Samuel Roffey Maitland
Encyclopedia
Samuel Roffey Maitland was an English historian and miscellaneous writer on religious topics. He was in Anglican orders, and worked also as a librarian, barrister and editor.
. She brought her husband an estate in Gloucestershire
. Alexander Maitland was a presbyterian attached to congregationalists in London, and it was only gradually that Samuel moved towards the Church of England
.
He left school in 1807, and was then placed under the tuition of the Rev. Launcelot Sharpe, one of the masters in Merchant Taylors' School
; and on 7 October 1809 Maitland was admitted to St John's College, Cambridge
, and about the same time he entered at the Inner Temple
with the intention of going to the bar. Next year he migrated to Trinity College
where his friend William Hodge Mill
was. He left Cambridge in 1811, without a degree, unwilling to sign the Thirty-nine Articles
.
In 1812 Maxwell Garthshorne died, leaving Maitland's father and uncle his executors. His estate included a large library behind him, and Maitland undertook to catalogue it, on condition of receiving the duplicates as his reward. From 1811 to 1815 he was living with his father, reading omnivorously, while preparing for the bar. When he applied to be called, he found there were difficulties, as he had not kept his terms at Cambridge. So on 10 October 1815 he returned to the university, entering again St John's. He kept three more terms, and at this time made the acquaintance of Samuel Lee, who had recently been made professor of Arabic.
During the first half of 1816 he occupied chambers in the Temple, and studied. On 19 November 1816 he married. He had been called to the bar in Easter term, 1816, but his literary tastes had got an increasing hold of him.
, and during the next three or four years his religious views shifted. On 27 June 1821 he was admitted to deacon
's orders at Norwich
by Bishop Henry Bathurst
, and licensed to the curacy of St. Edmund in the city; the rector of the parish, the Rev. Charles David Brereton, was non-resident. Maitland did not stay long at Norwich, and was admitted to priest's orders by Henry Ryder
, Bishop of Gloucester
. His father had recently retired to Gloucester
, an 22 May 1823 Maitland became perpetual curate
of the recently-built Christ Church, at Gloucester.
He stayed at Gloucester until the end of 1827, and then set off on a journey to the continent. He had been for some time interested in the conversion of the Jews
, and he wished to see Jewish society in Germany and Poland. He started in April 1828, travelling through France, Germany and Prussia as far as Warsaw
. He sent home a series of thirty-six letters and studied German and Polish.
In 1838 Archbishop William Howley
appointed Maitland librarian and keeper of the manuscripts at Lambeth Palace
. The stipend attaching to the office was nominal; no preferment followed though the archbishop also conferred the degree of D.D. In 1848 Archbishop John Sumner succeeded, and Maitland returned to Gloucester an unbeneficed clergyman.
died in this same year, Maitland became editor of the British Magazine, and carried it on till 1849, when it was discontinued. The magazine after Rose's death became more and more literary and historical in its tone. Maitland had incurred the dislike of the Evangelical party by attacks on their leaders, and merciless criticism of Joseph Milner
, John Foxe
, and others. He had also become an object of suspicion to the Tractarians, by his ‘Letter to a Friend on Tract No. 89,’ which he issued in 1841 (republished in ‘Eight Essays,’ 1852).
After his return to Gloucester and until his death Maitland lived in retirement. He was an active supporter of William Thoms
, when Notes and Queries
was first started, and a frequent contributor to the earlier volumes, sometimes under the signature of ‘Rufus’.
He was a man of many accomplishments: musician; a draughtsman; he kept a small printing-press in his house, and tried his hand at bookbinding. Charles Hardwick
, John Goulter Dowling, James Craigie Robertson, Henry Richards Luard
, and John Eyton Bickersteth Mayor
were among the historians he influenced, according to Augustus Jessopp writing in the Dictionary of National Biography
.
Maitland died at Gloucester on 19 January 1866, in his seventy-fifth year.
's writings. During his absence abroad he published A Letter to the Rev. Charles Simeon,’ in which he advocated the establishment of an institution which might serve as a place of refuge for Jewish converts.
