Reference code: GB-0033-ADD 837
Title: Additional Manuscripts 837: Revd. Temple Chevallier correspondence
Dates of creation: 1832-1865
Extent: 129 items
Held by: Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections
Origination: Revd. Temple Chevallier (1794-1873); Revd. George Elwes Corrie, D.D. (1793-1885)
Language:
English
Rev. T. Chevallier
The Rev. Temple Chevallier (TC), mathematician, astronomer and theologian, was born on 19 October 1794, the son of the Rev. Temple Fiske Chevallier, of Badingham (Suffolk). (
Dictionary of National Biography, X (1887), 215-16; J.A. Venn,
Alumni Cantabrigieses, II, ii, 26). After education by his father and at the grammer schools of Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich,
he entered Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1813. The strongly mathematical flavour of the study required for the degree of B.A. at that date favoured him (D.A. Winstanley,
Early Victorian Cambridge (Cambridge, 1940),
pp.150-1); he graduated as B.A. (Second Wrangler) in 1817. He was elected a fellow of Pembroke College in 1819, and in 1820 a fellow and tutor of Catharine Hall (St Catharine's College), Cambridge. In 1818 he was ordained priest; from 1821 to 1834
he held the living of St Andrew the Great, Cambridge. He took his M.A. degree in 1820 and that of B.D. in 1825. In 1821, 1822 and 1826 he was a moderator in the Mathematical Tripos, and in 1826 an examiner in the Classical Tripos. He was Hulsean
Lecturer in Divinity in 1826 and 1827; his lectures were published in 1835 under the title:
Of the Proofs of Divine Power and Wisdom Derived from the Study of Astronomy.
TC was invited to become the professor of Mathematics at the newly-founded university of Durham in 1835. This he accepted; he held the chair until 1872. He was appointed professor of Astronomy also in June 1841; this he retained until 1871. In
1834-1835, he assisted the acting professor of Divinity, Henry Jenkyns, in lecturing to the students in divinity. From 1835 to 1871 he was reader in Hebrew in the university. In addition, he was registrar of the university, 1835-1865 (J.T. Fowler,
Durham University (London, 1904), p.278).
To this busy academic life he added the duties of a parish priest. From 1835 until his death he held the perpetual curacy of Esh, just outside Durham City. In 1846 he was made an honorary canon of Durham. In 1858 he became rural dean of Durham.
In 1865, he was made a residentiary canon of Durham, which he remained until his death on 4 November 1873. He was buried at Esh.
Rev. G.E. Corrie
The Rev. George Elwes Corrie, theologian, was born on 28 April 1793, the youngest son of the Revd. John Corrie, of Colsterworth (Lincs.) (
Dictionary of National Biography, XII (1887), 251-252; J.A. Venn
Alumni Cantabrigienses, II, 141). In 1813, he entered Catharine Hall, Cambridge, graduating as B.A. in 1817. That year he
was elected an assistant tutor at St Catharine's; he was also ordained priest. Until 1849 he was a tutor in the college. He took his M.A. in 1820 and B.D. in 1831. In 1838 he was appointed Norrisian Professor of Divinity in the University of
Cambridge. In 1849 he became master of Jesus College. From 1851 until his death, he held the rectory of Newton (Cambs.) in conjunction with the mastership. He died on 20 September 1885.
This group of letters illustrates several of the interests of Chevallier and Corrie over a period of thirty years. As well as matters of personal and family concern, they cover the affairs of the Universities of Durham and Cambridge, and speak of
the movements and causes which agitated the Church of England and the diocese of Durham in the mid nineteenth century.
TC's long connection with Durham began in 1834, when he was invited by the warden, Archdeacon Charles Thorp, to take the chair of Mathematics in the recently founded university. Some of these letters illustrate his initial reluctance to take the
post:
“I shall not take it, unless I see a fair prospect of obtaining at the same time some parochial duty: for having been so long engaged in a parish, I do not mean to secularize myself so completely as I should do in that case. I should not
make that a point if I could have the Divinity Professorship”.
(no. 2: 31 October 1834) (The chairs of Mathematics and Divinity were both vacant at this date: C.E. Whiting,
The University of Durham 1832-1932
(London, 1932), pp.43-7).
He was hesitating still at the end of 1834 (no. 4: 23 December 1834); in February 1835 he wrote to Corrie that:
“It is no news to tell you that I have declined the mathematical Professorship; and I know no more about the divinity
Professorship than the man in the moon”.
(no. 5: 12 February 1835)
He accepted the chair of Mathematics in July 1835, presumably as a result of obtaining the curacy of Esh (see below, p.7).
It was a disappointment to TC that he failed to be appointed to the professorship of Divinity. After the departure of Hugh James Rose, the first holder, in 1834, Chevallier and the Revd. Henry Jenkyns, the professor of Greek, shared the duties of
lecturing to the students in Divinity for the academic year 1834-1835. Chevallier clearly enjoyed this; he wrote in some detail to Corrie about his lectures, seeking Corrie's advice about content and textbooks (no. 4: 23 December 1834). He could not
resist a sneer when Jenkyns was preferred as acting professor of Divinity in 1835: “an able man, but wants unction; and has never had the charge of a parish” (no. 9: 21 November 1835). This complaint underlines Chevallier's view of the Divinity
course as a training for the ministry - a professional rather than a purely academic exercise. In that same letter, he remarked wryly: “I have the incongruous offices of Mathematics and Hebrew lectures”; he held both successfully for many years.
(Fowler,
Durham University, p.133).
The letters throw some light on the attitudes of those working in and for the new university. On his first visit, TC remarked:
“Everything here is yet to be formed; and although there are the germs of a fine establishment, it will require
much management and much judgement to frame it aright”.
(no. 2: 31 October 1834)
He spoke of the problem encountered in settling the endowment of the university by the dean and chapter of Durham, with assistance from Bishop William Van Mildert (d. 21 February 1836) (Whiting,
University of Durham, ch. 2, passim.). In March 1836, Chevallier wrote to Corrie:
“The University is to have the old Castle - a grand old place with a baronial hall nearly as large as that of Trinity. We hope we
shall have some money to keep it, or it will be like a present of an elephant to a day labourer”.
(no. 12: 11 March 1836) (Chevallier referred later to the plan that the bishop of Durham should hold the castle in trust for the university (no.
20: 15 March 1837), see Whiting,
University of Durham, pp.64, 70).
He was obliged later to soothe Corrie's fears that the disposal of capitular property, even for educational purposes, was a dangerous precedent (no. 19: 16-18 February 1837), by explaining that their statutes expressly required the dean and
chapter to undertake “the instruction of youth in virtue and good learning” (no. 20: 15 March 1837). The further agitation of 1839 is also reflected in the correspondence (ibid., pp.74-6). Chevallier wrote to Corrie about a matter which “is of
course well known to the founders of the University and had much weight with them”, but which had not achieved much publicity - namely, the foundation of Durham College, Oxford, by the Benedictine prior and convent of Durham, medieval predecessors
of the dean and chapter. (This was a favourite theme of Archdeacon Thorp's: ibid., pp.37, 75). He informed Corrie about the financial arrangements made for that body, which he saw as “a material point in the question of applying property from the
funds of the Chapter of Durham to the University” (no. 39: 30 March 1839). Corrie believed that this argument would have little force in persuading the public that cathedral chapters in general were not over-endowed (no. 40: 14 May 1839). TC's
response was to send him an account of Durham College, Oxford, “obtained in a great measure from unpublished documents” (no. 41: 12 September 1838). (Research on Durham College, Oxford, seems to have been a matter of some concern at this date. In
1840, the Revd. Joseph Stevenson published (anonymously) a pamphlet entitled
“Some Account of Durham College, Oxford”, based largely on documentary evidence among the muniments of the dean and chapter of Durham). It was with some relief that Chevallier was able to report in 1841 that: “The
endowment of this University in accordance with the intentions of the late Bishop [Van Mildert] is fixed at length” (no. 55: 24 May 1841).
Another of Durham's early problems received TC's attention. There was some reluctance on the part of the English bishops in the 1830s to accept as candidates for ordination young men who had taken their degrees at Durham (Whiting,
University of Durham, pp. 53-4). The bishop of Ely, claiming the support of the University of Cambridge, rejected some Durham graduates in 1837, to Chevallier's anger (no. 18: 10 February, 1837). Corrie's enquiries in
Cambridge proved that the bishop was not supported by any “University policy”, but Corrie thought that there might be some hostility to Durham (no. 19: 16 February 1837).
Other aspects of University life appear in the correspondence. Chevallier wrote of a lecture which he had given in defence of Mathematics (no. 12: 11 March 1836), and listed the text books used by Jenkyns in his Divinity lectures (no. 25: 5-7
March 1837). He referred to the establishment of the Observatory at Durham, in which, as professor of Astronomy, he was a leading spirit (no. 37: 23 February 1839; no. 39: 30 March 1839) (Ibid., pp.282-3). External examiners were sought for Divinity
and Mathematics (no. 37: 23 February 1839; no. 39: 30 March 1839; no. 47: 21 March 1840; no. 85: 6 March 1846). There is even a reference to the first student from the Roman Catholic seminary at Ushaw to come to Durham:
Ushaw College has asked
leave for a student of theirs to attend the public Mathematical lectures here as an occasional student, which our regulations permit; and it is conceded. What next? Dr Gilly (prebendary of Durham: see Whiting,
University of
Durham, pp.65-6) declares it a Jesuitical scheme to blow up the University. Others suggest that we should send one or two to learn Theology at Ushaw.
(no. 37: 23 February 1839)
Apparently as a result of having made a parochial charge a precondition of his acceptance of the chair of Mathematics, Chevallier was licensed to the perpetual curacy of Esh (Co. Durham), by Bishop Van Mildert on 1 June 1835 (Van Mildert, Act
Book, p.30). His first impressions of his new parish were somewhat mixed. Undaunted by the fact that over half of those in the parish were Roman Catholics, he determined to found a school (no. 6: 8 May 1835). This was built in 1835-1836 (no. 9: 2
November 1835; no. 11: 24 February 1836). Over the following years, he encountered difficulties with two schoolmasters, one whose morals were dubious (no. 16: 28 October 1836) and another who was “unpopular and sluggish” (no. 35: 20 November 1838).
By 1840, however, matters had improved, and the school continued to flourish (no. 48: 5 September 1840; no. 67: 8 January 1844). Chevallier's relations with his parishioners were always tempestuous; “I am”, he wrote, “brought in contact with
obstacles which do not much trouble parish priests in England”. Among his other complaints on that occasion were the practices of illicit whisky distilling and the local priest's readiness to allow village boys to use the field by his chapel for
Sunday cricket (no. 13: 4 June 1836). In later years, he was faced with a revolt on the part of his Catholic parishioners against the church rate, which they declared to be “abominable”; having harangued them for an hour on the legal requirements in
the matter, TC believed that he had “established a moral superiority over them” (no. 30: 16 May 1838).
On first taking over the parish, Chevallier rented as his residence there an old and dilapidated mansion, Flass Hall, belonging to the highly eccentric Lady (Jane) Peat (W. Brockie,
Sunderland Notables (Sunderland, 1894), pp.116-24). Upon her death in 1842, the house passed to her heir, a wine merchant from Newcastle, who chose to live there himself - to the dismay of Chevallier, who feared that a
Roman Catholic squire might make his life more difficult (no. 66: 9 November 1843). The newcomer, however, turned out “better than ... expected” (no. 67: 8 January 1844). A new parsonage was built for TC in 1843-1845, on some glebe land near the
church at Esh; the Ecclesiastical Commissioners paid the greater part of the cost, but TC had few hopes that the house would be comfortable (no. 66: 9 November 1843). It was completed in 1845 (no. 80: 31 March 1845). A few years later, Chevallier
undertook the rebuilding of Esh church, largely at his own expense, to designs by [James Francis] Turner, a Durham undergraduate (no. 102: 16 November 1849; no. 109: 11 May 1850). (For Turner, see Fowler,
Durham
University, pp.105, 171).
Chevallier's letters make a few references to church life in the diocese of Durham. His first impression of life in the College at Durham - where he lived for many years - was that “dining seems to be carried on here on a great scale” (no. 2: 31
October 1834). As a member of the university as much as in his clerical capacity, TC wrote with sadness of the death of “our munificent Bishop”, Van Mildert (no. 11: 24 February 1836). On the other hand, he was not altogether happy that the
resources of the see were to be “dismally cut down” before Bishop Maltby succeeded (no. 12: 11 March 1836). In general, however, he seems to have found church life in Durham satisfactory, although he waxed indignantly eloquent on the subject of the
pluralism of Dean Waddington (no. 48: 5 September 1840).
The disturbances which ruffled the Church of England in the mid nineteenth century are reflected in these letters. TC believed, with some satisfaction, that Durham had avoided the worse excesses of theological controversy:
We are I think
tolerably free from the greater waves of the Oxford Tract storm; but a few ramifications of the swell reach us even in these remote districts ... [but] I hear of no extravagancies of newfangledness here.
(no. 48: 5 September 1840)
Ten years
later he remarked that:
We have not escaped the effervescence of ecclesiastical matters here, although in general we have been much less agitated by passing questions than those parts of the country which are more centrally placed.
(no. 109:
11 May 1850)
Chevallier's own views are based firmly on the traditions of the Church of England, but while ready to speak out when necessary, he distrusted extremism. Corrie's views were more forcefully expressed; he displayed an equal distrust and loathing
of both Roman Catholics and Dissenters. (no. 3: 6 November 1834; no. 10: 28 November 1835; no. 14: 6 November 1836). while blaming most of the troubles of the world and of the Church of England on the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 (no. 22: 16
September 1837), Corrie was opposed to any undermining of traditional beliefs, even by scientists (no. 17: 1 November 1836). Chevallier, on the other hand, feared even Corrie's form of exaggerated loyalty to the Church of England. Although deeply
suspicious also both of Roman Catholics and Dissenters (no. 10: 28 November 1835; no. 33: 29 June 1838), he believed that:
It is a symptom of an unhappy condition of the Church, when it is requisite to ask not only whether a man is a Christian,
or whether he is a churchman, but whether he belongs to one or other section of the Church.
(no. 94: 26 February 1848)
There are comments in the correspondence on a number of matters which concerned clerics and theologians of the time. Corrie, especially, was deeply concerned for the Church of Ireland, and the difficulties faced by its clergy in a predominantly
Roman Catholic country (no. 8: 3 October 1835; no. 9: 21 November 1835; no. 10: 28 November 1835; no. 15: 15 July 1836; no. 22: 16 September 1837). Both men feared that successive governments would seek to reduce the endowment of the Church of
England; Corrie expressed suspicion of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (no. 22: 16 September 1837), but Chevallier thought that “the Ecclesiastical Commission seems to be tired and sick of its work, and the Commissioners sick of one another” (no.
23: 13 November 1837). Chevallier expressed his opinion on episcopal appointments of 1838, provoked by Bowstead's elevation to the see of Sodor and Man. TC objected to the apparent concentration on academic achievements, as opposed to pastoral and
parochial experience, as qualifications for membership of the episcopal bench (no. 33: 29 June 1838).
Both men took an interest in events in the University of Cambridge. Chevallier, at the beginning of his years in Durham, was fearful that his oath on proceeding to the M.A. degree - that he would not lecture anywhere other than at Cambridge or
Oxford - might prevent him from taking office at Durham, unless he was prepared to commit perjury. These fears were set at rest in the late 1830s, for the Cambridge authorities were turning a blind eye to this medieval survival, whose stern
restrictions were causing consternation among those seeking employment in the new universities. Cambridge was, however, slow to embark upon reform (Winstanley,
Early Victorian Cambridge, pp.248-9); Chevallier was provoked to further anger and anxiety in 1841 by the publication of George Peacock's
Observations on the Statutes of the University of
Cambridge. Peacock interpreted the oath strictly, with a reference to Durham which Chevallier regarded as a personal attack:
Peacock ... as it were singles me out as a voilator of the academical oath; for I perceive he makes no allusion
to any parties [holding office] in the University of London.
(no. 53: 4 February 1851)
In later years he was pleased at the Grace passed by the Cambridge Senate on 27 October 1854, permitting graduates of other universities to be admitted to
ad eundem and titular degrees there (ibid., pp.270-1, n.4);
“We hope”, he wrote, “that our graduates will be able to avail themselves of it” (no. 117: 9 November 1854; no. 118: 24 November 1854).
