# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Temple, Frederick

​TEMPLE, FREDERICK (1821–1902), archbishop of Canterbury, born 30 Nov. 1821, at Santa Maura, was son of Octavius Temple (d. 1834), major in 4th foot, sub-inspector of militia in the Ionian Islands, and resident at Santa Maura. William Johnstone Temple [q. v.] was his grand-father. Archbishop Temple claimed to belong to the Stowe branch of the Temple family, of which Richard Grenville, third duke of Buckingham and Chandos [q. v.], was the head. Temple's mother was Dorcas, daughter of Richard Carveth, of Probus, Cornwall, who traced his descent through the Le Despensers to Guy de Beauchamp, second earl of Warwick.
Temple was thirteenth and youngest survivor of fifteen children, seven of whom ​died young. On the death of his father, on 13 Aug. 1834, at Sierra Leone, where he was made governor the year before, the mother resided with her eight children at Culmstock, Devonshire. In narrow circumstances, she herself educated her boys until the time of their going to school, and thus exercised an unusual influence over all her children, especially the youngest, who never forgot his debt to her for his early training, and as soon as he had a home to offer, he shared it with her until her death at Rugby, 8 May 1866. On 29 Jan. 1834 he entered Blundell's School, Tiverton, and remained there till 5 March 1839. From the first he gave proof of great ability and industry. In half a year he passed through the lower to the upper school, two years being the usual period required. In 1838 he won the Blundell scholarship, and entered Balliol College, Oxford, 9 April 1839, an anonymous gift of 50l. enabling him to avail himself of the scholarship. Throughout his undergraduate days he practised of necessity the strictest economy. He came up to Oxford a first-rate mathematician, but during the three years following he so much improved his smaller stock of classics that he was 'proxime accessit' for the Ireland university scholarship in March 1842. In May 1842 he obtained without the help of any private tuition (owing to the kindness of his tutors) a double first class in classics and mathematics. He had the great advantage of having as his tutors men of real distinction, such as Scott, joint author with Liddell of the Greek lexicon; Tait, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, to whose friendship and wisdom he owed much; Jowett, who was only four years his senior, and became one of his most intimate friends; and W. G. Ward, who was his mathematical tutor. Among his friends and contemporaries were A. H. Clough, A. P. Stanley, J. D. (afterwards Lord) Coleridge, Matthew Arnold, and Lingen (afterwards Lord Lingen). He was much attracted by the deep religious tone of Newman and Pusey, and though naturally much interested in the theological discussions arising out of the publication of the 'Tracts for the Times' and the 'Ideal of a Christian Church,' he was never carried away by them. He came up to Oxford a tory, and so remained while he was an undergraduate. But Oxford enlarged his outlook, and his views gradually settled into the liberalism which characterised him through life. When W. G. Ward's case came before convocation at Oxford, Temple voted in the minority against the censure and also against his degradation ; and later, in 1847, he gave his name to the memorial against Bishop Hampden's condemnation. In November 1842 he was appointed lecturer, and was afterwards elected fellow of Balliol, and in 1845 junior dean of his college. He was ordained deacon in 1846, and in 1847 priest, by Bishop Wilberforce of Oxford.
When Tait left Balliol for Rugby in 1842, he had vainly offered Temple a mastership there. Temple then felt that his first duty was to his college, but in the spring of 1848 he left Oxford to undertake work under the committee of education, first as examiner in the education office at Whitehall to the end of 1849, then as principal of Kneller Hall, Twickenham, a training college for workhouse schoolmasters. In 1855, when Kneller Hall was closed. Temple was made inspector of training colleges for men. For some years previously he had been looked upon as an authority on educational matters. He was invited by the Oxford University Commission of 1850 to give evidence in writing, and he proposed several reforms, which were afterwards carried into effect. To 'Oxford Essays' of 1856 he contributed an essay on 'National Education,' and in 1857, in conjunction with (Sir) Thomas Dyke Acland [q. v. Suppl. I], he was mainly instrumental in persuading the University of Oxford to institute the associate-in-arts examination, which later developed into the Oxford and Cambridge local examinations.
