Charles Henry Hall

Charles Henry Hall
(painting by Gilbert Stuart Newton)

Charles Henry Hall (* 1763 ; † March 16, 1827 in Edinburgh ) was a British Anglican clergyman and theologian . From 1809 to 1824 he held the office of Dean of Christ Church (Oxford) .

Life

Hall was the eldest son of Charles Hall (1718–1774), Dean of Bocking (Essex) and chaplain to Archbishop Thomas Secker, and his wife Elizabeth nee. Carsan. From 1773 to 1779 he attended Westminster School in London ; he then studied at Christ Church College , Oxford , where he received several academic awards. In 1783 he graduated from the Bachelor of Arts , 1786 for Master of Arts , 1794 for Bachelor of Divinity and 1800 for Doctor of Divinity .

The then dean of Christ Church, Cyril Jackson (1746-1819), initially valued Hall very much, so that he was able to rise quickly in the church and academic hierarchy. After ordination as deacon (1786) and Priest (1788) he became in 1794 chaplain to the Bishop of Bristol and Vicar of Broughton in Airedale ( Yorkshire ), 1798 Präbendar of Exeter ( Devon ), 1799 Rector of Kirk Bramwith (Yorkshire) and canon at Christ Church (Oxford) and 1804 Vicar of Luton ( Bedfordshire ). At Oxford University he served as a tutor and censor at Christ Church College (where Lord Liverpool was one of his students) from 1792 to 1794 and as Junior Proctor at All Souls College in 1793 , in 1798 he gave the Bampton Lectures , an annual theological lecture series, In 1805 he became Subdean at Christ Church and in 1807 - through the influence of Prime Minister Lord Grenville - Regius Professor of Divinity . Because of his "sterile and boring" lectures, however, he soon lost Jackson's benevolence, so that he sought another position with Lord Liverpool. On Liverpool's recommendation, he succeeded Jackson as Dean of Christ Church in 1809.

In his new office, Hall (even if he tried to imitate his authoritarian predecessor in gait and clothing) was weak in leadership. He also forfeited the favor of Lord Liverpool at the end of 1809 when, in the election of the university chancellor - two of Hall's supporters, Lord Liverpool and Lord Grenville - ran into a loyalty conflict and remained neutral. His reputation was further damaged by a scandal at Christ Church College in which his eldest son was involved, and above all by his wife's wastefulness, which plunged him into ever greater debt. Hall asked Lord Liverpool (now Prime Minister) several times for a more financially lucrative episcopal office , but this refused because of Hall's personal situation. When the also highly endowed Dean's Office of Durham became vacant in 1824 , Lord Liverpool appointed him to this position.

In 1827 Hall went to Edinburgh for medical treatment because of an acute fever , where he died in a hotel at the age of 63. He left a debt of £ 35,800.

family

Hall was since 1794 with Anna Maria Bridget Byng (1771-1852), a daughter of John Byng, the future 5th Viscount Torrington , married. The marriage had ten children, four of whom died early :

1. Anna Elizabeth Hall (1795–1798)
2. Elizabeth Hall (1796-1802)
3. Charles Henry Hall (1798–?), Legation Secretary in Munich , Bern and Stuttgart ; married Maria Leopoldine, the youngest daughter of Joseph Maria von Weichs
4. Cecilia Charlotte Hall (1799-1892), married Vice Admiral Thomas Francis Charles Mainwaring (1780-1858)
5. Percy Francis Hall (1801–1884), naval officer, later pacifist and preacher
6. Edmund Scrope Hall (1802-1803)
7. John Cecil Hall (1803–1844), Archdeacon of the Isle of Man and Rector of Kirk Andreas
8. Herbert Byng Hall (1805–1883), officer and author
9. Arthur Hall (1809–1879), officer in India
10. George Augustus Hall (1814-1815)

Publications

• On the Use of Medals [1784]. In: The Oxford English Prize Essays , Vol. 1 (Oxford 1830)
• A Sermon, Preached in Lambeth Chapel, at the Consecration of Henry Reginald Lord Bishop of Bristol, on Sunday, May 11, 1794 (Oxford 1794)
• Sermons Preached before the University of Oxford, at St. Mary's Church, in the Year MDCCXCVIII, at the Lecture Founded by the Rev. John Bampton, MA (Oxford 1799)
• A Sermon Preached before the Honorable House of Commons at the Church of St. Margaret, Westminster, on Wednesday, February 20, 1805, Being the Day Appointed for a General Fast (London 1805)
• A Sermon Preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, on Thursday, June 1, 1815, Being the Time of the Yearly Meeting of the Children Educated in the Charity Schools in and about the Cities of London and Westminster . In: The Annual Report of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge for the Year 1815 (London 1816)

literature

• W [illiam] R. Ward: Victorian Oxford. Cass, London 1965.
• E [dward] G [eoffrey] W [atson] Bill: Education at Christ Church, Oxford, 1660-1800. Clarendon, Oxford 1988.

Individual evidence

1. ^ J. Parker: The Oxford University Calendar 1831 . W. Baxter, Oxford 1831.
2. ^ Announcement on the appointment of Charles Henry Hall as Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford in the London Gazette dated February 14, 1807.
3. ↑ Notice in the London Gazette of November 4, 1809 about the appointment of William Howley as Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford .

Web links

• JFA Mason: Hall, Charles Henry (1763-1827) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004 (accessed July 13, 2012).
• Hall, Charles Henry in the Clergy of the Church of England Database (accessed January 21, 2013).