William Conybeare (author)

William John Conybeare (1 August 1815 – 23 July 1857) was an English vicar, essayist and novelist[1] who was the first Principal of Liverpool College.

Biography

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William John Conybeare was the son of Dean William Daniel Conybeare.[1] He attended Westminster School, where he formed a life-long friendship with George Cotton, later Bishop of Calcutta.[2] He matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1833, where he was elected fellow in 1837.[2][3]

From 1842 to 1848 Conybeare was principal of the Liverpool Collegiate Institution (later Liverpool College).[1] There, he worked with John Saul Howson, with whom he would later publish Perversion: or, the Causes and Consequences of Infidelity. Whilst in Liverpool, he campaigned for the improvement of middle-class education in the city.[2]

With his health deteriorating, Conybeare resigned his position at Liverpool in 1848 and moved to Axminster, Devon, to become vicar.[1][2] He served there until 1854, when he moved to Weybridge, Surrey, where his brother-in-law, Edward Rose, was the parish priest. He died of tuberculosis in Weybridge in 1857, and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.[2][4] He was survived by his wife, Eliza Rose (1820-1903), and his son, John William Edward Conybeare.[2]

Publications

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Conybeare published Essays, Ecclesiastical and Social (1855), and a novel, Perversion: or, the Causes and Consequences of Infidelity (1856), but is best known as the joint author (along with John Saul Howson) of The Life and Epistles of St Paul[1] (1852, 2nd ed. 1856).[5]

He published Church Parties, a 30,000 word essay on the different styles of churchmanship found within the Anglican Church, in 1855.[2][6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Conybeare, William John" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 70.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Burns, Arthur (1999). "7: W. J. Conybeare - 'Church Parties'". In Taylor, Stephen (ed.). From Cranmer to Davidson : A Church of England Miscellany. Martlesham: Boydell & Brewer. pp. 213–386. doi:10.1017/9781787441170. ISBN 978-1-7874-4117-0.
  3. ^ "Conybeare, William John (CNBR832WJ)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. ^ "Residents of Brompton Cemetery". Archived from the original on 23 August 2006. Retrieved 19 May 2007.
  5. ^ William John Conybeare, John Saul Howson (27 September 1856). "The life and epistles of st. Paul, by W.J. Conybeare and J.S. Howson" – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ Clark, J.C.D. "16 : Church, Parties, and Politics". In Gregory, Jeremy (ed.). The Oxford History of Anglicanism. Vol. II: Establishment and Empire, 1662–1829. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 289–313. doi:10.1093/oso/9780199644636.003.0016. ISBN 978-0-1996-4463-6.
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