Francis Henry Thicknesse (né Coldwell) (14 May 1829-2 November 1921) was the inaugural Suffragan Bishop of Leicester

Bishop of Leicester

The Bishop of Leicester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury.The first bishops of Leicester were originally prelates who administered an Anglo-Saxon diocese between the 7th and 9th centuries...

 from 1888 until 1903.

He was born Francis Henry Coldwell, son of the Revd William Edward Coldwell, Prebendary of Lichfield and Rector of Stafford. He changed his name by royal license to Thicknesse when he married Ann Thicknesse, daughter and sole heir of Ralph Anthony Thicknesse (MP for Wigan), in Clitheroe on 3 July 1855. The marriage yielded five sons and two daughters. One son, Philip Coldwell Thicknesse, became an architect in Liverpool.

He was educated at Bridgnorth Grammar School and Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...

 . He was ordained in 1853 and two years later was made Vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

 of Deane, Lancashire

Deane, Greater Manchester

Deane is an area of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. It is about south west of Bolton and northwest of the city of Manchester.Historically a part of Lancashire, the Parish of Deane was once one of four parishes within the hundred of Salford and covered roughly half of the present...

. Appointed Rural Dean

Rural Dean

In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, a Rural Dean presides over a Rural Deanery .-Origins and usage:...

 of Bolton le Moors

Bolton le Moors

Bolton le Moors was a civil parish and ecclesiastical parish of the hundred of Salford in the historic county of Lancashire, England...

 in 1857 he was later Archdeacon of Northampton before his elevation to the Episcopate. His last post before retirement was as Rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 of Oxendon

Great Oxendon

Great Oxendon is a linear village and civil parish in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire in England. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 307 people....

, Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

. At his death he was the oldest Anglican Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

. There is a memorial to him in Wigan Parish Church.