Frederick Cornwallis (5 March 1713 – 19 March 1783) was a British clergy member who served as Archbishop of Canterbury after a career in the Church of England. He was born the seventh son of an aristocratic family.
On the whole, Cornwallis has generally been judged as a competent administrator but an uninspiring leader of the 18th-century church. He is considered a typical product of the time's latitudinarianism, whose lack of zeal paved the way for the differing responses of both the Evangelicals and the Oxford Movement in the early 19th century.
Wall plaque in the deconsecrated church of St Mary-at-Lambeth to Frederick Cornwallis, who was buried nearby
In 2016, during the refurbishment of the Garden Museum,[3] which is housed at the medieval church of St Mary-at-Lambeth,[4] 30 lead coffins were found under the church floor. One had an archbishop's red and gold mitre on top of it.[5] Two archbishops were identified from nameplates on their coffins. Church records document that three additional archbishops, including Cornwallis, are likely to be buried in the vault.[6]