R. W. (Richard William) Church

Born in Lisbon in 1815, Richard William Church was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, where he became closely connected with the Oxford Movement and a friend of John Henry Newman. Although he remained within the Church of England, that early religious and intellectual world shaped much of his later writing and public life.

Church went on to become Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in 1871, a position he held until his death in 1890. Alongside his church work, he built a strong reputation as an essayist, historian, and biographer, admired for a style that was serious, lucid, and humane.

His books range across religion, history, and literature, including studies of St Anselm, Dante, Edmund Spenser, and Francis Bacon, as well as his well-known account of the Oxford Movement. For listeners coming to him today, he offers the voice of a learned but approachable Victorian writer who cared deeply about ideas and how they shape inner life.