John Frederick Denison Maurice (29 August 1805 – 1 April 1872), commonly known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican priest and theologian. He was a prolific author and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since the Second World War, interest in Maurice has expanded."Frederick Denison Maurice." Encyclopædia Britannica. Britannica Academic. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Accessed 3 Jan. 2016.
Early life and education John Frederick Denison Maurice was born in Normanston, Lowestoft, Suffolk, on 29 August 1805, the only son of Michael Maurice and his wife, Priscilla. Michael Maurice was the evening preacher in a Unitarian chapel. Deaths in the family brought about changes in the family's "religious convictions" and "vehement disagreement" between family members. Maurice later wrote about these disagreements and their effect on him:
Michael was "of no little learning" and gave his son his early education. The son "appears to have been an exemplary child, responsive to teaching and always dutiful. He read a good deal on his own account, but had little inclination for games. Serious and precocious, he even at this time harboured ambitions for a life of public service."
For his higher education in civil law, Maurice entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1823 which required no religious test for admissions though only members of the established church were eligible to obtain a degree. In 1824, he was elected to the Apostles' Club as its thirtieth member (his friend John Sterling was elected in 1825; the common assertion that they were the club's founders stems from entries by Leslie Stephen in the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica and Dictionary of National Biography). Maurice soon became the society's leading member, establishing "that devotion to sincerity and rationality which its members have tried to maintain ever since". He moved to Trinity Hall in 1825. In 1826, Maurice went to London to read for the bar and returned to Cambridge where he obtained a first-class degree in civil law in 1827..
During the 1827–1830 break in his higher education, Maurice lived in London and Southampton. While in London, he contributed to the Westminster Review and made the acquaintance of John Stuart Mill. With Sterling, he also edited the Athenaeum. The magazine did not pay and his father had lost money which entailed moving the family to a smaller house in Southampton and Maurice joined them. During his time in Southampton, Maurice rejected his earlier Unitarianism and decided to be ordained in the Church of England. Mill described Maurice and Sterling as representing "a second Liberal and even Radical party, on totally different grounds from Benthamism." Maurice's articles evince sympathy for Radicals such as Leigh Hunt and William Hazlitt, and he welcomed the "shattering of thrones, the convulsions of governments" that marked the end of the eighteenth century. He likewise commended the Whig Henry Brougham's support for Catholic emancipation in England, but criticized him for relying too much on the aristocracy and not enough on the people.
Maurice entered Exeter College, Oxford, in 1830 to prepare for ordination. He was older than most of the students, he was very poor and he "kept to himself, toiling at his books". However, "his honesty and intellectual powers" impressed others. In March 1831, Maurice was baptised in the Church of England. After taking a second-class degree in November 1831, he worked as a "private tutor" in Oxford until his ordination as a deacon in January 1834 and appointment to a curacy in Bubbenhall near Leamington.Crockford's Clerical Directory 1868, pp. 448–449; . Being twenty-eight years old when he was ordained deacon, Maurice was older and with a wider experience than most ordinands. He had attended both universities and been active in "the literary and social interests of London". All this, coupled with his diligence in study and reading, gave Maurice a knowledge "scarcely paralleled by any of his contemporaries". He was ordained as priest in 1835.Crockford's Clerical Directory 1868, pp. 448–449.
Career and marriages Except for his 1834–1836 first clerical assignment, Maurice's career can be divided between his conflicted years in London (1836–1866) and his peaceful years in Cambridge (1866–1872)
For his first clerical assignment, Maurice served an assistant curacy in Bubbenhall in Warwickshire from 1834 until 1836. During his time in Bubbenhall, he began writing on the topic of "moral and metaphysical philosophy". Writing on this topic by "revision and expansion" continued the rest of his life until the publication of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy, 2 vols in 1871–1872, the year of his death.A. Gardner, The Scottish Review, Volume 3 (1884), 349. Online at https://books.google.com/books?id=msgZmBVliCgC Also, Maurice's novel Eustace Conway, begun , was published in 1834 and was praised by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
In 1836, he was appointed chaplain of Guy's Hospital where he took up residence and "lectured the students on moral philosophy". He continued this post until 1860. Maurice's public life began during his years at Guy's.A. Gardner, The Scottish Review, Volume 3 (1884), 351. Online at https://books.google.com/books?id=msgZmBVliCgC
In June 1837, Maurice met Anna Eleanor Barton, a daughter of General Charles Barton. They became engaged and were married on 7 October 1837.Thomas Carlyle, Charles Richard Sanders, Clyde de L. Ryals, The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle (1981), p. 45
In 1838, the first edition of The Kingdom of Christ was published. It was "one of his most significant works". A second enlarged edition was published in 1842 and a third edition in 1883. For Maurice the signs of this kingdom are "the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist, to which must be added the creeds, the liturgy, the episcopate, and the scriptures—in fact, all the marks of catholicity as exemplified in the Church of England." The book was met with criticism when published, a criticism "that lasted throughout Maurice's career."
