Skip to main content

Full text of "Bishop Walsham How : a memoir"

See other formats 


lllll: 

1 

'•'I"".  5 

m 


11!  I  (IIj 


ti>.ii^iiii;|. 


ii'-c 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 


REV.    LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.   D.  D. 


BEQUEATHED   BY  HIM  TO 

THE  LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


jn^-.OI 


n 


JV. 


^"^%'^y-  Vr..       • 


pi'j 


►^  fl,   :^-fr  'tv.    t 


>!-;•• 


OUj 


^^^  /TTTT  ^  ^T°'^  ^y  ^-  Douglas  How  vor- 
trait,  8vo,  cloth,  4s  6d  1898 


BISHOP  WALSHAM  HOW 


^^'^Z/Co^  ^a^uuc    u/co^^jL/icZ</ 


SEP  2A:  1931 


X 


Bishop  Walsham  Ha 


A  MEMOIR 


BY 


FREDERICK  DOUGLAS  HOW 


WITH  PORTRAIT 


LONDON 
ISBISTER  AND   COMPANY   Limited 

IS  &  i6  TAVISTOCK  STREET  COVENT  GARDEN 
1898 


Printed  by  Ballantyne,  Hanson  <&»  Co. 
London  6^  Edinburgh 


TO   HER  ROYAL   HIGHNESS 

PRINCESS  CHRISTIAN  OF  SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN 

IN  GRATEFUL  REMEMBRANCE  OF    HER   SYMPATHY 

WITH   THE  WORK   OF   BISHOP   WALSHAM   HOW 

THIS   BOOK   IS   BY  GRACIOUS    PERMISSION 

RESPECTFULLY   DEDICATED 


PREFACE 

It  has  been  a  great  privilege  to  be  allowed  to  compile 
this  memoir  of  my  Father,  the  first  Bishop  of  Wakefield, 
and  it  has  been  undertaken  with  the  desire  that  no  hands 
less  loving  than  those  of  one  of  his  children  should  turn 
the  pages  of  his  private  letters  and  diaries.  Further,  it 
has  been  my  happiness  to  call  his  house  my  home  for 
some  five  and  thirty  years  of  my  life.  These  must  be 
my  excuses. 

I  am  fully  aware  of  the  many  short-comings  which  will 
be  readily  detected  by  the  numbers  of  people  who  knew 
and  loved  my  Father,  and  which  must  of  necessity 
occur  in  the  work  of  one  possessing  no  literary  skill  or 
experience. 

It  would  have  been  impossible  to  accomplish  even 
this  inadequate  volume  had  it  not  been  for  the  kindness 
and  help  of  many  members  of  my  Father's  family,  and 
of  a  large  number  of  his  friends. 

In  some  cases  I  have  quoted  what  they  have  written 
verbatim,  in  others  I  have  ventured  to  blend  their  words 
into  my  own  narrative,  for  which  I  ask  their  indulgence. 

I  desire  especially  to  thank  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Ripon, 
the   Ven.   Archdeacon    Brooke,    the    Ven.    Archdeacon 


8  Preface 

Thomas,  Rev.  Prebendary  Kitto,  Rev.  Prebendary  Shelf ord, 
Rev.  Canon  Grenside,  Rev.  H.  L.  Paget,  Rev.  B.  Waugh, 
Rev.  the  Hon.  W.  R.  Verney,  Rev.  R.  B.  Dowling,  Rev. 
E.  S.  Hilliard,  Rev.  W.  Eraser  Nash,  E.  J.  Hanbury,  Esq., 
Rev.  La  Trobe  Bateman,  Rev.  E.  Barker,  Rev.  W.  J.  W. 
Marrow,  Rev.  Canon  Ridgeway,iH.  W.  S.  Worsley-Benison, 
Esq.,  and  Rev.  A.  E.  Jalland. 

Those  who  were  connected  with  my  Eather  by  closer 
ties  will  need  no  thanks  for  their  invaluable  help. 

F.  D.  H. 
October  1898 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

I.    EARLY    LIFE  .... 

II.    OXFORD 

III.    KIDDERMINSTER  .... 
IV.   VVHITTINGTON      .... 
V.  HIS    POSITION   AS    A   CHURCHMAN 
VI.    CONVOCATION    COMMITTEES,    ETC. 
VII.   OFFERS   OF   PREFERMENT     . 
VIII.    RETREATS  AND    MISSIONS     . 
IX.    EARLIEST   SUGGESTION   OF    EAST   LONDON  . 
X.   APPOINTMENT   TO   EAST   LONDON 
XI.   CONSECRATION    AND    DEPARTURE    FROM    WHITTINGTON 
XII.    EAST   LONDON        .... 

XIII.  EAST   LONDON    (CONTINUED) 

XIV.  ,,  „  „ 
XV.   THE   BISHOP   A    BRIDGEMAKER      . 

XVI.    LAST   YEARS    IN    EAST    LONDON     . 


PAGE 
II 


29 

43 
59 
69 
87 

95 

109 
126 
142 

152 
166 
182 
197 
204 


10 


Contents 


CHAP. 
XVII. 


XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI, 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 


ACCEPTANCE      OF      WAKEFIELD — FAREWELL      TO      EAST 
LONDON         


WAKEFIELD,   ORGANISATION,   ETC.    . 

WAKEFIELD — THE   SEE    HOUSE 

WAKEFIELD — RELATIONS    WITH   THE   CLERGY 

COLLIERY   STRIKE,   ETC. 

REFUSAL   OF   THE    SEE   OF   DURHAM 

THE   BISHOP   AND   LEGISLATION 

A   CHAPTER   OF   ACCIDENTS 

THE    LAST    YEAR 

THE  BISHOP  AS  AN  AUTHOR  . 
HYMNS  AND  HYMN-WRITING  . 
THE  children's  BISHOP 
THE  BISHOP  AS  A  FISHERMAN 
THE  BISHOP  AS  A  BOTANIST  . 
LETTERS  ON  SPIRITUAL  MATTERS  . 
INDEX 


ETC 


226 
240 
256 
279 
302 
312 
322 
338 
346 
381 
410 
418 

432 
448 
460 
481 


CHAPTER   I 

EARLY  LIFE 

William  Walsh  am  How  was  born  on  December  13, 
1823,  in  a  house  that  is  one  of  two  standing  a  Httle  back 
from  the  street,  on  the  right-hand  side  as  one  ascends 
College  Hill,  Shrewsbury.  Those  who  are  familiar  with 
the  beautiful  old  town,  the  Severn  winding  beneath  its 
walls,  its  spires  and  towers,  its  castle,  its  ancient  black 
and  white  architecture,  and  especially  with  the  views  of 
the  Shropshire  and  Welsh  hills  in  the  distance,  will 
recognise  it  as  the  fitting  birthplace  of  one  who  greatly 
loved  all  things  that  are  beautiful.  Indeed,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  fair  surroundings  of  his  childhood 
did  much  to  create  and  develop  this  love,  which  found 
expression  in  his  earliest  boyish  verses,  and  was  one  of 
the  chief  joys  of  his  existence. 

He  was  the  elder  son  of  Mr.  William  Wybergh  How, 
solicitor,  of  Shrewsbury,  who  sprang  from  an  old 
Cumberland  family,  having  as  his  direct  ancestors  two 
John  Hows,  father  and  son,  who  were  mayors  of  the 
city  of  Carlisle  in  1683  and  1725  respectively. 

His  grandfather  was  the  Rev.  Peter  How,  Rector  of 
Workington,  and  for  a  short  time  Vicar  of  Isell  in 
Cumberland,  who  married  his  cousin  Margaret,  daughter 
of  Mr.  William  Wybergh,  of  Clifton  Hall,  Westmoreland. 


12  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Mr.  W.  W.  How's  first  wife  was  Frances  Jane, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Thomas  Maynard,  of  Wokingham,  by 
whom  he  had  two  sons,  William  Walsham  and  Thomas 
Maynard.  When  these  children  were  about  two  and 
a-half  and  one  year  old,  their  mother  died,  and  in  1828 
their  father  married  again,  his  second  wife  being  the 
only  daughter  of  Mr.  Samuel  Allsopp,  of  Burton-on- 
Trent.  By  her  he  had  two  daughters,  Frances  Jane  and 
Margaret,  and  it  is  after  their  birth  that  we  get  the 
earliest  glimpse  of  the  happy  family  life  at  Shrewsbury, 
in  which  the  eldest  boy,  Walsham,  first  found  oppor- 
tunities of  displaying  many  of  the  qualities  which  en- 
deared him  to  so  large  a  number  of  friends  in  after  life. 

His  stepmother  proved  a  very  real  mother  to  both 
the  boys,  and  no  difference  was  ever  felt  in  her  relations 
towards  them  and  her  own  little  daughters,  while  the 
latter  were  a  source  of  infinite  interest  and  delight  to 
the  two  boys.  Walsham's  boyish  letters  of  1836  to  his 
little  sisters,  during  their  absence  at  the  seaside,  are 
remembered  as  being  brimful  of  fun  and  tenderness, 
especially,  perhaps,  those  to  the  "  dearie  small  Margaret," 
who,  always  delicate,  died  the  following  year  at  the  age 
of  seven.  The  affectionate  relations  of  the  remaining 
three  children  were  of  the  closest,  and  lasted  to  the  end 
of  the  elder  brother's  life  ;  indeed,  few  days  seem  ever  to 
have  passed  without  the  two  brothers  either  meeting  or 
writing  to  one  another. 

There  is  only  one  slight  verbal  picture  given  us  of 
Walsham  How  at  a  very  early  age.  "  I  can  just  re- 
member him,"  writes  his  surviving  brother,  "as  a  little 
child  in  a  white  frock  with  a  broad  purple  sash."  After 
that  there  is  no  record  until  the  time  when  he  went 
for  lessons  to  the  Rev.  T.  B.  Lutener,  then   curate  of 


Early  Life  13 

St.  Mary's,  and  afterwards,  for  many  years,  incumbent  of 
St.  Michael's. 

At  that  time  the  family  had  moved  to  Claremont 
Buildings,  and  on  his  way  between  the  house  and  Mr. 
Lutener's  lodgings  one  of  his  delights  was  to  make 
friends  with  all  the  dogs — a  characteristic  that  was  life- 
long, for  he  was  rarely  without  some  special  dog  pet 
from  the  time  of  his  clever  "  Duchess,"  and  his  beloved 
brown  spaniel  "Tom,"  the  companion  of  his  early 
clerical  days,  down  to  the  last  year  of  his  life,  when  many 
at  Wakefield  will  remember  the  little  black  Schipperke 
"Skipper,"  which  was  so  often  seen  nestling  in  the 
Bishop's  arms. 

While  he  was  under  the  tutelage  of  Mr.  Lutener,  he 
began  teaching  his  little  brother  Maynard  all  that  he 
learnt,  and  continued  this  after  he  had  gone  to  the 
Shrewsbury  Schools — then  under  the  Headmastership  of 
Dr.  Butler — so  that,  when  the  younger  brother  went  to 
school  in  his  turn,  the  boys  in  his  class  were  astonished 
at  his  learning. 

The  family  had  made  another  move  before  the  boys 
went  to  the  Schools,  this  time  to  the  Stone  House, 
which  was  a  very  short  distance  from  the  school  build- 
ings. Walsham  was  placed  at  first  in  the  second  or  third 
class,  but  he  always  did  well,  especially  in  composition, 
and  rapidly  rose  until  he  arrived  at  the  sixth  form  at  an 
early  age. 

But  a  somewhat  remarkable  home-life  was  going  on 
side  by  side  with  the  school  work  and  play.  The  in- 
fluence of  their  father  was  great  on  all  three  children, 
and  from  him  Walsham  seems  to  have  acquired  in  a 
marked  degree  many  of  the  qualities  which  went  to  form 
his  character  and  colour  his  whole  life.     He  shows  early 


14  Bishop  Walsham  How 

a  devoutness  and  an  earnestly  religious  temperament, 
a  love  of  nature,  an  aptness  at  verse-writing,  a  keen 
sense  of  fun — all  doubtless  acquired  from  his  father, 
from  whom,  too,  he  learnt  that  strict  attention  to  money 
matters,  and  those  methodical  habits,  which  were  observ- 
able in  later  life,  and  enabled  him  to  get  through  the 
vast  amount  of  work  which  fell  to  his  share. 

All  three  children  seem  to  have  been  from  the  first 
deeply  religious,  and,  when  quite  young,  it  was  common 
for  them,  if  prevented  from  going  to  church,  to  hold  a 
service  of  their  own,  one  writing  the  prayers  to  be  used, 
and  Walsham  composing  the  hymns. 

The  first  of  his  hymns  of  which  there  is  any  record 
was  composed  before  he  was  thirteen,  the  subject  being 
the  transformation  of  the  butterfly  as  a  type  of  the 
Resurrection.  About  this  time  he  wrote  a  great  number 
of  other  verses  and  poems,  both  playful  and  serious, 
such  as  rhymes  about  the  school  games,  and  a  capital 
parody  on  Southey's  "  How  does  the  water  come  down 
at  Lodore,"  written  for  a  bazaar.  But  his  favourite  com- 
positions were  hymns,  to  be  repeated  in  the  family  circle 
at  "Hymn  time"  on  Sunday  evenings.  One — by  no 
means  the  least  poetical — on  "  Heaven,"  was  written 
when  he  was  fifteen,  or  possibly  a  year  earlier.  Some 
of  the  titles  of  his  first  hymns  may  be  of  interest,  as 
showing  the  bent  of  his  mind  at  that  time  :  "The  Book 
of  Nature,"  "  Winter,"  "  The  Repentant  Sinner,"  "  Christ 
Our  Example,"  "Death,"  "The  Blessings  of  Religion," 
and  "  The  Butterfly,"  an  amended  edition  of  his  twelve- 
year-old  hymn.  The  thought  of  death  was  always  a 
familiar  one  :  there  are  several  more  poems  on  the  same 
subject :  yet  nothing  of  a  morbid  character  could  be 
attributed  to  the  bright,  lively  boy,  keen  at  lessons  and 


Early  Life  15 

at  games,  and  singing,  as  he  went,  in  gladness  of  heart 
and  with  a  pleasant  voice.  In  his  early  fondness  for 
flowers,  "the  boy  was  father  to  the  man."  Some  lines 
written  by  his  father,  with  which  the  three  younger 
children  were  to  greet  "  brother  Walsham  "  on  the  morn- 
ing of  his  thirteenth  birthday,  make  his  sister  say  : 

'*  The  flowers  he  loves  he  gives  to  me, 
And  tells  me  all  their  names." 

The  little  farm  near  the  Column,  opposite  to  which  his 
father  afterwards  built  a  house,  "  Nearwell,"  was  an 
immense  delight  to  him,  and  there  he  gardened  in  his 
play  hours,  taking  special  pride  in  his  pansy  beds  ;  and 
frequently  in  later  life,  while  walking  in  his  garden,  he 
would  stop  and  notice  some  pansy  blossom,  saying, 
"  That  is  a  clearly  marked  one,  just  the  sort  I  used  to 
try  to  grow  when  a  boy."  Wild  flowers,  too,  soon  won 
his  heart,  and  great  was  the  joy  at  finding  a  new  plant, 
or  at  welcoming  an  old  favourite,  such  as  the  lilac 
saffron,  when  it  came  into  bloom  each  autumn  in  the 
meadows  of  the  Severn.  He  formed  a  little  horti- 
cultural society  amongst  some  of  his  schoolfellows,  and 
very  proud  they  were  of  their  "  shows  1 "  It  was  not 
long  before  he  became  an  expert  botanist,  his  sister  act- 
ing as  a  humble  assistant  in  drying  and  mounting  the 
specimens,  for  which  sort  of  manual  work  he  himself  had 
particularly  neat  fingers.  Of  his  botanical  studies  there  will 
be  more  to  say  later  on,  but  it  is  interesting  to  note  how 
in  this,  as  in  so  many  other  things,  his  tastes  remained 
unchanged,  and  his  ways  of  life  consistent  to  the  end. 
One  of  the  first  things  that  is  apparent  in  a  survey  of  his 
life  is  its  consistency.  There  seems  to  have  been  an 
early  choice  of  that  which  is  good,  both  in  matters  of 
greater  and  of  less  importance,  and  an  almost  precociously 


i6  Bishop  Walsham  How 

early  grasp  of  the  truth  in  matters  of  controversy,  from 
which  he  never  let  go  his  hold  through  life. 

In  school  games  he  readily  joined  at  all  times,  but 
never  to  any  great  degree  excelled,  though  he  played  in 
cricket  matches  until  he  had  been  for  some  years  Rector 
of  Whittington. 

During  the  latter  part  of  his  schooldays  Dr.  Kennedy 
became  headmaster,  and  Walsham  How  was  one  of  his 
favourite  pupils,  his  verses  and  epigrams  both  in  Latin 
and  English  meeting  with  special  approbation.  In  1841, 
after  matriculating  at  Oxford,  but  while  still  at  school,  he 
wrote  for  the  Newdigate  Prize  Poem  at  that  University. 
Owing  to  an  accident  his  composition  was  sent  in  too  late, 
but  Dr.  Kennedy  thought  so  highly  of  it  that  he  had  it 
printed  with  the  next  "  Speeches."  The  following  extract 
from  a  letter  to  his  sister  probably  refers  to  this,  and  is  an 
instance  of  the  modesty  with  which  he  always  regarded 
his  own  work  : 

"  Wadham,  yz^;?^  9,  1841. 

"The  Warden  asked  me  to  call  upon  him  yesterday, 
and  gave  me  some  little  advice,  but  I  had  a  short  confer- 
ence. He  has  been  away  till  now,  or  I  suppose  he  would 
have  seen  me  before.  Tell  Maynard  I  shall  be  much 
obliged  to  him  to  ask  the  Dr.  (or  perhaps  a  note  would 
do)  whether  Jones  has  written  to  prevent  his  poem  being 
printed  :  Alston  says  he  has.  If  his  is  not  to  be  printed, 
I  will  not  have  mine  on  any  account ;  and  make  haste, 
lest  it  be  too  late." 

"  The  Dr."  is,  of  course.  Dr.  Kennedy,  and  "  Jones  "  is 
Basil  Jones,  afterwards  Bishop  of  St.  David's. 

Other  interesting  schoolfellows  of  Walsham  How  were 
Thring,  afterwards  Lord  Thring,  K.C.B.,  who,  with  Cope 


Early  Life  17 

and  John  Bather,  all  Shrewsbury  boys,  headed  the 
Classical  Tripos  at  Cambridge  ;  Fraser,  afterwards  Bishop 
of  Manchester,  and  James  Riddell  of  Balliol. 

It  had  always  been  intended  that  he  should  enter  his 
father's  profession,  and  on  that  account  he  left  school  and 
went  to  Oxford  at  the  early  age  of  17.  He  took  with  him 
the  affectionate  esteem  of  his  master  and  schoolfellows, 
and  the  honour  of  having  won  in  his  last  year  the  Butler 
Scholarship,  of  which  he  did  not  avail  himself.  Though 
going  up  to  Oxford  with  the  full  purpose  of  becoming  a 
lawyer,  yet  it  was  during  the  early  part  of  his  life  there 
that  he  changed  his  mind  and  determined  to  take  Holy 
Orders.  The  Tractarian  movement  was  in  full  force  at 
the  time,  and  interested  him  greatly,  though  he  was  never 
carried  away  by  it.  It  is,  however,  just  possible  that  it 
may  have  in  some  degree  influenced  his  decision,  though 
it  is  hard  to  conceive  that  with  the  devout  feelings  and 
religious  bent,  which  are  conspicuous  from  his  earliest 
childhood,  any  other  future  than  that  of  a  clergyman 
could  have  been  before  him. 


CHAPTER   II 

OXFORD 

The  Summer  term  of  1841  was  Walsham  How's  first  term 
at  Oxford,  and,  though  it  might  be  supposed  that  a  boy 
of  his  disposition  would  have  been  enthralled  with  the 
beauties  and  delights  of  the  place,  yet  there  is  no  record 
of  any  special  appreciation  to  be  found  in  his  letters.  In 
fact,  at  first  he  seems  not  to  have  been  entirely  happy,  and 
to  have  found  himself  a  little  lonely.  This  soon  wore  off, 
and  he  became  exceedingly  fond  of  his  surroundings,  a 
fact  to  which  a  fine  water-colour  drawing  of  his  College 
garden  and  chapel,  which  he  ordered  as  a  memorial  of 
his  Wadham  days,  bears  witness. 

It  would  have  been  difficult  for  one  with  so  many 
interests  in  life  to  have  felt  dull  for  long.  The  varied 
pursuits,  of  which  mention  has  been  made,  were  all  con- 
tinued at  Oxford.  It  will  be  noticed  later  on  how  deeply 
he  lamented  his  want  of  the  power  of  application — 
a  want  with  which  the  manifold  nature  of  his  interests 
may  have  had  something  to  do.  It  is  pretty  certain  that 
this,  in  conjunction  with  the  fact  that  he  was  taken  away 
from  Shrewsbury  School  when  his  faculties  were  scarcely 
sufficiently  mature  for  the  heavier  strain  of  University 
Examinations,  accounts  for  his  obtaining  nothing  higher 
than  a  third  class  for  his  degree. 


Oxford  19 

But  though  his  occupations  were  many,  yet  through 
them  all — his  reading,  his  botany,  his  music  and  singing, 
his  keen  interest  in  getting  to  understand  whatever  subject 
presented  itself — there  was  ever  the  same  deep  religious 
feeling.  In  a  letter  to  his  brother  written  about  this  time 
he  says  with  reference  to  his  love  of  Nature : 

"  I  myself  am  exceedingly  variable  in  spirits,  and  I 
always  find  nothing  is  near  so  delightful  and  inspiriting 
when  I  am  in  low  spirits  as  praising  and  thanking  God  in 
the  midst  of  His  works.  Often  and  often  at  the  farm  have 
I  stood  between  the  cottage  and  garden  door,  and  thanked 
God  for  making  the  world  so  fair  and  myself  so  suscep- 
tible of  its  beauty.  I  am  generally  quite  happy  after  that. 
....  Oh  !  my  dear  Maynard,  if  Heaven  itself  had  no 
greater  glory  and  joy  than  standing  in  the  midst  of  some 
exquisitely  beautiful  scene,  and  there,  with  only  sights  and 
sounds  of  Nature  around  you,  blessing  God  and  glorying 
in  His  presence,  it  would  be  perfection." 

The  intimate  frankness  between  the  two  brothers — 
indeed  between  all  three  children — on  religious  subjects 
is  exceedingly  striking,  and  it  would  be  hard  to  realise  a 
present-day  undergraduate  of  eighteen  writing  in  the 
following  strain  to  a  brother  a  year  or  so  his  junior.  The 
letter  refers  to  his  brother's  confirmation,  and  is  dated 
from  Wadham  College,  June  4,  1842  : 

"  Let  me  only  give  you  two  little  pieces  of  advice. 
Often  renew  your  solemn  vow  privately  and  solemnly  ; 
2ind  always  renew  it  by  attending  the  Sacrament  when 
you  can.  You  have  my  prayers  for  you,  and  may  God 
bless  you." 

And  then  again,  in  a  letter  to  his  sister,  dated  Wadham, 
Friday,  February  18,  1842,  he  says  : 


20  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  Tell  Maynard  to  write  a  moral  essay  (if  he  wants  a 
subject)  on  one  of  the  following  theses:  'There  is  no 
such  thing  as  morality  without  religion  ; '  or  '  To  what 
extent  are  the  relative  or  external  duties  of  a  layman 
different  from  those  of  a  clergyman  ?'  or,  in  other  words, 
*  The  difference  of  obligation  in  being  in  the  Church  and 
in  the  ministry  ; '  or  '  On  the  full  extent  and  meaning  of 
"  Idle  words." ' 

"  If  M.  does  not  like  any  of  these  I  will  send  some  more 
next  time." 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  the  feelings  of  a  modern  lad  on 
being  sent  such  a  message  by  his  elder  brother.  But 
with  them  such  things  were  ever  matters  of  the  deepest 
and  closest  interest,  and  show  that  consistency  of  thought 
and  life  to  which  attention  has  already  been  drawn. 

In  February  1842  "Smalls "were  successfully  passed, 
and  in  the  Long  Vacation  of  that  year  Walsham  How  read 
with  Arthur  Hugh  Clough  in  Ireland.  The  following 
extract  from  a  letter  dated  from  Ireland  in  September 
1842  gives  some  idea  of  their  doings  there  : 

"  Our  plans  are  entirely  altered.  Clough's  father  and 
mother  are  going  very  soon  to  America,  and  wish,  of 
course,  to  see  him  before  they  go.  Now,  the  expense  of 
coming  over  here  by  packet  is  very  great,  costing  about 
£^,  and  Clough  does  not  wish  to  come  back  again,  since 
it  would  cause  two  more  journeys.  .  .  .  Our  lodgings 
here  are  up  next  Tuesday  week,  and,  if  Clough  leaves  us 
then,  he  will  just  be  in  time  to  see  his  parents.  ...  I  am 
now  managing  to  read  pretty  steadily,  and  am  getting  on 
well ;  Clough  and  I  have  refused  several  parties,  two  or 
three  balls,  at  strange  houses.  Nevertheless,  to-morrow 
is  the  Regatta  ball,  and  I  shall  go  to  that.     Clough  and  I 


Oxford  21 

took  a  delightful  walk  of  about  six  miles  out  and  six  back 
on  Monday  evening,  along  the  banks  of  the  Carrigoline 
River,  which  is  very  beautiful.  We  walked  through 
Aquiline  Grove,  as  I  call  it — i.e.,  a  fine  wood  where  the 
Pteris  aquilina,  or  common  mountain  fern,  grows  con- 
siderably taller  than  I  am,  and  in  abundance  !  It  is 
exceedingly  beautiful.  C.  [another  member  of  the  party] 
is  exceedingly  fastidious  and  nice  about  food,  diet,  water, 
beds,  &c.,  and  so,  when  he  was  absent  to-day,  Clough, 
with  very  great  difficulty,  drove  a  flock  of  geese  out  of  the 
road  into  his  bedroom  !  They  made  a  terrible  mess. 
What  a  trick  for  a  tutor  !  We  were  obliged,  unfortu- 
nately, to  drive  them  out  again  before  C.  appeared,  or  it 
would  have  been  capital  fun." 

In  this  same  year  he  seems  to  have  won  an  Exhibition 
for  botany,  for,  writing  in  January  1843,  he  says  : 

"  I  had  to  pay  only  £22,  5s.  for  battels  this  morning, 
£2  being  taken  off  for  Goodridge's  Botanical  Exhibition." 

Some  letters  written  during  the  Christmas  vacation 
about  this  same  period  show  that  he  was  ready  to  take 
part  in  every  amusement  and  sport  that  offered  itself. 
He  was  fond  of  dancing,  and  danced  well,  and,  though  he 
did  not  hunt  at  Oxford,  yet  at  home  he  used  to  do  so, 
and,  when  mounted  well,  was  good  across  country  ;  in 
fact,  on  one  occasion  with  the  staghounds  he  kept  a 
leading  position  during  an  exceedingly  long  run,  and  was 
one  of  two  or  three  only  to  be  in  at  the  finish. 

In  after  life,  though  he  never  hunted  or  shot — his  sole 
sport  being  fly-fishing,  in  which  he  was  remarkably  skilful 
— he  was  always  exceedingly  interested  in  his  sons'  doings 
in  the  hunting-field,  mounting  them  on  capital  ponies,  of 


22  Bishop  Walsham  How 

which  he  was  an  excellent  judge,  and  always  wanting  to 
know  on  their  return  all  that  they  had  been  doing. 

During  the  year  1843  he  seems  to  have  seen  a  great 
deal  of  Mr.  Richard  Congreve,  then  a  well-known  tutor 
at  Oxford,  who  afterwards  drifted  into  Positivism,  and  to 
have  been  much  under  his  influence  for  the  next  two 
years,  though  he  was  preserved  from  following  in  his 
footsteps.  Writing  to  his  sister  from  Wadham  about 
December  1843  he  says  : 

"  I  took  a  walk  with  Congreve  the  other  day,  the  first  I 
ever  did,  and  we  had  more  serious  talk  than  I  have  ever 
had  before,  at  least  upon  higher  subjects.     You  remember, 
perhaps,  the  character  that  I  gave  him  in  a  letter  recently^ 
and  how  I  accounted  for  his  apparent  inconsistency.     He 
fully  corroborated  my  opinion  by  his  own  mouth.     He 
told  me  a  great  deal  about  his  ideas  and  opinions  on  the 
nature  of  life,  profession,  the  Church  and  religion.  .  .  . 
That  inner,  higher,  and  pure  life,  which  he  says  should  be 
so  separate  and  unaffected  by  external  things,  seems  to 
be  in  him  especially,  though  few  would  think  it  at  first 
sight.     Yet  still,  I  cannot  but  think  much  he  said  very 
ideal,  or  rather  impracticable,  and  but  one  or  two  in  a 
hundred,  I  should  say,  could  be  found  to  act  up  to  his 
theories  in  any  way.     And  yet  he  and   I  always  quarrel 
about   our  ideas  of   other  men,  I  always   despairing,  he 
hoping,  and  where  he  has  had  such  wonderful  experience 
of  men  I  can  say  but  little.     He  goes  amongst,  and  talks 
to,  rich  and  poor,  man  and  woman,  High  Church  and 
L,ow,  Dissenters  and  Romanists,  infidel  and  Christian,  and 
in  every   case   tries   to  verify,   or   correct,  his    theories, 
and  attain  a  true  knowledge  of  man.     He  intends  soon, 
if  he  can  afford  it,  to  take  a  curacy  for  a  year  in  some 


Oxford  23 

manufacturing  district,  and  see  what  he  can  do  for  infi- 
dehty  there." 

In  the  Long  Vacation  of  this  year  he  accompanied  Mr. 
Congreve  to  Dresden  to  read  under  him  there,  and  after 
that  there  is  Httle  to  record  till  the  Long  Vacation  of  the 
following  year,  when  he  spent  some  time  with  a  reading 
party  at  Talyllyn  in  North  Wales.  Of  this  party  he  was 
made  a  sort  of  chief,  and  laid  down  strict  rules  for  attend- 
ance at  family  prayers,  punctuality,  &c.  His  brother 
joined  them  there,  and  that  the  time  was  very  happily 
spent  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  in  after  life  Walsham  How 
frequently  alluded  to  this  special  summer,  and  used  to  tell 
how  they  raced  up  the  mountain  side  to  see  the  sun  set 
over  again,  and  narrated  many  other  small  incidents 
which  impressed  themselves  on  his  memory. 

