THE P RTAL


March 2011 Edward King


29 December 1829 - 8 March 1910 by Will Burton


Aſter graduation from


Oriel College, Oxford he was appointed Assistant Curate at the village of Wheatley in the Oxford diocese, having been ordained as an Anglican priest in1854. Here


his pastoral


heart flourished, with frequent visiting of the people by whom he was much loved.


Oxford Aſter


four became Chaplain


years he and


Lecturer at Cuddesdon Teological College, taking over as Principal from 1863 to 1873, before being named as Regius Professor of Pastoral Teology Oxford


at and therefore


becoming a canon of Christchurch Cathedral.


He was the main


founder of the leading A n g lo-C a t h o lic theological college, St Stephen’s House in Oxford. Te general public knew him as a close friend of Edward Pusey, and a prominent member of the English Church Union. Among the young men of the University he had great influence, both through his charm and his deep sincerity.


Lincoln In 1885 he was appointed Bishop of Lincoln. Here,


again, he was popular and much loved. A gentle man, and patently a man of prayer, his deep faith shone brightly. From 1888 to 1890, though, he was involved in a high-profile prosecution. Te protestant party in the Church of England did all they could to discredit


Page 8


Anglican Luminary


SON OF A Church of England cleric, grandson of a former Bishop of Rochester and the uncle of an international footballing clergyman, Edward King was a gentle, devout man of decidedly catholic views.


the Anglo-Catholics and many priests fell foul of the anti-ritualist laws.


Accusations King,


in turn, was


accused of the use of lighted candles on the altar; facing “eastward”; mixing water and wine in the chalice; reciting the Agnus Dei; making the sign of the Cross in blessing; and making a ceremony of cleansing the Communion vessels aſter the service.


Saintly Tis saintly Bishop


was tried by a Church Court,


presided over


by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and then, on appeal, before the judicial committee of the Privy Council. Te decision of the Court forbade some of these liturgical practices, but permitted others, whilst specifying


that they had no theological


significance. Tus, lighted candles were to be permitted on the altar, but only when needed for purposes of illumination !


Saintliness of character Dr King, who loyally conformed his practices to the


archbishop’s judgment, devoted himself unsparingly to the work of his diocese; and, irrespective of his high church views, won the affection and reverence of all classes and varieties of Christian creed by his real saintliness of character. Te bishop, who never married, died in Lincoln on 8th


March 1910.


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