{{for|the British physicist Francis Edwin Close|Frank Close}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}} {{Use British English|date=January 2017}} {{short description|Anglican rector}} [[File:Meetings and events- Contagious Diseases Act- Burnley1903 (22473851684).jpg|thumb|Poster printed during the 1876 Burnley by-election campaign, quoting Close calling for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts.]] '''Francis Close''' (11 July 1797 – 18 December 1882) was the Anglican rector of Cheltenham (1826–1856) and Dean of Carlisle (1856–1881).<ref>Crockford's Clerical Directory 1881</ref>
==Biography== Close was born on 11 July 1797 in Frome, Somerset, the youngest son of the Rev. Henry Jackson Close, who was at one time Rector of Bentworth, near Alton, in Hampshire.<ref name="nytimes" /> Enrolling at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1816, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1820 and was elevated to MA in 1825.<ref>{{acad|id= CLS816F|name=Close, Francis}}</ref> During the same time period, he was ordained a deacon in 1820 and a priest the following year. In 1822, he was assigned as curate of Willesden and Kingsbury in the London area.<ref name="marlborough">{{cite news|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=MEX18821220.2.26|title=The Late Dean of Carlisle|volume=XVII |issue=297 |date=20 December 1882|work= Marlborough Express|location=New Zealand|page=2|accessdate=17 February 2010}}</ref> Two years later, in 1824, he was assigned to Cheltenham and the parish church of St Mary's, and when the rector died in 1826, he was elevated to that office.<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB|wstitle=Close, Francis |first=George Clement|last=Boase|authorlink = George Clement Boase|volume=11|pages=123-124}}</ref>
Close served as rector for thirty years, where he was a popular preacher and a noted evangelical. He was a vociferous opponent of the Oxford Movement. He advocated for the creation of a training college for schoolteachers and opposed alcohol, tobacco, horse racing, and theatrical amusements.<ref name="marlborough"/> He was involved in the provision of new churches in Cheltenham.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=20521|page=3227|date=28 October 1845}}</ref> On 24 November 1856, he was nominated to be Dean of Carlisle Cathedral by the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, and the appointment was approved by the Queen.<ref name=DNB/><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=21944|page=3919|date=25 November 1856}}</ref> That same year, the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred a Lambeth Doctorate of Divinity upon Close. He remained as Dean of Carlisle until 1881, when failing health forced him to resign.<ref name=DNB/> At the time of his resignation, he was the oldest of all deans in the Church of England<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9905E3DF153DE533A2575AC1A9649D94639FD7CF|title=The death list of a day; a venerable English clergyman dead. |date=19 December 1882 |work=The New York Times|page=5|accessdate=17 February 2010}}</ref> He died in Penzance the following year, on 12 December 1882, and was buried in Carlisle Cathedral.<ref name=nytimes/>
==Personal life== Close married twice: in 1820, he married Anne Diana Arden, and in 1880, he married Mary Antrim.<ref name=DNB/>
==Legacy== Close was the author of around seventy books and pamphlets, though by 1887 few were considered "of any permanent value."<ref name=DNB/> In 1885, a marble statue of Close was installed in Carlisle Cathedral after a public collection of funds for the purpose.<ref name=DNB/> Dean Close School and Francis Close Hall, both in Cheltenham, were named in his honour.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *{{cite ODNB|id=5703|title=Close, Francis|last=Munden |first=A. F.}}
==External links== *[http://anglicanhistory.org/england/fclose/ Bibliographic directory] from Project Canterbury
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{{Deans of Carlisle}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Close, Francis}} Category:1797 births Category:1882 deaths Category:19th-century Anglican theologians Category:19th-century English male writers Category:19th-century English non-fiction writers Category:19th-century English theologians Category:19th-century evangelicals Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Category:Anglican writers Category:Deans of Carlisle Category:English Anglican theologians Category:English evangelicals Category:English male non-fiction writers Category:English religious writers Category:Evangelical Anglican clergy Category:Evangelical Anglican theologians Category:People from Frome