Frederick Temple
Encyclopedia
Frederick Temple was an English academic, teacher, churchman and Archbishop of Canterbury
from 1896 until his death.
, the son of Major Octavius Temple
, who was subsequently appointed lieutenant-governor of Sierra Leone
. On his retirement, Major Temple settled in Devon
and contemplated a farming life for his son Frederick, giving him a practical training to that end.
Temple's grandfather was the Rev. William Johnson Temple, Rector
of Mamhead
in Devon
, who is mentioned several times in Boswell
's Life of Johnson
.
The boy was sent to Blundell's School
, Tiverton, and soon showed signs of being suited to a different career. He retained a warm affection for the school, where he did well both academically and at physical activities, especially walking. The family was not wealthy, and Frederick knew he would have to earn his own living. He took the first step by winning a Blundell scholarship at Balliol College, Oxford
, before he was seventeen.
The Tractarian Movement had begun five years earlier, but the memorable Tract 90
had not yet been written. In the intellectual and religious excitement, he drew closer to the camp of "the Oxford Liberal Movement." In 1842 he took a double first and was elected fellow of Balliol, and lecturer in mathematics
and logic
. Four years later he was ordained, and, with the aim of improving the education of the very poor, he accepted the headship of Kneller Hall
, a college founded by the government for the training of masters of workhouse
s and penal schools. The experiment was not successful, and Temple himself advised its abandonment in 1855. He then accepted a school-inspectorship, which he held until he went to teach at Rugby
in 1858. In the meantime he had attracted the admiration of the Prince Albert, and in 1856 he was appointed chaplain-in-ordinary to Queen Victoria
. In 1857 he was select preacher at his university.
had died in 1842 and had been succeeded by Dr Tait
, who again was followed by Dr Goulburn
. Upon the resignation of the latter the trustees appointed Temple, who in that year (1858) had taken the degrees of B.D. and D.D. His life at Rugby was marked by great energy and bold initiative.
Temple strengthened the school's academic reputation in the classics, but also instituted scholarships in natural science, built a laboratory, and recognised the importance of these subjects. He reformed the sporting activities, in spite of all the traditions of the playing fields. His own tremendous powers of work and rough manner intimidated the pupils, but he soon became popular, and raised the school's reputation. His school sermons made a deep impression on the boys, teaching loyalty, faith and duty.
It was two years after he had taken up his work at Rugby that the volume entitled Essays and Reviews
caused a controversy. The first essay in the book, "The Education of the World," was by Dr Temple. The authors of the volume were responsible only for their respective articles, but some of these were deemed so destructive that many people banned the whole book, and a noisy demand, led by Samuel Wilberforce
, Bishop of Oxford, called on the headmaster of Rugby to dissociate himself from his comrades. Temple's essay had dealt with the intellectual and spiritual growth of the race, and had pointed out the contributions made respectively by the Hebrews
, the Egyptians
, the Greek
s, the Romans
, and others. Though accepted as harmless, it was blamed for being in the book. Temple refused to repudiate his associates, and it was only at a much later date (1870) that he decided to withdraw his essay. In the meantime, he printed a volume of his Rugby sermons, to show definitely what his own religious position was.
In politics Temple was a follower of Gladstone
, and he approved of the disestablishment of the Irish Church. He also wrote and spoke in favour of the Elementary Education Act (1870) of William Edward Forster
, and was an active member of the Endowed Schools Commission. In 1869 Gladstone offered him the deanery of Durham
, but he declined because he wanted to stay at Rugby. When later in the same year, however, Henry Phillpotts
, bishop of Exeter, died, the prime minister turned again to Temple, and he accepted the bishopric of the city he knew so well.
, Archdeacon of Taunton, Lord Shaftesbury, and others formed a strong committee of protest, whilst Edward Pusey declared that "the choice was the most frightful enormity ever perpetrated by a prime minister." At the confirmation of his election, counsel was instructed to object to it, and in the voting the chapter was divided. Gladstone stood firm, and Temple was consecrated on 21 December 1869. There were murmurings among his clergy against what they deemed his harsh control, but his real kindness soon made itself felt, and, during the sixteen years of his tenure, he overcame the prejudices against him, so that when, on the death of Dr John Jackson in 1885, he was translated to London, the appointment gave general satisfaction. In 1884 he was Bampton Lecturer, taking for his subject "The Relations between Religion and Science." In 1885 he was elected honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford
.
