Editing John Bird Sumner (section)

===Archbishop of Canterbury===
[[File:The Opening of the Great Exhibition by Queen Victoria on 1 May 1851.jpg|thumb|''[[The Opening of the Great Exhibition by Queen Victoria]]'' by [[Henry Courtney Selous]], 1852. Sumner is on the left hand side of the painting]]
In 1848 he was elevated to [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] (under which title he signed documents as "J B Cantuar") with an annual income of £15,000.<ref>{{cite book|title=Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862|year=1863|publisher=D. Appleton & Company|location=New York|page=760|url=https://archive.org/stream/1862appletonsan02newyuoft#page/n769/mode/1up}}</ref>

Shortly after taking his seat in the [[House of Lords]] he voted for [[Catholic emancipation]], which brought him into conflict with many of the clergy in his diocese.

In 1851, Sumner led the religious service at the formal opening of the Great Exhibition in "The Crystal Palace" in Hyde Park.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

Sumner's numerous writings were much esteemed, especially by the [[Evangelical Anglicanism|evangelical party]] to which he belonged. His best known writings are his ''Treatise on the Records of Creation and the Moral Attributes of the Creator'' (London, 1816) and ''The Evidence of Christianity derived from its Nature and Reception'' (London, 1821).<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Sumner, John Bird|volume=26|page=83}}</ref>

In the [[Gorham Case]], Sumner came into conflict with [[Henry Phillpotts]], [[Bishop of Exeter]] (1778–1869), who accused him of supporting heresy and refused to communicate with him. He supported the Divorce Bill in parliament but opposed the [[Deceased Wife's Sister Bill]] and the bill for removing Jewish disabilities.<ref name="EB1911"/>  His obituary in the Norfolk News of 13 September 1862<ref>{{Cite news|title=British Newspaper Archive|date=13 September 1862|work=Norfolk News}}</ref> commented that "he strongly opposed the admission of Jews into parliament ... and was among the foremost to denounce the [[Puseyite]] school of theology".

Sumner was president of the [[Canterbury Association]], which founded [[Christchurch]], New Zealand.<ref name=Blain>{{cite book
 | pages      = 78–79
 | last       = Blain
 | first      = Michael
 | title      = The Canterbury Association (1848-1852): A Study of Its Members' Connections
 | year       = 2007
 | publisher  = Project Canterbury |location=Christchurch
 | url        = http://anglicanhistory.org/nz/blain_canterbury2007.pdf
 | access-date = 23 March 2013
}}</ref> In 1848 he was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27sumner%27%29| title = Library and Archive Catalogue| publisher = Royal Society| access-date = 2012-02-02}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>