CHURCH APPOINTMENTS
St Leonards, 6th September 1856.
Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs to submit for your Majesty's gracious approval that Dr Tait, Dean of Carlisle, should be appointed Bishop of London with a clear explanation to him that the Diocese will probably be divided into two—one of London and one of Westminster.
That the Bishop of Ripon42 should be appointed Bishop of Durham, with a like explanation that the Diocese of Durham may possibly be divided into two—one for Durham and one for Northumberland.
That the Dean of Hereford43 should be appointed Bishop of Ripon; and that Dr Trench44 be appointed Dean of Westminster with the condition that he is not to receive any fees or emoluments arising out of appointments of Knights of the Bath.
Dr Trench is a man of the world and of literature, and would in those respects be well suited to be Dean of Westminster, and if his tendencies are, as some persons suppose, rather towards High Church opinions, his position as Dean would not afford him any particular means of making those opinions prevail; while his appointment would show that the patronage of the Crown was not flowing exclusively in one direction.
Viscount Palmerston will, on another occasion, submit to your Majesty the names of persons for the Deaneries of Hereford and Carlisle.45
Footnote 42: Charles Thomas Longley (1774-1868) became Bishop of Durham 1856, Archbishop of York 1860, and Archbishop of Canterbury 1862.
Footnote 43: Richard Dawes, who became Dean in 1850, and restored the Cathedral. He did not become Bishop of Ripon; Robert Bickersteth, a Canon of Salisbury, being eventually appointed. See post, [p. 217], note 60.
Footnote 44: Richard Chenevix Trench (1807-1886), Archbishop of Dublin from 1864-1884.