Thomas Thellusson Carter
Encyclopedia
Thomas Thellusson Carter often known as T. T. Carter, T.T.C. or Canon Carter (19 March 1808 – 28 October 1901) was a significant figure in the Victorian Church of England
, responsible for re-introducing some Anglo-Catholic practices to the Church, being the founder of Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament
. He also founded several charitable organisations. He was a prolific writer on church matters and a project exists to collect and collate all his writings. He was for 36 years the Rector
of Clewer
and an Honorary Canon
of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
.
) and his wife Mary (née
Proctor). Carter was educated at Eton from the age of six, and when he left was captain of oppidans. He then entered Christ Church
, Oxford
in 1825. Amongst those he met there were Edward Bouverie Pusey
who had been a pupil of his father's. He graduated with first class honours in classics
in 1831, and attempted to gain a fellow
ship at Oriel, but was unsuccessful.
on 21 October 1832 by Thomas Burgess, Bishop of Salisbury
. He served his first curacy at St Mary, Reading
, where Henry Hart Milman
was then vicar
. Carter was priest
ed by John Kaye
, Bishop of Lincoln
on 22 December 1833, and went to serve as his father's curate, who was now vicar of Burnham, Buckinghamshire
.
Carter married in 1835. Through his wife, he first came into contact with the Tractarian movement, since Richard Hurrell Froude
was a family friend. In 1838 he was appointed rector of Piddlehinton
(near Dorchester). This proved to be an unhappy appointment, and his health suffered. From 1842, he took a period of leave back at Burnham to recover, and in 1844 was appointed rector of Clewer
(near Windsor
).
Here he soon restored the parish church, with the aid of his friend, an architect, Henry Woodyer. Carter also set up two mision churches within the parish, and set out to assist the poor of the parish, establishing a benefit society
, a temperance society and converting part of the glebe
to allotments
. Within the large parish, a particularly poor area was the slum
of Clewer Fields, which contained two army barracks and a swiftly changing population of railway navvies, which served to worsen the general problems of drink, prostitution and poverty.
Beginning with just one young woman in December 1848, a parishioner, a widow named Mariquita Tennant, begin to take in young women from Clewer Fields, and give them an alternative to life there. This became the Clewer House of Mercy, which Carter, influenced by the writings of John Armstrong
strongly supported. Ill-health prompted Tennant's withdrawal from the project in 1851, and she was succeeded by another widow, 40-year-old Harriet Monsell, who became mother superior
of the newly created Community of St John Baptist, Clewer on 30 November 1852. Soon there were over forty branch houses, and significant work was undertaken in the United States
and India. Re-establishment of the religious life was still controversial in Anglicanism
(all monasteries and other religious houses had been dissolved
during the English Reformation
), and the foundation of a sisterhood was viewed with alarm in some quarters, not least among them being the Bishop of Oxford
(the diocesan), Samuel Wilberforce
, despite his misgivings, he acted as Visitor
to the community until his move to Winchester
in 1869.
Carter's involvement in the establishment of this community, and his general commitment to pastoral work drew him into the provision of spiritual direction
, which became a new focus of activity and led to the book, The Treasury of Devotion which appeared in 1869. He also became a pioneer of retreats within the Church of England. This work also led him into the controversial area of auricular confession, and in 1865, the book, The Doctrine of Confession in the Church of England. When, in 1873, a controversial petition signed by 483 clergy requesting the provision of suitably qualified confessors was presented to the Convocation of Canterbury
, he was one of those who drew up the Declaration on Confession and Absolution, as Set Forth by the Church of England in defence of private confession.
, Somerset
on 26 November 1835 to Mary Ann Gould (1800–7 February 1869), with issue including:
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, responsible for re-introducing some Anglo-Catholic practices to the Church, being the founder of Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament
Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament
The Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament is a devotional society in the Anglican Communion dedicated to venerating the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist...
. He also founded several charitable organisations. He was a prolific writer on church matters and a project exists to collect and collate all his writings. He was for 36 years the Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of Clewer
Clewer
Clewer is an ecclesiastical parish and region of Windsor making up three wards of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire.-History:...
and an Honorary Canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral of the diocese of Oxford, which consists of the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. It is also, uniquely, the chapel of Christ Church, a college of the University of Oxford.-History:...
.
Early life
Carter was the son of the Reverend Thomas Carter (then under master, and later Vice-Provost of Eton CollegeEton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
) and his wife Mary (née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Proctor). Carter was educated at Eton from the age of six, and when he left was captain of oppidans. He then entered Christ Church
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1825. Amongst those he met there were Edward Bouverie Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey
Edward Bouverie Pusey was an English churchman and Regius Professor of Hebrew at Christ Church, Oxford. He was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.-Early years:...
who had been a pupil of his father's. He graduated with first class honours in classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
in 1831, and attempted to gain a fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
ship at Oriel, but was unsuccessful.
Ministry
Carter was ordained deaconDeacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
on 21 October 1832 by Thomas Burgess, Bishop of Salisbury
Bishop of Salisbury
The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset...
. He served his first curacy at St Mary, Reading
Reading Minster
Reading Minster, or the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin as it is more properly known, is the oldest ecclesiastical foundation in the English town of Reading...
