View source for Thomas Comber 1645-1699

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===[[name::Thomas]] [[name::COMBER]]  [[date of birth::1645]]-[[date of death::1699]]===

====Biographical Note====
Born at [[place of birth::Westerham, Kent]], son of [[family::James Comber]], a freeman of the [[organisations::Cutlers’ Company]] of [[location::London]].  His early years were overshadowed by privations which his royalist family suffered during the Civil War and Interregnum.  BA [[education::Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge]] 1663, DD 1678.  [[occupation::Curate]] at [[location::Stonegrave, Yorkshire]] 1663, [[occupation::chaplain]] to [[associates::the Thornton family]] at [[location::East Newton Hall]] 1665, [[occupation::rector]] of [[location::Stonegrave]] 1669.  [[occupation::prebendary|Prebendary]] of [[organisations::York Minster|York]] 1677, [[occupation::rector]] of [[location::Thornton-le-Dale]] 1679, [[occupation::precentor]] of [[organisations::York Minster|York]] 1683, [[occupation::dean|Dean]] of [[organisations::Durham Cathedral|Durham]] 1691, [[occupation::chaplain]] in ordinary to [[associates::William III|William]] and [[associates::Mary II|Mary]] 1692.

Comber’s reputation was forged through his publications, both devotional and polemical.  He wrote numerous tracts during the 1670s and 80s in support of the established Church, but is best remembered for his [[author::commentary]] on the Book of Common Prayer, [[book title::''A companion to the temple'']] ([[date of publication::1672;1676|1672-76]], and subsequently issued in expanded versions).

====Books==== 
Comber’s extant letters contain many references to obtaining and passing on books, and to his links with members of the [[location::London]] book trade.  Both at [[organisations::York Minster|York]], and at [[organisations::Durham Cathedral|Durham]], he was closely involved with the cathedral libraries.  As [[occupation::precentor]] at [[location::York]], he undertook an extensive reorganisation of the Library, following the bequest of books from [[benefactor::Archbishop Dolben]]; he reordered and catalogued the books, created a donors’ book, began a loan register and possibly initiated a purchase fund.  He was [[occupation::dean|Dean]] at [[organisations::Durham Cathedral|Durham]] at the time of the completion of work to turn the monastic Refectory there into a library (a project began by [[associates::Dean Sudbury]], d.[[date of death::1685]]), and his diary includes references to moving the books into the new space in 1696, with the help of the librarian.

In his will, Comber directed that all his books should be [[bequest::given]] to his eldest [[beneficiary::son]] [[family::William Comber|William]], provided he entered the ministry, and on condition that his younger [[beneficiary::son]] ([[family::Thomas Comber|Thomas]]) be [[bequest::given]] [[monetary value::£50]], or books to the value of [[monetary value::£60]].  This suggests a total collection valued at more than [[monetary value::£120]].  If [[family::Thomas Comber|Thomas]] became a priest, and [[family::William Comber|William]] did not, the conditions were to be reversed; if neither did, the books were to be divided equally between them, with [[monetary value::£10]] worth of books [[bequest::given]] to each of their [[beneficiary::daughters|sisters]].  Both sons matriculated at [[education:: University of Oxford|Oxford]] shortly after their father’s death but their subsequent career is [not recorded in Foster].  Examples: Marsh’s Library, Dublin K.2.5.1.

====Sources====
<div id="sourcelist">
*Barr, C. The Minster Library in G. Alymer & R. Cant (eds), ''A history of York Minster'', 1977.
*Coleby, Andrew M. [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/6024 "Comber, Thomas (1645–1699), dean of Durham and liturgist."] ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''.
*Whiting, C. (ed), ''The autobiographies and letters of Thomas Comber'', 1946-7.  
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Comber, Thomas}}

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