Richard William Church (25 April 1815 – 6 December 1890) was an English churchman and writer, known latterly as Dean Church. He was a close friend of

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

and allied with the

Tractarian The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

movement. Later he moved from Oxford academic life to some prominence in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

Life

Richard William was the eldest of three sons of John Dearman Church, a wine merchant, and his wife Bromley Caroline Metzener (died 1845). His grandfather Matthew Church, a merchant of Cork, and his wife, were

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

s, and John was not baptised into the

until his marriage in 1814. His uncle, General Sir

Richard Church Richard Church may refer to: *Richard Church (general) (1784–1873), Irish military officer in the British and Greek army *Richard William Church (1815–1890), nephew of the general, Dean of St Paul's *Richard Church (poet) (1893–1972), English ...

(1784–1873), achieved fame as a liberator of Greece. The family moved in 1818 to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. After his father's death in 1828 his mother settled in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and he was sent to a strict evangelical school at Redland,

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. He was admitted in 1832 to

Wadham College Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and took first-class honours in 1836. His mother, meanwhile, was remarried to Thomas Crokat, a widowed Englishman of Leghorn. In 1838, Church was elected fellow of

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

. One of his contemporaries, Richard Mitchell, commented on his election: "There is such a moral beauty about Church that they could not help taking him." He was appointed a tutor of Oriel in 1839 and ordained the same year. He was a close friend of

in this period and allied to the

movement. In 1841

Tract 90 ''Remarks on Certain Passages in the Thirty-Nine Articles'', better known as Tract 90, was a theological pamphlet written by the English theologian and churchman John Henry Newman and published in 1841. It is the most famous and the most controvers ...

of ''

Tracts for the Times The Tracts for the Times were a series of 90 theological publications, varying in length from a few pages to book-length, produced by members of the English Oxford Movement, an Anglo-Catholic revival group, from 1833 to 1841. There were about a do ...

'' appeared and Church resigned his tutorship. From 1844 to 1845, Church was junior proctor, and in that capacity and in concert with his senior colleague, vetoed a proposal to censure Tracts publicly. In 1846, with others, he started ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' newspaper and he was an early contributor to ''The Saturday Review''. In 1850 he became engaged to H. F. Bennett, of a

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

shire family, a niece of

George Moberly George Moberly (10 October 1803 – 6 July 1885) was an English cleric who was headmaster of Winchester College, and then served as Bishop of Salisbury from 1869 until his death. Life He was born in St Petersburg, Russia in 1803, the seventh s ...

Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The see is in the City of Salisbury where the bishop's seat ...

. After again holding the tutorship of Oriel, he accepted in 1858 the small living of Whatley in Somerset near

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...

and was married the following year. He was said to be a diligent parish priest and a serious student, who contributed largely to current literature.

Dean of St Paul's

Richard William Church, Vanity Fair, 1886-01-30

In 1869, Church declined a canonry at Worcester, but in 1871 accepted reluctantly (calling it "a sacrifice ''en pure perte''"), the deanery of St Paul's, to which he was nominated by

W. E. Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

. There his task was complicated: #Restoration of the cathedral, #Adjustment of the question of the cathedral revenues with the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, #Reorganization of a conservative cathedral staff with anomalous vested rights. Church intended on his appointment "that St Paul's should waken up from its long slumber". The first year he spent there, writes one of his friends, was one of "misery" for a man who loved study and hated pomp and business. But he worked tactfully. Though of unimpressive stature and monotonous, he had a strong influence. He was a

High Church The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...

man, but of a rational type, and with an enthusiasm for religious liberty. He said of the Church of England that there was "no more glorious church in Christendom than this inconsistent English Church". He was regarded in 1882 as a possible successor to Archbishop Tait, but his health made it out of the question. While Dean of St Paul's, he was patron of

Saint Martin's League Saint Martin's League was a devotional society in the Church of England for letter carriers. It was founded in 1877 by Arthur Henry Stanton at the Church of St Alban the Martyr, Holborn. Its stated object was "Love to God and Man." :To God: by e ...

for letter carriers.

Death

In 1888 Church's only son, Frederick John Church (1854–1888), died. Thereafter his own health declined. He appeared for the last time in public at the funeral of

Henry Parry Liddon Henry Parry Liddon (1829–1890), also known as H. P. Liddon, was an English theologian. From 1870 to 1882, he was Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford. Biography The son of a naval capta ...

on 9 September 1890, dying on 9 December in the same year, at Dover. He was buried at Whatley.

Works

The dean's chief published works are a ''Life of

St Anselm Anselm of Canterbury, OSB (; 1033/4–1109), also called ( it, Anselmo d'Aosta, link=no) after his birthplace and (french: Anselme du Bec, link=no) after his monastery, was an Italian Benedictine monk, abbot, philosopher and theologian of the ...

'' (1870), lives of Spenser (1879) and

Bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...

(1884) in Macmillan's "Men of Letters" series, ''Dante: an Essay'' (1878), ''The

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

'' (1891), and many other volumes of essays and sermons. His ''Dante: an Essay'' included an English version of Dante's ''

De monarchia ''Monarchia'', often called ''De Monarchia'' (, ; "(On) Monarchy"), is a Latin treatise on secular and religious power by Dante Alighieri, who wrote it between 1312 and 1313. With this text, the poet intervened in one of the most controversial s ...

,'' translated by his son Frederick.Church, Frederick John (1854–1888)
WorldCat Identities. A collection of Church's journalistic articles was published in 1897 as ''Occasional Papers''. His style is lucid but austere. He stated that he had never studied style as such, but had acquired it by the exercise of translation from classical languages, and that he took care in his choice of verbs rather than in his use of adjectives.

Notes

References

* Attribution * * Endnotes: ** – biography by his daughter **

External links

* * *

at

Project Canterbury Project Canterbury (sometimes abbreviated as PC) is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999 with a grant from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, and is ho ...

R. W. Church collection, 1877
at Pitts Theology Library,

Candler School of Theology Candler School of Theology is one of seven graduate schools at Emory University, located in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. A university-based school of theology, Candler educates ministers, scholars of religion and other leaders. It is also one ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Church, Richard William 1815 births 1890 deaths Deans of St Paul's English Anglo-Catholics Anglo-Catholic writers Anglo-Catholic clergy 19th-century English Anglican priests Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford People from Lisbon Christian hagiographers 19th-century Anglican theologians