Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright I (February 24, 1792 – September 21, 1854) was a provisional Episcopal bishop in Manhattan, New York City. Early life Wainwright was born in Liverpool, England on February 24, 1792. He was the son of Peter Wainwright and Elizabeth (née Mayhew) Wainwright (1759–1829), who met on a trip to England from the United States and married in 1790. His father was a prosperous English tobacco merchant who emigrated from England to Boston and became a citizen after the American Revolution. His mother was the daughter of Reverend Jonathan Mayhew of Boston. His parents didn't return to Massachusetts until eleven years later, in 1802. Among his siblings was Eliza Wainwright (b. 1794), who married Dr. Walter Channing, a prominent obstetrician. His brother, Robert Dewar Wainwright, was the father of Richard Wainwright, an American Civil War naval officer. Jonathan graduated from Harvard College in 1812, where he was afterward a tutor. He received the degree of D.D. from Union College in 1823, and from Harvard in 1835. The degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon him by Oxford University in 1852. Career On April 13, 1817, he was ordered deacon in the Episcopal Church in Trinity Church, Boston and on May 29, 1818, he was ordained as a priest in Christ Church, Hartford, Connecticut, of which he later became rector. In November 1819, he moved to New York and became assistant minister in Trinity Church. He was made rector of Grace Church in 1821, and remained in that charge until 1834, when he became rector of Trinity Church, Boston. In 1837m he returned to Trinity Parish, New York, as assistant in charge of St. John's Chapel, which post he retained until he was elevated to the episcopate with the exception of six months' service in 1850 as rector-elect of Calvary Church in Gramercy Park. He was for many years secretary of the house of bishops, and was instrumental in the founding of New York University. He was considered one of the first pulpit orators of his day. He wielded great social influence, was a ripe scholar, and was a devoted lover of music, contributing toward its improvement in the churches of his denomination. He was secretary of the board of trustees of the General Theological Seminary in 1828–34, and a trustee or officer of many other institutions and societies. In 1844, he engaged in a controversy with his friend George