John Harding (7 January 1805 – 18 June 1874) was an English clergyman, who served as Bishop of Bombay. He was the second Anglican bishop there, and held the post from 1851 to 1869, retiring in poor health.

Life

He was son of William Harding, chief clerk in the transport office, and Mary Harrison Ackland, and was born in Queen Square,

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, on 7 January 1805. He was educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

, went on to

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, and graduated B.A. in Michaelmas term 1826 as a third-class man in lit. human., his name appearing in the same class list with three other future bishops,

Samuel Wilberforce Samuel Wilberforce, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (7 September 1805 – 19 July 1873) was an English bishop in the Church of England, and the third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public sp ...

of Oxford, Eden of Moray and Ross, and Trower of Gibraltar. In 1829, he became curate of Wendy, Cambridgeshire. After some other ministerial engagements, he was appointed minister of Park Chapel, Chelsea, in 1834. In 1836, Harding was appointed to the rectory of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe and

St Ann Blackfriars St Ann Blackfriars was a church in the City of London, in what is now Ireland Yard in the ward of Farringdon Within. The church began as a medieval parish chapel, dedicated to St Ann, within the church of the Dominicans (the order after whom ...

until 1851 when he ascended to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

, Friday, 2 January 1852; pg. 6; Issue 21001; col C India''-new Bishop of Bombay'' William Romaine (d. 1795), one of the early evangelical leaders, had been rector of this church; and Harding also was a strong evangelical. He was for some years secretary of the Pastoral Aid Society, and interested in religious societies following the evangelical line. He was selected by Archbishop Sumner for the see of Bombay, vacated by the resignation of Bishop Thomas Carr, and was consecrated in Lambeth Chapel on 10 August 1851. In the same year he proceeded B.D. and D.D. at Oxford. His views led him to look coldly on "brotherhoods" and other proposals of the

High church A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...

party for missionary work in the diocese. He was an opponent of what are known as

ritualism A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

. Failure of health led to Harding's return home on furlough in 1867, and he resigned his see in 1869. He settled at Ore, near Hastings, holding clerical meetings at his house for clergy of widely different views. He was a frequent preacher at St. Mary's-in-the-Castle, Hastings, of which his friend the Rev. T. Vores was incumbent. He died at Ore on 18 June 1874.

Family

He married Mary, third daughter of W. Tebbs, esq., proctor in Doctors' Commons, but left no family.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, John 1805 births 1874 deaths Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Anglican bishops of Bombay People educated at Westminster School, London