Thomas Garnier (Dean of Lincoln)

Garnier was born on 15 April 1809 the second son of the Rev. Thomas Garnier the elder, Dean of Winchester Cathedral, and Mary Parry, daughter of Caleb Hillier Parry, M.D., of Bath, sister of Sir William Edward Parry, the Arctic navigator, was born at his father's living of Bishopstoke, Hampshire, 15 April 1809. He was educated at Winchester School, whence he proceeded to Worcester College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1830, in which year he was elected, like his father before him, to a fellowship at All Souls' College, Oxford. At Oxford he was distinguished for excellence in all athletic sports, and he was one of the crew in the first university boat race. He took the degree of B.C.L. in 1833, and in the same year was ordained deacon; he was ordained priest the following year, both times by the Bishop of Oxford.[1]

After having served the curacy of Old Alresford, Hampshire, he was appointed to the college living of Lewknor, Oxfordshire, and was in 1840 presented by the Earl of Leicester to the rectory of Longford, Derbyshire. Here he resided till 1849, when he was made chaplain of the House of Commons, holding with it the preachership of the London Lock Hospital. In 1850 Lord John Russell, then prime minister, nominated him to the important crown living of Holy Trinity, Marylebone, where he worked hard until his resignation in 1859. Garnier belonged to the so-called 'evangelical school,' but his freedom from its narrowness is evidenced by his establishing daily service and weekly communions in his church.

In 1859, on the death of Henry Erskine, he was nominated by Lord Palmerston to the deanery of Ripon, from which he was transferred in 1860 to that of Lincoln. Shortly after his appointment to Lincoln he met with an accidental fall, from the effects of which he never recovered. He died at the deanery 7 December 1863 in his fifty-fourth year, Garnier married, 23 May 1835, Lady Caroline Keppel, youngest daughter of William Keppel, 4th Earl of Albemarle, by whom he had a numerous family. He was the author of a pamphlet on the 'New Poor-law Amendment Act,' addressed to the labouring classes to disprove the supposed injurious effects of the proposed changes. He published in 1851 'Sermons on Domestic Duties,' described as 'excellent, forcible, and practical,' besides separate sermons and pamphlets.

He died in Lincoln on 7 December 1863. He is buried in Lincoln Cathedral·.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Garnier, Thomas (1809-1863)". Dictionary of National Biography. 21. London: Smith, Elder & Co.