Life

He was the eldest son of Edward Stillingfleet

Edward Stillingfleet

Edward Stillingfleet was a British theologian and scholar. Considered an outstanding preacher as well as a strong polemical writer defending Anglicanism, Stillingfleet was known as "the beauty of holiness" for his good looks in the pulpit, and was called by John Hough "the ablest man of his...

, bishop of Worcester

Bishop of Worcester

The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. He is the head of the Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury...

, educated at St Paul's School. He was a Lady Margaret scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, matriculating 1678, graduating B.A. in 1682, M.A. in 1685, and M.D. in 1692.

He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1688, and Gresham Professor of Physic

Gresham Professor of Physic

The Professor of Physic at Gresham College in London, England, gives free educational lectures to the general public. The college was founded for this purpose in 1596 / 7, when it appointed seven professors; this has since increased to eight and in addition the college now has visiting...

 from 1689 to 1692. Subsequently he practised as a doctor at King's Lynn

King's Lynn

King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....

, married against the bishop's wishes, got into debt, and further offended his father by his Jacobite

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

 opinions. When he was ordained, however, the bishop obtained for him the rectory of Newington Butts

Newington Butts

Newington Butts is a former village, now an area of the London Borough of Southwark, that gives its name to a segment of the A3 road running south-west from the Elephant and Castle junction...

, which he exchanged in 1698 for the rectory of Wood Norton

Wood Norton, Norfolk

Wood Norton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located some east of Fakenham and north-west of Norwich.The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 221 in 94 households...

 and Swanton, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

.

The bishop died in 1699, leaving nothing to his son, and accordingly, on the death of the latter in 1708, his widow was in straitened circumstances. Besides Benjamin Stillingfleet

Benjamin Stillingfleet

Benjamin Stillingfleet was a botanist, translator and author. He is said to be the first Blue Stocking, a phrase from which is derived the term bluestocking now used to describe a learned woman.-Life:...

 the naturalist, she had three daughters, of whom the eldest, Elizabeth, afterwards married John Locker, and she herself afterwards married a Mr. Dunch.