| Richard Kidder | |
| Bishop of Bath and Wells | |
| Church: | Church of England |
| Province: | Canterbury |
| Diocese: | Bath and Wells |
| Alma Mater: | Emmanuel College, Cambridge |
| Ordination: | November 1658 |
| Ordained By: | Ralph Brownrigg |
| Consecration: | 30 August 1691 |
| Consecrated By: | John Tillotson |
| Baptized: | 8 February 1663 |
| Death Date: | 26 November 1703 |
| Death Place: | Bishop's Palace, Wells |
| Buried: | Wells Cathedral |
| Religion: | Anglicanism |
| Residence: | Bishop's Palace, Wells |
| Spouse: | Elizabeth Kidder |
Richard Kidder (1633–1703) was an English Anglican churchman, Bishop of Bath and Wells, from 1691 to his death. He was a noted theologian.
He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was a sizar, from 1649, graduating 1652. He became a Fellow there in 1655, and vicar of Stanground, Huntingdonshire, in 1659.[1] He was deprived in 1662.[2]
He was rector of Rayne Parva, Essex, from 1664 to 1674, having conformed to the Act of Uniformity 1662. He was later vicar of St. Martin Outwich, London, and in 1689 a royal chaplain,[3] and dean of Peterborough.
His A Demonstration of the Messias[4] has been identified as a significant influence on the librettist Charles Jennens, in writing the words for the Messiah of Handel.[5] This book also took up suggestions of Joseph Mede on multiple authorship of the Book of Zechariah.[6]
He was killed in the Great Storm of 1703, on 26 November (7 December in today's calendar);[7] he was in bed with his wife in the episcopal palace at Wells when the chimney fell on both of them.[8]