Editing John Bird Sumner

{{short description|Archbishop of Canterbury from 1848 to 1862}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific-prefix = {{pre-nominal styles|size=100%|MRevd|&RHon}}
| name = John Bird Sumner<ref>[http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=81553 Church Times — Education: Academy awards]</ref>
| honorific-suffix =
| archbishop_of = [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]
| image = John Bird Sumner by Margaret Sarah Carpenter (née Geddes).jpg
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption = Portrait by [[Margaret Sarah Carpenter]]
| church = [[Church of England]]
| diocese = [[Diocese of Canterbury|Canterbury]]
| term = 1848–1862
| predecessor = [[William Howley]]
| successor = [[Charles Longley]]
| ordination = 1803
| consecration = 1828
| other_post = [[Bishop of Chester]] (1828–1848)
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1780|2|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Kenilworth]], [[Warwickshire]], England<!--as was-->
| death_date = {{death date and age|1862|9|6|1780|2|25|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Addington, London|Addington]], [[Surrey]], England
| buried = [[St Mary's Church, Addington]]
| residence =
| education    = [[Eton College]]
| alma_mater   = [[King's College, Cambridge]]
| spouse       = Marianne Robertson
| children     = at least 9
| signature    = John Bird Sumner Signature.svg
}}
[[File:John Bird Sumner Escutcheon.png|thumb|Arms: Ermine two chevrons Gules.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cheshire-heraldry.org.uk/bishops/ |title=The Armorial Bearings of the Bishops of Chester |publisher=Cheshire Heraldry Society |accessdate=10 February 2021}}</ref>]]
'''John Bird Sumner''' (25 February 1780 – 6 September 1862) was a bishop in the [[Church of England]] and [[Archbishop of Canterbury]].

==Early life==
John Bird Sumner was born in [[Kenilworth]], [[Warwickshire]], on 25 February 1780. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Robert Sumner, Vicar of Kenilworth, and his wife Hannah Bird, a first cousin of [[William Wilberforce]].<ref>Edward J. Davies, "Some Connections of the Birds of Warwickshire", ''The Genealogist'', 26(2012):58-76.</ref> His brother [[Charles Richard Sumner]] was [[Bishop of Winchester]].

Sumner was educated at [[Eton College]] and [[King's College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{acad|id=SMNR798JB|name=Sumner, James Bird}}</ref>

==Career==
In 1802, Sumner became an assistant master at his alma mater, Eton College, where he was nicknamed "Crumpety Sumner" by the boys.<ref>{{cite book|first=Rees Howell|last=Gronow|author-link=Rees Howell Gronow|title=Recollections and Anecdotes: Being a Second Series of Reminiscences of the Camp, the Court, and the Clubs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_74pAAAAYAAJ|year=1863|publisher=Smith, Elder|page=78}}</ref> He was ordained in 1803. He was elected a Fellow of Eton in 1817 and in 1818 the school presented him to the living of [[Mapledurham]], [[Oxfordshire]].

In 1819, he was chosen as a [[prebendary]] of the Durham diocese where he served until 1828, when he was consecrated to the episcopate as the [[Bishop of Chester]]. He was consecrated on 14 September 1828, by [[Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt]], [[Archbishop of York]], at [[York Minster]].<ref>[[William Stubbs|Stubbs, William]] &amp; [[Ernest Holmes (priest)|E. E. Holmes]]. ''Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum. An attempt to exhibit the course of episcopal succession in England from the records and chronicles of the church.'' 2nd edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897) [https://archive.org/stream/registrumsacrum00holmgoog#page/n171 p. 151] (Accessed 27 June 2018)</ref> During his episcopacy many churches and schools were built in the diocese.

