Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Norris, John Pilkington
NORRIS, JOHN PILKINGTON (1823–1891), divine, born at Chester on 10 June 1823, was the son of Thomas Norris, physician of Chester. Educated first at Rugby under Arnold, he proceeded to Cambridge, where he gained an open scholarship at Trinity College. He came out in the middle of the first class of the classical tripos in 1846, and in the same year graduated B.A. He became M.A. in 1849, B.D. in 1875, and D.D. in 1881. Norris obtained a fellowship at Trinity in 1848, and in the same year carried off one of the members' prizes for the Latin essay. He was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Ely in 1849, and priest in the following year. In 1849 he accepted one of the newly created inspectorships of schools. The high traditions of that office owe much to the spirit in which Norris and others entered upon the work. His own district comprised Staffordshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire. His enthusiasm was unbounded; his thoroughness and mastery of detail so great that he was said, by a pardonable exaggeration, to know not merely all the teachers, but all the children who came under his eye. The work began, however, to tell upon him, and in 1863 he removed to a smaller district in Kent and Surrey. But, finding himself unequal to this, he in 1864 resigned his inspectorship, and became curate-in-charge of Lewknor, a small Oxfordshire parish. In 1864 he was appointed a canon of Bristol, and incumbent of Hatchford, Surrey, where he remained until 1870. In that year there fell vacant the vicarage of St. George, Brandon Hill, Bristol. The parish was large, the people poor, the income small. The dean and chapter were the patrons, and Norris felt it his duty to take the parish himself. He therefore moved permanently to Bristol. His own church and people were admirably cared for, and he also threw himself zealously into diocesan work. In 1876 he became rural dean of Bristol, and in 1877 vicar of the historic church of St. Mary Redcliffe. In 1881 the bishop made him archdeacon of Bristol, a post which led in the following year to the resignation of his incumbency.
Norris filled other positions with unvarying success. He was a friend and confidential correspondent of Bishop Fraser of Manchester, whose examining chaplain he was from 1870 to 1885. He was inspector of church training colleges from 1871 to 1876. He was a member of convocation, as proctor for the chapter of Bristol, from 1879 to 1881, and afterwards as archdeacon. Towards the end of December 1891 he fell ill of bronchitis. On 29 Dec. his appointment to the deanery of Chichester was announced, but he died on the same evening. He was buried in the graveyard adjoining Bristol Cathedral, and a tablet within its walls bears testimony to his worth; upwards of 5,000l. was subscribed as a memorial to him to be devoted to the augmentation of the Bristol bishopric.
Norris was a hard and successful worker for the restoration of the cathedral, the nave of which must always be associated with his name. He was one of the first to move for the revival of the old see of Bristol, as distinct from that of Gloucester, and was a vigorous promoter of church extension in and around the cathedral town. His most important literary work was in the form of popular handbooks for students in theology, and two remarkable volumes of notes on the New Testament.
Norris married in 1858 Edith Grace, daughter of the Right Hon. Stephen Lushington (second son of the first baronet), who survived him, and by whom he left issue.
His chief works, in addition to separate sermons, essays, and charges, were: 1. ‘Translation of Demosthenes, De Coronâ,’ 1849. 2. ‘Report on the Iron and Coal Masters' Prize Scheme for the Encouragement of Education,’ 1854. 3. ‘On the Inspiration of the New Testament,’ 1864. 4. ‘The Education of the People,’ 1869. 5. ‘A Key to the Narrative of the Four Gospels,’ 1869. 6. ‘A Catechist's Manual,’ 1869. 7. ‘A Key to the Acts of the Apostles,’ 1871. 8. ‘Manual of Religious Instruction,’ 3 vols. 1874. 9. ‘A Catechism for Young Children,’ 1874. 10. ‘Rudiments of Theology,’ 1875. 11. ‘Studia Sacra; Theological Remains of John Keble,’ edited, 1877. 12. ‘Easy Lessons on Confirmation,’ 1877. 13. ‘New Testament, with Introduction and Notes,’ 1880. 14. ‘The Patriarchs Joseph and Moses,’ 1880. 15. ‘The Church of St. Mary Redcliff, and Handbook to Bristol Cathedral,’ 1882. 16. ‘Lectures on Pastoral Theology,’ 1884. 17. ‘Lectures on Butler's Analogy,’ 1886. 18. ‘A Key to the Epistles of St. Paul,’ 1890.
[Times, 29 and 30 Dec. 1891; Guardian, 6 Jan. 1892; Record, 8 Jan. 1892; Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1890; Memoir of James Fraser by Thomas Hughes, 1887, pp. 177, 178.]