George Sumner (bishop of Guildford)

George Henry Sumner (3 July 1824 – 11 December 1909) was the Bishop of Guildford (a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Winchester)[1] at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

Born into an ecclesiastical family — his father, Charles Sumner, was Bishop of Winchester from 1827 until 1869[2] — and educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford,[3] he was ordained to the priesthood in 1847.

[4] His first position was a curacy in Crawley after which he was the Rector of Old Alresford and then the Archdeacon of Winchester before his ordination to the episcopate,[5] nine years after the death of his predecessor John Utterton.

[6] In 1904, Sumner was ageing but not ready to retire fully, so a new suffragan See of Dorking was erected and Cecil Boutflower was appointed Bishop of Dorking early the next year.

[7] When Boutflower departed for Japan, Sumner resigned the See in early 1909 (before John Randolph's consecration on 21 February 1909)[8] and Randolph was appointed Bishop of Guildford, succeeding Boutflower in duties and Sumner in the See.