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Aubrey George Spencer | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Jamaica | |
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| Church | modern dayChurch in the Province of the West Indies |
| See | Jamaica |
| In office | 1843–1855 |
| Previous posts | Newfoundland andBermuda |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1819 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 February 1795 London, England |
| Died | 24 February 1872 (1872-02-25) (aged 77) Torquay, Devon, England. |
Aubrey George Spencer (8 February 1795 – 24 February 1872)[1] was the first bishop of theAnglican Diocese ofNewfoundland andBermuda (1839–1843). He was alsobishop of Jamaica. His brotherGeorge Spencer becameBishop of Madras. He is from theSpencer family.
Aubrey George Spencer was born in London, England on 8 February 1795. He was the son ofWilliam Spencer (1769–1834), younger son ofLord Charles Spencer, and a great-grandson ofCharles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough; his German mother Susan being a Countess of theHoly Roman Empire. Among his cousins were the Bavarian diplomat, CountFranz Oliver von Jenison-Walworth (son of his uncle, CountFranz von Jenison-Walworth).[2]
Spencer was educated atSt Albans School, and privately in Greenwich prior to joining the navy. His health failed him and he was discharged and decided to become a priest. Spencer went to study atMagdalen Hall, Oxford and was made deacon in 1818. He was ordained a priest in 1819 by the Bishop of Norwich. Spencer's first assignment was officiating as a curate at Prittlewell, Essex, before becoming aSociety for the Propagation of the Gospel missionary to Newfoundland. There he served atFerryland andTrinity Bay before the cold undermined his health and he moved toBermuda, marryingBermudian Eliza Musson in 1832.
Having been appointed Archdeacon and Rector of Paget and Warwick, he published a collection of his sermons, acquired a Lambeth D.D. and turned down in 1829 the offer of theArchdeaconry of Newfoundland. In 1839, he readily accepted when, perhaps helped by his aristocratic and Whig connections, he was offered the bishopric of Newfoundland. He was consecratedBishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda, alongsideJohn Strachan, who was the first Bishop ofToronto. Their consecration took place at the chapel inLambeth Palace of 4 August 1839.William Howley, being archbishop of Canterbury, with BishopsCharles James Blomfield of London,William Otter of Chichester, andJohn Inglis of Nova Scotia participated in Spencer's consecration.
In Newfoundland, he increased the number of clergy by offering stipends guaranteed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, built schools and new churches, and laid the foundation stone for a cathedral. He reorganised the church into rural deaneries, revived the Diocesan Church Society to raise money, and formed a Theological Institute to produce a local ministry. To increase the number of clergy he ordained schoolmasters belonging to the Newfoundland School Society. He obtained control of that society by becoming a Vice-President, licensing its schoolmasters (if not ordained) to act as lay readers, and appointed the Rev. T. F. H. Bridge, his ablest assistant, to act as its local Superintendent. He described the society, in its 21st Annual Report, as "the greatest bulwark of the Protestant faith in that dreary and benighted land".
Spencer was described by Prowse, the 19th century Newfoundland historian, as "an evangelical of the old school ofWilberforce andBickersteth." He had little time for dissent, and theMethodists were quick to attack his making the Newfoundland School Society an auxiliary of the church, accusing him of having "high and exclusive claims", and of influencing the younger generation and "infusing into their minds the common notions of the high church party". They were surprised that Spencer's Anglicanism, althoughlow church, did not favour them. Had they read his sermon preached in St John's, they would have realised that not only was he very anti-Tractarian and anti-Catholic, he also insisted on the Church of England having its ministry from the Apostles and condemned those who rejected forms and undervalued the sacraments. Part of Spencer's legacy to his successor,Edward Feild, was thus rather poor relations with the Methodists.
He was once again troubled by ill health and in consequence obtained his translation to Jamaica where he was bishop until 1855. He then retired to England, to Torquay, and he occasionally assisted the ageing Bishop of Exeter, Phillpotts. His last publication,A Brief Account of the Church of England, its Faith and Worship: as shown by the Book of Common Prayer, published in 1867, was circulated in Spanish and Italian by the Anglo-Continental Society, and was a decidedly Protestant work. It declared that the reformers had aimed to maintainapostolic succession, that the Church of England was merely a part or branch of thecatholic Church of Christ, that all other Christians in England were in error, that Auricular Confession was inadmissible in the Church of England, that there should be no adoration of the consecrated bread and wine at communion, and that a branch of the Church without bishops was still a church. It was very traditional and very Protestant. His long illness caught up with him and in 1872 Spencer died.
| Church of England titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| New diocese | Bishop of Newfoundland 1839–1843 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Bishop of Jamaica 1843–1855 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| People | |
| Other | |