Among other Cambridge matters mentioned were the election of Lord Lyndhurst as High Steward in 1840 (no. 50: 7 November 1840; no. 51: 24 November 1840) (ibid., pp.102-5) and the contested election to the chancellorship in 1847, in which Prince
Albert was the victor (no. 87: 22 February 1847; no. 88: 5 March 1847) (Winstanley,
Early Victorian Cambridge, pp.107-21). The Prince's later actions, particularly his readiness to support Lord John Russell's proposed Royal Commission to enquire into the running of the universities, provoked
Chevallier to wrath and to the suggestion that a chancellor so out of sympathy with the body of which he was head ought to resign (no. 110: 10 June 1850) (ibid., pp.230-1). He went on:
As to the Commissioners, I hope every Master of a College
will close his gates upon their approach, and that they will be made to understand that the University intends to act in consistency with its dignity and independence.
He was disappointed when the Cambridge Masters failed to take such a stand
(no. 111: 18 April 1851).
Chevallier's continued interest in his old university was shown in his enthusiastic correspondence with Corrie over the latter's efforts, as Norrisian professor of Divinity, to introduce examinations for students in Divinity (no. 30: 16 May 1838;
no. 55: 24 May 1841; no. 57: 11 April 1842). He was surprised and disappointed when Corrie refused to accept the scheme which was eventually produced (no. 58: 30 May 1842) (ibid., pp.173). TC followed his friend's career with interest, commiserating
with him on his failure to obtain the mastership of St Catharine's (no. 84: 16 November 1845) and expressing the hope - soon fulfilled - that Corrie would become master of Jesus College (no. 102: 16 November 1849). Chevallier himself toyed with the
idea of applying for the Regius Professorship of Divinity in 1842, but on Corrie's advice he did not do so (no. 63: 15 November 1842; no. 64: 5 December 1842).
Chevallier's links with Cambridge were maintained in the 1840s and 1850s when he was invited to edit a work of theology for Cambridge University Press. He wrote to Corrie in 1844:
I am quite happy to learn that the Cambridge Press seems
likely to be demesmerized from the deep sleep in which it has so long been lying. (This was a somewhat sanguine hope in the 1840s: see
A Brief History of the Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 1955),
p.16).
(no. 77: 2 December 1844)
He offered first to edit the works of John Cosin, Bishop of Durham (1660-1672), but on discovering that Joseph Stevenson was doing so for the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology, TC offered to undertake a new edition of Pearson on the Creed (no.
77: 2 December 1844; no. 78: 1 January 1845; no. 79: 24 February 1845; no. 80: 31 March 1845). This work progressed slowly over a number of years (no. 84: 16 November 1845; no. 86: 12 November 1846; no. 91: 10 August 1847; no. 97: 15 May 1848; no
102: 16 November 1849). The first edition appeared in 1849; a second was proposed in 1857 (no. 122: 13 December 1857), which was published in 1859. (John Pearson, bishop of Chester,
An Exposition on the Creed, revised and corrected by Revd. Temple Chevallier (Cambridge, 1849; 2nd ed. Cambridge, 1859).
As well as these major themes, the correspondence records a number of personal and family matters. Chevallier's constant desire to assist his friends and acquaintances kept him busy. He sought suitable candidates for a variety of posts (no. 6: 8
May 1835; no. 52: 13 January 1841; no. 54: 8 February 1841; no. 62: 1 November 1842; no. 126: 15 December 1864). He sought posts or opportunities for work for a variety of people, ranging from places at Cambridge for young students (no. 25: 5-7
December 1837; no. 47: [21 March 1840]; no. 49: 9 October 1840) to a post as laundress for a maid who had worked for Mrs Chevallier's family (no. 29: 4 May 1838; no. 81: 23 April 1845). He took an interest in the activities of the Revd. Joseph
Stevenson, who was engaged upon “re-arranging all the documents of the Dean and Chapter of Durham in their Treasury” (no. 64: 5 December 1842) (see W.A. Pantin,
Report on the Muniments of the Dean and Chapter of Durham (printed for private circulation, 1939), pp.8-9). TC wrote to Corrie to see if similar work sorting and cataloguing manuscripts could be found for Stevenson in
Cambridge (no. 88: 5 March 1847; no. 89: 13 March 1847). He was anxious likewise to assist those in distressed circumstances: the widow of Dr. Champneys (no. 104: 30 January 1850; no. 121: 19 February 1856), Thorpe, the London bookseller (no. 94: 26
February 1848; no. 96: 12 May 1848; no. 98: 7 June 1848) and the daughters of Milner, late fellow of St Catharine's (no. 126: 15 December 1864, no. 127: 18 May 1865) all received attention.
Throughout the correspondence, there are references to family matters. Indeed, in later years, these predominate. Chevallier's wife, Catharine (née Wheelwright) and their three children, Temple, Catherine and Alicia, appear in many of the letters
as do Chevallier's sisters and Mrs Chevallier's sister, Alicia Wheelwright. Illnesses and deaths are recorded: that of Alicia Wheelwright in 1838 (no. 29: 4 May 1838), of TC's youngest sister in 1842 (no. 59: 4 August 1842), of young Temple, a
victim of diabetes, in 1845 (no. 76: 15 November 1844; no. 77: 2 December 1844; no. 78: 1 January 1845; no. 80: 31 March 1845; no. 81: 23 April 1845; no. 82: 6 May 1845) and of Mrs Catharine Chevallier in 1858 (no. 124: 9 April 1858). The marriage
of the Chevallier's eldest daughter, Catherine, to the Revd. Steuart A. Pears (
Dictionary of National Biography, XLIV (1895), p.156; J.A. Venn,
Alumni Cantabrigienses, II, v, 62) in 1847 is mentioned, with several letters referring to the marriage settlement, of
which Corrie was one of the trustees (no. 29: 18 October 1847; no. 93: 16 December 1847; no. 103: 2 January 1850; no. 106: 22 February 1850; no. 107: 21 March 1850; no. 108: 6 May [1850]; no. 112: 28 June 1851; no. 113: 12 July 1851). There are also
numerous letters concerning Chevallier's house on Hills Road, Cambridge, which he retained for many years, letting it out to a succession of tenants, although making periodic efforts to sell it (no. 72: 12 March 1844; no. 73: 13 March [1844]; no.
77: 2 December 1844; no. 105: 8 February 1850; no. 127: 18 May 1865). When he finally sold the property in 1865, it was purchased, ironically, by the Roman Catholic community of Cambridge, whose chapel was situated on the adjacent land (no. 129: 22
June - 4 July 1865).
This group of letters was purchased by Durham University Library in 1976, from Miss Susan Todd, via Ciderpress Books, Ciderpress Farm, Long Sutton, Somerset. The earlier provenance is unknown.
The letters are arranged in chronological order.
Most are from Temple Chevallier (TC) or George Elwes Corrie (GEC). Names of other correspondents are given in full. Addresses are noted where these appear on the letters.
Extracts from most of the letters from Corrie and several of those from Chevallier (nos. 3, 8, 14, 15, 17, 19, 22, 30, 31, 34, 35, 40) were printed in
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890). This volume also includes extracts from two letters from Corrie to Chevallier, one of 4 May 1833 and one undated but probably
written in early 1837, the originals of which are not among the letters now in Durham. Also included in the printed volume are (p.14-33) extracts from Corrie's journal of a tour through France, Switzerland, etc which he made with Chevallier in the
long vacation, 1821, and (p.55-56) an account from Corrie's diary of his visit to Chevallier at Esh in 1836, as follows:
Aug. 21 [1837]. Went to church at Esh; Chevallier preached. The congregation was of the most rural character and almost
filled the small church. The sermon was heard with great attention. As I looked round on the simple, homely, appearance of this little flock, and remembered their want of education as contrasted with the literary attainments and University Honours
of the Preacher, I could have concluded as a worldly calculation that the talents and scholarship of my friend were thrown away, but I felt as a Christian that it is the highest distinction that can fall to the lot of the most accomplished to be
made the instrument of leading to salvation the poor of this world.
Aug. 23. We went to Durham to attend afternoon service in the Cathedral, where the Bishop, Dr. Maltby, appeared for the first time since his translation. The service was read by the Bishop of Chester. I walked solitarily through the empty aisles
of the Cathedral, and conned over the monuments, to see if I could meet with a line which could give me a hope beyond time.
Aug. 24. We went to Castle Eden Dene or Glen. I have seen glens in Ireland, Scotland, and elsewhere, but I consider the Glen of Eden finest of all. We wandered on, and returning up the glen had a fine view of Mr Burden's house which stands boldly
on the edge of the scenery. Mr B. was the projector of the iron bridge over the Wear to Sunderland, the first iron bridge that was erected in England.
Aug. 26. Messrs Peile of Trinity, Whiteley of St John's (Sen. Wrangler of his year), Cartwright of Christ's and Wailes of Catharine Hall dined with us to-day, so that with Chevallier and myself we were a completely Cambridge party.
Sept. 2. I walked out in the evening three miles to the extreme point of Chevallier's parish, in order to read and explain a chapter in the Bible to some cottagers detached from the rest of the parish. There were about eight or ten persons. I
read Eph.ii. 1-10, and endeavoured as God enabled me to set forth the state of man by Nature and by Grace. It pleased God to give me ready utterance, and the poor people heard me with patient attention. Several of them evidently understood the power
of Divine Life; and I trust we did not meet in vain. On leaving Flas, I passed through Durham, visiting the Cathedral and the Castle and then stopping a night at York, passed on to Sheffield ...
Catalogue of Additional Manuscripts
Correspondence of his elder daughter Catherine Pears is Add Ms 1733.
Memoirs of his younger daughter Alicia are Add Ms 1786.
Correspondence: 1834-1840Add. MSS. 837/1 2 May 1834
From TC at Cambridge to Rev. H[enry] Corrie at Cottesmore (Rutland)
Received news Janett of Corrie's brother's [GEC] “severe illness”; expresses his “earnest wishes & prayers are that your brother may be restored”; will go to Cottesmore to see
Corrie's brother if requested.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/2 31 October 1834
From TC at Durham to GEC at Kettering (Northants)
TC had been offered the Mathematical professorship, but he is “debating the point” as he has also been asked to take lectures for Divinity; started lectures in Ecclesiastical history soon after arriving so is
working hard as he has nothing prepared; “The class consists of about a dozen”; nothing is clearly set out; “There are the gems of a fine establishment, it will require much management &
much judgement to frame it aright ”; TC will not take the mathematical professorship; as well as studies, the divinity professorship includes a Sunday lecture which is “equivilant to a sermon”; wants the
Divinity professorship but this is the Bishop of Durham's choice and with him being “an Oxford man, he is likely to put in a Man of his own university.”; TC is accommodated in the Bishop of Exeter's rooms with a
“a deaf old woman to wait on me. ”; TC usually dines in the hall but he will dine with the Bishop of Chester; will remain there until 20th December.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/3 6 November 1834
From GEC at Kettering to TC at Durham
Surprised with the Durham postmark on TC's last letter as GEC thought him to be “immersed in all the curses and labours of a Cambridge tutor”; GEC unsure whether TC should take the permanent Mathematics
professorship and would like to see him as professor of Divinity; GEC explains his intention and reasons for doing lectures on Church History ; “ I have often thought that the ancient Heretics were not such fools &
monsters as one has been accustomed to regard them, and for truth sake I should, in reading Eusebius, keep a steady eye on the ancient sayings & doings...”; Lardner has written on the subject of Heresidogy; “Eusebius was a patron of the Asian God”, this needs to be kept in mind when studying “the Doctrine of the Trinity”; acknowledges his digression on Church History; “ I have been obliged to practice the silence of a Pythagorean”; GEC's health is good; lately his time is spent “writing letters of controversy connected with the errors of Popery”; one of
GEC's pupils has moved to the “Church of Rome” after being the guest of George Spencer, GEC tried to educate him in the errors of his ways but in return received a reply stating the reasons why the pupil joined
“the ‘Catholic’ Church, & attacking the ‘sandy Foundation’ of the Church of England, by way I suppose of a complimentary acknowledgement of my attack on
the scheme of justification cultivated by the Council of Trent”; argues the belief of Transubstantiation; the pupil begged GEC to continue to write to him to “convince him of his errors”; controversy over Dr
[William] French being elected as vice-chancellor [of Cambridge]; “most probably spend the next two months in Lamington”; “I shall not go to Cambridge this Term as I have nothing to do there
but pay money ”.
2f
Extracts printed in:
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), p.35-38.
Add. MSS. 837/4 23 December 1834
From TC at Cambridge to GEC
TC has heard bad accounts regarding GEC's health; Brown sending a parcel; TC considering taking the Mathematical professorship in Durham if he can keep his house; TC taking some of the Divinity classes the following term and would be
“glad of your great experience” of Church History for advice on books; using Mosheine [Lutheran historian] as a text book; happy to be back with his wife and children.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/5 12 February 1835
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC declined the Mathematical professorship and “know no more about the Divinity Professorship than the man in the moon”; GEC going to return to residence [at Cambridge]; advice on lectures [for Church History] has
been useful; finds the Reformation the most interesting subject for lectures; wider reading useful for both TC and his students; discusses reading [Joseph] Milner's work; “I am much pleased with Father Paul's History of the
Council of Trent”; wants Pallavicini's
History to use but TC has not got it with him; the successor of Bishop Chase of Ohio, Dr Maciloaine, is about to visit Cambridge and suggests that GEC introduces himself; “That history of the
Anglo Saxon Church is curious”; references the Anglo Saxon prayers in [Sharon] Turner's History of the Anglo Saxons, vol III, p.487-491; will meet on 16th March.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/6 8 May 1835
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC will give £10 towards the Martin's picture; enquires after Dr [William S.] Gilly; he [Dr Gilly] wants “a respectable young man to be at Norham during the lay vacation & to read with his son” who is 13 years
old; this would be a “great scholarship” and TC presumes the man would stay in Dr Gilly's house; if the young man was in orders then he could help Dr Gilly run his large parish but this is not essential; asks if GEC
knows anyone who would suit the position in “Norham, near Berwick upon Tweed”; TC “satisfied with the prospects of my new parish”; “The population is small,
& full half are catholicks”; starting a Sunday school, at first this idea was not welcomed by the parish but the following Sunday there were 24 names on the list and TC is expecting half a dozen more; “I was
driven last Sunday, for the first time in my life, to an unwritten sermon”; TC arrived at the church at 10:30am to prepare the Sunday school when he found many people under the impression that there was a morning service, TC
“could not send them away fasting”; TC believes that he will have a house in the parish when he is not giving lectures; the bishop has found an old mansion house which was last occupied by a gentleman who lost his
money 40 years previous; the surrounding land is “in a pretty secluded vally, with a trout stream running in front of the house”; hopes to persuade the parishioners to repair the road outside the house.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/7 2 October 1835
From TC at Durham to GEC at Kettering
Letter was forwarded from Cambridge as they left on 21 September; GEC's sister died; TC's youngest brother, of Pembroke, has died; his body was found in a canal in Rotterdam; TC found out on his return to Cambridge in August
“& immediately went to Aldborough to gain all particulars from Susan who was of the party”; TC had “cleaned him off about two years ago, he had been living quite within his means, &
could have had no anxiety upon that point”; the death of TC's brother shows how he can sympathize with GEC over the death of a close family member; TC has anxiety whether or not, according to the oath he took at Cambridge, he can take office
at Durham University; TC knows of other MAs who have held office in other academical institutions and the law does not forbid Cambridge MAs from holding office elsewhere; “The V. Chancellor thinks the best way would be to
obtain an interpretation, by the head of Houses, inspecting that part of the statutes” and TC is “in communication with him on the subject”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/8 3 October 1835
From GEC at Kettering to TC at Durham
GEC sent a letter to TC the day he received one from him; GEC was called from the “neighbourhood of Stamford by the illness & ultimate death of my youngest sister” who died from Consumption;
“For a month past she seems to have been satisfied that she must speedily die”; religion became more important to her as she came closer to dying; GEC is sorry to have missed TC at Stamford;
“As regards religion one can always pay something to value in the society of truly xtreme persons but to whom can I venture to display all the oddness of my natural character?”; comments on the irregularity of their
correspondence and their many subjects; “I have been found at times walking about in the cool of the evening with four or five dozen at my heel (of various grades from the Mastiff to the Lap-dog) a terror to every
unfortunate Hare or rabbit that crossed my path. At other times I have been working like a common Carpenter, & plasterer in the Construction of a Moss-House for the Nevile girls. ”; hopes to do more scholarly work over the winter; GEC
“does not think that Henry Rose has made so much of his references” on the subject of the Irish Church; GEC is considering writing a “ Review of Moore; History of
Ireland but I hate to be tied to time”; “This puts me in mind that my brother intends preaching a Sermon on the 4th of October” on the English Church; GEC hopes that the importance of the Protestant
religion is preached throughout England; “There can be no doubt but that in Ireland a great work is going on in spite of all the resistance & open persuation enacted by the Popish priesthood.” GEC has
“many ‘irons in the fire’” as he has things on Popery for circulation on the O'Brien protests in Ireland; “but I have so long laid aside from work that I
scarcely know how to find time for picking up my irons”; GEC hopes to be in College on the 16 October.
