Armstrong, John (2), Dd

Armstrong, John (2), D.D.

a bishop of the Church of England, was born at Bishop Wearmouth, Aug. 22,1813. He was educated at Charterhouse School; became Crewe exhibitioner at Lincoln College, Oxford; took his degree of A.B. in 1836; was soon after ordained deacon and priest, and served a curacy in Somersetshire; was afterwards curate of Clifton; was elected in 1841 priest-vicar of Exeter Cathedral, and subsequently became Saints-day preacher in that cathedral: was presented to the rectory of St. Paul's, Exeter, in 1843; and about this time began writing for the press. In October, 1845, he exchanged livings with the Rev. J. H. S. Barr, vicar of Tidenham, Gloucestershire, to which he then removed. Soon after he commenced the reform of the female-penitentiary system, begun by an article in the Quarterly, which resulted in an entirely new system, the distinguishing feature of which is, that the penitents are under the care of unpaid gentlewomen instead of paid matrons. The Tracts for the Christian Seasons, edited by him and published at Oxford, began in 1849, and met with great success. These were followed by a second series; and then he began the Parochial Tracts, during the issue of which he published the Sermons for the Christian Seasons, all of which were successful literary ventures. He was designated bishop of Grahamstown, South, Africa, and consecrated at Lambeth in 1853. He died May 16,1856. During his short episcopate bishop Armstrong had established a grammar-school and begun a diocesan college for the training on the spot of a ministry for his diocese. He also wrote, Pastor in his Closet (2d ed. 1857) :-Essays on Church Penitentiaries (1858):-and other works. His Life has been written by Rev. T. T. Carter (1857). See Amer. Quar. Church Rev. 1856, p. 468.