On 12 Nov. 1857 he was appointed head-master of Rugby School. His success there was undoubted. He exercised influence both on masters and boys, as a stimulating intellectual teacher, and as an earnest religious man. Some necessary reforms, which he introduced, were to increase the staff, to enlarge and systematise the teaching of history, to make the English language and literature a 'form' subject throughout the school, and to introduce natural science, music, and drawing into the regular curriculum. Before he left, he had obtained money for the building of a new quadrangle, containing a music school and drawing school, two science lecture-rooms, and six good classical classrooms. The chapel was also enlarged to meet the increased numbers. While headmaster of Rugby, he gave evidence, in 1860, before the Popular Education Commission, of which the duke of Newcastle was chairman, and when a new commission was appointed in December 1864 to inquire into the schools which had not been the subject of inquiry under either the Popular ​ Education Commission, or the Public Schools Commission, Temple became a member of it, and was a leading spirit. Their report was issued in 1868; chapter ii. on the kinds of education desirable, and chapter vii., containing the recommendations of the commissioners, were written by him. These chapters, together with his Oxford essay, give Temple's mature views on secondary education.
In July 1869 Gladstone offered him the deanery of Durham. This was refused, but in September of the same year he was offered the see of Exeter, which he accepted. His appointment raised a storm of opposition on the ground that he had been a contributor to the notorious 'Essays and Reviews' (1860 ; 12th edit. 1865). His contribution, 'The Education of the World,' was little open to exception, but he had associated himself with writers two of whom were tried and condemned, the one, Rowland Williams [q. v.], for denying the inspiration of scripture, the other, Henry Bristow Wilson [q. v.], for denying the doctrine of the eternity of punishment ; both sentences, however, were on appeal reversed by the privy council. The book had also been censured by the convocation of Canterbury. The earl of Shaftesbury and Dr. Pusey united to oppose his consecration, and it was doubtful beforehand whether the dean and chapter of Exeter would act on the congé d'élire. Ultimately, of the twenty-three members entitled to vote, thirteen were in favour, six against, and four were absent. When the confirmation took place in Bow church, two of the beneficed clergy of the diocese appeared in opposition. Urged on many sides by friends and opponents to make some declaration as to his orthodoxy, he refused, with characteristic firmness, to break silence till after his consecration, which took place on St. Thomas' Day in Westminster Abbey. The consecrating bishops were the bishops of London (Jackson), acting for Archbishop Tait, who was ill, St. David's (Thirlwall), and Ely (Browne). After his consecration he withdrew his essay from future editions of 'Essays and Reviews.' To quote the words of Lightfoot, 'he was courageous in refusing to withdraw his name when it was clamorously demanded, and not less courageous in withdrawing it when the withdrawal would expose him to the criticism of his advanced friends.'
In his change from youthful toryism to liberalism two main ideas possessed his mind : first, the need of raising the condition of the working classes, and secondly, the conviction that their amelioration could only be effected by enabling them to help themselves. A strong advocate of educational reform, he was also a social reformer, as evidenced, among other things, by his strong and persistent advocacy of temperance ; but all his experience strengthened his conviction that neither education nor temperance could have its perfect work apart from religion. As bishop of Exeter he had an early opportunity of putting his views into practice.
