Edward King (Bishop of Lincoln) - Life

Life

He was the second son of the Reverend Walker King, Archdeacon of Rochester and rector of Stone, Kent, and grandson of the Reverend Walker King, Bishop of Rochester; his nephew was the Reverend Robert Stuart King, who played football for England in 1882.

King graduated from Oriel College, Oxford, was ordained in 1854, and four years later became chaplain and lecturer at Cuddesdon Theological College (now Ripon College Cuddesdon). He was principal at Cuddesdon from 1863 to 1873, when he became Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology at Oxford and canon of Christ Church. He was the principal founder of the leading catholic theological college in the Church of England, St Stephen's House, Oxford, now a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford. To the world outside he was known at this time as one of Edward Pusey's most intimate friends and as a leading member of the English Church Union. But in Oxford, and especially among the younger men, he exercised influence by his charm and sincerity.

In 1885 King was made Bishop of Lincoln. The most eventful episode of his episcopate was his prosecution (1888–1890) for ritualistic practices before the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson, and, on appeal, before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. 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, he won the affection and reverence of all classes by his real saintliness of character. The bishop, who never married, died in Lincoln.