In 1826 Maitland put forth a pamphlet which he called ‘An Enquiry into the Grounds on which the Prophetic Period of Daniel and St. John has been supposed to consist of 1260 Years.’ This work argued against the Irvingite reading of the theory of Joachim of Fiore
. The pamphlet attracted a controversy which continued for some years. One of the side issues in the controversy turned on the question of the Catholic orthodoxy, or alleged Protestantism
, of the Albigenses and the Waldenses; Joseph Milner
, in his Church History, had claimed them as among the ‘Heavenly Witnesses’ during the Middle Ages
. Maitland in 1832 published, in a volume of 546 pages, his most elaborate work entitled Facts and Documents illustrative of the History, Doctrine, and Rites of the ancient Albigenses and Waldenses. Maitland allowed himself to speak with something like contempt of Milner's Church History, and was attacked in print.
In 1835 Maitland began to contribute to the British Magazine, of which Hugh James Rose
was then editor. Between him and Maitland a friendship had grown up, and at Rose's suggestion the articles collected in two volumes, as ‘The Dark Ages: a Series of Essays intended to illustrate the State of Religion and Literature in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth Centuries’ (1844), and ‘Essays on Subjects connected with the Reformation in England’ (1849).
Other works are:
Written for sale at a bazaar was ‘The Owl: a Didactic Poem. Carefully reprinted from the original edition by Thomas Savill, dwelling in St. Martin's Lane, Westminster,’ 1842, 16 pp.
, and his son, John Gorham Maitland.
Early life
He was born in London at King's Road (now Theobald's Road), Bedford Row, on 7 January 1792. His father, who was of Scottish extraction, was Alexander Maitland, a London merchant; his mother was Caroline Busby, a descendant of Richard BusbyRichard Busby
The Rev. Dr. Richard Busby was an English Anglican priest who served as head master of Westminster School for more than fifty-five years.-Life:...
. She brought her husband an estate in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
. Alexander Maitland was a presbyterian attached to congregationalists in London, and it was only gradually that Samuel moved towards the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
.
He left school in 1807, and was then placed under the tuition of the Rev. Launcelot Sharpe, one of the masters in Merchant Taylors' School
Merchant Taylors' School
There are three schools in England known as 'Merchant Taylors' School':*Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, Founded 1561*Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby, Founded 1620*Merchant Taylors' Girls' School, Crosby, Founded 1888...
; and on 7 October 1809 Maitland was admitted to St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
, and about the same time he entered at the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
with the intention of going to the bar. Next year he migrated to Trinity College
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
where his friend William Hodge Mill
William Hodge Mill
William Hodge Mill was an English churchman and orientalist, the first principal of Bishop's College, Calcutta and later Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge.-Life:...
was. He left Cambridge in 1811, without a degree, unwilling to sign the Thirty-nine Articles
Thirty-Nine Articles
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion are the historically defining statements of doctrines of the Anglican church with respect to the controversies of the English Reformation. First established in 1563, the articles served to define the doctrine of the nascent Church of England as it related to...
.
In 1812 Maxwell Garthshorne died, leaving Maitland's father and uncle his executors. His estate included a large library behind him, and Maitland undertook to catalogue it, on condition of receiving the duplicates as his reward. From 1811 to 1815 he was living with his father, reading omnivorously, while preparing for the bar. When he applied to be called, he found there were difficulties, as he had not kept his terms at Cambridge. So on 10 October 1815 he returned to the university, entering again St John's. He kept three more terms, and at this time made the acquaintance of Samuel Lee, who had recently been made professor of Arabic.
During the first half of 1816 he occupied chambers in the Temple, and studied. On 19 November 1816 he married. He had been called to the bar in Easter term, 1816, but his literary tastes had got an increasing hold of him.
In holy orders
About 1817 Maitland left London and settled at TauntonTaunton
Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....
