John Penrose (priest)

John Penrose (15 December 1778 – 9 August 1859) was a Church of England clergyman and theological writer.

Early life

John Penrose was born in

Career

Penrose was ordained at Exeter in 1801. He held a number of ecclesiastical positions throughout his lifetime, including:

• Vicar of Langton by Wragby in Lincolnshire
• Vicar of Poundstock in Cornwall
• Vicar of Bracebridge in Lincolnshire
• The
  perpetual curacy of North Hykeham in Lincolnshire
  was awarded to Penrose in 1837.

In 1814 Penrose married Elizabeth Cartwright, a teacher and author of children's books under the name Mrs Markham. The couple were the parents of three sons of whom Francis Penrose was an architect and Charles Penrose a clergyman who succeed to his father's livings.

Writings

His most significant published works include:

• An attempt to prove the truth of Christianity (1805) (written while serving as
  Oxford University
  in 1805)
• An Inquiry into the Nature of Human Motives (1820)
• A treatise on the evidence of the Scripture miracles (1826)
• Of Christian Sincerity (1829)
• The Utilitarian Theory of Morals (1836)
• Lives of Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Vinicombe Penrose, K.C.B. and Captain James Trevenen, knight of the Russian orders of St. George and St. Vladimir (1850), London: John Murray,
  ISBN 0-665-40063-2

The collection of the Pitts Theology Library includes a three-page letter from John Penrose to an unnamed bishop, dated 24 November 1844 commenting on the character of Thomas Arnold.

Sources

• Penrose, John, Archives and Manuscripts Dept, Pitts Theology Library, Emory University
• Penrose, John, Church of England clergyman and theological writer, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (subscription required)