Forster's Education Act was passed in 1870. It was necessary for church people to improve and add to their schools, and at a meeting at Exeter, by his words and his example in subscribing 500l., he induced the diocese to raise a large sum for the purpose. It was also necessary to deal with schools of higher rank in the diocese of Exeter. His letter to the mayor on the endowed schools commissioners' proposals carried such weight that the main points for which he contended were eventually adopted. They embodied a system of exhibitions, furnishing a ladder by which the poorest child might rise from the elementary to the highest class of school and so to the university, and the establishment of two good schools for the secondary education of girls. In short, as stated by a member of a subsequent royal commission thirty years later, 'there are more boys and girls per thousand of population receiving secondary education in Exeter than in any other city in this country, due in no small measure to the improvements carried out largely under Dr. Temple.' The same might be said in its degree of Plymouth, where he was instrumental in founding secondary schools. At Rugby he had already taken part in the temperance movement, which had come into prominence partly owing to the report of the committee of convocation of Canterbury in 1869. When as bishop he took the chair in Exeter in 1872 at a meeting of the United Kingdom Alliance, the proceedings were so unruly as to require the intervention of the police, and a bag of flour aimed at the bishop struck him full in the chest. In a short time, however, he was always enthusiastically received, whenever he addressed public meetings (as he frequently did) on the subject. 'He was so much impressed,' he once said, 'with the importance of the movement, that he felt at times he could wish to divest himself of other duties and devote himself entirely to it.'
Notwithstanding the huge extent of a ​ diocese comprising Devon and Cornwall, he visited most of the parishes, in many of which a bishop had not been seen for long, but he early felt the need of the division of the diocese. The donation by Lady Rolle in 1875 of 40,000l. gave a great impetus to the scheme, and in 1876 a bill to create the diocese of Truro was passed see Benson, Edwakd White, Suppl. I].
In 1874 he was petitioned by the chancellor of the diocese to inquire into the legality of the erection of a new reredos in the cathedral. As visitor and ordinary he gave sentence for its removal. The dean of arches reversed this judgment, but the privy council on appeal reversed the judgment of the court of arches, in so far as it limited the bishop's visitatorial jurisdiction over the cathedral, but maintained it on two points, viz. the non-requirement of a faculty and the legality of the figures. When a similar question was raised in regard to the reredos in St. Paul's, April 1888, by the Church Association, circumstances had changed. The privy council had ruled there was nothing illegal in the figures, and the legislature had granted to the bishops discretionary power to stop proceedings. Accordingly, as bishop of London he refused to allow the case to proceed. His speeches while bishop of Exeter, in the House of Lords on the university tests bill (1870) and the bill for opening churchyards to non-conformists (1880), showed him true to his liberal principles. While bishop of Exeter he became a member of the governing body of Rugby School, and for the last ten years of his life was its chairman. He was also governor of Sherborne School. In 1884 he delivered at Oxford the Bampton lectures, on 'the relation between religion and science.' Among his hearers on one occasion were Matthew Arnold and Robert Browning ; many younger men who heard him never forgot the impression which he made, partly by his vigorous arguments and still more by his native strength, simplicity, and sincerity.
On 25 Feb. 1885 he was called to the see of London. A public meeting in the Guildhall at Exeter and the testimonials that emanated from it proved how entirely the bishop had won his way. The clergy of the diocese, who had protested against his election in 1869, almost unanimously signed a memorial of regret at his departure. He was enthroned in St. Paul's in April 1885. He threw himself with his accustomed vigour into the work of the diocese and into all the great social questions of the day. In accordance with his views on self-government he introduced the plan of allowing the clergy to elect their own rural deans. Besides delivering his episcopal charges, he gave addresses in turn at the several ruridecanal chapters. He took such subjects as 'relation of the church to the poor in London,' 'the growth of scepticism and indifference,' and in 1892 he dealt with the archbishop's judgment in the bishop of Lincoln's case. On this case, with four other bishops, he had been assessor to Archbishop Benson [q. v. Suppl. I]. In 1887 it was mainly due to his energy and advocacy that the church's memorial of Queen Victoria's jubilee took the permanent form of the Church House now in Dean's Yard, Westminster. The Pluralities Act amendment bill was carried through the House of Lords by the bishop, and became an Act of Parliament in 1885. The Clergy Discipline Act passed in 1892 owed much to his efforts. In 1888 he was a member of the royal commission on education presided over by Lord Cross, and never missed a sitting. In the slimmer of 1889 he tendered evidence of great value before a commission presided over by Lord Selborne with reference to a teaching university for London, and before the secondary education commission of 1894, of which Mr. James Bryce was chairman. While bishop of London, he gave land to enlarge Bishop's Park, Fulham, which was opened by the chairman of the London county council on 2 Dec. 1893. Later, when archbishop of Canterbury, he handed over a field adjoining Lambeth Palace for a recreation ground. This was put in order by the London county council and opened on 24 Oct. 1901.
