{{Short description|English academic and clergyman}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} [[File:Samuel Fell, Christ Church.jpg|thumb|Samuel Fell]] '''Samuel Fell''' [[D.D.]] (1584 – 1 February 1649) was an [[England|English]] academic and clergyman, [[Dean of Christ Church, Oxford|Dean of Christ Church]], Oxford<ref name="salter">{{cite book| editor=Salter, H. E. |editor2=Lobel, Mary D. | title=A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 3: The University of Oxford | publisher=[[Victoria County History]] | year=1954 |pages=228–238 |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63884|chapter=Christ Church | access-date=July 28, 2011}}</ref><ref name="horn">{{cite book | editor=Horn, Joyce M. | title=Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541–1857: volume 8: Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford and Peterborough dioceses | publisher=[[Institute of Historical Research]] | year=1996|pages=80–83 | url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=35322|chapter=Deans of Christ Church, Oxford | access-date=July 28, 2011}}</ref> and [[Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford]]<ref name="vcs">{{cite web|url=http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/vc/position/previousvice-chancellors/|title=Previous Vice-Chancellors | publisher=[[University of Oxford]], UK|access-date=July 18, 2011}}</ref> during the [[First English Civil War]].
==Life== Samuel Fell was born in the [[St Clement Danes (parish)|parish of St Clement Danes]], [[London]], and was educated at [[Westminster School]]. Thence he proceeded as a queen's scholar to [[Christ Church, Oxford]], matriculating 20 November 1601, and graduated [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] 27 June 1605, [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|M.A.]] 30 May 1608, [[Bachelor of Divinity|B.D.]] 23 November 1615, and [[Doctor of Divinity|D.D.]] 23 June 1619. He was elected [[Proctor#Oxford University|proctor]] in 1614, and soon after became [[Rector (ecclesiastical)#Anglican churches|rector]] of [[Freshwater, Isle of Wight]], and [[chaplain]] to [[James I of England|King James I]]. It has been suggested that this position brought [[Robert Hooke]] to [[Oxford]] many years later, since at Freshwater Fell knew Hooke's father.<ref>[[Lisa Jardine]], ''The Curious Life of Robert Hooke'' (2003), p. 66.</ref>
In May 1619, Fell was made a [[Canon (priest)|canon]] of [[Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford]] and in 1626 [[Lady Margaret Professor (Oxford)|Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity]], which he held, according to custom, with a canonry of [[Worcester Cathedral]]. These posts he held till 1637. At first his religious views were [[Calvinistic]], but he changed his opinions and became an active ally of Archbishop [[William Laud]]. Laud promoted him, making Fell to the rector of [[Stow-on-the-Wold]] in 1637, [[Dean of Lichfield]] in January 1638, and Dean of Christ Church in June 1638.<ref name="horn" /> Fell continued with improvements in the cathedral and college projected by his predecessor, [[Brian Duppa]], and added the staircase leading to the hall.
Active in Oxford University affairs, on 15 August 1637, Samuel Fell wrote to Laud about the excessive number of alehouses in Oxford, but on more than one occasion he was rebuked from Laud for setting his authority as head of a college in opposition to the proctors and other public officials of the university. On the outbreak of the [[English Civil War|Civil War]] he became a conspicuous royalist, and, after serving the office of vice-chancellor in 1645 and 1646, was reappointed in 1647.<ref name="vcs" /> Soon after his reappointment the [[Parliamentary visitation of the University of Oxford|parliamentary visitors]] came to Oxford. In September, Fell was summoned before them; he declined to attend, was imprisoned, and on his release in November was deprived of all his offices in the university. He retired to the rectory of [[Sunningwell]], near [[Abingdon, Oxfordshire|Abingdon]], which he had held since 21 September 1625, and died there on 1 February 1649. He was buried in his church.
==Family== Samuel Fell married Margaret, daughter of [[Thomas Wylde (clothier)#Dynasty|Thomas Wylde]],<ref>Vivienne Larminie, ‘Fell, John (1625–1686)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008</ref> esq., of [[The Commandery]] [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], by whom he was the father of [[John Fell (clergyman)|John Fell]], Dean of Christ Church and [[Bishop of Oxford]], and several daughters including Mary who married [[Thomas Willis]].
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== *{{DNB|wstitle=Fell, Samuel|volume=18}}
{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box | title=[[Dean of Christ Church, Oxford]] | years=1638–1648 | before=[[Brian Duppa]] | after=[[Edward Reynolds]] }} {{succession box | title=[[Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University]] | years=1645–1648 | before=[[Robert Pincke]] | after=[[Edward Reynolds]] }} {{s-end}}
{{Deans of Christ Church, Oxford}} <!-- {{Deans of Lichfield}} -->
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fell, Samuel}} [[Category:1584 births]] [[Category:1649 deaths]] [[Category:People from Westminster]] [[Category:People educated at Westminster School, London]] [[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]] [[Category:English chaplains]] [[Category:Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford]] [[Category:Deans of Christ Church, Oxford]] [[Category:Deans of Lichfield]] [[Category:Vice-chancellors of the University of Oxford]] [[Category:17th-century English Anglican priests]] [[Category:Lady Margaret Professors of Divinity]]