The Cambridge Apostles, 1820-1914: Liberalism, Imagination, and Friendship in British Intellectual and Professional Life 1st Edition
by W.C. Lubenow
Queer Places:
Rugby School, Lawrence Sheriff St, Rugby CV22 5EH, United Kingdom
University of Cambridge, 4 Mill Ln, Cambridge CB2 1RZ
Marlborough College, Bath Rd, Marlborough SN8 1PA, United Kingdom
St. Mary's, Barnes, Church Rd, London SW13 9HL, United Kingdom
The Venerable Edmund Henry Fisher (1834/1835 – May 6, 1879) was a prominent English clergyman, schoolmaster, and ecclesiastical administrator whose life spanned rigorous academic achievement at Cambridge, influential church appointments, and family life. Born in Chipping Ongar, Essex, he was the son of the Reverend Edmund Fisher and Harriet Edridge Fisher, and the brother of Frederic Horatio Fisher.
Educated at Rugby School, Fisher entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in October 1853 as a pensioner at age 19. He built an exceptional academic record, earning distinction as a Bell Scholar in 1855, a Scholar in 1856, and graduating as the 20th Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos to receive his BA in 1858. His campus leadership was marked by his tenure as President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1858. He subsequently won the Le Bas Prize in 1859, secured a Fellowship at Trinity in 1860, and earned his MA in 1862. During his time at Cambridge, he was also inducted into the elite intellectual discussion group, the Cambridge Apostles, which connected him to notable Victorian thinkers and carried implicit intersections with complex social and personal circles of the era.
Following his university years, Fisher pursued a dual path in education and the church. He served as an assistant master at Marlborough College from 1860 to 1865 before turning fully to holy orders. Ordained a deacon in Salisbury in 1864 and a priest in 1865, he began his pastoral ministry as a curate at St Peter's, Pimlico, from 1865 to 1866. His career accelerated significantly when he became a chaplain to Archibald Campbell Tait, initially during Tait's tenure as Bishop of London and continuing after Tait was translated as Archbishop of Canterbury, a role Fisher maintained until 1879. Alongside his chaplaincy, he served as the vicar of St Mark's, Kennington, from 1869 to 1879, an honorary canon of Winchester from 1874 to 1878, and ultimately as the Archdeacon of Southwark from 1877 until his death.
Amidst his heavy ecclesiastical duties, Fisher married Frances Jane Connell in June 1869 at Kensington, London. The couple raised six children: Mary Harriet, Mabel Alice, Agnes Campbell, Winifred Frances, Edmund Nelson, and Etheldred Elizabeth. In addition to his administrative and pastoral writings—such as his published work The Goth and the Saracen—Fisher's life came to a premature close when he passed away on May 6, 1879, at roughly age 44 at the rectory in Monks Eleigh, Suffolk. He was laid to rest a few days later on May 10, 1879, in Barnes, Surrey.
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The Cambridge Apostles, 1820-1914: Liberalism, Imagination, and Friendship in British Intellectual and Professional Life 1st Edition by W.C. Lubenow |
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