Archibald Campbell Tait was born in Edinburgh in 1811 and grew up in Presbyterianism, but decided early to enter the ministry of the Church of England. In 1836, he was ordained an Anglican priest. By 1842, he had become headmaster of Rugby, and in 1849 he was created Dean of Carlisle. From 1856 to 1868 he was Bishop of London. In 1868, he became the first Scot to be created Archbishop of Canterbury, in which role he did much to strengthen the Anglican Church overseas. He became well known through his sermons delivered in the open air. A lifelong opponent of the ritualism of the Oxford movement, which adopted practices from Roman Catholicism, he helped frame the Public Worship Regulation Act of 1874. This prescribed certain aspects of church ritual, and he had to deal with resentment over its introduction. He also had to smooth the path of the Burials Act of 1880, which allowed non-conformists burial in parish churchyards.

Photographed by John Mayall of 224, Regent Street, London.