Harvey Goodwin, Bishop of Carlisle. A Biographical Memoir (London, 1896)

Harvey Goodwin (1818-1891) was Bishop of Carlisle from 1869 to his death.  It was in this capacity, in 1883, that he offered Hardwicke the living of Crosthwaite saying: ‘In my opinion the post which I offer is as near Heaven as anything in this world can be’.  Following Goodwin’s death in December 1891, Hardwicke was asked by the Goodwin family to write a life of the Bishop.  In his Preface to the biography, Hardwicke wrote:

The aim of the work has been to trace the growth of the Bishop’s mind from childhood to prime; to arrange in chronological sequence the main facts of his life at Cambridge, at Ely, and in the Diocese of Carlisle; and to put on record so much of his thoughts on men and things, on problems civil and religious, on matters scientific, educational, and ecclesiastical, as may, perchance, help the people he loved, and the Church and State he so faithfully served.

Although Bishop of Carlisle for over twenty years, Goodwin was buried in Crosthwaite churchyard.  In the biography, Hardwicke writes:

There was momentary disappointment among the citizens of Carlisle, that the remains of their beloved Bishop were not to rest beneath the shadow of the Cathedral walls.  But reflection showed, that in choosing the loveliest burial-ground in a central country parish in his diocese, his friends had acted for the best.  It was natural that he should wish his remains to lie in ground which was endeared to him by almost lifelong memories of kits beauty and its rest, and which had been hallowed by him by the fact that there lay buries his well-beloved son. (pp. 327-328)

Hardwicke continued:

From end to end of the country, men deplored the sudden death of one who was spoken of as “the strongest Bishop on the Bench.”  Churchmen and Non-conformists alike felt that a champion of the faith against all comers had been lost to the cause of Christian religion.  They who were interested in maintaining that religion and science might well, without continual quarrel, go their way and help the world to heaven, knew that a mediator and a peacemaker, of clear sight and judicial mind, had passed away.  The friends of Foreign Missions realised that a warm supporter had gone.  The National Church knew that the voice of one of its ablest defenders was silent, and Convocation had lost a true and sagacious counsellor; Cumberland and Westmorland deplored not only the bishop of the diocese, but a leading man in public affairs; while the clergy and laymen of the diocese alike recognised that a ruler, with no party bias but of a just and temperate spirit, had passed from among them. (p. 331)     

Contents

Birth and Childhood, 1818-1825 (pp. 1-12)

School Days, 1826-1833 (pp. 13-25)

Between School and College, 1834-1836 (pp. 26-36)

College Days, 1836-1840 (pp. 37-49)

Cambridge Life, 1841-1845; Married Life, 1845-1848 (pp. 50-69)

Life at St. Edward’s, 1848-1858 (pp. 70-92)

Ely, 1858-1860 (pp. 93-111)

Ely, 1860-1868 (pp. 112- 126)

Bishop of Carlisle, 1869 (pp. 127-143)

Carlisle, 1870-1871 (pp. 144-165)

Rose Castle and Carlisle, 1871-1877 (pp. 166-195)

Carlisle, 1878-1881 (pp. 196-218)

Carlisle, 1882-1883 (pp. 219-233)

A Church Congress, 1884 (pp. 234-260)

Carlisle, 1884-1886 (pp. 261-284)

Carlisle, 1887-1890 (pp. 285-317)

Carlisle, 1891 (pp. 318-330)

Conclusion (pp. 331-352)

Appendices