Charles Gore (1853-1932) 17th January 

This aristocratic liberal was a reluctant Oxford don; a strict Anglo-Catholic who dismayed extreme Puseyites; founder of one Anglican community and destroyer of another; a bishop whose consecration was delayed by a protestant lawsuit. A brief account cannot possibly do justice to a man whose influence on the Church of England was unequalled in his generation

From Trinity College, Oxford, Gore became vice-principal of Cuddesdon, and in 1885 the first principal of Pusey House. His essay in Lux Mundi, which he edited, though it would now be inoffensive, shocked many orthodox Christians. In 1892 he founded the Community of the Resurrection, a body of celibate priests living under a simple rule which became perhaps the most influential community in the Anglican communion. But in 1913 his enquiry led 'Abbott' Carlyle's motley collection of Caldey Abbey Benedictines to secede to Rome.

As bishop of Worcester from 1902, Gore found the diocese big and unwieldy, so helped (with his own money) to hive off the bishopric of Birmingham, where he was installed in 1905. He turned down an Indian bishopric, but his translation to Oxford in 1911 was perhaps unfortunate and though his influence on university life was considerable, it was not his happiest period.

Gore resigned in 1919, opposing a liberalising move by the Church Assembly, and spent the rest of his life writing, teaching and preaching in London. His blend of conservative and liberal theology and politics made him a thorn in the flesh of nearly every body of entrenched opinion in the church, yet paved the way for today's catholic modernists.

Charles Plouviez