His  well-known  fondness  for  amusing  stories  begins  to 
show  itself  about  now,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  at  Wadham 
he  joined  in  other  than  "  reading  "  parties.  Thus,  in  a 
letter  written  about  December  1844,  he  says  : 

"  A  Merton  man  was  told  at  dinner  one  day  that  he 
'ought  to  leave  off  hungry,'  and  he  said  he  would  as 
soon  wash  his  face  and  leave  off  dirty  !  A  man  in  the 
schools  this  time  was  asked  what  works  the  Jews  were 
allowed  to  do  on  the  Sabbath,  and  answered  *  Works  of 
supererogation '  !  Several  of  us  went  and  made  hay  in 
Simcoe's  rooms  to-day,  wheeling  his  bookshelves  round 
with  their  faces  to  the  wall,  turning  all  the  tables  and 
chairs  with  their  legs  up,  &c.  &c.,  and  when  I  came  in  I 
found  all  mine  done  too ;  every  book  turned  in  the 
shelves  with  its  back  to  the  wall,  and  my  desk  on  the  top 
of  one  bookcase  and  my  coat  on  another  ! " 


24  Bishop  Walsham  How 

In  the  following  year  his  final  schools  were  drawing 
near,  and  were  causing  him  much  anxiety.  When  he  first 
went  up  to  Oxford  he  had  an  idea  of  reading  for  double 
honours,  but  soon  discarded  mathematics.  He  was  no 
doubt  quick  at  grasping  any  subject  before  him,  and  his 
excellence  in  composition,  coupled  with  the  power,  which 
he  always  possessed,  of  stating  things  simply  and  clearly 
in  writing,  encouraged  his  tutors,  and  notably  Mr. 
Congreve,  to  hope  for  a  fairly  good  class  for  him.  But 
he  was  probably  too  young,  and  had  also  occupied  him- 
self in  too  great  a  variety  of  subjects,  to  do  justice  to  his 
powers.  One  Sunday  afternoon,  early  in  1845,  he  sat 
down  and  wrote  to  his  sister  the  following  lament : 

"Congreve's  note  surprised  me,  as  he  never  told  me 
more  than  that  I  had  a  decent  chance  of  a  second,  and 
ought  not  to  look  higher.  I  thought  he  meant  that  I  never 
should  be  able  to  do  more  ;  but  I  hope,  as  his  opinion  is 
so  flattering,  that  my  'growth'  wont  stop  with  the  schools, 
though  I  know  his  estimation  of  men  is  always  inclined  to 
be  sanguine.  Henderson  never  lets  out  a  word  of  what  he 
thinks  about  his  pupils,  so  his  opinion  was  news.  It  is 
gratifying  to  be  well  thought  of,  though  I  don't  think  it 
much  alters  my  estimation  of  myself,  which  is  pretty  well 
settled  by  this  time,  and  doubtless  at  far  too  high  a 
value.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  just  the  end  of  term  !  Only  fancy  !  Collections 
begin  this  week !  I  must  work.  There  I  hear  of  Riddell 
working  himself  to  death,  reading  all  day,  and  seeing  no 
one  ;  while  he  has  read  very  hard  ever  since  he  has  been 
up  ;  and  other  men  doing  their  ten  hours' — one  even  six- 
teen hours' — reading  a  day.  Only  fancy  !  I  seldom  get 
above  eight !    I  luitst  work !    Oh  !  those  horrid  schools !    I 


Oxford  25 

take  plenty  of  exercise — i.e.,  two  hours  a  day,  go  to  bed 
about  twelve,  live  very  moderately,  and  don't  think  reading 
would  hurt  me,  do  its  worst  !  And  then  I  find  I  can't.  I 
have  not  the  power  of  working  very  hard.  Working  can't 
hurt  me,  but  I  can't  work ;  while  men,  who  always  get 
headaches  and  pains  and  biliousness  by  reading,  can  stick 
to  it  like  wax,  and  do  nearly  twice  as  much  in  the  day  as  I 
can.  Oh,  for  that  application  !  If  one  could  but  read 
two  hours  together  without  raising  one's  eyes  or  taking  off 
one's  thoughts,  and  then  begin  again  and  do  two  hours 
more  !  Never  mind.  I  must  make  the  best  of  a  bad  job, 
and  be  thankful  for  health." 

It  may  be  an  encouragement  to  others  who  suflfer  from 
this  same  difficulty  to  know  how  completely  it  was  after- 
wards overcome  by  him,  so  that  in  after  years  he  was  able 
to  do  many  hours'  consecutive  hard  work  on  his  writings. 
His  diaries  of  the  years  between  1863  and  1868  speak  of 
many  a  "  good^morning's  work  on  Commentary  "  (S.P.C.K. 
"  Commentary  on  the  Four  Gospels "),  and  there  are 
numerous  other  records  of  a  power  of  application  to  one 
subject  for  hours  together  acquired  by  perseverance  in  his 
after  life. 

His  fears  as  to  the  result  of  the  final  schools  were 
amply  justified.  During  the  examination  a  brief  line  sent 
home  says ; 

"  I  have  just  come  out  from  the  science  paper,  and  have 
been  completely  nonplussed  by  it.  I  expected  to  do  it 
and  logic  best,  and  all  my  hopes  are  gone.  I  believe  I 
could  not  have  made  a  more  decided  failure  in  it.  I  feel 
sure  that  I  have  lost  all  chance  of  a  second." 

This  foreboding  proved  correct,  for,  on  the  list  being 
published,   his  name  appeared  in    the   third   class.      His 


26  Bishop  Walsham  How 

testamur  for  this  examination  is  dated  May  5,  1845,  and 
the  first  of  the  signatures  of  the  examiners  is  that  of 
H.  G.  Liddell,  for  so  many  years  afterwards  Dean  of 
Christ  Church. 

His  letter  to  his  sister  on  the  subject  has  been  preserved 
and  in  it  he  says  : 

"  So  it  is  all  over  now,  and  the  class  list  has  sealed  my 
certain  conviction.  I  suppose  it  affected  me  much  less 
than  most  who  were  disappointed,  from  that  very  previous- 
certainty,  but  altogether  the  whole  affair  is  very  disappoint- 
ing to  look  back  upon.  I  fancy  there  were  not  above  two 
or  three  at  the  most  who  did  unexpectedly  well,  Jacobs,, 
a  first,  being  one.  A  considerable  majority  were  below 
their  expectation.  Such  a  number  as  fourteen  gulfs  was- 
never  before  heard  of :  there  are  generally  five  or  six. 
Relatively  to  others,  what  annoys  me  alone  in  the  list  is 
Williams'  second.  I  am  very  glad  Riddell  was  not  dis- 
appointed. I  put  on  my  Bachelor's  gown  yesterday,  and 
took  my  degree  as  a  '  petty  compounder,'  because  I  had 
more  than  ;^5  per  annum  income,  but  less  than  j^soo." 

He  was  now  only  one  and  twenty  years  old,  so  that 
it  was  impossible  for  him  to  be  ordained  for  some  time 
He  therefore  determined  to  go  to  Durham  for  the  theo- 
logical course  there,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  October 
for  that  purpose.  Meantime,  after  the  work  and  anxiety 
of  his  examination,  he  took  a  long  holiday,  proceeding  first 
of  all  to  Belgium  and  Germany  with  his  father  and  other 
members  of  his  family,  and  then  paying  Mr.  Congreve  a. 
visit  at  Rugby.  Finally,  immediately  before  entering  at 
Durham,  he  went  with  his  brother  for  a  tour  in  Cumber- 
land, a  county  full  of  happy  recollections  of  their  boyhood,. 


Oxford  27 

for  at  Workington,  and  at  Isell  Hall  and  Vicarage,  several 
of  their  holidays  had  been  spent. 

There  is  very  little  to  record  of  the  quiet  year  now  spent 
in  going  through  the  theological  course,  but  it  is  interest- 
ing to  note  that  (though  it  was  not  until  afterwards,  when 
curate  of  Kidderminster,  that  he  became  intimate  with  the 
Douglas  family,  the  eldest  daughter  in  which  he  married), 
his  future  father-in-law  was  Canon  of  Durham  at  this  time. 
There  is  just  one  little  bit  of  testimony  which  bears  upon 
this  period,  contained  in  a  letter  from  the  present 
Bishop  of  Aberdeen  to  Canon  Douglas  of  Salwarpe,  dated 
"Feast  of  St.  Stephen,  1897."  He  says,  speaking  of 
Walsham  How,  "  Ever  since  I  first  met  him,  when  he  was 
reading  Divinity  at  Durham,  he  has  been  a  great  help  to 
me.  At  Durham,  though  he  was  reading  Divinity,  and  I 
was  only  a  '  freshman,'  I  felt  his  influence  for  good, 
and  he  gave  a  distinctly  higher  tone  to  the  college  life  of 
his  year." 

He  proceeded  to  an  ad  eundem  degree  at  Durham,  but 
meantime  was  anxiously  engaged  in  considering  what 
curacy  he  might  obtain.  With  a  family  so  closely  united 
in  affection  it  was  only  natural  that  there  should  have  been 
some  wish  that  he  might  find  work  in  Shrewsbury,  but  to 
this  course  he  was  clearly  opposed,  as  is  evident  from  the 
following  letter  to  his  sister  written  from  Durham  in  1846. 

"  I  wish  the  subject  of  the  curacy  was  settled.  I  must 
confess  the  proposal  of  staying  at  home  for  the  first  year 
has  rather  damped  the  (perhaps  rather  exaggerated)  ardour 
with  which  I  looked  forward  to  entering  upon  my  clerical 
duties.  I  should  begin  with  very  different  feelings  there 
and  the  considerations  of  being  of  use  at  home,  and  in  no 
httle  degree  the  prospect  of  your  society,  would  in  some 


28  Bishop  Walsham  How 

measure  usurp  the  place  of  the  thoughts  of  active  employ- 
ment and  deep  interest  with  which  I  had  invested  the 
duties  before  me.  It  would  be  altogether  a  different  thing 
to  me  ;  but  I  won't  say  any  more  about  it  to-day,  for  I 
think  perhaps  my  feelings  are  stronger,  now  it  is  new  to 
me,  than  they  will  be  in  a  short  time. 

"  L.,  the  curate  of  St.  Margaret's  here,  to  whom  I  took 
my  situation,  said,  though  he  thought  it  would  be  only  from 
a  strong  sense  of  duty  that  he  would  live  at  home  as  curate 
at  first,  yet,  if  a  man  could  resist  all  petty  inducements  to 
idleness,  and  could  so  far  command  himself  as  to  make  any 
change  in  his  mode  of  life,  which  he  might  feel  it  his  duty 
to  make  before  those  who  have  known  him  intimately,  it 
would  be  the  best  training  possible  for  his  character  : 
yet  he  did  not  think  he  could  do  all  this.  Let  us  wait  and 
see  about  Mr.  Claughton  at  any  rate  first.  I  wish  I  knew 
of  any  good  way  of  applying  to  him." 

Fortunately  some  way  was  found,  and  it  was  speedily 
arranged  that  Walsham  How  should  join  the  band  of 
curates  at  Kidderminster  under  the  Rev.  T.  L.  Claughton, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  St.  Albans — a  decision  of  the 
greatest  importance  in  influencmg  his  future  life,  for  he 
shared  to  the  full  the  allegiance  felt  by  all  Kidderminster 
curates  to  their  vicar,  of  whom  (when  Bishop  of 
Rochester)  he  said  in  the  great  speech  he  delivered  at 
the  Wolverhampton  Congress  of  1867:  "One  thing  I 
know — that  none  of  his  old  curates  (and  I  thank  God  I 
am  one)  have  any  ambition  to  be  other  than  he." 


CHAPTER   III 

KIDDERMINSTER 

It  having  been  settled  that  Walsham  How  should  pro- 
ceed to  a  curacy  at  St.  George's,  Kidderminster,  he  went 
to  stay  at  the  Star  and  Garter  in  Worcester  for  the 
examination  for  deacon's  orders,  an  ordeal  which  im- 
mediately preceded  the  ordination,  and  did  not,  as  in 
well-ordered  dioceses  at  the  present  day,  take  place  some 
weeks  before,  so  that  candidates  may  have  their  minds, 
free  from  anxiety  as  to  the  result  of  the  examination  at 
such  a  solemn  time.  It  does  not  appear  either  that  in 
other  ways  things  were  managed  as  they  are  now,  for^ 
writing  to  his  brother  from  there,  he  says  : 

"  Two  days  of  the  examination  are  now  over ;  six 
men's  names  were  given  out  as  having  done  best  in  the 
first  day's  papers,  mine  not  being  among  them.  I  rather 
expected  to  hear  mine,  I  confess,  but  I  hope  there  is  a 
very  good  set  of  men  this  time.  All  things  are  done  in 
a  very  indecorous,  off-hand,  careless  way,  and  they  say 
the  ordination  is  too.  •  •  . 

"A  very,  very  little  distracts  my  thoughts,  and  un- 
nerves me  for  my  duty.  What  could  we  do  without 
externals,  without  forms  and  rules  and  observances  ? 
If  there  are  many  like  me,  as  I  fancy  there  must  be,  we 
should  get  on  badly  without  them." 


30  Bishop  Walsham  How 

On  December  20,  1846,  he  was  duly  ordained  deacon, 
and  licensed  to  the  curacy  of  St.  George's,  Kidder- 
minster, exactly  one  week  after  his  twenty-third  birthday. 
He  went  straight  to  his  work,  and  one  can  picture  the 
"  cheerful,  earnest  young  fellow,"  as  he  is  described  by 
one  who  knew  him  there,  going  on  Friday  evenings  at 
six  o'clock,  before  evening  service,  to  the  vestry,  with  the 
rest  of  Mr.  Claughton's  large  staff  of  curates,  to  receive 
his  first  instructions  as  to  the  duties  and  responsibilities 
of  parish  work.  One  of  the  duties  in  which  he  was 
quickly  engaged,  and  in  which  he  was  singularly  success- 
ful, was  the  getting  together  and  instructing  a  large  class 
of  youths,  and,  though  it  is  now  half  a  century  ago,  there 
still  linger  in  Kidderminster  some  grey-headed  men  who 
attended  this  class,  and  who  say  of  him  that  he  had  a 
happy  knack  of  attracting  to  him  almost  every  young 
fellow  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  Quite  recently 
one  of  this  class  came  and  spoke  to  him  in  Wakefield, 
and  many  were  the  questions  asked  by  the  Bishop  after 
others  who  were  still  remembered  by  name,  and  with 
affectionate  recollection. 

In  connection  with  this  side  of  his  work,  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  he  was  instrumental  in  helping  to  found 
a  Mutual  Improvement  Society  in  Kidderminster,  which 
in  latter  days  has  developed  into  the  Workmen's  Club 
and  Institute,  one  of  the  most  successful  institutions  of 
its  kind  in  the  country.  His  portrait  is  still  to  be  seen  in 
the  club  album,  with  those  of  the  late  Lord  Lyttelton, 
Dean  Boyle,  and  many  others  of  its  early  patrons. 

He  had  not  been  many  months  at  Kidderminster 
before  he  longed  to  pay  a  visit  to  his  home,  which 
was  now  at  Nearvvell.  This  is  the  subject  of  the 
following  letter  to  his  sister,  and  many  who  knew  him 


Kidderminster  31 

well  will  recognise  the  allusion  to  the  "cuckoo,"  for  it 
was  a  favourite  habit  of  his  to  signal  to  those  at  a 
distance,  or  to  amuse  little  children,  by  imitating  the 
sound  of  a  cuckoo  with  his  hands  before  his  mouth. 

"Kidderminster,  Feb.  8,  1847. 

"Dearest  Minny, 

"If  I  had  not  to  preach  on  Wednesday,  I  am  not 
altogether  sure  that  you  might  not  have  been  rather 
startled  at  hearing  the  cuckoo  outside  the  window  at  tea- 
time  this  evening.  I  had  vanity  enough  to  think  what 
fun  it  would  be  to  get  off  the  coach,  run  up  and  listen  in 
the  verandah,  and  hear  one  of  you  say,  '  I  wonder  what 
Walsham's  doing  about  this  time  ? '  Wouldn't  I  have 
made  you  jump  !  How  often  have  I  run  up  and  down 
the  almanack  with  a  sort  of  hope  that  some  spare  week 
had  appeared  in  it  since  I  last  looked,  and  turned  again 
sadly  to  my  sermon,  saying  :  '  No,  there's  no  day  till 
Easter  Monday,'  and  then  perhaps  old  Maynard  and  I 
may  pop  in  together — who  knows  ? 

"  My  mother  says  she  should  like  to  look  in  upon  me 
sometimes.  I  think  she  would  be  amused  to  see  me 
sitting  at  dinner  by  myself,  with  a  black  cat  on  the  table 
close  to  the  side  of  my  plate.  It  is  a  most  unsnubbable 
cat.  It  likes  anything  you  do  to  punish  it,  and  seems  just 
as  happy  and  purrs  as  loud,  whether  you  put  it  in  the 
coal-box,  or  rub  its  fur  the  wrong  way,  or  step  on  it 
when  asleep,  or  anything.  The  worst  of  it  is  that  it 
sometimes  takes  a  running  jump  at  you  from  a  great 
distance,  and  sticks  its  claws  very  tight  in  to  keep  itself 
up.  It  often  goes  and  gives  its  own  shadow  on  the  wall 
a  reproving  pat  with  its  paw,  and  pursues  its  own  tail 
with  the  excited  pirouettes  of  a  dancing  dervish. 


32  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

"  You  have  no  idea  what  funny  little  fellows  we  have 
in  the  school.  They  look  so  fat  and  wise  and  solemn  it 
always  makes  me  laugh  to  look  at  them.  And  they  have 
such  funny  dresses,  too.  One  very  little  chap  comes, 
with  his  hair  combed  smooth  down,  in  the  cape  of  his 
father's  great  coat,  which  makes  him  look  like  a  fat  sugar 
loaf  in  its  dark  blue  paper.  Yesterday  I  made  a  bold 
incursion  into  the  girls'  Sunday  School,  and  heartily 
repented  it,  for  all  the  lady  teachers,  who  were  strangers 
to  me,  rose  up  and  delivered  the  head  class  into  my 
hands  to  teach.  Several  of  them  are  girls  about  your 
age,  and  many  grown  up,  and  they  were  shy  and  giggled, 
and  wouldn't  answer,  and  even  laughed  at  my  beginning 
at  the  wrong  end  of  the  class,  or  something  of  that  sort. 
I  think  I  must  leave  that  department  in  senior  and  graver 
hands,  or  at  least  go  for  some  time  at  first  under  their 
protection.  It  is  horrid  to  be  stuck  on  a  stool  in  the 
centre  of  twenty  big  girls,  drest  in  their  Sunday  best,  who 
laugh  when  you  ask  them  a  question." 

The  very  next  day  he  writes  again  to  his  sister,  and  this 
time  on  more  serious  subjects.  It  will  be  seen  from  this 
letter  how  he  grasped  at  once  the  secret  of  preaching, 
and  from  the  very  first  endeavoured  after  that  simple 
lucidity  which  marked  his  sermons  throughout  his  life. 

"  Kidderminster,  Feb.  9,  1847. 
"My  aim  and  object  [speaking  of  his  sermons]  is 
just  to  hit  the  nail  on  the  head,  to  make  as  plain  as 
possible  the  subject  I  have  chosen,  and  keep  as  well  as 
possible  out  of  all  others.  .  ,  ,  I  am  quite  of  my  mother's 
opinion  about  descending  low  to  meet  the  common 
understanding  of  people,  especially  the  poor.  Ideas  that 
seem  almost  wearisome  to  us  from  their   commonness 


Kidderminster  33 

must  be  put  into  our  sermons,  for  the  people  will  not 
supply  in  their  minds  what  we  omit  as  a  matter  of 
course.  Dr.  Jenkyns  told  us  that  St.  Chrysostom,  speak- 
ing of  plain  language  in  sermons,  said  he  would  rather 
use  a  wooden  than  a  golden  key  if  it  better  fitted  the 
lock." 

Very  early  in  this  same  year — in  fact,  only  a  month 
after  his  ordination,  he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  his  brother 
on  the  observance  of  Friday.  As  the  views  expressed  in 
it  are  exactly  what  he  held  all  through  his  life,  it  will  be 
well  to  quote  it,  especially  as  it  affords  yet  one  more 
instance  of  the  early  adoption  of  views  never  to  be 
changed.  Writing  from  Kidderminster,  January  22,  1847, 
he  says  : 

"  The  chief  point  to  be  answered  is  about  the  observ- 
ance of  Friday,  a  subject  so  delicate  and  difficult  to  speak 
about  that  it  had  better  perhaps  be  indirectly.  The  diffi- 
culty of  it  lies  in  its  being  so  completely  personal,  and  in 
speaking  of  it  you  must  unveil  things  in  your  own 
practice,  which,  according  to  the  Bible,  had  better  be 
left  in  secret.  But  I  am  certain  in  one's  own  family, 
when  an  occasion  of  this  sort  is  given,  it  is  one's  duty  to 
speak  out.  My  mother  suggests  that  not  going  out  to 
dinner  on  Friday  may  be  to  make  us  better  prepared  for 
our  Sunday  duties.  She  is  right  so  far  as  Sunday  duties 
are  only  a  part  of  all  duties,  its  object  being  simply  to 
make  one  better.  There  is  no  lecture  or  service  here  on 
Friday  evening,  beyond  the  daily  afternoon  prayers. 
But  there  is  such  a  thing  as  the  duty  of  fasting.  No  one 
can  possibly  deny  this  who  reads  Matt.  vi.  16-18,  Mark 
ii.  20, 1  Cor.  vii.  5,  2  Cor.  vi.  5,  xi.  27.  Besides  these  more 
positive  passages  we  have  the  practice  of  the  Apostles  and 


34  Bishop  Walsham  How 

the  early  Church  recorded  in  the  Acts ;  and,  to  crown 
all,  the  great  fast  of  our  Blessed  Saviour  Himself,  which 
is  the  more  instructive  if  considered  as  immediately  pre- 
ceding His  Temptation.  It  is  to  my  mind  as  plain  a 
duty  as  anything  else,  and  has  always  appeared  so.  I  do 
not  think  I  ever  once  had  a  doubt  about  it.  Next,  as  to 
its  nature  :  the  above  passages  show  that  it  is  utterly 
different  to  general  self-denial ;  that,  in  short,  it  is  a 
particular  self-denial  in  the  matter  of  eating  and  drinking 
at  particular  times.  Each  person  must  judge  for  them- 
selves what  is  really  imposing  a  restraint  upon  them 
without  any  detriment  to  health.  If  there  are  particular 
seasons  for  fasting,  when  are  they  ?  If  we  knew  nothing 
beforehand,  should  we  not  readily  decide  that  of  all  days 
the  day  on  which  Christ  suffered  the  extreme  of  His 
Passion,  the  day  of  His  death,  was  the  most  appropriate  ? 
The  Church  of  England  has  in  a  table  at  the  end  of  the 
Calendar  in  the  Prayer  Book  pointed  out  particular 
times.  .  .  , 

"...  I  have  earnestly  wished  that  Friday  were 
properly  observed  as  a  day  of  mourning,  as  Sunday  is  of 
rejoicing  and  happiness  (both  being  necessary  to  man's 
soul).  At  Oxford  and  Durham  I  seldom  forgot  the  day 
altogether,  and  though  I  do  not  pretend  to  have  done  my 
duty  in  this  point  in  any  degree,  yet  I  always  found  that, 
when  in  the  best  and  most  serious  state,  I  observed 
Friday  most.  And  I  state  most  earnestly  that  it  is  a  good 
thing  to  do  so.  Yet  we  must  observe  most  carefully  the 
directions  given  by  Christ  Himself.  It  must  be  to  our- 
selves, and  as  much  as  possible  unobserved.  We  must 
never  (if  possible)  speak  of  it,  except  when  it  requires 
vindicating  or  impressing.  ...  If  people  would  but 
believe  the  words  and  experience  of  our  best  and  wisest 


Kidderminster  35 

men,  of  the  saints  of  our  Church,  such  as  Jeremy  Taylor 
and  Bishop  Andrewes,  and  numberless  others,  they  would 
not  neglect  fasting  so  much  as  they  do." 

Two  or  three  letters,  undated,  but  written  just  about 
this  time,  tell  how  intensely  happy  he  was  in  his  life  at 
Kidderminster,  and  how  warmly  he  appreciated  his  vicar 
and  his  fellow  curates ;  thus,  writing  to  his  sister,  he 
says  : 

"  I  see  Government  promise  the  three  new  bishops,  that 
were  so  much  talked  of,  as  soon  as  they  have  money.  I 
do  hope  Lord  John  won't  have  the  appointment.  As  long 
as  they  keep  making  bishoprics  rewards  for  old  dons  and 
clever  writers  and  schoolmasters,  what  can  they  expect  of 
the  Church  ?  .  .  .  A  woman  told  me  yesterday  that  the 
vicar  and  Mrs.  Claughton  had  called  upon  her  and 
*  behaved  very  pretty.'     Please  write  soon. 

"  Your  very  affectionate  brother, 
"Wm.  walsham  how." 

And  soon  after  : 

"  I  like  all  the  curates  better  the  more  I  see  of  them. 
Whateley,  Douglas,  Kewley  and  Tate,  are  four  you  might 
pick  out  of  all  England  as  fellow-workers,  and  good  and 
pleasant  friends ;  and  I  am  sure  if  Carlyle  knew  Claughton, 
and  thought  as  we  all  do,  he  would  write  a  new  chapter 
in  his  '  Hero-Worship  '  on  the  '  Hero-Vicar.' " 

Then  to  his  brother  he  writes  : 

"Douglas  is  a  really  delightful  fellow.  How  extra- 
ordinarily fortunate  we  are  !  We  unquestionably  are  a 
very  pleasant  set  of  fellows.     If  ...  is  another,  I  shall 


36  Bishop  Walsham  How 

consider  it  a  law  of  nature  that  Kidderminster  curates 
must  be  nice." 

The  intensity  of  his  devotion  to  and  affection  for  his 
vicar  comes  out  strongly  in  an  unpublished  poem  called 
"A  Day's  Influence,"  of  which  the  Rev.  T.  L.  Claughton 
is  the  subject.  The  poem  was  written  many  years  after 
leaving  Kidderminster,  and  thus  records  the  lasting 
influence  of  the  place  upon  his  mind  : 

"  At  morn  I  saw  a  well-remembered  scene, 
Lov'd  well,  and  safely  stored,  long  years  ago  ; 
Black  fir-trees  framing  all  the  burnish'd  mist 
That  drap'd  the  hollow  of  the  sloping  town. 
The  high  church-tower,  upshooting,  sunny,  clear, 
And  gleaming  uplands  softly  fair  beyond ; 
But  not  in  lustrous  day-dreams  lay  the  spell. 

At  night  I  saw  God's  host,  the  angel-stars, 
Marching  their  awful  march  through  infinite  space, 
Serenely  pure,  divinely  beautiful ; 
But  not  in  glorious  starlight  lay  the  power. 

For  he  was  there,  who  of  all  men  the  most 

Swayeth  my  inmost  heart  with  love  and  power. 

Shall  painter  teach  to  stranger  eyes  the  smile 

That  draweth  sweetness  from  its  varyings  ? 

And  shall  I  with  rude  handling  and  dead  words 

Mar  the  soft  spell,  rending  the  delicate  flower. 

To  scan  the  secret  of  its  loveliness  ? 

Yet  this  much  known,  that  as  the  wavering  maze 

Of  tender  sunlight  under  vernal  woods 

Fills  all  the  soul  with  love,  so  love  is  born 

From  all  his  gentle  moods  of  graceful  mirth  ; 

And  from  his  graven  thoughts  upsprings  such'power 

As  silence  breathes  beneath  the  vivid  stars. 

About  this  time  Walsham  How  saw  something  of  the 
family  of  W.  W.  Douglas,  his  fellow  curate,  and  must  have 


Kidderminster  37 

been  making  up  his  mind  that  the  eldest  Miss  Douglas 
should,  if  possible,  be  his  wife.  The  special  mention  of 
"  Douglas,"  whenever  writing  about  his  fellow  curates, 
seems  to  foreshadow  this,  and  a  letter  written  after  being 
best  man  at  Mr.  Tate's  wedding  may  have  been  meant  in 
a  subtle  manner  to  prepare  the  minds  of  those  at  home 
for  what  was  coming  in  the  near  future.  Writing  to  his 
brother  on  June  21,  1848,  he  says  : 

"  We  had  a  great  dispute  at  dinner  on  Monday  as  to  the 
bridegroom's  man's  office,  which  one  person  contended 
was  to  carry  the  ring  ;  but  I  believe  that  my  idea  was 
generally  voted  a  sounder  view  of  the  matter,  namely, 
that  he  and  the  bridesmaids  were  as  seconds  in  a  duel, 
and  that  if  anything  happened  to  the  principals  they  were 
bound  to  have  it  out.  I  do  think  it  an  iniquitous  piece 
of  gynocracy  that  there  should  be  eight  bridesmaids  to 
one  bridegroom's  man  !  ,  .  .  I  am  sure  I  congratulated 
old  Tate  most  heartily,  for  I  had  no  notion  before 
how  much  the  wedding  of  a  friend  makes  one  feel.  I 
don't  know  how  I  should  hold  out  if  you  or  Minny 
did  such  a  horrid  thing,  and,  as  for  myself,  the  very 
thought  of  being  in  such  a  ticklish  position  quite 
frightens  me  ! " 

Not  so  very  long  after  this — probably  in  the  autumn  of 
this  year — matters  had  evidently  advanced  a  good  deal, 
for  we  get  in  the  following  letter  a  clear  intimation  that 
his  hopes  were  known  at  all  events  to  his  brother  : 

"  I  rode  over  to  Worcester  (for  the  Festival)  after 
breakfast,  got  my  ticket,  and  went  to  the  cathedral.  As 
long  as  very  few  people  were  there,  the  behaviour  was 


38  Bishop  Walsham  How 

reverent  enough,  but  I  confess  after  a  while  it  became  far 
more  hke  a  concert-room  than  a  cathedral,  and  I  am 
sorry  to  say  the  bishop's  party,  who  came  early,  did  their 
best,  by  talking  and  laughing,  to  make  it  so.  .  .  . 

"  Mr.  Douglas  (as  I  had  fully  intended  before  I  started) 
asked  me  to  go  round  by  Salwarpe,  which  is  not  much 
out  of  the  road  between  here  and  Worcester,  to  dinner, 
so  I  rode  with  his  carriage,  and  spent  a  very  pleasant 
evening  there,  renewing  my  acquaintance  with  lots  of 
little  Douglads,  who  used  to  fight  me  when  I  met  them 
out  walking  at  Durham.  There  appeared  to  be  dozens  to 
come  into  dessert,  and  dozens  who  appeared  in  the 
drawing-room  afterwards,  too  old  for  dessert  and  not  old 
enough  for  dinner,  besides  lots  of  babies  too  young  for 
either,  and  the  four  eldest  who  dined  with  us.  I  never 
encountered  such  a  houseful  in  my  life ;  but  after  all 
there  were  only  eighteen  children  and  a  Swiss  governess, 
besides  a  gentleman  and  lady  and  their  daughter  who  were 
staying  there,  and  another  stray  lady  ditto.  Of  course  I 
took  Miss  Douglas  in  to  dinner." 

All  this  time  the  controversy  about  the  Tractarian 
movement  was  raging,  but  Walsham  How  had  found  a 
safe  shelter  and  sure  guidance  with  Mr.  Claughton. 
Yet  the  ripples  of  the  storm  were  felt  even  there,  and 
some  lines  written  by  Mr.  Baptist  Noel  "  To  a  Youthful 
Anglo-Catholic,"  and  published  in  the  Guardian,  drew 
from  him  a  letter  couched  in  language  perhaps  the 
strongest  and  most  indignant  that  he  ever  used.  Here 
it  is  : 

"  Have  you  read  Mr.  Baptist  Noel's  rhymes  in  the 
Guardian  f  I  laughed  at  it  at  first,  and  wrote  to  Maynard 
under  the  impression  that  it  was  extremely  ludicrous,  but, 


Kidderminster  39 

since  reading  over  the  '  Lines  to  a  Young  Anglo-Catholic  ' 
again,  my  feelings  have  changed  very  much.  I  can  hardly 
conceive  anything  so  horrible  being  believed,  much  less 
expressed.  They  would  be  utterly  monstrous  in  the 
mouth  of  a  most  bigoted  Papist,  who  believes  in  our 
everlasting  death  as  a  certainty  ;  they  would  disgrace  a 
Mohammedan,  and  coming  from  a  professing  Christian 
they  make  one  shudder.  Read  them  line  by  line  and 
think  of  their  meaning,  and  ask  yourself  if  you  ever  saw 
in  print  anything  so  fearful,  so  almost  Satanic.  My  first 
thought  when  I  read  them  carefully  last  night  was,  *  His 
delight  was  in  cursing  and  it  shall  happen  unto  him  :  he 
loved  not  blessing  and  it  shall  be  far  from  him.'  My 
next,  *  That  it  may  please  Thee  to  forgive  our  slanderers, 
and  to  turn  their  hearts,'  not  that  I  identify  myself  in 
any  way  with  the  party  he  attacks  ;  but  if  there  be  a  love 
of  the  Cross,  and  a  voluntary  taking  it  up  day  by  day,  if 
there  be  an  ardent  and  over-strained  searching  after  truth, 
if  there  be  hours  and  hours  of  earnest  absorbing  prayer, 
if  there  be  a  quiet  hope,  and  looking  for  a  better  country, 
it  is  to  be  found  in  that  party,  whose  errors  arise  rather 
out  of  an  over-heated  imagination,  a  too  engrossing  earnest- 
ness, and  a  too  great  concentration  of  the  thoughts  on 
certain  ideas,  which  at  last  warps  the  mental  powers.  If 
any  man  is  sincere,  and  has  his  heart  brimful,  it  is  the 
Anglo-Catholic.  I  believe  the  party  thus  designated  to 
be  in  great  error,  but  where  is  the  slighting  of  the  Cross? 
Where  is  the  shrinking  from  the  light  ?  Where  is  the 
hate  of  Dissenters  ?  Where  are  the  heartless  prayers? 
Let  him  talk  of  *  heated  brain,'  '  fervent  fancies,'  *  false 
dreams  of  unity,'  '  erring  notions  of  the  old,'  &c.,  if  he 
likes.  But  this  is  not  the  worst  part.  God  forgive  the 
man  that  could  write  the  line  *  By  the  heaven  thou  canst 


40  Bishop  Walsham  How 

not  gain.'     What  is  all  this  but,  in  the  words  of  David, 
'  cursing  and  lies '  ?  "  * 

But  the  happy  Kidderminster  days  were  soon  to  end, 
and  his  share  in  the  services  there,  which  he  describes  as 
the  most  enjoyable  he  had  ever  known,  to  cease.  There 
was  some  idea  of  his  leaving  to  undertake  the  curacy 
of  the  Abbey  Church  at  Shrewsbury,  but  for  a  time  this 
was  put  aside.  Writing  from  Kidderminster  to  his  sister 
he  says  : 

"  I  thought  of  going  into  several  of  the  points  you  speak 
of,  but  really  I  am  so  glad  to  get  the  matter  off  my  mind 
that  I  will  only  say  shortly  that  I  should  not  have  let  the 
particular  objections  you  have  dwelt  upon  weigh  with 
me  at  all,  had  I  thought  it  right  on  wider  grounds  to 
accept  the  Abbey.  I  think  it  is  not  so  hard  to  see  what 
the  vicar  means  by  urging  that  /  am  placed  here.  A 
change  is  always  accompanied  by  so  much  evil  to  the 
people,  as  well  as  unsettlement  to  oneself,  that  I  do  not 
think  one  has  a  right  to  accept  a  more  desirable  curacy, 
merely  because  it  is  so." 

