Robert James Carr was an English churchman, bishop of Chichester in 1824 and bishop of Worcester in 1831.
Background
The son of the Review Colston Carr, a schoolmaster at Twickenham, who was afterwards vicar of Ealing, he was born at Twickenham. He received his primary education in his father"s school before being sent to Merchant Taylors" School, London.
Education
In 1806 he graduated Master of Arts
Career
Afterwards he went up to Worcester College, Oxford. In 1798 he was ordained by the Bishop of Salisbury, and was shortly presented to the vicarage of Brighton. In 1820 he was appointed dean of Hereford, and in the same year he took the degrees of Bachelor of Divinity and Doctor of Divinity Four years later he was consecrated bishop of Chichester, and, along with his bishopric, held a canonry in Street Paul"s Cathedral.
Carr was the prelate who attended George IV during his last illness.
In 1831 he was translated to the bishopric of Worcester, in fulfillment, as it was understood at the time, of a promise made by the late king. In the House of Lords, he was one of the bishops who voted against the Roman Catholic Relief Bill, and while not speaking against the measure, opposed it in other ways.
He died in 1841, aged 67, at Hartlebury Palace, from paralysis, and was buried in the churchyard of the parish. His only published works were sermons preached for charitable objects.
Their marriage was fictionalised in the popular novel East Lynne.
Politics
He was also appointed clerk to the closet, an honorary position which he held until the accession of Queen Victoria, when he was dismissed for political reasons. His views were orthodox and strict, though leaning towards the evangelical.