The bishop of London

                                                 

Charles James Blomfield
The bishop of London we already known as the uncle of William Heath Vlieland who presented him with a prayer book.
His mothers sister Anne Maria Heath married Charles Blomfield,the bishop of London.

                                        

Also Herbert Blomfield Vlieland was named after him.
And Charles James Vlieland as well.
Charles Blomfield (1763-1831)

According to 'An Account of the Blomfield Families with eleven pedigrees' by E.V. Blomfield Charles James Blomfield Bishop of London was the son of Charles Blomfield (1763-1831), a schoolmaster of St Albans (who, himself, was son of Charles of Bury) and Hester Blomfield. Charles of Bury had another son, James John Blomfield of Rougham, a Schoolmaster. He was caught stealing a pair of spectacles and was transported in 1835 to Australia.
They had at least ten children:
Frederick William (1792) / Henry / Anna Purchas (1798) / Louisa Jane (1812) (all died in childhood)
Elizabeth Hester Blomfield (1789) died unmarried
Frances Maria (1790) married Rev. John Smith
James (1812) married Anna Maria Smith (sister of John Smith)
Charles James Blomfield (1787) - Bishop of London - eldest son
George Becher Blomfield (1801) married Frances Maria Massie 9 January 1827
Edward Valentine Blomfield (1788)
– both excelled at Cambridge.
Anne Maria Heath, first wife of Bishop Blomfield, had a short but interesting life. She married well and had six children, only one of whom survived infancy according to the National Archives. This was a daughter Maria Blomfield who married Rev. H. Brown Rector of Woolwich.
 Blomfield's first wife died in 1816 but not before adding a name of interest to our future generations. She married Charles James Blomfield, the future Bishop of London.
Charles was one of nine children by Charles Blomfield, schoolmaster of St Albans, by his wife Hester Pawsey. The others included the ninth and youngest child George Becher Blomfield, Canon of Chester and Rector of Stevenage and presumably named Becher after the sons old teacher Dr Becher at the Grammar School together with William Valentine Blomfield who, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, was almost as successful at Caius College, Cambridge gaining several of the classical prizes of the university, and becoming a fellow and lecturer at Emmanuel College). Charles Blomfield was educated at the local grammar school in Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won the Browne medals for Latin and Greek odes, and the Craven scholarship. In 1808, he graduated as third wrangler and first medallist, and in the following year was elected to a fellowship at Trinity College.
He was ordained in 1810, and held in quick succession the livings of Chesterford, Quarrington, Dunton, Great and Little Chesterford, and Tuddenham. In 1817, after his first wife’s death he was appointed private chaplain to William Howley, Bishop of London. In 1819 he married again and was nominated to the rich living of St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, and in 1822 he became archdeacon of Colchester. Two years later he was raised to the bishopric of Chester where he carried through many much-needed reforms. The National Archives note that “there were eleven children of this (second) marriage. His children included Frederick George Blomfield (1823-1879), Prebendary of St Paul's, Lucy Elizabeth Bather (d. 1864), children's writer, and Sir Arthur William Blomfield (1829–1899), architect.”
According to Trevelyan’s social history, “the Bishops were part of the ‘enjoying class’. They had obtained preferment not as a reward for work done for the church but through aristocratic connection or family favour. But in the new age of reform opinion began to command that a man should do the work for which he was paid”. In 1828, Blomfield was translated to the bishopric of London, which he held for twenty-eight years (Bishop of London 1828-1856). Parliament now worked hard at church reform aided, according to Trevelyan by “the wiser members of the Episcopal Bench including Blomfield”. There was now no prospect of Parliament paying for much needed new churches (as Tory Parliaments had previously done in Anne’s reign and after Waterloo) and he notes that “Blomfield raised a great fund for building churches in outer London” (and, himself, consecrated 198 churches). Later an architect son Sir Arthur William Blomfield would design new churches.
Since, after 1832, it was difficult even to collect Church Rates from parishioners, Churches now relied upon voluntary subscriptions for practically all their work including the maintenance of the Anglican Schools (at that time the cornerstone of the country’s education). One of St. Saviour's Church for the Deaf and Dumb Association's most active trustees was Arthur Henry Bather, who was the deaf husband of Lucy Elizabeth Blomfield ('Aunt Lucy'), the writer of children's books.
Some 5 feet 8 inches tall, with small hands, a pale complexion, and an ‘urgent walk’, Blomfield's impetuosity, relentless administrative energy, self-confidence, and pomposity attracted caricature. In 1847 an accident at Osborne left Blomfield with partial facial paralysis and slurred speech; in 1848 he was, unsurprisingly now, passed over for Canterbury. Together these two events marked a turning point. In 1855 his eyesight began to fail, and after a seizure he was paralysed on his left side. Early in 1856 he sought to resign his see, and his episcopate closed in controversy over the necessary legislation and its allocation of his continued use of Fulham Palace (on which he had lavished considerable expenditure) and the award of a pension of £6000 (in order to keep up his insurances) on his resignation on 30 September 1856.
After he resigned the London Bishopric, he continued “at the express wish of her Majesty to hold the Deanery of the Chapels Royal” but, the following year after the second of two epileptic seizures it was reported widely in the newspapers across the world that Dr Blomfield “has been seized with an epileptic attack so serious that his relatives and friends despair of his recovery.” His family and friends were immediately assembled in Fulham and remained there during the day. He “breathed his last at ten minutes after five on Wednesday night” the fifth of August 1857”. Of his seventeen children, the newspapers reported that “six sons and five daughters are now deploring his loss”. He was buried in the churchyard of All Saints, Fulham, on 11 August 1867.
Judith M. Church in her article in Richmond History, Journal of the Richmond Local History Society, 2006 writes that, “after his death [Dorothy] (age sixty-eight) was at Lower Road, Richmond, now known as Petersham Road, next to Belle Vue House, and her son Henry, on half-pay from the Royal Navy, and her daughters Dorothy and Lucy were with her. (Lucy became Mrs Bather and was a children's writer.) The 'Post Office London Suburban Directory', 1860, locates the Bishop's widow at Ivy Hall, now the lower part of the Hobart Hall Hotel. (The household supported seven live-in servants: invalid nurse, butler, cook, lady's maid, housemaid, kitchen maid and fifteen-year-old page.) She died 12 February 1870 in Richmond, and is buried with her husband in the north-west corner of the churchyard at All Saints, Fulham, by the Palace."