But  an  event  occurred  to  alter  his  determination.  In 
the  autumn  of  1848  his  stepmother  died,  and  he  resolved 
to  go  and  live  at  home  to  be  a  comfort  to  his  father  and 
sister.  He  at  first  volunteered  to  assist  the  curate  in  charge 
of  the  parish  of  Holy  Cross  (The  Abbey),  Shrewsbury, 
which  then  included  what  is  now  the  separate  parish  of 

*  The  lines  referred  to  included  the  following  verse  : 

/•  By  the  prayer  in  which  thy  heart 
Ne'er  consents  to  take  a  part : 
By  the  heaven  thou  canst  not  gain  ; 
By  the  hell  of  endless  pain  : 
Turn  thee  from  thy  follies  quick, 
Youthful  Anglo-Catholic !  " 


Kidderminster  41 

St.  Giles',  but,  on  this  gentleman  shortly  leaving,  he  was 
appointed  to  the  curacy,  living  at  Nearwell,  his  father's 
house  in  the  parish. 

Application  had,  however,  to  be  made  to  the  bishop 
for  permission  to  leave  his  curacy,  for  he  had  not  con- 
cluded the  usual  two  years,  so  that  he  writes  : 

"  I  took  occasion  to  speak  to  the  bishop  in  the  vestry 
about  resigning  my  present  curacy,  and  he  said  certainly 
I  might,  as  soon  as  I  could  do  so  without  inconvenience 
to  the  vicar.  I  visited  several  poor  people  yesterday 
evening.  They  all  know  I  am  going  to  leave,  and  quite 
pain  me  by  their  kindness." 

It  should  be  mentioned  here  that  on  December  19, 
1847,  he  was  duly  ordained  priest  at  Worcester,  so  that  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  on  August  10, 1897, 
he  had  completed  his  fifty  years  since  his  ordination  as  a 
deacon,  and  was  within  a  few  months  of  keeping  the 
jubilee  of  his  priesthood. 

He  now  settled  down  quietly  at  Shrewsbury  for  two  or 
three  years,  until  the  living  of  Whittington  (about  seven- 
teen miles  north  of  that  town),  of  which  his  father  had 
purchased  the  next  presentation,  should  be  vacant. 

Here  is  his  own  description  of  his  position  at  this 
time  : 

"Shrewsbury,  1848. 

"  But,  to  be  in  earnest,  it  does  make  us  very  happy, 
dearest  Minny,  to  think  that  we  are  in  any  degree  making 
you  so,  and,  as  I  can  only  judge  of  your  feelings  by  my 
own,  I  must  conclude  that  you  do  not  feel  the  less  so  for 
knowing  what  deep  and  true  happiness  you  give  to  us. 
For  both  these  reasons,  I  am  very  thankful  that  I  can  now 
look  upon  my  position  in  this  parish  as  somewhat  more 


42  Bishop  Walsham  How 

permanent  than  it  seemed  to  be  before.  Mr.  Burton  * 
came  yesterday  afternoon  and  offered  me  Mr.  Panting's 
place,  which  I  at  once  accepted,  and  I  trust  it  may 
please  God  to  give  me  health  to  work  usefully  here  for 
some  time  to  come.  I  am  in  some  anxiety  about  a  fellow 
curate,  a  good  one  being  so  very  hard  to  get.  Wm.  Douglas, 
Mr.  Hilton,  Mr.  Pardoe,  and  Edward  Thring,  being  all 
immovable,  I  shall  make  one  attempt  to  get  Mr.  Fletcher 
to  take  the  place,  and  then  I  am  utterly  at  a  loss.  I  can 
think  of  nobody  else,  and  I  really  should  dread  facing 
the  Abbey  for  any  length  of  time  by  myself." 

These  years  were  marked  chiefly  by  two  events :  in  the 
first  place,  by  his  marriage  at  Salvvarpe  on  November  6, 
1849,  to  Frances  Ann,  eldest  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Henry 
Douglas,  Rector  of  Salwarpe  and  Canon  of  Durham,  and 
in  the  second  place,  by  the  writing  of  the  first  volume  of 
"  Plain  Words " — the  book  by  which  he  first  became 
known  as  a  writer.  It  was  the  custom  at  Nearwell  to  read 
a  sermon  at  prayer  time  on  Sunday  evenings,  and  the  short 
sermons  contained  in  this  volume  were  originally  written 
for  these  occasions.  His  father  was  so  much  pleased 
with  them  that  he  urged  their  publication,  and  even  offered 
to  defray  the  cost  thereof,  but  there  is  no  record  of  their 
publication  in  his  diaries  until  we  come  to  November  17, 
1858,  when  there  is  the  brief  entry,  "  looked  over  first  proof 
of  '  Plain  Words.' "  This  first  series  of  the  book  was 
published  by  Wells  Gardner  in  1859,  and  the  forty-eighth 
edition  is  just  about  to  be  issued,  showing  the  great 
popularity  his  first  book  achieved. 

*  VicEir  of  Holy  Cross,  Shrewsbury. 


CHAPTER   IV 

WHITTINGTON 

On  September  23,  185 1,  Walsham  How  was  instituted  by 
the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  to  the  Rectory  of  Whittington  in 
the  county  of  Salop. 

His  ministerial  work  may  be  divided  into  three  periods, 
of  which  by  far  the  longest  began  at  this  date,  for  he 
remained  in  his  country  parish  for  twenty-eight  years. 
The  other  two  portions — viz.,  his  episcopate  in  East 
London  and  that  in  Wakefield,  each  lasted  but  nine 
years.  Thus  the  very  prime  of  his  life  and  energies  was 
spent  at  Whittington — a  long  preparation  perhaps  for  the 
more  important  positions  to  be  filled  afterwards.  It  was 
a  critical  time  in  the  history  of  the  Welsh  diocese  to 
which  he  now  belonged.  The  evangelical  movement 
had  taken  a  firm  hold  on  most  of  the  clergy  :  forms  and 
ceremonies  were  considered  of  little  importance,  and 
even  orders  and  sacraments  were  of  secondary  account. 
The  religious  census  of  1851  made  out  the  contrast 
between  the  attendance  of  Church  people  and  Noncon- 
formists at  public  worship  to  be  very  glaring,  and  it 
registered  the  high  water  mark  of  Dissent.  But  the  old 
order  was  changing  ;  the  Oxford  movement  began  to 
make  itself  felt  even  here ;  men  had  arisen  of  the  type  of 
Henry  Glynne    of   Hawarden,   and   Henry   Ffoulkes   of 


44  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Buckley,  afterwards  Canon  and  Archdeacon  of  Mont- 
gomery ;  and  under  the  sway  of  Bishop  Vowler  Short 
the  Church  in  the  diocese  was  beginning  to  claim  its 
proper  position. 

Walsham  How's  predecessor  at  Whittington  had  been 
rector  for  more  than  forty  years,  and  was  a  strong 
adherent  of  the  old  Evangelical  School.  He  had  had 
texts  of  Scripture  painted  in  large  white  letters  on  the 
outside  of  the  old  red  brick  church,  and  also  of  some  of 
the  cottages  in  the  village.  The  hymn  book  in  use  was 
"The  Christian  Hymn  Book,"  compiled  by  himself,  and 
was  a  wonderful  volume.  The  preface  contains  the 
following  passage  :  "  Many  hymn  writers  have  fallen  into 
the  mistaken  notion  that  man  is  formed  of  clay,  or  have 
taught  it  for  the  convenience  of  rhyming.  It  is,  however, 
quite  false  that  man  is  made  either  in  whole  or  in  part  of 
clay  I "  One  of  the  hymns  was  written  by  the  editor,  and 
the  following  couplet  may  be  quoted  as  a  specimen  of 
its  quality  : 

"  Earth's  axis  thou  placed  in  position  inclined. 
Thus  the  seasons  contrived  with  benevolent  mind." 

In  a  large  volume  of  Parish  Papers  the  new  rector  gave 
the  following  description  of  the  church  as  he  found  it : 

"Rebuilt  1804.  It  is  a  curiously  ugly  brick  building, 
completely  devoid  of  style  or  taste,  with  large  round- 
headed  windows,  &c.  So  completely  ignorant  of  church 
architecture  was  the  generation  which  saw  the  present 
church  built,  that  Lord  Dungannon  has  told  me  that  he 
remembers  being  brought  to  this  church  when  young, 
soon  after  it  was  finished,  that  he  might  see  a  specimen 
of  all  that  could  be  desired  in  a  church  both  as  to 
beauty  and  as  to  excellence  of  arrangement." 


Whittington  45 

The  pulpit  was  the  front  part  of  a  platform  on  square 
wooden  props  running  along  the  south  wall  of  the 
chancel.  The  organ  was  a  barrel  organ.  The  font  was 
a  shallow  oval  basin  on  a  three-cornered  wooden 
pedestal.  The  chancel  seats  were  two  long  common 
benches  on  either  side.  "  Such,"  wrote  Walsham  How, 
"  is  our  poor  parish  church,  and,  having  partly  rebuilt 
the  rectory  house,  I  often  think  of  2  Sam.  vii.  2."  * 

If  the  church  was  in  a  remarkable  state,  the  house  was 
no  less  so.     In  the  same  papers  we  find : 

"  Near  the  front  door  a  fox  was  chained  to  a  kennel, 
but  was  shut  up  whenever  the  hounds  met  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. It  was  very  odorous.  The  garden  was  more 
of  a  thicket  than  anything  else,  being  filled  in  all  parts 
with  'dense  shrubs,  small  paths  leading  about  amongst 
them  and  bringing  you  to  arbours,  grottoes,  &c.  Five 
small  streams  of  water  were  also  conducted  in  channels 
through  the  garden,  and  altogether  it  was  a  damp  wilderness 
apparently  made  for  hide  and  seek.  When  I  came,  there 
was  a  very  nice  swimming  bath  of  considerable  size  and 
depth  on  the  flat  grass  plot  opposite  the  dining-room 
windows.  It  could  be  filled  and  emptied  at  pleasure,  and 
in  a  more  convenient  place  would  have  been  a  great 
luxury." 

The  house  itself  was  singularly  inadequate  and  incon« 
venient,  and,  before  the  young  rector  could  bring  his 
bride  to  live  there,  considerable  alterations  and  additions 
were  made  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Ewan  Christian, 
the  architect  to  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  How  meantime  occupying  lodgings  in  the  village. 

*  "  See  now,  I  dwell  in  an  house  of  cedar,  but  the  ark  of  God  dwelleth 
within  curtains." 


46  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Changes  were  of  course  quickly  made  in  the  garden  : 
shrubs  were  cleared  away,  the  swimming  bath  was  filled 
up,  the  small  streams  were  united  in  one,  and  a  pretty 
course  made  for  it  down  two  little  falls  and  between 
large  mossy  stones,  where  ferns  were  planted  and  rare 
flowers  grown,  of  which  some  account  is  given  in  the 
chapter  on  botany.  The  one  thing  that  was  not  changed 
just  at  first  was  the  church  and  its  services.  Although 
the  new  rector's  training  at  Kidderminster  was  not 
calculated  to  make  him  content  with  things  as  they  were, 
yet,  acting  under  the  advice  of  Bishop  Short,  he  deter- 
mined to  make  no  changes  for  a  year,  so  that  the  people 
might  begin  to  know  him  and  have  confidence  in  him 
first. 

With  so  much  that  was  quaint  in  the  rector  of 
Whittington's  new  surroundings  there  were  also  many 
strange  characters  among  his  new  parishioners.  The 
following  words  are  given  verbatim  as  spoken  by  an  old 
woman  on  the  occasion  of  his  first  visit  to  her,  soon  after 
ibecoming  rector. 

"The  old  man  and  me,  sir,  never  go  to  bed  without 
singing  the  Evening  Hymn.  Not  that  I've  got  any  voice 
left,  for  I  haven't,  and,  as  for  him,  he's  like  a  bee  in  a 
bottle ;  and  then  he  don't  humour  the  tune,  for  he  don't 
rightly  know  one  tune  from  another,  and  he  can't  re- 
member the  words  neither  ;  so,  when  he  leaves  out  a 
word,  I  puts  it  in,  and  when  I  can't  sing  I  dances,  and  so 
we  gets  through  it  somehow." 

Superstition  was  extraordinarily  rife.  Cures  were 
supposed  to  be  effected  by  such  means  as  the  being 
swung  nine  times  under  a  donkey,  the  taking  of  any 
remedy  recommended  by  a  man  on  a  piebald  horse,  &c. 

One  day  the  rector  called  at  a  house  next  door  to  one 


Whittington  47 

in  which  an  old  man  had  recently  died.  The  woman  on 
whom  he  was  calling  told  him  she  had  seen  her  neigh- 
bour go  past  just  after  he  died.  Mr.  How  expressed  his 
surprise,  and  asked  for  further  particulars.  "  He  walked 
down  the  road,  sir,  in  front  of  the  house,"  said  the 
woman.  "  But  what  was  he  like  ? "  asked  Mr.  How. 
"  Oh  !  he  was  exactly  like  a  cat  ! "  was  the  reply. 

During  his  twenty-eight  years'  residence  in  Whittington 
the  rector  saw  a  great  change  and  enlightenment  come 
over  his  parishoners.  Probably  at  the  present  day  it 
would  require  a  diligent  search  to  find  even  a  trace  of 
many  of  the.  strange  old  customs  and  beliefs  that  were 
prevalent  in  the  middle  of  the  century. 

In  1852  his  work  was  increased  by  his  being  appointed  by 
the  bishop  to  be  one  of  his  voluntary  inspectors  of  schools, 
a  position  which  he  held  for  eighteen  years,  until  in  1870 
the  Elementary  Education  Act  was  passed.  He  was  fond 
of  quoting  Mr.  Forster's  remark  when  preparing  this  Bill, 
that  "  if  every  diocese  had  been  as  well  provided  for  as 
St.  Asaph  there  would  have  been  no  need  for  that  Act." 

From  the  following  year  (1853)  his  diaries  date,  and 
although  they  are  strictly  confined  to  events  and  never 
contain  one  single  sentiment  from  beginning  to  end,  yet 
they  are  extremely  characteristic  and  interesting.  They 
were  evidently  kept  chiefly  as  a  guide  to  his  work,  so 
that  he  might  be  satisfied  that  he  was  day  by  day  doing 
as  much  as  he  had  set  himself.  Thus  we  find  each  day 
a  note  of  the  services  he  had  taken,  of  his  attendance  at 
school,  of  what  writing  work  he  did,  and  of  what 
parochial  visits  he  paid,  the  latter  being  carefully  entered 
by  name.  He  laid  great  stress  on  school  attendance  and 
on  parochial  visits,  and  in  his  last  charge  to  the  clergy  of 
the  Wakefield  Diocese,  he  says  : 


48  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  I  cannot  understand  any  clergyman  with  a  high  ideal 
of  his  work  and  office  not  doing  all  in  his  power  to  teach 
and  train  the  children  in  his  parish.  .  .  .  Our  ideal 
clergyman  will  therefore  be  most  regular  and  punctual  in 
assisting  in  the  religious  teaching  of  the  day  school." 

And  of  pastoral  visiting  he  says  : 

"The  ideal  clergyman  will  be  constantly  in  his  parish. 
,  .  ,  I  think  St.  Paul  would  suggest  a  good  deal  of  very 
earnest  personal  dealing  with  souls  when  he  speaks  of 
'  warning  every  man,  and  teaching  every  man.'  " 

His  own  practice  at  Whittington  was  to  attend  the 
schools  every  morning  at  nine,  and  to  visit  so  diligently 
that  at  the  end  of  the  year  a  calculation  on  the  last  page 
of  the  diary  would  show  that  he  had  made  an  average  of 
twenty-two  visits  per  week  for  the  whole  fifty-two  weeks, 
of  which  time  a  portion  was  taken  up  in  an  annual 
holiday  and  in  work  outside  his  parish,  making  the 
average  for  the  weeks  spent  at  Whittington  considerably 
higher. 

The  other  entries  in  his  diaries  consist  of  notes  on  the 
weather,  the  date  of  bedding-out  plants,  attendances  at 
night  school  as  well  as  at  choir  and  cricket  practices^ 
fishing  excursions  (with  the  number  of  fish  killed),  and 
all  the  varied  occupations  of  a  country  clergyman. 

Thus  these  diaries  are  filled  with  small  details  of  every- 
day life,  and  show  his  close  attention  to  little  things,  and 
the  order  and  method  with  which  he  arranged  his  time. 
Few,  if  any,  of  what  some  would  consider  the  more 
important  events  are  mentioned  at  all.  So,  of  all  the 
many  offers  he  received,  large  town  parishes,  canonries, 
colonial  and  home  bishoprics,  &c.,  there  is  scarcely  even 


Whittington  49 

a  note.  The  very  date  of  his  becoming  a  bishop  is 
simply  marked  with  the  two  words  "  My  consecration." 
It  was  typical  of  the  man.  His  modesty  shrank  from 
any  acknowledgment  of  his  own  worth.  He  was 
happiest  in  quiet  routine  work,  while  he  had  the  keenest 
enjoyment  of  all  legitimate  pleasures  and  holidays. 

It  is  thus  that  he  must  be  pictured  for  many  of  the 
first  years  of  his  life  at  Whittington.  The  parish  was  of 
large  area — some  seven  miles  from  point  to  point — and 
contained  numerous  hamlets  and  outlying  farms  and 
cottages.  All  these  were  regularly  and  frequently  visited, 
and  the  rector  on  his  cob,  with  one  or  other  of  the 
children  on  a  pony  by  his  side,  was  very  generally  to  be 
met  with  in  the  lanes  or  fields  on  his  way  to  visit  a  sick 
person,  or  to  call  upon  a  distant  parishioner. 

From  the  very  first  his  wife  proved  a  most  valuable 
assistant  in  his  work.  Not  only  did  she  carry  on  the 
usual  mothers'  meetings,  clothing  clubs,  &c.,  but  she  was^ 
indefatigable  in  nursing  the  sick.  Wet  or  fine,  night  or 
day,  no  one  ever  hesitated  to  send  for  her  at  once,  and 
one  of  her  sons  has  a  distinct  recollection  of  being  got 
out  of  his  bed  in  the  middle  of  a  cold  winter's  night  to 
accompany  her  to  a  cottage  a  mile  and  more  away,  from 
which  a  messenger  had  come  to  summon  her  to  the  bed- 
side of  an  ailing  child. 

In  their  joint  work  and  happy  home  life  many  years 
passed  quietly  away,  while  children  came  to  them,  and 
the  joys  and  sorrows  that  are  common  to  mankind. 
Meantime  certain  events  occurred  which  must  not  be 
passed  over. 

The  church  services  began  to  be  improved,  and  a  choir 
to  be  regularly  trained  by  the  rector.  Some  grey-haired 
men  will  remember  a  photograph  of  themselves  that  was 


5©  Bishop  Walsham  How 

taken  in  very  early  days,  when  seven  little  boys  in  Eton 
collars  and  bright  blue  ties  stood  in  a  line,  psalters  in 
hand,  before  a  new-fangled  instrument  called  a  camera. 
This  was  the  first  regular  choir  trained  by  Walsham 
How,  who  used  to  conduct  their  practices  in  the  village 
school  with  the  help  of  his  flute.  Extra  celebrations  of 
the  Holy  Communion,  and  week-day  evening  services, 
were  introduced,  and  were,  to  judge  by  a  note  of  the 
excellent  attendance,  much  appreciated. 

In  1854  the  Bishop  offered  him  the  Rural  Deanery  of 
Oswestry — by  no  means  the  least  favourably  circum- 
stanced of  the  deaneries  in  the  diocese — and  it  may 
surprise  the  present  generation  to  learn  that  on  his  first 
visitation  he  found  no  less  than  three  churches  without 
fonts.  This  office  of  Rural  Dean  he  retained  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  until,  in  fact,  he  became  Bishop 
Suffragan  for  East  London. 

In  this  same  year  the  first  heavy  domestic  sorrow  befell 
him.  He  and  his  two  children,  with  Mrs.  How  and  her 
father  and  mother,  were  spending  a  holiday  at  Barmouth 
— a  place  afterwards  to  become  most  familiar  and  most 
dear  to  him — in  an  ivy-covered  house  called  Bellevue, 
not  far  from  the  site  of  the  present  new  church. 

The  two  children  were  but  three  and  one  years  old 
respectively,  and  the  elder,  "  little  Maynard,"  is  described 
as  a  particularly  pretty  and  engaging  boy.  On  August  8, 
there  is  an  entry  in  the  diary,  "little  Mayney  ill."  For 
many  days  after  this  there  seems  to  have  been  great 
anxiety;  then,  on  August  30,  he  is  described  as  "certainly 
a  little  better"  ;  but  on  September  3,  a  Sunday,  we  read  : 
"At  II  our  beloved  child  died  quite  suddenly,  from  the 
heart.  I  went  through  the  whole  service  with  Communion 
without  knowing  anything." 


Whittixgton  51 

They  buried  him  in  the  churchyard  at  Llanaber,  just 
overlooking  the  sea,  and  many  and  many  a  visit  was  paid 
in  after  years  to  the  httle  grave  where  the  first  of  their 
children  was  laid. 

Immediately  after  the  funeral  Mr.  and  Mrs.  How  paid 
a  short  visit  to  another  spot  which  became  a  favourite 
afterwards,  and  stayed  at  the  Inn  at  Llanbedr,  kept  for 
so  many  years  by  Mr.  Richards.  The  holiday  was  thus 
slightly  prolonged,  but  September  16  saw  the  Rector  of 
Whittington  back  again  at  work  in  his  parish. 

Among  many  of  the  devices  employed  by  him  to  get  a 
better  acquaintance  with,  and  to  give  pleasure  to,  his 
people,  none  was  more  popular  than  the  "Old  Men's 
Dinner,"  of  which  the  first  mention  occurs  on  January  i, 
1855,  and  which  was  continued  on  or  about  New  Year's 
Day  during  the  whole  of  his  residence  there.  In  a  parish 
of  1500  people  there  were  always  a  good  number  to  be 
invited  as  "old  men,"  and  very  cheery  gatherings  they 
were,  though  the  rector  invariably  spoke  a  few  solemn 
words  to  his  guests  in  the  course  of  the  little  speech  with 
which  he  welcomed  them.  Many  customs  and  associa- 
tions became  connected  in  the  course  of  years  with  these 
dinners.  It  was  always  a  special  observance  to  drink  the 
health  of  one  man  who  had  been  born  with  the  century, 
and  no  one  would  have  considered  that  the  occasion 
had  passed  off  properly  without  a  beautiful  old  song 
called  "  To-morrow,"  piped  with  many  an  old-fashioned 
shake  and  run  in  the  high  tenor  of  the  venerable  rectory 
gardener. 

Besides  these  functions  there  was  an  annual  tea  to  the 
old  women,  a  school  feast — and  such  a  school  feast  ! — for 
the  children,  with  concerts  and  lectures  and  every  kind  of 
useful  and  enjoyable  gathering  for  the  parish  at  large,  for 


52  Bishop  Walsham  How 

it  was  not  the  nature  of  either  Mr.  or  Mrs.  How  to  neglect 
the  brighter  and  the  social  side  of  life.  The  rector  him- 
self was  fond  of  lecturing,  and  his  diaries  give  one  an 
idea  of  the  variety  of  his  subjects.  From  1857  onwards 
he  gave  lectures  on  "  Modern  Poets,"  "  Astronomy,'^ 
"Geology,"  "Visit  to  Rome,"  "Sir  Humphrey  Davy," 
"  Books,"  &c.,  both  in  his  own  and  in  neighbouring 
parishes,  and,  though  after  1870,  his  time  became  so  much 
taken  up  with  missions,  retreats.  Convocation,  Congress, 
and  literary  work,  that  the  lectures  were  dropped,  yet  in 
his  last  years  he  was  delighted  to  resume  them,  and  to 
give  one  of  his  bright  chatty  discourses  on  Astronomy  to 
the  Grammar  School  boys  or  the  girls  of  the  High  School 
in  Wakefield. 

The  marvel  is  that  he  found  time  for  everything  even 
in  these  earlier  and  comparatively  freer  days.  He  wrote 
at  this  time  several  series  of  "  Plain  Words,"  and  from 
1863  to  1868  was  hard  at  work  on  the  S.P.C.K.  "Com- 
mentary on  the  Gospels."  One  of  his  old  curates  says  that 
he  used  simply  to  make  time  for  literary  work  by  employ- 
ing all  odd  minutes  at  his  writing  table.  His  parish  work 
was  never  interfered  with.  He  seemed  to  have  time  for 
everything,  and  this  was  only  accomplished  by  dint  of 
great  care  and  method.  He  had  the  greatest  horror  of 
wasting  any  time,  however  short,  and  it  has  been  said  of 
him  that  he  could  not  "  loaf  "  even  for  ten  minutes.  The 
orderliness  of  his  life  was  shown  in  numberless  ways.  He 
kept  exceedingly  accurate  and  minute  accounts.  He  had 
maps  of  each  district  in  his  parish  with  which  he  supplied 
every  new  curate.  These  maps  he  had  always  corrected 
•up  to  date,  and  every  house  was  numbered,  with  an  index 
giving  the  name  of  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the 
parish,  with  sufficient  particulars  to  make  it  unnecessary 


Whittington  53 

for  the  new  clergy  to  pester  people  during  a  first  visit 
with  questions  as  to  their  family  and  belongings.  Then 
how  punctual  and  orderly  he  was  in  his  correspondence. 
All  who  wrote  to  him  will  readily  acknowledge  that  they 
were  never  kept  waiting  for  an  answer  to  their  letters. 
His  habit  was,  on  receipt  of  a  letter  requiring  an  answer, 
or  on  finding  in  course  of  conversation  that  a  letter  had 
to  be  written,  immediately  to  address  an  envelope  for  the 
purpose,  and  thus  to  provide  himself  with  an  effectual 
reminder.  It  has  been  said  that  his  very  handwriting  was 
a  type  of  his  character — strong,  energetic,  systematic, 
sympathetic.  One  who  had  never  known  him  might 
have  picked  his  letter  out  from  a  hundred  others  as  written 
by  one  who  felt  he  had  a  work  to  do  and  knew  how  to  do 
it.  He  was,  too,  very  regular  in  his  habits,  so  long  as  he 
was  still  at  Whittington,  and  never  late  for,  or  absent 
from,  services,  meetings,  or  even  meals.  This  habit  of 
orderliness  ran  through  the  smallest  details  of  life,  and 
the  misplacement  by  a  housemaid  of  even  a  small  article 
of  furniture  would  cause  him  daily  vexation,  while  he 
never  allowed  any  one  to  put  his  clothes  away  in  his 
drawers,  doing  it  with  his  own  hands  all  his  life  long,  that 
he  might  be  sure  of  finding  them  in  the  right  order.  These 
seem  small  matters  ;  but  they  serve  to  show  by  what 
method  he  ruled  his  life,  and  how  close  was  his  attention 
to  little  things. 

In  1858  he  was  able  to  see  St.  Andrew's  Church  at 
Frankton  (a  district  of  his  parish)  consecrated,  the  first 
step  towards  the  formation  of  the  new  parish  of  Welsh 
Frankton.  The  complete  severance  did  not  take  place 
till  some  years  had  elapsed,  and  till  a  difficult  and  dis- 
agreeable contest  with  some  of  the  local  landowners  had 
been  won. 


54  Bishop  Walsham  How 

In  i860  he  was  installed  as  an  honorary  canon  of  St. 
Asaph,  and  retained  the  office  until,  in  1878,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  prebendal  stall  of  Llanefydd  with  the 
Chancellorship  of  St.  Asaph  Cathedral.  Needless  to  say 
these  appointments  brought  no  emoluments  with  them, 
but  were  conferred  merely  as  an  honour.  Canon  Walsham 
How  (as  he  may  now  be  called)  was  always  comfortably 
off,  for  the  living  of  Whittington  was  at  this  time  worth 
more  than  ;^iooo  a  year,  and  his  father  was  able  at  his 
death  to  leave  him  considerable  private  means.  The  death 
of  his  father  occurred  in  1862,  and  in  writing  to  his  brother 
immediately  after  so  great  a  bereavement  and  sorrow, 
he  says  : 

"  This  must  draw  us  three  closer  together  than  ever, 
dear  Maynard,  for,  though  it  has  truly  broken  one  link 
which  drew  us  often  together,  yet  the  common  grief  we 
have  shared  will  add  one  of  a  different  sort ;  and  the  more 
loved  ones  are  taken  from  our  sight  here  below,  the 
more  precious  I  think  the  rest  become." 

In  1865  the  inhabitants  of  Whittington  were  somewhat 
startled  to  learn  that  their  rector  had  undertaken  the 
chaplaincy  of  the  English  church  at  Rome.  He  was 
away  for  four  months  of  the  spring  of  that  year,  taking 
with  him  Mrs.  How  and  their  little  daughter  and  her 
governess.  It  was  his  invariable  custom  when  enjoying 
any  scenery,  or  travels,  or  indeed  almost  anything  what- 
ever, to  write  long  accounts  of  all  that  he  hked  best,  or 
that  amused  him  most,  so  that  others  might  share  in  his 
pleasure  at  second  hand.  So  diligent  was  he  in  this  that 
on  one  occasion,  when  passing  in  a  steamer  through 
some  of  the  loveliest  scenery  off  the  west  coast  of  Scot- 
land, he  was  found  in  the  saloon  writing  a  long  description 


Whittington  55 

of  his  enjoyment  of  the  scenery,  the  best  part  of  which 
he  was  missing  at  the  very  time  !  So  from  Rome  he 
sent  numberless  letters  home,  and  a  few  of  the  more 
interesting  and  amusing  extracts  must  find  a  place 
here. 

"Rome,  March  20,  1865. 

"  I  must  tell  you  of  a  very  absurd  sight  I  saw  the  other 
day.  I  went  to  call  on  an  English  sculptor,  a  Mr.  Adams, 
in  his  studio.  He  was  working  at  a  statue  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, in  his  Chancellor's  robes.  Mr.  Gladstone  being  in 
England,  a  model  was  needful  (the  head  having  been 
taken  before  in  England),  so  a  regular  Roman  model  was 
standing  on  a  platform  for  him.  You  would  have  roared 
to  have  seen  him.  He  was  a  handsome  dirty  Roman  with 
beard  and  moustaches  of  course,  and  as  Mr.  Adams 
wanted  legs  and  drapery,  this  fellow  was  divested  of  his 
trousers,  and  stood  there  with  naked  legs  and  feet  of 
extreme  shagginess  and  ruddiness,  having  on  of  his  own 
only  a  shirt  and  a  gay  open  waistcoat,  but  duly  robed  in 
a  mock  Chancellor's  robe  of  state,  which  he  had  to  hold 
in  an  attitude.  I  should  like  Mr.  Wm.  Lyttelton  to  have 
looked  in.  He  would  have  shook  the  place  down  with 
laughing.  .  .  .  We  see  a  great  deal  of  the  Mackarnesses, 
and  are  going  with  them  to  Tivoli  to-morrow.  Bishop 
Forbes  of  Brechin  is  one  of  the  most  taking  men  I  have 
ever  met,  so  very  kind,  and  nice,  and  thoughtful,  and 
interesting.  He  is  very  learned  and  full  of  information 
of  all  sorts,  talking  well  on  every  matter.  He  is  going 
with  us  to-morrow." 


