Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gell, Robert
GELL, ROBERT, D.D. (d. 1665), divine, was a member of the family of Gell at Hopton, Derbyshire. He appears to have been educated at Cambridge, and after that to have held the living of Pampisford in Cambridgeshire. He was for some time one of the chaplains to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and frequently preached before the university of Cambridge, in 1631 before Charles I, and in 1641 before the lord mayor and aldermen of London in the Mercers' Chapel. About this time he appears to have been appointed to the rectory of St. Mary, Aldermanbury, London, which he held till his death on 20 March 1665. He seems to have taken much interest in astrology, and at least twice (1649 and 1650) preached before the Society of Astrologers. His works exhibit wide and varied learning, much wit, considerable critical power, and a fund of curious allegorical illustrations; the ‘Remaines’ are especially valuable as a collection of most ingenious skeleton discourses. He wrote:
- ‘Ἀγγελοκρατία Θεοῦ, or a Sermon (Deut. xxxii. 8, 9) touching God's Government of the World by Angels,’ 1650.
- ‘Noah's Flood returning,’ a sermon (on Matt. xxiv. 37–9) preached before the lord mayor, &c., 1655.
- ‘Stella Nova, a new Starre leading wise Men unto Christ,’ a sermon (Matt. ii. 2), no date.
- ‘An Essay towards the Amendment of the last English Translation of the Bible. The first Part, on the Pentateuch,’ 1659.
- ‘Gell's Remaines: or Several Select Scriptures of the New Testament opened and explained; collected and set in order by R. Bacon,’ 1676.
[Baker's Hist. London, art. ‘St. Mary, Aldermanbury;’ Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 562; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. iii. 19.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.134
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 115 | ii | 3 | Gell, Robert: for (d. 1665) read (1595-1665) |
| 4 | before was a member insert born on 19 Feb. 1594-5 (Sloane MS. 1707, f. 13) at Frindsbury, Kent, | ||
| 5-8 | for He appears to have been educated . . . . Cambridgeshire, read He was educated at Westminster School, and proceeded with a king's scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he matriculated as sizar in 1615. He graduated B.A. 1617-8, M.A. 1621, B.D. 1628, and D.D. 1641, being fellow of Christ's from 1623 till after 1638. | ||
| 17 | for his death on 25 March 1665 read his death at Pampisford on 20 March 1664-5 and after 1665. insert He married about 1644 a lady owning property at Pampisford, in Cambridgeshire, and his widow (Elizabeth) died there, 12 Sept. 1668, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth, who erected an altar tomb to her parents in Pampisford churchyard in 1674. Gell left his books to Christ's and Queens' Colleges, with money 'to buy books,' to those foundations, as well as to the king's scholars of Westminster. |