Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

of the

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, ...

, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working men's college, and forming labour cooperatives, which failed, but encouraged later working reforms.

Life and character

Charles Kingsley Vanity Fair 30 March 1872

Kingsley was born in Holne,

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, the elder son of the Reverend Charles Kingsley and his wife, Mary Lucas Kingsley. His brother Henry Kingsley (1830–1876) and sister Charlotte Chanter (1828–1882) also became writers. He was the father of the novelist Lucas Malet (Mary St. Leger Kingsley, 1852–1931) and the uncle of the traveller and scientist Mary Kingsley (1862–1900). Charles Kingsley's childhood was spent in Clovelly, Devon, where his father was curate in 1826–1832 and rector in 1832–1836, and at Barnack, Northamptonshire. He was educated at

Bristol Grammar School Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed, Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowe ...

and Helston Grammar School before studying at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

and the University of Cambridge. Charles entered Magdalene College, Cambridge, in 1838, and graduated first class in classics, and senior optime in 1842. He chose to pursue priesthood in the Anglican Church. In 1844, he became Rector of

Eversley Eversley is a village and civil parish in the Hart District, Hart district of Hampshire, England. The village is located around northeast of Basingstoke and around west of Yateley. The River Blackwater (River Loddon), River Blackwater, and ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. In 1859, he was appointed chaplain to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. In 1860, he became Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, and, in 1861, a private tutor to the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

. In 1869, Kingsley resigned his Cambridge professorship and served from 1870 to 1873 as a canon of Chester Cathedral. While there, he founded the

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

Society for Natural Science, Literature and Art, which was prominent in the establishment of the Grosvenor Museum. In 1872, he agreed to become the 19th president of the Birmingham and Midland Institute. In 1873, he was made a canon of Westminster Abbey. Kingsley sat on the 1866 Edward Eyre Defence Committee along with

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

, John Tyndall, and Alfred Tennyson, where he supported Jamaican Governor Edward Eyre's brutal suppression of the Morant Bay Rebellion against the Jamaica Committee. Kingsley was a friend and colleague of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

. One of his daughters, Mary St Leger Kingsley, became known as a novelist under the pseudonym Lucas Malet. Kingsley's biography, written by his widow in 1877, was entitled, ''Charles Kingsley, his Letters and Memories of his Life.'' Kingsley received letters from Thomas Huxley in 1860, and sent letters in 1863 discussing Huxley's early ideas on

agnosticism Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer t ...

Death

Charles Kingsley died of pneumonia on 23 January 1875 at Eversley, Hampshire, aged 55. He was buried there in St. Mary's Churchyard.

Influences and works

Kingsley's interest in history is shown in several of his writings, including ''The Heroes'' (1856), a children's book about

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, and several historical novels, of which the best known are ''

Hypatia Hypatia (born 350–370 – March 415 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt (Roman province), Egypt: at that time a major city of the Eastern Roman Empire. In Alexandria, Hypatia was ...

'' (1853), '' Hereward the Wake'' (1865) and '' Westward Ho!'' (1855). From his book ''The Heroes'' the story of ''Perseus, the Gorgon Slayer'' was taken and in 1898 republished as '' The Story of Perseus and the Gorgon's Head''. Charles Kingsley - project Gutenberg eText 13103

Charles Kingsley - project Gutenberg eText 13103

He was sympathetic to the idea of

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

and was one of the first to welcome

's book ''

On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life'')The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by M ...

''. He had been sent an advance review copy and in his response of 18 November 1859 (four days before the book went on sale) stated that he had "long since, from watching the crossing of domesticated animals and plants, learnt to disbelieve the dogma of the permanence of species." Darwin added an edited version of Kingsley's closing remarks to the next edition of his book, stating, "A celebrated author and divine has written to me that 'he has gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble a conception of the Deity to believe that He created a few original forms capable of self-development into other and needful forms, as to believe that He required a fresh act of creation to supply the voids caused by the action of His laws.'" When a heated dispute lasting three years developed over

human evolution ''Homo sapiens'' is a distinct species of the hominid family of primates, which also includes all the great apes. Over their evolutionary history, humans gradually developed traits such as Human skeletal changes due to bipedalism, bipedalism, de ...

, Kingsley gently satirised the debate, known as the '' Great Hippocampus Question''. Kingsley's concern for social reform is illustrated in his classic, '' The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby'' (1863), a tale about a boy chimney sweep, which retained its popularity well into the 20th century. The story mentions the main protagonists in the scientific debate over human origins, rearranging his earlier satire as the "great hippopotamus test". The book won a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1963. Kingsley's chief asset as a novelist lay in his descriptive faculties: the descriptions of South American scenery in ''Westward Ho!'', of the Egyptian desert in ''Hypatia'', and of the

North Devon North Devon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based just outside Barnstaple, the district's largest town. The district also includes the towns of Ilfracombe, Lynton and Lynmouth and Sout ...

scenery in ''Two Years Ago''. American scenery is vividly and truthfully described, in part stemming from his observations during a lecture tour of the United States that he undertook in 1874 and reported to his wife, Francis Eliza Grenfell Kingsley. The letters were later published. He also published his work ''At Last'', written after he had visited the tropics. His sympathy with children taught him how to gain their interest. His version of the old Greek stories entitled ''The Heroes'', and ''Water-babies'' and ''Madam How and Lady Why'', in which he deals with popular natural history, take high rank among books for children. Kingsley was influenced by Frederick Denison Maurice, and was close to many Victorian thinkers and writers, including the Scottish writer George MacDonald. Kingsley was highly critical of

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and his argument in print with

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

, accusing him of untruthfulness and deceit, prompted the latter to write his '' Apologia Pro Vita Sua''. Kingsley also wrote poetry and political articles, as well as several volumes of sermons. Kingsley coined the term '' pteridomania'' (meaning "a craze for ferns") in his 1855 book ''Glaucus, or the Wonders of the Shore''.