Dr Temple's tenancy of the bishopric of London saw him working harder than ever. His normal working day at this time was one of fourteen or fifteen hours, though under the strain blindness was rapidly coming on. Many of his clergy and candidates for ordination thought him a rather terrifying person, enforcing almost impossible standards of diligence, accuracy and preaching efficiency, but his manifest devotion to his work and his zeal for the good of the people won him general confidence. In London he continued as a tireless temperance
worker, and the working class instinctively recognised him as their friend. When, in view of his growing blindness, he offered to resign the bishopric, he was urged to reconsider his proposal, and on the sudden death of Archbishop Benson
in 1896, though now seventy-six years of age, he accepted the see of Canterbury
.
. In the same year Dr Temple and the Archbishop of York
issued a joint response to Apostolicae Curae
, an encyclical
of the pope which denied the validity of Anglican orders. In 1900 the archbishops again acted together, when an appeal was addressed to them by the united episcopate, to decide the vexed questions of the use of incense
in divine service and of the reservation of the elements. After hearing the arguments they decided against both the practices in question. During his archbishopric Dr Temple was deeply distressed by the divisions which were weakening the Anglican Church, and many of his most memorable sermons were calls for unity.
His first charge as primate on "Disputes in the Church" was felt to be a most powerful plea for a more catholic and a more charitable temper, and again and again during the closing years of his life he came back to this same theme. He was zealous also in the cause of foreign missions, and in a sermon preached at the opening of the new century he urged that a supreme obligation rested upon Britain at this epoch in the world's history to seek to evangelise all nations. In 1900 he presided over the World Temperance Congress in London, and on one occasion preached in the interests of women's education.
In 1902 he discharged the important duties of his office at the coronation of King Edward VII
, but the strain at his advanced age told upon his health. During a speech which he delivered in the House of Lords
on 2 December 1902 on the Education Bill of that year, he was taken ill, and, though he revived sufficiently to finish his speech, he never fully recovered, and died on 23 December 1902. He was interred in Canterbury Cathedral
four days later. His second son, William Temple
, became Archbishop of Canterbury some years later.
and Samuel Wilberforce
, Temple preached a sermon welcoming the insights of evolution. In his Eight Brampton Lectures on the Relations between Religion and Science (1884) he states clearly that "doctrine of Evolution is in no sense whatever antagonistic to the teachings of Religion." These lectures also addressed the origin and nature of scientific, and of religious belief and the apparent conflicts between science and religion on free will and supernatural power.
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
from 1896 until his death.
Early life
Temple was born in Santa Maura, one of the Ionian IslandsIonian Islands
The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...
, the son of Major Octavius Temple
Octavius Temple
Octavius Temple, born 1784, died 1834 was Lieutenant Governor of Sierra Leone and Superintendent General of the Liberated Africans Department , British soldier and colonial official.-Family life:...
, who was subsequently appointed lieutenant-governor of Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
. On his retirement, Major Temple settled in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
and contemplated a farming life for his son Frederick, giving him a practical training to that end.
Temple's grandfather was the Rev. William Johnson Temple, Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of Mamhead
Mamhead
Mamhead is a rural village and civil parish near Dawlish and Kenton in Devon, South West England, in the Teignbridge local authority area.On high ground on the Haldon Hills, dense woodlands open out into views of the coast and the estuary of the River Exe....
in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, who is mentioned several times in Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
's Life of Johnson
Life of Johnson
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. is a biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson written by James Boswell. It is regarded as an important stage in the development of the modern genre of biography; many have claimed it as the greatest biography written in English...
.
The boy was sent to Blundell's School
Blundell's School
Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school located in the town of Tiverton in the county of Devon, England. The school was founded in 1604 by the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the time, and relocated to its present location on the...
, Tiverton, and soon showed signs of being suited to a different career. He retained a warm affection for the school, where he did well both academically and at physical activities, especially walking. The family was not wealthy, and Frederick knew he would have to earn his own living. He took the first step by winning a Blundell scholarship at Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
, before he was seventeen.
