Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mossman, Thomas Wimberley

by Thompson Cooper

MOSSMAN, THOMAS WIMBERLEY (1826–1885), divine, born in 1826, eldest son of Robert Hume Mossman of Skipton, Yorkshire, matriculated from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, on 17 Dec. 1845, and while an undergraduate became an adherent of the Oxford movement. He graduated B.A. in 1849, was ordained deacon in that year, and took priest's orders in 1850. He became curate of Donington-on-Bain in 1849, curate of Panton in 1852, vicar of Ranby, Lincolnshire, in 1854, and rector of East Torrington and vicar of West Torrington, near Wragby, in the same county, in 1859. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from the University of the South, U.S.A., in 1881. Becoming prominent among the leaders of the extreme ritualistic party, he waged incessant war with protestant principles. He was a member of the Order of Corporate Reunion, and it is said that he was one of its prelates, assuming the title of bishop of Selby (Church Times, 10 July 1885, p. 531). During his last illness he was received into the Roman catholic church by his old friend, Cardinal Manning. He died at his rectory on 6 July 1885. He had previously taken steps to resign his rectory, but the necessary legal formalities were not completed.

His works are:

1. ‘A Glossary of the principal Words used in a Figurative, Typical, or Mystical Sense in the Holy Scriptures,’ London, 1854, 18mo.
2. ‘Sermons,’ London, 1857, 12mo.
3. ‘Ritualism in its Relation to Reunion,’ in ‘Essays on the Reunion of Christendom,’ edited by F. G. Lee, D.D., 1867.
4. ‘The Primacy of St. Peter. A Translation of Cornelius à Lapide upon St. Matthew, xvi. 17–19, and St. John xxi. 15–17,’ London [1870], 8vo.
5. A translation of the ‘Speculum Spirituale’ by Blosius.
6. ‘A History of the Catholic Church of Jesus Christ from the Death of St. John to the middle of the Second Century,’ London, 1873, 8vo.
7. ‘Epiphanius; the History of his Childhood and Youth, told by himself. A Tale of the Early Church,’ London [1874], 8vo.
8. ‘A Reply to Professor Tyndall's Lucretian,’ London, 1875, 8vo.
9. ‘Freedom for the Church of God; an … Appeal to my High Church Brethren,’ London, 1876, 8vo.
10. ‘The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide, translated … with the assistance of various scholars,’ vol. i. (Matt. i–ix) London, 1876, 8vo, vol. ii. (Matt. x–xxi) 1876, vol. iii. (Matt. xxii–xxviii, and St. Mark's Gospel complete), 1881, vol. iv. (John i–xi), 1886, vol. v (John xii–xxi, and Epistles i. ii. and iii.) 1886.
11. ‘The Relations which at present exist between Church and State in England. A Letter to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone,’ London [1883], 8vo.
12. ‘A Latin Letter (with an English translation) to his Holiness Pope Leo XIII,’ London, 1884, 8vo.

[Church Times, 17 July 1885, p. 555; Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1885, p. 855; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, iii. 992; Lincolnshire Chron. 10 July 1885, p. 5, col. 7; Tablet, 18 July 1885, p. 103.]

T. C.