Life

Born in or near Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, he was third son of Thomas Eden, curate of St. George's, Bristol, who died when Charles was an infant, leaving a widow and young family in poverty. Charles was educated at a day school at Bristol, and at the Liverpool Royal Institution

Liverpool Royal Institution

The Liverpool Royal Institution was a learned society set up in 1814 for "the Promotion of Literature, Science and the Arts". William Corrie, William Rathbone IV and William Roscoe were among the founders. A royal charter was granted in 1821. The institute purchased a building on Colquitt Street...

 School. Afterwards he was teacher for a time in a private school run by his cousin, the Rev. J. Prince, and at Michaelmas 1825 went to Oriel College

Oriel College

Oriel College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford...

, Oxford as a Bible clerk appointed by the Provost, Edward Copleston

Edward Copleston

Edward Copleston was an English churchman and academic, Provost of Oriel College, Oxford from 1814 and bishop of Llandaff from 1827.-Life:He was born at Offwell in Devon, and educated at Oxford University....

. He proceeded B.A. with a first class in classics in 1829; in the two following years gained the prizes for the Ellerton theological essay and the chancellor's English essay; and in 1832, after two failures, was elected a Fellow of his college.

After his ordination (deacon 1833 and priest 1834), he held several university and college offices, and in 1843 succeeded John Henry Newman as vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin

University Church of St Mary the Virgin

The University Church of St Mary the Virgin is the largest of Oxford's parish churches and the centre from which the University of Oxford grew...

. In 1850 he was presented by his college to the vicarage of Aberford

Aberford

Aberford is a large village and civil parish on the eastern outskirts of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 1,059 according to the 2001 census...

, near Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, where in 1852 he married Miss Landon, a daughter of his predecessor, and where he remained for the rest of his life in 1885. He was elected proctor three times in the convocation of the province of York

Province of York

The Province of York is one of two ecclesiastical provinces making up the Church of England, and consists of 14 dioceses which cover the northern third of England and the Isle of Man. York was elevated to an Archbishopric in 735 AD: Ecgbert of York was the first archbishop...

 (1869–74–80), and in 1870 was preferred by the archbishop to the prebendal stall of Riccall. He was popularly called Canon Eden. He died 14 December 1885.

Works

His reputation was made by his editions (for the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology

Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology

The Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology was a series of 19th-century editions of theological works by Church of England writers, devoted as the title suggests to significant Anglo-Catholic figures...

) of Peter Gunning

Peter Gunning

Peter Gunning was an English Royalist church leader, Bishop of Chichester and later of Ely.-Life:He was born at Hoo St Werburgh, in Kent, and educated at The King's School, Canterbury, and Clare College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow in 1633. Having taken orders, he advocated the Royalist...

 on the ‘Paschal or Lent Fast,’ 1845, and of Lancelot Andrewes

Lancelot Andrewes

Lancelot Andrewes was an English bishop and scholar, who held high positions in the Church of England during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. During the latter's reign, Andrewes served successively as Bishop of Chichester, Ely and Winchester and oversaw the translation of the...

's ‘Pattern of Catechistical Doctrine,’ 1846; and also an edition of Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor was a clergyman in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression and was often presented as a model of prose writing...

's Works, in 10 vols. This Eden began while he was at Oxford, and he finished vols. ii–viii. before he left the university in 1850; vols. ix. and x. were then published under the superintendence of the Rev. Alexander Taylor, who had previously assisted him; and Eden finished the work by the publication in 1854 of the first volume, containing Reginald Heber

Reginald Heber

Reginald Heber was the Church of England's Bishop of Calcutta who is now remembered chiefly as a hymn-writer.-Life:Heber was born at Malpas in Cheshire...

's ‘Life of Jeremy Taylor.’ The text of this edition is careful; a number of references unnoticed by Heber were added; it also includes two short pieces not found in Heber's edition, and omits three taken to be spurious.

In 1855 Eden published a volume of sixteen ‘Sermons preached at St. Mary's in Oxford,’ the first of which had been privately printed in 1840 under the title of ‘Early Prayer.’ He contributed to the Tracts for the Times

Tracts for the Times

The Tracts for the Times were a series of 90 theological publications, varying in length from a few pages to book-length, produced by members of the English Oxford Movement, an Anglo-Catholic revival group, from 1833 to 1841...

, No. 32, ‘On the standing ordinances of religion,’ but was never a prominent member of the Tractarians, if in his theological opinions he was closer to that school than to any other in the Anglican church. It is probable that certain peculiarities of manner, more than temper, prevented his being appreciated so much as his abilities, learning, and piety deserved.