King was the second son of
Walker King,
Archdeacon of Rochester and rector of
Stone, Kent, and grandson of
Walker King,
Bishop of Rochester; his nephew was
Robert King, a priest and canon who played football for England in 1882. His mother, Anne, was the daughter of
William Heberden the Younger (1767–1845), Physician in Ordinary to George III. King graduated from
Oriel College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1854 and four years later became chaplain and lecturer at Cuddesdon Theological College (now
Ripon College Cuddesdon). He was principal at Cuddesdon from 1863 to 1873, when the prime minister,
William Ewart Gladstone, appointed him
Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology at Oxford and
canon of
Christ Church.
Prominent Anglo-Catholic King became the principal founder of the leading
Anglo-Catholic theological college in the Church of England,
St Stephen's House, Oxford, which from 2003 to 2023 was also a
permanent private hall of the
University of Oxford. To the world outside, King was known at this time as an Anglo-Catholic and one of
Edward Pusey's most intimate friends (even serving as a pall-bearer at his funeral in 1882), but in Oxford, and especially among the younger men, he exercised influence by his charm and sincerity. King had also been devoted to his mother, who assisted him at Cuddesdon and Oxford by keeping his house and entertaining guests as his position required. King never married and his mother died in 1883. A leading member of the
English Church Union, King fought prosecutions in lay courts under the
Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 (which
Archibald Campbell Tait,
Archbishop of Canterbury, and the prime minister,
Benjamin Disraeli, had secured over Gladstone's opposition in order to restrict the growing
Oxford Movement). In 1879, King's writings concerning Holy Communion were criticised as "Romish" in a pamphlet by a local vicar.
Bishop of Lincoln , by
Leslie Ward, 1890 In 1885, upon Gladstone's invitation when he again became prime minister, King accepted consecration as
Bishop of Lincoln, which he noted had been the diocese of
John Wesley. The consecrating bishops included
Edward White Benson (Archbishop of Canterbury), with presenting bishops
John Mackarness, (
Bishop of Oxford) and
James Woodford (
Bishop of Ely). Other consecrating bishops were
Frederick Temple (
Bishop of London),
Anthony Thorold (
Bishop of Rochester),
Ernest Wilberforce (
Bishop of Newcastle),
Edward Trollope (
Bishop of Nottingham),
Walsham How (
Bishop of Bedford),
William Boyd Carpenter (
Bishop of Ripon) and
Henry Bousfield (
Bishop of Pretoria). Although Tait had died in 1882, the Puritan faction continued to voice its objections, including at Lincoln where J. Hanchard published a sketch of King's life, criticising his alleged Romish tendencies.
Complaints of "ritualistic practices" In 1888, a complaint by a churchwarden from
Cleethorpes, funded by the
Church Association, concerning a service conducted at
St Peter at Gowts church in Lincoln, was brought against King. He stood accused of tolerating six
ritualistic usages. To avoid King's prosecution in a lay court under the
Public Worship Regulation Act 1874, Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, revived his own archiepiscopal court (inactive since 1699). In his "Lincoln Judgment", he found against King on two counts–ruling that the
mixed chalice, altar candles,
eastward-facing celebration and the
Agnus Dei were permissible but that the
sign of the cross at both the absolution and blessing were not King loyally conformed his practices to the archbishop's judgment. Some considered the process a repudiation of the anti-ritualism movement, though it proved physically and emotionally taxing for King, whose physique had never been particularly robust. A decade later, after
Frederick Temple succeeded Benson (1883–1896) as Archbishop of Canterbury, he and
William Maclagan, Archbishop of York, prosecuted two priests for using incense and candles, and notified King of their condemnation, which he abided. Later, many of King's liturgical practices became commonplace, including making the sign of the cross during the absolution and blessing, and mixture of elements during the service, for which the criticisms had been upheld as an innovation. The Lincoln Judgment had a permanent importance in two respects. First, certain disputed questions of ritual were legally decided. Secondly, the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury alone to try one of his
suffragan bishops for alleged ecclesiastical offences was considered and judicially declared to be well-founded both by the judicial committee of the Privy Council and by the archbishop himself with the concurrence of his assessors.
King's pastoral work as bishop As bishop, King devoted himself to pastoral work in his diocese, particularly among the poor, both farmers and industrial workers, as well as condemned prisoners. He supported the Guild of Railway Men as well as chaplains in the
Boer War and missionaries. In 1909 he visited Oxford in his episcopal capacity for the 400th anniversary of
Brasenose College. ==Death and legacy==