Lord Arthur Hervey

Lord Arthur Hervey combined English Anglican ministry and writing before becoming Bishop of Bath and Wells. Born Arthur Charles Hervey in 1808, he studied at Cambridge’s Trinity College before spending many years in parish and diocesan work before his appointment as bishop in 1869. His publications reflect the public duties of a Victorian churchman, ranging from sermons to ecclesiastical and genealogical subjects. A Sermon Preached in Ely Cathedral records an address delivered in 1851 at a diocesan missionary meeting that also marked a jubilee of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The occasion joined local cathedral worship to the wider institutional concerns of the Anglican communion. Hervey's later episcopal career gave him responsibility for clergy, parishes, and church administration across Bath and Wells, roles he held until his death in 1894. This earlier sermon offers a compact view of the preaching, missionary organization, and ceremonial public life that preceded his decades as a senior bishop.