John Graham

John Graham (23 February 1794 – 15 June 1865) was an English churchman and academic. He served as master of Christ's College, Cambridge, from 1830 to 1848, and as Bishop of Chester from 1848 to 1865. Graham died at the Bishop's Palace, Chester, on 15 June 1865, and was buried in Chester Cemetery on 20 June 1865. He tutored Charles Darwin at Cambridge from 1829 to 1830.

Life Graham, the only son of John Graham, managing clerk to Thomas Griffith of the Bailey, Durham, was born in Claypath, Durham. He was educated at Durham School and at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he attained high proficiency as a classical and mathematical scholar. In 1816 he graduated as fourth wrangler and was bracketed with Marmaduke Lawson as chancellor's medallist, proceeding B.A. in 1816, M.A. in 1819, B.D. in 1829, and D.D. by royal mandate in 1831. He was elected a fellow and tutor of his college in 1816, and on the resignation of Dr John Kaye in 1830, was chosen Master of Christ's College. Although he was a dedicated university teacher, he "never published any work of importance".

Ordained in 1818, he became rector of Willingham, Cambridgeshire, in 1843. He was nominated chaplain to Prince Albert on 26 January 1841, and in the contest for the chancellorship of Cambridge University on 27 February 1847 he acted as chairman of the prince's committee.

Episcopal ministry Graham had been recommended as the next Bishop of Sodor and Man in 1847, but declined it. In 1848, following the translation of John Bird Sumner to the see of Canterbury, Graham received the vacant bishopric of Chester, and was elected to the see on 1 April. On 14 May 1848, he was consecrated as a bishop at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall; one newspaper noted the service was "but thinly attended". The consecration was led by Thomas Musgrave, Archbishop of York, assisted by John Kaye, the Bishop of Lincoln, and Edward Maltby, Bishop of Durham. He left between £30,000 and £35,000 in his will (equivalent to between £ and £ in ).

Publications Sermons on the Commandments, 1826 Sermons, 1827, 1837, 1837, 1841, 1845, 1855 A Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese at the Primary Visitation of the Bishop of Chester, 1849

Some of his sermons are also to be found in the publications of the Church Missionary Society, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the General Society for Promoting District Visiting, and the African Church Missionary Society.