Dr Frederick Temple

A carte-de-visite portrait of the English academic and churchman Frederick Temple (1821-1902), who survived controversy in 1860 and was eventually appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1896.

Temple graduated with a double first from Oxford in 1842 and was ordained four years later. After an unsuccessful experiment training teachers for workhouse and penal schools, he became a tutor at Rugby in 1858. Two years later the controversial Essays and Reviews was published, a collection of seven articles, the first of which was by Dr Temple. Although his own contribution was accepted as harmless, he was tainted by association with the other contributors, who had dealt with such contentious and divisive issues as Bible criticism and eternal damnation. One author denied the possibility of miracles while another denied the predictive character of Old Testament prophecies. Temple refused to repudiate his associates, and it was only at a much later date (1870) that he withdrew his essay. Nevertheless, in 1869 Gladstone appointed him to the bishopric of Exeter, although his nomination caused a fresh controversy. In 1885 he was translated to the see of London and in 1896 he became the Archbishop of Canterbury. He died on 23 December 1902.

Photographed by H.J. Whitlock of Birmingham.