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 MEMOIR 
 
 EDWARD LORD BISHOP OF SALISBURY. 
 
 [PRIVATELY PRINTED FROM THE ANNUM, REGISTER FOR 1854], 
 
 1855. 
 
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 MEMOIR 
 
 EDWARD LORD BISHOP OF SALISBURY. 
 
 [PRIVATELY PRINTED FROM THE ANNUAL REGISTER FOR 1854.] 
 
 At Salisbury, aged 53, the Right Rev. Edward 
 Denison, D.D., Lord Bishop of Salisbury. Edward 
 Denison, the late Bishop of Salisbury was the 
 second son of John Denison, Esq., of Ossington, in 
 the county of Nottingham, and Charlotte Estwick 
 his wife. The eldest son of this marriage is J. 
 Evelyn Denison, Esq., M.P. for Malton. 
 
 Edward, the subject of this brief notice, was 
 born on the 13th of May, 1801 ; and educated with 
 his eldest brother at a preparatory school then in 
 high repute, under the government of Dr. Moore, 
 at Esher, in Surrey. The two brothers were sent 
 to Eton in 1811, and at this famous school four of 
 the younger brothers of the same family, remark- 
 able for their great proficiency in classical scholar- 
 ship, were subsequently educated. 
 
 a 2
 
 4 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Eton was then under the head-mastership of Dr. 
 Keate; but the late Bishop, as well as his brothers, 
 were greatly indebted to the abilities, attainments, 
 and affection of their domestic tutor, the Rev. 
 Charles Drurv Michel Fellow of Queen's College, 
 Oxford, who accompanied the two elder brothers to 
 Eton, and remained with them there till their edu- 
 cation was completed. 
 
 In 1819 Edward Denison entered as a Gentleman 
 Commoner at Oriel College, Oxford, then presided 
 over by the learned and accomplished Copleston, 
 afterwards Bishop of Llandaff, whose discerning eye 
 soon discovered the abilities and excellent qualities 
 of the young undergraduate. 
 
 In Easter Term, 1822, Edward Denison's name 
 appeared in the first class of classical honours. In 
 August 1826, he was elected a Fellow of Merton 
 College. His next step was to enter his name in 
 one of the Inns of Court in London, and to begin 
 an assiduous study of the law ; after a short period, 
 however, he abandoned his intention of becoming 
 a member of the bar, and betook himself to the 
 study of divinity, and on the 23rd of December, 
 1827, he was admitted into Holy Orders, and soon 
 afterwards made his first essay in the performance 
 of pastoral duties on becoming incumbent of Wol- 
 vercot, a small parish in the neighbourhood of 
 Oxford. This charge he afterwards resigned, and 
 on the 10th of October, 1829, he was inducted into 
 
 "uiuc" 
 
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 •SQfitd^
 
 EDWARD LORD BISHOP OF SALISBURY. 5 
 
 the living of Radcliffe, near Nottingham, which he 
 resigned in February, 1833. 
 
 After this period till the time of his being con- 
 secrated Bishop of Salisbury he resided principally 
 at Merton, discharging the duties of incumbent of 
 St. Peter's in the East, in the city of Oxford. 
 
 He was presented to a stall in the Cathedral of 
 Southwell in January, 1834, and in March of the 
 same year he was made one of the Select Preachers 
 of the University. 
 
 On the 22nd of January, 1835, he published a 
 pamphlet on the question of the admission of Dis- 
 senters into the Universities. In 1836 he published, 
 in concert with others, a compilation of Metrical 
 Psalms and Hymns, adapted to the use of the 
 Church, of which 2000 copies were sold. 
 
 In November of the same year he published a 
 volume of Sermons which he had preached before 
 the University, and which obtained considerable 
 celebrity at the time. 
 
 On the 16th of April, 1837, at the unusually 
 early age of 36 years, he was consecrated Bishop of 
 Salisbury, and enthroned in the Cathedral of that 
 See, on the 11th of May, 1837. 
 
 He married on the 27th of June, 1839, Louisa 
 Ker Seymer, daughter of Henry Seymer, Esq., of 
 Hanford, Dorset, and of Harriet Beckford, sister 
 of the late Lord Rivers, Mrs. Denison was a lady re- 
 markable for great personal beauty, but still more for
 
 6 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the Christian graces of her character, and her entire 
 devotion to the duties of her position. Two chil- 
 dren, who have survived both parents, were the 
 issue of this marriage : Edward, born September 
 9th, 1840; Louisa, born September 7th, 1841. 
 Mrs. Denison survived but a few days the birth 
 of her daughter, and died on the 22nd of Sep- 
 tember, 1841. 
 
