Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eden, Robert John

by George Clement Boase

EDEN, ROBERT JOHN, third Baron Auckland (1799–1870), bishop of Bath and Wells, third son of William Eden, first baron Auckland [q. v.], and younger brother of George Eden, earl of Auckland [q. v.], was born at Eden Farm, Beckenham, Kent, on 10 July 1799, and sent to Eton in 1814. He afterwards went to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he proceeded M.A. in 1819, and B.D. and D.D. in 1847. He was rector of Eyam, Derbyshire, from 1823 to 1825; rector of Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire, from 1825 to 1835; and vicar of Battersea from 1835 to 1847. He was likewise chaplain to William IV from 1831 to 1837, and chaplain to Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1847. On 23 May 1847 he was consecrated bishop of Sodor and Man, and installed at Castletown on 29 June. On the death, 1 Jan. 1849, of his brother, George Eden [q. v.], earl of Auckland, who was unmarried, he became third Baron Auckland. On 2 June 1854 he was translated to the see of Bath and Wells, which he held until his resignation, 6 Sept. 1869. He died at the palace, Wells, on 25 April 1870, and was buried in the Palm churchyard, near the cathedral, on 29 April. He was moderate in his views, but inclining to the high church school. He married, on 15 Sept. 1825, Mary, eldest daughter of Francis Edward Hurt of Alderwasley, Derbyshire, by whom he had a numerous family. She died on 25 Nov. 1872. He was the author of:

1. ‘A Reply to a Letter to the Bishop of Bath and Wells on the subject of the recent Restoration of the Parish Church of Kingsbury Episcopi, by George Parsons,’ 1854.
2. ‘Charges of the Bishop of Bath and Wells,’ 3 vols. 1855, 1858, and 1861.
3. ‘The Journal and Correspondence of William, Lord Auckland, edited by the Bishop of Bath and Wells,’ 1860.

[Illustr. London News, 7 May 1870, pp. 489, 490, with portrait; Times, 27 April 1870, p. 12; Bath Chronicle, 28 April 1870, p. 6, and 5 May, p. 7; Greville Memoirs, second series, i. 131, 151, ii. 86.]

G. C. B.