Wordsworth Papers

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 109 MS 1396-1401; GB 109 MS 1822-1824; GB 109 MS 1946 ff.131-61; GB 109 MS 2140-2151; GB 109 MS 3436; GB 109 MS 3768-70
  • Dates of Creation
      1821-1902
  • Name of Creator
  • Language of Material
      English
  • Physical Description
      12 volumes. Bound volumes.

Scope and Content

Papers of Christopher Wordsworth (1807-85), bishop of Lincoln; of Christopher Wordsworth (1774-1846), master of Trinity College, Cambridge; of John Wordsworth (1843-1911), bishop of Salisbury; of Charles Wordsworth (1806-92) bishop of St Andrews; of John Wordsworth (1805-1839), fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; and of other family members. Includes correspondence with family members, statesmen (including Gladstone and Peel), and bishops and archbishops (including Tait, Benson, and Samuel Wilberforce).

Also papers of John Wordsworth (1843-1911) as an Assessor in the proceedings against Bishop King (the 'Lincoln Judgement'), and relating to Lambeth Conferences and to the Swedish Church.

Administrative / Biographical History

Christopher Wordsworth (1774-1846) was the youngest son of John Wordsworth (1741-1783) and Anne (nee Cookson, 1747-1778). Educated at Hawkshead grammar school; pensioner of Trinity College Cambridge. BA 1796; Fellow of Trinity 1798. MA. 1799; DD (by royal mandate) 1810. Rector of Ashby with Oby & Thinne, Norfolk, 1804; domestic chaplain to Charles Manners-Sutton, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1805; Rector of Woodchurch, Kent, 1806; Dean and Rector of Bocking, Essex, 1808; Co-founder of the National Society, 1811; Rector of Monks-Eleigh, Suffolk, 1812. Rector of St Mary Lambeth, Surrey, and Sundridge, Kent, 1816; Speaker's Chaplain, 1817. Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1820, exchanging Lambeth & Sundridge for Buxted with Uckfield, Sussex. Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, 1820-1 and 1826-7. Resigned Mastership 1841, retired to Buxted, Sussex.

Married Priscilla Lloyd (d.1815); 3 sons: John (1805-1839); Charles (1806-1892); Christopher (1807-1885). Publications include, Ecclesiastical Biography, (1810), sermons and tracts.

John Wordsworth (1805-1839) was the oldest son of Christopher Wordsworth (1774-1846) and Priscilla (nee Lloyd; 1782-1815). Educated at Winchester College; matriculated Trinity College Cambridge 1824. BA 1828; Fellow of Trinity 1830. Appointed lecturer 1834. Ordained deacon 1837; priest 1837/8.Publications: on Shakespeare, Fragments and specimens of early Latin, (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1824).

Charles Wordsworth (1806-1892) was the second son of Christopher Wordsworth (1774-1846) and Priscilla (nee Lloyd; 1782-1815). Educated at Harrow, and matriculated Christ Church Oxford in 1825. BA 1830. Tutor at Christ Church 1834. Ordained deacon by Bishop of Oxford in 1834, and priest 1840. Appointed Second Master of Winchester College 1835; resigned 1846. Appointed Warden of the newly founded Trinity College Glenalmon, Perthshire, 1847-1854. Elected Bishop of St Andrews 1852, consecrated 1853. His episcopate saw a number of ritual controversies.

Married 1st in 1835 Charlotte (nee Day, d.1839); one daughter (Charlotte Emmeline, b.1839); 2nd in 1846 Katharine Mary (nee Barter, d.1897); 5 sons and 7 daughters.

Publications include sermons, prayers and poems.

Christopher Wordsworth (1807-1885) was the youngest son of Christopher Wordsworth (1774-1846) and Priscilla (nee Lloyd; 1782-1815). Educated at Winchester College, matriculated Trinity College, Cambridge 1826. Elected Fellow 1830. Ordained deacon 1833, priest 1835. Appointed Headmaster of Harrow School 1836. Appointed Canon of Westminster, 1844; Vicar of Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berkshire, 1850; Archdeacon of Westminster, 1865; Bishop of Lincoln, 1868 (consecrated 1869).

Married in 1838 Susanna Hatley (nee Frere; d.1884); sons John (1843-1911), Christopher (1848-1938); daughters Elizabeth (1840-1932), Susan (d.1912) and 3 others. Publications include Greek translations and commentaries; sermons, tracts, pamphlets; commentary on the Bible (in 16 parts).

John Wordsworth (1843-1911) was the eldest son of Christopher Wordsworth (1807-1885) and Susanna Hatley (nee Frere, d.1884). Educated at Winchester College, matriculated New College Oxford 1861. BA 1865, MA 1868. Assistant master Wellington College 1866-7; elected Fellow of Brasenose College Oxford, 1867. Ordained deacon 1867 and priest 1869 by the Bishop of Oxford. Prebendary of Lincoln and examining chaplain 1870; Deputy Regius Professor of Divinty, Oxford, 1877-79; Bampton Lecturer 1881. Elected Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Scripture, 1883, & Canon of Rochester. Elected and consecrated Bishop of Salisbury, 1885; DD Oxford 1885. Hon. LLD Dublin 1890, Cambridge 1908; Hon. DD Berne 1892; FBA 1905. Official of the Anglo-Continental Society (or Anglican & Foreign Church Society), and President of the Jerusalem and the East Mission Fund).

Married 1st 1870 Susan Esther (nee Coxe, d.1894); 2nd 1896, Mary (nee Williams), by whom 4 sons including Christopher and 2 daughters including Mary, A. F. Publications include critical edition of the Vulgate, lectures, classical and historical works, sermons.

Access Information

A full reader's ticket is required. See http://www.lambethpalacelibrary.org/

Note

DNB.

Other Finding Aids

E. G. W., Bill, A catalogue of manuscripts in Lambeth Palace Library. MSS. 1907-2340 (Oxford, 1976). Typescript list.

Alternative Form Available

Location of Copies

Conditions Governing Use

Custodial History

Given by Professor E.W. Watson, 1914 (MS.1396). Given by Mary Wordsworth (widow of John Wordsworth), 1911 (MSS.1397-1401; also probably MSS.3436, 3768-70). Purchased, 1964 (MSS.1822-1824). Given by the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library in 1967 (MSS.2140-51).

Accruals

Closed.

Related Material

Lambeth Conference; Archbishops' papers; Fulham papers; Manuscripts (especially MSS.2908-25, Anglo-Continental Society, and MSS.2327-41, Jerusalem and the East Mission Fund).