William Boyd Carpenter

The Right Reverend
William Boyd Carpenter
KCVO
The Right Reverend William Boyd Carpenter KCVO
	Boyd Carpenter in 1889
Born	26 March 1841; Liverpool, England
Died	26 October 1918 (aged 77); Westminster, England
Occupation	Anglican cleric
Years active	1878–1918
Spouses	Harriet Charlotte Peers; Annie Maude Gardner;
Parents	Henry Carpenter; Hester Boyd;
Relatives	Archibald Boyd (uncle); Sir Archibald Boyd-Carpenter (son); Francis Wentworth-Sheilds (son-in-law); The Lord Boyd-Carpenter (grandson); Sir Thomas Boyd-Carpenter (great-grandson); The Viscountess Hailsham (great-granddaughter); William Boyd-Carpenter (son); Sir Henry Boyd-Carpenter (great-grandson); Stephen Oliver, composer (great-grandson); John William Oliver (great-great-grandson);

William Boyd Carpenter KCVO (26 March 1841 – 26 October 1918) was an English cleric in the Church of England who became Bishop of Ripon and Royal Chaplain to Queen Victoria.

Background

William Boyd Carpenter was the second son of Henry Carpenter, perpetual curate of St Michael's Church, Aigburth, Liverpool, who married (marriage licence 1837 in Derry) Hester Boyd, of Derry, sister of Archibald Boyd, Dean of Exeter.^[1]

Carpenter was the uncle of Mrs Henry Williams of Moor Park House, Beckwithshaw, North Yorkshire. In 1897 he consecrated St Michaels and All Angels Church at Beckwithshaw, after she and her husband had funded its construction.^[2]^[3]^[4]

He was an advocate for the poor and against the caste system in India, stating during a religious lecture at the University of Oxford that "we must show fierce scorn against the hateful laws of caste and proclaim the natural equality of all men".^[5]

Education and career

"A man Right Reverend and Well-Beloved"; Boyd Carpenter as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in *Vanity Fair*, March 1906

Educated at the Liverpool Institute, before going up to St Catharine's College, Cambridge, Boyd Carpenter was appointed Hulsean Lecturer at Cambridge in 1878.^[6] He held several curacies, was Vicar of Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, from 1879 to 1884, Canon of Windsor in 1882–84, and after 1884 Bishop of Ripon. In 1887 he was appointed Bampton Lecturer at Oxford, and in 1895 Pastoral Lecturer on Theology at Cambridge. In June 1901, he received an honorary doctorate of Divinity from the University of Glasgow.^[7] During his time in Ripon, he moved from his original evangelical leanings to a broad church outlook.^[8]

In 1904 and 1913 he visited the United States and delivered the Noble lectures at Harvard. He was Chaplain-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria, Edward VII, and George V. He resigned his see in 1911 on the grounds of ill-health and became a Canon and Sub-Dean of Westminster.

Boyd Carpenter served as Clerk of the Closet from 1903 to 1918.

Publications

His publications include:^[9]

Commentary on Revelation (1879)
Permanent Elements of Religion (Bampton lectures, 1889)
Popular History of the Church of England (1900)
Witness to the Influence of Christ (1905)
Some Pages of my Life (1911)
Life's Tangled Thread (1912)
The Apology of Experience (1913)
The Burning Bush and Other Sermons. (1893)

Family

In 1864 Carpenter married his first wife, Harriet Charlotte, daughter of the Rev. J. W. Peers, of Chislehampton. They had four sons and four daughters, including:

Henry John Boyd-Carpenter (1865–1923), colonial official in Egypt, where he was Chief Inspector to the Ministry of Public Instruction, then Inspector General of Schools; who married in Epperstone on 16 December 1902 Ethel Ley, daughter of Sir Francis Ley, 1st Baronet, of Epperstone Manor, Nottinghamshire.^[10]
William Boyd-Carpenter (1869–1954).
Annie Boyd-Carpenter (1870-1927) married Francis Wentworth-Sheilds, Bishop of Armidale.
Sir Archibald Boyd Boyd-Carpenter (1873–1937), Conservative MP, father of John Archibald Boyd-Carpenter, Baron Boyd-Carpenter (1908–1998), also a Conservative MP.

Harriet died in January 1877 and in 1883 Carpenter married secondly, Annie Maude, daughter of publisher^[11] W. W. Gardner, with whom he had a son and three daughters.^[12]^[13]

The composer Stephen Oliver (1950–1992), through his mother (Charlotte) Hester Girdlestone born 1911, granddaughter of Carpenter), and his nephew, the comedian John Oliver (b. 1977), are descendants.^[14]

