canterbury. He performed all the duties of a good primate for twenty years, and died on the 14th of December 1715.