{{Short description|English clergyman and scholar (1849–1909)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Use British English|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = | honorific_prefix = [[The Reverend]] | name = Richard Appleton | title = | image = Richard Appleton (1849–1909).jpg | image_size = | alt = Photograph of Richard Appleton, seated | caption = | church = [[Church of England]] | province = | metropolis = | diocese = | see = | elected = | appointed = | ended = | term = | term_start = | quashed = | term_end = | predecessor = | opposed = | successor = | other_post = <!---------- Orders ----------> | ordination = 1878 | ordinated_by = | consecration = | consecrated_by = | cardinal = | rank = <!---------- Personal details ----------> | birth_name = Richard Appleton | birth_date = {{Birth date|1849|02|17|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Liverpool]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1909|03|01|1849|02|17|df=y}} | death_place = Cambridge | buried = [[Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge]] | residence = | parents = Revd Richard Appleton | spouse = | children = | occupation = [[List of Masters of Selwyn College, Cambridge|Master]] of [[Selwyn College, Cambridge]], 1907 – 1909 | profession = | previous_post = | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * [[Christ's Hospital]] * [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] }} }}
'''Richard Appleton''' [[Master of Arts|MA]] (17 February 1849 – 1 March 1909) was an English scholar, clergyman of the Church of England, and the fourth [[List of Masters of Selwyn College, Cambridge|Master]] of [[Selwyn College, Cambridge]], 1907 – 1909. He was a fellow of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], and a parish priest before moving to Selwyn.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/Selwyn-1882-1973.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2017-08-29 |archive-date=2015-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922184136/http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/Selwyn-1882-1973.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Early life== Appleton was born in Liverpool, the son of another Revd Richard Appleton and grandson, on his mother's side, of Canon John Patrick Eden, Rector of [[Sedgefield]], Durham. Appleton was from a background that was rare in producing Cambridge undergraduates in Victorian times; his father was not well off, a clergyman with a large family, and scholarships got him through [[Christ's Hospital]] and Trinity College. At Trinity, he was [[Wrangler (University of Cambridge)|Sixth Wrangler]] and won the Chancellor's Medal. He was awarded a second class degree in the Classical tripos.
==Career== He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College when he graduated, but he did not undertake major research work. Instead, he was a lecturer in mathematics, Theology and Hebrew in the days before teaching was expected to be specialised. He was Dean of Trinity College, 1884–91 and Tutor, 1885–94.
He was ordained a priest in 1878 and Appleton went to become warden of Trinity College Mission and [[Vicar (Anglicanism)|vicar]] of St George's Church, [[Camberwell]], 1894–1903. He was then vicar of [[St Mary's Church, Ware|St Mary's Church]], [[Ware, Hertfordshire]] and [[Rural Dean]], 1904–7.
Appleton had limited previous connection with Selwyn College when he was chosen as its Master, but he became an influential master of the college through various construction projects he oversaw. The college had been founded around 1880 to counter some of the effects of the "Revolution of the Dons" that occurred in the 1860s.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} The university was opened up to people of any religion and none, so the college was to be a haven for Anglicans. Every Master of Selwyn College was a clergyman up until 1983. As a clergyman and Master of Selwyn, Appleton was something of a throwback to the old pattern of Cambridge academic life prior to the "Revolution of the Dons".
==Legacy== After serving as Master for just two years, he died at the College from influenza in 1909.<ref>{{acad|id=APLN867R|name=Richard Appleton}}</ref> His body is buried in the [[Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge]]. A memorial brass is in the [[ante-chapel]] of [[Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.trinitycollegechapel.com/about/memorials/brasses/appleton/ |publisher=Trinity College Chapel website|title=Richard Appleton}}</ref>
Appleton left a permanent memorial of his mastership in having raised the funds to build the southern range of buildings in the Old Court, including the College Hall, and Combination room. His initials and [[rebus]] of an apple and a [[Barrel|tun]], are carved on the front of the Hall stairway.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/Selwyn-1882-1973.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2017-08-29 |archive-date=2015-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922184136/http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/Selwyn-1882-1973.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==External links== *{{Find a Grave|5935594}}
==References== {{reflist}} * APPLETON, Rev. Richard, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U183228, accessed 6 March 2013] {{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box |before=[[Alexander Kirkpatrick]] |after=[[John Owen Farquhar Murray]] |title=[[List of Masters of Selwyn College, Cambridge|Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge]] |years=1907-9 }} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Appleton, Richard}} [[Category:1849 births]] [[Category:1909 deaths]] [[Category:19th-century English Anglican priests]] [[Category:Masters of Selwyn College, Cambridge]] [[Category:Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge]] [[Category:People educated at Christ's Hospital]]