56  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"151  Via  Bambino,  Rome,  March  24. 

"  I  am  going  this  evening  to  a  friend  to  be  introduced 
to  Mr.  Wm.  Palmer,*  the  *  Vert.'  He  is  a  very  dangerous 
man,  being  very  learned  and  a  most  unflinching  champion 
of  Rome.  I  want  to  get  him  to  take  us  over  some  of  the 
Catacombs,  to  which  he  is  about  the  best  guide  here.  He 
is  not  the  Wm.  Palmer  who  wrote  the  Church  History, 
but  '  Deacon  Palmer,'  as  he  used  to  be  called,  because  he 
never  would  take  priest's  orders  in  our  Church.  He 
was  at  one  time  very  nearly  joining  the  Greek  Church. 
I  certainly  do  not  feel  the  least  attracted  by  Rome  as  a 
system  here,  and  I  imagine  it  is  really  made  much  more 
attractive  to  English  ideas  in  England. 

P.S.  (Annunciation.)  We  went  last  night  to  tea,  as  I 
said,  and  met  Mr.  Palmer.  There  was  no  one  there  but 
the  lady  who  asked  us,  and  another  clergyman  and  his 
wife.  Mr.  Palmer  .  .  .  abused  the  Church  of  England, 
and  said  very  hard  things.  He  sadly  wanted  some  one 
of  age,  talent  and  authority  enough  to  put  him  down. 
However,  on  some  subjects  he  was  interesting  and 
pleasant  enough.  The  chief  thing  I  fought  him  on  was 
his  attempt  to  defend  the  absurd  assertion  of  some 
Romish  manual  that  the  Times  is  the  organ  of  the  Anglican 
Church.  He  tried  to  make  out  that  it  fairly  represented 
the  dominant  spirit  of  the  Church." 

"  Rome,  April  11,  1865. 

"  The  only  possible  addition  in  the  way  of  a  '  Diary  '  is 
a  glorious  moonlight  walk  to  the  Coliseum.  I  walked 
about  with  Nelly  [his  daughter]  and  a  little  friend  of  hers 

*  This  Mr.  Palmer  was  elder  brother  of  the  late  Earl  of  Selborne  and  the 
late  Archdeacon  of  Oxford,  and  was  equally  distinguished  in  his  University 


Whittington  57 

here,  and  they  asked  me  to  tell  them  a  story.  So  we  sat 
on  an  old  broken  slab  of  stone,  and  I  told  them  the  story 
of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Ignatius  in  that  very  spot  by  wild 
beasts,  which  they  seemed  to  appreciate.  By  the  way, 
you  might  be  interested  in  a  little  matter  showing  the 
suspicion  and  the  weakness  of  the  present  Roman  Govern- 
ment. There  were  races  in  the  Campagna  last  Thursday, 
and  the  winning  horse  in  the  steeplechase,  which  was 
Prince  Doria's,  was  ridden  by  an  Englishman,  a  Mr. 
Spears,  a  horse  of  his  own  being  ridden  by  his  groom. 
Mr.  Spears  had  lilac  and  green  colours,  and  when  he 
stripped  to  ride,  people  said  they  could  not  tell  him  from 
his  groom,  so  he  tied  a  white  girdle  round  his  waist. 
When  he  won  the  Italians  were  in  raptures,  shouting  that 
he  had  the  Italian  colours,  which  are  red,  green,  and 
white.  On  reaching  home  he  received  notice  from 
Cardinal  Antonelli  to  leave  Rome  in  twenty-four  hours, 
and  though  Mr.  Odo  Russell  went  with  him  to  Antonelli, 
he  would  listen  to  no  explanation,  and  Mr.  Spears  has 
gone.  It  was  entirely  unintentional,  and,  besides,  the 
colours  were  not  right." 

On  May  27  the  parishioners  of  Whittington  welcomed 
their  rector  home  again,  and  showed  their  appreciation 
of  him  and  emphasised  their  welcome  by  presenting  him 
with  a  silver  salver. 

In  1866,  instead  of  taking  his  usual  holiday.  Canon 
Walsham  How  went  into  residence  for  six  weeks  at  the 
Canonry,  St.  Asaph,  and  while  there  saw  a  good  deal  of 
that  neighbourhood,  making  several  life-long  friends.  On 
August  II,  1866,  he  thus  wrote  to  his  brother  : 

"  On  Wednesday  last  I  went  to  Hawarden  (Mr. 
Glynne's),  at  which  church  I  intoned  a.m.,  and  preached 


58  Bishop  Walsham  How 

P.M.  on  Thursday.  Hawarden  Castle,  Sir  Stephen 
Glynne's,  is  lent  to  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  so  its  owner 
was  at  the  rectory  with  his  brother.  The  rectory  is  an 
immense  place,  the  endowment  being  ;^30oo  a  year,  and 
the  Gladstones,  who  generally  live  with  Sir  Stephen,  were 
there  too,  all  but  the  ex-Chancellor,  who  could  not  leave 
town,  which  was  a  great  bore,  as  I  wanted  much  to  meet 
him,  and  have  missed  him  there  twice  before.  Mrs. 
Gladstone  was  very  pleasant.  She  received  such  a  jolly 
letter  from  the  Princess  of  Wales  while  I  was  there. 
Archdeacon  and  Mrs.  Bickersteth  were  there,  he  preaching 
A.M.,  and  the  charming  Mrs.  Wynn  of  Cefn.  .  .  . 

"  Charley  [a  small  four-year-old  son]  went  to  the 
cathedral  service  this  afternoon.  He  has  been  very 
anxious  to  see  the  bishop,  so  we  took  him,  and  the  bishop 
gave  him  a  small  wooden  horse,  so  that  he  considers 
episcopacy  quite  a  desirable  institution  !  " 

Early  in  the  following  year  one  of  the  many  little  visits 
of  his  brother  to  Whittington  occurred,  and  drew  forth 
the  following  letter  : 

"Whittington  Rectory,  Feb.  6,  1867. 

"My  dear  old  Fellow, 

"  I  value  much  your  appreciation  of  a  Sunday  here. 
I  really  feared  I  had  bored  you  with  three  services.  My 
morning  sermon  ought  to  have  been  more  useful  than 
most  of  mine,  for  it  was  no  essay,  but  a  comment  on  a 
real  case,  and  discussion  of  a  real  difficulty  ;  and  I  always 
find  those  'sermons  from  the  life'  do  most  good. 

"  I  am  so  glad  to  see  the  Government  does  not  shirk 
reform.  I  believe  to  have  done  so  would  have  lost  the 
Conservatives  popular  confidence  for  long  to  come,  and 
have  given  the  Radicals  a  fatal  triumph." 


CHAPTER  V 

HIS  POSITION  AS  A  CHURCHMAN 

The  year  1867  was  one  of  great  influence  on  the  subse- 
quent career  of  Walsham  How.  Already  loved  and 
appreciated  by  a  growing  circle  of  friends,  it  was  not  till 
the  Wolverhampton  Church  Congress  of  this  year  that  he 
became  generally  well  known. 

There  was  to  be  a  debate  on  Church  Ceremonial,  and 
Canon  Erskine  Clarke,  then  Vicar  of  All  Saints,  Derby,  had 
been  worried  with  two  sets  of  extremists  in  his  choir, 
some  believing  in  the  Church  Times  and  some  in  The 
Rock — both  of  which  were  in  those  days  strongly  and 
bitterly  partisan.  Feeling  that  it  was  very  necessary  to 
define  the  sort  of  churchmanship  which  could  keep  these 
two  sets  of  men  in  one  choir,  he  asked  Mr.  How  to  come 
and  see  him  at  Derby  the  night  before  the  Congress. 
They  talked  it  over,  and  it  was  arranged  that  on  the  par- 
ticular subject  which  gave  the  opportunity  Canon  Walsham 
How  should  set  forth  the  Anglican  position.  This  he 
did  in  a  speech  which  has  been  described  as  "  epoch 
making." 

He  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  My  lord, — I  stand  up  to  express  one  conviction  which 
I  hold  very  strongly.      It  is  this — that  the  strength   and 


•60  Bishop  Walsham  How 

backbone  of  the  Church  of  England  lie  in  that  very  large 
party  ('  if  party '  that  can  be  called  which  eschews  and 
repudiates  all  party  names  and  party  practices) — that  very 
large  party  (for  I  must  use  the  word,  having  no  better) 
which  has  learnt  many  things  from  the  great  Church 
movement  which  has  burnt  its  mark  ineffaceably  upon  the 
history  of  this  generation  ;  but  which  is  startled,  and  to 
some  extent  repelled,  by  the  rapid  and  excessive  develop- 
ment of  that  movement,  which  is  marking,  perhaps  no 
less  ineffaceably,  the  present  movement.  This  large  party 
has  been  trained  in  a  system  which  they  find  rudely  ques- 
tioned and  shaken  by  some  in  these  days.  They  have 
learnt  to  love  the  Church  of  England  as  they  have  learnt 
to  know  her.  They  have  learnt  to  love  the  Prayer-book 
as  they  have  seen  it  interpreted  by  wise  and  loving  hearts 
for  many  years  past.  They  are  now  asked  to  unlearn 
many  old  things,  and  to  learn  many  new.  I  said  that  this 
party  has  gained  much  from  the  great  advance  in  Church 
doctrine  and  practice  of  the  present  age,  and  they  gladly 
acknowledge  the  debt.  They  have  gained  a  clearer  and 
firmer  grasp  of  some  very  precious  truths.  They  have 
gained  the  love  of  higher  and  more  beautiful  services,  and 
of  the  musical  offering  of  praise  in  choral  worship.  They 
delight  in  hearty  congregational  services.  They  love 
hymns  heart-stirring  and  affecting,  like  Neale'sand  Faber's 
— hymns  which  can,  and  do,  draw  tears  from  eyes  unused 
to  weep.  They  hate  all  slovenliness  and  coldness  and  dry- 
ness. They  are  thankful  to  have  escaped  from  the  old 
reign  of  dry  dignified  proprieties.  They  seek,  and  I  hope 
they  attain  to,  life  and  warmth  and  love  in  their  worship. 
They  aim  at  short,  stirring,  and,  where  possible,  extempore 
preaching.  They  accept  without  grudging  much  that  will 
render    their    services   attractive   to   the    indifferent   and 


His  Position  as  a  Churchman  6r 

elevating  to  the  devout.  They  decorate  their  churches,  and 
arc  not  ashamed  of  the  blessed  symbol  of  our  salvation. 
(Loud  cheers.)  Above  all  they  are  continually  multiplying 
the  opportunities  of  daily  prayer  in  their  churches,  con- 
tinually making  more  and  more  frequent  the  celebrations 
— especially  the  early  celebrations — of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion. (Cheers.)  They  are  learning — and  thank  those 
who  teach  them  for  the  lesson — more  and  more  to  set 
forth  that  as  the  great  act  of  worship  in  the  Church  of 
Christ.  (Loud  cheers.)  But,  fellow  Churchmen,  what  is 
said  of  us  ?  We  are  behind  the  age  ;  weak,  timid  com- 
promisers ;  sadly  in  the  dark,  and  needing  much  enlighten- 
ment. Nay,  we  are  even  stigmatised  as  *  Anglicans.' 
Horrible  imputation  !  A  little  while  ago,  when  men 
wanted  to  call  bad  names,  they  used  the  word  '  Protestant :' 
now  it  seems  'Anglican'  is  to  become  the  term  of  reproach. 
And  why  are  we  called  such  bad  names  ?  Why,  because 
we  will  not  adopt  a  ceremonial  which  we  believe  to  be 
neither  required  by  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  Church 
nor  edifying  to  our  people.  (Loud  cheers.)  Now  we  do 
not  wish  to  abridge  any  man's  lawful  liberty,  though  we 
do  think  such  liberty  ought  to  be  self-abridged  by  obedi- 
ence to  authority.  (Renewed  cheering.)  We  shrink  with 
horror  from  persecution,  moral  as  well  as  physical.  But 
we  do  claim  this  for  ourselves,  without  judging  others  ;  we 
do  claim  our  position  as  faithful,  honest  exponents  of  the 
Church's  mind  and  practice.  Doctrine  has  been  most 
wisely  excluded  from  our  discussions,  and  I  hope  I  shall 
not  transgress  this  wise  rule  if  I  say,  what  indeed  it  is 
impossible  not  to  say — namely,  that  we  know  very  well 
this  is  no  question  of  mere  ceremonial.  If  it  were,  neither 
ritualists  nor  anti-ritualists  would  attach  to  it  the  import- 
ance they  do.     Doctrine  does  underlie  the  whole  question. 


62  Bishop  Walsham  How 

And  I  honestly  state  that  many  with  whom  I  should  agree 
shrink  from  this  new  (or,  if  I  may  not  say  '  new/  this 
unusual)  ceremonial,  partly  because  they  shrink  from  a 
certain  definiteness  and  localisation  which  characterise  the 
doctrine  sought  to  be  expressed  by  very  advanced  ritual. 
(Cheers.)  Let  me  not  be  supposed  to  doubt  the  zeal,  or 
devotion,  or  sincerity  of  those  who  hold  such  doctrine 
and  use  such  ritual.  I  know  well,  and  love  and  honour, 
some  among  them;  but  yet  I  must  protest  with  all  the  energy 
at  my  command  against  the  tone  of  somewhat  scornful 
superiority  with  which  the  '  mere  Anglican '  is  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  a  sort  of  minimist,  holding  but  a  small  portion 
of  Catholic  truth.  Why,  I  heard  the  other  day  a  bishop 
[Dr.  Claughton  of  Rochester],  lowest  indeed  on  the  bench, 
but  not  lowest,  I  think,  in  the  hearts  and  in  the  honour  of 
the  land,  spoken  slightingly  of  as  a  '  mere  Anglican.' 
Well,  one  thing  I  know — that  none  of  his  old  curates  (and 
I  thank  God  I  am  one)  have  any  ambition  to  be  other  than 
he.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  protest,  too,  against  the  exclusive 
assumption  of  Catholicity  by  one  party  ;  against  being 
supposed  unfaithful,  and  twitted  as  uncatholic,  because  I 
will  neither  utter  nor  enact  the  Shibboleth  of  any  party. 
My  lord,  we  love  the  name  'Catholic'  and  we  refuse  to 
narrow  it  to  a  party  watchword.  We  have  long  said  to 
Rome,  '  You  shall  not  have  exclusive  possession  of  this 
title  ;'  we  now  say  the  same  to  others.  We  love  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Church  as  we  love  nothing  else,  believing  it  to 
be  '  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus ;'  we  refuse  to  narrow  it  to 
mean  Church  doctrine  as  set  forth  in  one  particular  de- 
velopment, and  in  one  peculiar  phraseology.  We  desire 
io  treat  candidly,  and  in  a  spirit  of  brotherly  love,  those 
with  whom  we  find  ourselves  unable  to  agree  in  many 
things.    And  we  desire  to  remain,  what  we  hope  we  are 


His  Position  as  a  Churchman  63 

now,  plain,  faithful,  honest  members  of  our  ancient  and 
purified,  and  therefore  dearly  beloved,  Church  of  England." 
(Loud  cheers.) 

This  speech  established  his  position  in  the  Church  as 
one  who  could  not  brook  slovenliness  or  inadequacy  in 
her  services  any  more  than  he  could  approve  the  practices 
of  the  extreme  Ritualistic  party.  The  Guardian  com- 
menting on  it  said  : 

"The  advocates  of  this  cause  (the  Ritualistic)  do  not  even 
acknowledge  the  force  of  the  remonstrance  so  earnestly  made  by 
Mr,  Walsham  How  against  the  habitual  contumely  with  which 
they  treat  the  old  '  High  Church  '  school.  We  could  have  wished 
that  some  one  of  the  ceremonial  revivalists  had  come  forward  to 
state  in  answer  to  Mr.  How's  appeal  that  the  scorn  and  contempt 
heaped  on  so-called  Anglicans  by  their  organs  would  be  repudiated 
by  the  more  earnest  and  temperate  men  among  them.  They  seem 
to  have  no  ears  for  such  pleadings  in  favour  of  toleration  or 
peace.  .  .  .  On  either  side  perhaps  the  speakers  proved  too  much  ; 
it  would  be  as  easy  to  defend  a  multitudinous  Congregationalism 
by  weapons  taken  out  of  one  armoury,  as  it  would  be  easy  from 
the  other  to  find  arguments  in  favour  of  Rome.  If  it  had  not 
been  for  Mr.  How's  speech  it  would  have  seemed  as  if  the  old 
English  via  media,  with  its  long  array  of  orators  and  divines,  its 
massive  learning  and  dignified  integrity  of  character,  had  no  place 
in  a  Church  Congress  of  our  time.  For  our  own  part  we  do  not 
believe  in  the  probable  extinction  of  what  has  had  so  much  to  do 
with  our  national  progress,  our  manliness  of  temper,  and  our 
reputation  for  truth  and  honesty  throughout  the  world." 

It  is  remarkable  that  immediately  after  this  Congress  he 
received  the  first  offer  of  a  bishopric.  After  the  deposi- 
tion of  Dr.  Colenso,  Bishop  Gray  of  Capetown  offered 
the  Bishopric  of  Natal  to  the  Rev.  W.  Butler,  Vicar  of 
Wantage,  and  afterwards  Dean  of  Lincoln.  Mr.  Butler 
at  first  accepted  the  post,  but  afterwards,  on  the  advice  of 
Archbishop  Longley,  withdrew  his  acceptance.     Bishop 


64  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Gray,  who  had  been  authorised  by  the  synod  of  the 
diocese  of  Natal  to  appoint  a  bishop,  writes  in  his  diary 
(see  Life,  vol.  ii.  p.  371)  : 

"  1867.  Nov.  26.     Offered  Natal  to  How. 
Nov.  29.     How  declines  Natal." 

This  is  the  only  record  there  is  of  the  offer  having  been 
made,  it  being,  in  common  with  other  subsequent  offers, 
ignored  in  Mr.  How's  own  diary. 

It  may  be  well  here  to  observe  that  the  views  put  forth 
by  this  Congress  speech  are,  after  all,  only  those  which 
he  had  held  all  along.  In  the  first  sermon  he  ever  pub- 
lished he  explicitly  set  out  the  duty  of  staunchly  uphold- 
ing the  Church  of  England,  while  guarding  against 
dangers  from  Rome  on  the  one  hand,  and  infidelity  and 
carelessness  on  the  other.  This  sermon  is  worth  quoting 
as  once  for  all  explaining  his  position  in  the  Church. 
To  the  last  days  of  his  life  he  was  urgent  for  more 
frequent  and  more  careful  services  wherever  he  found  a 
low  standard  in  his  diocese,  while  he  not  infrequently 
preached  sermons  warning  his  hearers  that  danger  from 
Rome  existed  still.  The  sermon  was  preached  in  the 
Abbey  Church,  Shrewsbury,  on  the  i6th  Sunday  after 
Trinity,  1850,  and  was  printed  by  request  of  the  parish- 
ioners. Its  subject  was  "  The  Church  Movement  of  the 
Present  Day."  Taking  as  his  text  the  words,  "  Prove  all 
things  :  hold  fast  that  which  is  good,"  he  proceeded  to 
explain  that  there  is  ever  a  "  spirit  of  the  age  "  spreading 
onwards  and  around,  like  leaven  leavening  the  lump. 
He  went  on  to  say  : 

"  On  the  whole  I  doubt  not  the  principle  of  reaction 
will  be  found  to  govern  the  great  movements  in  question. 
To  put  this  more  simply,  when  men  find  by  degrees  that 


His  Position  as  a  Churchman  65 

they  have  fallen  into  some  extreme,  they  are  startled  and 
hasten  to  retrace  their  steps,  but  in  their  eagerness  about 
this,  as  well  as  in  the  narrowness  of  their  views  and  one- 
sidedness  of  their  feelings,  they  forget  to  stop  at  the 
truth  when  they  come  to  it,  and  so  generally  fall  quite  as 
much  into  the  other  extreme,  and  have  again  to  retrace 
their  steps  with  again  the  same  result  as  before.  .  .  .  The 
chief  danger  (next,  of  course,  to  that  of  neglecting  these 
questions  altogether)  is  the  danger  of  being  carried  too 
far  by  the  powerful  influences  at  work  amongst  men. 
The  greatest  difficulty  (next,  of  course,  to  that  of  learn- 
ing to  care  for  such  things  at  all)  is  the  difficulty  of 
stopping  at  the  truth  when  we  arrive  at  it. 

***** 

"The  least  observant  cannot  fail  to  have  marked  the 
great  change  of  feeling  which  has  for  many  years  been 
spreading  over  our  country  in  religious  matters — a 
change  which,  by  God's  mercy,  has  (I  hesitate  not  to  say) 
very  mightily  advanced  the  cause  of  God's  truth.  But  if 
that  which  has  for  a  time  advanced  the  cause  of  truth  be 
found  to  go  beyond  truth,  and  so  run  into  the  error  of 
extreme,  it  is  the  duty  of  those  whom  God  has  appointed 
especially  to  guard  and  to  dispense  the  truth  to  raise  a 
voice  of  warning  and  to  point  out  the  danger  which  is 
at  hand.  Nor  can  we  close  our  eyes  to  the  necessity  of 
this  warning  at  the  present  time.  We  have  seen  from 
time  to  time  waves  washing  up  beyond  the  boundary 
line  ;  there  have  not  been  wanting  here  and  there  in- 
stances of  those  whom  the  surf  has  carried  forward  far 
into  the  region  of  error.  .  .  .  Now,  this  movement  very 
plainly  began  in  reaction.  .  .  .  The  Church  fifty  years 
ago  was  cold  and  seemingly  lifeless.  Her  doctrine  was 
lax ;   her   practice   cold   and   formal.      In   doctrine,  the 

E 


66  Bishop  Walsham  How 

sacraments  were  lowered  and  neglected,  the  unity  and 
reality  of  the  Church  forgotten,  the  divine  delegation  of 
ministerial  grace  lost  sight  of  ;  aye,  and  worse  than  these 
omissions,  was  the  too  common  substitution  of  a  cold 
and  heartless  morality  for  the  life-giving  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  faith,  the  ever-blessed  spiritual  truths  of  the 
Atonement  by  the  sufferings  and  death  of  the  Saviour, 
and  sanctification  by  the  indwelling  presence  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  truths  on  which  our  very  salvation  hangs,  and  to 
take  away  which  from  our  teaching  is  verily  to  take  away  the 
sun  out  of  the  heavens.  And  as  to  practice — the  services 
were  often  slovenly,  often  few  in  number  ;  communions 
were  at  long  intervals,  and  scantily  attended,  &c.  &c. 
.  .  .  And  then  we  must  take  shame  to  ourselves  likewise 
for  the  scandals  caused  by  the  clergy  themselves,  whose 
neglect  of  their  flocks,  whose  worldly  bearing  and  pur- 
suits, whose  niggardly  bestowal  of  their  time  and  trouble 
in  their  Master's  service,  but  too  often  led  the  careless  to 
rest  in  their  carelessness,  and  the  zealous  to  seek  spiritual 
guidance  elsewhere.  The  tide  had  long  set  that  way,  and 
few  there  were  that  stemmed  it.  But,  God  be  thanked  ! 
all  life  was  not  extinct.  And  thus  .  .  .  there  began  that 
wider,  and  for  long  also  truer,  movement,  which  has 
spread  now  more  or  less  fully  into  every  part  of  England. 
.  .  .  Doubtless  many  who  felt  the  truths  that  were 
beginning  to  be  felt  so  keenly,  outran  their  wisdom  in 
their  zeal,  and  fell  into  divers  dangerous  excesses.  Many 
set  their  affections  too  much  on  outward  forms  ;  .  .  .  many 
naturally  gave  a  very  undue  prominence  to  doctrines  that 
had  been  before  unduly  kept  in  the  shade.  .  .  .  Every 
good  has  its  attendant  evils  ;  and  if  men  are  roused  to 
thought,  even  in  the  right  direction,  how  can  it  be  but 
that  some  think  wrong  ? 


His  Position  as  a  Churchman  67 

"  But,  you  ask,  wh^t  has  been  the  good  ?  My  brethren, 
is  it  nothing  that  apathy  has  changed  to  earnestness, 
coldness  to  zeal,  deadness  to  life  ?  Is  it  nothing  that 
the  services  of  God  are  multiplied  in  number,  are 
improved  in  decency  and  beauty,  are  frequented  by  more 
and  heartier  worshippers  ?  Is  it  nothing  that  the  clergy 
have  their  duties  and  responsibilities  so  brought  home  to 
them  that  they  cannot,  they  dare  not,  neglect  them  if  they 
would  ?  Is  it  nothing  that  in  every  corner  of  our  land 
churches  are  being  made  more  worthy  .of  the  worship  of 
God,  more  fit  to  affect  the  heart  of  man  ?  Is  it  nothing 
that  the  saving  doctrines  of  our  holy  faith  are  now 
preached  more  earnestly  and  constantly  than  of  old  ? 
Is  it  nothing  that  Christ's  own  blessed  sacraments  hold 
now  a  more  worthy  place  ?  Yea,  cold  or  bigoted  indeed 
must  that  heart  be  that  cannot  thank  God  for  all  that  He 
has  done  for  the  Church  of  England  in  late  years. 
Verily  He  hath  looked  down  from  heaven,  and  beheld, 
and  visited  this  vine. 

"  But  now  I  must,  alas  !  change  my  voice  ;  for  the 
flood  that  enriches  may  rise  too  far  and  devastate.  If  a 
righteous  abhorrence  of  the  deadly  errors  of  Romanism, 
amongst  other  causes,  led  our  forefathers  to  shrink  back 
too  far  in  the  opposite  extreme  .  .  .  we,  in  restoring 
some  good  and  true  things,  have  unquestionably  weakened 
the  righteous  abhorrence  of  those  errors.  The  tide  has 
swept  some  in  this  direction  beyond  the  line  of  truth, 
and  stranded  them  on  the  shore  of  error.  God  in  mercy 
grant  its  waves  rise  no  farther  !  Perhaps  there  was  much 
need  at  first  to  soften  men's  asperity  towards  the  Church 
of  Rome  ;  .  .  .  certainly  many  required  teaching  that, 
however  corrupt  and  cankered,  still  the  Roman  Church 
is  a  branch  of  Christ's  Catholic  Church,  and  to  be  re- 


68  Bishop  Walsham  How 

garded  as  a  deeply  erring  sister.  .  .  •  But  within  the  last 
few  years  men  have  been  found  who  could  bear  nothing 
said  against  Rome,  who  wilfully  blinded  themselves  to 
her  evil,  and  would  only  contemplate  those  points  in  her 
which  they  considered  good — men,  who  on  the  other 
hand,  loved  to  find  fault  with  their  own  Church,  and  to 
hold  her  deficiencies  up  to  censure  and  her  weaknesses 
to  scorn — false-hearted  sons,  who  gloried  in  their  own 
mother's  shame. 

«  #  »  «  » 

"  Yes,  brethren,  it  is  a  time  to  remember  that  our 
Church  is  a  Protestant  Church — i.e.,  a  church  which  pro- 
tests against  the  perversions  of  Rome,  as  well  as  a 
Catholic  Church — i.e.,  a  true  and  living  branch  of  Christ's 
one  Catholic  Apostolic  Church.  .  .  .  Till  the  Church  of 
Rome  has  reformed  herself  we  can  neither  hold  com- 
munion with  her,  nor  shut  our  eyes  to  her  grievous  sins. 
May  God  give  us  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  moderation, 
that,  while  we  let  not  slip  anything  that  is  good  and  true, 
we  be  not  led  away  by  any  false  tide  of  feeling  to  such 
fearful  errors." 


CHAPTER  VI 

CONVOCATION  COMMITTEES.  ETC. 

In  the  summer  of  1868  the  whole  family  from  Whitting- 
ton  Rectory  migrated  for  their  holiday  to  Douglas  in  the 
Isle  of  Man,  and  took  up  their  abode  temporarily  at 
Derby  Castle,  which  was  at  that  time  a  quiet  house 
situated  at  the  further  extremity  of  Douglas  Bay.  While 
there  Mr.  How  was  very  nearly  drowned  while  bathing — 
but  it  will  be  better  to  let  him  tell  the  story  himself  in  the 
letter  to  his  brother,  written  on  the  following  day  : 

"  Derby  Castle,  Douglas, 

"Sunday,  Aug.  9,  1868. 

"  My  dear  Brother, 

"  I  must  write  and  tell  you  how  merciful  God  has 
been  to  me,  as  I  was  nearly  drowned  yesterday.  I  know 
you  will  offer  your  thanks  to  God  for  my  escape,  as  we 
have  in  church  this  morning.  It  was  exceedingly  rough 
yesterday,  and  when  we  went  to  bathe  in  a  little  rocky 
bay  near  this  house,  where  we  have  bathed  hitherto,  the 
waves  were  so  great  that  I  would  not  let  H.  A.  and  E.  W, 
go  in,  but  only  F.  and  F.  C,  both  of  whom  can  swim. 
As  1  passed  F.  trying  to  get  out  beyond  the  tremendous 
breakers,  I  warned  him  not  to  try  to  go  out  far,  as  I 
felt  the   sucking   back  of   the   return  waves   so   strong. 


yo  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Happily  neither  attempted  to  swim  out.  However,  I  got 
well  beyond  the  breakers,  and  then  it  was  glorious  to  be 
carried  up  so  high,  and  let  down  into  the  hollows 
between.  I  supposed  that,  as  the  tide  was  coming  in, 
and  nearly  full,  I  could  easily  swim  back  w^hen  I  pleased, 
and  that  the  waves  would  help  me  ;  but  directly  I  turned 
I  found  myself  further  out  than  I  thought,  and  felt  a  very 
strange  current  drawing  me  outwards,  against  which  I 
could  make  no  progress  at  all.  Then  my  feet  got  en- 
tangled in  a  quantity  of  floating  seaweed,  which  I  shook 
off  with  a  violent  struggle,  and  I  suppose  this  took  it  out 
of  me,  for  I  was  very  soon  exhausted,  and  conscious  that 
I  was  drowning.  Several  waves  went  right  over  me,  and 
I  lost  my  breath,  and  could  only  just  shout  to  a  man  on 
the  rocks,  '  Help  !  help  !  I  am  drowning '  ;  and  then  I 
quite  gave  up  all  hope  of  life.  It  was  a  very  awful 
moment,  old  fellow,  though  I  think  I  was  too  frightened 
to  feel  all  its  awful ness  at  the  time. 

"  But  there  really  seemed  no  chance.  The  man 
shouted  to  me  to  keep  off  the  rocks  and  swim  across  the 
bay,  but  I  was  utterly  spent  and  suffocated,  when,  most 
mercifully,  I  found  myself  close  to  a  small  bit  of  rock, 
which  appeared  for  a  few  seconds  between  the  huge 
waves  which  swept  over  it,  and  this  I  seized  somehow, 
and,  though  I  was  washed  off  it  once,  I  caught  it  again, 
and  managed  at  last  to  get  one  leg  over  it,  and  so  to 
cling  to  it  better.  It  was  still  a  dangerous  place,  and 
you  have  no  idea  how  the  great  waves  going  right  over 
you  take  your  power  away,  when  you  are  trying  to  get 
breath  again.  However,  finding  I  could  not  hold  on 
much  longer,  I  got  over  the  little  rock,  and  to  my  great 
thankfulness  found  rocks  and  stones  by  means  of  which 
I  dragged  myself  to  the  main  rocks.     I  was,  as  you  may 


Convocation  Committees,  etc.  71 

suppose,  tremendously  exhausted  and  knocked  up  all 
day.  I  did  not  recover  my  breath  for  half  an  hour,  and 
how  I  scrambled  up  home  and  got  on  my  bed  I  hardly 
know.  It  is  a  solemn  thing,  my  dear  brother,  to  have 
been  so  near  death.  God  grant  I  may  not  forget  the 
thoughts  and  resolutions  of  yesterday  !  Do  pray  for  me 
that  I  may  give  to  God  the  life  that  He  has  again  given 
to  me  far  more  thoroughly  than  I  have  done.  You 
cannot  conceive  the  intensity  of  the  love  one  finds  in 
one's  heart  for  those  one  has  nearly  left.  Fanny  was  out 
on  the  shore,  so  I  saw  no  one,  till,  when  on  my  bed,  I 
found  C.  taking  his  day  sleep  in  a  crib  by  the  side  of  my 
bed.  I  got  him  in  my  arms,  and  had  such  a  good  cry 
that  it  did  me  good,  though  I  think  he  was  rather 
astonished.  Then  you  can't  think  how  loving  they  have 
all  been,  especially  dear  old  F.,*  who  was  always  stealing 
up  to  kiss  me  as  I  lay  quiet  yesterday  evening." 

