George Trevor Spencer, Bishop of Ceylon
(1799-1866)
9 May 1862

Volume 6, page 285, sitting number 8011.

Identified as the 'Bishop of Ceylon' in the Silvy daybooks, and as 'Bishop Spencer of Ceylon' by a pencilled inscription in a period hand on the back of the mount, this is George Trevor Spencer, Bishop of Madras.

Born at Curzon Street in Mayfair on 4 December 1799, his father was the poet, William Robert Spencer (1769-1845). He was educated at Charterhouse and University College, Oxford (graduated BA, 1822; created DD, 16 June 1847). He was the Perpetual Curate at Buxton from 1824 to 1829, and the Rector of Leaden-Roding in Essex from 1829 to 1837.

At Lambeth Palace on 19 November 1837 he was consecrated Bishop of Madras, occupying the see until 1849. He was chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral from 11 December 1860 until his death, and Rector of Walton-on-the-Wolds, Leicestershire, from 1861 until his death. He died at Edge Moor, Buxton, on 23 July 1866.

Spencer married in 1823 Harriet Theodora, daughter of Benjamin Hobhouse. Their marriage produced two sons and three daughters. Spencer's brother, Aubrey George Spencer, who also appears in the Silvy daybooks, was Bishop of Jamaica from 1843 until 1855.