John Reginald Harmer (11 August 1857 – 9 March 1944) was a long-serving Anglican

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

who served in two

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Early life

Harmer was born into a clerical family (his parents were George Harmer, Vicar of

Maisemore Maisemore is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It lies on the A417 road 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Gloucester, on the west bank of the River Severn. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 488, reducing ...

, and Kate, née Kitching) and educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

. Ordained

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in 1884, he was a curate at

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before becoming

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of the Clergy Training School in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

. From 1892, he was

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of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge before appointment to the

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episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

with his election as Bishop of Adelaide in March 1895. He was consecrated a bishop in

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and 23 May and was enthroned at

St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide St Peter's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Adelaide and Metropolitan of the Province of South Australia. The cathedral, a significant Adelaide landmark, is situa ...

on 4 July 1895. In 1905, he was

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back to England when he was elected Bishop of Rochester. He was enthroned at

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in July 1905 and served for a quarter of a century before his retirement in 1930. As Bishop of Rochester, Harper presided over a diocese which by ‘its geographical position and its naval and military importance’, was at the forefront of the Great War. He blamed German philosophers and Prussian militarism for the War, and spoke of Britain’s determination to protect ‘the sanctity of treaties, the liberty of the smaller nations, and the cause of the weak, the downtrodden and the non-combatants’. Late in his life, Harmer would be most proud of the work he did in support of Belgian refugees displaced by the German advance. Under Harmer’s leadership, the diocese encouraged voluntary recruitment to the forces, praised clergy, clergy families and ex-pupils of church schools for their commitment to the War, provided support including leisure facilities and billets for soldiers and sailors stationed in the area and for women working in munitions factories and gave care and comfort to casualties and their families. Writing in an unpublished autobiography just before his death, Harmer recalled the casualties from the sinking of 3 ships from Chatham one day in September 1914 resulting in one street in Gillingham having 30 widows. He remembered the bombing of a drill shed in 1917 with 147 killed and a funeral cortège one mile long, which he joined. He could hear from his home the sound of the guns in Flanders. ‘Indeed, difficult as it may be to credit, the firing was at certain times as audible as the thud of the football from the field opposite our house where the soldiers were at their games.’ During the War, Harmer ‘threw open his house with real enjoyment to every rank of soldier and sailor.’ The Times obituary, 10.3.1944 He was an active English and Australian Freemason, initiated in St Alban's Lodge in Adelaide, and later transferring his membership to England. Harmer died at Marine Cottage,

Instow Instow is a village in north Devon, England. It is on the estuary where the rivers Taw and Torridge meet, between the villages of Westleigh and Yelland and on the opposite bank to Appledore. There is an electoral ward with the same name. Th ...

, and was buried at

. His portraits remain at his former official residences of Bishop's Court,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and Bishopscourt,

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harmer, John Reginald 1884 births People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Anglican bishops of Adelaide 19th-century Anglican bishops in Australia Bishops of Rochester 20th-century Anglican bishops in Australia 1944 deaths Staff of Westcott House, Cambridge 20th-century Church of England bishops