Charles Baring
1807 -
September 1879

Family

Charles Baring was the fourth son of Thomas Baring, second baronet, and Mary Sealy. In 1830, he married his cousin Mary Sealy, and following her death, married Caroline Read in 1846.

Education

Baring entered Christ Church, Oxford, in 1825, and graduated with a double-first in 1829.

Church Appointments and Service

He was ordained in 1830. In 1847, he was appointed to the benefice of All Saints, Marylebone, and in 1850, was made chaplain-in-ordinary to the queen. In 1856, he was appointed bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, and in 1861, was translated to the See of Durham. In 1878, at his request, provision was made for the division of his episcopate and the formation of the diocese of Newcastle. He retired in 1879.

Footnote

"The name of Bishop Baring is chiefly associated with the work of church extension in the diocese of Durham. . . . He saw the formation of 102 new parishes, the building of 119 churches, and an increase of 186 in the number of parochial clergy.

"He was in theological opinions a strong evangelical, and in his public utterances he did not disguise the fact. . . . He took a more decided step than any other bishop by refusing to license curates to clergymen whose ritual he thought to be contrary to his interpretation of the Prayer Book. This gave rise to much controversy, but did not impair the respect in which he was personally held." -- DNB 1: 1111-12