Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/305

Tait became dearer to Tait than ever in his last years. He preached constantly, and, since writing became more difficult to him, he reverted to the method of extempore address. He prayed constantly with his household and his children, together or separately, and gave short expositions in the chapel, and as the end approached he sought for interviews with his old friends, wishing to leave with each some message of help or encouragement.

In the spring of 1882, by his physician's order, he visited the Riviera, and on his return at the end of April recommenced his regular work. But he suffered from sleeplessness, sickness, and nervous weakness. The question of resignation was often before him, but he was encouraged by medical advice to continue, only doing what was absolutely necessary. His last speech in the House of Lords was on 9 July, on the Duke of Argyll's oaths bill. At the end of that month he finally left Lambeth for Addington. The end came on Advent Sunday, 1 Dec., his wife having died on Advent Sunday four years before. He was buried simply at Addington, the offer of a funeral in Westminster Abbey being declined by the family with the queen's consent. Memorials of him were erected in the chapels of Balliol College and of Rugby, at St. Paul's, and in Canterbury Cathedral. The recumbent figure by Sir John Edgar Boehm on the cenotaph at Canterbury, in the north-eastern transept, the portrait by George Richmond at Lambeth Palace (a replica of which is in Balliol College Hall), the portrait by S. Hodges in the possession of Baroness Burdett-Coutts, and the bust by Boehm in the National Portrait Gallery worthily represent his noble and dignified personality.

Tait was of a strong build, and six feet in height. His grey eyes were clear and penetrating, the brow strong and large, the jaw massive, the features not very marked but mutable in their aspect, and growing under emotion to a fine expressiveness. The hair was worn long and parted in the middle, without whiskers or beard. He was active and fond of riding, and took great pleasure in foreign travel. His constitution was strong, and capable of hard and sustained work. His bearing was stately, but his conversation was enlivened by humour. He was a great and miscellaneous reader, and had the taste for art and literature and the respect for scientific knowledge belonging to men of the highest culture. His interest in political life, both at home and abroad, was very keen. He was a whig, not hereditarily, but by early conviction. As a speaker he was forcible and at times very eloquent; his voice was singularly sonorous and impressive; and he produced conviction not so much by the rhetorical temperament as by the gravity and good sense of his argument.

The influence exerted by Tait was that of a churchman of great statesmanlike ability. No archbishop probably since the Reformation has had so much weight in parliament or in the country generally. His efforts were directed not primarily to enhance the power of the clergy, but to build up a just and God-fearing nation. For this purpose he endeavoured to expand the church system, giving it breadth as well as intensity. His administration of the archbishopric of Canterbury greatly increased its importance, and converted the office from that of a primate of England to something like a patriarchate of the whole Anglican communion.

Tait married, at Elmdon, Warwickshire, on 22 June 1843, Catherine (1819–1878), daughter of William Spooner, archdeacon of Coventry and rector of Elmdon, near Rugby. Mrs. Tait's force of character and sympathy strengthened every part of her husband's work; her beauty and her social power made his home attractive. She had a great capacity for business, especially for accounts: on one occasion she set to rights the complicated finance of Rugby school. She entered keenly into the difficult problems of his work as a bishop, tempering, though not deflecting, his judgment; while her deep piety, simple tastes, love of literature, and care for the poor, made the home of the prelate akin to that of all classes of his clergy.

Of the archbishop's nine children, four survived infancy. The only surviving son, Craufurd, who graduated M.A. of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1874, was curate of Saltwood, Kent, 1874–5, and died, before his father, 29 May 1878. Of the three surviving daughters, the second, Edith Murdoch, married the Rev. Randall T. Davidson (now bishop of Winchester). [A full life of Tait by his son-in-law, the Right Rev. Randall T. Davidson, and the Rev. Canon Benham, was published in 1891 (2 vols.). An account of the archbishop's wife and son—Memoirs of Catherine and Craufurd Tait—was issued by Canon Benham in 1879. The present writer's personal recollections have supplied some details for the article.]

 TAIT, JAMES HALDANE (1771–1845), rear-admiral, son of William Tait of Glasgow and his wife Margaret, sister of Adam (afterwards Viscount) Duncan [q. v.], was born in 1771, and entered the navy in April 1783 on board the Edgar, then commanded by his uncle, with whom he served 