Charles James Blomfield (29 May 1786 – 5 August 1857) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

and

classicist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

, and a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

bishop for 32 years.

Early life and education

Charles James Blomfield was born in

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, the eldest son (and one of ten children) of Charles Blomfield (1763–1831), a schoolmaster (as was Charles James's grandfather, James Blomfield), JP and chief

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

of Bury St Edmunds, and his wife, Hester (1765–1844), daughter of Edward Pawsey, a Bury grocer. He was therefore unusual in becoming a Bishop of London not from an ecclesiastical, aristocratic or landowning background. His brother was Edward Valentine Blomfield, a

classical scholar Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

. He was educated at the grammar school at Bury St Edmunds, declining a scholarship to

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

after a brief stay there. Blomfield matriculated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

in 1804. At Cambridge, he was tutored by

John Hudson John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

, mathematician and clergyman. Blomfield won the Browne medals for Latin and Greek odes, and the Craven scholarship. He graduated

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

( 3rd wrangler and 1st Chancellor's medal in classics) in 1808,

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 1811, B.D. in 1818,

D.D. A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (i.e., Christian theology and ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the English-speaking world than elsewhere. In the United Kin ...

('' per lit. reg.'') in 1820.

Career

Blomfield was elected to a fellowship at Trinity College in 1809. The first-fruits of his scholarship was an edition of the ''

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

'' of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

in 1810; this was followed by editions of the '' Septem contra Thebas'', ''

Persae ''The Persians'' (, ''Persai'', Latinised as ''Persae'') is an ancient Greek tragedy written during the Classical period of Ancient Greece by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus. It is the second and only surviving part of a now otherwise lost trilog ...

'', ''

Choephori The ''Oresteia'' () is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House of ...

'', and ''

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of C ...

'', of

Callimachus Callimachus (; ; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar, and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works, most of which ...

, and of the fragments of

Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...

Sophron Sophron of Syracuse (, ''fl.'' 430 BC), Magna Graecia, was a writer of mimes (μῖμος, a kind of prose drama). Sophron was the author of prose dialogues in the Doric dialect, containing both male and female characters, some serious, others h ...

and

Alcaeus Alcaeus of Mytilene (; , ''Alkaios ho Mutilēnaios''; – BC) was a lyric poet from the Greek island of Lesbos who is credited with inventing the Alcaic stanza. He was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hell ...

. Blomfield, however, soon ceased to devote himself entirely to scholarship. Ordained deacon in March 1810 and priest in June 1810, he held a curacy at Chesterford, then the following livings: *Rector of

Quarrington, Lincolnshire Quarrington is a village and former civil parish, now part of the civil parish of Sleaford, in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The old village and its church lie approximately 1 miles (2 km) south-west from the centre ...

(1810–20) *Rector of

Dunton, Buckinghamshire __NOTOC__ Dunton is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. The village is situated approximately north from Aylesbury and south-east from Winslow. In 2011, Dunton had a population (including Ho ...

(1811–17) *Rector of

Tuddenham Tuddenham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 it had a population of 450. falling to 423 at the 2011 Census. RAF Tuddenham Between 1943 and 1963, RAF Tuddenham was a Royal Air Forc ...

, Suffolk (1817–20) *Vicar and Rector of

Little Chesterford Little Chesterford is a small village and civil parish in Uttlesford, Essex, in the East of England. Close to the Cambridgeshire border, it is built principally along a single sunken lane to the east of a chalk stream tributary of the River Cam ...

, Essex (1817–24) *Rector of

St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate is a Church of England church in the Bishopsgate Without area of the City of London, and also, by virtue of lying outside the city's (now demolished) eastern walls, part of London's East End. Adjoining the build ...

, London (1820–28) Whilst at Dunton he educated George Spencer (later

Ignatius Spencer Ignatius of St Paul, C.P. (born George Spencer; 21 December 1799 – 1 October 1864) was an English Catholic priest and nobleman as a son of the 2nd Earl Spencer. He converted from Anglicanism to the Catholicism and entered the Passionists in ...

