James Moorhouse

The Rt Revd James Moorhouse
Bishop of Melbourne Bishop of Manchester, UK
James Moorhouse, 1889
Orders
Ordination	1854
Consecration	22 October 1876
Personal details
Born	19 November 1826 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Died	9 April 1915 (1915-04-10) (aged 88) Taunton, Somerset, England
Nationality	English
Denomination	Anglican
Parents	James Moorhouse, Jane Frances née Bowman
Alma mater	St John's College, Cambridge

James Moorhouse (19 November 1826 – 9 April 1915) was a Bishop of Melbourne and a Bishop of Manchester, and a Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.

Moorhouse was born in Sheffield, England, the only son of James Moorhouse, a book-lover and master-cutler, and his wife Jane Frances née Bowman. Educated at a private school at Sheffield until he was 16, Moorhouse afterwards went to the People's College in the evenings. He was widely read and already taking an interest in theological and philosophical books. His father intended the younger Moorhouse to become a partner in his cutlery business, but after spending two or three years at this work, Moorhouse asked that he might be sent to a university with a view to ordination. He never regretted the years he spent in business, as he realised that the experience of men he had gained was invaluable. Moorhouse knew little Latin, and no Greek or higher mathematics, so there was much to be learned before at the age of 23 he was able to enter St John's College, Cambridge (graduated BA, 1853 as a senior optime in the mathematical tripos; MA, 1860; DD, 1876).

Ordained as a priest in 1854, Moorhouse served as curate at St Neots and at Sheffield (1855–59) to Canon Sale. There he started a men's institute where young men could meet and discuss, and open their minds. He began the work single-handed and many of the men who came were rough specimens. When he left there were 400 students and a staff of voluntary teachers. Moorhouse then became curate to Canon Harvey at Hornsey, the beginning of a great friendship, and in 1861 he was appointed select preacher before the university of Cambridge. His sermons, which made a great impression, were published in that year under the title, Some Modern Difficulties Respecting the Facts of Nature and Revelation. He was much gratified to receive an invitation from his old college, St John's, to sit for a fellowship, but was obliged to decline the honour as on 12 September 1861 he had married Mary Lydia Sale, the daughter of his former vicar. He was soon afterwards appointed to the living at St John's, Fitzroy Square, London. His income was small and the parish was a drab one, but his preaching attracted well-to-do people from other parts of London, who took sittings in his church. This, however, did not lead to any neglect of the poorer members of his congregation. He opened classes for young men and himself took the classes in English, the Greek Testament and political economy. Nothing pleased him better than a discussion on some point with one of the keener-minded men of his audience. On other occasions he would play football with members of his class. In 1867 he became vicar of Paddington, and during the following nine years established a reputation as one of the most eloquent and weighty of metropolitan preachers. He was then appointed prebendary canon of St Paul's Cathedral in 1874.