John Kaye (27 December 1783,

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

– 18 February 1853, Riseholme, Lincolnshire) was a British churchman.

Early life and education

He was born the only son of Abraham Kaye in Hammersmith, London and educated at the school of Sir

Charles Burney Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicis ...

in Hammersmith and then Greenwich. He entered

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

and graduated

Senior wrangler The Senior Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain". Specifically, it is the person who achiev ...

in 1804. He was the 21st Master of Christ's College from 1814 to 1830. Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University in 1814, In 1816, Kaye was elected

Regius Professor of Divinity The Regius Professorships of Divinity are amongst the oldest professorships at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. A third chair existed for a period at Trinity College Dublin. The Oxford and Cambridge chairs were founded by ...

and he revived public lectures on

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

, with an focus on the study of

ecclesiastical history Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of the ...

and the

Early Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...

. His first series of lectures, ''The Ecclesiastical History of the Second and Third Centuries, illustrated from the Writings of

Tertullian Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ...

'' was published at Cambridge in 1825, and was followed by published lectures on

Justin Martyr Justin, known posthumously as Justin Martyr (; ), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and Philosophy, philosopher. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue did survive. The ''First Apolog ...

(1829),

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria (; – ), was a Christian theology, Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. A ...

(1835) and ''The Council of Nicæa in connection with the Life of

Athanasius Athanasius I of Alexandria ( – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Christian theologian and the 20th patriarch of Alexandria (as Athanasius ...

'' (posthumously, 1853). He was elected

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

in 1848.

Ecclesiastical career

Kaye was appointed Bishop of Bristol in 1820, and remained there until his

translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...

in 1827 to Lincoln. Kaye served as

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...

for 26 years until his death in 1853. During his incumbency at Lincoln, he instigated widespread improvements to church buildings and parsonages and established new Church of England schools. As Bishop of Lincoln, Kaye resided at Buckden Palace in Buckden

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

. In 1837, the county was transferred to the

Diocese of Ely The Diocese of Ely is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely. There is one suffragan bishop, suffragan (subordinate) bishop, the Bisho ...

and Kaye's official residence was transferred to Riseholme Hall, the newly established episcopal palace at Riseholme in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. In 1848, Kaye was elected Visitor of

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

. At a time when the

Oxford Movement 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 Un ...

sought to revive some older Catholic traditions within the Church of England, Kaye's theological inclinations leaned instead towards

Evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

, and he regarded 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 ...

movement with suspicion. He was opposed to the revival of the

Convocations of Canterbury and York The Convocations of Canterbury and York are the synodical assemblies of the bishops and clergy of each of the two provinces which comprise the Church of England. Their origins go back to the ecclesiastical reorganisation carried out under Archb ...

and was sympathetic to George Cornelius Gorham's views on

baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

. He reformed the educational requirements for the Anglican clergy and attacked the Tractarians for betraying the

English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...

Personal life

While at Christ's College, Cambridge, Kaye married Eliza Mortlock in 1815. They had three daughters and one son, William Frederic John Kaye, who was later ordained to the priesthood and was appointed Archdeacon of Lincoln in 1863 by his father's successor, Bishop John Jackson.

Death and memorials

Bishop Kaye is buried in the churchyard of St Mary's Church in Riseholme,

, a church that he himself had built during his reforms of the See of Lincoln. Within

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...

, Kaye is commemorated by a recumbent effigy tomb monument designed by Richard Westmacott. The memorial originally stood in St Hugh's transept, but was moved to the southern chapel. File:Bishop John Kaye - geograph.org.uk - 1307716.jpg, Bishop Kaye's grave at St Mary's Riseholme File:John Kaye, Bishop of Lincoln (geograph 2798652).jpg, Kaye's memorial tomb in

References

* E. A. Varley
‘Kaye, John (1783–1853)’
''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'', Oxford University Press, 2004 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaye, John 1783 births 1853 deaths People from Hammersmith Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Masters of Christ's College, Cambridge Vice-chancellors of the University of Cambridge Bishops of Lincoln Bishops of Bristol 19th-century Church of England bishops Senior Wranglers Fellows of the Royal Society Regius Professors of Divinity (University of Cambridge) 18th-century Anglican theologians 19th-century Anglican theologians Presidents of the Cambridge Philosophical Society