Kingsley, Charles

Kingsley, Charles an eminent English clergyman and writer, was born at Holne Vicarage, near Dartmoor, Devonshire, June 12, 1819. He graduated from Magdalen College, Cambridge, in 1842; the same year became curate of Eversley, Hampshire, and rector in 1844, a position which he retained for the rest of his life. In 1859 he was appointed regius professor of history at Cambridge, but resigned in 1869, on being offered a canonry in Chester Cathedral, which four years later was exchanged for one in Westminster Abbey. He was also chaplain in ordinary to the queen, and one of the chaplains to the prince of Wales. He died January 23, 1875. Kingsley belonged to the "Broad Church" party, and was an earnest advocate of social improvement. He wrote a large number of popular works, most of them of a fictitious character, but highly instructive, the most noted of which perhaps was his Hypatia (1853): — also Alexandria and her Schools (1854). He frequently contributed to Fraser's Magazine, the North British Review, and wrote some articles for the Encyclopaedia Britannica (8th ed.). He was also known as a poet. See his Letters and Memoir, by his widow (Lond. 1876, 2 volumes, 8vo, abridged ed. N.Y. 1877).