Richard Chenevix Trench | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop of Dublin Primate of Ireland | |
 | |
| Church | Church of Ireland |
| Province | Dublin |
| Diocese | Dublin and Glendalough |
| In office | 1864-1884 |
| Predecessor | Richard Whately |
| Successor | William Plunket, 4th Baron Plunket |
| Previous post(s) | Dean of Westminster (1856–1864) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 5 July 1835 |
| Consecration | 1 January 1864 by Marcus Beresford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1807-09-09)9 September 1807 |
| Died | 28 March 1886(1886-03-28) (aged 78) Eaton Square, London |
| Buried | Westminster Abbey |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Spouse | Frances Mary Trench |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Signature |  |
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Richard Chenevix Trench (9 September 1807 – 28 March 1886) was anAnglicanarchbishop and poet.
He was born inDublin, Ireland, the son of Richard Trench (1774–1860), barrister-at-law, and the Dublin writerMelesina Chenevix (1768–1827).[1][2] His elder brother wasFrancis Chenevix Trench.[3] He went to school atHarrow, went up toTrinity College, Cambridge, and graduated in 1829.[4] In 1830 he visited Spain.[5] While incumbent of Curdridge Chapel nearBishop's Waltham in Hampshire, he published (1835)The Story of Justin Martyr and Other Poems, which was favourably received, and was followed in 1838 bySabbation, Honor Neale, and other Poems, and in 1842 byPoems from Eastern Sources. These volumes revealed the author as the most gifted of the immediate disciples ofWordsworth, with a warmer colouring and more pronounced ecclesiastical sympathies than the master, and strong affinities toAlfred Lord Tennyson,John Keble andRichard Monckton Milnes.[6]
In 1841 he resigned his living to become curate toSamuel Wilberforce, then rector ofAlverstoke, and upon Wilberforce's promotion to the deanery ofWestminster Abbey in 1845 he was presented to the rectory ofItchenstoke. In 1845 and 1846 he preached theHulsean lecture, and in the former year was made examining chaplain to Wilberforce, now Bishop ofOxford. He was shortly afterwards appointed to a theological chair atKing's College London.[6]
Trench joined theCanterbury Association on 27 March 1848, on the same day as Samuel Wilberforce and Wilberforce's brotherRobert.[2]
In 1851 he established his fame as aphilologist byThe Study of Words, originally delivered as lectures to the pupils of the Diocesan Training School, Winchester. His stated purpose was to demonstrate that in words, even taken singly, "there are boundless stores of moral and historic truth, and no less of passion and imagination laid up"—an argument which he supported by a number of apposite illustrations. It was followed by two little volumes of similar character—English Past and Present (1855) andA Select Glossary of English Words (1859). All have gone through numerous editions and have contributed much to promote the historical study of the English tongue. Another great service to English philology was rendered by his paper, read before thePhilological Society,On some Deficiencies in our English Dictionaries (1857), which gave the first impulse to the greatOxford English Dictionary.[7] Trench envisaged a totally new dictionary that was a "lexicon totius Anglicitatis".[8] As one of the three founders of the dictionary, he expressed his vision thus: it would be 'an entirely new Dictionary; no patch upon old garments, but a new garment throughout'.[9]
His advocacy of a revised translation of theNew Testament (1858) helped promote another great national project. In 1856 he published a valuable essay onCalderón, with a translation of a portion ofLife is a Dream in the original metre. In 1841 he published hisNotes on the Parables of our Lord, and in 1846 hisNotes on the Miracles, popular works which are treasuries of erudite and acute illustration.[6]
In 1856 Trench became Dean ofWestminster Abbey, a position which suited him. Here he introduced eveningnave services.
In January 1864 he was advanced to the post ofArchbishop of Dublin.Arthur Penrhyn Stanley had been the first choice, but was rejected by theIrish Church, and, according to Bishop Wilberforce's correspondence, Trench's appointment was favoured by neither the prime minister nor the lord-lieutenant. It was, moreover, unpopular in Ireland, and a blow toEnglish literature; yet it turned out to be fortunate. Trench could not prevent thedisestablishment of the Irish Church, though he resisted with dignity. But, when thedisestablished communion had to be reconstituted under the greatest difficulties, it was important that the occupant of his position should be a man of a liberal and genial spirit.[6]
This was the work of the remainder of Trench's life; it exposed him at times to considerable abuse, but he came to be appreciated, and, when in November 1884 he resigned his archbishopric because of poor health, clergy and laity unanimously recorded their sense of his "wisdom, learning, diligence, and munificence." He had found time forLectures on Medieval Church History (1878); his poetical works were rearranged and collected in two volumes (last edition, 1885). From 1872 and during his successor's incumbency the post ofDean of Christ Church, Dublin was held with the archbishopric.
He died on 28 March 1886 atEaton Square, London after a lingering illness, and was buried atWestminster Abbey.[2]
George W. E. Russell described Trench as "a man of singularly vague and dreamy habits" and recounted the following anecdote of his old age:
He once went back to pay a visit to his successor,Lord Plunket. Finding himself back again in his old palace, sitting at his old dinner table, and gazing across it at his wife, he lapsed in memory to the days when he was master of the house, and gently remarked to Mrs Trench, "I am afraid, my love, that we must put this cook down among our failures."[10]
Richard Chenevix Trench married his cousin, Hon. Frances Mary Trench, daughter of Francis Trench and Mary Mason, and sister of the2nd Lord Ashtown, on 1 June 1832.[2] They had 14 children; 8 sons and 6 daughters:[citation needed]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Trench, Richard Chenevix".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.| Church of Ireland titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Archbishop of Dublin 1864–1884 | Succeeded by |
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