Introduction

Biography

William was the son of Hen­ry Car­pen­ter of Li­ver­pool, per­pe­tu­al cur­ate of St Mi­chael’s Church, Aig­burth, and Hes­ter Boyd of Der­ry. He mar­ried twice, to Har­ri­et Char­lotte Peers (1864) and An­nie Maude Gar­dner (1883).

Carpenter was edu­cat­ed at St. Ca­tha­rine’s Col­lege, Cam­bridge (BA 1864), and or­dained by Arch­bi­shop Long­ley.

He cul­ti­vat­ed roy­al­ty, be­com­ing chap­lain to Queen Vic­tor­ia and Clerk to the Clos­et of Ed­ward VII and George V. He served as Bi­shop of Ri­pon, 1884–1911.

Among other things, he ran his own Cler­gy School where he gave tui­tion in preach­ing. Geof­frey Stud­dert-Ken­ne­dy was one of his pu­pils.

Carpenter ad­vo­cat­ed a na­tion­al sys­tem for old age pen­sions long be­fore it be­came prac­ti­cal po­li­tics, and found­ed the Vic­tor­ia Fund to pro­vide pen­sions for the cler­gy.

Works

• Thoughts on Pray­er (Lon­don, 1871)
• Narcissus, a Tale of Early Chris­tian Times, 1879
• The Wit­ness of the Heart to Christ, 1879
• The Hul­se­an Lec­tures for 1878
• District Vi­si­tor’s Com­pan­ion, 1881
• My Bible, 1884
• Nature and Man, 1888
• Permanent Ele­ments of Re­li­gion (Bamp­ton Lec­tures for 1887, 1889)
• The Burn­ing Bush, 1893
• Twilight Dreams, 1893
• Lectures on Preach­ing, 1895
• Thoughts on Re­un­ion, 1895
• Religious Spi­rit in the Po­ets, 1900
• Popular His­to­ry of the Church of Eng­land, 1900
• Witness to the In­flu­ence of Christ (No­ble Lec­tures for 1904 & 1905)