), and they corresponded for several years after. In 1817 he was appointed private chaplain to

William Howley William Howley (12 February 1766 – 11 February 1848) was a clergyman in the Church of England. He served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1828 to 1848. Early life, education, and interests Howley was born in 1766 at Ropley, Hampshire, wher ...

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

. In 1819 he was nominated to the rich living of

, and in 1822 he became

Archdeacon of Colchester The Archdeacon of Colchester is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Chelmsford – she or he has responsibilities within her archdeaconry (the Archdeaconry of Colchester) including oversight of church buildings and some supervision, ...

. Two years later he was raised to the bishopric as

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 ...

where he carried through many much-needed reforms. In 1828, he was appointed a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former ...

and translated becoming

, a post which he held for twenty-eight years making him the third longest-serving post reformation incumbent. He was also the youngest known Bishop of London – his five youngest children were born in Fulham Palace – and his energy and zeal did much to extend the influence of the church. He was one of the best debaters in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

(members of the Upper House of the Canterbury Convocation confessed to trimming their quill pens before his arrival!), took a leading position in the action for church reform which culminated in the ecclesiastical commission, and did much for the extension of the colonial episcopate; and his genial and kindly nature made him an invaluable mediator in the controversies arising out of the

tractarian The Oxford Movement was a theological 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 Uni ...

movement. In 1840 he officiated at the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Between 1833 and 1841 he consecrated four of the

Magnificent Seven cemeteries The Magnificent Seven is an informal term applied to seven large private cemeteries in London. These are Kensal Green Cemetery, West Norwood Cemetery, Highgate Cemetery, Abney Park Cemetery, Brompton Cemetery, Nunhead Cemetery, and Tower Hamle ...

of London. He also made a number of changes at

Fulham Palace Fulham Palace lies on the north bank of the River Thames in Fulham, London, previously in the former English county of Middlesex. It is the site of the Manor of Fulham dating back to Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Saxon times and in the c ...

, including planting a great number of trees which remain today.

Later life

In 1856 he was permitted to resign his bishopric due to ill health, retaining

as his residence, with a pension of £6,000 per annum. Blomfield is buried in the churchyard of

All Saints Church, Fulham All Saints' Church is the ancient parish church of Fulham, in the County of Middlesex, pre-dating the Reformation. The parish was founded in the precinct of Fulham Manor, currently adjacent to it, which was in the possession of the Bishops o ...

, London and a memorial to him, by George Richmond, can be seen at

Saint Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

along the south wall of the

ambulatory The ambulatory ( 'walking place') is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th century but by the 13t ...

. His grave has long-since had the surrounding railings removed.

Blomfield Road Blomfield Road is a street in the Maida Vale area of Central London. Located in the London Borough of Westminster it runs on the northern bank of the Regent's Canal in Little Venice. The road branches westwards off the A5 and runs directly alo ...

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, north of Paddington, southwest of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn, on Edgware Road. It is part of the City of Westminster and is northwest of Charing C ...

is named after him.

Published works

His published works, exclusive of those above mentioned, consist of charges, sermons, lectures and pamphlets, and of a ''Manual of Private and Family Prayers''. He was a frequent contributor to the quarterly reviews, chiefly on classical subjects.

Personal life

Blomfield married Anna Maria Heath on 6 November 1810 at Hemblington, Norfolk and they had six children: *Anna Maria Blomfield (1811–1812) *Charles James Blomfield (1813–1813) *Maria Blomfield (1814–1884) *Charles William Blomfield (1815–1815) *Edward Thomas Blomfield (1816–1822) *Charles James Blomfield (1818–1818) Anna Maria died on 16 February 1818 aged 33 at

Hildersham Hildersham is a small village 8 miles to the south-east of Cambridge, England. It is situated just off the A1307 between Linton, Cambridgeshire, Linton and Great Abington on a tributary of the River Cam known locally as the River Granta. The ...

