George Horne | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Norwich | |
 | |
| Diocese | Diocese of Norwich |
| In office | 1790–1792 |
| Predecessor | Lewis Bagot |
| Successor | Charles Manners-Sutton |
| Other post | Dean of Canterbury (1781–1790) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1730-11-01)1 November 1730 |
| Died | 17 January 1792(1792-01-17) (aged 61) |
| Buried | Eltham Church |
| Nationality | British |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Education | Maidstone Grammar School |
| Alma mater | University College, Oxford |
George Horne (1 November 1730 – 17 January 1792) was anEnglish churchman, academic, writer, and university administrator.
Horne was born atOtham nearMaidstone, inKent, the eldest surviving son of the Reverend Samuel Horne (1693-1768), rector of the parish, and his wife Anne (1697-1787), youngest daughter ofBowyer Hendley. He attendedMaidstone Grammar School alongside his cousin and lifelong friendWilliam Stevens, son of his father's sister Margaret, and from there went in 1746 toUniversity College, Oxford (BA 1749;MA 1752; DD 1764). Three contemporaries at the college were also friends for life:Charles Jenkinson later firstEarl of Liverpool,William Jones of Nayland.[1] andJohn Moore, laterArchbishop of Canterbury. His two younger brothers were also Oxford graduates and clergymen, Samuel Horne (1733 – about 1772) becoming an Oxford academic while William Horne (1740 – 1821) succeeded their father as rector of Otham.
In 1749 Horne became aFellow ofMagdalen College, Oxford, of which college he was electedPresident on 27 January 1768.[2] As an influential college head, he served asvice-chancellor of theUniversity of Oxford from 1776 until 1780.[3][4] At the university, he fought against any relaxation of the law that required entrants to subscribe to the beliefs of the Church of England.[1]
Ordained priest in 1753, from 1760 to 1764 he wascurate of the Oxfordshire village ofHorspath.[5] Thereafter his religious duties were performed at Magdalen until 1771, when theprime ministerLord North appointed him to theRoyal Household aschaplain in ordinary to KingGeorge III, a position he held until 1781.[1] In that year, he was appointedDean of Canterbury, combining the post with the presidency of Magdalen. An energetic dean, he promotedSunday schools to inform the young and delivered influential sermons againstUnitarianism. He was also an active supporter of the Naval and Military Bible Society, now the Naval Military & Air Force Bible Society, founded in 1779 to supply Christian literature to the armed services and seafarers.
In 1790, by then in ill health from which he never recovered, with some reluctance he accepted thebishopric of Norwich, resigning from Canterbury and, the next year, from Magdalen. Unable to accomplish much in his diocese or in theHouse of Lords, one achievement was to support the bishops of theEpiscopalian Church of Scotland who in 1789 came to London to petition Parliament for relief from their legal disadvantages. In what became his final circular to his diocesan clergy, as theFrench Revolution challenged most of the values for which he stood, he remained adamant that 'true religion and true learning were never yet at variance'.[1]
Through his preaching, journalism, correspondence and authorship of numerous works (some at the time anonymous), Horne actively defended thehigh church tendency inAnglicanism againstCalvinism, theChurch of England against other denominations, andTrinitarian Christianity against other beliefs. He had a reputation as a preacher, and his sermons were frequently reprinted. In his polemical pieces, some appearing in newspapers under the name of Nathaniel Freebody (a cousin who had died), he was influenced by the work ofCharles Leslie[1]Having early adopted some of the views ofJohn Hutchinson, he wrote in his defence, though disagreeing with Hutchinson's fanciful interpretations ofHebrewetymology.He also fell under the imputation ofMethodism, but protested from the university pulpit against those who took their theology fromGeorge Whitefield andJohn Wesley rather than major Anglicandivines. Nevertheless, he disapproved of the expulsion of six Methodist students fromSt Edmund Hall, Oxford, a high-profile event of 1768 in Oxford;[6] and later, when bishop, thought Wesley should not be forbidden to preach in his diocese.
Though impressed by the earlier writings ofWilliam Law, he later complained that he saw him 'falling from the heaven of Christianity into the sink and complication of Paganism, Quakerism, and Socinianism, mixed up with chemistry and astrology by a possessed cobbler.' In this 'sink', he included the views ofEmanuel Swedenborg andJacob Boehme.Despite criticising the plan ofBenjamin Kennicott and some of his colleagues to collate a new text of theHebrew Bible from manuscripts, in order to prepare for a new translation into English, the two became friends.He was also friendly withSamuel Johnson who withJames Boswell came to tea at Magdalen, where they discussed producing a new edition of theLives byIzaak Walton, and Boswell later wrote warmly of Horne's character and abilities.Though he enjoyed readingEdward Gibbon and admired his scholarship, he recorded his distaste for Gibbon's continual belittling of the Jewish and Christian tradition.[1]
His lifelong emphasis onrevealed religion rather thannatural religion and his acceptance of what would become high church beliefs formed an important link between thenonjurors of the seventeenth century and theOxford Movement of the nineteenth.[1]
Among his publications were:
He intended writing a ‘'Defence of the Divinity of Christ'’ againstJoseph Priestley, but did not live to do that. Horne's collectedWorks were published with aMemoir by William Jones in 1799.
On 22 June 1768, he married Felicia Elizabetha (1741–1821), only child of lawyer and legal author Philip Burton and his wife Felicia, daughter of Ralph Whitfield.[8] They had three daughters: Felicia Elizabetha (1770–1829)[9] who in 1791 married the Reverend Robert Selby Hele; Maria (1773–1852) unmarried;[10] and Sarah (1775–1853), a pupil of Hannah More,[1] who in 1796 married the Reverend Humphrey Aram Hole.[11]
Aged 62, he died atBath, Somerset on 17 January 1792[1] and was interred in his father-in-law's vault atEltham.[12]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Horne, George".Dictionary of National Biography. London:Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of Magdalen College, Oxford 1768–1791 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University 1776–1780 | Succeeded by |
| Church of England titles | ||
| Preceded by | Dean of Canterbury 1781–1790 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Bishop of Norwich 1790–1792 | Succeeded by |