This  incident  gave  him  the  motive  for  "The  Last 
Bathe,"  which  is  to  be  found  in  his  book  of  published 
poems. 

In  December  of  this  year  Canon  Walsham  How  was 
elected  a  proctor  in  the  Southern  Convocation,  and 
during  the  ten  years  of  his  office  he  did  a  vast  amount  of 
work  in  committees  and  otherwise.  He  was  immediately 
put  upon  the  joint  Committee  of  Convocation  on  the 
Revision  of  the  Authorised  Version,  and  writing  on  this 
subject  to  the  late  Rev.  D.  P.  Evans,  then  one  of  his 
curates,  he  says  : 

"We  had  in  Committee  to-day  the  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester [Dr.  Harold  Browne]  (in  the  chair),  the  Bishops 
of  Gloucester  [Dr.  EUicott],  Salisbury  [Dr.  Hamilton], 

*  One  of  his  boys. 


72  Bishop  Walsham  How 

and  Llandaff  [Dr.  Ollifant]  ;  Archdeacons  Grant,  Rose, 
and  Bickersteth  ;  Deans  Warley  and  Alford,  Dr.  Kay, 
and  some  others — sixteen  in  all  out  of  twenty-four — a 
good  muster.  It  was  most  interesting  work,  though 
to-day  we  had  really  only  to  discuss  two  points  :  (i)  Is  it 
wise  and  right  to  attempt  revision  now  f  (2)  What  form 
should  it  take  ?  We  were  unanimous  in  favour  of  the 
first,  and  on  the  second  were  also  unanimous  (which 
astonished  me  much)  in  concluding  that  a  revision  could 
not  be  adequate,  if  confined  to  marginal  readings,  and 
must  ultimately  embody  the  more  important  corrections 
in  the  text.  These,  it  appears,  would  not  be  very  many, 
but  we  could  not  go  into  details." 

Within  the  next  year  or  two  he  also  served  on  "  Arch- 
deacon Freeman's  Third  Service  Committee,"  and  on  the 
Committee  on  the  Rubrics.  To  this  latter  he  gave  an 
immense  amount  of  time  and  labour,  and  published  a 
valuable  pamphlet  on  the  subject,  as  well  as  a  series  of 
articles  in  Church  Bells.  Many  of  these  are  pasted  into 
the  Book  of  Parish  Papers  at  Whittington,  and  the 
following  extracts  will  explain  the  views  he  held.  In 
1874,  after  the  Purchas  Judgment,  writing  about  the 
Ornaments  Rubric  and  that  immediately  preceding  the 
Prayer  of  Consecration,  he  said  : 

"  One  thing  became  manifest.  If  laws  are  to  be  sum- 
marily enforced,  they  must  be  clear.  Moreover,  it  was 
seen  and  admitted  that  at  least  the  two  important  Rubrics 
referred  to  are  not  clear,  and  that  their  want  of  clearness 
was  a  great  excuse  for  diversity  of  practice. 

"  And  now,  once  more,  ought  not  this  uncertainty  to 
be  an  element  in  our  judgment  of  those  from  whose 
practice  we  differ  on  either  side  ?     Have  we  any  right  to 


Convocation  Committees,  etc.  73 

dogmatise  and  condemn  in  so  uncertain  a  matter  ?  Is  it 
not  at  least  lawful  to  hold  diverse  views  of  the  meaning  of 
the  Rubric  we  are  discussing  ?  I  signed  (as  many  others 
signed)  the  Remonstrance  against  the  Purchas  Judgment, 
not  as  agreeing  in  views  or  practice  with  Mr.  Purchas, 
but  because  it  appeared  to  me  monstrous  that  a  man 
should  be  subjected  to  severe  criminal  penalties  for 
adopting  interpretations  of  Rubrics  which  could  not  be 
said  to  be  strained  or  unnatural  in  themselves,  and  in  the 
case  of  one  of  which  a  former  decision  of  the  Court  of 
Appeal  appeared  to  prove  the  interpretation  correct. 
Whatever  its  merits  in  law  (and  that  is  questioned  by 
very  high  authority),  the  judgment  appeared  to  me 
morally  indefensible.  My  English  sense  of  justice  re- 
belled, and  I  protested,  and  protest  still. 

"  To  the  question  *  Who  should  undertake  to  clear  the 
Rubrics  ? '  I  answer  :  This  is,  in  the  first  instance,  the 
plain  duty  of  Convocation.  Convocation  must  at  least 
be  prepared  to  say  what  seems  to  the  clergy  of  the  land 
desirable  in  regard  to  the  disputed  and  ambiguous 
Rubrics. 

"  I  must  honestly  confess  to  my  extreme  dislike  to 
vestments.  I  can  hardly  imagine  circumstances  under 
which  I  could  be  induced  to  wear  them.  But,  having 
resolved  to  judge,  as  far  as  I  am  able,  independently  of 
my  own  views  or  feelings,  I  have  to  ask  myself  this 
question  :  '  Can  the  Eucharistic  vestments  be  reconciled 
with  the  views  of  any  party  legitimately  embraced  within 
the  wide  boundaries  of  our  Church  ? '  This  question  I 
am  unable  to  answer  in  the  negative.  Undoubtedly 
there  has  always  been  a  succession  of  divines,  such  as 
Bull,  Wilson,  and  Andrewes,  who  have  clung  to  the 
primitive   sacrificial    language,   not,    I   think,  using  it  in 


74  Bishop  Walsham  How 

the  extreme  sense  in  which  some  would  use  such  lan- 
guage in  these  days,  but  rather  explaining  it  as  used  in 
the  secondary  sense  of  the  pleading  and  representation  of 
the  once  perfected  Sacrifice.  Such  divines,  if  now  living, 
would  in  all  probability  defend  the  vestments  as  not 
implying  more  than  the  memorial  of  the  Sacrifice — as  not 
unsuitable  to  the  'showing  of  the  Lord's  death  till  He 
come.'  " 

Writing  again  in  1877  on  this  subject,  after  the  Ridsdale 
Judgment,  he  says  : 

"  The  amended  Rubric,  enjoining  the  surplice,  per- 
mitting the  black  gown  in  preaching,  and  permitting  the 
cope  in  Holy  Communion  with  the  sanction  of  the  bishop, 
was  passed  by  41  to  7.  We  are  not  sanguine  enough  to 
expect  that  this  compromise  would  satisfy  all  concerned. 
Feelings  have  been  too  deeply  stirred,  and  positions 
too  firmly  established,  for  this  to  be  the  case.  Yet  we 
would  fain  hope  that  here  may  be  found  a  common 
ground  on  which  opposing  parties  may  meet.  The  law- 
fulness of  a  distinctive  garb,  wherewith  to  do  honour  to 
the  most  sacred  service  of  our  Church,  is  yielded,  subject 
to  the  bishop's  sanction,  while  the  present  vestments  are 
disallowed.  The  Ritualist  would  have  to  give  up  his 
stand  on  the  old  Ornaments  Rubric,  and  to  be  content 
with  a  robe,  not  associated  with  specific  doctrine,  and 
allowed  to  be  one  'for  glory  and  for  beauty'  only.  The 
Evangelical  would  have  to  give  up  his  stand  upon  the 
recent  Ridsdale  Judgment,  and  to  allow  of  a  grander  and 
more  ornate  ritual  in  certain  churches  with  the  bishop's 
sanction.  It  would  be  no  triumph  to  either  side,  and 
might  surely  bring  brother  nearer  to  brother.  Our 
differences  are  not  so  wide  as  they  seem.     It  is  surely  our 


Convocation  Committees,  etc.  75 

wisest  course  to  minimise  them  in  all  external  things. 
The  spirit  which  loves  marks  of  distinction  and  difference 
for  their  own  sake  is  not  the  spirit  of  Christ.  His  spirit 
is  a  spirit  of  love  and  forbearance  and  self-sacrifice. 
Could  we  only  approach  these  questions  (in  one  sense 
how  trivial !)  in  this  Christ-like  spirit,  there  might  yet  be 
peace  within  the  walls  of  our  Jerusalem,  and  her  children 
might  dwell  together  in  unity.  '  Oh,  pray  for  the  peace 
of  Jerusalem,  they  shall  prosper  that  love  thee.' " 

Thus  he  wrote  and  laboured  for  some  modus  vivcndi. 
Party  spirit  and  insubordination  in  the  Church  were  ever 
hateful  to  him,  so  that  when,  in  1877,  a  number  of  clergy 
openly  defied  all  episcopal  authority,  he  got  up  the  follow- 
ing address  to  the  bishops,  and  secured  a  list  of  influen- 
tial signatures  : 

"AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  BISHOPS. 

"  To  the  Most  Revei-end  and  Right  Revere?id  the  Archbishops 
and  Bishops  of  the  Church  of  England. 

"  We,  the  undersigned  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England, 
desire  to  assure  your  Lordships  of  our  sincere  loyalty  to 
our  spiritual  rulers,  as  well  as  of  our  true  sympathy  with 
them  in  the  difficulties  of  the  present  times. 

"We  believe  that  any  revision  or  amendment  of  the 
Church's  rules,  and  still  more,  that  any  readjustment  of 
the  relations  of  Church  and  State  to  matters  either  legisla- 
tive or  judicial,  however  much  to  be  desired,  must  be  a 
work  of  much  time  and  patience,  besides  being  in  itself 
surrounded  with  difficulties. 

"  Meanwhile  we  believe  that  there  is  grave  peril  in  the 
practical  non-recognition  of  any  existing  and  immediately 


76  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

available  authority  having  a  rightful  claim  to  obedience  in 
matters  affecting  the  ritual  of  the  Church. 

"  We  hold,  however,  that  the  very  constitution  of  the 
Church  provides  for  all  its  faithful  members  in  the  Episco- 
pate itself  an  immediately  available  authority,  having  a 
rightful  claim  to  obedience  in  matters  affecting  the  ritual 
of  the  Church.  We  recognise  in  the  words  of  the  Preface 
to  the  Prayer-book  '  Concerning  the  Service  of  the 
Church,'  as  well  as  in  our  own  ordination  vows,  a  very 
broad  and  stringent  obligation  to  submission  to  the 
authority  of  our  bishops  in  all  disputed  matters  of 
external  order. 

"  We  therefore  desire  to  assure  your  Lordships  of  our 
acceptance  of  this  principle,  and  of  our  resolution  to  bow 
to  the  decision  of  our  bishops  in  ail  matters  concerning 
the  service  of  the  Church,  in  which,  the  same  having  been 
diversely  taken,  and  having  been  referred  to  them,  they 
shall  authoritatively  declare  their  judgment. 

"  {Signed) 

"John  Bramston,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Winchester. 
G.  M.  YoRKE,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Worcester. 
J,  S.  HowsoN,  Dean  of  Chester. 
B.  Morgan  Cowie,  Dean  of  Manchester. 
J.  A.  Hessey,  Archdeacon  of  Middlesex. 
J.  B.  LiGHTFOOT,  Canon  of  St.  Paul's. 
Alfred  Barry,  D.D.,  Principal  of  King's  College. 
W.  H.  Lyttelton,  Rector  of  Hagley. 
E.  Capel  Cure,  Rector  of  St.  George's,  Hanover  Square. 
Augustus  Legge,  Vicar  of  St.  Bartholomew's,  Sydenham. 
J.  G.  Lonsdale,  Canon  of  Lichfield. 
A.  P.  Purey-Cust,  Archdeacon  of  Buckingham. 
J.  E.  Kempe,  Rector  of  St.  James',  Piccadilly. 
E.  F.  Prescott,  Vicar  of  St.  Michael's,  Paddington. 
J.  H.  Iles,  Archdeacon  of  Stafford. 
Arthur  Brooke,  Vicar  of  Holy  Trinity,  Brompton. 


Convocation  Committees,  etc.  77 

G.  Hans  Hamilton,  Archdeacon  of  Lindisfarne. 

E.  H.  GiFFORD,  Rector  of  Much  Haddern. 

J.  Hannah,  D.C.L.,  Archdeacon  of  Lewes. 

Lovelace  T.  Stamer,  Rector  of  Stoke-on-Trent. 

John  Gott,  D,D.,  Vicar  of  Leeds. 

H.  M.  LuCKOCK,  Canon  of  Ely. 

G.  S.  Palmer,  Rector  of  Newington. 

A.  C.  AiNSLiE,  Vicar  of  Henstridge. 

David  Williams,  Canon  of  St.  David's. 

A.  T.  Lloyd,  Vicar  of  Aylesbury. 

Alfred  Pott,  Archdeacon  of  Berks. 

E.  Carr-Glyn,  Vicar  of  Doncaster. 
W.  H.  Ridley,  Rector  of  Hambledon. 

J.  C.  Miller,  Vicar  of  Greenwich,  and  Canon  of  Rochester. 
James  Randall,  Proctor  in  Convocation  for  the  Chapter  of 

F.  PiGOU,  Vicar  of  Halifax.  [Bristol. 
J.  R.  T.  Eaton,  Proctor  in  Convocation. 

Philip  Hoste,  Rector  of  Farnham. 

E.  T.  Leake,  Chancellor  of  Lincoln. 
George  Venables,  Vicar  of  Great  Yarmouth. 
J.  Erskine  Clarke,  Vicar  of  Battersea. 

W.  D.  Maclagan,  Vicar  of  Kensington. 

W.  R.  Clark,  Vicar  of  Taunton. 

J.  P.  NoRRis,  Canon  of  Bristol. 

W.  FoxLEY  NoRRis,  Vicar  of  Buckingham. 

F.  W.  A.  BowYER,  Rector  of  Clapham. 
J.  T.  Birkett,  Rector  of  Gravely. 

T.  B.  Lloyd,  Vicar  of  St.  Mary's,  Shrewsbury. 

Marsham  Argles,  Canon  of  Peterborough. 

W.  J.  M.  Ellison,  Vicar  of  St.  John's,  Battersea. 

J.  F.  Wichenden,  Prebendary  of  Lincoln. 

Charles  Bellairs,  Rector  of  Bolton  Abbey. 

H.  W.  Burrows,  Vicar  of  Christ  Church,  Albany  Street. 

Temple  Hillyard,  Canon  of  Chester. 

H.  CoTTiNGHAM,  Vicar  of  Heath. 

Richard  Gee,  D.D.,  Proctor  in  Convocation, 

W.  Walsh  AM  How,  Rector  of  Whittington." 

A   glance   at   this    list    of    signatures   will   show  how 


78  Bishop  Walsham  How 

influentially  the  address  was  signed,  and  how  widely 
representative  the  names  were  of  various  schools  of 
thought.  At  least  nine  of  the  signatories  afterwards 
became  bishops,  and  men  are  included  of  such  diverse 
views  as  Canon  Luckock,  now  Dean  of  Lichfield,  and 
Mr.  Carr-Glyn,  now  Bishop  of  Peterborough  : 

But  to  return  to  Canon  Walsham  How's  Convocation 
work,  we  next  find  him  at  w^ork  for  the  Committee  on  the 
Athanasian  Creed.  In  the  Whittington  Parish  Papers  we 
find  the  following  extracts  inserted  by  himself  : 

"  ATHANASIAN  CREED. 

"  Paper  drawn  up  by  W.  W.  H.,  and  presented  to  the  Committee, 

of  which  I  was  a  member,  ivith  a  view  to  helping 

the  discussion,  viz. : 

Synodical  Declaration. 

*^  The  attempt  to  frame  a  Synodical  Declaration  concern- 
ing the  Athanasian  Creed  is  an  attempt  to  meet  and  to 
remove  popular  misconceptions.  Therefore,  to  be  of  any 
use,  the  Declaration  must  be  popular  in  character  and 
simple  in  words.  It  must  be  such  as  can  be  shown  to  a 
superficial  objector  without  itself  requiring  explanation. 
The  popular  objections  to  the  Creed  are  concerned  with 
the  condemnatory  clauses,  which  are  by  some  understood  : 
(i)  As  consigning  to  everlasting  death  all,  without  excep- 
tion, who  do  not  hold  the  true  Faith.  (2)  As  pronouncing 
such  condemnation  upon  all  who  may  err  with  regard  to 
any  single  clause  in  this  exposition  of  the  true  Faith. 

"  The  subjoined  form  is  an  attempt,  put  forth  very 
diffidently,  to  provide  a  declaration  which  shall  meet  these 
popular  objections.  It  is  thought  well  also  that  the 
Declaration  should  in  its  first  clause  set  forth  the  general 
nature  of  the  formulary,  and  that  there  should  be  added  a 


Convocation  Committees,  etc.  79 

clause  dealing  with  the  words  which  have  appeared  to 
some  to  involve  a  condemnation  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Eastern  Church  with  regard  to  the  Procession  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

"  It  is  then  suggested  that,  after  a  preamble,  stating  that 
misconceptions  have  existed,  and  do  exist,  concerning 
this  Creed,  and  expressing  the  earnest  desire  of  the 
synod  to  remove,  so  far  as  may  be,  all  such  misconcep- 
tions, the  Declaration  should  be  as  follows  : 

"i.  That  this  Creed  is  of  the  nature  of  an  instruction 
concerning  the  true  faith,  rather  than  of  an  actual  con- 
fession of  faith. 

"  2.  That  the  warnings  of  this  Creed  are  addressed  only 
to  such  as  have  already  received  the  Catholic  Faith, 
declaring  faithfully  to  such  the  peril  of  sinful  rejection  or 
perversion  thereof. 

"  3.  That  by  the  '  Catholic  Faith '  must  be  understood 
the  great  fundamental  doctrines  of  our  holy  religion,  as 
set  forth  in  the  Apostles'  and  Nicene  Creeds,  and  herein 
expounded  for  the  instruction  of  the  faithful. 

"4.  That  in  the  words  'the  Holy  Ghost  is  of  the 
Father  and  of  the  Son '  no  denial  is  to  be  understood  of 
the  truth  that  the  Father  is  the  eternal  source  of  all  being." 

The  following  letter  will  serve  further  to  describe  his 
attitude  on  the  question  : 

[To  Canon  W.  W.  Douglas.] 

"Whittington  Rectory, 

"  MarcA  13,  1870. 
"  My  Dear  William, 

"  Many  thanks  for  your  letter.     I  am  glad  you  have 

spoken  about  the  Athanasian  Creed,  as  it  gives  me  the 

opportunity  of  telling  you  about  it.     I  am  a  member  of 


8o  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

an  association  for  promoting  unity  among  Christians  at 
home,  of  which  Mr.  George  Venables  is  secretary.  It 
originated  at  the  Wolverhampton  Church  Congress,  and 
was  a  suggestion  of  the  Bishop  of  Ely's  [Dr.  Woodford]. 
We  had  several  very  interesting  and  instructive  meetings 
at  various  places,  and  at  Derby,  Mr.  Crompton,  an  Inde- 
pendent minister,  read  to  us  a  letter,  which  was  after- 
wards printed,  and  of  which  I  send  you  a  copy.  There 
was  a  discussion  upon  it,  and  I  spoke  strongly  as  to  my 
desire  to  retain  the  Creed  in  our  services,  as  well  as  in  our 
Prayer-book,  and  expressed  myself  in  favour  of  trying 
the  explanatory  note  or  rubric,  which  Mr.  Venables 
suggested  at  Wolverhampton,  and  which  Mr.  Crompton 
advocated  in  his  letter. 

"  I  should  (as  almost  every  one  would)  much  prefer  to 
have  had  the  Creed  without  the  '  damnatory  clauses,'  but 
there  they  are,  and  although  I  freely  allow  I  use  them  in 
rather  a  non-natural  sense,  I,  for  one,  see  no  way  of  remov- 
ing them.  (You  remember  perhaps  that  the  late  Bishop 
of  Lichfield  resolutely  shut  his  lips  during  those  clauses.) 
Well,  after  this  meeting  Mr.  Venables  wrote  to  ask  mc 
whether  I  would  join  in  a  petition  for  such  an  authoritative 
note  as  was  suggested,  and  I  said  I  would  most  gladly. 

"  I  afterwards  saw  the  form  of  petition  printed,  and 
found  he  had  named  three  plans,  instead  of  the  one  I 
agreed  to.  So  I  wrote  asking  to  withdraw  my  name. 
However,  he  wrote  most  strongly  urging  that,  if  I  agreed 
to  the  general  principle  that  some  relief  would  be  desir- 
able, and  approved  of  one  of  the  forms  of  relief  suggested, 
I  ought  to  sign.  I  did  not  think  this  quite  sound  reason- 
ing, but,  not  considering  it  of  much  importance,  I  never 
answered  his  letter,  and  allowed  my  name  to  remain. 

"  As  to  the  three  plans,  I  thoroughly  disapprove  of  an 


Convocation  Committees,  etc.  8i 

optional  rubric  ;  I  would  thankfully  omit  the  clauses  and 
begin  'This  is  the  Catholic  Faith,'  if  I  saw  any  way  to  it, 
but  I  don't ;  and  the  third  only— the  explanatory  note,  of 
which  we  have  already  several  examples — seems  to  me 
practicable. 

"At  our  dinner  of  the  writers  in  The  Church  and  the 
Age  the  subject  was  largely  discussed.   Bishop   Ellicott 
being   in   favour   of    using  the   Creed   only   on   Trinity 
Sunday,   and   almost   all    the   others   wishing   for   some 
action  in  the  matter,  except  Dr.  Irons.     It  seemed  felt  by 
most  that  the  Creed  would  be  infinitely  grander,  if  it  was 
positive  only.     I    have  no  sympathy  (and  none   of    us, 
except  perhaps  Mr.  Maclagan  and  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  had) 
with  the  popular  objection  to  the  minuteness  of  defini- 
tion in  it.     What  so  many  do  feel  is  the  terribleness  of 
saying  (as  the  primary  sense  of  the  words  seems  to  say) 
that  all  are  lost  who  cannot  subscribe  to  this  minuteness 
of  definition.     It  is  absurd  of  Mr.  E.  Stuart  to  say  that  it 
is  the  same  thing  to  say  *  Whosoever  believeth  not ' — a 
perfectly  wide   and   general    saying  —  and    'Whosoever 
believeth    not   a   large    number  of   distinct   propositions 
concerning  the  Faith  .  .  .  shall   be  damned.'    Any  one 
can  see  that  unless  every  one  of  these  is  of  necessity  in- 
cluded in  our  Lord's  intention  in  the  word  '  believeth  ' — a 
very  difficult  thing  to  prove — the  parallelism  fails.     But 
I  do  not  want  to  argue  the  matter.     I   only  want  to  let 
you  know  what  I  did,  and  what  I  think  about  it.     I  have 
not  seen  Pusey's  declaration  ;  can  you  send  me  a  copy  or 
give  me  the  words  of  it  ?  .  .  . 

"  Ever,  my  dear  William, 

"  Your  very  affectionate  brother, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  HOV^r." 


82  Bishop  Walsham  How 

It  was  always  a  trouble  to  him  that  nothing  was  ever 
done  to  remove  the  difficulty  felt  by  many  to  joining  in 
the  damnatory  clauses.  Walking  back  from  a  cathedral 
service  at  Wakefield  in  the  last  year  of  his  life  he  was 
asked  whether  it  would  not  be  a  good  thing  to  have 
some  explanatory  note  to  them.  "  Yes,"  replied  the 
Bishop,  "  or  better,  omit  them  altogether." 

While  speaking  of  the  views  he  held  on  controverted 
subjects,  in  order  that  it  may  not  be  necessary  to  return 
to  matters  which  he  always  disliked,  it  may  be  well  to 
quote  here  (again  from  Church  Bells)  what  he  wrote 
upon  the  vexed  question  of  Fasting  Communion. 

"  We  trust,"  he  says,  "  sincerely  that  early  celebra- 
tions will  continue  to  become  more  frequent,  and  that 
they  will  be  more  and  more  prized  by  our  people.  Still, 
later  ones  are  at  present  a  necessity,  and  we  as  earnestly 
trust  that  these  may  never  be  transformed  from  a  blessed 
Communion  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  our  Lord  into  a 
hearing  of  the  Mass.  And  as  to  fasting,  it  is  a  means 
and  not  an  end.  It  is  meant  to  bring  the  body  into  a 
state  helpful  to  a  prayerful  and  watchful  spirit.  Let  it 
be  so  used  when  it  effects  its  purpose.  But  is  it  better  to 
lie  in  bed  till  church  time,  as  some  do,  because  they 
cannot  otherwise  go  through  the  long  morning  service 
fasting,  or  to  take  such  simple  food  as  may  be  found 
needful  to  enable  both  body  and  spirit  to  engage  profit- 
ably in  the  worship  of  the  Church  without  impairing 
their  fitness  for  the  ordinary  duties  of  the  morning  ?  We 
really  cannot  help  recoiling  with  a  shudder  from  the 
gross  carnalism  (we  can  call  it  nothing  else)  of  words 
which  now  lie  before  us,  and  which  we  almost  tremble 
to  repeat ;  in  which  we  are  warned  that  '  when  we  are 


Convocation  Committees,  etc.  83 

about  to  receive  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  into  our 
bodies,  we  should  take  care  that  the  resting  place  of  the 
sacrament  be  not  pre-occupied '  !  " 

On  ritual  generally  the  words  of  the  Bishop's  Charge 
at  the  Wakefield  Diocesan  Conference  of  1892  must  be 
quoted,  for  one  of  his  latest  acts  was  to  leave  instructions 
to  that  effect.  An  envelope  addressed  to  his  eldest  son 
was  found  on  his  library  table  after  his  death  with, 
amongst  other  enclosures,  the  following  words  written 
across  a  half-sheet  of  note  paper.  "  If  my  views  on 
ritual  matters  are  ever  wanted,  I  would  refer  to  my 
Charge  in  vol.  ii.  of  the  bound  volumes  of  the  Gazette^ 
pp.  92,  &c." 

This  must  have  been  written  just  before  he  left  home 
for  Ireland,  and  not  more  than  ten  days  before  his  death, 
of  which  he  seems  to  have  had  a  presentiment.  The 
whole  Charge  is  too  long  to  quote,  but  the  following  are 
some  typical  passages  : 

The  subject  was  the  recent  Lincoln  Judgment,  and  in 
the  course  of  his  address  the  Bishop  said  : 

''Quite  apart  from  any  opinion  as  to  the  particular 
points  upon  which  the  Archbishop  and  his  Assessors 
pronounced  their  judgment,  I  hold  it  to  be  a  matter  of 
great  thankfulness  that  there  should  be  perfect  accord 
between  the  Spiritual  Court  and  the  Civil  Court  of  Final 
Appeal.  I  rejoice  that  the  learning  and  acumen  of  the 
Archbishops  have  been  approved  by  the  highest  legal 
authority,  and  that  the  Supreme  Court  has  set  its  seal  to 
his  Grace's  fairness  and  impartiality. 

"...  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  decry  or  despise  the 
verdicts  of  civil  courts  in  ecclesiastical  matters.  The 
State  has  its  rights  as  well  as  the  Church.     The  Crown  is 


84  Bishop  Walsham  How 

bound  to  see  that  justice  is  done  in  all  matters,  eccle- 
siastical as  well  as  civil.  .  .  . 


"  In  the  first  place,  I  shall  expect  that  the  restrictions 
of  the  judgment  be  observed  wherever  I  myself  officiate. 
In  the  second  place,  I  earnestly  hope  no  one  will  feel  that 
the  larger  liberty  allowed  in  certain  points  will  justify  the 
taking  advantage  of  such  liberty  to  the  distress  or  disturb- 
ance of  good  people  in  our  congregations.  There  is  a 
difference  between  lawfulness  and  expediency. 

*  *  *  *  « 

"  I  think  such  a  body  of  faithful,  earnest,  loyal  clergy 
and  laity  as  I  now  have  the  privilege  of  addressing  may 
rightfully  claim  to  know  their  bishop's  opinions  on  such 
matters  as  these  which  I  have  briefly  passed  in  review. 
Let  me,  then,  say  plainly  that,  in  endeavouring  to  show 
the  reasonableness  (I  should  feel  it  presumptuous  to  deal 
with  the  legal  arguments)  of  the  decisions  arrived  at,  I 
have  not  done  so  from  any  love  of,  or  desire  for,  such 
things  as  have  been  pronounced  not  unlawful.  I  have 
no  doubt  of  the  rightfulness  of  such  pronouncement.  It 
seems  to  me  to  be  based  on  common  sense,  right  prin- 
ciple, and,  as  far  as  I  can  venture  to  judge,  on  law.  But 
personally  I  am  happier  with  a  very  simple  ritual. 
Minds  are  differently  constituted,  and  to  some,  no  doubt, 
ornate  ritual  is  devotionally  helpful,  while  to  others  it  is 
welcome  as  dignifying  the  most  solemn  of  our  services. 
And  I  repeat  what  I  have  said  on  a  former  occasion,  that 
my  enforced  familiarity  with  services  of  all  sorts  of  types 
has,  I  am  thankful  to  say,  enabled  me  to  enter  into  the 
spirit  of  the  worship  without  much  distraction  from 
variety  of  outward  form.  But,  even  with  this  advantage 
I    feel   an    over-elaborate   ritual  is  distracting  ;    and  the 


Convocation  Committees,  etc.  85 

introduction  of  unusual  or  fussy  or  extreme  practices 
does  mar  my  enjoyment  of  the  services  ;  sometimes  more 
from  the  feeling,  which  I  cannot  suppress,  that  these 
things  are  very  likely  disturbing  or  distracting  others,, 
than  from  the  effect  they  have  directly  on  myself.  And 
then  I  shall  not  wholly  have  liberated  my  soul  if  I  do  not 
add  that  I  have,  and  have  all  my  life  had,  a  great  and 
sincere  dread  of  Romanism,  in  protest  against  which  I 
join  with  all  my  heart,  and  I  would  urge  that  great 
tenderness  be  shown  towards  those  who  may,  even  igno- 
rantly,  imagine  certain  practices  to  be  of  a  Romeward 
tendency.  I  cannot  too  often  or  too  strongly  urge  the 
high  and  holy  duties  of  charity,  sympathy,  self-repression, 
and  self-denial.  .  .  . 

"  If  the  spirit  which  animates  us  be  one  of  love  and 
.forbearance,  and  humility  and  obedience,  the  host  of  the 
Lord  will  go  forth  '  conquering  and  to  conquer.' " 

This  exposition  of  his  views  on  controverted  questions 
may  well  be  concluded  by  quoting  his  reply  to  a  question 
asked  him  by  the  Rev.  J.  F.  Kitto,  now  Rector  of 
St.  Martin's,  Charing  Cross. 

The  question  was  as  follows  :  "  I  am  regarded  as,  and 
believe  myself  to  be,  a  strong  Low  Churchman,  and  you  are 
regarded  as  a  moderate  High  Churchman.  Will  you  please 
say  what  you  suppose  to  be  the  difference  between  us  ?  " 

In  his  reply  the  Bishop  said  : 

'*  I  am  sure,  in  the  first  place,  that  men  who  are  ranged 
by  themselves  or  by  others  under  different  appellations 
are  really  more  in  accord  than  they  think.  The  common 
ground  is  much  the  larger  part  of  their  creed,  but  even 
in  the  other  part  it  is  very  comforting  to  find  that,  while 
using  phrases  which   seem  far  apart,  there  is  mostly  a 


86  Bishop  Walsham  How 

large  amount  of  agreement  in  their  underlying  truth.  I 
suppose  I  should  in  my  teaching  make  more  of  the 
Sacraments  than  you  would,  and  that  one  of  the  real 
divergences  among  Churchmen  would  be  the  tendency 
on  the  one  hand  to  magnify,  and  on  the  other  hand  to 
depreciate,  ordinances.  Again,  in  regard  to  the  Holy 
Communion,  possibly  I  may  value  the  Godward  comme- 
moration, the  pleading  and  representing  before  God  (which 
is  said  to  be  typified  by  the  Eastward  position)  more  than 
you.  But  I  fancy  in  doctrinal  definition  we  should  not 
be  far  apart,  if  at  all.  I  cannot  hold  views  or  language 
concerning  Holy  Communion  which  imply  a  localised  or 
defined  presence  of  Christ's  Body  and  Blood.  I  take  my 
stand  on  St.  Paul's  'The  cup  which  we  bless,  is  it  not,'  &c." 

