Life

Garnett was born at Lambeth

Lambeth

Lambeth is a district of south London, England, and part of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated southeast of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...

 in 1709. His father, John Garnett, was rector of Sigglesthorne

Sigglesthorne

Sigglesthorne is a small village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately west of Hornsea on the B1244 road where it meets the B1243 road....

, in the East Riding of Yorkshire

East Riding of Yorkshire

The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...

. His grandfather had been vicar of Kilham

Kilham, East Riding of Yorkshire

Kilham is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated about north-east of Driffield town centre.According to the 2001 UK census, Kilham parish had a population of 1,010....

, and his great-grandfather a merchant in Newcastle. He graduated at Cambridge University B.A. in 1728, and M.A. in 1732; was fellow of Sidney Sussex College, and Lady Margaret preacher to the university. In 1751 he went to Ireland as chaplain to the Duke of Dorset

Duke of Dorset

Duke of Dorset was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1720 for the politician Lionel Sackville, 7th Earl of Dorset. The Sackville family descended from Sir Richard Sackville. His only surviving son, Thomas Sackville, was a statesman, poet and dramatist and notably served as...

, lord-lieutenant, and in 1752 became bishop of Ferns

Bishop of Ferns

The Bishop of Ferns is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Ferns in County Wexford, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bishoprics.-History:...

; he was translated to Clogher in 1758.

Garnett died in Dublin 1 March 1782. His son, John Garnett, was appointed dean of Exeter

Dean of Exeter

The Dean of Exeter is the head of the Chapter of Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, England. The chapter was established by Bishop William Briwere who set up the offices of Dean and chancellor of Exeter Cathedral, allowing the chapter to elect those officers.The current Dean lives at the...

 in February 1810, and died 11 March 1813, in his sixty-fifth year.

Reputation

A favourable account of his conduct in that see is given by Robert Lynam, the biographer of Philip Skelton

Philip Skelton

-Life:The son of Richard Skelton, a farmer, gunsmith tanner, he was born at Derriaghy, County Antrim, in February 1707. His mother, Arabella Cathcart, was daughter of a farmer, and the tenancy, under Lord Conway, of the farm at Derriaghy was her marriage portion. Philip, who had five brothers and...

. Skelton, says Lynam, `would have continued in a wild part of the country all his days had not Providence placed Dr. Garnett in the see of Clogher, who was remarkable for promoting men distinguished for literary qualifications.' Elsewhere Lynam calls him 'a pious, humble, good-natured man. Thomas Campbell

Thomas Campbell (writer)

Thomas Campbell was an Irish Protestant clergyman, best known as a travel writer and his accounts of the circle of Samuel Johnson.-Life:...

, in his Philosophical Survey, supports this account.

Works

The only work of Garnett, besides some occasional sermons, is his prolix Dissertation on the Book of Job, 1749 (second edition 1752), now remembered from Lord Morton's remark on seeing it at the Duke of Newcastle's, to whom it was dedicated, that it was 'a very proper book for the ante-chamber of a prime minister.' Garnett's theory, by which the book of Job is referred to the period of the captivity, and the patriarch regarded as the type of the oppressed nation of Israel, was original for a divine of the eighteenth century.