Edmund Keene


Edmund Keene

Bishop of Ely
Bishop Keene, by Johan Zoffany, 1768
DioceseDiocese of Ely
In office22 January 1771 – 6 July 1781 (death)
PredecessorMatthias Mawson
SuccessorJames Yorke
Other post(s)Bishop of Chester (1752–1771)
Vice-chancellor, University of Cambridge (1749–1750)
Personal details
Born1714 (1714)
Died6 July 1781(1781-07-06) (aged 67)
Ely Place, London
BuriedBishop West's Chapel, Ely Cathedral
NationalityBritish
DenominationChurch of England
ResidenceEly Palace, London
ParentsCharles Keene (1674–?)
Susan Rolfe (? – 1753)
SpouseMary Andrewes (1725–1776)
ChildrenBenjamin Keene (1753–1837)
ProfessionClergy
EducationCharterhouse
Alma materGonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Edmund Keene (1714 – 6 July 1781) was an English churchman and academic, who was Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge and later served first as Bishop of Chester, then Bishop of Ely.

Younger brother of the diplomat Benjamin Keene, the family were close friends of Sir Robert Walpole, British Prime Minister from 1721 to 1742. This connection helped him secure a series of lucrative positions in his early career but it was his relationship with Walpole's successor Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle that proved most beneficial.

With Newcastle's support, he was appointed Vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 1749, carrying out a number of reforms. In 1752, he became Bishop of Chester, then Bishop of Ely in 1771, his 'great object, the aim and end of his ambition'.[1]