As we know he was the brother in law of Jerome Nicholas Vlieland.
As Sarah Heath and Anne Maria Heath were sisters .
The second name Blomfield in the (now) American Vlieland family is after him.
And he provided William Heath Vlieland with the prayer book.
The book is written by a descendant of Charles Blomfield
DOROTHY FRANCES BLOMFIELD GURNEY.
click to read the ebook
here is a part from this book .
Charles James Blomfield, who was a great personal friend of Dr. Kaye's, was born on the anniversary of the Restoration, May 24, 1786, at Bury St. Edmunds. His grandfather, James Blomfield, came from Ouseden to Bury in 1760, and there started a school, which afterwards numbered among its pupils many illustrious men. The Bishop's father, Charles Blomfield, succeeded his father James in the management of the school, and educated his son there till he was eight years old, when he sent him to the Bury Grammar School, where he remained for ten years. When asked as a boy what he intended to become, Dr. Blomfield's invariable answer was, " I mean to be a Bishop." At the age of eighteen he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, and there had to compete with men whose educational advantages had been greater than his own. In order to keep himself up to the mark he spent half the night in reading, and never quite recovered from the effects of this overwork. He won successively Browne's Prize for a 2o8 CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA Latin ode in 1805, the Craven University Scholarship, for which the great classical scholar, Person, examined him, in 1806, and in the same year Browne's Prize for a Greek ode on the death of Lord Nelson. This was followed in 1808 by his obtaining the place of Third Wrangler, and afterwards winning what was then the highest honour in classics the University had to give, the Chancellor's Classical Medal. He crowned his academical honours by winning the College Prize for a speech on William III., and the Members' Prize for a Latin dissertation in 1809. H G was elected Fellow of Trinity in the same year, and immedi- ately began to prepare his edition of j>Eschylus, at one time a celebrated translation, now super- seded by the works of later writers. Dr. Blomfield was a man of few and staunch friendships rather than of universal popularity. Among his circle of intimates were Professor Monk, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester, Baron Aldersen, Chief-Baron Pollock, Sharpe and Hustler of Trinity, the younger Rennell, and his own gifted and brilliant brother, Edward Valen- tine Blomfield, poet, painter, and scholar, who CHARLES JAMES BLOMFIELD BISHOP OF LONDON THE BISHOPS' REPORT 209 died while still a young man. These were all men of great learning and high character, congenial to Blomfield's fastidious taste and mind, but of the younger school of scholarship, which included Kaye, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln. Blomfield soon found himself in collision with such dis- tinguished scholars as Samuel Parr, Charles Burney, and Butler, of Shrewsbury, but in the end he won their admiration for the distinction and elegance of his work. In March 1 80 1 Blomfield was ordained deacon, and entered priests' orders in due time, when he took the curacy of Chesterford, of which place he afterwards became rector. He was presented to the living of Quarrington, in Lincolnshire, by Lord Bristol in October, and in November he married Anna Maria, daughter of W. Heath, Esq., of Hemblington, Norfolk. By her he had several children, but, with the exception of one daughter, all died in infancy. There being no house at Quarrington, he lived at Chesterton till, in December 1811, Earl Spencer made him Eector of Dunton, in Buckinghamshire, to which he removed. He gave up the curacy of Chesterton, but retained Quarrington, thus 210 CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA becoming one of the class of pluralists against whom he afterwards waged war. While at Dunton he took pupils, and had the sons of several celebrated men under his charge. His literary work was not neglected during this period ; he published several editions of the Classics, and wrote constantly for the Museum Criticum, The Quarterly Review, and other periodicals. For Dr. Kaye he had the warmest admiration both as a man and a scholar, and he kept up a constant correspondence with his greatest friend, Professor Monk. In the summer of 1817 Lord Bristol pre- sented him with the benefices of Great and Little Chesterfield, which were more valuable than the living of Dunton. Since his curacy of these parishes there had been two incumbents, the second of whom had for his curate the Princess Victoria's tutor, then Mr. Davys, who had done much to improve the schools. In December 1819 he married, for the second time, Dorothy, daughter of Charles William Cox, Esq., and widow of Thomas Kent, Esq., barrister, by whom he had eleven children. It was a union of unbroken happiness and affec- THE BISHOPS' REPORT 211 tion. In 1820 Lord Bristol procured Blomfield the valuable living of St. Botolph's, Bishops- gate. He was allowed to retain Chesterford, but resided principally in London, and at the request of his parishioners, who said they had always had a Doctor for their rector, he took his D.D. at Cambridge by Royal Letter. He now began a life of great activity, and in 1822 won a fresh token of approval from the Bishop of London in the appointment to the Arch- deaconry of Colchester. He held office for little more than two years, and was led by its duties to take fresh