Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Garnier, Thomas (1809-1863)
GARNIER, THOMAS, the younger (1809–1863), dean of Lincoln, second son of the Rev. Thomas Garnier the elder, dean of Winchester [q. v.], and Mary, daughter of C. H. Parry, M.D., of Bath, sister of Sir Edward Parry, the Arctic navigator, was born at his father's living of Bishopstoke, Hampshire, 15 April 1809. He was educated at Winchester School, whence he proceeded to Worcester College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1830, in which year he was elected, like his father before him, to a fellowship at All Souls. At Oxford he was distinguished for excellence in all athletic sports, and he was one of the crew in the first university boat-race. He took the degree of B.C.L. in 1833, and in the same year was ordained deacon. After having served the curacy of Old Alresford, Hampshire, he was appointed to the college living of Lewknor, Oxfordshire, and was in 1840 presented by the Earl of Leicester to the rectory of Longford, Derbyshire. Here he resided till 1849, when he was made chaplain of the House of Commons, holding with it the preachership of the Lock Hospital. In 1850 Lord John Russell, then prime minister, nominated him to the important crown living of Holy Trinity, Marylebone, where he worked hard. Garnier belonged to the so-called 'evangelical school,' but his freedom from its narrowness is evidenced by his establishing daily service and weekly communions in his church. In 1859, on the death of Dean Erskine, he was nominated by Lord Palmerston to the deanery of Ripon, from which he was transferred in 1860 to that of Lincoln. Shortly after his appointment to Lincoln he met with an accidental fall, from the effects of which he never recovered. He died at the deanery 7 Dec. 1863 in his fifty-fourth year, Garnier married, 23 May 1835, Lady Caroline Keppel, youngest daughter of William Charles, fourth earl of Albemarle, by whom he had a numerous family. He was the author of a pamphlet on the 'New Poor-law Amendment Act,' addressed to the labouring classes to disprove the supposed injurious effects of the proposed changes. He published in 1851 'Sermons on Domestic Duties,' described as 'excellent, forcible, and practical,' besides separate sermons and pamphlets.
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