Charles Hardwick

Charles Hardwick (1821–1859) was an English clergyman and historian who became archdeacon of Ely.

Life

He was born at Slingsby, North Yorkshire, on 22 September 1821, son of Charles Hardwick, a joiner.^[1] After receiving some instruction at Slingsby, Malton, and Sheffield, he acted for a short time as usher in schools at Thornton and Malton, and as assistant to the Rev. Henry Barlow at Shirland rectory in Derbyshire.

In October 1840 Hardwick unsuccessfully competed for a sizarship at St John's College, Cambridge. He became pensioner, and afterwards minor scholar of St Catharine's Hall, and was first senior optime in January 1844. After a period as tutor in the family of Sir Joseph Radcliffe at Brussels, he was elected Fellow of his college in 1845. He was ordained deacon in 1846, and priest in 1847, in which year also he proceeded M.A.^[1]

He was select preacher at Cambridge for 1850, and in March 1851 became preacher at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall. From March to September 1853 he was professor of divinity in Queen's College, Birmingham. In 1855 he was appointed lecturer in divinity at King's College, Cambridge, and Christian advocate in the university. In 1856 he was elected a member of the newly established council of the senate, and was re-elected in 1858. For many years he was secretary of the university branch association of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and promoted the proposed Oxford and Cambridge mission to Central Africa.

In 1859 he became archdeacon of Ely, and commenced B.D. On 18 August of that year he was killed by falling over a precipice in the Pyrenees. A monument was erected on the spot. He was buried on the 21st in the cemetery at Luchon.

Works

During 1846 he edited Sir Roger Twysden's ‘Historical Vindication of the Church of England,’ and edited as a supplement Francis Fullwood's ‘Roma ruit’ in 1847. He next edited for the Percy Society (vol. xxviii.) ‘A Poem on the Times of Edward II’ (1849), and an ‘Anglo-Saxon Passion of St. George,’ with a translation (1850).

He was editor-in-chief of the ‘Catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge,’ contributing descriptions of Early English literature. The first three volumes appeared in 1856, 1857, and 1858 respectively. In 1849 he read before the Cambridge Antiquarian Society ‘An Historical Inquiry touching Saint Catherine of Alexandria’ (printed with a ‘Semi-Saxon Legend’ in vol. xv. of the society's quarto series). In 1850 he helped to edit the ‘Book of Homilies’ for the university press, under the supervision of George Elwes Corrie, who had been his tutor.

His ‘History of the Articles of Religion’ first appeared in 1851, and a second edition, mostly rewritten, in 1859. In 1853 he printed ‘Twenty Sermons for Town Congregations,’ a selection from his Whitehall sermons, and ‘A History of the Christian Church, Middle Age,’ a third edition of which by William Stubbs was issued in 1872. In his role as Christian advocate he published ‘Christ and other Masters: an historical inquiry into some of the chief parallelisms and contrasts between Christianity and the Religious Systems of the ancient world,’ 4 pts. 1855–9; 2nd edit., with a memoir of the author by Francis Procter, 2 vols. 1863.

Early in 1856 he published the second volume of his ‘History of the Christian Church,’ embracing the Reformation period. For the university press he completed in 1858 an edition of the Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian versions of St. Matthew's Gospel, commenced by John Mitchell Kemble; and edited for the master of the rolls the Latin ‘History of the Monastery of St. Augustine, Canterbury,’ preserved in the library of Trinity Hall.

References

• Dictionary of National Biography, Hardwick, Charles (1821–1859), archdeacon of Ely, by Gordon Goodwin. Published 1890.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Hardwick, Charles in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:  Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.