 On July 10th, 1845, the Bishop married Clementina 
 Baillie Hamilton, daughter of the Rev. Charles 
 Baillie Hamilton, Archdeacon of Cleveland, and 
 Rector of Middleton, and of Lady Charlotte his 
 wife, daughter of the Earl of Home. By this lady, 
 who still survives her husband, he had no children, 
 but to her the son and daughter of the former 
 marriage were consigned by the Bishop's will. 
 
 His death caused a considerable sensation in the 
 country at large; but in the diocese over which he had 
 presided, the love and reverence o fthe people for their 
 chief pastor manifested itself on the occasion of his 
 unexpected death in a manner almost unprecedented; 
 and yet he had never been remarkable for those 
 qualities which usually attract public admiration — 
 he had invariably shunned publicity, except where 
 the discharge of duty rendered it imperative ; not 
 only had he never courted popularity, but his grave, 
 thoughtful, and cautious disposition, his great humi- 
 lity, continually increasing with his years, his uncon- 
 querable natural reserve, combined with his ever-
 
 EDWARD LORD BISHOP OF SALISBURY. 7 
 
 present sense of the responsibilities of his high and 
 holy office to withdraw him as much as possible from 
 the public gaze, and eminently disqualified him for 
 being the favourite of the people. 
 
 But there are merits and services which the calm 
 but conscientious discharge of duty does not fail, 
 gradually perhaps, and almost insensibly, to make 
 known and appreciated to those who have lived 
 within the sphere of its performance. More espe- 
 cially does this happen when rare intellectual ability 
 is joined with consummate prudence to make this 
 conscientious performance of duty effectual in the 
 highest degree. 
 
 In the truth of this proposition is to be found 
 the reason why, on the 15th of March, 1854, the 
 ancient Cathedral of Sarum was thronged, even to 
 overflowing, with genuine mourners composed of 
 all classes, and of all callings of life, when the 
 remains of their guide, their friend, their protec- 
 tor, their benefactor, were consigned to their resting- 
 place in those cloisters whose holy beauty his 
 private munificence had restored during his life. 
 Everybody then remembered what his seventeen 
 \ ears' episcopate had done for the diocese of Salis- 
 bury. Many were able to justify and increase their 
 estimation of the services which he had rendered 
 to the diocese by comparison with results of preced- 
 ing episcopates. Then it was that men looked back 
 on the past, and observed how sihuitly and imper-
 
 8 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ceptibly ecclesiastical institutions and an ecclesiasti- 
 cal system had grown up amongst and around them 
 — had covered the surface and penetrated into the 
 heart of the diocese. The face of the diocese was 
 changed ; visible fabrics of religion had appeared in 
 every spot once neglected in the counties of Wilts 
 and Dorset. Moreover, schools had invariably risen 
 \vith the church. But still better, the visible forms 
 of the church and school were true types of the 
 invisible agencies which they represented. The 
 Catholic doctrine of the undivided primitive Church, 
 the religious and intellectual training of the child, 
 and still more of the master — the last being the 
 favourite and successful achievement of the late 
 Bishop — manifested their excellent results, in the 
 rapidly-increased education, civilisation, and comfort 
 of the people, and offered indisputable evidence, not 
 only of the piety and sagacity, but of the patient 
 and enduring perseverance of their promoter. 
 
 The Bishop in his charge delivered at his second 
 visitation, spoke as follows: " In 42 parishes a second 
 service has been added, where, three years ago, there 
 was but one ; in 65 parishes, in the same period, a 
 second sermon has been added ; in 89 parishes the 
 sacrament of baptism is now publicly administered, 
 where formerly it was not ; and holy communion is 
 now administered more frequently, and the festivals 
 of the Church (strange to say, heretofore almost 
 universally neglected) are now in the way of being,
 
 EDWARD LORD BISHOP OF SALISBURY. 9 
 
 before long, universally observed." At his next 
 visitation, he remarked : " During the three last 
 years 62 parishes have added a Sunday service, 57 
 have added a sermon at the afternoon or morning 
 service. In 57 more parishes baptism is publicly 
 administered. In 1839, 143 parishes only had two 
 sermons; in 1851, 295. Monthly communion in 
 1839, 35 ; in 1851, 84." 
 
