Edward Copleston

Edward Copleston (2 February 1776 – 14 October 1849)[1] was an English churchman and academic, Provost of Oriel College, Oxford, from 1814 till 1828 and Bishop of Llandaff from 1827.

[2] After holding the office of dean at Oriel for some years, he succeeded to the provostship in 1814, and owing largely to his influence the college reached a remarkable degree of prosperity during the first quarter of the 19th century.

[2] He was influential in the choice of Fellows who were in due course to become prominent during the Oxford Movement, though he himself was of a more rationalist cast of mind and belonged to the group of so-called Oriel Noetics.

The political problems of the time interested him greatly, and his writings include two letters to Sir Robert Peel, one dealing with the 'Variable Standard of Value', the other with the 'Increase of Pauperism' (Oxford, 1819).

[2] The palace of the Bishops of Llandaff (at Mathern, Monmouthshire) had been sold so Copleston resided occasionally at Llandough Castle near Cowbridge and passed his later life between the Deanery of St.Paul's and Hardwick House in Chepstow, where he died.

Bishop Copleston by Martin Archer Shee .