Ken

Ken, Thomas, Bishop of Bath and Wells, was born at Little Berkhampstead, Herts, in 1637, and was educated at Winchester and Oxford. Izaak Walton, who married his step-sister, had considerable influence over his boyhood. He held various preferments, and in 1672 settled down at Winchester as Prebendary, fellow and chaplain to the bishop. In a Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Scholars appeared the two famous morning and evening hymns, "Awake, my soul," and "Glory to Thee, my God, this night." In 1688 he was one of the seven bishops who refused to publish James II.'s Declaration of Indulgence, and he went to the Tower. He refused, however, to take an oath of allegiance to William, and so was excluded from his see, passing his declining years in meditation and peace at Longleat, Lord Weymouth's seat, where he died in 1711.