The Tractarian Movement had begun five years earlier, but the memorable Tract 90
Tract 90
Remarks on Certain Passages in the Thirty-Nine Articles, better known as Tract 90, was a theological pamphlet written by the English theologian and churchman John Henry Newman and published in 1841...
had not yet been written. In the intellectual and religious excitement, he drew closer to the camp of "the Oxford Liberal Movement." In 1842 he took a double first and was elected fellow of Balliol, and lecturer in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
. Four years later he was ordained, and, with the aim of improving the education of the very poor, he accepted the headship of Kneller Hall
Kneller Hall
Kneller Hall is a stately home in the Twickenham area of west London, and takes its name from Sir Godfrey Kneller, court painter to British monarchs from Charles II to George I...
, a college founded by the government for the training of masters of workhouse
Workhouse
In England and Wales a workhouse, colloquially known as a spike, was a place where those unable to support themselves were offered accommodation and employment...
s and penal schools. The experiment was not successful, and Temple himself advised its abandonment in 1855. He then accepted a school-inspectorship, which he held until he went to teach at Rugby
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
in 1858. In the meantime he had attracted the admiration of the Prince Albert, and in 1856 he was appointed chaplain-in-ordinary to Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
. In 1857 he was select preacher at his university.
Rugby
At Rugby Dr ArnoldThomas Arnold
Dr Thomas Arnold was a British educator and historian. Arnold was an early supporter of the Broad Church Anglican movement...
had died in 1842 and had been succeeded by Dr Tait
Archibald Campbell Tait
Archibald Campbell Tait was a priest in the Church of England and an Archbishop of Canterbury.-Life:Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Tait was educated at the Royal High School and at the Edinburgh Academy, where he was twice elected dux. His parents were Presbyterian but he early turned towards the...
, who again was followed by Dr Goulburn
Edward Meyrick Goulburn
Edward Meyrick Goulburn , English churchman, son of Mr Serjeant Goulburn, M.P., recorder of Leicester, and nephew of the Right Hon...
. Upon the resignation of the latter the trustees appointed Temple, who in that year (1858) had taken the degrees of B.D. and D.D. His life at Rugby was marked by great energy and bold initiative.
Temple strengthened the school's academic reputation in the classics, but also instituted scholarships in natural science, built a laboratory, and recognised the importance of these subjects. He reformed the sporting activities, in spite of all the traditions of the playing fields. His own tremendous powers of work and rough manner intimidated the pupils, but he soon became popular, and raised the school's reputation. His school sermons made a deep impression on the boys, teaching loyalty, faith and duty.
It was two years after he had taken up his work at Rugby that the volume entitled Essays and Reviews
Essays and Reviews
Essays and Reviews, published in March 1860, is a broad-church volume of seven essays on Christianity. The topics covered the biblical research of the German critics, the evidence for Christianity, religious thought in England, and the cosmology of Genesis....
caused a controversy. The first essay in the book, "The Education of the World," was by Dr Temple. The authors of the volume were responsible only for their respective articles, but some of these were deemed so destructive that many people banned the whole book, and a noisy demand, led by Samuel Wilberforce
Samuel Wilberforce
Samuel Wilberforce was an English bishop in the Church of England, third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his time and place...
, Bishop of Oxford, called on the headmaster of Rugby to dissociate himself from his comrades. Temple's essay had dealt with the intellectual and spiritual growth of the race, and had pointed out the contributions made respectively by the Hebrews
Hebrews
Hebrews is an ethnonym used in the Hebrew Bible...
, the Egyptians
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, the Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
s, the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, and others. Though accepted as harmless, it was blamed for being in the book. Temple refused to repudiate his associates, and it was only at a much later date (1870) that he decided to withdraw his essay. In the meantime, he printed a volume of his Rugby sermons, to show definitely what his own religious position was.
In politics Temple was a follower of Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
, and he approved of the disestablishment of the Irish Church. He also wrote and spoke in favour of the Elementary Education Act (1870) of William Edward Forster
William Edward Forster
William Edward Forster PC, FRS was an English industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal Party statesman.-Early life:...
, and was an active member of the Endowed Schools Commission. In 1869 Gladstone offered him the deanery of Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
, but he declined because he wanted to stay at Rugby. When later in the same year, however, Henry Phillpotts
Henry Phillpotts
Henry Phillpotts , often called "Henry of Exeter", was the Anglican Bishop of Exeter from 1830 to 1869. He was England's longest serving bishop since the 14th century and a striking figure of the 19th century Church.- Early life :...
