Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Perowne, Edward Henry

by Augustus Robert Buckland

PEROWNE, EDWARD HENRY (1826–1906), Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, younger brother of John James Stewart Perowne [q. v. Suppl. II], was born at Burdwan, Bengal, on 8 Jan. 1826. After private education he was admitted pensioner of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1846 and scholar in 1847; he was Person prizeman in 1848, members' prizeman in 1849 and 1852, and senior classic in 1850. He graduated B.A. in 1850, proceeding M.A. in 1853, B.D. in 1860, D.D. in 1863. He was admitted ad eundem (M.A.) at Oxford in 1857. Ordained deacon in 1850 and priest in 1851, he was curate of Maddermarket, Norfolk (1850–1). Elected fellow and tutor of Corpus in 1858, he became Master in 1879. He was Whitehall preacher (1864–6); Hulsean lecturer in 1866, examining chaplain to the bishop of St. Asaph (1874-88); prebendary of St. Asaph (1877–90); vice-chancellor of Cambridge University (1879–81); hon. chaplain to Queen Victoria (1898-1900), and chaplain-in-ordinary (1900-1), examining chaplain to the bishop of Worcester (1891-1901). Devoted to his college and university, a sound disciplinarian, a man of many friendships and wide interests, Perowne refused high preferment and was long one of the most conspicuous figures in the academic and social life of Cambridge. He was a strong evangelical, and in politics a somewhat rigid conservative. He died unmarried at Cambridge, after a long illness, on 5 Feb. 1906, and was buried at Grantchester. A portrait of Perowne, painted in 1885 by Rudolf Lehmann, is at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

His principal works were:

1. 'The Christian's Daily Life, a Life of Faith,' 1860.
2. 'Corporate Responsibility,' 1862.
3. 'Counsel to Undergraduates on entering the University,' 1863.
4. 'The God-head of Jesus,' 1867.
5. 'Commentary on Galatians' (’Cambridge Bible for Schools'), 1890.
6. 'Savonarola,' 1900.

[The Times, 6 Feb. 1906; Guardian, 7 Feb. 1906; Record; 9 Feb. 1906; Cambridge Review, 15 Feb. 1906 (by C. W. Moule); Crockford's Clerical Directory; Cambridge Univ. Calendar; of. Charles Whibley's In Cap and Gown (1889), p. 326.]

A. R. B.