At the time of the dockers' strike in the autumn of 1889 the bishop of London's return to town from his holiday led the lord mayor to intervene and form the conciliation committee by means of which an arrangement was ultimately reached.
At the request of senator G. F. Hall of Massachusetts, backed by the principal Antiquarian Societies of America, the bishop had agreed to hand over to U.S.A. the 'Bradford MS.,' incorrectly termed the 'Log of the Mayflower,' then in the library of Fulham Palace. Bishop Creighton carried out the wish of his predecessor by delivering the MS. to the American ambassador on 29 May 1897.
In October 1896 he was nominated by Lord Salisbury to the archbishopric of Canterbury. A meeting took place at the Guildhall on 18 Jan. 1897 to commemorate his London episcopate, when the lord ​ mayor and corporation of the City of London attended in state and at least 1500 persons were present, and many presentations were made to the archbishop. The 'Morning Post' stated that 'the history of church work in London since Dr. Temple entered upon the diocese has scarcely a parallel in the history of church work during the century.' He was enthroned in Canterbury Cathedral in 1897. With the consent of the ecclesiastical commissioners he sold Addington Park, the country residence of the archbishops since its purchase by Archbishop Manners Sutton, and with part of the proceeds of the sale he bought a house in the precincts at Canterbury known as the Old Palace, which he converted into a suitable residence. On 21 June 1897 the archbishop attended in state the great service in St. Paul's to commemorate the sixtieth year of Queen Victoria's reign, and on the following Tuesday he was the principal figure on the steps of St. Paul's, when Her Majesty made her progress through the city. Immediately after he presided at the fourth Lambeth Conference of bishops of the Anglican communion. On 3 July he received in Canterbury Cathedral the members of the conference at an inaugural service, and delivered an address from the chair of Augustine. The summary of the resolutions arrived at by the conference, called the encyclical letter, was drafted in the course of a night entirely by himself, and with but slight exceptions it was adopted by the conference and published. In 1898, at the invitation of Dr. James Paton, convener of the committee on temperance of the Church of Scotland, the archbishop paid a visit to the general assembly, and delivered an address chiefly on temperance. He visited Scotland a second time in 1902 at the request of Bishop Wilkinson for the dedication of the chapter house added to St. Ninian's Cathedral, Perth, in memory of Bishop Charles Wordsworth. During the six years of his archbishopric he made two visitations of his diocese. In his first charge in 1898 he dealt with the questions of 'the doctrine of the eucharist,' 'improper objects of worship,' and 'prayers for the dead.' The second charge was entirely devoted to the education bill of 1902.
In 1899 the lawfulness of the use of incense and of processional lights was referred to the archbishops of the two provinces for judgment. The 'hearing' took place at Lambeth on 8, 9, and 10 May, and their decision was delivered by Temple at Lambeth, 31 July 1899. They decided that the two practices were neither enjoined nor permitted by the law of the Church of England. A third question, viz. the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament, referring only to the southern province, was brought before the archbishop of Canterbury alone, and he decided that the Church of England does not at present allow reservation in any form.
Temple, who had been made hon. LL.D. of Cambridge on 20 Jan. 1897, received the honorary freedom of the city of Exeter on 22 Jan. 1897, and of the borough of Tiverton on 3 Oct. 1900. In January 1901 he officiated at the funeral of Queen Victoria in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. He crowned King Edward VII in Westminster Abbey on 9 Aug. 1902, and received the collar of the Victorian order.
He spoke for the last time in the House of Lorda on 4 Dec. 1902, when Mr. Balfour's education bill came up for the second reading. Earl Spencer, as the leader of the opposition, spoke against the bill, and the archbishop followed in its favour, but before he had completed his speech he was seized with illness and had to leave the house.
