# John Dowden > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_Dowden > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_Dowden.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dowden > Source revision: 1269964433 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Bishop of Edinburgh; Irish Anglican/Episcopalian bishop For the surgeon, see [John Wheeler Dowden](/source/John_Wheeler_Dowden). This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "John Dowden" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) The Right Reverend John Dowden Bishop of Edinburgh Church Scottish Episcopal Church Diocese Edinburgh Elected 1886 In office 1886–1910 Predecessor Henry Cotterill Successor Somerset Walpole Orders Ordination 1865 by Hamilton Verschoyle Consecration 21 September 1886 by Hugh Jermyn Personal details Born (1840-06-29)29 June 1840 Cork, Ireland Died 30 January 1910(1910-01-30) (aged 69) Edinburgh, Scotland Buried Dean Cemetery Spouse Louisa Jones ​ (m. 1864)​ Children 7 Alma mater Trinity College Dublin **John Dowden** /d͡ʒɒn ˈdaʊdən/ (29 June 1840 – 30 January 1910) was an [Irish](/source/Irish_people)-born bishop and ecclesiastical historian. He served in the [Scottish Episcopal Church](/source/Scottish_Episcopal_Church) as the [Bishop of Edinburgh](/source/Bishop_of_Edinburgh). ## Life He was born in [Cork](/source/Cork_(city)) 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](/source/Edward_Dowden). Although his father was [Presbyterian](/source/Presbyterian), John followed his mother by becoming an [Anglican](/source/Anglican), although he attended both churches in his youth. When he was sixteen he became a student at [Queen's College, Cork](/source/Queen's_College%2C_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](/source/Trinity_College_Dublin). He graduated in 1864 and was ordained as a deacon, moving to [Sligo](/source/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](/source/Bachelor_of_Divinity) (BD) degree from Trinity College.[1] 13 Learmonth Terrace, Edinburgh The grave of Bishop John Dowden, Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh In 1886, he was consecrated as the Episcopalian [bishop of Edinburgh](/source/Bishop_of_Edinburgh) and served in [St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral](/source/St_Mary's_Cathedral%2C_Edinburgh_(Episcopal)) in [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh)'s West End and served this role until death.[2] In the late 19th century he lived at 10 Gillsland Road in the Merchiston district of Edinburgh,[3] but in his later years he lived at 13 Learmonth Terrace, a substantial Victorian terraced house, west of the cathedral.[4] He died in Edinburgh on 30 January 1910 and is buried in the Victorian north extension of [Dean Cemetery](/source/Dean_Cemetery) in western [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh). He is buried with his wife Louisa and son [John Wheeler Dowden](/source/John_Wheeler_Dowden) [LLD](/source/Legum_Doctor), [FRCSEd](/source/Royal_College_of_Surgeons_of_Edinburgh) (1866–1936), who was [president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh](/source/List_of_presidents_of_the_Royal_College_of_Surgeons_of_Edinburgh).[5] His memorial in St Marys Cathedral was designed by Sir [Robert Lorimer](/source/Robert_Lorimer) in 1911.[6] ## 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](/source/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](/source/Rhind_lectures) in 1901, on "The Constitution, Organisation, and Law of the Mediaeval Church in Scotland". ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Dowden, John"](https://www.dib.ie/biography/dowden-john-a2729). *www.dib.ie*. Retrieved 30 December 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1894–95 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory, 1908-9 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["John Wheeler Dowden"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5306741). *Edinburgh Medical Journal*. **43** (5): 334–335. 1936. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0367-1038](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0367-1038). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [5306741](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5306741). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Robert Lorimer ## Further reading - Dowden, Alice (1910) "Biographical sketch" in: Dowden, John: *The Medieval Church in Scotland* - Strong, Rowan. "Dowden, John (1840–1910)". *[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Dictionary_of_National_Biography#Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)* (online ed.). Oxford University Press. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/ref:odnb/32883](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F32883). (Subscription, [Wikipedia Library](https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/partners/88/) access or [UK public library membership](https://www.oxforddnb.com/help/subscribe#public) required.) - Watt, D. E. R., "Scotland: Religion and Piety", in Steve Rigby (ed.), *A Companion to Britain in the Later Middle Ages*, (Oxford, 2003), pp. 396–410 (info on p. 396) ## External links - [Works by or about John Dowden](https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22Dowden%2C%20John%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22John%20Dowden%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Dowden%2C%20John%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22John%20Dowden%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Dowden%2C%20J%2E%22%20OR%20title%3A%22John%20Dowden%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Dowden%2C%20John%22%20OR%20description%3A%22John%20Dowden%22%29%20OR%20%28%221840-1910%22%20AND%20Dowden%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive) - [Bibliographic directory](http://anglicanhistory.org/scotland/jdowden/) from [Project Canterbury](/source/Project_Canterbury) Religious titles Preceded by Henry Cotterill Bishop of Edinburgh 1886–1910 Succeeded by Somerset Walpole Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States Netherlands Vatican People Trove Archaeology Data Service Ireland Deutsche Biographie Other IdRef Open Library SNAC Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Dowden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dowden) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dowden?action=history)). 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