The family tradition continued as Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856 – 27 December 1942), grandson of Bishop Blomfield and son of another of the eleven, the local clergyman in North Devon. He was educated at Haileybury School and at Exeter College, Oxford, was a British architect, garden designer and author. His work included The Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Flanders, the Royal Air Force Memorial in London, the Pall Mall premises of the Carlton Club (destroyed in the Second World War), Lambeth Bridge, Highgate School, Goldsmiths College, the redesign of Regent Street and The Cross of Sacrifice or War Cross, for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. In 1913 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and in 1914 elected to the Royal Academy.
The Blomfield Name:
“A Dictionary of British Surnames” advises that the origin of the Blomefield, Blomfield, Bloomfield and Blumfield surnames is claimed to be Blonville-sur-Mer (Calvados); presumably 'de Blonville' describing one or more of the Norman conquerors. Indeed, ‘Yourfamily tree’ website shows Blomfield as “first found in Norfolk where they were seated from very early times and were granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege Lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D” but I cannot verify that. According to the East Anglian 1858-1910 the earliest recognisable record of the name is John Blumfeilde in Norfolk in 1582. Thomas de Blumuill was also recorded in 1230 in Norfolk (Pipe Rolls). The Blomefields of East Dereham claim to descend from Thomas Blomefield of Watton, 6th son of John Blomefilde (1581 - 1603) according to Francis Blomefield’s ‘History of Norfolk volume one’. On the internet is another substantial Blomfield tree posted by Rosemary Blomfield with a 1700’s Norfolk family (and trying to research further back). Her ancestors variously spelt the prefix ‘Blom’, ‘Bloom’ and ‘Blome’ before settling on ‘Blom’. Another Family named Toop are also trying to trace their Blomfield/Bloomfield ancestors and report that there are many in Suffolk with the same name. Their research suggests that spelling variants on Blomfield and Bloomfield continue to be the same name in the nineteenth century – “it is just how the local parishes spelt the name - apparently 'o' in the Suffolk/Norfolk accent is quite long so an non-local priest may have spelt it with a double o”.
When I began to research I originally wondered if it was possible that the registered second name of Herbert Bloomfield Vlieland was supposed to be Blomfield – a Vlieland/White name, rather than that of Bishop Charles James Blomfield – Bishop of London. Then I found that another brother of Jerome Junior, Willam, had named his only son William Henry Blomfield Jansen de Vlieland in 1868 (I can confirm the spelling, since his father wrote an account of each birth and christening in his prayer book, which had been given to him on September 17th 1848 and inscribed as such by Bishop Blomfield) and a sister had named her first born son Charles James Blomfield Vlieland Coxeter Snell as early as 1861.

