Ellicott, CHARLES JOHN

Ellicott, CHARLES JOHN, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, was born 25th April 1819, at Whitwell, near Stamford, of which parish his father was rector. He was educated at Oakham and Stamford schools, and at the university of Cambridge, where he graduated in 1841, and was elected fellow of St John's College. He became rector of Pilton, Rutlandshire, in 1843, professor of Divinity at King's College, London, in 1858, Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge in 1859, and Hulsean professor of Divinity the year after. Dean of Exeter from 1861, he was Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol from 1863 till his resignation in 1897. His episcopate was distinguished by the most vigorous and catholic-spirited activity in educational, missionary, and church extension work. Dr Ellicott was chairman for eleven years of the New Testament Revision Committee. He is best known as a commentator on the Epistles of the New Testament, and is distinguished for thoroughness of grammatical criticism. He has published critical and grammatical commentaries on Galatians (1854), Ephesians (1855), Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Philemon, and the Pastoral Epistles (1861); works on the Sabbath, on Scripture and its Interpretation, and on Modern Scepticism. A useful work which he has edited is A New Testament Commentary for English Readers (3 vols.), and a corresponding work on the Old Testament (5 vols.).