Walter John Trower FRSE (5 April 1804 – 24 October 1877) was an Anglican bishop.
Early life
He was born on 5 April 1804 in Hanover Square in London the son of John Trower and his first wife Jane James, daughter of Sir Walter James 1st Baronet. A younger half-brother was Charles Francis Trower. Around 1819/20 the family moved to Muntham Court at Findon, West Sussex. He studied divinity at Oxford University graduating BA in 1828 MA in 1829.
Career
In 1829 he became deacon of Chichester, from 1830 to 1832 was curate at Crowpredy and from 1832 was briefly a priest at Winchester before going to Petersfield and in 1834 going to Milland in Sussex. In 1839 he became rector of Wiston in Sussex.
Trower was Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway from 1848 to 1859. Elected by eight votes to seven, he was the first English cleric appointed to a Scottish bishopric who had not previously ministered in Scotland and therefore did not understand the traditions of the Scottish Episcopal Church. He condemned everything that seemed consistent with ritualistic developments of the Oxford Movement and publicly opposed the eucharistic teaching of Bishop Alexander Forbes of Brechin. For half of his time as bishop he was not resident in the diocese.
