Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tipping, William

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741478Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 56 — Tipping, William1898Charlotte Fell Smith

TIPPING, WILLIAM (1598–1649), author, second son of Sir George Tipping (d. 1627) of Wheatfield and Draycott, Oxfordshire, by his wife, Dorothy (1564–1637), daughter of John Burlacy or Borlase of Little Marlow, and sheriff of Buckinghamshire, was born at Wheatfield in 1598. He entered Queen's College, Oxford, as a commoner, matriculated 23 June 1615, and graduated B.A. on 23 Oct. 1617. He became a student at Lincoln's Inn in 1618, but afterwards abandoned the law, returned to Oxford, lived a studious life, and was added to the commission of the peace. He was summoned before the court of high commission for puritan practices in 1635 and 1636, and in the civil war joined the parliament, took the covenant, and was inducted into the family living of Shabbington, Buckinghamshire. He appears as one of the parliamentary visitors of Oxford in 1647 (Burrows, Reg. Visit. pp. lxi, 2), and on 12 April 1648 was created M.A. (Foster). He died in the neighbouring parish of Waterstock on 2 Feb. 1648–9, and was there buried on the 8th.

Tipping, who was unmarried, bequeathed an annuity for a Good Friday sermon in All Saints', Oxford, and during his lifetime gave 300l. to build a bridewell outside the north gate of Oxford. He has been confused with a relative of the same name who married Ursula, daughter of Sir John Brett of Edmonton (Visitations of Oxfordshire, Harl. Soc. p. 275; cf. Lipscomb, Hist. of Buckinghamshire, i. 453).

He wrote: 1. ‘A Discourse of Eternity,’ Oxford, 1633, 4to, from which he was known as ‘Eternity Tipping.’ A second (anonymous) edition was published in London, 1646. 2. ‘A Return of Thankfulness for the unexpected Recovery out of a dangerous Sickness,’ Oxford, 1640, 8vo. 3. ‘The Father's Counsell,’ London, 1644, 8vo; republished in ‘Harleian Miscellany,’ vol. ix. 1808. 4. ‘The Preacher's Plea, or a short Declaration touching the Smallness of their Maintenance,’ London, 1646, 8vo. 5. ‘The remarkable Life and Death of the lady Apollonia Hall, widow, aged 20,’ London, 1647, 8vo. Of these none save the ‘Harleian Miscellany’ reproduction is in the British Museum.

[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 243; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1635–6; Lipscomb's Hist. of Buckinghamshire, i. 309, 450–3; Bodleian Catalogue; Madan's Early Oxford Press, pp. 174, 223.]

C. F. S.