"  Perhaps  another  divergence  would  be  as  to  the  pro- 
minence and  value  relatively  of  the  corporate  and  indi- 
vidual life,  and  I  might  lean  to  the  side  of  making  more 
of  the  Church  and  '  Kingdom  '  than  you. 

"Then  again  I  suppose  there  is  a  difference  in  men's 
minds  as  to  outward  ceremonial,  and  I  might  value 
greater  attention  to  it  as  a  help  to  reverence  and  devotion 
than  you.  I  don't  at  all  relish  trying  to  find  out  points 
of  divergence,  but  am  trying  to  see  why  we  should  rank 
respectively  as  a  strong  Low  Churchman  and  a  moderate 
High  Churchman.  I  wonder  whether  I  am  not  rather 
*  Broad,'  in  the  sense  of  trying  to  see  and  appreciate  the 
good  and  true  on  every  side.  What  I  dread  in  the  so- 
called  Broad  School  is  the  indifference  to  positive  truth, 
and  readiness  to  surrender  the  old  Faith.  In  its  sym- 
pathy and  charity  I  can  go  with  it." 

With  this  statement  in  the  Bishop's  own  words  the 
subject  of  his  position  as  a  Churchman  may  well  be  left. 


CHAPTER  VII 

OFFERS  OF  PREFERMENT 

As  will  be  gathered  from  the  general  tenor  of  Canon 
How's  position  set  forth  in  the  preceding  chapter,  his 
inclination  was  towards  gently  winning  souls  for  Christ 
rather  than  towards  alarming  his  parishioners  by  insisting 
upon  matters  of  ritual  which  he  considered  of  secondary 
importance. 

When  in  early  days  an  uneducated  inhabitant  of 
Whittington  objected  to  the  use  of  flower  vases  in  the 
church,  the  junior  clergy  wished  to  have  no  attention 
paid  to  what  they  considered  impertinent  interference. 
But  the  rector  went  and  reasoned  with  the  man,  and, 
when  this  failed,  removed  the  vases  rather  than  lose  his 
influence  for  good  with  a  single  parishioner.  Not  long 
afterwards  this  very  man  was  attacked  by  a  painful 
disease,  and  in  his  paroxysms  of  agony  none  but  the 
rector  could  bring  him  the  comfort  and  help  he  needed. 

The  same  tenderness  and  consideration  came  out  in  all 
his  dealings.  One  of  his  curates  remembers  preaching  a 
vague  and  rambling  discourse  when  the  rector  was 
present  in  church.  In  the  evening  it  was  customary  for 
all  the  clergy  to  have  the  texts  and  subjects  of  their 
sermons  entered  in  a  book.  Mr.  How  conveyed  his 
rebuke  for  this  particular  effusion  by  looking  up  as  he 


88  Bishop  Walsham  How 

entered  the  text,  and  saying  with  a  twinkle,  "  Let  me  see, 
what  was  your  subject  ?  " 

Of  his  thoughtfuhiess  towards  all  there  is  a  story  told 
that  on  the  formation  of  a  Guild  of  Church  Workers  he 
presented  a  card  of  membership  to  the  rectory  cook, 
greatly  to  her  delight  and  surprise.  He  told  her  that  he 
did  so  because  she  so  willingly  did  extra  work  and 
employed  her  best  skill  in  compounding  delicacies  for 
the  sick  poor,  and  in  that  way  was  as  truly  a  church 
worker  as  the  district  visitor  who  conveyed  the  fruit  of 
her  labours  to  the  cottages. 

He  made  little  difference  in  his  attitude  towards 
Church  people  and  Dissenters,  of  whom  in  a  parish  on 
the  Welsh  border  there  were  not  a  few.  He  was  great 
friends  with  one  old  woman,  the  wife  of  a  local  preacher 
among  the  Primitive  Methodists,  and  he  was  always 
delighted  to  tell  how,  seeing  her  one  day  in  church,  he 
asked  her  how  it  was  she  had  deserted  her  chapel. 
"  Well,  sir,"  she  replied,  "  you  see  my  old  man  be  preach- 
ing at  our  chapel  to-day,  and  I  can't  abide  he  !  " 

Mrs.  How  once  said  of  her  husband,  "  He  never  can 
see  evil  in  any  one  ;  he  is  always  making  the  best  of  them," 
and  this  accounts  in  great  measure  for  the  affectionate 
regard  in  which  he  was  held  by  so  many.  At  the  same 
time  this  tenderness  for  others  was  apt  occasionally  to 
lead  him  into  difficulties.  He  could  not  bear  to  refuse  a 
request,  and  sometimes  lamented  over  his  inability  to  say 
*'  No."  Thus  his  time  was  often  taken  up  by  unimportant 
engagements,  which  he  had  not  liked  to  decline,  to  the 
sacrifice  of  more  serious  matters  which  presented  them- 
selves afterwards.  He  could  refuse  by  letter,  but  a 
personal  application  was  usually  successful.  To  this,  as 
well  as  to  the  busy  life  he  led,  may  be  ascribed  what  many 


Offers  of  Preferment  89 

considered  his  rashness.  Thus,  a  curate  would  be  inter- 
viewed and  on  a  very  short  acquaintance  accepted.  One 
of  the  best  of  his  Whittington  curates  says  : 

"  He  came  to  see  me  at  Cambridge,  and  said  that  he  would 
write  to  me  after  our  interview.  As  I  walked  with  him  to  the 
station  I  was  very  anxious,  wondering  if  I  should  have  the  blessing 
of  being  his  curate,  and  how  long  it  would  be  before  I  should 
hear.  Perhaps  his  kindly  nature  noticed  this,  for,  laying  his  hand 
on  my  shoulder,  he  said  '  Well,  my  dear  friend,  I  do  not  think  I 
need  keep  you  in  suspense  :  I  shall  be  very  glad  if  you  will  come 
and  work  with  me.'     And  then  he  blessed  me." 

He  would  decide  important  matters  with  what  appeared 
to  be  reckless  rapidity,  sometimes  appointing  a  man  to 
a  vacant  post  on  hearsay  only — and  the  marvel  was  that 
his  decisions  and  selections  were  so  often  successful. 
That  he  knew  how  difficult  it  was  for  him  to  refuse  any- 
thing in  a  personal  interview,  the  following  letter  to  his 
brother  shows  : 

"  The  Manor  House,  Penmaenmawr, 

"Atig.  9,  1873. 

"  I  have  now  before  me,  to  be  answered  to-day,  two 
letters  which  make  me  uncomfortable,  one  from  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  [Tait]  pressing  me  to  go  to  Cape- 
town, and  one  from  the  Bishop  of  London  offering  me 
All  Saints,  Margaret  Street.  The  latter  is  comparatively 
simple,  as  I  am  too  much  out  of  harmony  with  the  whole 
system  there  to  be  able  to  work  there  happily  or  usefully. 
In  declining  the  other  I  cannot  help  dreading  lest  I  should 
be  refusing  a  work  God  would  have  me  undertake.  Yet 
I  really  cannot.  The  Archbishop  begs  me  to  go  to  Adding- 
ton  on  Monday  to  see  him.  I  dare  not  do  that,  lest  I 
should  be  unable  to  withstand  the  personal  pressure.     A 


90  Bishop  Walsham  How 

long  letter  from  the  Bishop  of  Edinburgh  (late  of 
Grahamstown)*  also  presses  me  to  accept  it.  Do  you 
think  I  am  wrong  to  stay  where  I  am  so  much  happier, 
and  where  I  hope  I  am  not  useless  ?  " 

The  Archbishop's  letter  referred  to  was  as  follows  : 

"  Addington  Park,  Croydon, 

"A7ig.  6.  1873. 
"  My  dear  Sir, 

"  I  am  very  anxious  to  speak  to  you  on  the  subject  of  the 
vacant  See  of  Capetown,  and  to  ascertain  by  a  personal  conference 
what  prospect  there  is  of  our  persuading  you^to  accept  the  post. 
The  Bishop  of  Edinbro'  and  Mr.  Bullock  are  to-night  with  me, 
and  would  at  once  concur  in  your  appointment.  May  I  ask 
whether  you  could  visit  me  here  on  Monday  next  to  stay  the 
night  ?     Our  line  is  from  Victoria  to  East  Croydon. 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"A.  C.  CANTUAR." 

The  Bishop  of  London's  letter  is  interesting  as  showing 
the  estimation  in  which  Canon  Walsham  How  was  held 
as  a  Churchman  of  sound  moderate  views. 

"  FuLHAM  Palace,  S.W.,  Aug.  6,  1873. 

"  My  dear  Sir, 

"  Most  thankful  although  I  should  be  to  have  your  help 
and  influence  in  this  diocese,  I  do  not  think  1  should  have  ven- 
tured on  the  following  proposal,  involving  a  possible  sacrifice  of 
ease  and  comfort  which  I  have  no  right  to  ask  you  to  make,  had 
it  not  been  suggested  to  me  by  a  friend  of  yours,  and  warmly 
supported  by  Maclagan.  It  is  that  you  would  undertake  the  very 
difificult  and  important  charge  of  All  Saints,  Margaret  Street. 

"I  am  very  anxious,  as  you  may  suppose,  to  place  there  an 
incumbent  who  will  satisfy  (as  much  as  may  be)  the  reasonable 
requirements  of  the  congregation  ;  will  maintain  the  services  in 
their  beauty  within  the  allowed  limits  of  the  Anglican  ritual ;  will 

*  Cotterell. 


Offers  of  Preferment  91 

sympathise  and  co-operate  with  the  large  and  varied  charitable 
machinery  of  the  parish  ;  will  be  a  ready  and  experienced  coun- 
sellor in  all  cases  of  spiritual  distress  and  difficulty  without 
encouraging  (as  I  fear  has  been  done  there  of  late)  the  enervating 
habit  of  confession  ;  and  who  will  introduce  a  somewhat  more 
evangelical  (I  am  not  using  the  word  in  its  party  sense)  and 
experimental  tone  of  preaching  than  has  been  the  ordinary  tone 
there. 

"  That  this  will  satisfy  all  the  congregation  I  do  not  expect. 
No  one  whom  I  could  concientiously  place  there  would.  Some 
would  go  to  St.  Albans  and  elsewhere.  But  it  would  satisfy  many, 
and  what  is  more  it  would  benefit  them.  And  if  you  went,  the 
gap,  I  believe,  would  soon  be  filled,  and  the  congregation,  if  not 
the  same,  would  be  as  large  and  influential. 

"  I  am  bound,  however,  to  lay  before  you  the  difficulties.  The 
system  of  All  Saints  is  the  voluntary  system  on  the  most  extreme 
scale.  Not  only  are  the  services,  the  curates,  and  the  charities 
maintained  by  the  offertory,  but    the  endowment  is  only  ;^i5o 

with  a  house  (which  Mr. gave  to  his  curates),  and  the  income 

has  been  made  up  to  (it  is  supposed)  a  considerable  sum  by  an 
offertory  on  one  Sunday  in  the  year  which  was  delivered  uncounted 
to  the  incumbent.  All  this,  of  course,  may  fail,  and  the  church 
might  be  left  to  sink  to  the  ordinary  level  of  an  ill-ordered  district 
church.  I  do  not  think  this  probable  with  your  incumbency ;  but 
no  doubt  to  accept  such  a  post  would  be  a  venture  of  faith,  and  as 
such  only  I  lay  it  before  you. 

"  I  ought  to  add  that  this  is  the  first  time  I  have  offered  the 
incumbency  to  any  one,  excepting  that  I  ascertained  from  my  old 
friend  Henry  Burrows,  after  the  newspapers  had  given  it  to  him, 
whether  he  would  accept  it  or  not. 

"  I  mention  this  because  the  Church  newspapers  have  amused 
themselves  and  their  readers  by  filling  up  the  benefice  from  time 
to  time  out  of  their  own  imaginations.  I  should  say  too,  as  I  told 
the  churchwardens,  that  after  what  has  fallen  from  the  Chancellor 
and  others,  as  to  the  desirability  of  the  point  being  reargued  and 
redecided,  I  should  not  think  it  necessary  to  inquire  whether  the 
incumbent  I  appointed  consecrated  at  the  north  or  west  side  of 
the  Holy  Table. 

"  I  believe  that  I  have  now  laid  the  case  fairly  before  you,  and 


92  Bishop  Walsham  How 

leave  the  decision  in  your  hands,  not  doubting  that  God  will  guide 
you  aright, 

"  Believe  me  to  be, 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"J.LONDON. 
"  Rev.  W.  Walsham  How," 

That  he  was  able  to  decline  offers  made  him,  when  he 
felt  that  it  was  right  to  do  so,  is  plain  from  the  fact  that 
besides  the  two  Bishoprics  of  Natal  and  Capetown  already 
mentioned,  he  refused  that  of  New  Zealand  on  the  return 
home  of  Bishop  Selwyn,  of  Montreal,  and  of  nomination 
for  that  of  Jamaica.  Of  appointments  in  England  he  also 
at  various  times  declined  the  Bishoprics  of  Manchester 
and  Durham,  a  canonry  at  Winchester,  and  such  livings  as 
Brighton  and  Windsor  with  the  Readership  to  the  Queen. 

Among  the  eminent  men  who  began  to  esteem  him 
highly  and  to  extend  their  friendship  to  him  was  Samuel 
Wilberforce,  then  Bishop  of  Oxford,  visits  to  whom  at 
Cuddesdon  were  among  his  greatest  pleasures.  Here  is 
an  excellent  account  of  one  of  them  written  in  the  train 
on  his  way  home  in  June  1869. 

"  I  have  had  a  most  delightful  visit  and  S.  O.  was  in 
immense  force.  Our  party  in  the  house  {i.e.,  the  Palace) 
were  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  with  Mrs.  and  Miss 
Trench,  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  with  Mrs.  and  Miss 
Wordsworth  (but  they  left  yesterday),  the  Bishop  of 
Derry  with  Mrs.  Alexander  ('Hymns  for  Little  Chil- 
dren'), the  Dean  of  York  with  Lady  Harriet,  Miss 
and  a  young  Mr.  Duncombe,  Mr.  Hubbard,  Arch- 
deacon Randall,  Lord  Rd.  Cavendish,  Dr.  Woodford, 
Mr.  Basil  Wilberforce,  and  such  a  charming  wife,  Mr. 
Wayland  Joyce  and  myself.  The  Vice-Chancellor  of 
Oxford,    Dr.    Leighton,   dined   each    evening,  and   some 


Offers  of  Preferment  93 

others.  They  were  all  excessively  pleasant  and  friendly, 
and  we  had  such  talk  as  is  not  often  to  be  had.  Each 
evening,  after  the  ladies  had  left,  we  had  a  long  and 
most  deeply  interesting  conversation,  formally  introduced 
as  a  topic  for  consultation,  upon  the  re-organisation  of 
the  Irish  Church.  Of  course  I  took  no  part,  though  the 
Bishop  of  O.  called  on  me  to  do  so,  but  the  Arch- 
bishop, the  Bishop  of  Derry,  the  Bishop  of  O.,  Arch- 
deacon Randall,  and  Mr.  Joyce,  all  said  much,  and  the 
great  question  as  to  the  mode  of  admission  of  the 
laity,  and  the  relation  they  should  bear  to  doctrinal 
questions  was  very  fully  discussed.  The  Bishop  of  O. 
seemed  to  have  more  clear  and  decided  opinions  than 
the  two  Irish  Bishops.  ...  I  think  the  general  result  was 
that  the  laity  should  be  a  constituent  part  of  the  synod 
(against  Mr.  Joyce's  view,  who  would  only  admit  them  to 
*  conferences '),  but  that  in  all  doctrinal  questions  they 
should  take  no  part,  except  that,  since  nothing  would  be 
enacted  without  the  consent  of  all  three  orders,  they  would 
have  a  veto  upon  any  change  proposed,  whether  affecting 
doctrine  or  no.  .  .  .  Yesterday,  the  anniversary  of  the 
College  there,  was  a  most  glorious  day,  everything  was  so 
hearty  and  happy  and  full  of  life  and  hope.  .  .  .  The 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  preached  a  very  remarkable,  but  a  little 
fanciful,  sermon  on  the  numbers  used  in  the  Bible  and 
their  mystical  meaning.  It  was  curious  that  one  of  his 
main  examples  was  the  153  fish  in  the  second  miraculous 
draught  of  fishes,  and  we  were  153  clergy  in  surplices  in 
the  procession,  as  it  was  afterwards  discovered.  The 
great  lunch  and  speeches  in  a  tent  followed,  and  I  do 
not  know  which  I  enjoyed  most — Miss  Wordsworth's 
delightful  talk  (I  was  lucky  enough  to  take  her  in,  and  the 
Bishop  made  us  sit  nearly  opposite  him  at  the  high  table) 


94  Bishop  Walsham  How 

or  the  Bishop's  exquisite  and  ceaseless  humour.  His 
sayings  want  the  wicked  twinkle  of  his  eye  to  give  them 
point,  but  I  must  try  to  tell  you  two  or  three.  He  was 
proposing  the  preacher,  Bishop  Wordsworth,  and  he  said, 
*  Not  only  did  he  arrive  here  yesterday,  after  a  long  and 
wearying  journey,  too  late  to  refresh  the  natural  man — if 
indeed  (which  I  greatly  doubt)  the  good  Bishop  has  any 
natural  man  capable  of  being  refreshed,  but  also  to-day 
he  is  going  to  leave  uS'  after  nothing  better  than  the 
sparse  and  crude  entertainment  of  this  our  tent  in  the 
wilderness.'  You  know,  I  daresay,  that  Bishop  W.  is  a 
most  spiritual  looking  man. 

^  TflP  ^  tF  ^fr 

"  I  must  tell  you  about  Mr.  Hubbard.  In  proposing  his 
health,  the  Bishop  spoke  of  his  utility  on  the  Ritual  Com- 
mission, and  said,  *  Mr.  Hubbard  and  I  have  been  sitting 
side  by  side  on  the  Ritual  Commission.  Now  uninitiated 
persons  must  not  think  that  this  is  at  all  like  sitting  on  the 
ordinary  egg.  That  is  generally  exceedingly  undemon- 
strative, and  sits  under  you  in  the  most  peaceable  way, 
till  you  suddenly  find  the  small  downy  creature  you  have 
been  expecting  emerge  into  innocent  vitality.  Not  so 
wath  our  egg.  We  have  been  experiencing  incessant 
progues  and  pokes  and  oscillations ;  there  have  been 
squeaks,  and  cries,  and  reports,  and  records,  and  some- 
times we  have  even  sat  upon  a  Rock,  though  we  never 
found  that  as  hard  as  you  might  expect.  In  fact,  the  Rock 
was  about  the  softest  thing  we  encountered,'  &c. 

"  We  had  an  evening  service  at  6.30  and  then  dinner, 
The  Principal,  King,  came  to  dinner.  He  is  a  most 
delightful  person.  I  got  a  few  nice  private  talks, 
especially  with  Bishop  Wordsworth  and  Mr.  Hubbard." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

RETREATS   AND    MISSIONS 

In  1869  Retreats  were  far  from  common  in  the  Church  of 
England,  and  had,  unfortunately,  been  associated  in  men's 
minds  with  the  extreme  Ritualistic  party.  Canon  Wal- 
sham  How  saw  in  them,  and  in  parochial  missions,  ready 
instruments  for  deepening  and  quickening  the  spiritual 
life  among  clergy  and  laity,  and  was  one  of  the  first  to 
take  a  leading  part  in  their  promotion.  He  has  left  the 
following  note  concerning  a  Retreat  held  at  Whittington, 
and  conducted  by  Mr.  King,  the  present  Bishop  of 
Lincoln  : 

"  A  Retreat  having  been  held  at  Llandyssil  for  two  or 
three  years  previously.  Archdeacon  Ffoulkes  asked  me  to 
allow  of  its  being  held  at  Whittington  in  the  summer  of 
1869.  I  had  so  long  felt  that  the  great  need  of  the  Church 
(and  certainly  not  least  in  these  parts)  was  the  deepening 
of  the  spiritual  life  in  its  members,  both  clerical  and  lay, 
but  especially  clerical,  that  I  could  not  refuse  my  consent. 
I  had  already  attended  one  Retreat  of  a  somewhat  infor- 
mal character,  and  I  knew  from  experience  how  precious 
such  times  of  retirement  and  instruction  are  to  busy  men. 
I  have  since  attended  others,  and,  indeed,  have  (though 
terribly  unfit  to  do  so)  conducted  one  myself  at  the 
Palace  at  Lichfield,  and  so  blessed  do  I  hold  this  instru- 


96  Bishop  Walsham  How 

mentality  to  be,  that,  if  God  spares  me,  I  mean  to 
encourage  this  practice  as  far  as  I  can,  and  to  do  what  in 
me  Hes  to  rescue  it  from  anj'thing  of  a  party  character. 
No  doubt,  having  been  taken  up  by  men  of  an  extreme 
school  of  Church  opinion,  it  has  aroused  a  certain  amount 
of  suspicion  in  opposite  quarters." 

During  this  Retreat  at  Whittington  he  wrote  the  follow- 
ing description  of  the  addresses  delivered  : 

"  Mr.  King's  '  meditations ' — three  daily,  about  half  an 
hour  each — in  church — are  perfectly  marvellous  in  their 
searching  of  conscience,  and  probing  of  motives,  and 
knowledge  of  human  nature  and  of  spiritual  things.  They 
are  also  exceedingly  clever  and  thoughtful  and  interesting, 
but  his  whole  tone  of  personal  holiness,  with  a  loving, 
beautiful  brightness  of  manner,  makes  what  he  says  to  us 
most  touching  and  heart-stirring.  I  am  sure  he  bows  the 
hearts  of  us  often  as  one  man,  and  few  have  had  dry 
eyes  all  the  time." 

In  spite  of  a  knowledge  of  Mr.  How's  character  and 
views,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  during  his  eighteen 
years  at  Whittington  he  had  sought  to  be  friends  with  his 
brother  clergy,  and  had  ever  borne  himself  humbly  as  one 
who  desired  the  welfare  of  others  rather  than  of  himself, 
so  bitter  was  the  party  feeling  among  some  of  the  ultra- 
Evangelicals  that  an  attack,  which  would  have  been 
outrageous  if  it  had  not  been  for  its  absurdity,  was  made 
upon  him  in  connection  with  this  Retreat.  The  local 
papers  were  full  of  letters  crammed  with  abuse,  and  it  was 
freely  stated  that  the  gathering  at  Whittington  was  for 
the  purpose  of  secretly  celebrating  the  Roman  Mass. 
A   neighbouring   clergyman,   under    the   pseudonym   of 


Retreats  and  Missions  97 

**  Rusticiis,"  led  the  van  in  this  attack  ;  but  the  intensity 
of  the  opposition  very  quickly  died  away,  and  five  years 
afterwards  the  following  letter  appeared  in  the  same  paper 
which  had  published  those  of  "  Rusticus  : " 

"Whittington  Rectory,  Dec.  9,  1874. 
"  Sir, 

"  Some  years  ago,  when  a  Retreat  was  held  at 
Whittington,  certain  letters  appeared  in  your  paper,  of 
which  I  will  say  no  more  than  that  they  were  written  in 
entire  ignorance  of  the  subject  they  treated.  That  sub- 
ject has  become  more  familiar  to  men's  minds  since  that 
time,  and  one  result  has  been  that  which  I  have  more  than 
once  earnestly  pleaded  for  at  Church  Congresses — viz., 
that  '  Retreats '  are  becoming  divested  of  all  party  charac- 
ter. I  have  been  quite  sure  from  the  first  that  the  Evan- 
gelical School  in  our  Church  would  not  long  withhold 
their  approval  from  a  means  of  spiritual  strength  so 
blessed,  and  indeed  so  needful,  in  these  days  of  many 
labours  and  many  controversies.  If  you  can  find  room 
for  the  enclosed  letter  of  my  friend  Mr.  E.  H.  Bickersteth, 
with  whom,  as  with  the  conductor,  Mr.  Thorold,*  I  have 
had  most  interesting  private  correspondence  on  the 
matter,  I  am  sure  your  readers  will  be  glad.  I  will  only 
add  that  the  letter  describes,  in  all  main  points,  the  object 
and  nature  of  our  own  observance  at  Whittington. 

"  I  am,  &c., 

"  W.  WALSHAM  HOW." 

Then  follows  the  letter  referred  to,  which  gives  an 
account  of  an  Evangelical  Retreat  held  at  Christ  Church, 
Hampstead. 

One   of  the   chief   uses  which   Canon    How  made   of 

*  Afterwards  Bishop  of  Rochester,  and  then  of  Winchester, 

G 


98  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Retreats  was  to  make  them  part,  whenever  he  could,  of 
the  preparation  of  candidates  for  Ordination,  and,  when 
Bishop  of  Wakefield,  he  always  appointed  at  least  one  of 
the  days  immediately  preceding  the  Ordination  to  be 
observed  by  the  candidates  as  a  "  quiet  day."  But  long 
before  that,  when  examining  chaplain  to  Bishop  Selwyn 
of  Lichfield,  he  introduced  the  plan  and  conducted  the 
Retreat  himself.  Again,  when  asked  by  his  old  vicar 
(then  Bishop  of  Rochester)  to  address  the  Ordination 
candidates  at  Danbury,  he  tried  the  same  method.  There 
are  two  interesting  letters  to  his  brother,  written  by  him 
at  this  time,  which  may  be  quoted  here  : 

"Whittington  Rectorv,  Feb.  18,  1874. 

"  I  am  too  full  of  work.  [This  was  just  after  the  London 
Mission.]  Next  week  I  go  to  Danbury  on  Thursday  to 
conduct  some  services  and  meditations  for  the  young 
candidates  for  Ordination  on  the  two  last  Ember  days.  I 
preach  in  St.  Paul's  on  March  i  (I  tried,  but  could  not 
get  out  of  it),  and  go  to  a  mission  at  Stratford-on-Avon 
for  March  7  to  16.  I  have  resolved  never  to  take  more 
than  two  missions  in  one  year.  These  come  dreadfully 
near  together,  and  it  takes  it  out  of  me  too  much  to  be 
quite  wholesome.  It  taxes  spirit  more  than  flesh  with 
me." 

"Whittington  Rectory,  March  3,  1874. 

"  The  attempt  to  make  the  last  two  Ember  days  a  sort 
of  lax  Retreat  for  the  young  candidates  for  Holy  Orders 
at  Danbury  was  (I  hope  and  think)  very  successful. 

^(t  fl?  flP  tp  ^ 

"  I  want  to  tell  you  one  thing  which  startled  and  moved 
me  much.     On  Friday  I  was  alone  with  the  Bishop,  when 


Retreats  and  Missions  99 

he  put  his  hands  on  my  shoulders  and  said,  '  Do  you 
know  I  have  had  a  great  disappointment  about  you.'  I 
could  not  tell  what  he  meant  till  he  told  me  that  Lord 
Selborne  had  promised  him  that  I  should  have  the 
Canonry  at  Rochester,  to  which  Dr.  Miller  was  moved 
from  his  at  Worcester  last  year,  but  Gladstone  had  pledged 
himself  to  Dr.  Miller,  so  it  could  not  be.  I  did  not  then 
for  an  instant  dream  of  what  the  dear  Bishop  meant,  but 
he  burst  into  tears,  folded  me  in  his  arms,  and  said,  *  And 
then  you  would  have  been  my  suffragan,  and  it  would 
have  made  all  the  difference  in  the  world  to  the  rest  of 
my  life.'  It  was  very  upsetting.  Just  think  of  my  nearly 
being  his  curate  over  again  !  " 

He  continued  to  conduct  Retreats  and  Quiet  Days  long 
after  he  had  ceased  altogether  to  take  an  active  part  in 
parochial  missions.  In  fact,  as  lately  as  1896,  he  con- 
ducted a  retreat  at  Workington,  his  grandfather's  old 
parish,  and  a  warm  letter  of  thanks  from  the  Rural  Dean 
of  Cockermouth  and  Workington  has  been  found  amongst 
his  papers.  Probably  the  most  anxious  work  of  this  kind 
that  ever  fell  to  his  lot  was  in  1891,  when  he  was  appointed 
to  give  all  the  addresses  at  a  gathering  of  bishops  at 
Lambeth.  From  this  he  shrank,  overpowered  by  the 
feeling  of  his  own  unfitness,  but  did  not  like  to  decline  it, 
although,  as  he  wrote,  the  Archbishop's  request  filled  him 
with  "  great  dismay  and  distress."  His  special  qualifica- 
tions for  work  of  this  kind  were  numerous.  He  always 
felt  himself  to  be  the  unworthiest  of  all,  and  therefore  his 
words  gained  force  as  expressions  of  his  own  difficulties 
and  needs.  He  was  a  master  of  simplicity  of  language, 
making  obscure  and  intricate  matters  plain.  He  was  full 
of  love  and  sympathy,  so  that  he  repelled  none,  but  rather 


loo  Bishop  Walsham  How 

attracted  the  confidence  of  all,  while  his  natural  brightness 
and  humour  prevented  his  addresses  from  ever  being 
monotonous  or  dull. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  his  daughter, 
Mrs.  R.  LI.  Kenyon,  written  after  conducting  a  Retreat  at 
Durham,  gives  some  idea  of  the  spirit  in  which  he  under- 
took such  things  : 

"  Durham,  July  ii,  1886. 

"The  Retreat  is  over  this  morning.  We  had  about 
sixty-five  clergy.  The  grand  old  Castle  is  a  perfect  place 
for  it,  and  the  men  seemed  a  very  nice  set.  It  is  very 
humbling  work  thus  addressing  so  often  such  a  set  of 
earnest  men.  It  seems  to  turn  one  inside  out,  and  make 
one  feel  one's  own  wretched  insufficiency.  I  could  only 
do  it  by  trying  to  speak  to  my  own  soul  as  much  as  to 
others.  I  am,  however,  very  thankful  for  some  evidence 
of  real  help  given  to  some  of  the  men.  Some  I  saw 
privately  were  very  nice  and  very  grateful." 

A  much  more  recent  letter  written  to  the  Rev.  W.  F. 
Norris,  Vicar  of  Almondbury,  and  brother  to  Mrs.  F.  D. 
How,  the  Bishop's  daughter-in-law,  gives  further  evidence 
of  the  spirit  of  humility  in  which  Dr.  Walsham  How 
undertook  this  class  of  work  : 

"  I  am  groaning  in  despair  at  being  kept  from  Bowden 
this  week.  [He  was  to  have  conducted  a  Retreat  for 
clergy  at  that  place,  but  was  prevented  by  his  doctor.] 
I  shall  have  to  write  all  my  addresses  out  in  full,  and  send 
them  to  be  read.  It  is  a  terrible  disappointment  to  me. 
I  was  hoping  so  much  to  find  the  days  very  profitable  to 
myself." 

Another  agency  for  spiritual  welfare  which  attracted 


Retreats  and  Missions  ioi 

Walsham  How's  attention  was  that  of  Parochial  Mis- 
sions. As  in  the  case  of  Retreats,  so  in  this  matter  also, 
he  saw  the  usefulness  of  these  special  efforts  before  many 
members  of  the  Church  of  England  were  altogether 
prepared  to  approve  of  them.  The  following  entry  made 
by  him  in  the  Whittington  Parish  Papers,  and  dated  1873, 
explains  clearly  his  opinion  : 

"  Missions  have  been  used  with  great  advantage  for 
long,  both  by  Roman  Catholics  and  by  Dissenters.  It  is 
only  of  late  that  the  Church  of  England  has  begun  to 
recognise  their  power.  They  are,  in  fact,  a  sort  of  Church 
'  revival,'  conducted  generally  (not  always)  upon  sober 
Church  principles.  In  some  particulars,  especially  in  the 
prayer-meetings,  they  startle,  and  even  offend,  old- 
fashioned  Church  people  of  conservative  instincts,  but 
they  win  souls  for  Christ,  and  deepen  the  reality  and 
earnestness  of  many.  There  can  be  no  doubt  at  all  that 
God's  blessing  has  attended  them  in  numbers  of  places. 
My  own  experience  of  those  I  have  myself  conducted, 
leads  me  to  believe  that  they  may  be  the  greatest  possible 
blessing  to  a  parish.  It  is  important  to  remember  that  all 
parishes  are  not  fit  for  a  mission.  There  must  be  a 
foundation  of  deep  and  true  religion,  and  of  genuine 
Church  feeling  and  life,  to  make  a  mission  safe  or 
profitable." 

