Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Vaughan, Charles John

by Charles Edwyn Vaughan

VAUGHAN, CHARLES JOHN (1816–1897), headmaster of Harrow, master of the Temple, and dean of Llandaff, born in 1816, was second son of Edward Thomas Vaughan, vicar of St. Martin's, Leicester, by his wife Agnes, daughter of Thomas Pares, manufacturer and banker, of Leicester. Under the skilful tuition of his father, a man of ability and force of character, he early showed remarkable promise, and, after his father's untimely death in 1829, was sent to Rugby, then under the guidance of Dr. Arnold. Of the same year as Stanley, whose sister Catherine he married many years later (1850), and slightly senior to Clough, he belonged to the generation which, under Arnold, made the name of the school. After dividing with Stanley the honours of Rugby, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, and was bracketed with Lord Lyttelton as senior classic and chancellor's medallist in 1838. He graduated B.A. in 1838 and M.A. in 1841, proceeding D.D. per regias literas in 1845. In 1839 he was elected fellow of his college, and proceeded to the study of the law. After a brief trial, however, he resolved to follow the calling of his father and elder brother. He was ordained in 1841, and almost immediately afterwards was appointed to the vicarage of St. Martin's, Leicester, formerly his father's parish, and subsequently that of both his eldest and youngest brothers. This charge he held, with great profit to his flock, till 1844.

In that year he was elected to the headmastership of Harrow. The school was then in low water. Its numbers had dropped to little over sixty, and its discipline was out of joint. Within two years Vaughan had raised the numbers to over two hundred, and poured fresh life into the studies and discipline of his pupils. During the last dozen years of his rule it is probable that no school stood higher than Harrow. In his dealings both with boys and masters he happily joined firmness with consideration, and no headmaster, Arnold excepted, gathered round him a more gifted band of scholars or colleagues. Among the former may be mentioned Dr. Butler (his successor in the headmastership), C. S. Calverley, and Sir George Trevelyan; among the latter Dr. Westcott and Dr. Farrar. It is noticeable that, like Arnold, he refused to be lost in the more mechanical labour of organisation, and to the end, though far from indifferent to such minor details, found his chief work in teaching and preaching. As teacher, his main object was to impart to his pupils that strict accuracy of thought and expression, and to the more capable of them that keen sense of style and the subtle delicacies of language, in which his own delight peculiarly lay. As preacher—though certainly the sermons of those days are not comparable either in religious depth or in beauty of expression to those of later years—he already showed the instinctive grasp of his hearers' needs and the power of appealing directly to their hearts, which eventually made him one of the weightiest preachers of his generation.

At the end of 1859 Vaughan resigned the headmastership of Harrow. A few months later Lord Palmerston, who as chairman of the governing body had formed the highest opinion of his capacity, offered him the bishopric of Rochester. He accepted it without hesitation. A day or two later, probably after a severe struggle with his ambition, the acceptance was withdrawn. It is commonly believed that offers of a like sort were renewed more than once; but even to his closest friends he never spoke of them; his determination had been taken once for all. In the latter part of 1860 he was appointed to the important vicarage of Doncaster, and threw himself heart and soul into the ordinary work of a town parish. It was here that he perfected his powers as a preacher; it was here also that he entered on what was destined to be the most distinctive work of his life, the preparation of young men for ordination. After deep consideration he took occasion, in a sermon preached before the university of Cambridge in 1861, to announce his readiness to receive graduates of any university for this purpose. The offer was at once taken up by a few men. Before he left Doncaster over a hundred pupils had passed through his hands; before his death the number had gone beyond 450. Never probably has there been a deeper or more lasting bond between master and scholars than existed between him and successive generations of his pupils.

In 1869 Vaughan accepted the mastership of the Temple, and entered his new field of work with a manly declaration that he stood on the old paths of Christian belief, and must not be expected to trim his course with a view to suiting the supposed wishes of a critical, or perhaps sceptical, audience. This at once established a firm understanding between him and the benchers, an understanding which remained unbroken to the end. In 1879 he accepted the deanery of Llandaff. Henceforth he divided the year between the Temple and Llandaff, and found considerable advantage in the variety of pastoral work which the change offered to his pupils. His weight of character and freedom from sectarian bias soon won him a unique influence among all parties in South Wales. He was thus enabled to take a leading part in the foundation of the University College at Cardiff (1883–4), of which, in recognition of his services, he was elected president in 1894. A severe illness which assailed him in that year prevented him from actively discharging his new duties, and led to his resignation of the mastership of the Temple. He still, however, continued his work as dean and with candidates for ordination until illness again attacked him in the summer of 1896. After lingering for more than a year he died on 15 Oct. 1897. He left a strict injunction that no life of him should be published.

Among the numerous works published by Vaughan—altogether more than sixty—may be mentioned:

1. ‘Memorials of Harrow Sundays,’ 1859; 5th edit. 1880.
2. ‘Notes for Lectures on Confirmation,’ 1859; 9th edit. 1876.
3. ‘St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans’ (Greek text, with notes), 1859; 5th edit. 1880.
4. ‘Epiphany, Lent, and Easter,’ 1860; 3rd edit. 1868.
5. ‘Lessons of Life and Godliness’ (sermons preached at Doncaster), 1862; 5th edit. (printed with ‘Words from the Gospels’), 1891.
6. ‘Lectures on St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians,’ 1862; 4th edit. 1882.
7. ‘Lectures on the Revelation of St. John,’ 2 vols. 1863; 5th edit. (1 vol.) 1882.
8. ‘Words from the Gospels,’ 1863; 3rd edit. 1875.
9. ‘The Church of the First Days,’ vol. i. 1864, 3rd edit. 1873; vol. ii. 1865, 3rd edit. 1874; vol. iii. 1865, 3rd edit. 1875; in one vol. 1890.
10. ‘The Young Life equipping itself for God's Service,’ 1872; 7th edit. 1877.
11. ‘St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians’ (Greek text, with notes, &c.), 1885.
12. ‘The Epistle to the Hebrews’ (Greek text, with notes), 1890; 2nd edit. 1891.

[Private information; Times, 16 and 18 Oct. 1897.]

C. E. V.