2f
Extracts printed in:
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), p.38-39.
Add. MSS. 837/9 21 November 1835
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC has had an old pupil, Lambrecht, write to him to ask if he would procure some thoroughbred dogs, either setters or pointers, 12 - 18 months old for no more than £10 each; TC believes GEC would be able to find something suitable from his
gamekeeping friends; if something suitable is found then TC will “write to Lambrecht to divise the means for having them forwarded to Donai where he lives” and money will be sorted then; TC describes the lack of
communication between the Roman Catholics in his parish and the College; “But I find some of them doing what they can to thwart my proceedings... building a school house close to the the Church yard”; TC had a
“stove put up in the Church, while the R.C. chapel is quite cold”; going to preach in two different parts of the parish as some of the infirmed members cannot attend Church; has come across a book, a
“N[ew] T[estament] circulated among the Wesleyan Methodists” printed about 1806 “containing a life of [John] Wesley, adorned with his effigies, and five sleek faces of some of his
followers”; the book is a newer version and TC sees it as maybe “a powerful & dangerous engine ... introduced under the guise of the establised version”; TC asks if GEC knows about the book or its history;
TC wishes to have more accurate information regarding GEC's actions with the Irish clergy so he can take part; TC finds himself reading more than ever, “Partly because I am not yet quite settled”; TC has heard that
the bishop of Bath has proposed to send young men to be educated then “appointed time in due course to livings. He will give... £200 a year and a house”, it is unclear where the funding will come from;
“Jenkyns, the Greek professor, is to have the Divinity professorship”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/10 28 November 1835
From GEC at Cambridge to TC at Durham
GEC thinks he can provide Lambrecht with “some well bred pointers”; recommends Lambrecht should buy younger dogs than 12 - 18 months as English dogs are broken in well before that age; “propose much better to have young, unbroken, dogs; which of a proper breed may be made, among other things, soon to speak French”; GEC will meet TC with the dogs since if they are “packed off
” they are most likely not to be cared for in transit; “I have not seen the book you mention which is circulated by the Wesleyans as the New Testament.”; GEC wants TC to send him the title page of the book so
he can obtain a copy himself; “The book in question does indeed show how important it is to restrain mere adventurers & sectarians”; “I should have been much better pleased to hear of
your appointment to the Divinity Professorship than that of Mr. Jenkyns”; “but from his breeding I sh[ou]d fancy him too much of your Bp's school to possess much ‘unction’. ”;
“High-Church notions...which are or were in the Course of Publication at Oxford, touchy Church-Matters. So very unqualified use some of the manifestoes that you might fancy them to have issued from the Vatican.”;
“... I am of Hooker; opinion that the want of sufficient authority to administer a Divine Rite is not visited on the ignorant, but faithful, recipient. I do not think, however, that Oxford Tracts sufficiently recognise this
idea; but devote a great deal too much on ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are we!’”; GEC does not believe there is any “authentic statement” published relating
to the distress of the Irish Clergy but thinks there is something printed in Dublin University's magazine, however he does not know in which number; GEC has a letter from a clergyman in Cork who claims that a family in his diocese lives only on
oatmeal; another family “has been unable to procure any animal food for his family for some months”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/11 24 February 1836
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC wants GEC to help him settle some of his accounts from his old College; “There is nothing wh[ich] I dislike so much as such accounts”; TC has drawn a table detailing who and what he owes; TC asks GEC for
various addresses of whom he is supposed to owe money to; “If any of these sums have got mixed in with your College acc[oun]ts you will be able to discover them.”; death of the bishop [of Durham, William van
Mildert], it is expected that “Bishop [Edward] Grey will succeed him here; & that Dr Arnold will be one of the new Bishops; if I suppose the rumour of today of the Bp of Peterborough's death is founded in fact.”;
invites GEC to visit in the summer, “the beginning of the lay vacation could be a good time”; “The papists try to bother me out from building a school which I am now about”;
“The poor Bp. was to have made up the deficiency in subscriptions; but I must now look out elsewhere.”; “don't take this as a hint for begging”; I have no doubt I can raise funds
enough in the immediate neighbourhood... I am only waiting for the new Highway act, to commence ... to compel them to do which they have been promising for 9 months to do by fair means; TC's wife and children are well.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/12 11 March 1836
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
In the last
Edinburgh Review, there was a review on a pamphlet on mathematics which “falls foul of the study in general, with sundry hand names of ‘fool, beggar, blockhead’”; this has forced TC to give a lecture on the subject to “defend the study of Mathematics as an intellectual exercise, for young men are soon enough persuaded by any person...”; the lecture is also going to be
printed; TC tried to explain the practical implications of using mathematics; “physical science by a influence to [William] Herschel's late discovery of the orbits of double stars: contained I believe in the
Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol.VI p. 149.– I have not seen the paper since it came out, &.: was obliged to give the substance from memory as nearly as I could.”; remembering from memory was
good enough for a lecture but TC wants some advice from GEC as he cannot get a copy and “I wish to avoid any mis statement”; TC asks for clarification on some points in his paper; “The
Transactions are at the Phil. Society's rooms”; Lambecht “seems out of his wits for joy about his English dogs - Bp Maltby is to be elected on Saturday week – Quantime mistakes!”; the new bishop is said to make
monetary cuts “the [ser] is to be dismally cut down: & the prebends it is said reduced five to four.”; the money saved may go to keeping the castle; “We hope that there shall be some
money to keep it, as it will be like a present of an elephant to a day labourer.”; TC hopes that GEC will meet up with him in Flass as they are visiting for a month.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/13 4 June 1836
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC is looking forward to seeing GEC at Flass as GEC is “not going to Ireland, hope that you will be able to spend a longer time with us than you would otherwise have been able to do”; will
“be glad of the opportunity of talking over with you all old times, & reviving old feelings”; Alicia may be with them from July and “remain during the greater part of the summer”;
the house at Flass is in “reasonable order, for a country place”; TC enjoyed Easter there so he is booked in for the summer; in his parish, TC is “brought in contact with obstacles which do
not much trouble parish priests in England: to wit, Roman Catholics, with their exquisite delusions & unscrupulous ways of winning over people to their creed; and more than one gang of illicit whisky distillers, who reduce some of my young lads:
& one of them is connected with people who ought to know better.”; whilst TC is on his “round of weekly cottage reading, that there is a Roman Catholic a two who happen to be in the house & come in ”;
the RC priest opens up the garden next to his chapel for cricket after morning service; on his way to meet the RC priest TC found his principal scholars playing marbles, on a Sunday; one night TC had seven children christened; the school house is
nearly ready; TC asks GEC to enquire about an account he had with Gleadall which he cannot recollect; sending GEC a cheque for Fisher for £12 4s.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/14 6 June 1836
From GEC at Cambridge to TC at Durham
GEC was going to write to TC earlier, but glad he did not as GEC now knows of his whereabouts; GEC will be in Kettering until August reading for his college lectures; GEC will read about “two classical subjects, the
Gospel of St. Luke, and the collateral reading connected w[ith] the Jewel's Apology; all of which fall to my share in the ordinary routine of next year's College campaign”; GEC needs to “prepare about four sermons on
the Doctrinal Articles of the Church of England to be preached in Chapel” and both GEC and [Henry] Philpott have argued that this is the right course of action; they will start with a “Course of Lectures, beginning
with the Articles of our Church, Philpott taking the historical & I the Doctrinal Articles.”; GEC cannot travel to Durham until this preparation is complete; “my winter then is to go from Durham via Carlisle,
Porta Patrick, Donnaghadee, the Giants Causeway, Lough Erne, down the Shaunnon to ... Limerick”; GEC's brother worries that GEC will get ill again if he travels; GEC will not travel “ if in these days of verity he be
ready to back his decisions by an Affidavit, why then I shall not cross the seas”; GEC has seen in a Durham newspaper that TC had baptised seven babies; TC's parish “must have been some what neglected; or else,
perhaps, Popery like dissent, may have unsettled the minds of the people even though they may have retained the external profession of Protestantism.”; TC must proceed with caution in regards to the priest's cricket field;
“in Ireland nothing is so common as to have your feelings shocked by Sunday dances, & games of all kinds. Human nature, in fact, finds but little restraint from Popery in matters moral”; GEC recommends that TC
should privately teach his own people about the duties of the Sabbath; there was an article in the
British Magazine concerning the Popist Question by Rose; “I think, however, Rose does not quite know where he is.”; GEC thanks TC for his Terminal Lecture “which I read with much pleasure”; GEC has not seen the book by Gleadall but hears that he talks of Bp Cuthbert in 745; GEC will travel to Kettering on Monday.
2f
Extracts printed in
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), p.50-51.
Add. MSS. 837/15 15 July 1836
From GEC at Kettering to TC at Durham
GEC should be in Cambridge for the assizes as “ the College is expected to have to defend themselves from the machinations of Mr. Hallock a guardian tenant of our's”; Mr Bassell said there should be no law suit;
GEC going to Ireland no later than Monday 25th; GEC has been asked by the O'Briens to take their youngest son with him to Ireland as he “is so drunken & disorderly that they cannot trust him alone, nor would it be of
the slightest use putting him in charge of a servant for he is under no control for authority of that kind.”; GEC is going to comply with the O'Briens' request therefore his visit to see TC is delayed from August to September; GEC wants to
travel to Ireland via Holyhead as he has not travelled this way before; GEC does not wish to stay more than a day in Dublin; “most probably by Thursday or Friday following the 25th I shall (if God speed me) be at
‘Cratloe Woods, near Limerick’ when my abode will be till toward the end of August. My young friend Augustus O'Brien has lately been settled there by his father; and my object in visiting Ireland is entirely to see
& encourage him in well-doing.”; whether GEC goes more westerly will depend upon O'Brien; GEC may go on a trip to the western islands; GEC has “a most itching desire to see the Island of Achill” where Mr
Hale's “reign of ‘The Beast’ are drawing to a close”; “some of the Peasantry are ready to engage in any enormity dictated by their Priests”; O'Brien's
property has a school which has had no tolerance for “priestly authority” and the local priest has unsuccessfully tried to “ put it down”; GEC has decided to write a paper on the
peasantry and their beliefs; GEC has had to “shut myself up in order to read hard.”; GEC and Philpott have been working together; “Will you say to Miss [O'Brien] that I hope to pay off my
debt of correspondence to her very speedily: but that I will not give sixpence toward her New Church”.
2f
Extracts printed in
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), p.52-53.
Add. MSS. 837/16 28 October 1836
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC wishes to question GEC regarding an “Oxonian respecting the vacant fellowships at Downing” and if the position is open to others rather than only regular candidates; if the position is open, then when, where,
and how long are the exams?; the weather is not very good; “Many of them about here have not yet got in all their wheat”; TC's schoolmaster had an illegitimate child, now 7 years old; “ I
felt compelled to break off his connection with my school.”; the schoolmaster said he should have quit at Christmas; he said a friend of TC's “in the summer of 1835 agreed on my behalf that he should have 3 months
notice on quitting the school.”; TC was unaware of this arrangement but would honour it if it was true; as TC started writing the letter to confirm, the schoolmaster admitted that writing the letter would be futile as it was untrue; the
schoolmaster went with “some of the Catholics - who wished nothing better than to make a strife”; all of the family are well; “One thing I am convinced of is that a newspaper is not the place
for biblical criticism”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/17 1 November 1836
From GEC at Cambridge to TC
GEC enquired of the master about the Downing fellowship which is open to both universities; examinations are to take place soon at Trinity and vary in duration; GEC will ask the master to forward any information to TC; GEC asks TC to look at a
sermon he “preached ages ago” and correct it; “I did my best to correct the first sheets of the proof; and owing to the great inaccuracies & odd blunders of the country-printers, I never
had such a job in my life.”; GEC sorry to hear about TC's school teacher; “...whilst the friends of morality are few, the enemies of God are many.”; “Yet the moral of all this is
plain; for as you had succeeded in obtaining a School House to the no small contentation of all around & to your own heart as well, there comes a ‘crook in the lot’ - a bitter in the sweet; and so we can only
thank God that our crosses have a use”; “My hope, therefore, is that you will find no permanent evil to follow”; GEC writes about Buckland's Bridgewater treatise, “...as a literary
& scientific producture it is considered to have done him the reverse of credit...”; GEC has not read his book “and am in no hurry to do so”; GEC “ is putting together a short
history of the origin & contents of the Formularies of Faith which appeared previous to the 39 Articles”; “I begin, of course, with the Articles of
1536 and have to wade through and compare the Institution of a Christian Man (1537), and the Necessary Doctrine, &c. (1543). The Institution, &c.
being of no authority, I only use it by way of ascertaining the progress and change of religious opinion from 1536-1543.”; GEC compares the preface to
Cranmers Remains by Jenkyns and the Six Articles in regards to “‘Necessary Erudition’” and transubstantiation;
“...distinction between a true faith which is meanwhile dead, and a true faith which being joined with charity and hope, is alive and justifies.”.
2f
Extracts printed in
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), p.59-61.
Add. MSS. 837/18 10 February 1837
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
As TC has not heard from GEC in a while he wishes to know how he is; “...in other instances where I have had to make it, I have almost always found that the influenza has been at work; & I should be sorry that it had
fixed upon you.”; everyone is effected by it with children affected the least and older people the most; TC last heard that GEC was going to Blatherwick to plant trees which he guesses “the snow pretty considerably
did not let you do.”; TC was going to go to Flass when it started snowing, so they waited until the next day but the “roads were in passable except on horseback or on foot”; TC sent a paper to GEC detailing a
dinner which Bishop Maltby had and his testimony was “satisfactory”; TC discusses “an odd proceeding”; TC asks GEC to “ascertain without making a stir,
whether any official or other communication has been made by the Bp. [of Ely] to the heads or other authority in the university [of Cambridge]”; “In some aspects we at Durham are awkwardly situated...some...look upon
us as a part of the movement”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/19 16 & 18 February 1837
From GEC at Cambridge to TC
16 February. As a parcel is to be sent to Durham, GEC takes this opportunity to write; GEC has been busy and “snow, planting, influenza, and lectures” have prevented him writing earlier; thanks TC for his
“report of the Bp's dinner”; Bishop Maltby belongs to the Whig party “ which makes a trade of lying”; GEC has noticed that TC has “something to do with St.
Omer”; GEC is the only person out of the family who has seen the paper containing it and concerning the bishop of Ely refusing candidates for orders from Durham, “I cannot make out on whose advice the Bp of E. acts
but I think it probable that some of the meddlers here have been talking to him on the subject”; GEC mentioned this to the master and he said “‘It w[oul]d be highly improper for us to
prescribe to the Bp rules for admitting Candidates for Orders’”; GEC thinks that the “Bp of E. has been talked over by some of the persons in authority”; GEC pities TC in his “
go-between state, for though you are a Tory set, yet you really are a part of the ‘Movement’”; Cathedral property has been put aside for “your use”, [use of the University], and
it is felt by some that this is wrong; “...if the Chapter of Durham consented to alienate their revenues for purposes not contemplated (is it so ?) by the Donors, and in so doing did right: what is all this din of Deans and
Chapters about the sacrilege of meddling with other Cathedral-property for the sake of effecting objects equally desirable ?”; “How can any man so far delude himself as to suppose that he is acting from conscience
when he stands up and lies (excuse my connexion with the school of O'Connell), yes absolutely lies, as every dissenter did who voted for the resolutions lately proposed by the Delegates of the factions in London last week!”;
“An odd lady-friend of mine believes that some souls emanate from above & some from beneath; and if the truth with which some natures sympathise with ‘the Father’ of falsehood be a
criticism, my friends' theory ought not hastily to be rejected.”; “...if we get back to Popery again, as we shall do if the Oxford-men have their way...” then they can reform a second time.
18 February. GEC has an edition of
Melanethon's Works and recommends that TC reads it if he continues to read Life of Melanethon; GEC has sent a small parcel that he hopes might have a better chance of reaching
Northallerton and asks TC to send it with his servant next time he is going.
2f
Extracts printed in
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), p.71.