 During the episcopate of the last but one of 
 Bishop Denison's predecessors in the See of Sarum,and 
 which extended from 30th of June, 1807, till June, 
 1827, four churches had been consecrated, three of 
 which had been rebuilt, and one had been new. 
 
 During the episcopate which immediately pre- 
 ceded that of Bishop Denison, and which extended 
 from June, 1827, to February, 1837, seven new 
 churches were built and two rebuilt. 
 
 Bishop Denison's episcopate lasted from April, 
 1837, to March, 1854, and during this period, in 
 Wiltshire, 22 new churches were built, and 30 re- 
 built from the ground. In Dorsetshire (annexed 
 during Bishop Denison's episcopate, in lieu of Berk- 
 shire, to the diocese), 14 new churches were built, 
 eight were rebuilt from the ground, six were enlarged, 
 making a total of 72 churches built, rebuilt, and 
 enlarged, besides about 80 more repaired and re- 
 stored without being enlarged, in a diocese not 
 thickly inhabited. It was not only, however, the 
 number of the consecrations, but the circumstances
 
 10 MEMOIR OF 
 
 attending them which formed a new era in the epis- 
 copate of Sarum. 
 
 At each of these consecrations the attendance of 
 clergy as well as laity was very great, and the holy 
 communion was invariably administered, and gene- 
 rally to large numbers of persons. 
 
 Sometimes at the close of the affecting service 
 used in the consecration of churchyards, the Bishop 
 would- add. a few words of grave but affectionate 
 warning to the assembled people, words well calcu- 
 lated to leave an abiding impression upon those who 
 heard them. 
 
 With each new church almost invariably sprung 
 up a new school. In the extension and improve- 
 ment of that material part of the spiritual training 
 of the people, the holy rite of confirmation, the 
 energy and devotion of the late Bishop were most 
 conspicuous. Previously to the episcopate of Bishop 
 Denison, Salisbury had been almost the only place 
 to which the inhabitants of all South Wilts had 
 been compelled to resort for confirmation ; and those 
 are yet living who remember the shocking and 
 immoral results of conveying large numbers of both 
 sexes considerable distances, who were often com- 
 pelled to seek, not only refreshment, but a night's 
 lodging on the road. Moreover, the Bishop's pre- 
 decessors had held confirmations at uncertain inter- 
 vals, and at a few particular and favoured places. 
 
 Bishop Denison determined to break through this
 
 EDWARD LORD BISHOP OF SALISBURY. 1 1 
 
 evil custom ; one year he confirmed throughout 
 Wiltshire, another throughout Dorsetshire, on the 
 third he held his visitation. No year passed that 
 he did not confirm in the principal towns of his 
 diocese ; nor did his exertions end here — he always 
 endeavoured, utterly regardless of his own conve- 
 nience, to select such central spots as would bring 
 the church in which the confirmation was holden 
 within a reasonable walk of the candidates for the 
 holy rite, and visited thereby many a small country 
 church to which the presence of a bishop had been 
 formerly unknown. 
 
 The spirit, the principles, and the habits which 
 had made him the model of a parish priest at St. 
 Peter's in the East, at Oxford, accompanied his 
 elevation to the episcopate. He was at all times 
 ready to assist his clergy in the performance of 
 divine service. Not only did he frequently preach 
 upon public occasions in different parts of his diocese, 
 and continually in his own cathedral, but once every 
 Sunday in one of the churches of Salisbury, often 
 twice, sometimes, but a short time before his death, 
 three times, though his delicate frame was unfit 
 for exertions which visibly undermined his health. 
 
 Every Wednesday found him at the Penitentiary 
 in Salisbury, administering instruction and consola- 
 tion to the inmates. All these things were silently 
 done, and as a matter of course. 
 
 But there was one occasion which forced his
 
 12 MEMOIR OF 
 
 apostolic devotion to his duties into public notice, 
 and, in spite of himself, into general public admira- 
 tion. 
 
