Person Page - 10611

     Rt. Rev. George John Trevor Spencer was born on 11 December 1799 at Curzon Street, Mayfair, London, England^G.² He was the son of William Robert Spencer and Susan Gräfin von Jenison-Walworth.¹ He married Harriet Theodora Hobhouse, daughter of Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, 1st Bt. and Amelia Parry, on 27 May 1823.¹ He died on 16 July 1866 at age 66 at Edge Moor, Hartington Upper Quarter, Buxton, Derbyshire, England^G.²
     He graduated with a Doctor of Divinity (D.D.)¹ He held the office of Bishop of Madras.¹ He held the office of Chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral.¹ Spencer, George Trevor (1799–1866), bishop of Madras, India, was born on 11 December 1799 at Curzon Street, Mayfair, Westminster, the third son of the Hon. William Robert Spencer (1770–1834) and his wife, Susan, widow of Count Spreti and daughter of Francis Jenison (known as Jenison Walworth). Aubrey George Spencer (1795–1872), bishop of Newfoundland, was his brother. Having gained prizes for Latin alcaics and an English essay at Charterhouse School, he went to University College, Oxford, where he graduated BA in 1822.??In the following year he was ordained deacon, and also married Harriet Theodora, daughter of Sir Benjamin Hobhouse; they had two sons and three daughters. In 1824 he was ordained priest and held the perpetual curacy of Buxton until 1829. From 1829 until 1837 he was rector of Leaden Roding in Essex.
?On 19 November 1837, through the influence of his brother-in-law Sir John Cam Hobhouse, president of the Board of Control, Spencer was consecrated second bishop of Madras, and enthroned in St George's Cathedral, Madras, on 4 November 1838. In 1842 he published a Journal of a visitation to the provinces of Travancore and Tinnevelly in the diocese of Madras, 1840–41. In 1845 he also published Journal of a visitation tour, in 1843–4, through part of the western portion of his diocese. Besides places in his own diocese, he visited during this tour Poona, Ahmednagar, and Bombay. In the autumn of 1845 Spencer visited the missions of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Church Missionary Society, and published his Journal in the following year, together with charges delivered at St George's Cathedral, Madras, and at Palamcottai, and appendices containing statistical tables. In 1846 he also published A brief account of the C.M.S.'s mission in the district of Kishnagur, in the diocese of Calcutta. In the diocese of Madras he established three training colleges for Indian converts.??The whole of Spencer's episcopate was fraught with tensions between himself and the Madras diocesan committee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Relations were equally strained with the Church Missionary Society and its forceful chief secretary, Henry Venn. Spencer's stress upon the authority of the bishop rather than the missionary societies, especially in theological matters, was bound to cause problems in a diocese where many of the missionaries were either German or Danish Lutherans or were influenced by Tractarian beliefs. Dogged by ill health, by 1847 Spencer could no longer cope and returned to England on leave. On 16 June 1847 he was made doctor of divinity, and at some time during the course of his stay in England he decided to resign the episcopate, though this was not carried into effect until 1849.??On 4 October 1852 Spencer was appointed commissary or assistant to Richard Bagot, bishop of Bath and Wells. Once again he entered an area of theological controversy, this time with the Ven. George Denison, archdeacon of Taunton, examining chaplain to Bagot. They differed strongly over their understanding of the ‘real presence’ in the eucharist, Denison taking an extreme Tractarian position, and over the extent of Spencer's powers to test whether the beliefs of those presented to him for ordination were in accordance with those sanctioned by the Church of England. The controversy was brief but acrimonious and led to an angry correspondence which ended in Denison's declining ‘any further communication by word or writing’, and both men's publishing their correspondence in an attempt to vindicate themselves. The result was the resignation of both men, Spencer on 10 May and Denison on 4 June 1853.??In 1860 Spencer was appointed chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral in London, and in the next year became rector of Walton on the Wolds, Leicestershire. He died of dropsy on 16 July 1866 at his home, Edge Moor, Hartington Upper Quarter, near Buxton, Derbyshire, his wife surviving him.??G. Le G. Norgate, rev. Clare Brown