Add. MSS. 837/20 15 March 1837
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
GEC's letter dated 16 February did not reach TC until that morning; therefore... you are deeply indebted to me for a prompt & speedy reply; there is a misapprehension as to how the University of Durham was endowed by the Dean and Chapter;
“That endowment was by no means an alienation of their revenues for purposes contemplated by the donors.”; “‘The instruction of youth in virtue and good
learning’” is in the Chapter statutes; by finding a university, the D&C have not gone against this principle; “From the earliest period a grammar school has accordingly formed part of the Cathedral
establishment... the university is the expansion of a lay establishment principle, not a departure from it.”; in future, the bishop of Durham will hold the “Castle in trust for the University”; ownership of
the Castle was the bishop's as Prince Palatine; ownership should pass onto the bishop [of Durham] or bishop of Ripon; with a bishop's reduced income, it would have been sold or gone into ruin; TC sees no problem in the Castle being
“in the hands of the Bp of Durham, in Trust for the University”; TC had to return thanks to the bishop on behalf of his diocese when the chairman had invited him to do so; the chairman apologized for putting him on
the spot but “I had eaten of the Bishop's salt, and was bound to say what I could...”; GEC's parcel is on its way to Northallerton.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/21 27 May 1837
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC had a “rapid passage through Cambridge on my return from Suffolk”; TC's sister is not as ill as he originally thought, although “suffering from extreme weakness... there is no
disease”; on TC,s return to Durham he learnt that Lord John Russell had withdrawn “his opposition to our Charter, & given directions that it should be expected forthwith”; “I
suppose the Charter will by this time have received all the great & little seals wh[ich] are requisite for its validity”; Brown (Stafford) is going to Australia; “...containing the estimation wh[ich] he has
earned by his exemplary conduct & ambition... [has] the best prospects of advancement”; Brown is making a “great sacrifice in order to be placed in a sphere of more extended usefulness”; he is not old
enough for ordination; TC enquires whether one can take an MA after a degree of Bachelor of Laws at Cambridge, and by what process; “ At Oxford I find that the B.C.L. is considered a more advanced degree than the
M.A.”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/22 16 September 1837
From GEC at Blatherwycke (Northants.) to TC at Flass Hall, Esh
GEC's absence from Durham should be no surprise to TC after they talked whilst in Cambridge; GEC's brother has returned from Ireland, he has no need to remain in Blatherwycke; “Then came my brother-in-law & his
family on a visit, and still remain here.”; since GEC has not seen his relations for nearly two years he needs to stay out of “common decency”; “To attempt a sully forth on a visiting
expedition now would be like courting a brain-fever, for I must keep myself in perpetual motion so as to have the slightest chance of getting back to College” in time; GEC has hardly read as he has a “special love...
[for] the air of heaven”; GEC used to hunt, though now he has practised self-denial and has even “refrained from taking out a Certificate for killing Partridges & Hares”, although he still practises deer
hunting as he finds the practice “airy and intellectual”; “My brother has returned from Ireland, full of the working of Popery in that unhappy country.”; “Priests of Ushaw” had forbidden servants to go to their employer's “ family worship, or from doing anything for you!”; the servant has two choices “submit to the
domination of this priestly tyranny or become absentees”; a housemaid of GEC received a message that she could not attend morning prayers as the priest had forbidden it; “Augustus had courage to face this trouble,
& told his servant she must quit his house instantly, but that he w[oul]d give her the best of characters.”; she kept her job and defied the priest; “‘Old Peggy’” gave her
confessions in Irish, the priest did not mind her going to her master's prayers as he “thought I c[oul]d not understand a hap'worth of 'em”; GEC feels that this kind of deception undervalues “the truth of God himself”; GEC does not want Sir R[obert] Peel back in power; “I see apprehension in the minds of our Legislators often impotent of upholding the Chuch as an instrument for the
promotion of truth, rather than as a matter of state-policy, I do not see what possible good w[oul]d derive from a change of ministry.”; “It is notorious that the most injurious features of the Church Commission are
the workmanship of Sir R. Peel: & so long as his principles remain what they were, we can expect nothing better from his hands”; GEC hopes that “better principles are getting abroad”; GEC asks TC to look
at a letter in the
British Magazine on “‘schism’” signed GB; the letter was written by a friend of GEC's; on his return to Cambridge, he intends to write a letter to the
British [Magazine] on the subject of Dr [John] Lingard's History of England; “He is a mischevous Papist & a liar”; GEC looks forward to when the
“beauty & truth of paradise shall be re-established”.
2f
Extracts printed in
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), p.88-90.
Add. MSS. 837/23 13 November 1837
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC is “conscious of my negligence” to write to GEC; TC did not expect to see GEC over the previous summer; TC was “able to expatiate more freely in consequence of my having bought a grey
mare”; “you will laugh at my setting up for a jockey; knowing, as your are aware as little about a horse as about a camel”; TC relied upon his own judgement when he bought the horse; TC doubts the horse will
“work -& apprehend a weakness in one of her fore-legs”; TC is surprised that GEC has returned to the practice of deer-shooting; TC believes that GB's letters on schism were “strong” and “called for”; TC believes the church is “scattered”; “The Eccles.' Commission seems to be tired & sick of its work,
& the commissioners sick of one another”; a measure that the Ecclesiastical Commission has recieved from the Welsh bishop is a “scheme for the promotion of persons having Welsh professment without a due knowledge
of the language of our British ancestors”; “I think it not unlikely that so much good may come out of evil, that the Whips in power may think the Church too good a bid at laying golden eggs, to have the throat cut
yet.”; “Have you read or looked at Lees' Translation of Job?”; TC does not like Lees' tone and thinks he “will set up some peoples' backs to pick a hole
in his logic”; “Cambridge has altered the oaths at matriculation - thereby following the example of Oxford, or rather following the same course for wh[ich] the radicals give...”; “If
the Universities do nothing, they are bigotted & stupid: if they... amend, then they are intimidated into conformity with the spirit of the age”; “We are glad today (Tuesday) to hear a more favourable acc[oun]t of
Alicia”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/24 15 November 1837
From GEC at Cambridge to TC at Durham
GEC went to see Alicia Wheelwright and “am far from satisfied with appearences”; “She seems to have had a violent attack of general Inflamation” which has been treated by bleeding
and leeching; she has asked GEC to tell TC of her peace of mind “incase it sh[oul]d be the will of God that her strength ultimately fails”; Alicia asks to see both TC and Catherine Chevallier but if
“Mrs C. is not quite certain that she can bear to see a suffering sister with some degree of composure she (Alicia) begs her not to come”; when GEC saw Alicia “she was quiet & free from
pain & far stronger than I expected”; GEC will visit Alicia that night and add a postscript; GEC hopes to minister her some spiritual comfort.
PS Alicia is exhaused and could benefit from a relative's presence; “So far as I can minister to her souls' welfare in reading & praying with her I shall make it my daily duty”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/25 7-8 December 1837
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
When TC was in Cambridge he mentioned that Henry Langley failed to pass the scholarship part of an exam; he is the eldest son of John [Donce] Langley from Ballyduft, County Waterford, a magistrate born on 12 May 1803; due to his high
recommendations, TC recommends him for admission, even though his knowledge of “Greek is at present small, it may possibly, like simple's love, ‘diminish on further acquaintance’”; he
wishes to start in the current term, “as a Pensioner. He is a married man”; due to family reasons his wife is unable to join him in Cambridge until the following autumn; he currently lives in
“Ballyduft, Waterford, & he would be much delighted if you would inform him when he is admitted, & at the same time tell him the subjects of lectures for next term”; TC has applied to Jenkyns for a list of
books that he uses in his lectures, these are; “Interpretation of N.J. - Ernestio' institutio Interfrestis, translated by Tenot in the Biblical Cabinet; Criticism of N.T. - The same: but much additional matter from Marsh,
Griesbach, & others; 3G Arts. - Burnet - Hay; Liturgies - Palmer - Bingham - Apostolical Constitutions Missal & Rome & Sarum; Early Eceles. Hist. - Euscubis - Marheeim de zebro ante Constant.; History of Ch. of England - Short's selected
- or Canvitheus' Hist. of Ch. of England”; TC highlights the fact that maths is not taught to theological students; “Alicia is likely by God's help to be spared to as some time longer”; TC thought that her
condition was fatal; TC has written to get a “respectable person” to act as her housekeeper; TC does not know how to arrange getting her home; TC will spare the expense of getting her home but cannot be away from home
very long so would be grateful if an escort could be found for Alicia which he acknowledges would be more difficult at Christmas time.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/26 1 February [1838]
From TC at Durham to GEC
“I will be glad to have the parish cleaned by your man”; TC offers £5 or £5 5s to be paid when the work is completed; “I am much obliged by the estimate for painting, which may prove
very serviceable. In the extracts from the Psalms, in the service for the Queen's accession, in the Prayer books lately printed at Cambridge, the word Queen is part for King, as _ _ grant the Queen a long life”; a parallel to this is at the
assize sermon at the cathedral, “the Coronation anthem was performed, & the choir actually sang ‘... God save the QUEEN’”; “Wightman was one of the
judges present... [and sang] with more energy than dignity”; TC has had “satisfactory accounts of my brother: but his speech does not seem to improve”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/27 3 March 1838
From GEC at Cambridge to TC at Durham
“Till within this last fortnight her [Alicia's] recovery was truly surprising; she has been sitting on her couch for one or more days”; “Two or three days ago she had a good deal of low
fever & was depressed in spirit”; Alicia claims that Dr Thackery's treatments have not worked and desires that Dr Haviland should see her; “she has an unusual degree of reluctance to speak to Dr T.”;
“Dr T. does not think well of Alicia's case (so saith Mr Beedy) he may well be supposed to be glad to get some other Physician to share responsibility with him.”; GEC suggests that TC should write to Mrs Preedy and
suggest that Dr Haviland should see Alicia, as well as Dr Thackery, mentioning that it is only reasonable that after 5 months of illness he should have an assistant; “Alicia has an idea that Dr T. would be grievously
offended, though I can scarcely concieve that he w[oul]d”; Alicia's mind is calm now with the exception of a few days where she found it difficult to concentrate, “she complained of a wandering of thought”;
“we have no ground for reckoning upon her speedy recovery”; “I have but little to tell you of my own affairs”; GEC has been nominated as a candidate for the professorship;
“People who case for me are sangerine, I am really frightened at the idea of being elected, for how can I find time to propose Lectures between May & October”; Dr Turton advised GEC to make some plans and GEC
thought this to be “almost presumptious folly” and went back to work; GEC is anticipating his rejection; “I am asked to be my brother's successor in the Living of Blatherwycke which he is on
the point of vacating for that of Kettering”; GEC claims he could “not do the duty of the smallest parish”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/28 15 March 1838
From [Mrs] C[atherine] Chevallier at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
CC asks GEC to see Alicia; “tell her that it is being adviseable for her to think seriously of sending for the famous Brodie from London to see her”; CC has been told that Brodie is “singularly skilful” in Alicia's case; CC advises the words which Alicia could tell her physicians that she wanted Brodie to come and see her; “It will cost a good deal: but thank God, she has the
means”; “I cannot let her go without all attempts being made”; CC wrote to Dr Haviland; the request to see Brodie must come from Alicia.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/29 4 May 1838
From [Mrs] Catherine Chevallier and TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
CC has received the box and wishes to thank GEC for all he has done; GEC gave CC “the memoir of my dear dear lost sister's last days” for which she is very grateful; CC will only show TC and perhaps her children;
CC feels her sister's presence with her; CC misses her dear companion and friend through life; “I leave the rest of my paper to T.”; [TC's letter] “It seems to be touching upon a discordant
string, to term from what has been (on earth) to the present & the future prospects, which open, of temporal interests. And if one were inclined to give way to the feeling ... it might ...be a violation of the respect due to the departed”
; TC congratulates GEC on being elected to the Norisian professorship; wishes GEC good health to work in this position; “Burton had not matured any plan in Oxford for theological examinations: he intended to have introduced
them: but his days were numbered before he brought his plan to bear”; TC asks GEC to enquire about a “4 Dozen hamper of wine” which was supposed to arrive with his other packages; “I
shall hope to hear from you when your plans of reading & occupation are a little fixed”; CC wishes to know where her maid, Mary, goes when she leaves, and to tell her cousins.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/30 16 May 1838
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC asks GEC to enquire about the hamper mentioned in his previous letter; expects that the wine never left the cousins' cellar, “But as old wine, like old friends, is not to be given up for a trifle of trouble”, TC
asks GEC to enquire whether the hamper left Swans, and if not, for it to be sent immediately; “The course of lectures wh[ich] you have planned seems to me well calculated to find employment for yourself for 50 years'
Lectures and to be of use to your hearers”; “I am certain that the lectures, be they as valuable as they may, will be thrown away upon ordinary men who are always extraordinarily idle and careless unless their
attention is fixed by the necessity of passing an examination.”; “I found that the Papists in my absence had been holding a meeting”; they complained about the church rates and “complained greatly of my enormity in having given away 10s worth of grass wh[ich] continues to grow in the Churchyard”; TC called a meeting on Monday, of which two thirds “were of the ould
religion, & savage enough they looked”; TC pointed out the law on all the things they had complained about; “I think, that my school children here appeared all in mourning for poor Alicia on their own
suggestion”.
2f
Extracts printed in
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), p.99.
Add. MSS. 837/31 31 May 1838
From GEC at Cambridge to TC at Durham
GEC hopes that the wine will arrive with TC soon as it has been sent; “whereupon the time at which goods are sent off & the rate at which they travel, are always decided by the internal feelings of the Carrier”
; if the goods do not arrive then GEC “will persecute Swan & Co. unitl the wine is forthcoming”; GEC is going to talk to Dr Hollingworth about his public lectures; GEC may mention prophecy in his lectures as the
“Founder of the Professorship mentions the subject of Prophecy as among those he sh[oul]d wish to have touched upon”; during the first year GEC is going to concentrate his lectures more upon the
“preparation of men for the Xtian Ministry”; GEC sees a necessity for “King Candidates for Orders to be better acquainted with [the] Office they undertake” and the Norisian lectures
are designed for this purpose; GEC was not surprised by TC's “Papistical opponents in the Church-rate matter”; “If (as the history of the world shows) they can but get rid of Episcopacy
combined with true doctrine, sectarianism in all its forms will speedily disappear in a return of sectaries into the bosom of the ‘ould ’ Church.”; “since all who seem to be or profess
to be Xtians are not so, & do not live as Xtians, there must be a Church-government calculated for man as he is, and like dissent not for man as he is assumed to be.”; “When one looks at the present state of the
Continent & finds those cities which took the lead in the Reformation, now besotted with Popery, & connect the process by which they became so with what we see going on in our own country, I, for one, sh[oul]d not be surprised at the
prevalence of Popery in this land, to a far greater extent than one can contemplate with comfort.”; GEC wants TC to “ procure him a copy of your clerk's verses on Alicia's death”; GEC acknowledges how
gratifying it must have been for Alicia to be regarded by the school children; GEC found in Alicia's journal many notices of her engaging with the poor, “& of her efforts to reclaim them from misery &
sin”.
2f
Extracts printed in
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), pp. 100-101.
Add. MSS. 837/32 [?1838]
From [TC] to GEC at Cambridge (incomplete)
[TC] has been given a book
[Bas du systeme Meituquer Decimal on Mesure de C'aie du Meridien de pan Men Mechain et Delambe &c.], which is missing the figures that should be on two plates, so “the book can hardly be
made out”; [TC] asks GEC to get the figures copied for him and sent to Durham by Wilkinson of St Johns.
