Robert Westly Peach (November 27, 1863 — December 23, 1936) was an American Reformed Episcopal bishop and hymnologist. He was presiding bishop of the

Reformed Episcopal Church The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) is an Anglican Church. It was founded in 1873 in New York City by George David Cummins, a former bishop of the Episcopal Church (United States), Protestant Episcopal Church. The REC is a founding member of the ...

and bishop of its New York and Philadelphia Synod from 1930 until his death in 1936. He was also known for his collection of 6,000 hymnals—at the time of his death, the largest such collection in private ownership.

Biography

Peach was born in 1863 and educated at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. He began pastoral ministry in 1890 in

Ashtabula, Ohio Ashtabula ( ) is the most populous city in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. It lies at the mouth of the Ashtabula River, on Lake Erie, northeast of Cleveland. At the 2020 census, the city had 17,975 people. Like many other cities in the ...

, later serving as pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

. He was received into the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1907 and pastored Emmanuel R.E.C. in Newark, New Jersey, for 17 years. In 1924, he was set apart as a bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Within the Reformed Episcopal Church, Peach was a professor of church history at

Reformed Episcopal Seminary The Reformed Episcopal Seminary is a Private university, private seminary in Oreland, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1887 as the first seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church. History The Reformed Episcopal Seminary was founded in 1887 in W ...

and held several denominational offices. He was also an executive committee member of the

Federal Council of Churches The Federal Council of Churches, officially the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, was an ecumenical association of Christian denominations in the United States in the early twentieth century. It represented the Anglican, Baptist, Ea ...

. In 1924, he was consecrated as

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) ("co-assister" in Latin) is a bishop in the Latin Catholic, Anglican and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in administering the diocese. The coa ...

of the New York and Philadelphia Synod. Peach succeeded Robert Livingston Rudolph as presiding bishop and bishop of the New York and Philadelphia synod in 1930, serving until his own death in 1936. At the time of his death, he was married to Harriet, and they had three surviving children.

Legacy

After his death, Peach's collection of 6,000 hymnals—the largest in private hands at that time and which he had spent his lifetime assembling—was acquired by the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

. The Peach collection continues to form the core of the Society's collections of hymnbooks. Peach also annotated

John Julian John Julian (March 26, 1733) was a pirate of multi-racial descent who operated in Americans, as the pilot of the ship '' Whydah''. Julian joined pirate Samuel Bellamy, and became the pilot of Bellamy's '' Whydah'' when he was probably only 16 ye ...

's 1907 '' Dictionary of Hymnology''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peach, Robert Westly 1863 births 1936 deaths Bishops of the Reformed Episcopal Church Presiding Bishops of the Reformed Episcopal Church Reformed Episcopal Seminary faculty Hymnologists