, where Henry Hart Milman
Henry Hart Milman
The Very Reverend Henry Hart Milman was an English historian and ecclesiastic.He was born in London, the third son of Sir Francis Milman, 1st Baronet, physician to King George III . Educated at Eton and at Brasenose College, Oxford, his university career was brilliant...
was then vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
. Carter was priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
ed by John Kaye
John Kaye (English bishop)
Bishop John Kaye was an English churchman.-Life:He was born the only son of Abraham Kaye in Hammersmith, London and educated at the school of Sir Charles Burney in Hammersmith and then Greenwich. He entered Christ's College, Cambridge and graduated Senior wrangler in 1804...
, Bishop of Lincoln
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...
on 22 December 1833, and went to serve as his father's curate, who was now vicar of Burnham, Buckinghamshire
Burnham, Buckinghamshire
Burnham is a village and civil parish that lies north of the River Thames in the South Bucks District of Buckinghamshire, and sits on the border with Berkshire, between the towns of Maidenhead and Slough. It is served by Burnham railway station in the west of Slough on the main line between London...
.
Carter married in 1835. Through his wife, he first came into contact with the Tractarian movement, since Richard Hurrell Froude
Richard Hurrell Froude
Richard Hurrell Froude was an Anglican priest and an early leader of the Oxford Movement.-Life:He was the son of Archdeacon R. H...
was a family friend. In 1838 he was appointed rector of Piddlehinton
Piddlehinton
Piddlehinton is a village in west Dorset, England situated in the Piddle valley five miles north of Dorchester. The village has a population of around 600 .Piddlehinton formerly constituted a liberty containing only the parish itself....
(near Dorchester). This proved to be an unhappy appointment, and his health suffered. From 1842, he took a period of leave back at Burnham to recover, and in 1844 was appointed rector of Clewer
Clewer
Clewer is an ecclesiastical parish and region of Windsor making up three wards of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire.-History:...
(near Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
).
Here he soon restored the parish church, with the aid of his friend, an architect, Henry Woodyer. Carter also set up two mision churches within the parish, and set out to assist the poor of the parish, establishing a benefit society
Benefit society
A benefit society or mutual aid society is an organization or voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit or insurance for relief from sundry difficulties...
, a temperance society and converting part of the glebe
Glebe
Glebe Glebe Glebe (also known as Church furlong or parson's closes is an area of land within a manor and parish used to support a parish priest.-Medieval origins:...
to allotments
Allotment (gardening)
An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families...
. Within the large parish, a particularly poor area was the slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
of Clewer Fields, which contained two army barracks and a swiftly changing population of railway navvies, which served to worsen the general problems of drink, prostitution and poverty.
Beginning with just one young woman in December 1848, a parishioner, a widow named Mariquita Tennant, begin to take in young women from Clewer Fields, and give them an alternative to life there. This became the Clewer House of Mercy, which Carter, influenced by the writings of John Armstrong
John Armstrong (bishop)
John Armstrong was a Church of England clergyman and bishop of Grahamstown.He was educated at a preparatory school in Hanwell before being sent to Charterhouse School. In 1832, he went to Lincoln College, Oxford, graduating in 1836 with a third-class honours degree in Classics. He was ordained in...
strongly supported. Ill-health prompted Tennant's withdrawal from the project in 1851, and she was succeeded by another widow, 40-year-old Harriet Monsell, who became mother superior
Mother Superior
A mother superior is an abbess or other nun in charge of a Christian religious order or congregation, a convent or house of women under vows.Mother superior may also refer to:*Mother Superior , a rock band who became ¾ of Rollins Band circa 2000...
of the newly created Community of St John Baptist, Clewer on 30 November 1852. Soon there were over forty branch houses, and significant work was undertaken in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and India. Re-establishment of the religious life was still controversial in Anglicanism
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
(all monasteries and other religious houses had been dissolved
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
during the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
), and the foundation of a sisterhood was viewed with alarm in some quarters, not least among them being the Bishop of Oxford
Bishop of Oxford
The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford...
(the diocesan), Samuel Wilberforce
Samuel Wilberforce
Samuel Wilberforce was an English bishop in the Church of England, third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his time and place...
, despite his misgivings, he acted as Visitor
Visitor
A Visitor, in United Kingdom law and history, is an overseer of an autonomous ecclesiastical or eleemosynary institution , who can intervene in the internal affairs of that institution...
to the community until his move to Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
in 1869.
Carter's involvement in the establishment of this community, and his general commitment to pastoral work drew him into the provision of spiritual direction
Spiritual direction
Spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the divine, or to learn and grow in their own personal spirituality. The person seeking direction shares stories of his or her encounters of the divine, or how he or she is experiencing...
, which became a new focus of activity and led to the book, The Treasury of Devotion which appeared in 1869. He also became a pioneer of retreats within the Church of England. This work also led him into the controversial area of auricular confession, and in 1865, the book, The Doctrine of Confession in the Church of England. When, in 1873, a controversial petition signed by 483 clergy requesting the provision of suitably qualified confessors was presented to the Convocation of Canterbury
Convocation of the English Clergy
The Convocation of the English Clergy is a synodical assembly of the Church of England consisting of bishops and clergy.- Background and introduction :...
, he was one of those who drew up the Declaration on Confession and Absolution, as Set Forth by the Church of England in defence of private confession.
Family
Carter was married at Amberd, TauntonTaunton
Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
on 26 November 1835 to Mary Ann Gould (1800–7 February 1869), with issue including:
- Mary Jane Carter (b.1836)
- Thomas John Proctor (John) Carter (1841-1900)
- Mary Ann Georgina Carter (b.1843)