Henry Nutcombe Oxenham
| Henry Nutcombe Oxenham | |
|---|---|
| Born | Henry Nutcombe Oxnam 15 November 1829 Harrow, London |
| Died | 23 March 1888 (aged 58) Kensington, London |
| Occupations | Theologian, ecclesiologist, author, translator |
Henry Nutcombe Oxenham (15 November 1829 – 23 March 1888) was an English ecclesiologist, theologian, author and translator. Originally ordained in the Church of England, he later converted to the Roman Catholic faith and was received into that Church.[1]
Biography
He was born at Harrow School to William Oxnam and Mary Susanna (née Carter), where William Oxnam was a master, and was baptised at Eton, Buckinghamshire on 8 January 1830, where his uncle was Thomas Thellusson Carter. The family name changed from Oxnam to Oxenham in 1834, when Henry was four years old. From Harrow, Oxenham went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he was President of the Oxford Union in Trinity term, 1852. He took Anglican orders in 1854, but became a Roman Catholic in 1857.[2] At first his thoughts turned towards the priesthood, and he spent some time at the London Oratory and at St Edmund's College, Ware. Being unable, however, to surrender his belief in the validity of Anglican orders, he proceeded no further than minor orders in the Roman Church.[3]
In 1863 he made a prolonged visit to Germany, where he studied the language and literature, and formed a close friendship with Döllinger, whose First Age of the Christian Church he translated in 1866. Oxenham was a regular contributor to the Saturday Review. A selection of his essays was published in Short Studies in Ecclesiastical History and Biography (1884), and Short Studies, Ethical and Religious (1885). In 1876, he translated the second volume of Bishop Hefele's History of the Councils of the Church, and published several pamphlets on the reunion of Christendom. His Catholic Doctrine of the Atonement (1865) and Catholic Eschatology and Universalism (1876) are standard works.[3][4]
He died on 23 March 1888 at Kensington, London, of undisclosed causes, aged 58.[5] He never married.
Anti-vivisection
Oxenham was active in the anti-vivisection movement.[6][7] He was one of the earliest members of the Victoria Street and International Society for the Protection of Animals from Vivisection.[6] In 1878, he authored "Moral and Religious Estimate of Vivisection" for the Gentleman's Magazine. An obituary in The Animal's Defender and Zoophilist noted that "the anti-vivisection cause has lost a devoted adherent and a powerful champion by the recent death of Rev. Henry Nutcombe Oxenham".[6]
Selected publications
- "Moral and Religious Estimate of Vivisection". Gentleman's Magazine. 245: 713–736. 1878.
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
Henry Nutcombe Oxenham — An English controversialist and poet, born at Harrow, 15 Nov., 1829; died at Kensington, 23 March, 1888; was the son of the Rev. William Oxenham, second master of Harrow. He was educated at Harrow School and Balliol College, Oxford, taking his degree in 1850. After receiving Anglican orders, he became curate first at Worminghall, in Buckinghamshire, then at St. Bartholomew's, Cripplegate. While at the latter place, he was received into the Church by Monsignor (afterwards Cardinal) Manning. For a time he contemplated becoming a priest, for which purpose he entered St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, but after receiving minor orders, he left: it is said that his reason was that he believed in the validity of Anglican orders, and considered himself already a priest. He continued to dress as an ecclesiastic and in this anomalous position he spent the remainder of his life. His ambition was to work for the reunion of the Anglican with the Catholic Church, with which end in view, he published a sympathetic article, in answer to Pusey's "Eirenicon", in the shape of a letter to his friend and fellow-convert, Father Lockhart. After the Vatican Council his position became still more anomalous, for his unwillingness to accept the doctrine of Papal Infallibility was known. Though influenced by the action of Dr. Döllinger, with whom he was on intimate terms, he never outwardly severed his connexion with the Catholic Church, and before his death received all the sacraments at the hands of Father Lockhart.
His published works include: "The Sentence of Kaires and Poems" (3rd ed., London, 1871); Translation of Döllinger's "First Age of Christianity" (London, 1866, 2 vols: two subsequent editions) and "Lectures on Reunion" (London, 1872); "Catholic Eschatology" (1876; new edition, enlarged, 1878); "Memoir of Lieut. Rudolph de Lisle, R. N." (London, 1886); numerous pamphlets and articles, especially in "The Saturday Review", over the initials X. Y. Z.
RIGG in Dict. of Nat. Biog.; GILLOW, Bibl. Dict. of Eng. Cath.; obituary notices in The Saturday Review, The Athenœum, The Manchester Guardian, etc.
References
- Back to citation "Death of the Rev. H. Oxenham". Supplement to the Hampshire Post. 30 March 1888. p. 10. (subscription required)
- Back to citation "Rev. Henry N. Oxenham". South London Observer. 28 March 1888. p. 5. (subscription required)
- Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Chisholm 1911.
- Back to citation Oxenham's Catholic Eschatology is cited as an authority in Joseph Wilhelm and Thomas B. Scannell, A Manual of Catholic Theology: Based on Scheeben’s "Dogmatik," Third Edition, Revised. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd., 1908), II., p. 534.
- Back to citation "Death of the Rev. H. N. Oxenham". The Evening Standard. 26 March 1888. p. 8. (subscription required)
- Back to citation occurrence 6.0 Back to citation occurrence 6.1 Back to citation occurrence 6.2 "Obituary: The Rev. H. N. Oxenham". The Animal's Defender and Zoophilist. 8 (1): 8. 1888.
- Back to citation Abbott, William M. (2019). "The British Catholic debate over vivisection, 1876 – 1914: a common theology but differing applications". British Catholic History. 34 (3): 451–477. doi:10.1017/bch.2019.5.
Bibliography
- Rigg, James McMullen (1895). "Oxenham, Henry Nutcombe". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 43. London: Smith, Elder & Co.