Ashton Oxenden
Encyclopedia
Life
Oxenden was the fifth son of Sir Henry Oxenden, seventh baronet, who died in 1838. His mother was Mary, daughter of Colonel Graham of St. Lawrence, near CanterburyCanterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
. Oxenden was born at Broome Park, Canterbury, on 20 September 1808.
Educated at Ramsgate
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
and at Harrow School
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
, he matriculated from University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
, on 9 June 1826, graduated B.A. 1831, M.A. 1859, and was created D.D. 10 July 1869. In December 1833, he was ordained to the curacy of Barham
Barham, Kent
Barham is a village and civil parish in the City of Canterbury district of Kent, England. It is situated close to the A2 road between Canterbury and Dover, 7 miles south-east of Canterbury and 7 miles north of Folkestone....
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, where he introduced weekly cottage lectures. In 1838 he resigned his charge, and during the following seven years was incapacitated for work by continuous ill-health. From 1849 to 1869 he was rector of Pluckley with Pevington, Kent, and in 1864 was made an honorary canon of Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....
. That year he also married, on 14 June, Sarah, daughter of banker Joseph Hoare Bradshaw of London. The couple would have a daughter, Mary Ashton Oxenden. At Pluckley he first commenced extemporaneous preaching, and wrote the Barham Tracts. In May 1869, he was elected bishop of Montreal
Anglican Diocese of Montreal
The Diocese of Montreal is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada of the Anglican Church of Canada, in turn a province of the Anglican Communion. The diocese comprises the 21,400 square kilometres encompassing the City and Island of Montreal, the Laurentians, the South Shore opposite...
and metropolitan of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
by the Canadian provincial synod.
Bishop of Montreal
He was consecrated in Westminster AbbeyWestminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
on 1 August, and installed in Christ Church Cathedral
Christ Church Cathedral (Montreal)
Christ Church Cathedral is an Anglican Gothic Revival cathedral in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the seat of the Anglican Diocese of Montreal. It is located at 635 Saint Catherine Street West, between Union Avenue and University Street. It is situated on top of the Promenades Cathédrale underground...
in Montreal on 5 September. Three-fourths of the population of the city were Roman catholics, but the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
possessed twelve churches there besides the cathedral. Oxenden presided over nine dioceses. He assiduously attended to his episcopal duties, generally living in Montreal during the winter, and visiting the country districts in the summer. Ill-health caused his resignation of the bishopric in 1878, and on his return to England he attended the Pan-Anglican synod
Lambeth Conferences
The Lambeth Conferences are decennial assemblies of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first such conference took place in 1867....
. From 30 May 1879 to 1884 he was vicar of St. Stephen's, near Canterbury, and from 1879 to 1884 he officiated as rural dean
Rural Dean
In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, a Rural Dean presides over a Rural Deanery .-Origins and usage:...
of Canterbury. He died at Biarritz
Biarritz
Biarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, on 22 February 1892.
Works
The bishop wrote numerous small theological works, which the author's plain and simple language rendered very popular. The Pathway of Safety, 1856, was much appreciated by the poorer classes, and ultimately reached a circulation of three hundred and fifty thousand copies. The Christian Life, 1877, went to forty-seven thousand, and the Barham Tracts Nos. 1 to 49, after running to many editions in their original form, were collected and published as Cottage Readings in 1859. With Charles Henry Ramsden, he wrote in 1858 Family Prayers for Eight Weeks, which was often reprinted.Oxenden's name is attached to upwards of forty-five distinct works. Besides those already mentioned, the most important were:
- The Cottage Library, 1846–51, 6 vols.
- Confirmation; or, Are you ready to serve Christ?, 1847; tenth thousand, 1859.
- Cottage Sermons, 1853.
- Family Prayers, 1858; 3rd ed. 1860.
- The Fourfold Picture of the Sinner, 1858.
- Fervent Prayer, 1860; fifth thousand, 1861.
- God's Message to the Poor: Eleven Sermons in Pluckley Church, 3rd ed. 1861.
- The Home beyond; or, Happy Old Age, 1861; ten thousand copies.
- Sermons on the Christian Life, 1861.
- Words of Peace, 1863.
- The Parables of our Lord explained, 1864.
- A Plain History of the Christian Church, 1864.
- Our Church and her Services, 1866.
- Decision, 1868.
- Short Lectures on the Sunday Gospels, 1869.
- My First Year in Canada, 1871.
- A Simple Exposition of the Psalms, 1872.
- Counsel to the Confirmed, 1878; ten thousand copies.
- Short Comments on the Gospels, 1885.
- Touchstones; or, Christian Graces and Characters tested, 1884.