King, Edward

King, Edward (1829-1910), English bishop, was the second son of the Rev. Walter King, archdeacon of Rochester and rector of Stone, Kent. Graduating from Oriel College, Oxford, he was ordained in 1854, and four years later became chaplain and lecturer at Cuddesdon Theological College. He was principal at Cuddesdon from 1863 to 1873, when he became regius professor of pastoral theology at Oxford and canon of Christ Church. To the world outside he was only known at this time as one of Dr Pusey’s most intimate friends and as a leading member of the English Church Union. But in Oxford, and especially among the younger men, he exercised an exceptional influence, due, not to special profundity of intellect, but to his remarkable charm in personal intercourse, and his abounding sincerity and goodness. In 1885 Dr King was made bishop of Lincoln. The most eventful episode of his episcopate was his prosecution (1888-1890) for ritualistic practices before the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Benson, and, on appeal, before the judicial committee of the Privy Council (see Lincoln Judgment). Dr King, who loyally conformed his practices to the archbishop’s judgment, devoted himself unsparingly to the work of his diocese; and, irrespective of his High Church views, he won the affection and reverence of all classes by his real saintliness of character. The bishop, who never married, died at Lincoln on the 8th of March 1910.