Blomfield, Charles James

BLOMFIELD, CHARLES JAMES: Bishop of London; b. at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, May 29, 1786; d. at Fulham Palace Aug. 5, 1857. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1808); was ordained 1810; became chaplain to Bishop Howley of London 1819; archdeacon of Colchester 1822; bishop of Chester 1824; bishop of London 1828. He retired from office in 1856 after a vigorous and effective administration. He was a noted Greek scholar, edited a Greek grammar (Cambridge, 1818), and a number of Greek texts (the dramas of Æschylus, 1810–24; Callimachus 1815; Euripides, 1821; fragments of Sappho, Alcæus, and Stesichorus for Gaisford's Poetæ minores Græci, 1823), and wrote much for the 205reviews on classical subjects. His theological works comprise Five Lectures on John's Gospel (1823); Twelve Lectures on the Acts (1828); several collections of sermons; and A Manual of Private and Family Prayers (1824).

Bibliography: A. Blomfield, A Memoir of C. J. Blomfield, . . . with Selections from his Correspondence, 2 vols., London, 1863 (by his son); G. E. Biber, Bishop Blomfield and his Times, London, 1857; DNB, v, 229–230. The British Museum Catalogue devotes five pages to a list of Blomfield's works.