John Bird Sumner

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable John Bird Sumner^[1]
Archbishop of Canterbury

Church	Church of England
Diocese	Diocese of Canterbury
In office	1848–1862
Predecessor	William Howley
Successor	Charles Longley
Other posts	Bishop of Chester (1828–1848)
Orders
Consecration	1828
Personal details
Born	(1780-02-25)25 February 1780 Kenilworth, Warwickshire, Great Britain
Died	6 September 1862(1862-09-06) (aged 82) Addington, Surrey, United Kingdom
Buried	St Mary's Church, Addington

John Bird Sumner (25 February 1780 – 6 September 1862)^[2] was a bishop in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury.

Life

John Bird Sumner was a brother of Charles Richard Sumner, bishop of Winchester. Their father was Robert Sumner and their mother was Hannah Bird, a first cousin of William Wilberforce.^[3] Sumner was born in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. He was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge.^[4]

In 1802, Sumner became a master at Eton College, where he was nicknamed "Crumpety Sumner" by the boys,^[5] and was ordained the following year. He was elected a fellow of Eton in 1817 and in 1818 the school presented him to the living of Maple Durham, Oxfordshire. After being a prebendary of the Durham diocese for some years, he was consecrated to the episcopate as the Bishop of Chester in 1828. During his episcopacy many churches and schools were built in the diocese. In 1848 he was elevated to Archbishop of Canterbury (with an annual income of £15,000^[6]) and in this capacity he dealt impartially with the different church parties until his death.

Sumner's numerous writings were much esteemed, especially by the Evangelical party to which he belonged. His best known writings are his Treatise on the Records of Creation and the Moral Attributes of the Creator (London, 1816) and The Evidence of Christianity derived from its Nature and Reception (London, 1821).

In the well-known Gorham Case, Sumner came into conflict with Henry Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter (1778–1869), who accused him of supporting heresy and refused to communicate with him. He supported the Divorce Bill in parliament but opposed the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill and the bill for removing Jewish disabilities.

Sumner was president of the Canterbury Association which founded Christchurch, New Zealand.^[7] In 1848 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.^[8]

Sumner died in 1862 in Addington and is buried in Addington churchyard. He had married Marianne Robertson (1779 - 1829) on 31 March 1803 in Bath. She was the daughter of George Robertson (1742 - 1791), a captain in the Royal Navy, and Ann Lewis (1748 - 1802), daughter of Francis Lewis (1713 - 1803), a New York signer of the Declaration of Independence and Elizabeth Anessley (1715 - 1779). Sumner and his wife had seven children; Anne (1804 - 1833), Eliza Maria (1808 - 1836), Georgiana (1814 - 1881), Caroline (1815 - 1841), Maria (1817 - 1861), John Henry Robertson (1821 - 1910) and Robert George Moncrief (1825 - 1885). Sumner was later to have remarried to Ella Sophia (b. 27 May 1821, Bencoolen - d. 5 May 1840, England), the fourth child of Stamford Raffles, but she died on the eve of their wedding.

References

↑ Church Times — Education: Academy awards
↑ "John Bird Sumner". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
↑ Edward J. Davies, "Some Connections of the Birds of Warwickshire", The Genealogist, 26(2012):58-76.
↑ "Sumner, James Bird (SMNR798JB)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
↑ Gronow, Rees Howell (1863). Recollections and Anecdotes: Being a Second Series of Reminiscences of the Camp, the Court, and the Clubs. Smith, Elder. p. 78.
↑ Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 760.
↑ Blain, Michael (2007). The Canterbury Association (1848-1852): A Study of Its Members’ Connections (PDF). Christchurch: Project Canterbury. pp. 78–79. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
↑ "Library and Archive Catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 2012-02-02.