In 1856 Bishop Blomfield was permitted to resign his bishopric, with failing health; retaining Fulham Palace as his residence, with a pension of £6000 per annum. He died in 1857 and is buried in the churchyard of All Saints Church, Fulham, London. It was, I suppose, only natural therefore that Vicar Jerome Vlieland would name his son Charles James Vlieland the year after his death (the son went on to become a physician) and another son Herbert Blomfield in 1862. The GRO report says ‘Blomfield’ but he was calling himself Bloomfield by the time he married in America and that was the name he gave his son. Was the second ‘o’ an error or a deliberate change by Herbert – perhaps in honour of his Dutch ancestry or what the family called him? Herbert Blomfield White was christened as such by his vicar father but was seemingly called Bloomfield all his life – and used that name for his son.

Then Jerome’s sister Catherine and her husband Samuel Ethelbert would do likewise, by naming Charles Ethelbert White in 1858 and then William Blomfield White in 1865. Though Bishop Blomfield did not assume the London bishopric until 8 years after Anne’s death and she has all but been ignored in favour of his second wife (in view no doubt of his famous children by her); her marriage to Bishop Blomfield lived on in both the White and Vlieland families in the middle name of descendants.

Charles James Blomfield (1787-1857) - Bishop of London
Charles James Blomfield firstly married Anna Heath and they had six children all of whom died young except a daughter Maria Blomfield who married Rev. H. Brown Rector of Woolwich. Children included:
Edward Thomas Blomfield (1816-1822)
He secondly married Dorothy Kent nee Cox (who was previously married to Thomas Kent) and had seven sons and four daughters:

Dorothy Coc

Charles James Blomfield (1821-1822)
Frederick George Blomfield (1823-1879) married Ann Brook
Henry John Blomfield (1825-1890) (Admiral) died unmarried
Francis Blomfield (1828-1852) drowned at sea
Arthur William Blomfield (Knight) (1829-1899) married 1. Caroline Smith 2. Sara Louisa Ryan
Charles James Blomfield (1831-1916) married Jane Strickland
Alfred Blomfield (1835-) married Anne Barnes
Mary Frances Blomfield (1822- ) married Rev Charles Braine Dalton
Isabella Blomfield (1824-1879) married 1st cousin Rev. George John Blomfield
Dorothy Hester Blomfield (1836-)
Lucy Elizabeth Blomfield (1831-) married Arthur Henry Bather
Blomfield Family Entries from Who was Who

