{{Short description|Bishop of Edinburgh; Irish Anglican/Episcopalian bishop}} {{for|the surgeon|John Wheeler Dowden}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}} {{More citations needed|date=January 2018}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | honorific_prefix = The Right Reverend | name = John Dowden | honorific_suffix = | title = [[Bishop of Edinburgh]] | image = John Dowden.JPG | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | church = [[Scottish Episcopal Church]] | archdiocese = | province = | metropolis = | diocese = [[Diocese of Edinburgh|Edinburgh]] | see = | elected = 1886 | term = 1886–1910 | quashed = <!-- or | retired = --> | predecessor = [[Henry Cotterill]] | successor = [[Somerset Walpole]] | opposed = | other_post = <!---------- Orders ----------> | ordination = 1865 | ordained_by = [[Hamilton Verschoyle]] | consecration = 21 September 1886 | consecrated_by = [[Hugh Jermyn]] | rank = <!---------- Personal details ----------> | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1840|06|29|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Cork (city)|Cork]], [[Ireland]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1910|01|30|1840|06|29|df=y}} | death_place = [[Edinburgh]], [[Scotland]] | buried = [[Dean Cemetery]] | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = [[Irish people|Irish]] | religion = [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] | residence = | parents = | spouse = {{marriage|Louisa Jones|1864}} | children = 7 | occupation = | profession = <!-- or | previous_post = --> | education = | alma_mater = [[Trinity College Dublin]] | motto = | signature = | signature_alt = | coat_of_arms = | coat_of_arms_alt = | module = | other = }} '''John Dowden''' /d͡ʒɒn ˈdaʊdən/ (29 June 1840 &ndash; 30 January 1910) was an [[Irish people|Irish]]-born bishop and ecclesiastical historian. He served in the [[Scottish Episcopal Church]] as the [[Bishop of Edinburgh]].

==Life==

He was born in [[Cork (city)|Cork]] on 29 June 1840, as the fifth of five children of John Wheeler Dowden and Alicia Bennett. His famous brother was the poet, professor and literary critic [[Edward Dowden]]. Although his father was [[Presbyterian]], John followed his mother by becoming an [[Anglican]], although he attended both churches in his youth. When he was sixteen he became a student at [[Queen's College, Cork]] as a medical student. John began encountering health problems, problems which made it difficult to pursue his original career. In 1858, while contemplating a religious career, he enrolled at [[Trinity College Dublin]]. He graduated in 1864 and was ordained as a deacon, moving to [[Sligo]]. In the same year he married, wedding a woman named Louisa Jones, by whom he would eventually father six children. John was ordained as a priest in 1865, and moved through a variety of positions slowly rising in prestige. John continued his studies and received a [[Bachelor of Divinity]] (BD) degree from Trinity College.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dowden, John|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/dowden-john-a2729 |access-date=2024-12-30 |website=www.dib.ie}}</ref> [[File:13 Learmonth Terrace, Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|left|13 Learmonth Terrace, Edinburgh]] [[File:The grave of Bishop John Dowden, Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|left|The grave of Bishop John Dowden, Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh]]

In 1886, he was consecrated as the Episcopalian [[bishop of Edinburgh]] and served in [[St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh (Episcopal)|St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral]] in [[Edinburgh]]'s West End and served this role until death.<ref>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</ref> In the late 19th century he lived at 10 Gillsland Road in the Merchiston district of Edinburgh,<ref>Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1894–95</ref> but in his later years he lived at 13 Learmonth Terrace, a substantial Victorian terraced house, west of the cathedral.<ref>Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory, 1908-9</ref>

He died in Edinburgh on 30 January 1910 and is buried in the Victorian north extension of [[Dean Cemetery]] in western [[Edinburgh]]. He is buried with his wife Louisa and son [[John Wheeler Dowden]] [[Legum Doctor|LLD]], [[Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh|FRCSEd]] (1866–1936), who was [[List of presidents of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh|president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh]].<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1936|title=John Wheeler Dowden|journal=Edinburgh Medical Journal|volume=43|issue=5|pages=334–335|issn=0367-1038|pmc=5306741}}</ref>

His memorial in St Marys Cathedral was designed by Sir [[Robert Lorimer]] in 1911.<ref>Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Robert Lorimer</ref>

==Scholarly work== As a scholar, he was author of many works of thorough scholarship, including ''The Medieval Church in Scotland: its constitution, organisation and law'' (1910) and ''The Bishops of Scotland: being notes on the lives of all the bishops, under each of the sees, prior to the Reformation'' (1912). Both were published posthumously by James Maclehose and Sons, Glasgow. The former, although extremely dated, is still regarded as one of the main starting points in medieval Scottish ecclesiastical history, and the latter remains to this day one of the most comprehensive guides to medieval Scottish episcopal [[prosopography]]. An earlier work, ''The Workmanship of the Prayer Book: In Its Literary and Liturgical Aspects'', (London: Methuen, 1899) remains an indispensable analysis of the background to and ethos of the Book of Common Prayer.

Dowden gave the [[Rhind lectures]] in 1901, on "The Constitution, Organisation, and Law of the Mediaeval Church in Scotland".

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== *Dowden, Alice (1910) "Biographical sketch" in: Dowden, John: ''The Medieval Church in Scotland'' *{{cite ODNB|id=32883|last=Strong|first=Rowan|title=Dowden, John (1840–1910)}} *Watt, D. E. R., "Scotland: Religion and Piety", in Steve Rigby (ed.), ''A Companion to Britain in the Later Middle Ages'', (Oxford, 2003), pp.&nbsp;396–410 (info on p.&nbsp;396)

==External links== * {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Dowden}} *[http://anglicanhistory.org/scotland/jdowden/ Bibliographic directory] from [[Project Canterbury]]

{{s-start}} {{s-rel}} {{s-bef|before=[[Henry Cotterill]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Edinburgh]]|years=1886–1910}} {{s-aft|after=[[Somerset Walpole]]}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowden, John}} [[Category:1840 births]] [[Category:1910 deaths]] [[Category:Bishops of Edinburgh]] [[Category:19th-century Scottish Episcopalian bishops]] [[Category:20th-century Scottish Episcopalian bishops]] [[Category:Alumni of Queens College Cork]] [[Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin]] [[Category:Irish Anglicans]] [[Category:Converts to Anglicanism from Presbyterianism]]