Brian Walton

1600-1661. Bishop of Chester. Born in Yorkshire, he entered Magdalene College, Cambridge, in 1616, transferring later to St. Peter's College. In later years he held numerous ecclesiastical posts. Around 1641 he aroused much opposition in controversy about city tithes in which, as a result of much legal research, he supported the rights of the clergy. After he had summoned his London parishioners for nonpayment of tithes, Parliament removed most of his preferments, and he was imprisoned for a short term. At the Restoration his benefices were returned, and the bishopric of Chester was conferred upon him. In the intervening years he worked on the vast English “Polyglot Bible” (6 vols., 1657), one of the first English works published by private subscription. This contained the entire Bible in nine languages.