Racial views

Anglo-Saxonism

Kingsley was a fervent Anglo-Saxonist, and was seen as a major proponent of the ideology, particularly in the 1840s. He proposed that the English people were "essentially a Teutonic race, blood-kin to the Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians". Kingsley suggested there was a "strong Norse element in Teutonism and Anglo-Saxonism". Mixing mythology and Christianity, he blended Protestantism as it was practised at the time with the

Old Norse religion Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into distinct branches. It was replaced by Christianity and forgotten ...

, saying that the

was "wonderfully and mysteriously fitted for the souls of a free Norse-Saxon race". He believed the ancestors of Anglo-Saxons, Norse and

Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...

had physically fought beside the god

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

, and that the British monarchy was genetically descended from the god.

Dislike of the Irish

Kingsley has been accused of intensely antagonistic views of the Irish, whom he described in derogatory terms. Visiting

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

in Ireland, he wrote a letter to his wife from Markree Castle in 1860: "I am haunted by the human chimpanzees I saw along that hundred miles of horrible country reland.. orto see white chimpanzees is dreadful; if they were black, one would not see it so much, but their skins, except where tanned by exposure, are as white as ours."

Legacy

Charles Kingsley's novel '' Westward Ho!'' led to the founding of a village by the same name (the only place name in England with an exclamation mark) and inspired the construction of the Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore Railway. A hotel in Westward Ho! was named after and opened by him. A hotel which was opened in 1897 in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

, London, and named after Kingsley was founded by teetotallers, who admired Kingsley for his political views and his ideas on social reform. It still exists as ''The Kingsley by Thistle''. Kingsley School, a

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, South West England. It is the main town of the Torridge District, Torridge Districts of England, local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bi ...

, the town in which '' Westward Ho!'' is set, took its name from him after it was founded in 2009 as a merger of Edgehill College and Grenville College. In 1905, the composer Cyril Rootham wrote a musical setting of Kingsley's poem ''Andromeda''. This was performed at the Bristol Music Festival in 1908. Like Kingsley, Rootham had been educated at Bristol Grammar School.Composer's website. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
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Published works

*''

Yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

'', a novel (1848) *''Saint's Tragedy'' (1848), a drama *'' Alton Locke'', a novel (1849) *''Twenty-five Village Sermons'' (1849) *''Cheap Clothes and Nasty'' (1850) *'' Three Fishers'' (1851) *''Phaeton, or Loose Thoughts for Loose Thinkers'' (1852) *''Sermons on National Subjects'' (1st series, 1852) *''

'', a novel (1853) *''Glaucus, or the Wonders of the Shore'' (1855) *''Sermons on National Subjects'' (2nd series, 1854) *''Alexandria and her Schools'' (1854) *'' Westward Ho!'', a novel (1855) *''Sermons for the Times'' (1855) *''The Heroes, Greek fairy tales'' (1856) *''Two Years Ago'', a novel (1857) *''Andromeda and other Poems'' (1858) *''The Good News of God'', sermons (1859) *''Miscellanies'' (1859) *''Limits of Exact Science applied to History'' (Inaugural lectures, 1860) *''Town and Country Sermons'' (1861) *''Sermons on the Pentateuch'' (1863) *'' The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby'' (1863) *''The Roman and the Teuton'' (1864) *''David and other Sermons'' (1866) *'' Hereward the Wake: "Last of the English"'', a novel (London: Macmillan, 1866) *''The Ancient Régime'' (Lectures at the Royal Institution, 1867) *''Water of Life and other Sermons'' (1867) *''The Hermits'' (1869) *''Madam How and Lady Why'' (1869) *''At Last: a Christmas in the West Indies'' (1871) *''Town Geology'' (1872) *''Discipline and other Sermons'' (1872) *''Prose Idylls'' (1873) *''Plays and Puritans'' (1873) *''Health and Education'' (1874) *''Westminster Sermons'' (1874) *''Lectures delivered in America'' (1875) *''Charles Kingsley's American Notes: Letters From a Lecture Tour, 1874'' (1958) *''Earl Haladan's Daughter'' (1858)

References

Citations

Sources

* 2nd edition. Retrieved on 20 July 2007 * ( The Autobiography of Charles Darwin) Retrieved on 20 July 2007 * *

External links

* * * *
Famous Quotes by Charles KingsleyA painted bollard based on a water fairy
unveiled in

Whitchurch, Hampshire Whitchurch is a town in the borough of Basingstoke and Deane in Hampshire, England. It is on the River Test, south of Newbury, Berkshire, north of Winchester, east of Andover, Hampshire, Andover and west of Basingstoke. Much of the town is ...

(photo within article) *
Index entry for Charles Kingsley at Poets' CornerCharles Kingsley collection, 1851–1871
at Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of Theology {{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsley, Charles 1819 births 1875 deaths 19th-century Christian universalists 19th-century English Anglican priests 19th-century English novelists 19th-century English historians Regius Professors of History (Cambridge) Alumni of King's College London Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Anglican socialists Anglican universalists Anglican writers Burials in Hampshire Canons of Westminster Christian universalist clergy Deaths from pneumonia in England English Christian socialists English Christian universalists English historical novelists English male novelists English sermon writers People educated at Bristol Grammar School People from Barnack People from Torridge District Victorian novelists Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages Clergy from Devon

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

19th-century English male writers Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity Writers from Northamptonshire