author
John Philip Gell
1816–1898
A 19th-century Anglican clergyman with a strong educational ideal, he helped shape church and college life in colonial Tasmania before returning to England. His story also links him to the Franklin family through his marriage to Sir John Franklin’s daughter Eleanor.
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About the author
John Philip Gell was born in Matlock, Derbyshire, on March 10, 1816, the eldest son of the Rev. Philip Gell. He was educated at Rugby under Thomas Arnold and went on to Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1840 he sailed to Van Diemen’s Land, where he became involved in the ambitious effort to build a college on Arnold’s educational principles.
Gell became the first warden of Christ College, Hobart, and later served in church work in Adelaide. In 1849 he married Eleanor Isabella Franklin, daughter of Sir John Franklin. After returning to England, he continued his career as a Church of England clergyman and also published religious works, including Church Ministry in Kensington.
He died in 1898. Accounts of his life often remember him as an earnest churchman, teacher, and colonial educational reformer whose career moved between England and Australia during a period of major growth in both church and academic institutions.