, bishop of Exeter, died, the prime minister turned again to Temple, and he accepted the bishopric of the city he knew so well.
Bishoprics
The appointment caused a fresh controversy. G. A. DenisonGeorge Anthony Denison
George Anthony Denison was a Church of England priest.-Life:Brother of politician John Evelyn Denison, 1st Viscount Ossington, he was born at Ossington, Nottinghamshire, and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford...
, Archdeacon of Taunton, Lord Shaftesbury, and others formed a strong committee of protest, whilst Edward Pusey declared that "the choice was the most frightful enormity ever perpetrated by a prime minister." At the confirmation of his election, counsel was instructed to object to it, and in the voting the chapter was divided. Gladstone stood firm, and Temple was consecrated on 21 December 1869. There were murmurings among his clergy against what they deemed his harsh control, but his real kindness soon made itself felt, and, during the sixteen years of his tenure, he overcame the prejudices against him, so that when, on the death of Dr John Jackson in 1885, he was translated to London, the appointment gave general satisfaction. In 1884 he was Bampton Lecturer, taking for his subject "The Relations between Religion and Science." In 1885 he was elected honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College, Oxford
Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
.
Dr Temple's tenancy of the bishopric of London saw him working harder than ever. His normal working day at this time was one of fourteen or fifteen hours, though under the strain blindness was rapidly coming on. Many of his clergy and candidates for ordination thought him a rather terrifying person, enforcing almost impossible standards of diligence, accuracy and preaching efficiency, but his manifest devotion to his work and his zeal for the good of the people won him general confidence. In London he continued as a tireless temperance
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
worker, and the working class instinctively recognised him as their friend. When, in view of his growing blindness, he offered to resign the bishopric, he was urged to reconsider his proposal, and on the sudden death of Archbishop Benson
Edward White Benson
Edward White Benson was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 until his death.-Life:Edward White Benson was born in Highgate, Birmingham, the son of a Birmingham chemical manufacturer. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1852...
in 1896, though now seventy-six years of age, he accepted the see of Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
.
Archbishop of Canterbury
As archbishop he presided in 1897 over the decennial Lambeth ConferenceLambeth Conferences
The Lambeth Conferences are decennial assemblies of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first such conference took place in 1867....
. In the same year Dr Temple and the Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
issued a joint response to Apostolicae Curae
Apostolicae Curae
Apostolicae Curae is the title of a papal bull, issued in 1896 by Pope Leo XIII, declaring all Anglican ordinations to be "absolutely null and utterly void"...
, an encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
of the pope which denied the validity of Anglican orders. In 1900 the archbishops again acted together, when an appeal was addressed to them by the united episcopate, to decide the vexed questions of the use of incense
Incense
Incense is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned. The term "incense" refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces. It is used in religious ceremonies, ritual purification, aromatherapy, meditation, for creating a mood, and for...
in divine service and of the reservation of the elements. After hearing the arguments they decided against both the practices in question. During his archbishopric Dr Temple was deeply distressed by the divisions which were weakening the Anglican Church, and many of his most memorable sermons were calls for unity.
In 1902 he discharged the important duties of his office at the coronation of King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
, but the strain at his advanced age told upon his health. During a speech which he delivered in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
on 2 December 1902 on the Education Bill of that year, he was taken ill, and, though he revived sufficiently to finish his speech, he never fully recovered, and died on 23 December 1902. He was interred in Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....
four days later. His second son, William Temple
William Temple (archbishop)
William Temple was a priest in the Church of England. He served as Bishop of Manchester , Archbishop of York , and Archbishop of Canterbury ....
, became Archbishop of Canterbury some years later.
Science and religion
Temple had a lifelong interest in science and religion. In 1860 at the famous meeting of the British Association which saw the debate between Thomas HuxleyThomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS was an English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution....
and Samuel Wilberforce
Samuel Wilberforce
Samuel Wilberforce was an English bishop in the Church of England, third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his time and place...
, Temple preached a sermon welcoming the insights of evolution. In his Eight Brampton Lectures on the Relations between Religion and Science (1884) he states clearly that "doctrine of Evolution is in no sense whatever antagonistic to the teachings of Religion." These lectures also addressed the origin and nature of scientific, and of religious belief and the apparent conflicts between science and religion on free will and supernatural power.