Martin Heton
# Martin Heton

Martin Heton (Heaton) (1554–1609) was an English Bishop whose grandfather was the Lord Mayor of London.

## Life

His father George Heton was prominent in the London commercial world and as a church reformer. His mother Joanna was daughter of Martin Bowes, Lord Mayor of London in 1545. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford.

He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1588. He became Dean of Winchester in 1589, and Bishop of Ely in 1599. There is a story that Elizabeth I applied pressure to him, or his predecessor Richard Cox, over some land deals disadvantageous to the diocese, in a letter beginning “Proud prelate!” But scholars from the nineteenth century onwards, for example Mandell Creighton, have considered the letter in question a hoax of the eighteenth century.

A fat man, Heton was supposedly complimented by the king James I with the comment "Fat men are apt to make lean sermons; but yours are not lean, but larded with good learning."

He died in Mildenhall, Suffolk in 1609 and is buried in Ely Cathedral.

## Family

His daughter Ann married Sir Robert Filmer.