1f
Add. MSS. 837/33 29 June 1838
From TC at Flass Hall to GEC at Cambridge
The first page of the letter surrounds an article entitled
Northern Asylum for the Blind, and Deaf and Dumb, Newcastle-on-Tyne, June 23, 1838; the article's main subject is the rules and bye-laws of the proposed institution regarding religious instruction; the article also
asks for subscriptions; TC encloses the article as GEC keeps “an eye on the principles of Dissent”; the Asylum for the Blind was to have a “liberal footing” regarding religion; they
had recruited the “Bp of Durham, the Duke of Northumberland & other noblemen & gentlemen as patrons in various capacities, a meeting took place, a R. Catholic in the chair”; it was suggested that
“religious instruction of the inmates should be on the most broad-bottomed system”, so any religious denomination could deliver the service; clergy and other members of the established church strongly rejected this
proposal and suggested that a “Chaplain of the Established Church ” should deliver services; “This was opposed by the R. Cath. Chairman, & by the Scottish Church”; at a subsequent
meeting, some of the dissenters wanted to exclude Unitarian Ministers, it was agreed not to exclude them; the Church of England has withdrawn from the asylum due to their principles; GEC hopes that this “institution may be
successfully established & prove a blessing: & that this failure of a scheme to act with Dissenters will teach our people a little more caution”; “They made me Seal for Durham”; TC sent GEC a copy of
what his clerk wrote after Alicia's death; “immediately after having sent them, I discovered that he had appropriated a composition of an author superior to himself in talent, in a way not very auditable & very little
improvement”; “Yesterday being the Queen's Coronation I had service & a sermon at my Church at 2 o'clock”, it was well attended; on the evening there were over 100 people for tea, including children; they
had to go inside due to showers but they continued to dance; TC has the two daughters of Mr Paley staying with him, and a young French lady; they all had different dancing styles; “At Durham there was [to] be a dinner to
the poor: & another tee-total Tea-party partonized by those who thought it wrong that the poor people should have a half pint or pint of ale to drink to the Queen's health - strange times”; Bowstead is to be a bishop;
“Surely things are looking up for the Church. Only yesterday , a society lately formed, I believe of all parties, under the inauspicious name of the Club of Odd Fellows, solicited permission to attend the Cathedral on the
Coronation day”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/34 17 October 1838
From TC at Flass Hall to GEC at Cambridge
“I conceive you seated in full-blown professorial dignity not without some anxiety at the commencement of your important labours.”; TC is pleased that GEC will be lecturing on Divinity; everyone is in good health
and CC is feeling better; “You are aware that I have had a prospect of leaving this place, & having a Parish in Durham”, which TC has declined; “I have just made an arrangement for a
way-leave for a railway across part of some property belonging to Esh”; TC thinks that there is a great advantage for the children to have a residence in the country for the summer due to less people being in the country than in a town and
“the attachment wh[ich] ... we feel for the old place”; the RC priest has been denouncing TC; he has been preaching that “if they put their souls into my keeping they will all go to (a place
unfit to name to ears polite)”; the RCs are opposed to the church rate; “ I had hoped that I had tamed the Dragon by facing him boldly, as the American lion tamer does his wild beast”; Alicia's stone on her
grave “(not the head or foot stone)” needs some paint; TC asks GEC “to direct Goode the Painter to rectify it”; TC asks GEC to enquire with Elliot Smith whether anyone is interested in
hiring his house, buying it and what he owes him; TC has written to Smith but has had no response; CC has a commission for GEC; (CC writes); CC is concerned for “old Thomas”; CC has heard that he is unemployed with
no prospects of service; CC asks GEC to find Thomas and ask his what his prospects are and whether GEC can find him anything suitable; Thomas would “take to the North to come so far from his old haunts” so CC cannot
suggest anything for him; CC fears that Thomas will take to drinking if he does not find employment.
2f
Extracts printed in
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), pp. 106.
Add. MSS. 837/35 20 November 1838
From TC to GEC
“Dr Smith is going from Durham this afternoon - & I am to avail myself of the occasion to send a few words.”; “it is a matter of great thankfulness that... [GEC holds] the Norrisian
Professorship”; TC reminisces on his past lectures “given by men of considerable mental thews & sinews”; “I rejoice too that you are able to go through the physical labours of
reading Pearson, which must be considerable, ‘being’ that his sentences are constructed upon the long winded principle, although full of pith & moment.”; TC thinks that GEC has arranged his lectures well;
TC discusses the “Unitarian Sermons of [William] Turner are not yet published”; when they are published they will create lots of debate; the bishop of Durham has given his name to it; “From
what I know of him, I imagine that he has been so mentioned in Whig notions of liberality, that he has lost the perception of the great obituctions of the doctrines which he ought to uphold”; Archdeacon [Charles] Thorp sent a letter as a
result of the feelings of the rest of the clergy to keep the peace; nothing will done to Alicia's grave at present; TC's clerk had printed a copy of the verses upon his death but had not drawn “upon those who had preceded
him”; the school is not doing great under him; “He is unpopular, & slyish - a sad drone in fact... [but] a respectable man”; the majority of government circulars are “in favour of
dissenters?”; TC gave accurate information to the Poor Law Guardians rather than leave it open to misinterpretation; TC thinks that the Poor Law encroaches upon ecclesiastical jurisdiction; TC has had an application from Charles Wagstaff at
his house in Cambridge, he was not eligible and is now looking for a tenant; TC would like to know how All Saints became vacant and where Hughes is going to; TC had a stove put in the church for “£9 or £10 ” and the
parish believe that they would not have had it installed if it was not for him; parish members pay £4 per year subscription; “the Papists are ready to snap up [any children at the school] who leave me”; TC has been
reading H. Martyn's journal and letters and would like to talk about it, amongst other things, when they next meet.
6f
Extracts printed in
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), p.108.
Add. MSS. 837/36 20 November 1838
From [Mrs] Catherine Chevallier at Durham to GEC
CC thanks GEC for complying with her requests; CC not willing to give up on “old Thomas”; CC wants to know if GEC hears any more from him and help him if he requires it; CC will not forget him; CC repays GEC for
paying off her account whilst in London.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/37 23 February 1839
From TC at Durham to GEC [at Cambridge]
Dr Thorp has asked TC to ask GEC a favour, to be one of the examiners for theological students in June next; the examination is approximately 12 June and lasts 3-4 days; TC has sent a calendar so he can see the examination type; also enclosed are
prospectuses for an intended observatory, not so GEC can subscribe, “because you have so many other fish to fry”; TC wishes it to be “put up in the Phil. Soc. Rooms, & ask Crouch to take
any money which liberal Philosophers may be inclined to give”; TC is writing in a hurry; CC has been ill with a cold; Ushaw College has requested that one of its students could attend the public maths lectures as an occasional student;
“What next? Dr Gilly declares it is a Jesuitical scheme to blow up the Curiosity. Others suggest, we should send one or two to learn Theology at Ushaw.”; if GEC decides to be an examiner in June, he can go to Flass
with TC afterwards.
4f
Add. MSS. 837/38 26 February 1839
From GEC at Cambridge to TC at Durham
GEC cannot be the examiner for the theological examinations as they interfere with his “more pressing occupations here”; Cambridge College exams finish at the end of May; GEC's will need to wait for his master to
return from Norwich when the College will be dismissed for the summer; it will be sufficient to tell the warden that he would have been willing to become an examiner if he could have done so “consistently with my avocation
here” and is honoured that the warden chose him; GEC feels that “Pearson the Xtian advocate” would be an examiner if he was asked although he would make a good one; concerning the “Astronomical Prospectus”, GEC will put its exhibition in the Philosophical Society's Room; GEC does not see any problem with the “Ushaw Embryo-Jesuits” attending TC's lectures but he does
not doubt there is strategy at the bottom of it; GEC has two legislators staying with him for a day or two, one of which told him of a conversation he had with Shiel concerning Ireland; the legislator thought that “Ireland
must everlong be in a state of open rebellion” to which GEC replied that this was not true and nothing would be gained from rebellion; the legislator said that “Shiel was far from speaking in metaphor”; Dr
Sandes was made bishop of Killaloe because he “was commanded by O'Connell, ‘who was seconded in his recommendation by Archbp Murray’”; the mastiffs have been unwell but GEC believes
this is due to the varying weather; GEC is pamphleteering; “It all goes to right I hope to have a fattish Pamphlet ready by the time Lord [William Pleydell Bouverie] Radnor or anybody else begins to snarl at our
Universites.”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/39 30 March 1839
From TC at Flass Hall to GEC at Cambridge
TC has acquired Pearson's services as the Theological examiner; TC is soliciting subscriptions for the observatory which currently amount to £1100; an architect is devising plans for the building; “and we are in a fair
way to bring matters to a conclusion”; TC will go to Kent in the second week in April to oversee the packing of instruments; TC does not think he can pass through Cambridge to meet with GEC; TC is looking forward to seeing the reference of
the interference with universities that GEC mentioned; “I am told that all parties begin to look with a soberer eye upon the spoliation of the Church: and that there are considerable doubts whether the Chapter Bill will
pass at least without many modifications.”; TC fears Sir Rob[ert] Peel's opinion on such matters more than Lord John Russell's; “there is some curious matter connected to the popery of the Chapter of Durham &
with the University there.”; “In ages past a College, entitled Durham College, that was founded in Oxford and liberally endowed”; the prior and monks of the priory at Durham were appointed trustees of several
estates which maintained the College and revenues were taxed when revenues fell short; the prior of the abbey became the first dean; the warden of Durham College became the first prebendary and the dean and chapter became possessions in [profoia] persona; the D&C still held the estates that were intended for “ an Academical establishment”; “This is a material point in the question of applying
property from the funds of the Chapter of Durham to the University.”; a “moderate” church rate was proposed at the vestry meeting; the Catholics put forward a motion of adjournment for 12 months; TC refused;
the opposition appointed a poll to take place the following Wednesday; due to Ushaw owing him a favour for letting one of their students attend a lecture, TC went to the principal to ascertain where the “hostile
demonstration was made with this concurrence and that of the College as a body”; the Principle insisted he knew nothing and spoke to Mr Kirk, the College Steward, to arrange an interview with TC; as a result of the meeting, a church rate was
agreed and seconded by a refrectory Ox-feller.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/40 14 May 1839
From GEC at Cambridge to TC at Durham
GEC did not see TC on his journey to or from Kent in April; GEC has seen a paper tracking TC's church rate question and congratulates TC; regarding the principal of Ushaw's sincerity, “For my part I believe a Romanist
sincere only for the moment; beyond that I w[oul]d not believe him on Oath”; “Events seem to be working toward a crisis of some kind, and the God-denying Act of 1829 may well lead us to fear that for a time at least
we shall be left to the tender-mercies of a soidisant liberal (!!) Popery.”; God is omnipotent and they must go through the pain and trials so they are more worthy of being redeemed; GEC has printed a pamphlet
Brief historical notices of the Interference of the Crown with the Affairs of the English Universities; GEC's aims were two-fold: firstly to ascertain historical changes in colleges and universities and
“secondly, to show incidentally how good, sturdy, sound principle has always been quite equal to protecting the right against all the odds of power in the wrong.”; if universites are protected by law then
“any interested parties can at any time agree with the minister of the Crown to remodel the Wills & Statutes of Founders”; GEC mentions a pamphlet concerning the House of Commons appointing a committee into how
cathedral property is let; GEC questions where TC found the story of a Durham College at Oxford; GEC does not think that Durham Cathedral's statutes will differ from any other university in educating the youth; the government are only interested in
church endowments and not on issues such as the foundation of a Durham College in Oxford; “he [Sir Robert Peel] and the Bishop of London fancy that they can rob the Cathedrals without resistance with the rascally provision
of reserving existing life-interests.”; “But if we are to be robbed, let the robbery be perpetrated by our enemies, not by our hypocritical or false-judging friends.”; GEC acknowledges that 3-4 fellows would be
sufficient and the remaining 10 would make 10 poor vicars rich, but it is not for Sir Peel to decide.
2f
Extracts printed in
Memorials of the life of George Elwes Corrie, D.D. ed. M. Holroyd (Cambridge, 1890), p.113-115.
Add. MSS. 837/41 12 September 1839
From TC at Flass Hall to GEC at Kettering
TC thinks that GEC presumes that TC has been waiting “till that happy consummation of sensational wisdom, when I should be able to bestow my tediousness upon you, as cheaply as a peepshow at a fair – “all for the small
sum of one penny””; TC presumes that GEC has been “rusticating during the summer”; it has been raining the majority of the summer; TC bought a new horse which he fell off, consequently he has only been doing
work deemed to be “ essentially necessary”; TC's house is quite full; his two sisters have been there for nearly two months, Mrs Preedy arrived in June and stayed for eight weeks, TC's brother was there for three
weeks; TC has failed to attain a promotion for his brother “who has now 7 children on £300 a year; & his health, I fear, precarious”; TC hopes to get a nomination for his brother's eldest boy, 13 years old, for
the East India Company's military service, and his other son, 7 years old, into the Blue Coat school; TC asks for GEC's assistance in these endeavours; TC encloses unpublished documents concerning Durham College, Oxford; Miss Quanbough died six
weeks after her new sister-in-law had died, “What instances of sudden death are brought constantly before us”; TC's sister tried to visit GEC whilst passing through Cambridge in June.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/42 13 October 1839
From TC at Flass Hall to GEC at Cambridge
TC's sisters are leaving tomorrow and will pass through Cambridge, staying at the Hoop on Thursday night; they would like to see GEC again and “give you intelligence of our goings on”; TC, Catherine and Ellen went
to the Lakes for eight days; they went to Milner's whilst passing through Appleby; Mr Milner had gone to bed but they saw Mrs Milner and several of his family; the Milner family want a “congenial society, of one or two well
educated persons”; “one of the great advantages of a university education is that it reads off the angles, smoothes the rough places, and takes the conceit out of a man”; Milner wishes to have his eldest son
taught by a private tutor with sound religious principles before he goes to Cambridge; if GEC knows of anyone that had recently graduated with good mathematical abilitiy that he could recommend to Milner, he would be grateful; TC saw that Mr
Richardson is “hopping” between Cambridge and Durham; GEC will probably have received a copy of a publication by the Surtees Society for 1839 of the
Catalogue of books belonging to the Monastery of Durham and other future books; TC paid for GEC's subscription for which he was reimbursed and GEC needs to pay Hatt £2 for this year's subscription; GEC has been to
Ireland; TC' horse is moving to Durham with his next week.
2f
Surtees Society books are held in Durham University Library - PG Per Local SUR; Catalogue of the books belonging to the monastary of Durham is volume 7.
Add. MSS. 837/43 5 November 1839
From TC at Durham to GEC
Richardson is going to Cambridge; TC believes he made a mistake taking the mathematical internship at the school in Durham; the headmaster is leaving in the next few weeks so Richardson's position is unclear; if the second mastership is vacant
then Richardson could obtain it and would have good prospects then; TC received a letter from [Mr Eaden] informing him of [Mr Chune's] distress; she is seriously ill and he cannot follow employment due to the sickness of her children; TC thinks they
should seek assistance from a friend to look after the children; TC has sent a small contribution to [Mr Eaden]; “What an extraordinary termination of the war in Cabool - it seems more like a portion of an Arabian Nights
tale than a real history”; [English troops] stormed the Ghazna.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/44 1 January 1840
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
Good wishes for the new year; “Harriot Wheelwright's death was remarked from the ignorance in which she had kept her family respecting her own state”; she made sacrifices to follow her own principles; TC enjoys
reading GEC's lectures and hopes he is not over working himself; GEC and his friends are copying plates for TC, TC thought he may have employed someone to do this for him; “ I should faint at the idea of ladies being
employed in such dull work”; TC heard an “ eroneous story of our little Queen” concerning the presentation to her of a Cambridge Bible and how she showed impatience and irreverence; TC asks GEC to ascertain the
truth concerning this story.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/45 29 February 1840
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC acknowledges he is writing on the extra day in a leap year and cannot think of a better thing to do than to write; the last time they wrote to each other it concerned finding an escort for Anna Wheelwright; her brother found an escort when he
obtained a job as a barrister at Newcastle, about six weeks ago; Anna was recalled due to her brother being seriously ill, and he died before she could reach him; TC's brother-in-law, Keene, has been with them for a few days with his eldest son who
is going to stay longer; Keene's mother is seriously ill, 87 years old; he found her better when he went to visit her; a statement has been widely circulated by newspapers relating to Durham University proceedings with reference to the Queen
“calculated to cast a stigma upon us, of which we are entirely innocent”; an address was written by the Senate that was slightly changed by the Dean and Chapter which had one reference to religion in it; Dr Gilly
made another proposal for an amendment; they all agreed that the original address was the best; “This matter has annoyed me no little. It has stirred up a feeling of dissatisfaction among the young men”; TC asks if
GEC will be travelling to the North during the summer; TC hopes to go to Flass in a month for a month, and return for the lay vacation at the end of June; TC asks if “Willis is in Cambridge?”;
“ I am reminded by an exact man that one sh[oul]d get a habit now of putting the address on the letter as the envelope takes away the outward address, & all trace of the receiver of the letter is there lost; wh[ich] may
in some letters be important”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/46 2 March 1840
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC has received a “Prospectus of a volume of Sermons to be published for Mr Melster of St Botolphs'”; it is to “give a memorial of his ministry to those among above he has laboured”
; thinks he may be able to get some more subscriptions.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/47 21 March 1840
From TC to GEC
TC sends a cheque for Fisher for £20.7.8 which, with the £2.2 that GEC has from TC's MA account with the college, amounts to £22.9.8; his other college accounts where the colleges owed him money after he gave up the books; TC sent that request to
Kahff for him to deal with; TC is obliged by GEC's offer of Ballinger which he will be glad to see; TC needs a good practical as well as theoretical mathematician to aid in examinations; there are four men taking exams but TC wishes to set the style
for future years; “One of our men, Richard Anchor Thompson, has been solicited or seduced by Richardson to desire to go to Cambridge”; TC will be sorry to lose him but acknowledges that Thompson will have more
prospects if he goes to Cambridge; Thompson is “a first rate man both in Classics & Math”; Thompson was due to finish his engineering course at Durham in June; Thompson is “very
poor” and TC does not know how he will “scrape thro' Cambridge”; TC hopes that GEC will be able to go north in the summer; TC is preparing to go to Flass for a month in the following week and expects opposition
to the church rates.