In  this  year  (1873)  a  mission  was  held  at  Whittington 
by  the  Rev.  F.  Barker,  now  Rector  of  St.  Giles'  near 
Salisbury,  who  was  called  upon  at  the  last  moment  to 
supply  the  place  of  the  missioner  who  had  promised  to 
conduct  the  work,  but  who  was  unavoidably  prevented 
from  doing  so.  Writing  about  this  mission,  Mr.  Barker 
says  :  •  • 


I02  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  After  much  hesitation  I  consented  to  do  so  {i.e.,  take  the 
missioner's  place),  and  so  began  a  friendship  and  a  devotion  on 
my  part  which  has  lasted  ever  since.  It  was  my  first  mission,  and 
I  had  to  ask  for  guidance  at  every  turn.  What  struck  me  then,  and 
has  often  struck  me  since,  was  the  desire  of  the  dear  Bishop  to 
bring  young  men  forward,  in  whom  he  thought  he  saw  any  apti- 
tude for  special  work.  In  my  own  case,  while  always  ready  to 
advise  and  help,  he  left  me  to  do  the  work  he  had  asked  me  to  do, 
with  a  free  hand  and  with  an  entire  trust.  .  .  . 

"When  I  think  of  the  Bishop  in  connection  with  missions, 
certain  features  of  his  work — shall  I  say  of  his  character  ? — stand 
out  at  once  before  me.  The  first  thing  to  strike  one  was  the  great 
love  of  the  man.  He  had  a  love  for  everything  :  not  only  for  the 
children  in  the  village  lanes,  but  for  the  birds  and  flowers  in  the 
rectory  garden.  How  well  I  remember,  soon  after  his  consecra- 
tion, his  meeting  a  little  girl  in  the  village,  who  dropped  him  a 
curtsey  and  smiled  up  with  a  happy  confidence  into  his  face. 
'Ah,  Janey,'  said  the  Bishop,  'what  shall  I  do  when  I  have  no 
little  girls  to  make  bob  curtseys  to  me  in  London  ? '  And  this 
great  love  of  his  entered  into  all  he  said  and  taught.  His  natural 
theme  seemed  to  be  the  love  of  God.  .  .  . 

"Another  feature  of  his  preaching  was  what,  for  want  of  a 
better  word,  I  must  call  '  subjectiveness.'  His  appeals  were  to 
the  heart  and  the  conscience,  and  personal  religion  seemed  always 
the  great  end  he  had  in  view.  This  came  out  very  markedly  in 
what  was  then  called  the  '  after-meeting.'  In  these,  at  the 
Whittington  Mission,  the  Bishop  (rector  he  was  then)  took  his 
part.  He  spoke  with  the  utmost  reverence  and  earnestness  of 
voice  and  manner,  and  begged  the  people  to  pray  really  for  them- 
selves, and  while  they  remained  upon  their  knees  he  would  walk 
quietly  up  and  down  the  church,  uttering  words  of  help  and 
encouragement,  such  as  'Lord,  I  believe,  help  Thou  mine  unbelief; 
•  Lord,  I  repent,  help  Thou  mine  impenitence ' ;  and  the  like.  On 
the  second  or  third  evening  he  would  speak  to  any  one  whom  he 
had  noticed  as  present  on  some  previous  day,  sometimes  to  find  a 
welcome,  sometimes,  I  can  remember,  to  meet  with  little  encour- 
agement. The  after-meeting  was  purely  devotional  in  its  character, 
and  exhibited  in  a  marked  degree  that  subjectiveness  to  which  I 
have  already  referred.  .  .  . 


Retreats  and  Missions  103 

"  I  shall  always  esteem  it  one  of  the  greatest  happinesses  of  my 
life  that  I  was  permitted  to  begin  my  mission  work  under  one, 
and  with  one,  who  was  so  full  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  who  put 
in  the  foremost  place  the  sanctification  of  the  individual  soul." 

The  first  mission  conducted  by  Canon  Walsham  How 
was  the  one  held  in  the  parish  of  North  Malvern  in  1872. 
Canon  C.  J.  Ridgeway,  now  of  Christ  Church,  Lancaster 
Gate,  was  then  vicar  of  the  parish,  and  gives  the  following 
interesting  account  : 

"The  mission  held  in  1872  by  the  late  Bishop  of  Wakefield, 
then  Rector  of  Whittington,  still  lives,  I  know,  in  the  memory  of 
many.  He  was  a  complete  stranger  to  me,  except  by  his  writings, 
when  I  wrote  and  asked  him  to  conduct  a  mission  in  my  parish. 
His  answer  was  characteristic  of  the  man.  '  He  had  never,'  he 
said,  '  done  such  a  thing,  and  greatly  distrusted  his  fitness  for  the 
work  ;  but  if  he  could  be  of  any  use  to  a  brother,  specially  to  one 
young  in  the  ministry,  he  would,  God  helping  him,  do  his  best.' 

"  Assisted  by  the  late  Canon  Howell  Evans  (then  Vicar  of 
Oswestry),  he  entered  on  the  work  with  the  humility  and  holiness 
which  were  inseparable  from  him.  His  methods  were  simple,  but 
carefully  thought  out.  There  was  no  sensationalism,  but  they 
were  marked  by  a  quiet  earnestness.  His  mission  sermons  on  the 
evening  of  each  day  were  pointed  but  persuasive.  The  after- 
meetings,  always  conducted  by  himself,  were  quiet  and  reverent, 
free  from  excitement  but  most  impressive.  His  personal  dealing 
with  souls  was  wise  and  healthy. 

"  The  most  striking  feature  of  the  mission  was  his  instructions 
each  morning  on  the  spiritual  life.  They  told  of  a  wide  experience, 
and  a  deep  sympathy  with  the  longings  and  difficulties  of  others, 
and  I  know  many,  some  now  at  rest  in  Paradise,  others  still 
'  toiling  in  rowing '  (the  text  of  his  closing  sermon)  here  below, 
who  were  helped  to  live  closer  to  God,  and  to  persevere  more 
hopefully. 

"  Looking  back  on  this  mission,  as  one  who  has  himself  since 
then  conducted  many  missions,  I  am  much  struck  by  the  wisdom 
with  which  he  planned  the  arrangements,  for  in  those  early  days 
he  had  httle  or  nothing  to  guide  him." 


104  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Among  the  Bishop's  papers  after  his  death  was  found 
one  inscribed  with  the  following  touching  lines,  which 
refer  to  this  mission  at  North  Malvern. 

"To  a  child  of  four  years  old  ('  Una'),  who  was  a  great 
delight  to  me  in  my  few  spare  moments  during  an  eight 
days'  mission  which  I  conducted  in  her  father's  parish." 

"  Parvula  quam  felix  lusus  agit  Una,  laboruin 
Nescia  !  Pernici  me  pede  Cura  premit ! 
Vox  tamen  ignotas  pellit  tua  garrula  curas, 
Subditus  et  risu  fit  levis,  Una,  labor." 

This  has  been  happily  translated  by  Canon  Foxley 
Norris  as  follows  : 

"  Little  Una  !  with  your  gambols 

Ah  !  how  happily  you  play, 
Nothing  knowing  of  the  labours. 

Nor  the  cares  which  on  me  weigh. 
Cares  pursuing,  swiftly,  sadly. 

Haunt  me,  but  your  merry  voice 
With  the  music  of  its  chatter 

Makes  my  weary  heart  rejoice. 
Chasing  thoughts  you  cannot  dream  of. 

Little  Una,  far  away, 
While  the  toil  your  laughter  conquers 

Sweetly  turns  from  grave  to  gay  !  " 

Until  1878  his  parish  work  at  Whittington  was  greatly 
broken  into,  though  not  lessened,  by  missions  which  he 
conducted  elsewhere.  In  1873,  besides  the  one  in  his  own 
parish,  there  were  those  at  Malvern  and  Brighstone  ;  in 
1874  at  Christ  Church,  Albany  Street,  during  the  London 
Mission  of  that  year,  and  at  Stratford-on-Avon  ;  in  1875 
at  Wolstanton,  and  at  Holy  Cross  (the  Abbey)  and  St. 
Giles',  Shrewsbury  ;  in  1876  at  Berkhamstead  ;  in  1877  at 
St.  John's,  Chester,  and  at  Minchinhampton  ;  and  in  1878 
at  Warminster.     After  his  consecration  the  only  mission 


Retreats  and  Missions  105 

he  conducted  was  that  at  Hackney  during  the  London 
Mission  of  1884. 

Of  these  it  will  be  sufficient  to  refer  to  that  at  Christ 
Church,  Albany  Street,  in  1874. 

The  Rev.  E.  B.  Penfold,  now  Vicar  of  St.  Michael's, 
Camden  Town,  was  at  that  time  one  of  the  assistant  clergy 
of  the  parish  under  Canon  Burrows,  the  vicar.  Mr. 
Penfold  remembers  how,  when  Canon  Walsham  How 
proposed  a  somewhat  long  list  of  services,  he  did  so  with 
the  remark  "  giving  addresses  never  tires  me." 

In  a  mission  address  delivered  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral 
in  1884,  when  he  was  Bishop  of  Bedford,  he  referred  to 
this  mission,  saying  : 

"A  man  came  to  me  in  the  last  London  Mission,  when 
I  was  conducting  the  mission  at  Christ  Church,  Albany 
Street.  He  was  a  middle-aged  man  of  business,  and  he  said 
to  me,  '  Oh  !  sir,  my  trouble  is  my  prayers.  I  want  to  pray 
to  God,  but  when  I  kneel  down  it  seems  to  me  as  if  the 
devil  was  busiest.  I  cannot  collect  my  thoughts  ;  I  can- 
not find  any  warmth  and  fervour.  Oh,  tell  me,  sir,  is 
prayer  to  be  a  failure  ?  '  This  he  said  with  all  intensity  and 
earnestness.  Well,  poor  fellow,  of  course  I  tried  to  com- 
fort him,  and  I  prayed  with  him.  I  hope  he  found  more 
help  afterwards.  I  cannot  tell.  I  never  heard  more  of 
him.  But  when  a  man  comes  to  one  in  that  way,  one  at 
once  looks  at  one's  own  prayers,  and  asks  oneself,  '  Do  / 
pray  so  fervently  ?  Do  I  even  long  to  pray  so  fervently  ?  '  " 

From  these  last  words  it  is  evident  that  he  felt  it  spe- 
cially necessary  to  keep  a  strict  watch  upon  his  own  life 
while  engaged  in  mission  work.  The  necessity  of  this 
was  enforced  upon   him   by  a   letter  from   Archdeacon 


io6  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

Norris  of  Bristol,  a  close  friend  of  many  years  standing, 
to  the  following  effect  : 

"Jan.  7,  1874. 
"  My  dear  Walsham  How, 

"  If  you  were  here  (how  I  wish  you  were  !)  I  should  venture 
to  whisper  *  Is  it  well,  this  constant  forcing  to  the  surface  of  your 
very  deepest  emotions  ? '  I  mean  *  well  for  your  own  spiritual 
self?'  But  who  and  what  am  I  to  speak  so  to  you?  Only  I 
should  so  dread  it  for  myself,  such  frequent  mission  engagements, 
developing  disproportionately  (it  must  be)  the  emotional  half  of 
one's  finely  strung  nature.  .  .  . 

"  It  were  too  bad  to  try  and  urge  you  to  come  here  in  the  face 
of  such  a  Lent  of  labour. 

"God  bless  you, 

•'  Ever  thine, 

"J.  P.  N." 

It  was  surely  the  humility,  marking  all  he  said  and  did, 
which  saved  him  from  the  dangers  suggested  in  this 
affectionate  letter. 

But  to  return  to  the  Christ  Church,  Albany  Street, 
Mission.  Another  of  the  clergy  then  working  under  Canon 
Burrows  was  the  Rev.  F.  La  Trobe  Bateman,  now  Vicar 
of  St.  John's,  Upper  Norwood,  who  has  contributed  the 
following  graphic  account  of  Canon  Walsham  How's 
mission  work,  and  with  his  words  this  subject  may  be 
fittingly  concluded.     He  says  : 

"  My  first  knowledge  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Wakefield's  work  as 
a  mission  priest  was  in  the  year  1874,  when  he  took  the  mission 
at  Christ  Church,  St.  Pancras,  where  I  was  at  that  time  one  of  the 
assistant  priests.  This  was  in  the  early  days  of  missions.  If  I 
may  venture  to  say  so,  it  was  not  so  much  his  brilliant  oratory  as 
his  simple  affectionate  earnestness,  the  largeness  of  his  sympathy, 
and  the  sunniness  of  his  smile,  which  won  our  hearts  en  masse. 
Children  looked  at  him,  listened  to  him  for  a  minute  or  two,  and 
loved  him  ever  afterwards.     Young  priests,  somewhat  ecclesiasti- 


Retreats  and  Missions  107 

cally  and  doctrinally  strained,  became  quiet  and  natural  again 
under  the  influence  of  his  personality.  The  laity  were  strangely 
attracted  by  the  naturalness  and  humanity  of  the  man,  a  humanity 
enriched  indeed  by  the  beauty  of  personal  holiness,  but  intensely 
and  refreshingly  human  for  all  that. 

"  He  was  good  enough  to  associate  me  in  missions  with  himself 
on  several  occasions  subsequent  to  that  mission  in  London. 
There  stand  out  in  my  memory  with  special  vividness  two  of  these 
missions,  at  Stratford-on-Avon  and  at  Warminster.  We  were 
indeed  at  different  churches,  though  in  the  same  towns ;  but  we 
used  to  meet  daily.  Never  shall  I  forget  the  humility  and  self- 
forgetfulness  which  shone  out  in  those  little  morning  meetings  for 
prayer  and  '  comparing  of  notes.'  One  thing  always  puzzled  him, 
how  to  deal  with  morbid  and  despondent  people.  '  What  do  you 
do  ? '  he  used  to  ask  of  me,  his  subaltern.  Morbidness  was  so 
altogether  contrary  to  his  own  bright  faith  in  God.  And  I 
have  reason  to  know  that  it  was  this  very  fact  which  made  him 
specially  helpful  to  the  morbid.  It  shamed  them  out  of  their 
self-introspection . 

"  I  think  that  his  special  success  in  mission  work  lay  rather  in 
his  '  instructions '  and  *  after-meetings '  than  in  the  mission  sermon 
proper.  He  used  to  feel  this  himself.  The  pulpit  is  associated 
with  a  certain  amount  of  formality  ;  but  down  in  the  nave,  one 
can  speak  heart  to  heart.  And  to  that  mission  priest  the  hearts 
of  his  audience  answered  back.  I  have  notes  of  some  '  Mission 
Instructions '  of  his  lying  before  me  now.  It  seems  but  as 
yesterday  that  he  talked  to  us  :  yet  twenty-five  years  have  elapsed 
since  then.  There  he  stood,  in  that  London  church,  on  the 
chancel  step  {I  never  remember  him,  in  his  missions,  making  use 
of  the  modern  chair),  and  he  started  with  the  words,  '  The  begin- 
ning, the  middle,  and  the  end  of  the  spiritual  life  is  self-surrender 
to  God.'  The  words  caught  hold  of  us  all.  With  that  unerring 
human  instinct  which  is  hardly  ever  at  fault,  and  which  to  myself 
constitutes  one  of  the  deepest  mysteries  in  human  nature,  we  knew 
perfectly  well  that  the  man  who  began  with  that  sentence  was 
himself  '  self-surrendered.'  It  was  his  frequent  custom  to  conclude 
his  missions  with  a  meditation  on  '  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,' 
in  the  course  of  the  final  celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist.  '  We 
will  go  up  with  Thee,  our  Master,  to  purer  regions :  we  wish  to 


io8  Bishop  Walsham  How 

ascend  the  mountain  with  Thee,  but  our  steps  are  so  faltering, 
our  faith  is  so  dim.'  And  then  his  last  simple  words,  '  Many  have 
made  and  signed  formal  resolutions,  many  others  have  made  them, 
but  not  written  them  down.  Let  us  offer  them  to  our  God  before 
this  altar.  We  will  pause  after  the  words  "  We  offer  and  present 
unto  Thee  ..."  Then  we  will  offer  them  to  Him,  and  pray 
that  He  may  accept  them,  and  give  us  grace  to  do  them.  I  com- 
mend you  all  to  that  grace  of  God.  I  shall  never  forget  you,  nor 
this  week.  I  shall  always  intercede  for  you,  and  I  ask  you  to  do 
for  me  the  same  act.  Will  you  sometimes  ask  for  me  that  God 
may  strengthen  me  to  do  my  work  for  souls  more  faithfully  ;  that 
I  may  be  more  ready  to  help  others ;  that  we  may  all  meet  at  the 
last  on  that  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  where  we  shall  together 
see  Him  in  His  glory.'  Very  simple  it  was,  but  therein  lay  its 
power.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that,  when  he  ceased,  there 
was  hardly  a  dry  eye  in  the  church. 

"He  never,  in  his  missions,  preached  confession  with  the  same 
directness  that  most  missioners  adopt  at  the  present  day  ;  but,  for 
all  that,  a  considerable  number  of  people  sought  him  out  for  this 
purpose  in  all  the  missions  that  he  took  ;  and  a  very  large  number 
of  others  came  to  him  for  advice  and  help.  He  had  no  need  to 
invite  them  to  come,  they  came  of  their  own  accord.  They  knew 
that  a  man  of  God  was  in  their  midst,  and  that  God  had  sent  him 
to  them. 

"  I  have  known  many  mission  priests.  More  brilliant  mission 
preachers  there  have  been  and  are.  But  for  helpfulness,  and  ten- 
derness in  dealing  with  souls,  and  entire  healthiness  of  teaching, 
and  bright  attractiveness  of  personality,  the  dear  Bishop  of  Wake- 
field (the  '  Canon  Walsham  How  '  of  the  old  mission  days)  stands 
alone — at  least  in  the  affections  of  the  writer." 


CHAPTER  IX 

EARLIEST  SUGGESTION  OF  EAST  LONDON 

The  last  seven  or  eight  years  of  Canon  Walsham  How's 
life  at  Whittington  were  exceedingly  busy  ones.  To  take 
one  year  as  an  example  :  in  1875  he  took  two  missions, 
one  in  Wolverhampton  and  the  other  in  Shrewsbury. 
He  conducted  Retreats  at  Bowdon  and  at  Hawarden. 
He  took  the  Ember  addresses  at  a  gathering  of  clergy 
in  Market  Harborough.  He  addressed  Lay  Church 
Workers  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  He  spent  several  days 
in  speaking  to  the  candidates  for  Ordination  at  Ely  in 
May,  and  at  Lincoln  in  December,  preaching  the  Ordi- 
nation sermon  in  each  case.  He  spent  four  days  at 
Bangor  giving  "  meditations "  to  a  large  gathering  of 
clergy.  He  visited  St.  Asaph  for  meetings  of  the  Diocesan 
Societies.  He  attended  Convocation,  and  committees  on 
the  Lectionary  and  on  the  Rubrics.  He  preached  twice  at 
Great  Yarmouth,  and  three  times  on  one  day  at  Bradford, 
while  on  Sunday,  December  9,  he  gave  four  addresses 
and  one  sermon  in  Worcester  Cathedral.  He  attended 
and  spoke  at  the  Stoke  Church  Congress.  In  August 
he  had  a  good  holiday  at  Barmouth,  and  yet,  with  all 
these  multifarious  engagements,  his  parochial  visits  at 
Whittington  kept  up  to  the  high  weekly  average  of 
twenty-two  for  the  fifty-two  weeks,  and  they  were  not 


no  Bishop  Walsham  How 

merely  "calls"  (these  he  hardly  counted),  but  visits  for 
advice,  reading,  and  prayer,  by  a  faithful  parish  priest. 

This  will  give  some  idea  of  how  work  was  pressing 
upon  him  more  and  more  until  he  took  up  the  greatest 
work  of  his  life  in  1879. 

Meantime  some  few  letters  may  find  a  place,  written 
during  these  years  upon  various  subjects  : 

"Whittington  Rectory,  Dec.  13,  1873. 

"  My  dear  Brother, 

"  I  was  very  glad  of  your  brotherly  greeting  this 
morning  [his  birthday].  I  thank  you  for  it.  It  always 
cheers  me  up.  At  fifty  one's  look  is  a  good  deal  back- 
wards, and  these  greetings  wake  up  memories  of  dear 
old  times.  As  I  passed  the  Stone  House  on  Thursday  I 
looked  at  the  windows,  and  thought  of  the  old  'book- 
room,'  and  the  *  play-room,'  and  the  strange  old  days 
when  we  were  little  chaps  playing  at  ball  against  the 
jessamine.  Oh,  how  the  years  run  by  !  It  will  soon  be 
over,  'and  then  ? '  well,  I  hope  then  we  shall  be  allowed 
to  remember  old  times  still — only  better  than  we  do 
now." 

"Whittington  Rectory,  April  19,  1875. 

"  I  went  on  Friday  evening  with  Mr.  John  Oakley,  of 
St.  Saviour's,  Hoxton  (S.  S.  H.  of  Church  Bells),  to  Moody 
and  Sankey,  and  was  agreeably  surprised.  It  was  a  most 
marvellous  sight  to  see  20,000  people  packed  in  the 
Agricultural  Hall ;  and  the  singing  of  the  hymns  by  such 
a  mass  of  voices  was  very  grand,  though  the  tunes  were, 
of  course,  rather  secular.  It  did  not  sound  the  least 
secular.  Mr.  Moody  preached  a  very  simple,  but  vivid, 
almost   dramatic.   Passion   sermon — a  sort  of    historical 


Earliest  Suggestion  of  East  London       hi 

narrative  of  the  Passion,  interspersed  with  httle  pointed 
appHcations.  It  was  very  Hke  a  sermon  of  Mr.  Body's 
I  have  heard,  though  simpler,  and  with  less  rhetoric  and 
less  excitement.  It  was  quite  a  Passion  service,  begin- 
ning with  *  Rock  of  Ages,'  and  most  suitable  for  a  Friday 
evening,  to  which  he  even  alluded." 

In  the  course  of  a  letter  to  his  brother  as  to  conducting 
a  men's  Bible  class,  written  in  1876,  he  says  : 

"  I  should  say  they  (the  men)  should  not  be  kept  more 
than  an  hour  altogether.  The  real  difficulty  is  just  what 
you  name — to  make  it  interesting  and  helpful.  I  should 
read  about  half  an  hour  of  the  Bible,  talking  as  much 
as  possible  about  various  points,  and  giving  all  the  illus- 
trations I  could.  I  should  ask  them  whether  they  would 
like  to  read  in  turn,  or  for  you  only  to  read,  and  ask  them 
to  ask  questions,  saying  you  will  try  to  get  answers  if  you 
cannot  answer  at  once.  Afterwards  I  should  read  with 
them  some  book  for  about  twenty  minutes.  That  abbre- 
viation of  Patteson's  life,  called  'A  Fellow  Soldier,'  would 
do.  So  would  the  life  of  Hedley  Vicars,  some  of  Smiles' 
books,  &c.  It  is  a  great  thing,  when  you  can,  to  break  the 
reading  with  a  little  familiar  talk,  especially  out  of  your 
own  experience — i.e.y  of  things  that  have  happened  to  you, 
places  you  have  seen,  &c.  Try,  too,  to  be  sympathetic  and 
friendly  with  them.  You  need  not  fear  the  appearance  of 
superiority.  Tell  them  you  want  to  learn  and  study  with 
them,  but  somebody  must  lead,  or  they  would  have  a 
Quakers'  meeting." 

The  following  extracts  from  letters  to  some  of  his 
curates. at  Whittington  are  also  of  interest. 


112  Bishop  Walsham  How 

[To  Rev.  F.  G.  I.,  as  to  his  coming  to  Whittington.'] 

^'Dec.  14,  1870. 

"  I  certainly  fear  you  will  be  disappointed  here.  Please 
do  not  raise  your  hopes  too  high.  .  .  .  You  will  find 
much  very  unsatisfactory  here.  Former  curates  have  set 
in  motion  some  good  plans  of  work,  and  I  can  go  on 
pretty  well  in  a  groove,  but  I  am  constantly  feeling  my 
want  of  real  success  in  many  ways.  When  I  try  to 
decide  in  what  I  get  on  best,  I  fear  I  must  come  to  the 
humiliating  conclusion  that  it  is  in  visiting  old  women. 
I  don't  win  the  confidence  of  young  men.  They  feel  me 
cold  and  reserved.  And  with  the  squirearchy  I  am 
cowardly,  and  do  not  speak  out  my  mind  as  I  ought.  In 
fact,  while  I  am  busy  enough,  I  doubt  if  I  do  any  part 
of  my  work  thoroughly.  You  will  soon  see  this,  and  I 
cannot  ask  you  too  strongly  not  to  think  of  me  as  an 
exemplary  or  successful  parish  priest.  As  to  the  time  of 
your  coming,  I  should  not  like  to  put  your  good  vicar  to 
any  inconvenience,  yet  I  shall  be  thankful  to  have  your 
help  whenever  you  can  be  spared.  And  now  I  must  say 
good  night.  I  trust  and  pray  God's  blessing  may  be  upon 
this  decision." 

[To  the  same.^ 

"Whittington,  March  30,  1871. 

"  I  am  rather  sorry  you  will  come  to  us  for  the  idle 
time  of  year  first.  I  am  working  pretty  hard  now,  and 
got  through  fifty-seven  pastoral  visits  last  week,  the  most 
I  ever  did  in  any  one  week,  except  just  when  I  was  first 
making  acquaintance  with  the  parish." 


Earliest  Suggestion  of  East  London       113 

[7b  the  same,  concerning  the  revision  of  the  Lectionary.'\ 

"'WnvmnGTO'ii,  January  1871. 

"  What  I  feel  as  even  more  important  than  the  details 
of  the  scheme  (important  as  these  are)  is  the  manner  in 
which  it  may  possibly  be  made  law.  It  seems  to  me  it 
would  be  very  wrong  and  unconstitutional  to  force  it 
upon  us  without  the  concurrence  of  both  Convocations, 
and  I  believe  no  such  concurrence  has  been  accorded  by 
York.  Church  legislation  is  a  great  puzzle  at  present, 
and  most  unsatisfactory." 

^  %  ^  ^  ^ 

"The  course  I  should  like  best  would  be  that  a 
sensible  joint  Committee  of  the  two  Convocations,  con- 
sisting of  men  generally  approving  the  new  Lectionary, 
but  quarrelling  with  its  defects  of  detail,  could  be 
nominated,  that  they  would  agree  upon  a  schedule  of 
suggestions  for  improvements  of  details,  and  that  the 
Royal  Commission  could  be  revivified  to  receive  and 
consider  (and,  one  would  hope,  adopt)  these  suggestions. 
Then  that  both  Houses  of  Convocation  in  both  Pro- 
vinces should  give  their  assent  to  the  amended  Lec- 
tionary before  the  Houses  of  Parliament  are  asked  to  do 
so.  This  is,  I  know,  a  visionary  dream,  and  I  suppose 
hardly  one  of  the  steps  I  have  named  could  practically 
be  taken." 

[7J?  the  same,  on  his  engagement^ 

"  We  are  so  very  glad  to  hear  the  good  news,  and  we 
all  most  warmly  congratulate  you.  R.  D.  once  said  that 
there  were  two  things  indispensable  to  an  engagement, 
which  he  never  could  acquire,  and  the  non-possession  of 
which  was  fatal  to  all  his  hopes.     The  first  was  an  un- 

H 


114  Bishop  Walsham  How 

limited  sense  of  inferiority,  and  the  second  an  unlimited 
capacity  for  letter-writing.  I  trust  you  are  making  pro- 
gress in  both  these  branches  of  education." 

[To  the  Rev.  D.  P.  J.  E.] 

''May  1870. 
"  My  dear  E., 

"  I  think  you  will  be  interested  to  hear  what  I 
heard  to-day  from  the  Bishop  of  Llandaff  (Ollifant)  about 
our  new  bishop.*  He  was  on  our  Committee,  which  was 
a  joint  Committee  of  the  two  Houses,  and  at  lunch  time 
I  asked  him  if  Llandovery  was  in  his  diocese.  He  said, 
'  No,  but  I  know  it  very  well,  and  Mr.  Hughes  is  a  great 
friend  of  mine.'  So  I  had  a  talk  about  him,  and  he  told 
me  we  should  like  him  very  much,  for,  though  a  decided 
Evangelical,  he  is  by  no  means  a  party  man.  ...  So  I 
do  trust  he  will  be  a  good  bishop. 
"  Good-night. 

"  Yours  ever  affectionately, 

"Wm.  walsham  how." 

\To  the  same^  ivhen  Vicar  of  Carmarthen!] 

"  I  have  for  some  time  had  a  vision  of  a  visit  to  you, 
and  my  idea  was  to  persuade  you  to  take  me  to  see 
St.  David's.  I  have  seen  all  the  cathedrals  except  that 
and  Canterbury.  I  cannot  possibly  come  in  Lent,  having 
refused  many  others,  since  my  almanack  was  as  full  as  I 
can  let  it  be  for  that  season,  so  I  can  make  no  definite 
plans.  But  it  would  be  great  fun  if  we  could  have  a  run 
of  two  or  three  days,  and  get  a  little  fishing  as  well  as  see 
your  cathedral.  Mrs.  How  came  home  from  Barmouth 
for  Christmas,  having  kept  up  well  so  far,  but  this  very 
*  Of  St.  Asaph. 


Earliest  Suggestion  of  East  London        115 

cold  weather  has  been  too  much  for  her,  and  she  has 
been  laid  up  for  the  last  few  days  with  bronchitis." 

During  all  these  last  years  at  Whittington,  and,  indeed, 
more  or  less  until  her  death  in  1887,  Mrs.  How  suffered 
greatly  from  bronchitis  and  asthma.  Probably  the 
severity  of  these  attacks  was  increased  by  her  courageous 
determination  to  continue  her  parochial  work,  and 
especially  her  nursing  of  the  sick.  At  times,  however, 
she  became  so  ill  that  protracted  residence  in  other 
climates  became  necessary,  and  thus  we  find  that  the 
winters  were  usually  spent  at  Barmouth,  or  Cannes,  or 
some  other  resort  recommended  by  her  doctors. 

In  1877  Canon  How's  diaries  show  the  following  entries  : 

"  May  7.  F.  very  ill,  the  worst  day  perhaps  she  ever  had." 
"May  13.    F.   came   downstairs,   the    first   time   since 
October,  except  for  journeys." 

It  is  not,  therefore,  surprising  to  find  that  on  Novem- 
ber I  of  that  year  they  started  for  Cannes,  where  Canon 
How  acted  as  assistant  chaplain. 

This  visit  marks  an  interesting  period,  for  it  was  then 
ihat  the  idea  of  the  East  London  work  was  first  pre- 
sented to  him,  although  it  was  not  until  eighteen  months 
afterwards  that  he  was  actually  consecrated  Bishop 
Suffragan.  Extracts  from  letters  of  this  period  will  give 
the  circumstances  in  the  best  possible  way. 

[To  Mrs.  W.  W.  Douglas.] 
"  Private. 

"Cannes,  Feb.  19,  1878. 
"  My  dearest  Sister, 

"  I  want  your  loving  and  wise  advice,  and  William's 
.too,  in  a  matter  which  is  causing  us  much  anxiety  to-day, 


ii6  Bishop  Walsham  How 

but  which  you  will,  of  course,  not  talk  about  to  others. 
I  had  seen  in  the  newspapers  some  vague  notions  of  a 
scheme  for  a  bishopric  for  East  London,  but  had  no  idea 
it  had  taken  any  definite  shape,  or  was  among  actual 
probabilities,  till  last  night,  when  I  received  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Maclagan,  asking  me,  in  the  name  of  the  Bishop  of 
London,  whether  I  could  see  my  way  to  accepting  this 
most  difficult  and  responsible  post.  He  gives  me  no 
particulars  of  any  sort,  and  I  do  not  even  know  what  the 
proposed  status  would  be,  but  I  presume  simply  that  of 
Suffragan  to  the  Bishop  of  London.  It  is  not  an 
attractive  sphere,  except  as  presenting  a  field  for  hard 
self-denying  work.  But  I  want  to  abstain  from  naming 
any  of  the  pros  and  cons,  which  come  crowding  into  our 
minds,  that  I  may  have  your  fresh  unbiased  opinion 
upon  the  momentous  question.  I  am  writing  for  more 
information,  partly  as  a  means  for  obtaining  more  time, 
and  I  know  I  shall  have  your  prayers  that  I  may  be 
guided  aright.  I  am  also  consulting  the  Bishop  of  St. 
Albans  [Claughton],  partly  because  his  own  brother* 
would  seem  to  be  so  obvious  a  man,  being  on  the  spot, 
that  I  should  wish  to  understand  how  matters  stand  in 
regard  to  him." 

