{{Short description|English Anglican priest (1787–1857)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox clergy | honorific_prefix = The Reverend | name = George Cornelius Gorham | image = gcg.jpg | alt = | caption = Gorham in 1850 | pronunciation = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1787|8|21|df=y}} | birth_place = St Neots, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1857|6|19|1787|8|21|df=y}} | death_place = Brampford Speke, England | alma_mater = Queens' College, Cambridge | known_for = Being denied an ecclesiastical preferment due to his opinions concerning baptismal regeneration | spouse = | children = | parents = | religion = Christianity (Anglican) | church = Church of England | ordained = {{hlist | 1811 (deacon) | 1812 (priest)}} | writings = | congregations = | offices_held = {{unbulleted list | Vicar of St Just in Penwith (1846 – {{circa|1847}}) | Vicar of Brampford Speke (1847–1857)}} | title = | signature = | signature_alt = }} '''George Cornelius Gorham''' (1787–1857) was a priest in the Church of England. He was denied a vicarage due to his controversial views on infant baptism, and his appeal of that decision to a secular court caused religious controversy within the Anglican Church.
==Early life== George Cornelius Gorham was born on 21 August 1787 in St Neots, Huntingdonshire, to Mary (née Greame) and George James Gorham.{{sfnm |1a1=Boase |1y=1890 |1p=243 |2a1=Burke |2y=1835 |2p=590}} He entered Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1805, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree as third wrangler and Smith's prizeman in 1809.<ref name="Cambridge Alumni Database">{{acad|id=GRN805GC|name=Gorham, George Cornelius}}</ref>
He was ordained as a deacon on 10 March 1811,<ref name="Cambridge Alumni Database"/> despite the misgivings of the Bishop of Ely, Thomas Dampier, who found Gorham's opinions at odds with Anglican doctrine.{{sfn|Boase|1890|p=243}} Gorham's views on baptism had caused comment, particularly his contention that by baptism infants do not become members of Christ and the children of God.{{sfn|Gilman|Peck|Colby|1905}} After being ordained as a priest on 23 February 1812<ref name="Cambridge Alumni Database"/> and serving as a curate in several parishes, he was instituted as vicar of St Just in Penwith by Henry Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter, in 1846.{{sfn|Boase|1890|p=244}}
==Controversy== In 1847 Gorham was presented by the Earl of Cottenham, the Lord Chancellor, to the vicarage of Brampford Speke, a parish in a small Devon village near Exeter,{{sfnm |1a1=Boase |1y=1890 |1p=244 |2a1=Eckel |2y=1952 |2p=276}} which has a parish church dedicated to Saint Peter.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St Peter Church Brampford Speke |url=https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/8674/ |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=www.achurchnearyou.com |language=en}}</ref> The bishop (Henry Phillpotts) argued that Gorham's Calvinistic view of baptism made him unsuitable for the post.{{sfn|"Henry Phillpotts"|2016}} Gorham appealed to the ecclesiastical Court of Arches to compel the bishop to institute him but the court confirmed the bishop's decision and awarded costs against Gorham.{{sfn|Judicial Committee of the Privy Council|1850|p=2}} [[File:Plaque for George Cornelius Gorham.jpg|alt=Plaque which reads 'George Cornelius Gorham 1787-1857 Born at 22 Market Square Theologian, historian, fellow of Kings Colledge Cambridge One of 12 children of a St Neots merchant & banker'|thumb|Plaque for George Cornelius Gorham in St Neots]] Gorham then appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which caused great controversy about whether a secular court should decide the doctrine of the Church of England.{{sfn|Erb|2013|p=lxxi}} The ecclesiastical lawyer Edward Lowth Badeley, a member of the Oxford Movement, appeared before the committee to argue the bishop's cause, but the committee (Knight Bruce, V-C dissenting)<ref>[1850] Moore's Special Report, 462.</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last =Brodrick |editor1-first =George C. |editor2-last =Fremantle |editor2-first =William H. |date=1865 |title=A Collection of the Judgments of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Ecclesiastical Cases Relating to Doctrine and Discipline |url= |location= |publisher= |page=64, at p.105 }}</ref> eventually reversed the bishop's and the Arches' decision on 8 March 1850 and granted Gorham his institution.{{sfn|Eckel|1952|p=276}}
Phillpotts repudiated the judgment and threatened to excommunicate the archbishop of Canterbury and anyone who dared to institute Gorham.{{sfn|Jordan|1998}} Fourteen prominent Anglicans, including Henry Edward Manning, requested that the Church of England repudiate the opinion that the Privy Council had expressed concerning baptism.{{sfn|Strachey|1918|pp=56–58}} As there was not any response from the Church apart from Phillpotts' protestations, they quit the Church of England and were received into the Catholic Church.
==Subsequent life== Gorham himself spent the rest of his life at his post in Brampford Speke. As vicar, Gorham restored the church building, entirely rebuilding the tower, for which Phillpotts gave some money. He was an antiquary and botanist of some reputation, as well as the author of a number of pamphlets.{{sfnm |1a1=Beeson |1y=2002 |1p=212 |2a1=Gilman |2a2=Peck |2a3=Colby |2y=1905}} He died on 19 June 1857 in Brampford Speke.{{sfn|Boase|1890|p=245}}
==Publications== * George Cornelius Gorham, [https://archive.org/details/historyantiquiti00gorh ''The History and Antiquities of Eynesbury and St. Neot's, in Huntingdonshire, and of St. Neot's in the county of Cornwall''], 1820.
