John Bird Sumner (25 February 1780 – 6 September 1862) was a bishop 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 ...

and

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

Early life

John Bird Sumner was born in

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, on 25 February 1780. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Robert Sumner, Vicar of Kenilworth, and his wife Hannah Bird, a first cousin of

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...

. His brother

Charles Richard Sumner Charles Richard Sumner (22 November 179015 August 1874) was a Church of England bishop. Life Charles Sumner was a brother of John Bird Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury. Their father was Robert Sumner and their mother was Hannah Bird, a first co ...

was

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except dur ...

. Sumner was 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, C ...

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 city ...

Career

In 1802, Sumner became an assistant master at his alma mater, Eton College, where he was nicknamed "Crumpety Sumner" by the boys. He was ordained in 1803. He was elected a Fellow of Eton in 1817 and in 1818 the school presented him to the living of

Mapledurham Mapledurham is a small village, civil parish and country estate beside the River Thames in southern Oxfordshire. The large parish borders Caversham, the most affluent major district of Reading, Berkshire. Historic buildings in the area include ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. In 1819, he was chosen as a

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the ...

of the Durham diocese where he served until 1828, when he was consecrated to the episcopate as the

Bishop of Chester The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York. The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the C ...

. He was consecrated on 14 September 1828, by

Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt (10 October 1757 – 5 November 1847) was a Church of England bishop. He was the Bishop of Carlisle from 1791 to 1807 and then the Archbishop of York until his death. He was the third son of the George Venables-V ...

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

, at

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbis ...

. During his episcopacy many churches and schools were built in the diocese.

Archbishop of Canterbury

In 1848 he was elevated to

(under which title he signed documents as "J B Cantuar") with an annual income of £15,000. Shortly after taking his seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

he voted for

Catholic emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

, which brought him into conflict with many of the clergy in his diocese. In 1851, Sumner led the religious service at the formal opening of the Great Exhibition in "The Crystal Palace" in Hyde Park. Sumner's numerous writings were much esteemed, especially by the evangelical party to which he belonged. His best known writings are his ''Treatise on the Records of Creation and the Moral Attributes of the Creator'' (London, 1816) and ''The Evidence of Christianity derived from its Nature and Reception'' (London, 1821). In the

Gorham Case George Cornelius Gorham (1787–1857) was a vicar in the Church of England. His legal recourse to being denied a certain post, subsequently taken to a secular court, caused great controversy. Early life George Cornelius Gorham was born on 21 Aug ...

, Sumner came into conflict with

Henry Phillpotts Henry Phillpotts (6 May 177818 September 1869), often called "Henry of Exeter", was the Anglican Bishop of Exeter from 1830 to 1869. One of England's longest serving bishops since the 14th century, Phillpotts was a striking figure of the 19th- ...

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. Since 30 April 2014 the ordinary has been Robert Atwell.

(1778–1869), who accused him of supporting heresy and refused to communicate with him. He supported the Divorce Bill in parliament but opposed the

Deceased Wife's Sister Bill The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 ( 7 Edw.7 c.47) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, allowing a man to marry his dead wife's sister, which had previously been forbidden. This prohibition had derived from a doctrine ...

and the bill for removing Jewish disabilities. His obituary in the Norfolk News of 13 September 1862 commented that "he strongly opposed the admission of Jews into parliament ... and was among the foremost to denounce the

Puseyite 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 ...

school of theology". Sumner was president of the

Canterbury Association The Canterbury Association was formed in 1848 in England by members of parliament, peers, and Anglican church leaders, to establish a colony in New Zealand. The settlement was to be called Canterbury, with its capital to be known as Christchurch. ...

, which founded

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand. In 1848 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

Personal life

On 31 March 1803, Sumner married Marianne Robertson (1779-1829) in the parochial chapel of St Mary Walcot,

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

. She was the daughter of George Robertson of Edinburgh (1742-1791), a captain in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, and Ann (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Lewis) Robertson (1748-1802). His wife's maternal grandparents were

Francis Lewis Francis Lewis (March 21, 1713 – December 31, 1802) was an American merchant and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation as a representative of ...

, a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

signatory of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

, and Elizabeth (née Anessley) Lewis. Sumner and wife had at least nine children: * Anne Sumner (1805–1833), who married John Adair Griffith Colpoys, son of Vice Admiral

Edward Griffith Colpoys Vice Admiral Sir Edward Griffith Colpoys KCB (c. 1767 – 9 October 1832) was a senior officer of the British Royal Navy during the early nineteenth century. The nephew of a prominent admiral, John Colpoys, Edward Griffith was able to rapidly a ...

. * Louisa Elizabeth Sumner (1806-) * Eliza Maria Sumner (1808–1836), mother of the cricketer John Sumner Gibson. * Caroline Sumner (1811–1811), who died in infancy. * Georgina Sumner (1814–1881), who married Wilson Dobie Wilson. * Caroline Sumner (1816–1841), a twin. * Maria Sumner (1816–1861), a twin. * The Rev. John Henry Robertson Sumner (1821–1910), father of the footballer John Robert Edwards Sumner. * Robert George Moncrieff Sumner (1824–1885). Marianne Sumner died at the Manor House, Wandsworth, on 22 March 1829. Sumner died on 6 September 1862 at

Addington Palace Addington Palace is an 18th-century mansion in Addington located within the London Borough of Croydon. It was built on the site of a 16th-century manor house. It is particularly known for having been, between 1807 and 1897, the summer resid ...

, aged 82, and was buried on 12 September in the graveyard of St Mary's Church, Addington. Two daughters and other relatives are interred at the north-east corner of the churchyard.

Legacy

A portrait of Sumner hangs in the hall of

University College, Durham , motto_English = Not for ourselves alone , scarf = , established = , principal = Wendy Powers , vice_principal = Ellen Crabtree , undergraduates = 698 , postgraduates = 153 , coordinates = , location_map = Durham , map_size ...

; another, in his convocation robes, by Eddis, is at

Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite ...

; a replica of this is in the hall at

. A portrait by Margaret Carpenter was engraved by Samuel Cousins in 1839. A later portrait by the same artist was engraved by T. Richardson Jackson. Francis Holl executed an engraving of another portrait of him by George Richmond. A recumbent effigy by H. Weekes, R.A., funded by public subscription after Sumner's death, is in the nave of

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

. Archbishop Sumner Church of England Primary School in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

is named in his memory.

References

External links

Material relating to John Bird Sumner at Lambeth Palace Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumner, John Bird 1780 births 1862 deaths People from Kenilworth People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Archbishops of Canterbury Bishops of Chester 19th-century Anglican archbishops Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Canterbury Association Burials at St Mary's Church, Addington Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom 19th-century Church of England bishops Chetham Society 18th-century Anglican theologians 19th-century Anglican theologians Teachers at Eton College