Maurice Frederick Denison

Maurice, Frederick Denison (1805-72), author and theologian, was the son of an Unitarian minister. He went to Trinity College, Cambridge, migrating later to Trinity Hall, where he obtained a first class in Civil Law (1827), but could not take bis degree owing to his religious views. He then went to London, and became editor of the Athenceum, and, falling under Coleridge's influence, he joined the English Church, and became a typical Broad Churchman, though he disliked all party names. Having gone to Oxford and graduated there, he took orders in 1834, and after some experience of parish work, was appointed chaplain to Guy's Hospital, where his sermons attracted many to the chapel. In 1840 he became professor of literature and history at King's College, and of divinity in 1846, but his Theological Essays (1853) offended the authorities and caused him to lose his professorships. From 1846-60 he was chaplain of Lincoln's Inn, and from 1860-69 incumbent of St. Peter's, Vere Street. His congregations were composed of a select body of thinkers on whom and through whom he exercised a deep influence. His views upon co-operation and Christian Socialism caused him to be looked on as the workman's friend, and he had much to do with founding the Working Men's College, and Queen's College for Women. In 1866 he became professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge. He wrote a novel, Eustace Conway.