BLOMFIELD Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Massie (born 3 March 1835, died 26 June 1921) Birth: Born 3 March 1835; 3rd s of late Rev. G. B. Blomfield, Rector of Stevenage, Herts, and Canon of Chester Cathedral. m 1877, Rosamund Selina, d of late Rt Rev. Charles Graves, Bishop of Limerick; one s ;
DALTON, Rev. Herbert Andrew (born 18 May 1852, died 18 May 1928) Birth: Born Lambeth Rectory, and DALTON, Frederick Thomas (born 29 Oct. 1855, died 11 Nov. 1927) s of late Rev. Charles Browne Dalton, Vicar of Highgate, and Mary Frances, d of Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of London
ROUTLEDGE, Rev. C. F. (born 16 Dec. 1838, died 2 Nov. 1904) Hon. Canon of Canterbury from 1879; Hon. Secretary of Canterbury Church Schools Association Family: m 1st, Dorothy Hester, y d of Dr C. J. Blomfield, Bishop of London; 2nd, Ellen, d of Colonel Edward Bruce, RHA
BATHER, Francis Arthur (born 1863, died 20 March 1934) Birth: Born 1863; e s of late A. H. Bather and Lucy, d of Bishop Blomfield
BLOMFIELD, Arthur Conran (born 1863, died 22 Nov. 1935) Birth: Born 1863; 2nd s of late Sir Arthur Blomfield, ARA, and g s of late Rt. Rev. Charles James Blomfield, Lord Bishop of London m 1891, Christine Elsie, d of late William Bevan; one d ;
BLOMFIELD, Sir Arthur William (born 6 March 1829, died 30 Oct. 1899) Architect Birth: Born Fulham, 6 March 1829; s of late Rt Rev. C. J. Blomfield, DD, Bishop of London
BLOMFIELD, Maj.-Gen. Charles James (born 26 May 1855, died 3 March 1928) retired 1917; JP Birth: Born Bow, Devonshire, 26 May 1855; 2nd s of Rev. George J. Blomfield and Isabel, d of late Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of London m 1881, Henrietta, d of late Major E. Briscoe, 20th Foot; two s ; died 3 March 1928
BLOMFIELD, Charles James (died 1 Dec. 1932) Birth: e s of late Sir Arthur Blomfield, ARA, and g s of late Right Rev. Charles James Blomfield, Lord Bishop of London m 1896, Eleanor, d of William Macandrew, JP, of Westwood, Little Horkesley; two d ;
BLOMFIELD, Sir Reginald (born 20 Dec. 1856, died 27 Dec. 1942) Past President, Gold Medallist, Royal Institute of British Architects; late Member of the Royal Commission of Fine Art; Member of Board of Ancient Monuments and of Advisory Council Victoria and Albert Museum; a Principal Architect of the Imperial War Graves Commission; Hon. Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Officer de l’instruction publique and Hon. Corresponding Member of the Societé des Architectes Diplomés de France and of the Society of Architects of Argentine; Hon. Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium; Hon. Member of the National Acad. of Design of America; a Vice-Pres. of the Royal Hist. Soc.; Chevalier of the Legion of Honour; Officer of the Orders of the Crown and Leopold I, Leopold II of Belgium; Architect Birth: Born 20 Dec. 1856; 3rd s of Rev. George John Blomfield, MA, late Rector of Aldington, Kent, and Isabella, d of C. J. Blomfield, late Bishop of London
BLOMFIELD, Maj.-Gen. Valentine CB 1947; DSO 1944 Born 29 March 1898; e s of late Frederick Charles Blomfield; m 1925, Gladys Edith, d of late Col A. M. Lang, CB, RE; three s ; died 11 Jan. 1980

His memoirs

Charles James Blomfield D.D. (Bishop of Chester)
January 15th, 2014 · No Comments





Charles James Blomfield D.D.


19th century armorial bookplate with arms the See of London impaling Blomfield. F.2858.


For a full biography, see the Oxford DNB.


1786-1857. Bishop of Chester 1824; translated to London 1828. Married (1) 1810 Anna Maria (b. 784/5, d.1818), dau of W. Heath of Hemblington, Norfolk. The couple had six children, of whom only one survived infancy; (2) Dorothy (1795–1870), widow of the barrister Thomas Kent and dau of a brewer, Charles William Cox, and his wife, Mary, née Munnings. The eleven offspring of this marriage proved healthier than those of Blomfield’s first, only one dying in infancy.


Dimensions of paper: 86×76mm.


Condition: Various damages, and corners 
 Blomfield in the newspapers