In the Shadow of Death
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In this, the first biography of Archibald Campbell Tait since his son-in-law, Randall Davidson's in 1891, John Witheridge tells the story of how a Scottish outsider became Queen Victoria's favourite Archbishop of Canterbury, and the most powerful since Laud in the seventeenth century. Following his childhood in Edinburgh and education at Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford, Witheridge describes how Tait's life was shaped by faith, duty and diligence, as well as by harrowing experiences of illness and death.
Tait was never content to be an ecclesiastical dignitary, but was ready to intervene and give a lead in the many conflicts, theological and political, that defined his fourteen years at Lambeth. While not always successful, Tait's leadership of the Church during a period of controversy at home and challenge overseas, bravely accomplished against a background of personal tragedy, makes him a landmark figure in the history of the Church of England.
John Witheridge specialized in 19th century Church history at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he was the Tancred Divinity Student. He has been Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Senior Chaplain at Eton and Headmaster of Charterhouse. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Chaplain to The Queen. His biography of Dean Stanley of Westminster has been described as 'a joyous book . . . an inspiration.' (Times Literary Supplement)