Gorham, George Cornelius, 1787-1857 (clergyman, antiquary and genealogist)
Dates
- Existence: 1787 - 1857
Biography
George Cornelius Gorham (1787-1857), Church of England clergyman and evangelical controversialist, was born in St Neots, Huntingdonshire, and was admitted as a Pensioner at Queens' College, Cambridge, on 30 April 1805. Whilst at Cambridge he was awarded the Norrisian prize for an essay on public worship. He graduated B.A. in 1808 as third wrangler and Smith's prizeman (M.A. 1812, B.D. 1821), was elected a fellow of his college in 1810, and was ordained priest in 1812. In 1820 he published 'The History and Antiquities of Eynesbury and St. Neots in Huntingdonshire'. From 1814 onwards he held a number of cuarcies, until in 1846 he was presented to the living of St Just, Penwith, Cornwall. His attempt to transfer to the incumbency of Brampford Speke the following year gave rise to the legal dispute with Henry Phillpotts, Bishop of Exeter, known as the 'Gorham Controversy'. He died in at Brampford Speke vicarage in 1857.