Charles Lloyd (bishop)
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Regius Professor of Divinity
The Regius Professorship of Divinity is one of the oldest and most prestigious of the professorships at the University of Oxford and at the University of Cambridge.Both chairs were founded by Henry VIII...
and Bishop of Oxford
Bishop of Oxford
The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford...
from 1827 to 1829, was born in West Wycombe
West Wycombe
West Wycombe is a small village situated along the A40 road, due three miles west of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England.The historic village is largely a National Trust property and receives a large annual influx of tourists - being the site of West Wycombe Park, West Wycombe Caves and the...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
on 26 September 1784, the second son of Thomas Lloyd. Thomas, a 'clergyman and schoolmaster', was Rector of Aston-sub-Edge in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
and ran a school at Great Missenden
Great Missenden
Great Missenden is a large village in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover. It closely adjoins the villages of Little Missenden and Prestwood. The narrow High Street is bypassed by the main A413 London to...
. Charles went to Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, his education being paid for by scholarships. He was evidently a considerable scholar, achieving a first at Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1806, an MA in 1809, a BD in 1818 and a DD in 1821. Eventually he had to leave and took a job as a tutor to Lord Elgin
Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin
Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine was a Scottish nobleman and diplomat, known for the removal of marble sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens. Elgin was the second son of Charles Bruce, 5th Earl of Elgin and his wife Martha Whyte...
's children at Dunfermline. This didn't last long as he was asked to return to Oxford to teach mathematics. One of his first jobs was to prepare Robert Peel
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
for his exams. Peel later became prime minister. Charles Lloyd soon gained a reputation as an effective teacher.
Ordained in 1808, Lloyd held the curacies of Drayton (1810) and Binsey (1818), both near Oxford. In June 1819 he was appointed under Peel's influence to the preachership of Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
, which he held until February 1822 when, on the nomination of Lord Liverpool, he was appointed to the Regius Professorship of Divinity at Oxford, to which was attached a canonry at Christ Church
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
and the rectory of Ewelme. On 15 August 1822 he married Mary Harriet (d. 1857), and within four years they had a family of one son and three daughters.
As Regius Professor, Lloyd revived theological studies in the university. He supplemented his statutory public lectures with private classes attended by graduates, who included Richard Hurrell Froude
Richard Hurrell Froude
Richard Hurrell Froude was an Anglican priest and an early leader of the Oxford Movement.-Life:He was the son of Archdeacon R. H...
, John Henry Newman, Frederick Oakeley
Frederick Oakeley
Frederick Oakeley was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England the sixth son of Sir Charles Oakeley, second baronet, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He was ordained in 1828 and in 1845 converted from Church of England to Catholicism, whereupon he became Canon of Westminster in 1852....
, and Edward Bouverie Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey was an English churchman and Regius Professor of Hebrew at Christ Church, Oxford. He was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.-Early years:...
(it was on Lloyd's suggestion that Pusey went to Germany to study its theology). These are figures who became prominent in what was known as the Oxford Movement
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
, which did so much to revitalise the worship and witness of the Church.
Lloyd's studies of the ancient roots and historical development of the Anglican liturgy and dogma influenced a generation of Oxford theologians. Short, stocky, and prematurely bald, Lloyd was remembered for informally bantering with, and occasionally bullying, the attendees at his private lectures. For a wider clerical readership he published a collection of Formularies of Faith Put Forth by Authority during the Reign of Henry VIII (1825).
On 4 March 1827 he was consecrated as the Bishop of Oxford. He remained a professor at the University and set about reforming the diocese. There was a particular problem with pluralism and non-residence at the time. It was common for clergy to hold several posts and to 'subcontract' their duties to a poorly paid curate. He was also involved in the contentious legislation for Catholic emancipation
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws...
, finally passed in 1829. During the Lords' debates on emancipation he delivered an important speech in favour of reform (2 April 1829), a stand which made him a favourite scapegoat of defeated conservatives. Shortly afterwards George IV
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
snubbed him at a public function.
His hard work inevitably took its toll on his health. Mentally distressed and physically fatigued, Lloyd attended an anniversary dinner at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
at Somerset House
Somerset House
Somerset House is a large building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, England, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The central block of the Neoclassical building, the outstanding project of the architect Sir William Chambers, dates from 1776–96. It...
, where he caught a cold that lingered and worsened. He died of pneumonia on 31 May 1829 at the house in Whitehall Place, London, which he had rented for the summer season. Two days later he was given a private funeral in Lincoln's Inn chapel, and was interred in the Benchers' vault.
John Henry Newman wrote warmly of his friend and former tutor when he said, 'He brought me forward, made me known, spoke well of me, and gave me confidence in myself’.