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Add. MSS. 837/48 5 September 1840
From TC at Flass Hall to GEC
TC acknowledges that he should have written before now; the Bullinger reached TC when examinations were occuring and he left the book in Durham so has not looked at it yet; “Your account of the book makes me desirous of
knowing more about it; especially as an authoritative, & in some degree authorized exposition of the doctrines held by the Church of England on questions now receiving so much discussion.”; “We are... free from
the greater waves of the Oxford Tract storm”; TC has been preached about Church of England doctrine at the meeting of the Diocesan Society for the sons of the clergy and touched upon the subject of clergy marriage; some of the Oxford men want
clergy to be celibate; “What instances do you happen to know of clergy marrying after ordination in the first 5 centuries.”; Bede speaks of such cases in Britain; TC would like GEC's opinion “‘to print or not to print’”; TC not hopeful of getting a visit from GEC in the summer; little Alicia had a decayed tooth removed but it is still causing her pain as she has an abscess; he
went on an excursion off the coast of North Yorkshire with the children; TC has a better schoolmaster and mistress; the newly appointed dean lives 50 miles away from his “living”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/49 9 October 1840
From TC at Flass Hall to GEC
The letter will be delivered by Rob. Anchor Thompson who is “a very steady as well as clean young man”; he was a student at Durham for two years in one class of Civil Engineers and at the animal examinations he
was in the first class and his mathematical examination was “first rate”; since then he is a student of arts concentrating on Classics; he needs direction in what to read for mathematics outside of lectures;
“Little Alicia's abscess had to be lanced from the outside : but has healed well”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/50 7 November 1840
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC hopes to see GEC in Cambridge next Wednesday; one of TC's parishioners “will find me helping: & suppose that I shall find a supssciency of creature comforts in the midst of the bustle”; TC's wife has gone
to Northamptonshire to see her mother with Mr and Mrs Parry; she will return with TC but not be in Cambridge; TC does not understand the combinations of the election and will be supporting [Baron] Lyndhurst as he is a public man.
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Add. MSS. 837/51 24 November 1840
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC has written to Henry Rose to tell him that he cannot write an article on Theology (De Omni Scilili) and asking him to find someone who has “a readier pen”; TC had a poll of the
Cambridge election sent to him but does not recognise a lot of the names; he wishes to know who the majority of resident members voted for and asks GEC to tell him; TC thought the VC's speech to Lord Lyndhurst was “perfect”; “The happy way in which he glided over the slippery ground of politics was really a model of good taste and good jockeyship.”; TC's journey home from Cambridge was not too bad
considering the stormy weather; whilst TC was away, a young horse of his fell over a stone heap, hurting his head above the eye, but is recovering; now that TC keeps more horses he is much “more at a loss for one to ride or
drive than when I went on with my good old horse; who now lives the life of a country gentleman, unless when he has a little job in drawing a cart.”.
2f
Correspondence: 1841-1847Add. MSS. 837/52 13 January 1841
From TC at Sedgefield (Co. Durham) to GEC at Cambridge
TC thinks there will be a vacancy at Durham University for a Classical tutor; TC asks if GEC knows any “good man” who could fill the position as he would like a Cambridge man there; he believes that he will need to
be single and the salary will be about £300 per year; TC will go to Edinburgh next week, at Professor Forbes'.
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Add. MSS. 837/53 1 February 1841
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC saw Peacock's slashing book today and expects that GEC would have already seen it; he is brought forward almost personally in his offhand decision upon the [rexata questio] of the academical oath as affecting
ad [eundem] degrees & holding office here; this effects TC holding office in Durham but the question was answered before he got the post at Durham, four years ago, in consultation with Dr Turton; all said that he was
at liberty to hold office at Durham; TC feels that Peacock has singled him out as a violator of the obligation of the academical oath: for he perceives that he makes no allusion to any [one]... in the University of London; the interpretation of the
Creation oath “had escaped the sagacity of sundry Bishops, among whom Blomfield, Kage, and Bowstead, were likely enough to know & appreciate the true nature of the case; and a considerable number of men such as King,
Pearson, James Hustler, &c who were not likely to lend themselves to any obliquity.”; three years ago an MA asked the Proctor about his creation and was refered to the VC where he was told that there was nothing to prevent his admission;
TC does not like controversy and does not know how to handle the situation; if GEC should see Dr Turton, he should ask him his opinion as TC does not wish to trouble him with another letter; “The think worries more perhaps
than it ought.”; when TC was in Edinburgh he saw the episcopal church and it is thriving; TC will send a circular; “We have the influenza but are getting better”.
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Add. MSS. 837/54 8 February 1841
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC is much obliged to GEC for getting Dr Turton's opinion; the vacancy of tutor is now open to appointment; the warden wishes to employ an Oxford man; TC had an application from Donaldson who is a Cambridge man and “late
Fellow & (assistant Tutor or Lecturer) of Trinity”; unsure about his character; “We have a severe winter here”; had to go through the snow to church.
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Add. MSS. 837/55 24 May 1841
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC doubts he will get more out of the debtor “whose paper found its way to you, as you would have done”; TC wants “a proper set of examiners, to test every man in the subjects of your
lectures” and talk about ecclesiastical history, criticism and interpretation before gaining their certificate; TC wants to know where GEC will be this summer as he is going south in about a month for 5-6 weeks; TC states the proposed salaries
of different men.
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Add. MSS. 837/56 24 January 1842
From TC at Durham to GEC
Dealing with Mr Keane's “unhappy affairs ” has prevented TC from replying to GEC's “kind and friendly” letter earlier; Mr Elliot's letter to Mr K did no good;
“ I and Mr K's friends have put matters into train for an arrangement for a separation without any public exposure”; Mrs K is to have the society of her daughters; he was much shocked and concerned to read the
account of poor Kahff's death; TC did not know of his previous illness and presumes his health was declining; all have recovered from the influenza.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/57 11 April 1842
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC has seen the report of the Theological Syndicate and wondered why GEC's “name was not among the signatures, & your lectures excluded from the proposed examinations”; not many will comparatively read the
printed report; TC is sure there is a reason why GEC did not present his view; TC would like GEC to visit him when GEC's business is finished in the beginning of June, to visit Durham then to Flass afterwards and possibly the seaside; TC is sending
two copies of
L'Espirit; there have been different versions of its translation; it is similar to Dr Hawtrey's translation into Greek of Sing a song of six-pence.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/58 30 May 1842
From TC at Durham to GEC
[The last leaf of this letter is first] TC tells GEC his quickest way northwards as his “college toils are nearly over”; “ I am glad that the scheme for theological instruction in Camb.
was carried: for I conceive it is far easier to modify a scheme than to create one”; TC assumes that the college trustees will “break-up their own theology” and examine the composition of sermons; the scheme at
Oxford will take up more time than that at Cambridge; TC thinks that, except in extreme cases, those who have not passed the theological exam should not be “candidates for orders”; except for colds, the Chevalliers
are well.
4f
Add. MSS. 837/59 4 August 1842
From TC at Flass Hall to GEC
TC's youngest sister died at Flass Hall yesterday; his eldest sister is also ill; TC asks GEC to visit them the following week.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/60 9 August 1842
From TC at Flass Hall to GEC
TC and the family have been “mercifully ... supported through this heavy trial”; “Our dear sisters' illness [has been]... harrassing to our minds & bodies”; she was quiet and
shy; his sister Emma died “ever triumph over sin and death such as can never be forgotten”; everyone else is fine.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/61 23 September 1842
From TC at Flass Hall to GEC [at Kettering]
GEC's last letter had prepared TC for the news of Mr Burnell's death; TC is touched that Mr Burnell remembered him in his will; TC believes GEC leaving Cambridge for a while would be essential but recognises that meeting during the summer was
becoming less of a possibility; TC's sister wishes to leave before the term begins; TC asks that if they could arrange a route through Kettering, could they stay with GEC?; TC describes his planned journey for taking his sister home to organise with
GEC; TC's sister is much better.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/62 1 November 1842
From TC at Durham to GEC
When TC was at Repton with Peile, he was enquiring about a position in the school; the duties would firstly to be the private tutor to the master's sons at £100 per year plus his bond, next to superintend the boarders in the house and give some
private tutoring which will be approximately another £100 per year; probably some clerical duties; TC thinks that the appointment will suit a gentleman; TC asks GEC if he knows anyone who would suit the appointment to get in touch with Peile; TC
does not remember whether he mentioned this at Kettering; TC enquires whether GEC knows of a man servant whom TC could employ at a reasonable cost; TC left his sister in Ipswich well.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/63 15 November 1842
From TC at Durham to GEC [at Cambridge]
TC has been solicited by people from Cambridge for the Divinity Professorship; TC is not at liberty to mention the quarter but it is not one of any influence; if the position had came up TC would have “scarcely have
thought of putting myself forward”; since going to Durham TC thought he “created a barrier against any such ... appointment”; TC feels that this “spontaneous movement ... deserves some
notice”; TC would like GEC's opinion on the subject; TC is settled in Durham and does not wish to move; if the University of Cambridge deems that TC “could ‘do the State some service’
, I should feel the appointment to be one which I might look upon as a proper object of ambition.”; TC does not wish for this to be known except by mutual friends in confidence; TC had an attack at church on Sunday 6 November
“but it was happily of short duration”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/64 5 December 1842
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
Revd Stevenson, who has an edition of Bede's
Ecclesiastical History, has “engaged here in re-arranging all the documents of the Dean & Chapter in this Treasury”, a collection that extends from the Conquest; [Revd Stevenson] is
an antiquarian and wishes to know whether there are any MSS at [St] Cath[erine's] Hall [Cambridge] “written by or belonging to John Overall formerly Master & Professor of Divinity”; if found, could permission be
obtained to have them transcribed and published?; TC is no longer considering the professorship at Cambridge; TC's land lady, Lady Peart, died at the age of 92; she left her land to two distant relatives; one, currently a butcher, will inherit land
worth £100,000 with the coal, but the coal is unlikely to be worked for a number of years; the other is a wine merchant with a large estate to whom she left Flass and TC fears that he will live there; he would be “bringing
the influence of a Roman Catholic squire into my already papist-ridden parish”; the Roman Catholic priest will get £60,000 and a High Mass was performed for her at Sunderland; TC wishes GEC to join them at Christmas.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/65 27 January 1843
From TC at Durham to GEC
“Mr Stevenson is engaged in preparing an edition of [Obserall's] works - He has considerable materials, but imagines some light might be thrown by getting copies of the original entries, on an enquiry relating to this
being made”; the address is given to send these to; he would also like questions; the question is connected with a former master of Catherine's; someone protested against the master of Christ's as an elector; this puts future Masters of
Christ's College in a compromising position; TC hopes that Ollivant is successful and “has sound judgement & sound principles to steer his course”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/66 9 November 1843
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
The change “treats well of the important subjects to which it refers”; “the ramifications of the Oxford notions have spread more widely in the American Episcopal church than among
ourselves”; “Bp McKaine's change is a valuable document”; TC would like it as a presentation copy; Queen [Victoria] recently visited Cambridge; TC has left Flass; Lady Peat is dead; she left her estate to her
godson; he was a wine merchant in Newcastle and a “Roman Catholic & I believe a radical”; he is going to manage the property himself but has no experience in husbandry; TC will build a passenger house on glebe
land at Esh principally built by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners; the site of the new house is “bleak in the extreme”; “Eventually it will be better for the living to have a house , than to
be dependent on the will of another”; TC's brother, Edgcumbe, was severely ill but has now recovered; he has been given a pension of £170 per year without notice; TC tried to get him reinstated but without success; he did get his brother's
youngest son into the vacancy “at the bottom of the list”; there are still nine of his family who are dependent upon TC; Edgcumbe is in Ipswich looking for some employment and TC is also looking for him,
unsuccessfully; TC's current tenant at his house in Cambridge has gone and left his house in a “dirty condition”; TC asks GEC if he would look at the house for him to see what would need to be done to make it fit for
a tenant.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/67 8 January 1844
From TC at Durham to GEC
[The second leaf of this letter is the last leaf] The government are “enquiring for proper persons to go out as clergymen to Van Diemens' Land”; the degree of scholarship would probably be less than it is in
England; knowledge of Latin is all that is needed; “The candidates would be examined in England and ordained in Tasmania.”; The salary is £200 per year, a house and provisions; the government needs a sufficient
number of good men from the Church of England, if they cannot get enough they will look to the Wesleyans; TC believes that this is a good opportunity for young, religious men; TC asks GEC whether he has read [Richard] Whateley's book on the
Errors of Romanism as founded on human nature; TC's new Roman Catholic squire is better than he thought as he is sending the children to TC's school and stating that he does not want to interfere with their religion;
TC thinks that the school works well on Sundays and on weekdays; “It is a great expense to me: but I regard it as nearly as good as a curate”; TC has given instruction for his “Cambridge
Augean stable [to be] cleansed” and wishes to find a tenant for it; “From what I hear of the numbers at Harrow I should fear that [Shille to] will not have much mended his position by his removal”;
Westminister, Harrow, Winchester “should all be at so low an ebb, what a capricious thing is public opinion, especially on public schools”; TC asks if GEC has seen Mr Milner's Christian mothers' magazine; TC is
giving her some articles; on “Familiar Astronomy. I believe it would be doing her essential service to promote the sale of the little work”; CC has had influenza; TC asks how Ollivant gets on with his various duties;
TC would like to know how the voluntary Theological exams worked.
4f
Add. MSS. 837/68 18 January 1844
From TC at Ipswich (Suffolk) to GEC
TC has been called to his see his brother in what he believes is “his last illness; a violent attack of apoplexy”; TC will return to Durham at the beginning of the week if his brother's state permits him to do so;
TC would have passed through Cambridge but travelling by rail makes this uncertain; TC asks GEC to enquire what time and where the coach would meet with a railroad; TC may be at Cambridge on Monday until Tuesday; TC will direct the letter to be
opened if GEC is not in Cambridge.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/69 3 February 1844
From TC at Durham to GEC
Revd John Leefe, of Richmond Yorkshire, with an MA from Trinity College Cambridge, was the clergyman that TC mentioned to GEC; TC has not personally had the opportunity to know him but Leefe stayed with TC for a few days in the winter; others who
know Leefe well say he is a man of high religious character and may be recommended; he is a man of “gentleman like manners and habits; & extremely well informed; especially in botany & the like sciences; he would
like a house where he could teach pupils”; Mrs Milner's magazine should be noticed in a paper or a periodical; TC feels that since he has written for it he cannot press it so asks GEC to ask a Cambridge paper or any periodical; TC has not
read the February edition but believes that it is done.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/70 2 March 1844
From TC at Durham to GEC
News has reached TC of the master being in an accident; “I should fear that such an accident, under any circumstances, occurring to a person of his advanced age, cannot be otherwise than very serious.”; TC's
brother is slowly recovering but his speech is still affected as is his sight; CC's “eldest sister entrusted all her remaining property to the Trustee under her marriage settlement, Mr Bromley”; he has been bankrupt
to the amount of £140,000.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/71 4 March 1844
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC encloses a bill for £5.5 for cleaning his house and expresses his thanks to GEC for undertaking the organisation [bill not enclosed]; TC needs to find a tenant; the account of the master's accident may not be as serious as once thought and he
may be fully recovered by now; “I supposed that the changes of Queen for King had some authority from use in similar cases”; “A young Scotch lady, an inmate & pupil of a person here, was
driven out by a beating from the master of the house, & took refuge with us. His wife was driven out the same evening.” She took refuge with them until she could stay with a friend; the violent man is a Scotchman; a few months ago he beat
a French woman who was a governess in his house.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/72 12 March 1844
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC received a letter from E. Smith Jnr. who has found a “respectable party ” who wish to buy the house and wish to fix the asking price; the house cost £1400 and TC added six rooms, “at a
cost of about £600”; TC estimates it to be worth £1800 which is dependant upon the “present value of house property in Cambridge”; if the house has depreciated in value he would be willing to take £1600;
“obtain from Watford, or some other competent person, what would be a fair market price” then talk to Smith and ask his opinion of the value; “The house is Freehold, Land Tax redeemed. Part
of the purchase money, say £1000, might remain on mortgage if desired.”