===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>

==Personal life==
On 31 March 1803, Sumner married Marianne Robertson (1779-1829) in the parochial chapel of St Mary Walcot, [[Bath, Somerset]]. She was the daughter of George Robertson of Edinburgh (1742-1791), a captain in the [[Royal Navy]], and Ann ([[née]] Lewis) Robertson (1748-1802). His wife's maternal grandparents were [[Francis Lewis]], a [[New York (state)|New York]] signatory of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], and Elizabeth (née Anessley) Lewis. Sumner and wife had  at least nine children:

* Anne Sumner (1805–1833), who married John Adair Griffith Colpoys, son of Vice Admiral [[Edward Griffith Colpoys]].<ref name="Colpoys1834">{{cite book | title = Sir Edward Griffith Colpoys, K.C.B. | work  = The Annual Biography and Obituary, 1834, p. 218&ndash;223, Retrieved on 16 July 2009 | url   = https://books.google.com/books?id=1m4EAAAAQAAJ&q=%22Sir+Edward+Griffith+Colpoys%22&pg=PA218| year = 1834 }}</ref> 
* Louisa Elizabeth Sumner (1806-)
* Eliza Maria Sumner (1808–1836), mother of the cricketer [[John Gibson (cricketer, born 1833)|John Sumner Gibson]].
* Caroline Sumner (1811–1811), who died in infancy.
* Georgina Sumner (1814–1881), who married Wilson Dobie Wilson.
* Caroline Sumner (1816–1841), a twin.
* Maria Sumner (1816–1861), a twin.
* The Rev. John Henry Robertson Sumner (1821–1910), father of the footballer [[John Robert Sumner|John Robert Edwards Sumner]].
* Robert George Moncrieff Sumner (1824–1885).

Marianne Sumner died at the Manor House, Wandsworth, on 22 March 1829. Sumner died on 6 September 1862 at [[Addington Palace]], aged 82, and was buried on 12 September in the graveyard of [[St Mary's Church, Addington]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=British Newspaper Archive|date=13 September 1862|work=Norfolk News}}</ref> Two daughters and other relatives are interred at the north-east corner of the churchyard.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EG-rpv4ZMtgC&q=revd+john+thomas+++Sumner|title=John Bird Sumner: Evangelical Archbishop|last=Scotland|first=Nigel|date=1995|publisher=Gracewing Publishing|isbn=9780852442463|language=en}}</ref>

===Legacy===
A portrait of Sumner hangs in the hall of [[University College, Durham]]; another, in his convocation robes, by Eddis, is at [[Lambeth Palace]]; a replica of this is in the hall at [[King's College, Cambridge]]. A portrait by Margaret Carpenter was engraved by Samuel Cousins in 1839. A later portrait by the same artist was engraved by T. Richardson Jackson. Francis Holl executed an engraving of another portrait of him by George Richmond. A recumbent effigy by H. Weekes, R.A., funded by public subscription after Sumner's death, is in the nave of [[Canterbury Cathedral]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography}}</ref>

[[List of schools in the London Borough of Lambeth#Primary schools|Archbishop Sumner Church of England Primary School]] in [[London Borough of Lambeth|Lambeth]] is named in his memory.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://archives.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=20 Material relating to John Bird Sumner at Lambeth Palace Library]
{{S-start}}
{{S-rel|en}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Charles James Blomfield]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Chester]]|years=1828–1848}}
{{S-aft|after=[[John Graham (bishop)|John Graham]]}}
{{S-bef|before=[[William Howley]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Archbishop of Canterbury]]|years=1848–1862}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Charles Longley]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Sumner family tree}}
{{Bishops of Chester}}
{{Archbishops of Canterbury}}
{{Portalbar|Biographies|Christianity|England|History|United Kingdom}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumner, John Bird}}
[[Category:1780 births]]
[[Category:1862 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Kenilworth]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Archbishops of Canterbury]]
[[Category:Bishops of Chester]]
[[Category:19th-century Anglican archbishops]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Members of the Canterbury Association]]
[[Category:Burials at St Mary's Church, Addington]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:19th-century Church of England bishops]]
[[Category:Chetham Society]]
[[Category:18th-century Anglican theologians]]
[[Category:19th-century Anglican theologians]]
[[Category:Teachers at Eton College]]