He was the son of Richard
Babington and Anne Starkey (formerly of
Wrenbury Hall). He was the great-grandson of
Sir Anthony Babington,
MP for
Nottingham and the
second cousin to the conspirator
Anthony Babington. He was a native of
Cheshire, and was admitted to
Christ's College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1572. He graduated B.A. in 1576, and became a fellow also in 1576, with an M.A. from
St John's College, Cambridge in 1579. He was rector of
Thurcaston,
Leicestershire, from 1583. He was collated to the prebend of Bishopshall, in
Lichfield Cathedral, 18 September 1592, and was rector of
Tatenhill,
Staffordshire, from 1602. In 1610 he was appointed to the bishopric of Derry, after some opposition from supporters of Dean William Webb. Babington was chosen as an advocate of a persuasive missionary approach to convert the native population to the reformed faith, an approach which was preferred by
King James and his
Privy Council. His predecessor,
George Montgomery, was considered disappointing in his dedication to missionary and pastoral work and translated to Meath in 1609. Babington tried a new approach with his clergy. In his own words, he "did not violently go to work with them nor urge them by authority, but endeavoured rather to persuade their consciences by arguments and reasons." He tried also to compromise by being content with an
Oath of Allegiance instead of insisting on an
Oath of Supremacy, and approving an
Irish language translation of the liturgy. Babington successfully convinced one of the diocesan chapters to agree. Bishop Babington died unexpectedly early on 10 September 1611. Among Catholics his death was ascribed to a divine punishment as he suggested to
Andrew Knox,
Bishop of Raphoe, to destroy the wooden statue of the Virgin at
Agivey. The statue was attributed to miraculous cures which drew pilgrims even from the
Pale. Bishop Knox himself took the statue from Agivey and brought it to
Coleraine, where it was destroyed by fire in the town centre. ==Notes==