LIDDON, HENRY PARRY. - Anglican canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, and preacher; b. at North Stoneham (Hampshire) 20 Aug. 1829, d. at Weston-super-Mare 9 Sept. 1890. At 17 he went to Oxford, where he began his university studies, and came under the influence of the Tractarian movement. In 1852 he was ordained deacon, and in 1859 became an Anglican clergyman.
Despite his success in the ministry, in 1854 he was appointed vice-rector of the theological college at Cuddesdon; but his teaching, which tended towards Romanizing views, aroused suspicion and he was forced to resign (Easter 1859). Returning to Oxford as vice-rector of St Edmund’s Hall, he delivered for about ten years a successful course of lectures on the New Testament. During this period he formed a close friendship with Pusey, who exercised a notable influence on his mind. In 1864 he was appointed examining chaplain by W. K. Hamilton, bishop of Salisbury, and, like Hamilton, defended the doctrine of the Real Presence in the Eucharist. His famous Bampton Lectures of 1866, on the Divinity of Jesus Christ, were also highly successful. Finally, as canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, he preached brilliantly there until his death. He advocated Church reunion and was present at the Bonn Conference of 1875.
Principal works: besides several volumes of sermons on the Old Testament and on the life of Jesus Christ: The Divinity of Lord Jesus Christ, being the Bampton Lectures for 1866 (14th ed., London 1890); Explanatory Analysis of St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (4th ed., London-Oxford 1893); Life of Edward Bouverie Pusey (4 vols., 1893-97).