London Maurice served as editor of the Educational Magazine during its entire 1839–1841 existence. He argued that "the school system should not be transferred from the church to the state". Maurice was elected professor of English literature and history at King's College, London, in 1840. When the college added a theological department in 1846, he became a professor there also. That same year Maurice was elected chaplain of Lincoln's Inn and resigned the chaplaincy at Guy's Hospital.
In 1845, Maurice was made both the Boyle lecturer by the Archbishop of York's nomination and the Warburton lecturer by the Archbishop of Canterbury's nomination. He held these chairs until 1853.
Maurice's wife, Anna, died on 25 March 1845, leaving two sons, one of whom was Frederick Maurice who wrote his father's biography.
Queen's College
During his London years, Maurice engaged in two lasting educational initiatives: founding Queen's College, London in 1848 and the Working Men's College in 1854.
In 1847, Maurice and "most of his brother-professors" at King's College formed a Committee on Education for the education of governesses. This committee joined a scheme for establishing a College for Women that resulted in the founding of Queen's College. Maurice was its first principal. The college was "empowered to grant certificates of qualification 'to governesses' and 'to open classes in all branches of female education'."John William Adamson, English Education, 1789–1902 (Cambridge University, 1930/1964), 283.
One of the early graduates of Queen's College who was influenced by Maurice was Matilda Ellen Bishop who became the first principal of Royal Holloway College.
On 4 July 1849, Maurice remarried, this time to Georgiana Hare.
Dismissal from King's College
"Maurice was dismissed from his professorships because of his leadership in the Christian Socialist Movement, and because of the supposed unorthodoxy of his Theological Essays (1853)." His work The Kingdom of Christ had evoked virulent criticism. The publication of his Theological Essays in 1853 evoked even more and precipitated his dismissal from King's College. At the instigation of Richard William Jelf, the Principal of the college, the Council of the college asked Maurice to resign. He refused and demanded that he be either "acquitted or dismissed." He was dismissed. To prevent the controversy from affecting Queen's College, Maurice "severed his relations" with it.A. Gardner, The Scottish Review, Volume 3 (1884), 351–353. Online at https://books.google.com/books?id=msgZmBVliCgC
The public and his friends were strongly in support of Maurice. His friends "looked up to him with the reverence due to a great spiritual teacher". They were devoted to him and wanted to protect Maurice against his opponents.
Working Men's College
Although his relations with King's College and Queen's College had been severed, Maurice continued to work for the education of workers. In February 1854, he developed plans for a Working Men's College. Maurice gained enough support for the college by giving lectures that by 30 October 1854, the college opened with over 130 students. "Maurice became principal, and took an active part both in teaching and superintending during the rest of his life in London."
Maurice's teaching led to some "abortive attempts at co-operation among working men" and to the more enduring Christian Socialism movement and the Society for Promoting Working Men's Associations.
During the invasion scare of 1859–60, Thomas Hughes raised the 19th (Bloomsbury) Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps from among the students of the Working Men's College, and Denison became the battalion's Honorary Chaplain on 7 December 1860.Army List.Ian F.W. Beckett, Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908, Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, ISBN 0 85936 271 X, pp. 33, 61, Appendices VI and VII.
In July 1860, in spite of controversy, Maurice was appointed to the benefice of the chapel of St Peter, Vere Street, Marylebone. He held the position until 1869.
Bishop Colenso John William Colenso had been an old friend. As bishop-designate of the Church of England in the Colony of Natal, Colenso had touched Maurice by dedicating a volume of sermons to him during the King's College controversy. In 1862, preparing his criticism of the Pentateuch, Colenso showed Maurice the proof-sheets. Maurice was shocked by the tendency of the book. He told Colenso many would think Colenso ought to resign his bishopric. Colenso responded many thought Maurice had no business to hold his living. Maurice had been alarmed by decisions (reversed on appeal) in the cases of Heath and Wilson, which would condemn his own teaching. Maurice decided to resign, concluding that if unbeneficed he'd be able to assert more forcibly his adherence to its formularies, whereas his legal ejection from his living might cause a schism. His intention became known. It excited many protests. He found that it was supposed he was resigning because he had doubts as to subscribing the articles. Bishop Tait declared that he could hardly accept the resignation; but Maurice was at last only withheld by the suggestion that he was acting unfairly to Colenso, who had confided in him, and would be injured by the resignation. He agreed to be guided by the advice of the bishop. He retained his living. The misunderstanding, however, caused a falling off of the congregation, who were puzzled by his scrupulosity. In 1863, Maurice replied to Colenso in a series of letters The Claims of the Bible and Science. The two men became estranged. Maurice declined to meet Colenso at the house of a common friend.
Cambridge University