Thomas Dale (priest)


Thomas Dale was a British priest in the Church of England who was the Dean of Rochester for a brief period in 1870. He was also a poet and theologian.

Life

Dale was born in Pentonville and educated at Christ's Hospital and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Until 1826 Dale was a curate at St Michael, Cornhill, and then began a long association with St Bride, Fleet Street. He was also evening lecturer at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate before being appointed the incumbent of St Matthew's Denmark Hill.
He served as Professor of English at London University from 1828 to 1830. This was the first professorial appointment in the subject of English in England. As an evangelical and "Christian ideologue" he found the university secular to the point of being "godless", clashed in particular with his colleague Thomas Hewitt Key, and resigned, to be succeeded by Alexander Blair. He then founded a school in Camberwell, where John Ruskin was among his pupils.
Dale became a prebendary of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1843, holding the stall of Caddington Minor and an honorary canon. In 1846 he became vicar of St Pancras' Church and was also the Golden Lecturer at St Margaret Lothbury. While at St Pancras', William Brown Galloway was his curate. Dale is credited with founding St Mark's Church in St Mark's Square. His last position before becoming the dean in Rochester was at St Therfield Therfield. He died in 1870.

Works