George Cornelius Gorham

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George Cornelius Gorham (August 21, 1787–June 19, 1857) was an English ecclesiastic who caused some controversy in the Church of England.

He entered Queens' College, Cambridge in 1805 and was ordained in 1811, despite the misgivings of the Bishop of Ely, Thomas Dampier, who found Gorham's views at odds with Anglican doctrine.

After curacies in several parishes, he was instituted as vicar of St. Just by Henry Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter, in 1846. The following year, Gorham was recommended for Brampford Speke, and upon examining him, Phillpotts declared Gorham to be Calvinist, and hence unsuitable, in the matter of baptismal regeneration. He appealed to the Court of Arches, which confirmed the bishop's decision, but the sentence of the court was reversed by the Privy Council, and institution granted. The resulting furore led several leading Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church.

Gorham spent the rest of his life dedicated to the church at Brampford Speke.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopaedia.