FRASER, JAMES (1818-1885)

This article appears in Volume V11, Page 39 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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FRASER, JAMES (1818-1885) , English bishop, was born at Prestbury, in Gloucestershire, on the 18th of August 1818, and was educated at Bridgnorth, Shrewsbury, and Lincoln College, Oxford. In 1839 he was Ireland scholar, and took a first class. In 1840 he gained an Oriel fellowship, and was for some time tutor of the college, but did not take orders until 1846. He was successively

vicar

VICAR (Lat. vicarius, substitute)

of Cholderton, in Wiltshire, and

rector

RECTOR (Lat. for " ruler," " guide," &c., from regere, "
rule
- RULE
")

of Ufton Nervet, in Berkshire; but his subsequent importance was largely due to W. K. Hamilton, bishop of Salisbury, who recommended him as an assistant

commissioner

COMMISSIONER

of education. His report on the educational

condition

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

of thirteen poor-law unions, made in May 1859, was described by

Thomas

Hughes as " a superb, almost a unique piece of

work

WORK

." In 1865 he was commissioned to report on the state of education in the United States and Canada, and his able performance of this task brought him an offer of the bishopric of Calcutta, which he declined, but in January 1870 he accepted the see of Manchester. The task before him was an arduous one, for although his predecessor, James Prince Lee, had consecrated no fewer than 130 churches, the enormous population was still greatly in advance of the ecclesiastical machinery. Fraser worked with the utmost energy, and did even more for the church by the liberality and geniality which earned him the title of " the bishop of all de-nominations." He was prominent in secular as well as religious works, interesting himself in every

movement

MOVEMENT

that promoted health, morality, or education; and especially serviceable as the friendly, unofficious counsellor of all classes. His theology was that of a liberal high-churchman, and his sympathies were broad. In convocation he seconded a motion for the disuse of the Athanasian Creed, and in the

House

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

of Lords he voted for the abolition of university tests. He died suddenly on the 22nd of October 1885.
A biography by

Thomas

Hughes was published in 1887, and an account of his Lancashire life by J. W. Diggle (1889), who also edited 2 vols. of University and Parochial Sermons (1887).

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