2f
Add. MSS. 837/73 13 March [1844]
From TC at Durham to GEC
“ I omitted one element for estimating the selling value of my house. The unit now paid for it is £120 a year; & it has never let for less.”
2f
Add. MSS. 837/74 21 March 1844
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC is worried about selling or letting his house; Mr Crow inspected the house last week and they have not fixed a value yet.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/75 23 April 1844
From TC at Durham to GEC
“ Our [Olsewen, Beanlands] a very exemplery young man & one of our students, aes requested me to mention to you his brother now at Cath. Hall. In so doing,”TC does not wish to impress a burden upon GEC; TC
suspects that if he is like his brother he will be “a person who would earn for himself every proper distinction... his talents may not be brilliant they are sound”; the negotiation for TC's house has been prosponed
as they only wished to pay £1200 so TC is looking for a tenant; in anxiety about their son as his health is declining; he has regular medical treatment; “we fear that he makes little progress”; going to the country
for a change of air.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/76 15 November 1844
From TC at Durham to GEC
When so distant you learn less of one another's goings on, “than if we had seas and oceans rolling between us”; when TC was in London over the summer obtaining advice concerning his son, he hoped to meet up with
GEC; TC consulted Dr Prout over their son's diabetes; he approved of the treatments he had been given but was pessimistic as he had never seen a patient so young recover; the condition was not fatal in itself but if affected by an inflammatory
attack, it could prove fatal; he recommended “seabathing, & attention to general health”; “We accordingly went for sometime to Walton on the Naze where my sister & my brother &
his family were. ”; TC's brother has recovered but “can scarcely articulate so as to be misunderstood”; “You may suppose that the meeting of the whole family under such circumstances
was of a melancholoy as well as a satisfactory character. I trust we are all benefited by it.”; next they went to Brighton then TC took his daughters to France; they went home in September; last month TC's son had a “dangerous attack of jaundice”; he has recovered but has been left very weak; there are no prospects that he can recover but now there is “no immediate danger”; TC asks GEC, when he has an
opportunity, to go to St Andrew's church yard to see the condition of Alicia's grave; the refurbishing of the church is likely to have affected the grave; if there are any repairs, TC will reimburse GEC for them; TC does not have a tenant for his
house “and I find an empty house no very profitable investment”; TC asks for GEC's recommendation for a man servant to do indoor and outdoor work for a wage of £30, without clothes; their current man servant is going
as soon as they can “find a successor for him”; TC's friend Rogers is dead and he does not know the particulars; he has a son who does not have “his father's tastes - so all his collection
of mineral & works of art are dispersed”; CC and the girls are well; Townsend's youngest son died of consumption; he was about 27 years old.
4f
Add. MSS. 837/77 2 December 1844
From TC at Durham to GEC (incomplete)
TC's son's health is improving although he is still weak and “his permanent disorder still continues”; many of the symptons are better, “especially the thirst”; they
“endeavour to maintain a quiet trust in God who is able to preserve life or to terminate it as he shall see best for us”; everyone else is in good health; CC is also in good health and she has been
“an invalid at times”; TC is happy to learn that the “ Cambridge Press seems likely to be demesmerized from the deep sleep in which it has so long been going”; there would be no
difficulty in finding requisite books, different editions of the same volume; “For instance all about Bishop Cosins would be more accessible here than anywhere else”; TC would like GEC to mention his name in relation
to him being ready to edit some work; TC has thought of dividing his house into two tenements “by adding a few rooms on the north side” (letter incomplete).
2f
Add. MSS. 837/78 1 January 1845
From TC at Sedgefield to GEC
TC is with a “good friend Mr Strong”; in his parish there is an annual sermon on new year's day where there is “a large gathering of an ancient Friendly Society”; TC likes to see
the large crowd of people “who appear devout”; CC is usually with TC but Temple is unwell; concerning the books that GEC mentioned, TC would like GEC to lend him either Cosin's or Stillingfleet's work but would
prefer Cosin's.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/79 24 February 1845
From TC at Durham to GEC
Instead of printing Bishop Cosin on the Canon alone, it would be desirable to print his whole works; Revd Stevenson, known for editing Bede etc, has been engaged using the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology in preparing a plate edition of all
Bishop Cosin's works, including a body of unpublished letters; the work will be released in volumes, one of which will be published and the second in the press; TC has met Stevenson and feels he has “collected a great deal
of any interesting matter”; TC does not wish the two works to be in conflict with one another; TC will wait to hear back from GEC before proceeding any further.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/80 31 March 1845
From TC at Durham to GEC
“I shall be glad to undertake Pearson on the Creed”; TC assumes the Syndicate will “fix upon the type and form”, or should he collaborate with Parker?; several of the books will
not be available at Durham so TC will need to employ someone to find the quotations; TC asks if GEC knows Archdeacon Hollingworth's address as “he used to know a good deal about the edition of Pearson”; did those at
Cambridge anticipate “Dr Tauton's elevation to the Bench?”; TC thinks it is an “excellent appointment” with the only drawback being his ill health; TC does not know when his new home
will be ready; wishes to see GEC over the summer as it has been a while since GEC last visited; the girls have grown alot, especially Catherine; TC's son is still ill and there has been a slight improvement with the improved weather; Lord Dungannon
[Arthur Hill-Trevor] had promised TC a nomination to Christ's Hospital for the present year for one of his nephews but upon application the appointment had already been given away; TC has lost two years being quiet and is now anxious to get a
nomination as the boy is seven and a half years old.
3f
Add. MSS. 837/81 23 April 1845
From TC at Durham to GEC
“I have had great pleasure in strongly recommending Mary Stokes to be Laundress to Trinity Hall”; she is very well qualified and is trustworthy and honest, “matters of more importance in
a College Laundress than the exact quantity of starch and stiffening”; TC's son is still very ill; the question of the endowment of Maynooth is a difficult one; TC does not believe that the Roman Catholic Clergy should receive any of the
“national resources towards their education”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/82 6 May 1845
From TC at Durham to GEC
“The Glow, which has born so long hanging over us, has at length fallen heavily indeed.” TC's son died the previous Tuesday “a quiet and peaceful death”; “there is something manifirstly merciful in death which comes at such an age, as has admitted of the formation & partial development of Christian principle and yet so early as to have been preserved from
extermination.”; the day before he died, Alicia took a meal to her brother but was prevented from seeing him “at the last”; asks for GEC's prayers; TC has been “at work at Pearson, but
the work is much more formidable than I had anticipated”; TC has indexed the quotations and if they were all to be verified it would be “the labour of one man for full a year”; TC would like to hear something
of the Bishop of Ely's causation.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/83 23 June 1845
From TC at Dover to GEC
“It is singularly ill timed that we should have been crossing one another today, either in London or on the roads.”; CC is well and a change of scenery will be good for her; TC has met a young gentleman who also
knows GEC; he is going across with them the following morning; he is called “Gen-Maclennon (or some such name). He is proposing to go up the Rhine with his family.”
2f
Add. MSS. 837/84 16 November 1845
From TC at Durham to GEC
The leaves are not in the correct order. The penultimate leaf is first, the last leaf is second, the first leaf is third and the second leaf is last. The intelligence which GEC communicated to TC did not take him by surprise; a woman had reached
him two days ago from Mr Preedy stating the result of the election; TC is disappointed for a variety of reasons, one of which is that he thought that GEC's succession to the mastership seemed to be a matter of course and he had forgotten the
contingencies upon which it could depend upon; GEC has devoted many successful years to the college; GEC has had great influence upon “academical generations, raising the character of the College”; TC thought that
the mastership would have gone to someone who was going to “maintain sound Church principles, without giving way to novelties under the name of restoration”; TC assumes that GEC will continue with his professorship
until “you have some other opening provided” and that he will wish to leave the university; TC wishes GEC to spend some time with them at Christmas; GEC's brother is seriously ill which led to him being cut
“ off from action service in his Redeemer's service”; TC's brother “continues much in the same state... but still quite unable to do anything for his family”; TC's sister's health is
still good; TC would like to talk to GEC about the changes; TC describes the route he would like to take when travelling around Europe and estimates that it would take approximately 3 months; “Pearson is going on well. I
have verified the influences of all the authors”; TC describes the difficulties in finding references from different works; TC will enquire about getting a second edition of his translation but suspects that there are
“plenty of copies of the 1st still left”; TC has examined Cursitor's translation from the Syriac.
4f
Add. MSS. 837/85 6 March 1846
From TC at Durham to GEC
The warden of Durham [University], Archdeacon Thorp, has requested that TC asks GEC a favour; to help in Theological exams in June; when TC made a similar request a few years previous, GEC recommended Pearson; “The
examination is by no means laborious”; TC hopes that GEC's brother is well; “How nobly Stafford O'Brian has come out.”
2f
Add. MSS. 837/86 12 November 1846
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC is ready to go to press with Pearson “whenever it is convenient”; GEC's brother is not in good health; “Pray remember us in the kindest manner to him”; a chaplain, Mr Trevor,
arrived from India and preached in the afternoon after the bishop preached his last sermon; Trevor's next sermon was preached at his funeral.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/87 22 February 1847
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC finds the political affairs at Cambridge “perplexing” as he lives far away; “ I should be glad to support Lord Powis [2nd Earl of Powis] against any advantageous Whig: but am not so
clear of voting against Prince Albert [for the chancellorship of the University of Cambridge]”; “I believe I should not go up at all: but something will probably transpire in the next two days to decide me.”
2f
Add. MSS. 837/88 5 March 1847
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC's friend, Revd Joseph Stevenson, “an accomplished antiquarian scholar”, has finished cataloguing the MSS for the Dean and Chapter; he edited
Bede's History; Stevenson would like to work in similar employment elsewhere; TC has heard that Cambridge were planning to “print a catalogue of the MSS in the public library made long ago by
Nasmyth” and believes the catalogue may need to be re-examined; this may lead to a regular search into the MSS, as Oxford has done in the College libraries; TC is enquiring as to whether it is “proper for him to make
his wishes known”; TC's brother and sister are well; “How mysterious is it, that the weak should be after thus upheld & the strong man bound down: no doubt to teach us whether strength of all really is.”;
there are numerous cases of sickness in TC's neighbourhood.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/89 13 March 1847
From TC at Durham to GEC
Mr Stevenson is going to go to Cambridge to enquire about acquiring a job; he is “eminently qualified”; he can conduct any research with MSS or antiquarian materials.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/90 10 June 1847
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC thanks GEC for the book he gave him by Stevenson; TC gathered some valuable information from it “respecting the advancement of pure religion in India”; TC has a picture of the burial place at Macnals near Loch
Tay, knowing that GEC is connected to that clan; TC may be able to take it to Cambridge with him soon; TC plans to be at the British Association meeting in Oxford at the end of June and is “tempted to give our eldest girl a
sight of the Installation”; TC asks if it would be alright if he could use GEC's room and if not then he woudl be grateful for any information concerning lodgings.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/91 10 August 1847
From TC at Esh (Co Durham) to GEC
TC encloses the list of the quotations he found in Pearson that he was unable to identify [not enclosed], he would like “some competent person” to look over the passage and he would like to know of a person in
Cambridge who would be able to verify any quotations he has; TC was surprised about the Cambridge election.
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Add. MSS. 837/92 18 October 1847
From TC at Esh to GEC
TC expects Catherine to get married [to S.A. Pears] around Christmas and would like GEC to be one of the trustees of the marriage settlement; all the property in the settlement is personal except for TC's house in Cambridge; TC wants GEC to
“undertake the change”; due to Mr Pears' “high character as a scholar a gentleman & a Christian” TC thinks that the marriage will be happy; TC is packing up to go back to Durham
after spending the summer at Esh; TC expects there to be an advertisement “ in the announcements of the Quarterly Review to the effect that Pearson is nearly ready”;
“the work is going out at the rate of almost a sheet in 3 weeks”; TC wishes to “arrange a Bible history of the kings of Judah & Israel in parallel columns, conceiving that the complexity
arising from the transitions from one to the other would be considerably diminished”; TC does not know whether this has been done yet; TC would like GEC to get him, in one-sided sheets, “copies of 1 Kings XII to the
end of 2 Kings and 2 Chron. X to the end”; TC is also asking Mr Douglas, canon of Durham, & Revd B.E. Dwarris incumbent of Bywell St Peter near Newcastle, to be trustees.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/93 16 December 1847
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC is looking at 30 December as the marriage day and wishes that GEC can join them from the Tuesday before; TC wishes to be present at any Pembroke communication; the appointment of [Harrpden] is unhappy; “Surely Lord
John Russell must have been bereft of the sagacity for which he has had some credit.”
2ff
Correspondence: 1848-1865Add. MSS. 837/94 26 February 1848
From TC at Durham to GEC
“ It is a symptom of an unhappy condition of the Church when it is requisite to ask not only whether a man is a Christian, or whether he is a Churchman, but whether he belongs to one or other section of the
Church”; Mr Todd “ is a very good man, and a painstaking parish priest”, he has a popular parish, conducts a school of young boys, has no extreme views and would work well with others; his wife is the daughter
of one of TC's parishioners; “ I think Mr Todd to be a person with whom your friend may engage with perfect safety, provided other circumstances are satisfactory.”; [the rest of the letter is crossed out in pencil]
TC has lately been corresponding with Thorp, a book seller at Cambridge who is in “extreme distress” at Malines ; TC has given him as much as he can afford.
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Add. MSS. 837/95 13 March 1848
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC has been directed by the treasurer of the Surtees Society to send GEC the enclosed circular [not enclosed]; they request that all subscribers should pay for their subscription until the end of 1845 and they will receive the books which they
are entitled to; for those that have not been “members from the first”, to pay for subscriptions for 1846 and 1847 and chose any six volumes from the accompanying list; “It is important to
the Society that the affairs should be wound up as soon as possible”; the papers have said that TC is to have a stall, this is an “invention”; “ If the stall is filled up, which I
believe will not be done, Lord John Russell would appoint: and certainly would not appoint me.”; the university of Durham has no claim to the stall; TC is worried about his sister as she has the “Spanish form of
Influenza”; CC and Alicia are well and there are good accounts from Catherine.
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Add. MSS. 837/96 12 May 1848
From TC at Durham to GEC
Thorpe, a former book seller, is in “ great distress” in Cambridge; TC has enclosed his letter [not enclosed]; TC is unsure that Thorpe will still be in Cambridge by the time that TC's reply would reach him so he
has enclosed a post office order for £5, of which £2 is from Catherine, £2 from Col. Shipperdson who is a man from Durham, and £1 from TC; TC has previously assisted Thorpe in Malines; “We are endeavouring to get some
situation for one of his daughters.”; GEC's god-daughter, Catherine, has had scarlet fever but has made a good recovery and everyone else is well.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/97 15 May 1848
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC is uncertain whether Mr Babington has left for Cambridge to “reside on his living” TC encloses a proof of a sheet of Pearson to you [not enclosed]; there is a reference to [Novatians] which TC asks GEC to check
for him; if GEC does find the reference he is to send it to the Press.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/98 7 June 1848
From TC at Durham to GEC
The post office order was made payable to George Corrie, the name which TC thought that GEC signed for and TC apologises for the mistake; TC asks GEC to “not take any more trouble” over the quotation; TC had heard
a rumour that Mr Henry Rose is dead but thinks the person who told him is mistaken; if it were true there would have been an announcement in the paper?; Alicia is visiting her sister [Catherine] so TC and CC “are alone for
the first time these many years”; “Thorpe's brother is almost to place him for a time with some connection at Wycombe”; TC has been unsuccessfully trying to “get the poor man into the
Charter House, where there is an Asylum for persons in similar circumstances”; TC thinks it unlikely that he will vote for the Orator.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/99 20 June 1848
From TC at Durham to GEC
“The Post Master here has written to the P.M. at Cambridge, so that you will now receive the money without further delay”; “TC hopes that no obstacles get in the way; I find constant
difficulties in P.O. orders”.
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Add. MSS. 837/100 19 May 1849
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC has a favour to ask of GEC regarding a young man, Allan Greenwell, who was educated at Durham, who is now in deacons' orders and curate of Campton cum Shefford near Biggleswade; “He has the presentation of a district
Church at Golbourne near Warrington and is desirous of being ordained Priest as soon as may be”; “He was ordained as a deacon by the Bp of Ely last Trinity Sunday, and he has already sent in his papers for priests'
address”, which were two weeks late; it would be advantageous if this could be overlooked.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/101 n.d.