, Cambridgeshire. Blomfield then married Dorothy (née Cox, widow of Thomas Kent of Hildersham, Cambridgeshire) on 17 December 1819 at St George, Hanover Square, London, and they had eleven children: *Charles James Blomfield (1820–1822) *Mary Frances Blomfield (1821–1869) *Frederick George "Fred" Blomfield (1823–1879), rector *Isabella "Isy" Blomfield (1824–1879), who married her cousin

George John Blomfield The Rev. George John Blomfield (9 November 1822 − 24 September 1900) was an Anglican clergyman.Oxford University Alumni, 1500−1886, online database. Retrieved 14 April 2023. A nephew of the Rt. Rev. Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of London, he ...

, vicar of

Holy Trinity Church, Dartford Holy Trinity Church, Dartford, is a parish church affiliated with the Church of England in Dartford, Kent. It is a Grade I listed building dating from the 11th century.Aldington, Kent Aldington is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village centre is south-east of the town of Ashford. As with the village centre, set on a steep escarpment above agricultural Romney Marsh and the upper ...

*Henry John Blomfield (1825–1900), Royal Navy *Francis "Frank" Blomfield (1827–1860), drowned in the SS Northerner steamer disaster off the Californian coast *

Arthur William Blomfield Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in ...

(1829–1899), architect * Lucy Elizabeth Blomfield (1830–1864), has 1836 for Lucy's date of birth children's author "Aunt Lucy" *Charles James Blomfield (1831–1915), emigrated to Canada in 1858 *

Alfred Blomfield The The Right Reverend, Right Reverend Alfred Blomfield Doctor of Divinity, D.D. (31 August 18335 November 1894) was an Anglican bishop in the last decades of the 19th century. Alfred was the youngest son of Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of Lo ...

(1833–1894), bishop of Colchester *Dorothy Hester "Dora" Blomfield (1836–1886) Dorothy also had one son from her first marriage, Thomas Fassett Kent (1817–1871), barrister (he was father of the poet Armine Thomas Kent). The Blomfield household was larger than any other family of a Bishop of London, with eleven surviving children living in the palace. He had 49 grandchildren and another six step-grandchildren, including the army officer Major-General Charles James Blomfield (1855−1928), the architect Sir

Reginald Blomfield Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856 – 27 December 1942) was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period. Early life and career Blomfield was born at Bow rectory in Devon, w ...

(1856–1942), the poet and hymn writer

Dorothy Gurney Dorothy Frances Blomfield Gurney (' Blomfield; 4 October 1858–15 June 1932) was a British hymn-writer and poet. Biography Known as Dora, she was the daughter of Frederick George Blomfield, Rector of St Andrew Undershaft in the City of Lond ...

(née Blomfield) (1858–1932) and the palaeontologist, geologist and malacologist

Francis Arthur Bather Francis Arthur Bather FRS (17 February 1863, in Richmond upon Thames – 20 March 1934) was a British palaeontologist, geologist and malacologist. His mother, Lucy Elizabeth Blomfield, was a daughter of Charles Blomfield, Bishop of London. His ...

(1863–1934). A great grandchild was the civil servant Sir Thomas Wolseley Haig.

References

External links

Bibliographic directory
from

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 ...

Bishop Blomfield's papers are deposited at Lambeth Palace Library

Attribution

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blomfield, Charles James 1786 births 1857 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Archdeacons of Colchester Bishops of Chester Bishops of London Blomfield family Burials at All Saints Church, Fulham Deans of the Chapel Royal Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Members of the Canterbury Association Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds Clergy from Bury St Edmunds 19th-century Church of England bishops 18th-century Anglican theologians 19th-century Anglican theologians Early modern Christian devotional writers Modern Christian devotional writers Writers from Bury St Edmunds