Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 23 - Bishop Terrot

by David Carnegie Andrew Agnew

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Bishop Terrot. — Charles Hughes Terrot (born 1790, died 1872) was a great-grandson of Monsieur de Terotte, who became a refugee in England on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (see the sketch of a pedigree at the end of this memoir). He was brought from India by his widowed mother to Berwick, and there and at Carlisle his early education was conducted. He graduated with honours at Cambridge in 1812, and became a Fellow of Trinity College during the same year. In 1816, being M.A., he wrote the Seaton Prize Poem, entitled “Hezekiah and Sennacherib.” His largest work in evidence of his zeal in Biblical studies was published in 1828, entitled, “The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, with an Introduction, Notes, and Paraphrase.” As a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he was enabled to employ some of his leisure in devotion to Mathematics, his favourite study, and among other papers he produced the following:—

On the sums of the digits of numbers.⁠1845.

An attempt to elucidate and apply the principles of goniometry, as published by W. Warren, in his treatise on the square roots of negative quantities.⁠1847.

On algebraical symbolism.⁠1848.

An attempt to compare exact and popular estimate of probability.⁠1849.

On probable inference.⁠1850.

On the summation of a compound series, and its application to a problem on probabilities.⁠1853

On the possibility of combining two or more independent probabilities on the same event so as to form one definite probability.⁠1856.

On the average value of human testimony.⁠1858.

In 1841, having been one of their number for nearly a quarter of a century, he was elected by the Scottish Episcopal clergy of Edinburgh to be their bishop. This honour in Scotland is not national, and a few adjacent chapels and congregations and their incumbents are alone affected by it. Hence, like his predecessors in office, he was not, either in right or, in fact, the Lord Bishop of Edinburgh. He always protested against the designation of “My Lord,” saying, “The Church makes bishops, but the Crown makes lords.” His signature now became “C.H. Terrot, Bp.;” and he was addressed “Right Reverend Sir.” In fact, except on some baptismal and liturgical dogmata, Bishop Terrot was a fair representative of the Huguenots in their best days. He wrote to one of his clergy in these terms:— “I think it a misfortune that, in our translation of Scripture, the same word is used to describe the Jewish priests which is used to describe the Christian minister. I do not believe that you are either cohen or hiereus, but only presbyter, by contraction prester or priest; and that all the modern talk about a sacramental system and a commemorative sacrifice, going up to a belief in a corporeal presence in the Eucharist, either springs from, or is closely connected with, this blunder.” In 1845 ne published a volume of sermons, partly with the design to show that “the Episcopal Church in Scotland may still be Protestant in reference to all error, while she is Catholic in reference to all truth.” His private conversation was imbued with a gaiety inherited from his French ancestry. A lady having expressed a hope that he did not favour the introduction of crosses upon the altar, he replied, “Oh, madam, I am so particular on this point that I never even sit with my legs crossed.” The following memorandum exhibits his descent:—

De Terrote, or Terrott, Huguenot refugee from La Rochelle (descended maternally from the family of D’Aubigne).

Captain Charles Terrot (or Terrott), Commandant of Berwick; born 1711; died 1794.

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Elizabeth, died 1813.

Captain Elias Terrot of the Indian Army, killed in action, 1790.

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Mary Anne Fontaineau.

General Samuel Terrot, Royal Artillery.

Rev. William Terrot, Chaplain of Greenwich Hospital.

Right Rev. Charles Hughes Terrot, D.D., born at Cuddalore, East Indies, in 1790, died at Edinburgh, 2d April 1872.

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Sarah Wood.

See “Smiles’ Huguenots,” p. 390, and the Scottish Guardian, vol. iii. (Edin. 1872), pp. 181, 247, 281.

A correspondent sends me an epitaph copied from a mural marble tablet within Holy Trinity Church, Berwick-upon-Tweed:—

To the Memory of
Captain Charles Terrot, of the Royal Invalids,
who died February the 6th, 1794, in the 83d year of his age,
many years Commandant of this Garrison,
and the oldest officer in His Majesty’s Service,
Also
Elizabeth, his wife, who died December 19th, 1813, aged 78.