Sources  
T. E. Yates, Venn and Victorian bishops abroad: the missionary policies of Henry Venn and their repercussions upon the Anglican episcopate of the colonial period, 1841–1872 (1978) · H. Cnattingius, Bishops and societies: a study of Anglican colonial and missionary expansion, 1698–1850 (1952) · M. E. Gibbs, The Anglican church in India, 1600–1970 (1972) · G. T. Spencer, Journal of a visitation to the provinces of Travancore and Tinnevelly in the diocese of Madras, 1840–1841 (1842) · G. T. Spencer, Journal of a visitation-tour, in 1843–4, through part of the western portion of his diocese (1845) · G. T. Spencer, Journal of a visitation-tour, through the provinces of Madura and Tinnevelly, in the diocese of Madras, in August and September, 1845 (1846) · G. T. Spencer, Letter to the Hon. and Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells (1853) · G. A. Denison, Notes of my life, 1805–1878 (1878) · GM, 4th ser., 1 (1866), 281 · Foster, Alum. Oxon. · d. cert. · CGPLA Eng. & Wales (1866)

Archives  
BL, letters to J. C. Hobhouse, Add. MSS 36460–36472, passim · BL OIOC, letters to Lord Tweeddale, MS Eur. F 96 · Bodl. RH, Madras Diocesan Committee Series, Society for the Propagation of the Gospel archives · LPL, corresp. with A. C. Tait · U. Birm. L., corresp. with Church Missionary Society

Wealth at death  
under £16,000: probate, 5 Oct 1866, CGPLA Eng. & Wales.²

     Harriet Theodora Hobhouse was the daughter of Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, 1st Bt. and Amelia Parry.¹ She married Rt. Rev. George John Trevor Spencer, son of William Robert Spencer and Susan Gräfin von Jenison-Walworth, on 27 May 1823.¹
     From 27 May 1823, her married name became Spencer.

     Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, 1st Bt. was born on 29 March 1757.² He was the son of John Hobhouse and Mary Medley.³ He married, firstly, Charlotte Cam, daughter of Samuel Cam, on 12 September 1785.² He married, secondly, Amelia Parry, daughter of Reverend Joshua Parry, on 18 April 1793.² He died on 14 August 1831 at age 74.⁴
     He was a practising barrister.² He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Bletchingley in 1797.² He held the office of Chief Secretary of the Board of Control, India between 1801 and 1803.² He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Grampound in 1802.² He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Hendon between 1806 and 1818.² He held the office of Chief Secretary of the Board of Control, India between 1807 and 1808.² He was created 1st Baronet Hobhouse, of Broughton-Gifford, Bradford-on-Avon, and Monkton Farleigh, co. Wilts [U.K.] on 22 December 1812.⁵ He lived at Chantry House, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England.²

     William Cavendish Spencer was born on 19 January 1829.¹ He was the son of Rt. Rev. George John Trevor Spencer and Harriet Theodora Hobhouse.¹ He married Patience Caroline Hannyngton, daughter of Colonel J.C. Hannyngton, on 28 June 1858.² He died on 23 January 1860 at age 31.¹
     He was in the Bengal Civil Service.¹

     Patience Caroline Hannyngton was the daughter of Colonel J.C. Hannyngton.² She married William Cavendish Spencer, son of Rt. Rev. George John Trevor Spencer and Harriet Theodora Hobhouse, on 28 June 1858.² She died on 20 November 1859.²
     Her married name became Spencer.

     Colonel J.C. Hannyngton gained the rank of Colonel in the Indian Army.¹

     Lt.-Col. John Trevor Spencer was born on 13 November 1859.¹ He was the son of William Cavendish Spencer and Patience Caroline Hannyngton.¹ He married Lilian Gordon, daughter of Robert Gordon, in 1889.¹ He died on 16 October 1906 at age 46.¹
     He gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the 4th Battalion, Essex Regiment.¹ He gained the rank of Major in the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment.¹

     Lilian Gordon is the daughter of Robert Gordon.¹ She married, firstly, Lt.-Col. John Trevor Spencer, son of William Cavendish Spencer and Patience Caroline Hannyngton, in 1889.¹ She married, secondly, Captain A. H. Rose on 12 March 1910.¹
     From 1889, her married name became Spencer. From 12 March 1910, her married name became Rose.

     Robert Gordon lived at New York City, New York, U.S.A.^G.¹