interest in ecclesiastical law, a subject in which he was more learned than most clergy. But the work of Bishop Blomfield while rector of Bishopsgate, by which he will be best re- membered, is the publication in 1824 of his " Manual of Family Prayers," which obtained an immense circulation both in England and America. The custom of family prayers had fallen into general disuse, and Bishop Blomfield may almost be said to have revived it. The see of Chester, one of the least-paid and hardest-working bishoprics, falling vacant in 1824, it was offered by Lord Liverpool to 212 CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA Archdeacon Blomfield. He accepted it, and was consecrated Bishop by Archbishop Vernon Harcourt and the Bishops of London and Exeter in Whitehall Chapel on June 2oth. On hearing of his promotion one of the Grammar School boys at Bury wrote the following witty epigram : " Through Chester-ford to Bishop's-gate Did Blomfield safely wade ; Then leaving ford and gate behind He's Chester's Bishop made." The new Bishop speedily became a power in the diocese. Parts of it, notably West- morland, then under the jurisdiction of Chester, were in a very neglected condition, and the Bishop's sharp enforcement of order and de- cency did not make him beloved by the laxer brethren. He also introduced the custom of Bishops preaching at ordinations, raised the tone and standard of examination for Holy Orders in no small degree, and fought hard against non-resident clergy, and against the disgraceful habit of intoxication prevalent amongst them. When in London he was constantly attending THE BISHOPS' REPORT 213 Committees, such as the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel and for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and was always to be found in his place in the House of Lords when any subject relating to the Church or the spiritual welfare of the people was in question. The Bishop was a born statesman, and Daniel Webster, the American orator, thought him the finest speaker of his day in Great Britain. He never spoke but on subjects pertaining to his office, but his first speech, an impromptu answer to the attacks of Lord Holland upon the Established Church in the debate on the Catholic Emancipation Bill, gained him an attentive hearing on every occasion when he rose in the House. The death of Archbishop Manners -Sutton promoted Bishop Howley to Canterbury, and left the See of London open for Dr. Blomfield, to whom it was offered by the Duke of Wel- lington in July 1828. The new Bishop entered upon onerous duties. The population of Mid- dlesex had increased from 818,129 in 1801 to 1,358,200 in 1831, and there had been no cor- responding increase of churches or clergy. This crying want he set himself to supply by starting 214 CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA a scheme for building fifty new churches in London, a scheme which he assisted by his great influence and by large gifts of money. He also fought steadily against the secularisa- tion of education, and was one of the promoters of King's College, founded for the purpose of counteracting that tendency. The Bishop was a warm supporter of the Reform Bill, and was one of the Commissioners for inquiring into the Poor Laws. He was also called on to play a prominent part in the legis- lation of the Established Church in Ireland. One of Sir Robert Peel's first acts, when he succeeded to office in 1824, was to organise a new Commission for the rearrangement of dio- ceses and benefices in order to augment the poorer livings and increase the number of the clergy. Bishop Blomfield used his power as an influential member of the Commission to for- ward his church-building scheme, for which he resigned much valuable Church patronage, and himself built and endowed out of his private income a church at Hammersmith. The Quar- terly Review speaks of his " almost super- human exertions " in this direction, and indeed THE BISHOPS' REPORT 215 a serious illness in 1836 had already given a warning that they were beyond his strength. The year 1837 saw the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne. Bishop Blomfield preached the Coronation sermon, as he had done that of King William IV. and Queen Adelaide, on both occasions at the request of the Archbishop of York, whose proper function it was. The next year found him urging a fund for endowing additional bishoprics in the Colonies in a letter to which the first Australian Bishop pays this tribute : " It will entitle his name to veneration in this hemisphere as long as the sun and moon shall endure." There is no doubt that the Bishop gave the first impetus to the exertions of Churchmen on behalf of the spiri- tual needs of Greater Britain. The remaining years of Bishop Blomfield's life were embittered and harassed by struggles and attacks from within the Church itself. He stood, as a passionately devoted son of the Re- formed Anglican Church, midway between the Calvinists on the one hand, and the Latinising party on the other, defending her from both, and 216 CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA making to himself many enemies. An accident which happened to him at Osborne a bad fall on the polished floor of one of the passages began the final breaking-up of his health. It was followed by a slight attack of paralysis, and though he retained all his mental vigour, his nerves suffered, and he lost some of his habitual cheerfulness. He worked, however, as hard as ever for reforms in the Church and the bettering of the condition of the