==See also== {{Portal|Christianity|Biography}} * Canon law of the Church of England * Diocese of Exeter
==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist|22em}}
===Works cited=== {{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}} * {{cite book |last=Beeson |first=Trevor |author-link=Trevor Beeson |year=2002 |title=The Bishops |location=London |publisher=SCM Press |publication-date=2003 |isbn=978-0-334-02916-8 }} * {{cite DNB |last=Boase |first=George Clement |authorlink=George Clement Boase |wstitle=Gorham, George Cornelius |volume=22 |pages=243–245 |no-icon=1 }} * {{cite book |last=Burke |first=John |author-link=John Burke (genealogist) |year=1835 |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland Enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank but Uninvested with Heritable Honours |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_4GAAAAQAAJ |volume=2 |location=London |publisher=Henry Colburn |access-date=14 December 2017 }} * {{cite journal |last=Eckel |first=E. H. |year=1952 |title=Review of ''Gorham and the Bishop of Exeter'' by J. C. S. Nias |journal=Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=276–277 |issn=0018-2486 |jstor=42972116 }} * {{cite book |contributor-last=Erb |contributor-first=Peter C. |last1=Manning |first1=Henry Edward |author1-link=Henry Edward Manning |last2=Gladstone |first2=William Ewart |author2-link=William Ewart Gladstone |year=2013 |contribution=Introduction |editor-last=Erb |editor-first=Peter C. |title=The Correspondence of Henry Edward Manning and William Ewart Gladstone |volume=1 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=xiii–cxx |doi=10.1093/actrade/9780199577323.book.1 |isbn=978-0-19-957732-3 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |year=1905 |title=Gorham, George Cornelius |editor-last=Gilman |editor-first=Daniel Coit |editor-link=Daniel Coit Gilman |editor2-last=Peck |editor2-first=Harry Thurston |editor2-link=Harry Thurston Peck |editor3-last=Colby |editor3-first=Frank Moore |editor3-link=Frank Moore Colby |encyclopedia=New International Encyclopedia |volume=9 |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=Dodd, Mead and Company |page=50 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |year=2016 |title=Henry Phillpotts |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Phillpotts |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=14 December 2017 |ref={{sfnref|"Henry Phillpotts"|2016}} }} * {{cite journal |last=Jordan |first=Andrew |year=1998 |title=George Cornelius Gorham, Clerk v Henry Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter: A Case of Anglican Anxieties |journal=Ecclesiastical Law Journal |volume=5 |issue=23 |pages=104–111 |doi=10.1017/S0956618X00000065 |s2cid=144324453 |issn=0956-618X }} * {{cite book |author=Judicial Committee of the Privy Council |author-link=Judicial Committee of the Privy Council |year=1850 |title=Gorham v. Bishop of Exeter: The Judgment of the Judicial Committee of Privy Council, Delivered March 8, 1850, Reversing the Decision of Sir H. J. Fust |url=https://archive.org/details/a622207600greauoft |location=London |publisher=Seeleys |access-date=14 December 2017 }} * {{cite book |last=Strachey |first=Lytton |author-link=Lytton Strachey |year=1918 |title=Eminent Victorians |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924014643609 |location=Garden City, New York |publisher=Garden City Publishing Co. |access-date=14 December 2017 }} {{refend}}
==Further reading== {{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}} * {{cite encyclopedia |year=1905 |title=Gorham Controversy |editor-last=Gilman |editor-first=Daniel Coit |editor-link=Daniel Coit Gilman |editor2-last=Peck |editor2-first=Harry Thurston |editor2-link=Harry Thurston Peck |editor3-last=Colby |editor3-first=Frank Moore |editor3-link=Frank Moore Colby |encyclopedia=New International Encyclopedia |volume=9 |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=Dodd, Mead and Company |pages=50–51 |ref=none }} * {{cite book |last=Keble |first=John |author-link=John Keble |year=2003 |orig-year=1868 |title=Village Sermons on the Baptismal Service |url=http://anglicanhistory.org/keble/bapt/index.html |publisher=Project Canterbury |access-date=26 January 2018 }} * {{cite book |last=Liddon |first=Henry Parry |author-link=Henry Liddon |year=1898 |title=Life of Edward Bouverie Pusey |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofedwardbouv03lidduoft |volume=3 |edition=4th |location=London |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co. |access-date=26 January 2018 }} * {{cite book |last=Nias |first=J. C. S. |year=1951 |title=Gorham and the Bishop of Exeter |location=London |publisher=SPCK }} * {{cite book |last=Phillpotts |first=Henry |author-link=Henry Phillpotts |year=1850 |title=A Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury from the Bishop of Exeter |url=http://anglicanhistory.org/hphillpotts/letter1850.html |location=New York |publisher=Pudney & Russell |access-date=26 January 2018 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |last=Wolffe |first=John |year=2004 |title=Gorham, George Cornelius (1787–1857) |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |edition=online |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/11099 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |year=1907 |title=Gorham, George Cornelius |editor-last=Wood |editor-first=James |editor-link=James Wood (encyclopaedist) |encyclopedia=The Nuttall Encyclopædia |location=London |publisher=Frederick Warne }} {{refend}}
==External links== * [http://anglicanhistory.org/england/gorham.html Documents connected with the Gorham Controversy] from Project Canterbury * [http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/fhjfx George C. Gorham letter, 1856] at Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of Theology
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorham, George Cornelius}} Category:1787 births Category:1857 deaths Category:19th-century English Anglican priests Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Category:Clergy from Devon Category:Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge Category:Evangelical Anglican clergy Category:People from St Neots