, and during the next three or four years his religious views shifted. On 27 June 1821 he was admitted to deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
's orders at Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
by Bishop Henry Bathurst
Henry Bathurst (bishop)
Henry Bathurst was an English churchman, a prominent Whig and bishop of Norwich.-Life:He was the seventh son of Benjamin Bathurst, younger brother of Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst, born at Brackley, Northamptonshire, on 16 October 1744. He was educated at Winchester School, and New College,...
, and licensed to the curacy of St. Edmund in the city; the rector of the parish, the Rev. Charles David Brereton, was non-resident. Maitland did not stay long at Norwich, and was admitted to priest's orders by Henry Ryder
Henry Ryder
The Right Reverend the Hon. Henry Dudley Ryder was a prominent English Evangelical Anglican clergyman in the early years of the nineteenth century...
, Bishop of Gloucester
Bishop of Gloucester
The Bishop of Gloucester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the County of Gloucestershire and part of the County of Worcestershire and has its see in the City of Gloucester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church...
. His father had recently retired to Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
, an 22 May 1823 Maitland became perpetual curate
Perpetual curate
A Perpetual Curate was a clergyman of the Church of England officiating as parish priest in a small or sparsely peopled parish or districtAs noted below the term perpetual was not to be understood literally but was used to indicate he was not a curate but the parish priest and of higher...
of the recently-built Christ Church, at Gloucester.
He stayed at Gloucester until the end of 1827, and then set off on a journey to the continent. He had been for some time interested in the conversion of the Jews
Messianic Judaism
Messianic Judaism is a syncretic religious movement that arose in the 1960s and 70s. It blends evangelical Christian theology with elements of Jewish terminology and ritual....
, and he wished to see Jewish society in Germany and Poland. He started in April 1828, travelling through France, Germany and Prussia as far as Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. He sent home a series of thirty-six letters and studied German and Polish.
In 1838 Archbishop William Howley
William Howley
William Howley was a clergyman in the Church of England. He served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1828 to 1848.-Early Life, education, and interests:...
appointed Maitland librarian and keeper of the manuscripts at Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury in England. It is located in Lambeth, on the south bank of the River Thames a short distance upstream of the Palace of Westminster on the opposite shore. It was acquired by the archbishopric around 1200...
. The stipend attaching to the office was nominal; no preferment followed though the archbishop also conferred the degree of D.D. In 1848 Archbishop John Sumner succeeded, and Maitland returned to Gloucester an unbeneficed clergyman.
Later life
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1839, and when Hugh James RoseHugh James Rose
Hugh James Rose was an English churchman and theologian who served as the second Principal of King's College London....
died in this same year, Maitland became editor of the British Magazine, and carried it on till 1849, when it was discontinued. The magazine after Rose's death became more and more literary and historical in its tone. Maitland had incurred the dislike of the Evangelical party by attacks on their leaders, and merciless criticism of Joseph Milner
Joseph Milner
Joseph Milner , English evangelical divine, was born at Leeds and educated at Leeds Grammar School and Cambridge.After taking his degree he went to Thorparch, Yorkshire, as curate and assistant schoolmaster. Subsequently he became headmaster of Hull Grammar School, and in 1768 he was chosen...
, John Foxe
John Foxe
John Foxe was an English historian and martyrologist, the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, , an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history but emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through the...
, and others. He had also become an object of suspicion to the Tractarians, by his ‘Letter to a Friend on Tract No. 89,’ which he issued in 1841 (republished in ‘Eight Essays,’ 1852).
After his return to Gloucester and until his death Maitland lived in retirement. He was an active supporter of William Thoms
William Thoms
William John Thoms was a British writer credited with coining the term "folklore" in the 1840s. Thoms's investigation of folklore and myth led to a later career of debunking longevity myths...
, when Notes and Queries
Notes and Queries
Notes and Queries is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to "English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism". Its emphasis is on "the factual rather than the speculative"...
was first started, and a frequent contributor to the earlier volumes, sometimes under the signature of ‘Rufus’.
He was a man of many accomplishments: musician; a draughtsman; he kept a small printing-press in his house, and tried his hand at bookbinding. Charles Hardwick
Charles Hardwick
Charles Hardwick was an English clergyman and historian who became archdeacon of Ely.-Life:He was born at Slingsby, North Yorkshire, on 22 September 1821, son of Charles Hardwick, a joiner. After receiving some instruction at Slingsby, Malton, and Sheffield, he acted for a short time as usher in...
