Queer Places:
University of Cambridge, 4 Mill Ln, Cambridge CB2 1RZ
Auberge d'Aragon, Old Hospital Street, Valletta, Malta
Pro-Cathedral of Saint Paul, West Street, Il-Belt Valletta, Malta
Ta' Braxia Cemetery, Pieta, Triq L - Indipendenza, Il-Ħamrun, Malta
George Tomlinson (March 12, 1794 – February 6, 1863) was born in Lancashire on March 12, 1794, the son of John Tomlinson and Martha Dean. His early education took place at
St Saviour's Grammar School in Southwark before he entered St John's College, Cambridge, in October 1818, matriculating in early 1819. During his time at university, he
distinguished himself as a founding member of the intellectual secret society known as the Cambridge Apostles. He
successfully graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1823, later earning his Master of Arts in 1826 and a Doctor of Divinity in 1842.
His ecclesiastical career began when he was ordained as a deacon by the Diocese of Lincoln in June 1822. Moving into prominent clerical and educational circles, Tomlinson
served as chaplain to William Howley, the Bishop of London, and worked as a private tutor to the family of the prominent statesman Sir Robert Peel. Aligning with high-church
figures such as Peel, Howley, and Charles James Blomfield, Tomlinson took on the role of secretary to the City of London Infant School Society in 1825, establishing it as a
church-aligned alternative to secular educational initiatives.
From 1831 to 1842, Tomlinson served as the secretary to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK). During this tenure, he contributed literary pieces to the
Saturday Magazine and played a foundational role in establishing the Clergy List and the Ecclesiastical Gazette. Expanding his administrative and diplomatic reach, he
undertook an official ecumenical mission to the Levant in 1840, subsequently authoring a detailed report on his findings. Simultaneously, he held the position of vicar at St
Matthew's in Spring Gardens, London, from 1832 until 1842.
A major turning point in his life occurred on August 24, 1842, when he was consecrated as the inaugural Anglican Bishop of Gibraltar at Westminster Abbey. Later that
year, he arrived in his vast new diocese aboard HMS Warspite alongside the newly appointed governor, Robert Wilson. During the 1840s, the Auberge d'Aragon in Valletta,
Malta, was leased to him and utilized as Gibraltar House. His expansive jurisdiction famously prompted Pope Pius IX (Pio Nono) to remark to him on one occasion that the
pontiff himself lived within Tomlinson's diocese.
Tomlinson married twice during his lifetime. His first marriage took place on November 21, 1848, to Louisa Stuart, the daughter of Lieutenant-General Sir Patrick Stuart;
sadly, she passed away in 1850. He married for the second time on January 6, 1855, to Eleanor Jane Fraser, daughter of Colonel Charles Mackenzie Fraser, though she also
predeceased him in 1858. Tomlinson remained active in his bishopric until his death in Gibraltar on February 9, 1863, at the age of 68, concluding more than two decades of
pioneering episcopal leadership in the Mediterranean.
References:
Other references:
- Boase, Frederic. Modern English Biography: containing many thousand concise memoirs of persons who have died since the year 1850, Vol. III (986)
- The Clergy List
- The Gentleman's Magazine, 1863, Vol. I (specifically page 389)
- White, F. P.
- The Times, February 11, 1863
- Baker, Thomas. History of the College of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge, University Press, 1869 (pag 975)
- The Morning Post (London, England), February 20, 1863 (via The British Newspaper Archive)
- Venn, John. Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900 (listing for George Tomlinson, TMLN818G)
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