From [TC] to [GEC]
“ There is nothing so awkward to write as a preface, especially about oneself - Just exercise your discretion as to letting the sentence against (A) stand or not.”
1f
Add. MSS. 837/102 16 November 1849
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC is grateful for the “trouble” GEC has taken about Pearson; TC has spent “hours and days” in trying to find some individual quotations; “I shall be
further obliged by you correcting the Press. Parker has sent me the sum allowed for editing”; TC is paying more than half the expense to rebuild his church; TC is “deeply grieved” by the sudden death of his old
friend Dr French; TC suggests that GEC hopes for the mastership of Jesus College; no rumour has reached them yet concerning the professorship of Divinity.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/103 2 June 1850
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC has forwarded a release which must be entered under Catherine's marriage settlement, for the money that is held by TC and the executors of her Aunt Alicia's will; once GEC has executed it, TC asks that he pass it to Revd Dwarris; Catherine
and her husband have been staying with TC for several weeks; their son, “nearly a year old, is a thriving and healthy child”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/104 30 January 1850
From TC at Durham to GEC
There has been an event that causes “distress, which call largely for Christian commiseration”; TC raises it out of interest as GEC may know some of the family and is not in need of GEC's assistance; Dr Champney,
an Oxford D.D., who spent some time as a vicar at Molton near Cambridge, now runs a successful school in Glasgow; he had an income of £700 per year from his school; “the Cholera... interrupted his success” and he
resigned; last autumn he was a candidate for the “vacant Minor Canaries here, for which Dykes of Cath. Hall was a successful candidate”; Dykes was settled in Durham and was “a hard working
and high principled man, & a Christian”; Dykes had a serious illness, and died suddenly a few days after his retirement; Dykes had published a column of poems and was left £60 in debt to the publisher; he died at 38 years old leaving a
pregnant widow with one child; there is a life insurance for £500 and both of their families are very poor; a subscription has been started to support the widow and £150 has been raised so far.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/105 8 February 1850
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC wishes that he had GEC's enquiry concerning buying his house sooner; before TC received the letter he offered to let the property so cannot now sell it.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/106 22 February 1850
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC has written to his cousin, John Chevallier, an MP, on behalf of Mr Pears “testifying to your Testimonial, & shall be glad if the introduction should be of service”; TC has heard that stock has transferred
that is in trust for Mrs Pears.
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Add. MSS. 837/107 21 March 1850
From TC at Esh to GEC
A paper requiring GEC's signature is enclosed and TC asks for GEC to pass it onto Revd Dwarris after he has signed it; Durham's son has arrived and TC will take an early opportunity to call upon him.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/108 6 May 1850
From [Revd] Steuart A. Pears at Harrow to [GEC]
Pears has sent the powers of attorney to be signed by “yourself” [GEC] and the other trustees so that he can draw dividends from the bank; Catherine has had a boy “born this day
week”; both mother and baby are doing well.
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Add. MSS. 837/109 11 May 1850
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
The last leaf of the letter should be placed second. The powers of attorney arrived in due course; the linen evelope is tougher than a paper one but so smooth that it could not be sealed by wax so it arrived unsealed with a notice from the Post
Office when it had reached Durham; “We have not escaped the effervecence of ecclesiastical matters here”, but have had less questions than those who are central; the Modern History professor at Cambridge has had
“some peculiar opinions upon some theological points”; “The danger is erecting an insignificant man into a martyr”; the Royal Commission will be received “with such general defiance as will nip it in the bud”; GEC's sister is about to live with him; Catherine and her son are both well; TC opened his church on Easter day after it had been rebuilt and now is a
“very handsome little church”; “ the designs were given to me by one of our undergraduates, a son of Geo. Turner of the Chancery bar, a contemporary of mine at Pembroke”; the
Catholics are “spreading their nets with too much success... neighbourhoods have either fallen into their hands or been purchased.”; Alicia is currently staying with Catherine.
4f
Add. MSS. 837/110 10 June 1850
From TC at Durham to GEC at Cambridge
TC has written a letter to the bishop of Sydney and sent it to Mr G.G. Roughton as GEC requested, with the introduction; TC does not know what the resident members are like but thinks that if they are unhappy, they will join together to form a
petition to R. H. the Chancellor to resign; regarding the commission, he hopes that “every Master of a College will close his gates upon their approach, and that they will be made to understand that the University intends
to act in consistency with its dignity and independence”; Alicia came back on Saturday and CC is well.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/111 18 April 1851
From TC at Esh to GEC
TC has sent a postal order to Mr Henderson who is a carpet manufacturer in Durham and his right hand man in managing the pecuniary business of the Surtees Society; TC is glad to hear that the bishop of Ely has “presented you to the living”, knowing that his endowment of his mastership is inadequate for the position; “After the decided show of opposition made by the Heads at Cambridge at first to the
Commission, I did hope that more consistency of conduct would be found.”; everyone in TC's family is well with the exception of Mr Pears; the work at Harrow is tiring and he would suit a “quiet country place”;
TC is reprinting his
Translations of Iquatius &c; if GEC could find TC's bundles he would be grateful to be told.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/112 28 June 1851
From [Revd] S[teuart] A. Pears at Esh Parsonage to GEC
Pears wishes to concern GEC about his marriage settlement; £1000 is in the names of her trustees, of whom GEC is one, GEC and Mr Dwarris agree; when Pears receives GEC's consent, he will send the necessary power of attorney to him; Mr and Mrs
Pears are residing at Esh whilst TC and CC are in London with Alicia.
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Add. MSS. 837/113 12 July 1851
From [Revd] S[teuart] A. Pears at Durham to [Revd] B.E. Dwarris at Bywell St Peter (Northumberland)
Concerning the marriage settlement between Mr Pears and Catherine for which GEC is one of the trustees.
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Add. MSS. 837/114 16 January 1852
From TC at Esh to GEC
TC is “ desirous of finding a Curate for Esh...especially to look after the parish while I am obliged to be in Durham”; the “Romanists” are more at work than usual; TC proposes to
give £100 per year and TC will take his full share of the Sunday duty; TC has gone to Esh for Christmas as “Alicia had an attack of scarlatina” [scarlet fever] and required a “change of
air” and is “now quite recovered”; CC is in “very good health”; Mr Pears is in “very weak health” but still works in Harrow; TC would like to
know what the situation is as regards the proposed changes in the university statutes; TC believes that not all of the intended changes will pass.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/115 30 June 1854
From TC at Esh to GEC
If GEC is in Cambridge on 10 July then TC and CC would like to stay on their way to Suffolk when TC is going to meet a cousin of his; “Do not however put yourself to inconvenience in the matter”; CC has not been
in good health “but you may judge that she is tolerably well by her proposing to take a considerable journey”; Catherine was with them at Easter with her eldest child; she is now not very well and Alicia is going to
stay with her awhile.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/116 6 July 1854
From TC at Esh to GEC
Since the trains from the north lose so much time in changes at York and Peterborough, TC thinks that they won't reach Cambridge before 7.40 on Monday evening; TC believes he does not know enough about archaeology to benefit from the Cambridge
meeting.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/117 9 November 1854
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC has had a request to have more general literature as part of their courses; TC wishes to have his printed reports of regulations refusing these points; “The late Grace for enabling ad
eundum or titular Degrees to be granted to graduates has... [had] great interest here”; TC asks if the application will be welcomed; TC thinks the application will go to Robert Grubb; “Today brings me a long
story from him respecting his misfortunes and hopes by his having been [obviated] in [buying] a "Loss" to get him up as a Cabman ”; TC hopes to receive a visit from GEC in the winter or the spring.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/118 24 November 1854
From TC at Durham to GEC
On the question TC thinks that it “ would be better for us to make an application on the subject before the anticipated disturbance at extra shall take place: and we suppose the proper method will be for our Warden to
address the Vice Chancellor officially”; TC wishes GEC to procure the “Grace lately passed on the subject”; “on the meeting of Parliament, that ministers will have enough to do in
defending themselves for the manner in which they have carried on this unhappy war, without troubling themselves and others with University matters.”
2f
Add. MSS. 837/119 6 January 1855
From TC at Durham to GEC
There is going to be an appointment made soon in the D&C; finds approaching someone privately preferable to public testimonials; “The Office is Reader in Natural Philosophy, with a
share in the Tuition in the University”; it is a permanent appoinment with £50 per year with the share in tuition being £150 per year and rooms rent free; the job has “a fair prospect of advancement for a good
man”; the prospective employee does not need to be in orders; if he does not wish to take orders he can be attended by a person holding office in Durham; he must have a degree in Arts and a BA is sufficient; Whitley held the office for years
together with his fellowship at St Johns'; TC wishes for a good mathematician who leans towards practical science and “a man of no extreme views”; if he married the tuition would be lost; TC has no voice in the
appointment, only to make enquiries; TC has a large party staying with them including Mr and Mrs Pears and their three children and Mr Knight; “We are a sober-minded but yet cheerful & happy Christmas party & wish
you were among us.”
2f
Add. MSS. 837/120 13 December 1855
From TC at Durham to GEC at Jesus College
TC sent GEC two lectures on education written by his son in law, Mr Pears [not included]; TC believes that they are unprotestant and would like it to be known that Pears is a good teacher; TC and CC are satisfied to have a daughter married to a
man whose character is so accurately reflected in his writing; CC's health is better; they are going to Repton, near Derby, after Christmas; Alicia is settled in Harrow.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/121 19 February 1856
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC has the widow of Revd Charles Champneys staying; he was previously vicar of Milton near Cambridge but moved to Glasgow with the hope of better prospects; in 1849 he moved to Durham with the hope of a minor canonry, without avail, as his
health deteriorated; they have two sons with one being born after his death; there has been a subscription in her benefit for which TC is the trustee; she has an income of £30 per year and £10 from a clergy charity; TC wonders if she could get any
funds from the
Sons of the Clergy fund at Ely; Champney's eldest ,who will be 7 years old on 6 May, is a candidate for the Canterbury Clergy Orphan School, for which GEC has two votes; TC has not promised his votes but knows
“ that your votes would be given to a most valuable person”.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/122 13 November 1857
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC wishes to have a copy of Pearson but did not buy the first edition as it sold out quickly; it will be very convenient to have it in one volume; CC was well enough to preside at luncheon with the bishop; over the summer they spent time with
the children and grandchildren at Repton and found it very satisfactory; Dr Pears is doing well at Repton; C.T. Pears is “quite a young man” with four children; “Alicia is like a hen with one
chicken, but a very promising one”; TC thinks that he has “behaved very shabbily” towards GEC by not asking him about St Mary's church and tells GEC that, if he wants two guineas, to apply to TC for them.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/123 9 March 1858
From TC at Durham to GEC
When GEC gives a vote for the charity that he refers to then TC will remember his application; CC has been suffering from her illness for approximately two months; CC had an attack whilst at Repton; in January she had “violent bronchitis” followed by a “bilious attack” and now she is very weak; “She is quite calm and composed, poor thing: and I trust resigned to God's will.”
; TC has two grandchildren staying with him; two girls, aged seven and five; TC asks for GEC's prayers.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/124 9 April 1858
From TC at Durham to GEC
CC died at five o'clock that morning, nearly the same date and time that their daughter Catherine was born 30 years previous; CC suffered from numerous symptoms including bronchitis and jaundice and finally a stomach condition;
“her Christian hope and confidence... continued unabated”; CC had her two daughters watching over her for the past two weeks; when CC died she was so quiet that they do not know the exact time of her death; TC does
not like the thought of living out the rest of his life alone and asks God to give him strength.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/125 6 February 1862
From TC at Durham to GEC
The second leaf of this letter is situated at the back. It has been a while since TC and GEC last corresponded but GEC has still been in TC's thoughts; GEC has suffered from illness and “as Chairman of Committee, in the
matter of Chancellor, which led to no result”; TC asks GEC to send him a statement of the examinations now at Cambridge for a student to pass and obtain a BA degree; TC is going to propose some measure at Durham on a similar subject; rumours
concerning the late election of the master of [St] Cath]erine's College, founded “partly on published statements” have reached remote parts; TC saw Catherine, Alicia and the children at Christmas; Catherine has five
children and Alicia has one; there is now at Lucerne “a large hotel by the lake, between the town & the Cathedral: so the poor ?lance is thrown into the shade”; he was glad to have a guest who knew his family; TC
has been to the house twice; “We are here a ‘ toad under a harrow’ in the form of a Commission, which said harrow will be set in motion as soon as the Parliamentry coach is fairly
started.”; Robert Grubb has written to TC saying he is going to move to Cambridge; TC would like to receive an account of how GEC is doing; TC has bought a new riding horse and been out on it for three hours.
4f
Add. MSS. 837/126 15 December 1864
From TC at Durham to GEC
Since TC and GEC have not been in touch for a while TC feels that “there seems danger of it being cut off altogether”; TC would like GEC to look at a letter he received from one of Milner's daughters; TC renewed
his acquaintance with Mr Milner at Redcar two years previous; not long afterwards, Mrs Milner died; Elizabeth is working in a school at Lichfield as a teacher and would like to raise some money to start her own school; TC sent down a small donation
and TC's daughter Catherine sent another; Elizabeth wrote to TC a week ago regarding her father's death “and now I have the enclosed respecting the family of daughters”; TC hopes that the four daughters will be able
to find “some proper employment” but does not see any way in which he can help them; when GEC has read the packet of letters, send them on to Mrs Pears' address where TC hopes to be the following week;
“I want to meet with a young man as Observer at an observatory”; he will pay £100 per year with a house and servants and he should have had some practice in observing or be willing to go to the observatory to learn;
“Of course a good character is optional”; if GEC knows anyone TC will be glad to hear from him directly; the previous autumn, TC had an accidental fall in which he was forced to give up work for a few months and now
he is well.
3f
Add. MSS. 837/127 18 May 1865
From TC at Durham to GEC
TC's Cambridge tenant wishes to buy the property “and may have to engagge a person who may be trusted to put a fair value upon it”; TC asks GEC if he could recommend an “honest
impartical man” so TC can sell his house; TC has been told by Elizabeth Milner that “Milner's affairs have been arranged so as to clear all debts”; GEC's friends, Mr and Mrs Dakeley, dined with TC two days ago
before they went to Westmorland; TC asks that when GEC goes past St Andrew's churchyard he is to check if Alicia Wheelwright's gravestone is in good order.
2f
Add. MSS. 837/128 1 September 1865
From TC at Esh, to GEC
TC has been appointed a canon of Durham by the bishop of Durham; being appointed to the office was unexpected; “the office will set me at ease with respect to requiring any Professorship at Durham, as soon as I properly
can”; TC is currently well but has a lot of work of late; TC would like it if GEC would show the daughter of the late Mr Gilly some kindness; she resides in Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge; Dr and Mrs Pears have been staying with TC with their
five children for the past five weeks and leave next week.
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Add. MSS. 837/129 22 June - 4 July 1865
Copies of 5 letters:
a) 22 June 1865 From R[obert] Potts at Cambridge, to TC
Potts trusts TC that this is a private and confidential letter; Potts was permitted to look around TC's house which is up for auction on 29 June [1865]; Potts was told that the Roman Catholics would outbid anyone who wished to bid for the
property; as there is a chapel behind the garden wall, this would increase the “Romish Establishment in Cambridge”; “It is undesirable that either monasteries or nuneries should be revived
in Cambridge”; Potts would like to purchase the property to prevent the Roman Catholics purchasing the property.
b) 24 June 1865 From TC at Durham to R[obert] Potts at Cambridge
TC thanks Potts for making him aware of the situtation concerning the purchase of this house and will be in touch to discuss it further; note: Mr Wentworth, TC's agent in Durham, called on Potts to ask what his offer was on the property which
Potts stated that he had no offer to make.
c) 29 June 1865 From A. Story at Durham, to Robert Potts at Cambridge
The address on the letter to Story was obscure and was sent to Durham near Uxbridge therefore he did not receive the letter until “this morning”; Story wrote to TC and Wentworth the previous Saturday to request the
property to be sold privately; the property has been advertised for a while and Story states that it is unlucky that Potts had not applied sooner and wishes him well at the sale that day.
d) 3 July 1865 From A. Story at Durham to Robert Potts
at Cambridge
TC is away in the south of England and Story will be in contact on TC's return to Durham.
e) 4 July 1865 From TC at Esh to R[obert] Potts at Cambridge.
Due to the original letter being sent to Durham near Uxbridge first, TC encloses the original envelope as proof, by the time that the letter reached anyone it was too late; if the letter had been a few days earlier then they would have been able
to make some sort of arrangement; note: The property was sold at auction on 29 June [1865], and was sold to the Romish Priest for £1953.
2f
