Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Perceval, Arthur Philip
PERCEVAL, ARTHUR PHILIP (1799–1853), divine, born on 22 Nov. 1799, was the fifth and youngest son of Charles George Perceval, second baron Arden, by his wife Margaret Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, bart. He matriculated from Oriel College, Oxford, on 19 March 1817, graduating B.A. in 1820, and B.C.L. in 1824; from 1821 to 1825 he was fellow of All Souls'. On 18 June 1824 he was appointed rector of East Horsley, Surrey. In 1826 he became chaplain to George IV, and continued royal chaplain to William IV and Queen Victoria until his death. He warmly approved of the tractarian movement at Oxford, and in 1841 published a ‘Vindication of the Authors of the Tracts for the Times,’ principally defending Newman against the attacks made on his ‘Tract 90.’ On 24 July 1838, when preaching as royal chaplain at the chapel royal, St. James's, he took occasion to advocate high-church principles before the queen; the bishop of London (C. J. Blomfield), who was aware of Perceval's intention, is said to have preached for several Sundays in order to keep Perceval out of the pulpit, but the bishop broke his collarbone, and Perceval found his opportunity (Greville Memoirs, ed. Reeve, i. 116). Perceval died on 11 June 1853, having married, on 15 Dec. 1825, Charlotte Anne, eldest daughter of the Rev. and Hon. Augustus George Legge, fifth son of William, second earl of Dartmouth; she died on 21 June 1856, having had, with other issue, three sons and four daughters.
Perceval was a voluminous author, and the list of his works occupies three pages in the British Museum Catalogue, but most of them are letters, single sermons, and pamphlets. The more important are: 1. ‘The Roman Schism illustrated from the Records of the Catholic Church,’ 1836, 8vo. Lowndes (Bibl. Man. p. 1102) describes it as ‘of great utility and value.’ 2. ‘Origin of Church Rates,’ 1837, 8vo (cf. Edinburgh Review, lxvi. 295). 3. ‘Sermons preached chiefly at the Chapel Royal, St. James's,’ 1839, 8vo. 4. ‘An Apology for the Doctrine of Apostolical Succession,’ 1839, 16mo; 2nd edit. 1841. 5. ‘A Collection of Papers connected with the Theological Movement of 1833,’ 1842; 2nd edit. 1843. 6. ‘Results of an Ecclesiastical Tour in Holland and Northern Germany,’ 1846, 12mo. 7. ‘Plain Lectures on St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians,’ 1846, 12mo. 8. ‘Origines Hibernicæ,’ Dublin, 1849; in this he endeavours to prove that Ireland is the Patmos of Revelation, and that the Virgin Mary was buried on Tara Hill.
[Authorities quoted; works in Brit. Mus. Libr.; McClintock and Strong's Cyclop.; Darling's Cycl. Bibl.; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit. ii. 1557–8; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1714–1886, Index Ecclesiasticus, and Peerage s.v. Egmont; Liddon's Life of Pusey, i. 247, 264, ii. 178; Greville Memoirs, i. 116; Sheppard's St. James's Palace; Guardian, 1853, p. 414.]