, John Goulter Dowling, James Craigie Robertson, Henry Richards Luard
Henry Richards Luard
Henry Richards Luard was a British medieval historian and antiquary.-Biography:Luard was the son of Henry Luard. He received his early education at Cheam. He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1847, and 1849 was elected to a Fellowship. He entered holy orders, and served as vicar of...
, and John Eyton Bickersteth Mayor
John Eyton Bickersteth Mayor
John Eyton Bickersteth Mayor was an English classical scholar.He was born at Baddegama, Sri Lanka , and returned to England to be educated at Shrewsbury School and St John's College, Cambridge....
were among the historians he influenced, according to Augustus Jessopp writing in the Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
.
Maitland died at Gloucester on 19 January 1866, in his seventy-fifth year.
Works
In 1817 he published his first pamphlet, ‘A Dissertation on the Primary Objects of Idolatrous Worship,’ unfashionably against Jacob BryantJacob Bryant
Jacob Bryant was a British scholar and mythographer, who has been described as "the outstanding figure among the mythagogues who flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries".-Life:...
's writings. During his absence abroad he published A Letter to the Rev. Charles Simeon,’ in which he advocated the establishment of an institution which might serve as a place of refuge for Jewish converts.
In 1826 Maitland put forth a pamphlet which he called ‘An Enquiry into the Grounds on which the Prophetic Period of Daniel and St. John has been supposed to consist of 1260 Years.’ This work argued against the Irvingite reading of the theory of Joachim of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora and in Italian Gioacchino da Fiore , was the founder of the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore . He was a mystic, a theologian and an esoterist...
. The pamphlet attracted a controversy which continued for some years. One of the side issues in the controversy turned on the question of the Catholic orthodoxy, or alleged Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
, of the Albigenses and the Waldenses; Joseph Milner
Joseph Milner
Joseph Milner , English evangelical divine, was born at Leeds and educated at Leeds Grammar School and Cambridge.After taking his degree he went to Thorparch, Yorkshire, as curate and assistant schoolmaster. Subsequently he became headmaster of Hull Grammar School, and in 1768 he was chosen...
, in his Church History, had claimed them as among the ‘Heavenly Witnesses’ during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. Maitland in 1832 published, in a volume of 546 pages, his most elaborate work entitled Facts and Documents illustrative of the History, Doctrine, and Rites of the ancient Albigenses and Waldenses. Maitland allowed himself to speak with something like contempt of Milner's Church History, and was attacked in print.
In 1835 Maitland began to contribute to the British Magazine, of which Hugh James Rose
Hugh James Rose
Hugh James Rose was an English churchman and theologian who served as the second Principal of King's College London....
was then editor. Between him and Maitland a friendship had grown up, and at Rose's suggestion the articles collected in two volumes, as ‘The Dark Ages: a Series of Essays intended to illustrate the State of Religion and Literature in the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth Centuries’ (1844), and ‘Essays on Subjects connected with the Reformation in England’ (1849).
Other works are:
- ‘A Dissertation on the Primary Objects of Idolatrous Worship,’ 1817.
- ‘An Enquiry into the Grounds on which the Prophetic Period of Daniel and St. John has been supposed to consist of 1,260 Years,’ 1826; 2nd edit., pp. 72, 1837.
- ‘Saint Bernard's Holy War Translated’ (by the Rev. S. R. Maitland), with title-page etched by the translator, 1827.
- ‘A Letter to the Rev. Charles Simeon’ (Warsaw), 21 July 1828; 2nd edit. 1828.
- ‘A Second Enquiry,’ pp. 175, 1829.
- ‘The 1,260 Days, in Reply to a Review in the “Morning Watch,” No. 3, p. 509,’ 1830.
- ‘An Attempt to elucidate the Prophecies concerning Antichrist,’ 1830; 2nd edit. 1853.
