Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bullock, George
BULLOCK, GEORGE, D.D. (1521?–1580?), catholic divine, was born in or about 1521. It has been conjectured that he received his early education at Eton, whence he removed to St. John's College, Cambridge. He proceeded B. A. in 1538-9, was soon afterwards elected a fellow of his college, and commenced M.A. in 1542. He was proctor of the university for the academical year beginning in October 1549. During the time he held that office the university was visited under a royal commission. In 1550-1 he was examined on the trial of Bishop Gardiner, in support of his matter justificatory, he having been present at the bishop's sermon before the king on the feast of St. Peter 1549. Soon after the accession of Edward VI he went abroad, and for two years he resided in the abbey of Nevers in France. Returning to his native country upon the accession of Queen Mary, that sovereign presented him to the rectory of Great Mongeham in Kent, in October 1553 (Rymer, Fœdera, ed. 1713, xv. 350), and to a canonry in the church of Durham on 9 May 1554. On the 12th of the last-mentioned month he was admitted master of St. John's College, Cambridge, having been elected by a unanimous vote of the fellows. In the same year he proceeded B.D. On 11 Feb. 1554-5 he was admitted on the queen's presentation to the vicarage of St. Sepulchre, London, then void by the deprivation of John Rogers (Newcourt, Repertorium, i. 534). He signed the Roman catholic articles in 1555, and became Lady Margaret professor of divinity at Cambridge in 1556, in which year he resigned the vicarage of St. Sepulchre. About the same time he obtained the rectory of Much Munden in Hertfordshire. During the visitation of the university by Cardinal Pole's delegates he was one of the persons examined to substantiate the charge of heresy against Bucer and Fagius previously to the exhumation of their bodies, which were burnt at Cambridge 6 Feb. 1566-7 (Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, ii. 116). He was created D.D. in 1557.
After he had spent four or five years as head of St. John's College, in unquiet times under great uneasiness, he was at last obliged to quit his mastership by a "visitation under Queen Elizabeth, in 1559. After the accession of that sovereign 'the ejected fellows began to return upon him, which much disquieted him; however, he kept his ground till the visitation, and after his ejectment he with the fellows that suffered with him were civilly entertained by the college' (T. Baker, Hist. of St. John's, ed. Mayor, i. 144). At this period he was also deprived of the Lady Margaret professorship, his canonry at Durham, and the rectory of Much Munden, for refusing to take the oath of supremacy. He then left England, going first to Brittany and afterwards to Belgium. He suffered considerable hardships, and on one occasion was captured by 'heretical pirates,' who despoiled him of all he possessed (Dedication of his Concordance to Gregory XIII). For several years he again resided at Nevers, being very kindly entertained by the abbot, by whom he was sent to the university of Paris with letters of introduction. About 1567 he removed to Antwerp, and read a divinity lecture in the monastery of St. Michael there. William Roper of Lincoln was imprisoned in 1568 for having sent 5l. to Bullock beyond sea, but obtained his release on acknowledging his offence before the lords of the council, and promising to obey the queen's law and ordinances in matters of religion (Stype, Annals, folio ed. i. 549). Bullock died at Antwerp in or about 1580, and was buried in the monastery of St. Michael.
He is author of 'Œconomia Concordantiarum Scripturæ sacræ,' Antwerp, 1567, 1572, folio; Venice, 2 vols. 1585, folio, with dedication to Pope Gregory XIII, and to Michael Malena, abbot of Nevers. It may be inferred from the proceedings against Roper that Bullock was, or was suspected to have been, the author of some of those numerous publications against the queen's supremacy that appeared abroad, and were surreptitiously imported into England. William Allott, in the preface to his 'Thesaurus Bibliorum' (Antwerp, 1577), acknowledges his obligations to Bullock.
[T. Baker's Hist. of St. John's (Mayor), i. 94, 116, 141-5, 283; Pits, De Angliæ Scriptoribus, 773; Dodd's Church Hist. i. 527; Diaries of the English College, Douay, 300; Addit. MS. 5863, f. 203; Cole MS. xlii. 429, 430; Cal. of State Papers (Dom. 1547-80), 127; Strype's Annals, folio ed. i. 278, 549; Hasted's Kent, iv. 440; Cooper's Annals of Cambridge, ii. 116, 126, 127, 154, 172; Cooper's Athenæ Cantab, i. 429.]