BLOMFIELD, CHARLES JAMES English divine, was born on May 29,1786, at Bury St. Edmunds, and edu cated there at the grammar school and at Trinity college, Cam bridge, of which he became a fellow in 18o9. In 1828 he became bishop of London, where he reigned for 28 years. He took a lead ing part in that movement of Church reform which led to the ecclesiastical commission, and did much for the extension of the colonial episcopate; and his genial and kindly nature made him a mediator in the controversies arising out of the tractarian move ment. Newman, indeed, described him as "an active and open hearted man . . . engaged for years in diluting the high orthodoxy of the Church," but the bishop's policy was really comprehensive and conciliatory, and, being a warm admirer of Newman himself, he wished to appoint him to a Whitehall preachership. He died on Aug. 5,1857. He is sometimes cited as the typical "Greek-play Bishop," on account of the many excellent editions of Greek classics which he produced in his earlier years.
See Memoirs of Charles James Blomfield, D.D., Bishop of London, with Selections from his Correspondence, ed. by his son, Alfred Blom field, (1863) ; G. E. Biber, Bishop Blomfield and His Times (1857).