A medieval knight sporting an early example of the Carpenter arms

References

^ David Morris, 'Bishop Boyd Carpenter: Sheep or Shepherd in the Eugenics Movement?' Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine, The Galton Institute Newsletter, 55, June 2005
^ Yorkshire Gazette, 2 October 1886: "Ecclesiastical news"
^ Cottingley Connect: St Michael and All Angels church Retrieved 17 January 2014
^ Leeds Times, Saturday 2 October 1886
^ Carpenter, William Boyd (1889). The permanent elements of religion : eight lectures preached before the University of Oxford in the year 1887 . Princeton Theological Seminary Library. London: Macmillan.
^ "Carpenter, William Boyd (CRPR860WB)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ "Glasgow University Jubilee". The Times. No. 36481. London. 14 June 1901. p. 10. Retrieved 5 January 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Stephenson, A. M. G.; Brodie, Marc. "Major, Henry Dewsbury Alves (1871–1961)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34839. William Boyd Carpenter, bishop of Ripon, an eloquent evangelical who had developed broad-church leanings. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ H. D. A. Major, ‘Carpenter, William Boyd (1841–1918)’, rev. H. C. G. Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 14 April 2009
^ "Marriages". The Times. No. 36956. London. 20 December 1902. p. 1. Retrieved 5 January 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Constructing Girlhood through the Periodical Press, Kristine Moruzi, Taylor & Francis, 2016, footnote 15
^ Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, page 344. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition.
^ Armorial Families, A. C. Fox-Davies, T. C. & E. C. Jack (Edinburgh), 1895, p. 837
^ Pollock, Adam (2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oliver, Stephen Michael Harding (1950-1992), composer. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). OUP. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/51267. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2016. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Sources

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Carpenter, William Boyd". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

External links

Bibliographic directory of William Boyd Carpenter from Project Canterbury
Works by William Boyd Carpenter at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about William Boyd Carpenter at the Internet Archive
"Bishop Boyd Carpenter: Sheep or Shepherd in the Eugenics Movement?" by David Morris, Galton Institute Newsletter Issue 55 (June 2005)

Religious titles
Preceded by Robert Bickersteth	Bishop of Ripon 1884–1912	Succeeded by Thomas Wortley Drury

[Morris-1] David Morris, 'Bishop Boyd Carpenter: Sheep or Shepherd in the Eugenics Movement?' Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine, The Galton Institute Newsletter, 55, June 2005

[2] Yorkshire Gazette, 2 October 1886: "Ecclesiastical news"

[3] Cottingley Connect: St Michael and All Angels church Retrieved 17 January 2014

[4] Leeds Times, Saturday 2 October 1886

[5] Carpenter, William Boyd (1889). The permanent elements of religion : eight lectures preached before the University of Oxford in the year 1887 . Princeton Theological Seminary Library. London: Macmillan.

[6] "Carpenter, William Boyd (CRPR860WB)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[7] "Glasgow University Jubilee". The Times. No. 36481. London. 14 June 1901. p. 10. Retrieved 5 January 2024 – via Newspapers.com.

[8] Stephenson, A. M. G.; Brodie, Marc. "Major, Henry Dewsbury Alves (1871–1961)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34839. William Boyd Carpenter, bishop of Ripon, an eloquent evangelical who had developed broad-church leanings. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[Major-9] H. D. A. Major, ‘Carpenter, William Boyd (1841–1918)’, rev. H. C. G. Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 14 April 2009

[10] "Marriages". The Times. No. 36956. London. 20 December 1902. p. 1. Retrieved 5 January 2024 – via Newspapers.com.

[11] Constructing Girlhood through the Periodical Press, Kristine Moruzi, Taylor & Francis, 2016, footnote 15

[Burke-12] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, page 344. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition.

[13] Armorial Families, A. C. Fox-Davies, T. C. & E. C. Jack (Edinburgh), 1895, p. 837

[oxfr1-14] Pollock, Adam (2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oliver, Stephen Michael Harding (1950-1992), composer. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). OUP. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/51267. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2016. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

v t e Clerks of the Closet
17th century	Richard Neile William Juxon Matthew Wren Richard Steward Gilbert Sheldon John Earle John Dolben Walter Blandford Nathaniel Crew Thomas Sprat Sir Edward Petre John Tillotson Thomas Burnet John Montagu
18th century	William Graham Samuel Pratt Charles Trimnell Richard Willis Henry Egerton Joseph Butler John Gilbert John Thomas William Buller Richard Hurd
19th century	William Jackson George Pelham Robert Carr Edward Stanley John Graham Henry Philpott Randall Davidson
Since 1900	William Boyd Carpenter Hubert Burge Thomas Strong Cyril Garbett Percy Herbert Roger Wilson Gordon Fallows John Bickersteth John Waine Jonathan Bailey Christopher Hill James Newcome Richard Jackson

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States Australia Netherlands Sweden Vatican Israel
People	Trove Deutsche Biographie DDB
Other	SNAC

v t e Bishops of Ripon (modern diocese)
Charles Longley Robert Bickersteth William Boyd Carpenter Thomas Drury Thomas Strong Edward Burroughs Geoffrey Lunt George Chase John Moorman Hetley Price David Young John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds James Bell, Acting Bishop of Ripon and Leeds diocese dissolved; Bell became area Bishop of Ripon
for the area bishops in Leeds diocese, see Bishop of Ripon