Sources

Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sumner, John Bird". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

Material relating to John Bird Sumner at Lambeth Palace Library

Church of England titles
Preceded by Charles James Blomfield	Bishop of Chester 1828–1848	Succeeded by John Graham
Preceded by William Howley	Archbishop of Canterbury 1848–1862	Succeeded by Charles Longley

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 15595063 LCCN: n87912136 ISNI: 0000 0000 7729 0852 GND: 120213648 SUDOC: 115703764 NLA: 35164236 BNE: XX4900651 IATH: w6ft8z2n

Bishops of Chester

Archbishops of Canterbury
Pre-Conquest	Augustine Laurence Mellitus Justus Honorius Deusdedit Wighard Theodore of Tarsus Berhtwald Tatwine Nothhelm Cuthbert Bregowine Jænberht Æthelhard Wulfred Feologild Ceolnoth Æthelred Plegmund Athelm Wulfhelm Oda Ælfsige Byrhthelm Dunstan Æthelgar Sigeric the Serious Ælfric of Abingdon Ælfheah Lyfing Æthelnoth Eadsige Robert of Jumièges Stigand
Conquest–Reformation	Lanfranc Anselm Ralph d'Escures William de Corbeil Theobald of Bec Thomas Becket Roger de Bailleul Richard of Dover Baldwin of Forde Reginald Fitz Jocelin Hubert Walter Reginald John de Gray Stephen Langton Walter d'Eynsham Richard le Grant Ralph Neville John of Sittingbourne John Blund Edmund of Abingdon Boniface William Chillenden Robert Kilwardby Robert Burnell John Peckham Robert Winchelsey Thomas Cobham Walter Reynolds Simon Mepeham John de Stratford John de Ufford Thomas Bradwardine Simon Islip William Edington Simon Langham William Whittlesey Simon Sudbury William Courtenay Thomas Arundel Roger Walden Thomas Arundel Henry Chichele John Stafford John Kemp Thomas Bourchier John Morton Thomas Langton Henry Deane William Warham Thomas Cranmer Reginald Pole
Post-Reformation	Matthew Parker Edmund Grindal John Whitgift Richard Bancroft George Abbot William Laud William Juxon Gilbert Sheldon William Sancroft John Tillotson Thomas Tenison William Wake John Potter Thomas Herring Matthew Hutton Thomas Secker Frederick Cornwallis John Moore Charles Manners-Sutton William Howley John Bird Sumner Charles Longley Archibald Campbell Tait Edward White Benson Frederick Temple Randall Davidson Cosmo Lang William Temple Geoffrey Fisher Michael Ramsey Donald Coggan Robert Runcie George Carey Rowan Williams Justin Welby
Italics indicate a person who was elected but not confirmed.

Sumner family tree

Robert Sumner
(1748–1802)

Hannah Bird
(1757–1846)

Marianne Robertson
(1779–1829)

John Bird Sumner
Archbishop of Canterbury
(1780–1862)

Charles Richard Sumner
Bishop of Winchster
(1790–1874)

Jennie Barnabine Maunoir
(1794–1849)

Antonetta Maria Edwards
(1825–1852)

John Henry Sumner
(1821–1910)

Eliza Maria Sumner
(c.1808–1836)

William Gibson
(1804–1862)

Louisanna Sumner
(1817–1899)

Sophia Albertina Sumner
(1823–1884)

William Henry Ridley
priest and author
(1816–1882)

George Henry Sumner
Bishop suffragan of Guildford
(1824–1909)

Mary Heywood
Mothers' Union founder
(1828–1921)

Emily Sumner
(1832–1926)

Robert Newman Milford
(1829–1913)

John Robert Sumner
footballer
(1850–1933)

John Sumner Gibson
cricketer
(1833–1892)

Arthur Sumner Gibson
rugby union player
(1844–1927)

Herbert Sumner Gibson
(1847–1923)

Edgar Sumner Gibson
Bishop of Gloucester
(1848–1924)

Walter Sumner Gibson
(1849–1918)

Alan Sumner Gibson
(1856–1922)

Charles Coleridge Mackarness
Archdeacon of the East Riding
(1850–1918)

Grace Emily Milford
(1856–1944)

Humphrey Sumner Milford
publisher and editor
(1877–1952)

Notes:

Family tree of the Sumner family

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