- ‘A Letter to the Rev. W. Digby, A.M., occasioned by his Treatise on the 1,260 Days’ (Gloucester, 25 Oct.), 1831.
- ‘Eruvin, or Miscellaneous Essays on Subjects connected with the Nature, History, and Destiny of Man,’ 1831; 2nd edit. 1850.
- ‘The Voluntary System.’ Forty-two Letters reprinted from the ‘Gloucestershire Chronicle,’ 1834; 2nd edit. 1837.
- ‘The 1,260 Days, in Reply to the Strictures of William Cunningham, Esq.,’ pp. viii and 118, 1834.
- ‘The Translation of Bishops,’ pp. 24, 1834.
- ‘A Letter to the Rev. Hugh James Rose, B.D., Chaplain to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, with Strictures on Milner's “Church History,”’ pp. 53, 1834.
- ‘A second Letter to the same, containing Notes on Milner's “History of the Church in the Fourth Century,”’ pp. 87, 1835.
- ‘A Letter to the Rev. John King, M.A., Incumbent of Christ Church, Hull,’ occasioned by his pamphlet, ‘Maitland not entitled to censure Milner,’ pp. 91, 1835.
- ‘Remarks on that part of Rev. J. King's pamphlet … which relates to the Waldenses … pp. 80, 1836.
- ‘A Review of Fox the Martyrologist's “History of the Waldenses,”’ 1837.
- ‘Six Letters on Fox's “Acts and Monuments,” reprinted from the “British Magazine,” with Notes and Additions,’ 1837.
- ‘Remarks on the Constitution of the Committee of the Gloucester and Bristol Diocesan Church Building Association,’ 1837.
- ‘A Letter to the Rev. W. H. Mill, D.D., containing some Strictures on Mr. Faber's recent work, entitled “The Ancient Waldenses and Albigenses,”’ 1839.
- ‘A Letter to a Friend on the “Tract for the Times No. 89;” reprinted in “Eight Essays,”’ 1841.
- ‘Notes on the Contributions of the Rev. George Townsend to the new edit. of Fox's “Martyrology,”’ 3 pts. 1841–2. * ‘An Index of such English Books printed before the year MDC as are now in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, pp. xii, 120, 1845.
- ‘Remarks on the first vol. of Strype's “Life of Archbishop Cranmer,” reprinted from the “British Magazine,”’ vols. i. and ii. 1848.
- ‘Ecclesiastical History Society. A Statement, &c.,’ reprinted from ‘British Magazine,’ 1849.
- ‘Essays on Subjects connected with the Reformation in England,’ reprinted, with additions from ‘British Magazine,’ 1849. 29. ‘Illustrations and Enquiries relating to Mesmerism,’ pt. i. pp. 82, 1849. 30. ‘A Plan for a Church History Society,’ pp. 16 (Gloucester, 15 Oct. 1850), 1850.
- ‘Eight Essays on various Subjects,’ pp. 254, 1852.
- ‘Convocation. Remarks on the Charge recently delivered by the Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Oxford’ [Wilberforce], pp. 35, 1855.
- ‘Superstition and Science: an Essay,’ 1855.
- ‘False Worship: an Essay,’ 1856.
- ‘Chatterton: an Essay,’ 1857. 36. ‘Notes on Strype’ (Gloucester), 1858.
- ‘A Supplication for Toleration addressed to King James I by some of the late silenced Ministers, now reprinted with the King's notes by Rev. S. R. M.,’ 1859.
Written for sale at a bazaar was ‘The Owl: a Didactic Poem. Carefully reprinted from the original edition by Thomas Savill, dwelling in St. Martin's Lane, Westminster,’ 1842, 16 pp.
Family
Maitland survived his wife Selina, daughter of Christopher Stephenson, vicar of OlneyOlney
-Places:United Kingdom*Olney, Buckinghamshire, a town near Milton Keynes, England**The Olney Hymns, a collection of hymns written thereUnited States*Olney, Alabama*Olney, Georgia*Olney, Illinois*Olney, Kentucky*Olney, Maryland...
, and his son, John Gorham Maitland.