Henry Tilson

Henry Tilson (baptised 1577 – died 1655) was an Irish Anglican churchman in the mid seventeenth century.

The son of Henry Tilson, he was born in England at Midgley, in Yorkshire. He graduated B.A. at Balliol College, Oxford in 1597, became a fellow of University College in 1599, and graduated M.A. 1601. He spent periods as rector of Stanmer, Sussex, and vicar of Rochdale in Lancashire.

Tilson went to Ireland as chaplain to Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the Lord Deputy, and received preferment. He was Dean of Christ Church, Dublin from 1634 to 1639; Archdeacon of Connor from 1635 until 1639; and Bishop of Elphin from his consecration on 23 September 1639 for the rest of his life.

In 1645 Tilson left Ireland, to avoid the insurgency that followed the 1641 Irish Rebellion. He went to Soothill Hall, in Yorkshire, and the Southwell family. He continued to preach, at Cumberworth, and died at Soothill Hall on 31 March 1655. He was buried at Dewsbury.