MARRIOTT, CHARLES, 1811-1858.
Letter, 1844.

MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 308

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CITATION:  Charles Marriott letter, MSS 308, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.  

Charles Marriott, the son of an Anglican clergyman, was born near Rugby on 24 August 1811. Both of his parents died while he was a boy, and he was educated privately by his aunts until entering Exeter College in 1825. In 1833 he became a fellow of Oriel College. He was ordained in May 1839. Marriott went on to become subdean and then dean of Oriel College, and vicar of the university church of St. Mary the Virgin.

While at Oriel, Marriott became a follower of John Henry Newman. When Newman became a Roman Catholic and left Oxford, Marriott filled his role to a large extent. He organized E.B. Pusey's defense after Pusey was suspended from preaching in 1843, advised Pusey during the late 1840s, and provided Pusey with some of the historical information on which his writings were based.

Although Marriott published sermons and pamphlets of his own, he is best remembered for his influence on the writings of others. He died on 15 September 1858, more than three years after a stroke left him partially paralyzed.

(Source of biography: J. H. Overton, 'Marriott, Charles (1811-1858)', rev. K. E. Macnab, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18090, accessed 7 June 2005])

This collection consists of a single letter written by Marriott, dated "Eve of St. Thomas, 1844" and addressed to "my dear Browne." In it, Marriott discusses university business, particularly an upcoming vote "about the Test." Marriott writes, "I object on constitutional grounds to imposing any test that is not founded on the authority of the church." Also mentioned is the death of a Mrs. Knight.