Ely Theological College was a college in Ely, Cambridgeshire, for training clergy in 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, ...

. Founded in 1876 by James Woodford,

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with ...

, the college had a strong Anglo-Catholic tradition. Ely's "ritualistic" (i.e. "Catholic") tendencies were attacked by Mr Samuel Smith MP in a

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

debate in 1899. Because of its reputation for strong Anglo-Catholicism the clergy trained there had little hope of rising to senior positions in the church; the first one to become a diocesan bishop was Edward Wynn in 1941. (Eric Mascall in his autobiography expresses the opinion that there were few differences in doctrine or liturgy between Ely and the theological colleges of Cuddesdon and Lincoln.) The principal from 1891 to 1911 was B. W. Randolph (also a canon of the cathedral); he was succeeded by Charles John Smith (previously vice-principal) who maintained the customs established in Randolph's time. The vice-principal was then Harry Thomas, a former missionary who later became the suffragan bishop of Taunton. The college closed in 1964.

Notable alumni

* Vigo Auguste Demant, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Oxford University * Alec Graham, Bishop of Newcastle * Henry Ernest Hardy, also known as “Father Andrew”, co-founding friar of the Society of Divine Compassion, parish priest serving the East End of London * Brian Brindley, Anglo-Catholic canon and later convert to Roman Catholicism * Eric Lionel Mascall, theologian

Notes and references

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External links

History of Guyhirn

Ely Theological College, about 1960.
1876 establishments in England 1964 disestablishments in England Anglican seminaries and theological colleges Anglo-Catholic educational establishments Educational institutions disestablished in 1964 Ely, Cambridgeshire Former theological colleges in England Anglican buildings and structures in the United Kingdom {{Seminary-stub