Lonsdale, John, Dd

Lonsdale, John, D.D., a distinguished English prelate, was born at Newmillerdam, near Wakefield, January 17, 1788, and was the son of the Reverend John Lensdale, vicar of D.rfield and incumbent of Chapelthorpe. Young Lonsdlale entered Eton College at the age of 11, and completed his studies finally at King's College, Cambridge, where he got nearly all the prizes, and took the B.A. in 1811. He then studied law for a time, but changing for theology, he was ordained priest in 1815. Shortly after he was made examining chaplain to archbishop Sutton and assistant preacher at the temple. In 1821 he was appointed to the office of Christian advocate to Cambridge University, and in the following year domestic chaplain to the archbishop of Canterbury. From 1831 to 1843 he was prebendary of St. Paul's; from 1839 to 1843, principal of King's College, London, and rector of Southfleet, Kent. He was also archdeacon of Middlesex during 1842 and 1843, and was for some time chaplain at Lincoln's Inn. In 1844, finally, he was appointed, by Sir Robert Peel, bishop of Lichfield. He died at Erdeshall Castle, Staffordshire, October 19,1867. Bishop Lonsdale was greatly celebrated in the English pulpit; while yet in the infancy of his ministry, two courses of his university sermons, as well as several occasional discourses, were asked for and received by the public (London, 1820,1821). In 1849 he published, with archbishop Hale, a volume of Annotations of the Gospels, SEE HALE. He is spoken of as "a man of remarkable humility, averse to controversy, and never willing to enter into a public discussion of great questions in theology, from the belief that others were better qualified than he to handle them; but, withal, he was unflinching in his adherence to what he believed to be right." He was greatly beloved, not only by his own Church, but by the Dissenters also. See Appleton's Ann. Cyclop. 1867. page 451; Am. Ch. Rev. 1868, page 675.