He died at Lambeth Palace on 22 Dec. 1902, and was buried in the cloister of Canterbury Cathedral.
Great as was the work which Archbishop Temple was able to accomplish owing to his unusual vigour of mind and body, the man was greater even than his work. He had a rugged force of character and a simplicity which distinguished him from his most able contemporaries. No one ever less 'beat about the bush' : he went straight to his point with a directness which sometimes earned for him the reputation of brusqueness, or even of want of consideration for other people's feelings. This, however, was a superficial view of his character, as those who worked with him and knew him well soon came to acknowledge. With his strength he combined a tenderness of feeling and warmth of affection which not unfrequently were noticeable, in spite of himself, in his public utterances. His devotion to his mother, who lived with him till the day of her death, and to whose opinion he always reverently deferred, was a marked trait in his character. As a preacher, he was not eloquent in the usual sense of the word ; any tricks of oratory were utterly alien to his nature, but his sermons in^Rugby School chapel (of which three volumes were published) are eloquent from their force and terseness, their earnestness and genuine feeling. The effect of them on the boys was, by the testimony of many ​men of mark, both masters and pupils, far-reaching and abiding. As a speaker he carried weight by his evident sincerity as well as by his vigorous language. In the latter part of his life he spoke most frequently on foreign missions, temperance, and the education controversy. On these subjects the fire of his yoiuiger days never died away,
He married, on 24 Aug. 1876, Beatrice Blanche, fifth daughter of Wilham Saunders Sebright Lascelles and Lady Caroline Georgiana Howard, daughter of George sixth Earl of Carlisle. He had two sons, Frederick Charles, born in 1879, appointed in 1908 district engineer under Indian government; William, born in 1881, fellow and tutor of Queen's College, Oxford, 1908-1910, headmaster of Repton School, 1910.
A portrait by G. F. Watts is at Rugby, another by Prynne is in the Palace at Exeter, a third by Sir Hubert von Herkomer, R.A., is at Fulham Palace; of the last, replicas are at Lambeth Palace and in possession of Mrs. Temple, and the picture was engraved by the artist. A bust by Woolner is at Rugby in the Temple reading-room; a medallion by Brock in the chapel, Rugby; and a bust by Frampton at Sherborne School, with a replica in bronze in the Temple speech-room, Rugby. A monument by F. W. Pomeroy was erected in St. Paul's Cathedral in 1903. The new speech-room at Rugby, mainly a memorial to Archbishop Temple, was opened by King Edward VII in 1909. Cartoon portraits appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1869 and 1902 (by 'Spy').
Temple's chief published works were: 1. 'Sermons preached in Rugby School Chapel,' three series, the first 'in 1858-9-60' (1861; 3rd ed. 1870); the second 'in 1862–7' (1871; reprinted 1872, 1876); the third 'in 1867–9' (1871; reprinted 1873, 1886). 2. 'Quiet Growth, a Sermon preached in Clifton College Chapel, Simday, 16 June 1867.' 3. 'The Three Spiritual Revelations, a Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of Exeter on Wednesday, 29 Dec. 1869, by Frederick, Lord Bishop of the Diocese, on that Day enthroned,' 1870. 4. 'Episcopal Charges, Exeter,' 1883, 1884. 5. 'The Relations between Rehgion and Science,' eight Bampton lectures, 1884; reprinted 1885, 1903. 6. Charge dehvered at his First Visitation, Canterbury, 1898. 7. 'On the Reservation of the Sacrament, Lambeth Palace, 1 May 1900.' 8. 'Five of the Latest Utterances of Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury,' 1903.
[Memoirs of Archbishop Temple by Seven Friends, edited by E. G. Sandford, Archbishop of Exeter, 2 vols. 1906; A. C. Benson, Life of Edward White Benson, 1899; Mrs. Creighton, Life of Mandell Creighton, 1904; L. Campbell and E. Abbott, Life of Benjamin Jowett, 1897.]
H. M. S.