poorer classes. In 1850 he brought a Bill into the House for the trans- ference of the powers of the Committee of Coun- cil to the Upper House of Convocation. He made a great speech on this occasion, but the Government was too strong for him, and the Bill was rejected. Eitualistic disturbances pressed so hardly on him at this time that he writes on December 31, 1850, "This year ends in troubles ;" how- ever, the year 1851 saw the subsidence of the controversy, and the remainder of the Bishop's life was comparatively peaceful and uneventful. From this time onwards his health steadily failed, and he spent the greater part of his summer vacations abroad, taking great delight THE BISHOPS' REPORT 217 in travelling and in beautiful scenery. In October 1855 he had another paralytic seizure, from which he never really recovered, indeed his condition was so helpless in the following year that he asked to resign his office. For this there was no precedent, and a short Bill was introduced into the House under the title of "The Bishops pf London and Durham Re- tirement Bill," the aged Bishop of Durham having also begged to retire from his bishopric. This Bill was passed in the end of July, and Bishop Blomfield signed his resignation in the library at Fulham, where he had been carried on his couch, in presence of his family, the Registrar, his private secretaries, and his Ap- paritor. He took a touching farewell of them, and of the diocese with which he had been connected for over fifty years. The greatest sympathy and regret, together with the warmest appreciation of his labours, was shown him both privately and publicly. He lingered on, a hopeless invalid, till August 1857, and died at Fulham Palace on the 5th of that month. Dr. Davys, who was a personal friend of 218 CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA both Bishop Kaye and Bishop Blomfield, had suggested them as examiners of the Princess ; and the Duchess wrote, as we have seen, to invite them to Kensington for the purpose of reporting upon her daughter's progress. Upon the receipt of her letter, the Bishops went down to Kensington, and we find this entry in Bishop Blomfield's diary for March 20, 1830 : " Went with the Bishop of Lincoln to Ken- sington, and examined the Princess Victoria in Scripture, Catechism, English History, Latin, Arithmetic the result very satisfactory." The picture of the fatherless little child destined to such high place, standing before two of the greatest scholars of their day, is a touching one ; and one is reminded, in all reverence, of that greater Child as He stood among the learned Jewish doctors, "both hear- ing and asking them questions," and of how He, when grown to manhood, " took a little child and set him in the midst of them." One can imagine that the two grave men would be very gentle and courteous to their little future Queen. Bishop Kaye's was a face and smile THE BISHOPS' REPORT 219 to win any child's heart, and we have the testi- mony of one of Bishop Blomfield's daughters that he was well fitted for the task before him. " One of my earliest recollections," she writes, " of my father, is his teaching me Latin, when I was between five and six years old. A Latin lesson with a little girl of six must often have been trying to the patience of a scholar ; but neither at that time, nor at any of the many lessons in Latin and Greek which he gave me in after years, do I recollect ever hearing from him one angry or impatient word. As I grew older I learnt to reckon the hour or half-hour spent with him before breakfast, as one of the happiest in the day. He used to take great pains in instructing his elder children, not only in Latin and Greek, but in a knowledge of the Scriptures, and of the doctrines and articles of our Church. When we were younger, we used to repeat the Catechism, and texts or passages of Scripture to him on Sunday afternoon or evening." She goes on to speak of " pleasant hours spent in the garden, in which he took such pride and delight ; these and many other such 220 CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA quiet domestic pictures, in which he, with his bright, loving look and kind words, is ever the central figure, rise before me when I try to recall him to my mind as he was in his own home." The examination of Princess Victoria resulted in the following report from the Bishops : "MADAM, In obedience to your Eoyal Highness's commands, we have considered the course which has been pursued for the last four years in the education of the Princess Victoria, as described in the papers transmitted to us, with particular reference to the important circumstances pointed out in the communi- cation with which your Eoyal Highness was at the same time pleased to honour us ; and we have now most respectfully to state to your Eoyal Highness our entire approval of that course both as to the choice of subjects and the arrangement of Her Highness's Studies. "We have also, in compliance with your Eoyal Highness's directions, examined the Princess herself, with a view to ascertain her proficiency in the various branches of knowledge to which her attention has been directed, and we feel great satisfaction in inform- ing your Eoyal Highness that the result of that exami- nation has been such as, in our opinion, amply to justify the plan of instruction which has been adopted.
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA BY MRS. GERALD GURNEY (DOROTHY FRANCES BLOMFIELD)Dorothy Blomfiled also wrote several wellknown hymns
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