 The Bishop was entertaining at his hospitable 
 palace the members of a scientific body, then hold- 
 ing their meeting at Salisbury, when suddenly the 
 terrible plague of the cholera smote the city of 
 Salisbury in all its wrath. The Bishop immediately 
 dismissed his guests, and from that moment until 
 the departure of this appalling pestilence — in every 
 murky street and wretched house, wherever disease 
 was rifest and danger most imminent — there were to 
 be found the consolations of religion, ministered by 
 the chief pastor of the diocese ; and strange to say, 
 in spite of the weakness of his constitution, he 
 escaped untouched. It seemed that " Sarum's good 
 Bishop," like his illustrious brother of Marseilles, 
 a century ago — 
 
 " Drew a purer breath 
 When nature sickened, and each gale was death ! " 
 
 The Bishop's career in Parliament was eminently 
 episcopal. He spoke upon almost all questions of a 
 religious character which were discussed in the 
 House of Lords, and upon such questions only (with 
 one exception), and always with so much gravity, 
 wisdom, dignity, and piety, that the opinions of no 
 one on the episcopal bench had greater weight in 
 that illustrious assembly. 
 
 The one exception was, a reply which he thought
 
 EDWARD LORD BISHOP OF SALISBURY. 13 
 
 it due to his sacred office to make to a base slander 
 which appeared anonymously in a newspaper, and 
 which charged him both with having received and 
 retained from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners more 
 money than was his due, and also with malversation 
 of funds entrusted to him. His speech shattered to 
 atoms both charges. One part of it made a deep 
 impression upon the House — it was manifestly the 
 truth itself. " My Lords," he said, " I am conscious 
 of many and grievous faults. I look back upon the 
 long years of my ministry, and see sad shortcomings 
 and painful deficiencies. May a merciful God par- 
 don me for them ! But of an avaricious love of 
 money, or of a selfish expenditure of it, my heart 
 and conscience do not accuse me. I believe that the 
 revenues of my See, of whatever amount, being 
 rightfully dedicated to the highest purposes, have 
 not been selfishly diverted from them. I believe 
 that this surplus was, in my hands, made not less 
 instrumental in promoting the cause of true religion, 
 and the ministrations of the Church, than if it had 
 been paid over to the Commissioners. I am sure at 
 least of this, that it has not been either hoarded for 
 myself or my family, or spent for my personal grati- 
 fication. I have been Bishop of Salisbury for sixteen 
 years, in possession of these revenues, and I can 
 truly assert that I have not from the income of my 
 See saved a single shilling. While at no former 
 period of my life, neither when I lived as a fellow
 
 14 MEMOIR OF 
 
 of a college, nor when I was incumbent of a small* 
 benefice in the country, have 1 found it so impossible, 
 or have I been so little willing-, to spend money in 
 the gratification of personal tastes. Were I to die 
 to-morrow, my family would have no other provision 
 than that arising from my and their very small pri- 
 vate means, and such moderate addition thereto as I 
 have felt it my duty to make by insurance on my 
 life. My son will inherit only this patrimony ; but 
 I hope that I may add, that in spite of calumnies 
 such as these, he will have also that which I trust he 
 will value above hoarded wealth — the inheritance of 
 a father's unblemished name.'' 
 
 It seemed as if he died shortly afterwards to 
 demonstrate the sincerity of this affecting and Chris- 
 tian statement. He left no accumulated funds, 
 nothing but the small fortune of which he had 
 spoken, to his widow and his children ; and after his 
 death it was discovered that his charities had 
 amounted in fourteen years to <£l 7,040. 
 
 His habits of life were characterised by the 
 greatest simplicity. His knowledge of mineralogy, 
 geology, and generally of natural history, was accu- 
 rate and profound. His taste for horticulture was 
 very refined — witness the palace garden at Salisbury, 
 which now forms the most beautiful of foregrounds 
 to the cathedral and its precincts. That cathedral 
 he dearly loved, and from it he was rarely, and never 
 willingly, absent for any length of time.
 
 EDWARD LORD BISHOP OF SALISBURY. 15 
 
 It remains to be noticed, that, when the members 
 of the Church within his diocese determined to 
 erect a fitting monument to the memory of their 
 much-esteemed Bishop, they fixed upon one which 
 they thought worthy of his fame, and which they 
 knew would have been of all others the most accept- 
 able to him. 
 
 During his life he had restored, at his own cost, 
 the beautiful cloisters of the cathedral. The chapter 
 house, a building of exquisite architectural beauty, 
 remained unrestored and dilapidated at his death. 
 To restore it to its original beauty of holiness was 
 known to have been an object on which his heart 
 was set. It was determined that his monument 
 should be the restoration, and £5000 was speedily 
 subscribed for the purpose. 
 
 The monument was worthy of the man. 
 
 Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London-
 
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