Life

The only son of Thomas Rennell

Thomas Rennell

Thomas Kennell FRS was an English churchman, dean of Winchester Cathedral and Master of the Temple.-Life:He was born on 8 February 1754 at Barnack in Northamptonshire, where his father, Thomas Rennell , a prebendary of Winchester, was rector. In 1766 Thomas was sent to Eton, and thence proceeded...

, Dean of Winchester Cathedral, he was born at Winchester

Winchester

Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

 in 1787. Like his father, he was educated at 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"....

, where he had a brilliant reputation as a scholar. He won one of Dr. Claudius Buchanan

Claudius Buchanan

Claudius Buchanan was a Scottish theologian, an ordained minister of the Church of England, and an extremely 'low church' missionary for the Church Missionary Society....

's prizes for a Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 Sapphic

Sapphic stanza

The Sapphic stanza, named after Sappho, is an Aeolic verse form spanning four lines ....

 ode on the propagation of the gospel in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, and a prize for Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 verses on 'Pallentes Morbi' (pale diseases, personified beings in the works of Virgil

Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...

). He also conducted, in conjunction with three of his contemporaries, a periodical called the Miniature, a successor of the 'Microcosm'. In 1806 he was elected from Eton to King's College, Cambridge

King's College, Cambridge

King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....

. There in 1806 he won Sir William Browne's medal for the best Greek ode on the subject 'Veris Comites'; in 1810 he published, in conjunction with Charles James Blomfield

Charles James Blomfield

Charles James Blomfield was a British divine, and a Church of England bishop for 32 years.-Early life:Blomfield was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and educated at the local grammar school and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won the Browne medals for Latin and Greek odes, and the Craven...

, afterwards bishop of London

Bishop of London

The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...

, Musae Cantabrigienses, and he contributed to the Museum Criticum, a journal established in 1813 by Blomfield and Monk. He graduated B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in 1810, M.A.

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 in 1813, and S.T.B.

Bachelor of Sacred Theology

The Bachelor of Sacred Theology is a graduate-level academic degree in theology.The Bachelor of Sacred Theology is offered by a number of Pontifical Universities. It is sometimes offered as a graduate degree, for students who have already completed a B.A. or other first degree...

 in 1822.

Having received Holy Orders

Holy Orders

The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....

, he was at once appointed assistant preacher at the Temple Church

Temple Church

The Temple Church is a late-12th-century church in London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built for and by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. In modern times, two Inns of Court both use the church. It is famous for its effigy tombs and for being a round church...

 by his father, who was the Master. Father and son were regarded as equally effective and popular preachers there. He also delivered the Warburtonian lectures at 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...

. His interests were wide, and he attended a regular course of anatomical lectures in London.

He was a friend of the members of a group of high-churchmen of whom Joshua Watson

Joshua Watson

Joshua Watson was an English wine merchant, philanthropist, a prominent member of the high church party and of several charitable organizations, who became known as "the best layman in England".-Life:...

 was the lay and Henry Handley Norris

Henry Handley Norris

Henry Handley Norris was an English clergyman and theologian. He was the clerical leader of the High Church grouping later known as the Hackney Phalanx, that grew up around him and his friend Joshua Watson.-Life:...

 the clerical leader; and in 1811 he became editor of the British Critic

British Critic

The British Critic: A New Review was a quarterly publication, established in 1793 as a conservative and high church review journal riding the tide of British reaction against the French Revolution.-High church review:...

which was the organ of his friends, and to which he was a frequent contributor. In 1816 he was appointed by the bishop of London, Dr. Howley

William Howley

William Howley was a clergyman in the Church of England. He served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1828 to 1848.-Early Life, education, and interests:...

, as vicar of Kensington

Kensington

Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...

, and proved himself an active and conscientious parish priest. In the same year he was elected Christian advocate at Cambridge. In that capacity he published in 1819 Remarks on Scepticism, especially as connected with the subject of Organisation and Life; being an Answer to the Views of M. Bichat

Marie François Xavier Bichat

Marie François Xavier Bichat , French anatomist and physiologist, was born at Thoirette .Bichat is best remembered as the father of modern histology and pathology. Despite the fact that he worked without a microscope he was able to advance greatly the understanding of the human body...

, Sir T. C. Morgan

Thomas Charles Morgan

Sir Thomas Charles Morgan was an English physician and writer with an interest in philosophical and miscellaneous subject matter. His wife was the famed novelist Lady Morgan....

, and Mr. Lawrence upon these points. His knowledge of anatomy and medicine enabled him to write on such a subject, and, despite criticism, the book passed through a sixth edition in 1824.

He was for several years examining chaplain to the Bishop of Salisbury

Bishop of Salisbury

The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset...

, John Fisher

John Fisher (Anglican bishop)

John Fisher , D.D. was a 19th-century Church of England bishop, serving as Bishop of Exeter then Bishop of Salisbury.-Life:...

 who in 1823 gave him the mastership of St. Nicholas's Hospital and the prebend of South Grantham in Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, considered one of the leading examples of Early English architecture....

. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, in spite of an attempt to exclude him in consequence of his Remarks on Scepticism.

In 1823 he married the eldest daughter of John Delafield of Kensington; but within a few weeks he was struck down with a fever, and died at Winchester on 30 June 1824. He was buried in Winchester Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe...

, and a funeral sermon was preached on him at Kensington by his successor, Archdeacon Joseph Holden Pott

Joseph Holden Pott

Joseph Holden Pott was an English churchman, archdeacon of London from 1813.-Life:He was son of Percivall Pott the surgeon, and was born in his father's house near St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He was educated at Eton College, and sent at an early age to St John's College, Cambridge. He graduated...

.

Works

Samuel Parr

Samuel Parr

Samuel Parr , was an English schoolmaster, writer, minister and Doctor of Law. He was known in his time for political writing, and as "the Whig Johnson", though his reputation has lasted less well that Samuel Johnson's, and the resemblances were at a superficial level, Parr being no prose stylist,...

, in his Letter to Dr. John Milner (1819), described him as standing 'by profound erudition, and by various and extensive knowledge ... among the brightest luminaries of our national literature or national church'. Besides his classical writings, sermons, and contributions to the British Critic and other periodicals, he published:

1. Animadversions on the Unitarian Translation or Improved Version of the New Testament. By a Student of Divinity, 1811.
2. Proofs of Inspiration on the grounds of distinction between the New Testament and the Apocryphal Volume ... occasioned by the recent publication of the Apocryphal New Testament by Hone, 1822.
3. A Letter to Henry Brougham, Esq., on his Durham Speech, and three Articles in the "Edinburgh Review", (anon. 1823), in which he defended the church and the clergy against a series of attacks upon their property and character.
4. A Narrative of the Conversion and Death of Count Struensee by Dr. Munter, first translated into English by Dr. Wendeborn in 1774, with original notes, 1824.