[To  Rev.  H.  W.  Burrows,  aftenvards  Canon  of  Rochester^ 

^'■Private. 

"Cannes,  Feb.  21,  1878. 

"  I  saw  Plumptre  here  as  he  passed  through  the  other 
day.  He  had  not  then  had  the  offer  of  the  professorship, 
but  a  rumour  has  come  since  to  the  effect  that  it  has 
been  offered  to  him.  But  rumours  at  Cannes  are  such 
treacherous  things.     Fancy   you,  in   your   kindly   hearty 

*  Bishop  Piers  Claughton. 


Earliest  Suggestion  of  East  London       117 

thinking  of  me  !  Why,  I  should  not  dream  of  such  a 
thing  for  a  moment,  even  were  they  deluded  into  such 
an  insane  idea  as  to  offer  it.  I  am  totally  unfit  through 
ignorance.  .  .  .  But  I  must  come  to  the  reason  for  head- 
ing my  letter  '  private,'  as  I  am  anxious  for  your  kind 
counsel  in  a  very  serious  matter.  The  same  post  which 
brought  your  letter,  in  which  you  speak  of  the  rumour  of 
Gregory  being  Suffragan  for  East  London,  brought  me 
one  from  Maclagan  asking  me,  for  the  Bishop,  if  I  could 
see  my  way  to  consenting  to  be  nominated  for  the 
post.  I  know  I  am  very  unfit  for  such  a  position,  but  I 
suppose  it  is  right  to  some  extent  to  let  others  judge  in 
such  a  case,  and  Maclagan,  who  knows  me  very  inti- 
mately, presses  it  upon  me.  He  tells  me  nothing  what- 
ever about  it,  and  I  have  written  to  ask  him  for  as  full 
particulars  as  he  can  get  me.  It  is  very  possible  it  would 
involve  such  a  loss  of  income  as  I  could  not  afford  with 
all  my  sons  (four  still  under  education),  but,  supposing 
that  difficulty  removed,  I  am  still  in  sore  perplexity. 
Were  I  to  think  of  myself  alone  it  would  be  no  very 
great  sacrifice  to  give  up  our  delightful  country  home, 
and  to  live  and  work  in  the  East  of  London.  But  for 
my  dear  wife  it  would  be  terrible.  She  would  be  buried 
there  (even  if,  as  Maclagan  says,  we  were  to  get  a  house 
at  Clapton  or  Stoke  Newington),  without  friends,  and 
without  the  sort  of  people  round,  rich  or  poor,  of  whom 
she  could  make  new  friends.  At  home  she  has  so 
many  dear  friends  of  various  ranks  that  in  all  her  illnesses 
she  was  never  lonely.  I  fear  she  is  never  likely  to  be 
strong  again,  and,  though  she  says  she  is  quite  ready  to 
make  the  sacrifice,  it  is  so  great  a  one  that  I  do  not  know 
whether  I  ought  to  allow  her  to  make  it.  It  would  of 
course  be  a  very  great  change  for  N.   [his  daughter],  but 


ii8  Bishop  Walsham  How 

she  says  it  would  be  far  grander  than  a  regular  bishopric 
with  a  comfortable  palace  and  good  society.  I  shall  be 
truly  thankful  for  any  thoughts  that  strike  you  in  the 
matter.  I  do  really  wish  to  do  simply  what  is  right  and 
for  God's  glory,  but  He  has  given  me  my  wife  and 
children,  and  I  dare  not  leave  them  out  of  the  considera- 
tion. You  will  pray,  too,  that  I  may  be  guided  aright. 
Write  as  soon  as  you  can,  please.  Mrs.  How  has  been 
less  well  of  late,  and  has  had  a  tedious,  though  not 
severe,  attack  of  asthma,  lasting  eight  or  ten  days  now. 
I  think  the  anxiety  of  this  matter  makes  it  worse." 

The  following  was  the  Bishop  of  St.  Albans'  character- 
istically affectionate  reply  to  the  letter  seeking  his 
advice  : 

"  Danbory,  Feb.  22. 

"Ml    CARE    HOVI, 

"I  am  most  thankful,  and  so  will  my  brother  Piers  be, 
for  the  solution  of  the  Eastern  Question.  I  am  not  so  sure  that 
it  is  a  Suffragafi.  It  may  be  a  bond  Jide  Episcopus  Orientalis,  and 
you  will  be  my  next  door  neighbour.  I  don't  think  it  will  make 
any  difference  to  Piers,  except  the  very  desirable  difference  of  his 
having  less  work.  But  that  you  should  be  the  vir  desigtiafus  will 
be  a  delight  to  him  as  it  is  to  me.  I  will  write  more  fully  on 
Monday ;  meanwhile,  mi  care  Hovi,  do  not  hesitate  to  accept 
the  position.  It  is  not  necessary  that  you  should  have  great 
influence  with  the  roughs.  It  is  the  clergy  who  are  most  to  be 
considered.  And  they  will  all  cleave  to  you.  Mind,  it  may  be  a 
Suffragan  after  all.  I  know  nothing  really  about  that,  but  I  know 
my  brother  is  favourable  to  the  idea. 

"  Ever  yours  affectionately, 

"T.  L.  St.  ALBANS." 

That  from  the  Rev.  H.  W.  Burrows  contained  the 
following  passages  : 


Earliest  Suggestion  of  East  London       119 

"3  Chester  Place,  Regent's  Park,  Feh.  25. 

"My  dear  How, 

"  I  think  you  are  admirably  fitted  to  be  a  bishop  in 
London,  and  would  be  acceptable  to  all.  I  know  of  no  one  so 
much  to  be  desired  for  the  post,  and,  as  it  is  somewhat  of  an 
experiment,  it  is  very  important  that  the  person  first  appointed 
should  win  confidence.  .  .  . 

"  I  advise  you  to  say  that  you  consent.  My  wife  sends  her 
love ;  she  is  much  obliged  to  you  for  letting  her  hear  about  it. 
She  cannot  venture  to  give  advice,  but  it  has  to  her  clearly  the 

sound  of  a  call. 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"H.  W.  BURROWS." 

In  answer  to  this,  Canon  How  wrote: 

''Feb.  27,  1878. 

"  You  think  and  speak,  in  your  kindliness  of  heart,  far 
too  favourably  of  me,  and  your  words  make  me  ashamed 
of  myself,  as  so  little  like  them." 

It  was  during  this  visit  to  Cannes  that  Canon  How  first 
made  friends  with  Miss  Jean  Ingelow,  a  friendship  lasting 
till  their  lives  ended  so  nearly  at  the  same  time,  almost 
the  last  public  act  on  his  part  being  to  take  the  service  at 
her  funeral.  Another  friendship  formed  there  was  that 
with  the  Crosbie  family,  and  before  leaving  Cannes  he 
was  to  receive  the  print  of  "  St.  Augustine  and  Monica," 
which  hung  in  his  library  at  Wakefield  afterwards. 

\^To  his  sisfer.] 

"Cannes,  March  11,  1878. 

"  The  other  day  Nellie  and  I  were  at  five  o'clock  tea  at 
Lord  Courtown's,  when  Lord  Brougham,  whom  I  had 
not  met  before,  came  up  to  me  and   shook   my  hand, 


120  Bishop  Walsham  How 

saying,  '  Well,  Cumberland,  and  how  are  you  ? '  He 
then  began  to  talk  of  my  grandfather,  the  Lawsons,  &c. 
He  is  brother  to  the  great  Lord  Brougham  who  invented 
Cannes. 

"  N.  and  I  have  been  to  a  very  pleasant  five  o'clock  tea 
(the  Lenten  dissipation)  to-day  at  Lady  Plunkett's,  where 
we  met  all  sorts  of  nice  people,  among  them  the  nice, 
gentle  Jean  Ingelow,  Mrs.  Pollock  (the  Geranium)  with 
her  very  pretty  daughter,  herself  even  prettier,  and  C. 
One  of  the  nicest  families  here  are  the  Crosbies  (no  title 
for  a  wonder  ! )." 

[To  Rev.  H.  W.  Burrows.] 

"Cannes,  March  26,  1878. 

"  The  other  [day  in  giving  an  address  I  illustrated  my 
subject  by  a  description  of  Ary  Scheffer's  picture  of  '  St. 
Augustine  and  Monica,'  and  I  was  told  afterwards  that 
the  lady  who  sat  for  Monica  was  in  church.  I  have 
since  received  from  her  a  present  of  a  beautiful  print  of 
the  picture." 

But  things  were  far  from  being  settled  yet.  The 
formation  of  a  Suffragan  Bishopric  for  East  London 
depended  on  a  good  many  different  people.  The  consent 
of  the  Crown  had  to  be  obtained,  and  that  meant  con- 
siderable delay.  Further,  the  scheme  could  not,  as  at 
first  contemplated,  be  carried  out  without  the  generous 
contributions  of  certain  wealthy  London  laymen.  This 
became,  in  the  end,  unnecessary,  the  income  of  a  city 
living  being  afterwards  devoted  to  the  purpose  ;  but  at 
first  this  condition  of  things  appeared  likely  to  prove 
fatal  to  the  selection  of  Canon  Walsham  How  for  the 
post,  inasmuch  as  one  of  the  most  liberal  contributors  to 


Earliest  Suggestion  of  East  London       121 

the  proposed  fund  objected  to  his  appointment.  This  is 
explained  in  the  subjoined  letter  to  the  Rev.  H.  W. 
Burrows,  and  some  idea  is  given  of  the  attraction  which 
East  London  work  had  from  the  first  for  the  future 
Bishop. 

"  Whittington,  May  11,  1878, 

"  My  dear  Burrows, 

"  It  is  all  over,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  with 
regard  to  East  London.  It  appears  (I  hope  I  am  not 
revealing  secrets,  but  you  will  not  talk  about  it)  that  one 
of  the  chief  promoters  of  the  scheme,  upon  whose  money 
much  depends,  does  not  wish  to  have  me.  I  hope  they 
will  make  a  much  better  selection,  if  the  scheme  takes 
effect  at  all.  I  am  a  little  disappointed,  for  I  had  been 
planning  in  my  mind  various  schemes  of  usefulness,  and 
hoping  to  go  among  the  overburdened  and  often  dis- 
heartened clergy  of  East  London  as  a  brother,  giving 
them  a  helping  hand,  encouraging,  and  gathering  them 
together,  and  perhaps  brightening  their  too  dreary  life 
and  work  a  little.  It  seemed  to  me  a  very  grand  work, 
and  a  very  real  work,  with  no  show  or  luxury  about  it, 
and,  were  it  not  for  my  family,  I  think  I  should  prefer  it 
to  any  post  I  can  think  of." 

When  Mr.  Maclagan  was  appointed  to  be  Bishop  of 
Lichfield  it  appears  that  he  was  anxious  to  be  succeeded 
by  his  friend.  Canon  Walsham  How,  at  Kensington,  for  we 
find  the  following  passage  in  a  letter  from  the  latter  dated 
from  Whittington  Rectory,  May  21,  1878. 

"  I  may  venture  to  name  to  you  that  one  of  the  members 
of  the  Cabinet  (Lord  Cranbrook)  told  Archdeacon 
Ffoulkes  that  he  thought  the  probability  of  my  moving 


122  Bishop  Walsham  How 

on  before  long  would  be  a  bar  to  my  being  selected  for 
Kensington,  which  Mr.  Maclagan  was  very  anxious  for. 
Kensington  would  be  a  much  happier  resting-place  than 
any  *  moving  on '  could  bring  one  to.  However,  it  is  a 
bad  thing  to  be  speculating  about  the  future,  and  I  trust 
all  these  kind  wishes  about  East  London  and  Kensington 
may  not  unsettle  me.  I  am  buckling-to  to  my  old  steady 
work  here  pretty  well." 

Immediately  after  the  temporary  disappointment  about 
East  London  his  thoughts  were  turned  in  another  direc- 
tion by  the  offer  of  the  Vicarage  of  Windsor  with  a 
Readership  to  the  Queen. 

[To  his  second  son?\ 

"Whittington  Rectory,  May  27,  1878. 

"  Monday  night. 
"  My  dear  Harry, 

"  I  am    offered    the     Vicarage  of   Windsor   with 

a  Readership  to  the  Queen.     Mr.   Maclagan  presses  me 

not  to  decline  without  going  to  see  it,  and  the  Dean  of 

Windsor  asks  me  to  go  and  see  him  and  talk  it  over.     So 

I  am  going  to  run  up  to  town  to-morrow  evening,  and 

mean  to  take  mother  by  surprise,  talk  it  over  with  her, 

run  down  to  Windsor  by  the  10.30  train  on  Wednesday 

morning  and  take  notes  of  all  things.  .  .  .     The  question 

as  to  Windsor  will  turn  on  its  healthiness  for  the  mother. 

In  no  other  respect  does  it  offer  much  attraction,  but  the 

Dean  says  the   vicarage  is  a  good  house  and  high  up. 

The  population  is  7000.     The  Readership  does  not  involve 

much,  the  Dean  says,  just  a  sermon  now  and  then. 

"  Good  night, 

"  Your  loving  father, 

"Wm.  walsham  how. 


Earliest  Suggestion  of  East  London       123 

"  P.S. — Tuesday  morning.  A  letter  from  mother, 
very  much  against  Windsor,  so  I  expect  it  will  come  to 
nothing." 

The  expectation  contained  in  this  P.S.  was  fulfilled, 
and  Whittington  kept  its  rector  for  yet  another  year,  in 
spite  of  various  attempts  to  lure  him  away.  Thus  he 
received  the  following  letter  from  the  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester containing  an  offer  that  at  first  tempted  him 
greatly. 

"  Farnham  Castle,  Sept.  14,  1871. 

"My  dear  Mr.  Walsham  How, 

"  In  'the  Diocese  of  Winchester  it  is  proposed  to 
establish  a  mission  machinery  for  the  evangelising  the  great  towns 
of  the  diocese.  Portsmouth,  Aldershot,  &c.,  are  in  great  want 
of  more  help  than  the  regular  parochial  machinery  can  give 
them.  ...  It  has  been  arranged  to  have  a  mission  house  at 
Winchester,  with  a  canon  residentiary  at  its  head,  the  missionary 
clergy  to  be  sent  from  thence  to  work  where  it  is  thought  their 
work  is  most  needed  and  will  be  accepted.  It  is  wished  much 
that  lay  workers,  male  and  female,  should  be  associated  to  the 
house  and  the  work :  young  men  training  to  be  clergymen, 
deaconesses,  mission  women,  &c,  I  do  not  know  whether  you 
would  be  willing  to  undertake  the  guidance  and  management  of 
such  a  work,  taking  the  canonry  (about  ^800  or  ;^9oo  a  year 
and  a  good  house)  as  your  payment  or  provision  and  your  locus 
standi.  If  you  would,  I  feel  sure  that  the  diocese  would  gain 
much  by  your  accession  to  it,  and  that  the  mission  would  be 
likely  to  succeed  under  your  care  and  direction.  Will  you  kindly 
consider  this  and  reply  as  soon  as  you  can?  The  maturing  of  the 
scheme  has  already  kept  the  canonry  too  long  vacant. 

"  Believe  me, 

"  Ever  very  sincerely  yours, 

"E.  H.  WINTON." 

This  offer  caused  its  recipient  considerable  anxiety,  and 


124  Bishop  Walsham  How 

it  was  not  until  after  a  close  inquiry  into  the  proposed 
scheme  that  he  finally  decided  upon  its  impossibility. 

[J^rom  E.  F.  How  {Ais  daughter)^  to  one  of  her  brothers^ 

"  Has  father  told  you  of  this  new  offer  ?  The  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester has  offered  him  a  canonry  with  the  headship  of  the 
Wilberforce  Memorial  Mission  College.  Father  is  rather  smitten 
with  the  idea  of  the  work.  ...  I  hear  that  the  Bishop  of  Lichfield, 
Mr.  John  Oakley,  and  others  are  pressing  him  very  strongly  to 
undertake  it,  and  the  doctor's  report  of  the  climate  for  asthma  is 
fairly  satisfactory." 

\From  W.  W.  H.  to  his  sister.] 

"  Whittington,  Sept.  15,  1878. 

"  I  am  again  in  a  trouble  of  doubt.  This  morning's 
post  has  brought  me  a  most  kind  letter  from  the  Bishop 
of  Winchester  offering  me  the  vacant  canonry  in  his 
cathedral  with  the  headship  of  the  Wilberforce  Memorial 
Mission  House,  which  is  at  once  to  be  transplanted  to 
Winchester.  It  is  in  many  ways  an  attractive  offer,  but  I 
fear  Winchester  is  very  low  and  flat  and  damp.  It  would 
not  do  to  take  F.  [Mrs.  How]  to  live  there  if  it  is  un- 
healthy.    Do  give  me  any  help  towards  deciding." 

[To  the  same.] 

"  The  Deanery,  Winchester, 

"  Oa.  I,  1878. 

"The  Bishop  has  been  here  all  day  to-day,and  after  much 
talk  with  him  I  have  finally  declined  to  come  here.  My 
reason  is  that  I  think  the  scheme  for  the  Mission  House 
quite  impracticable.  I  have  not  time  to  tell  you  all  about 
it  now.  Much  here  is  exceedingly  attractive  ;  but  I  am 
glad  the  suspense  is  over." 


Earliest  Suggestion  of  East  London       125 

There  was  to  be  yet  one  more  attempt  in  this  year  to 
induce  him  to  accept  preferment.  Several  of  the  clergy 
in  Jamaica,  on  learning  of  their  bishop's  proposed  retire- 
ment, wrote  to  him  requesting  that  he  would  allow  him- 
self to  be  nominated  for  the  See.  As  in  the  case  of  other 
colonial  offers  this  was  at  once  declined  with  an  expres- 
sion of  gratitude  for  the  kind  thought  of  him.  Mrs.  How's 
bad  health  and  the  education  of  a  large  family  of  sons 
always  proved  sufficient  barriers  to  his  undertaking  per- 
manent work  out  of  England. 


CHAPTER   X 

APPOINTMENT  TO  EAST  LONDON 

Early  in  1879  the  subject  of  East  London  was  brought 
again  to  the  front.  The  Bishop  of  London  found  himself 
with  the  valuable  living  of  St.  Andrew's  Undershaft  in  St. 
Mary  Axe  in  the  city  at  his  disposal,  and  at  once  proposed 
to  utilise  the  income  as  the  stipend  of  a  suffragan  bishop, 
provided  that  the  consent  of  the  Crown  were  obtained. 
Being  no  longer  hampered  by  having  to  consult  the 
wishes  of  those  who  would  have,  under  other  circum- 
stances, provided  the  necessary  funds,  the  Bishop  at  once 
offered  the  post  of  bishop  suffragan  for  East  London  to 
Canon  Walsham  How  in  the  following  letter  : 

"  London  House,  St.  James's  Square,  S.W. 

March  3,  1879. 
"  My  DEAR  Canon, 

"  I  know  that  when  Bishop  Maclagan  was  with  you 
at  Cannes  last  year  he  had  some  conversation  with  you  about  a 
proposal  for  a  suffragan  bishop  to  take  charge  of  the  eastern 
portion  of  London,  and  he  then  thought  that  you  might  not  be 
indisposed  to  accept  it.  Some  misunderstandings  afterwards 
arose,  and  some  indiscreet  talk  outdoors  threw  obstacles  in  the 
way,  and  the  matter  dropped.  The  project  has,  however,  lately 
revived,  and  one  most  munificent  offer  made  it  probable  that  in 
twelve  months  or  so  it  might  be  carried  out.  But  now  the  death 
of  my  old  friend  F.  Blomfield  has  put  the  matter  entirely  into 


Appointment  to  East  London  127 

my  own  hands,  subject  only  to  the  consent  of  the  Crown.  The 
living  of  St.  Andrew's  Undershaft  in  the  City  of  London  is  worth 
^^2500  net,  after  paying  Queen  Ann's  Bounty  and  other  outgoings, 
and  as  the  population  was  only  580  in  187 1,  and  can  scarcely 
be  400  now,  of  whom  none  are  poor,  a  curate's  stipend  is  the  only 
other  deduction,  excepting,  however,  the  possible  rent  of  a  house. 

I  am  not,  however,  without  hope  that  a  house  in  a  suitable  and 
healthy  situation  may  be  provided  free. 

"  I  now,  therefore,  ask  whether  you  would  be  disposed  to  help 
me  in  the  work  of  this  unwieldy  diocese,  and  that  in  a  part  where 
from  various  circumstances  many  of  the  parishes  are  spiritually 
in  a  very  depressed  and  unsatisfactory  state.  It  would  not  be  fair 
to  conceal  the  difficulty  of  the  work  ;  but  that  God's  blessing 
would  be  on  it,  when  undertaken,  as  you  would  undertake  it,  in 
a  spirit  of  pious  self-distrustful  earnestness,  I  do  not  for  a  moment 
doubt. 

"  As  the  Crown  has  not  yet  been  approached  on  the  subject, 
and  there  is  some  jealousy  about  reckoning  too  confidently  on  the 
Queen's  pleasure,  I  must  ask  you  kindly  not  to  mention  this  except 
in  confidence.  I  may  say  that  both  Bishop  Maclagan  and  Mr, 
Wilkinson  of  St.  Peter's,  Pimlico,  are  very  anxious  that  you  should 
undertake  this  work. 

"  Believe  me  to  be, 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"J.  LONDON." 


This  proposal  was  kept  secret,  for  the  ultimate  appoint- 
ment would  of  course  remain  with  the  Crown,  but  in  spite 
of  all  precautions  the  fact  became  known,  and  paragraphs 
appeared  in  several  papers,  with  the  ultimate  result  of  still 
further  delaying  the  settlement  of  the  business.  But  before 
these  were  published,  the  Bishop-designate  could  not  resist 
mystifying  some  members  of  his  family  as  to  what  was 
going  on.  For  instance,  on  March  5,  he  [writes  to  one 
of  his  sons,  and  says  (referring  to  St.  Andrew's  Under- 
shaft) : 


128  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  I  have  been  offered  a  very  good  living  further  south, 
with  only  400  population,  and  think  of  accepting  it. 
What  should  you  think  of  your  old  father  settling  down 
in  a  parish  with  that  population  to  spend  his  declining 
years  in  idleness  ?  I  really  mean  that  I  shall  probably 
take  it." 

Ten  days  later  he  writes  to  the  same  son,  and  says  : 

"  Dearest  Harry. 

"  It  is  too  bad  to  keep  you  mystified  so  long. 
The  truth  is  that  I  thought  I  should  be  able  to  tell  you 
something  definite  by  this  time,  but  it  seems  it  may  be 
weeks  before  the  question  will  be  finally  settled,  so  I  cannot 
let  you  remain  in  suspense  all  that  time,  and  am  now  going 
felem  de  sacco  liberare.  The  long  and  the  short  of  it  is 
the  Bishop  of  London  has  offered  me  St.  Andrew's  Under- 
shaft,  a  city  living,  with  a  population  of  about  400,  and  an 
income  of  ;£25oo.  Of  course  you  will  guess  that  this  means 
that  I  am  to  be  Bishop  of  East  London.  (N.B. — You  must 
by  no  means  let  anybody  else  get  a  sight  of  even  pussy's  ear 
or  the  tip  of  her  tail.)  I  have  consented,  after  consulta- 
tion with  the  Bishop  of  Lichfield  and  the  dear  mother,  and 
now  the  Bishop  of  London  is  applying  to  the  Crown  for 
their  sanction  of  the  scheme,  and  when  that  is  obtained  he 
will  submit  my  name,  which  also  requires  the  approval  of 
the  Crown.  All  this  takes  much  time,  and  the  Bishop  writes 
that  it  may  be  difficult  to  get  at  the  Queen  about  it  just  at 
present,  so  we  must  be  patient.     It  is  such  a  comfort  to 

learn   that  Mr.  who   had    offered  ^^  10,000  towards 

the  fund  on  condition  of  having  Canon  Gregory,  a  few 
weeks  ago  withdrew  his  condition  and  offered  the  sum 
with  the  knowledge  that  the  Bishop  would  select  me.  It 
would  have  taken  a  year  or  so  to  get  up  the  subscription 


Appointment  to  East  London  129 

and  complete  the  scheme,  but  now  the  Bishop  is  quite 
independent,  and  no  subscription  is  needed,  as,  on  Canon 
Blomfield's  death,  he  at  once  resolved  (if  the  Crown  con- 
sents) to  endow  the  suffragan  bishopric  with  that  living. 
There  is  a  curate  in  charge,  and  the  church  is  in  excellent 
order.  There  is  hardly  any  parochial  work.  The  house 
will  not  do,  and  that  will  be  one  of  the  first  things  to  look 
out  for.  I  am  going  up  on  Monday  to  see  the  Bishop  of 
London  and  talk  it  all  over.  I  shall  be  at  London  House, 
St.  James's  Square,  till  Wednesday.  It  is  a  tremendous 
responsibility,  and  the  work  will  be  very  heavy,  and,  I 
fear,  very  disheartening.  The  Church  is  noivhcre  in  East 
London.  God  grant  I  may  have  grace  and  strength  to 
do  some  little  good,  and  at  least  to  cheer  and  encourage 
the  poor  broken-down  clergy  there.  The  mother  is  so 
good  about  it,  and  the  daughter,  of  course,  takes  the 
noblest  view  of  it.  But  oh  !  how  one  finds  out  one's  love 
for  dear  old  Whittington  1  No  time  for  more.  Mother 
pretty  well.     Such  a  perfect  day  to-day  ! 

"  Your  loving  father, 

"Wm.  vvtalsham  how." 

Mrs.  How  was  ready,  as  ever,  to  take  her  part  in  all 
her  husband's  anxieties,  and  writing  from  Barmouth  on 
March  5  says  : 

"  I  wish  I  could  say  anything  to  help  you.  I  feel  myself  that 
the  work  at  the  east  of  London  is  what  you  could  do,  and 
that  God  is  calling  you  to  do  it.  We  must  not  give  one  thought 
as  to  whether  we  should  like  to  live  there  or  not.  If  God  permits 
us  to  be  together,  we  shall  be  happy  anywhere.  I  can  only  pray 
God  to  direct  you  right.  I  am  so  thankful  you  are  with  the  dear 
good  Bishop  [Lichfield].  He  has  the  Master's  work  so  much  at 
heart  that  I  am  sure  he  will  try  to  give  the  best  advice." 

I 


130  Bishop  Walsham  How 

It  was  the  Manchester  Guardian  that  somehow  ferreted 
out  the  fact  about  the  proposed  appointment  to  East 
London,  and  the  Oswestry  Advertiser  of  March  25,  1879, 
pubHshed  the  following  paragraph  : 

"The  London  correspondent  of  the  Manchester  Guardian 
writes  :  '  I  understand  that  the  frequently  expressed  wish  for  the 
appointment  of  an  additional  bishop  for  the  eastern  division  of 
the  diocese  of  London  is  at  last  likely  to  be  gratified,  and  that 
Canon  Walsham  How  will  in  all  probability  be  selected  for  the 
post.  At  the  time  when  the  proposition  was  first  made,  some 
years  since,  Mr.  Wilkinson,  Mr.  Maclagan,  and  Mr.  How  were 
named  for  the  post ;  but  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  choice 
will  fall  upon  Mr.  How,  and  that,  unless  an  obstacle  is  raised  by 
the  Premier,  the  bishop  will  present  the  canon  to  the  valuable 
rectory  of  St.  Andrew's  Undershaft,  an  old  city  church  in  Leaden- 
hall  Street,  which  is  worth  about  ;^2ooo  a  year.'" 

This  paragraph  caused  great  consternation.  It  was 
known  that  the  Crown  was  naturally  strongly  averse  to 
its  assent  being  taken  for  granted,  and  it  had  been 
thought  that  the  matter  was  being  kept  a  dead  secret. 

"  Whittington  Rectory,  March  28,  1879. 

"  My  dearest  Sister, 

"  I  was  at  Wolverhampton  giving  addresses  to  the 
clergy,  and  preaching  at  night,  on  Wednesday,  and  never 
knew  of  that  paragraph  in  Wednesday's  Oswestry  Adver- 
tiser till  I  was  visiting  in  the  parish  yesterday  afternoon, 
when  I  was  startled  and  horrified  to  be  asked  about  it. 
I  rushed  home  just  in  time  to  cut  it  out  and  send  it  to 
you,  for  I  have  been  longing  to  tell  you,  but  was  under  a 
pledge  of  secrecy  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  who  says  the 
Crown  are  exceedingly  jealous  of  their  assent  being 
assumed,  so  he  begged  I  would  consider  it  secret  till  that 


Appointment  to  East  London  131 

consent  was  obtained.  He  wrote  to  Dizzy  quite  three 
weeks  ago,  hoping  he  would  get  an  opportunity  of  laying 
it  before  the  Queen  before  she  left  England,  but  he  has 
heard  nothing.  The  consent  at  present  asked  for  is  only 
to  the  general  scheme  for  a  suffragan,  no  name  being 
mentioned,  and  when  that  is  obtained  the  whole  process 
will  have  to  be  gone  through  again  as  to  the  name.  I 
fancy  the  first  step  cannot  now  be  taken  before  the 
Queen  comes  back.  I  went  up  last  Monday  to  see  the 
Bishop  about  it,  and  went  on  the  Tuesday  to  see  St. 
Andrew's  Undershaft,  which  is  in  the  corner  of  Leaden- 
hall  St.  and  St.  Mary  Axe.  Oh  !  such  a  soot-begrimed, 
iron-railing-beguarded,  dim,  dingy,  dirty  edifice  !  I  got 
in,  having  w4th  great  difficulty  found  the  verger,  and, 
under  the  assumed  disguise  of  an  archaeologist,  looked 
over  the  church.  It  is  better  inside  than  out,  being  nicely 
open-seated,  and  properly  arranged,  but  heavy  and 
gloomy.  The  population  is  about  the  same  as  Salwarpe 
[Canon  Douglas's  country  parish],  the  parish  consisting 
chiefly  of  warehouses,  offices,  &c.  St.  Mary  Axe  forms 
the  parish,  and  I  should  have  very  little  to  do  with  it,  and 
there  is  no  rectory,  the  old  one  being  made  into  offices, 
and  let  at  ;^30o  or  ;^400  a  year.  There  is  said  to  be  a 
good  curate,  and  the  verger  said  the  choir  was  excellent. 
Of  course  I  do  not  the  least  know  yet  where  I  should 
have  to  live.  I  stayed  two  nights  with  the  Bishop,  who 
was  very  kind  and  told  me  all  he  could  about  it.  I  never 
told  a  soul  in  London,  not  even  where  I  was  staying, 
and  no  one  here,  except  Nellie,  knew  where  I  was,  so  it 
cannot  have  got  out  through  me.  It  is  very  provoking 
its  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  one's  people  in  this  way. 
I  did  so  wish  to  go  and  tell  my  best  people  myself,  as 
soon  as  the  Bishop  gave  me  leave." 


132  Bishop  Walsham  How 

[To  Canon  Douglas.] 

"  Whittington  Rectory, 
^^  JEaster  Tuesday,  1879. 
"  My  dear  William, 

"Early  last  week  I  heard  from  the  Bishop  of 
London  that  Mr.  Foster  had  been  to  him  to  say  he  had 
an  offer  for  his  house  (Stainforth  House)  at  Upper 
Clapton,  and  had  postponed  giving  an  answer  till  it  was 
considered  whether  it  would  answer  for  a  residence  for 
the  future  suffragan.  He  asked  if  I  could  come  and  see 
it,  so  I  have  fixed  to  do  so  next  Thursday.  I  go,  self- 
invited,  to  John  Oakley's  (St.  Saviour's,  Hoxton)  to- 
morrow, and  Mr.  Foster  calls  for  me  there  to  take  me  to 
the  house.  He  says  he  will  lend  it  for  a  year  or  two,  if 
we  like,  till  we  can  judge  of  its  suitability.  I  fear  it  is 
rather  far  from  the  centre  of  work,  but  it  may  be  a  great 
boon  to  have  a  house  to  turn  into  all  ready.  Mr.  Foster 
has  left  already,  and  gone  to  live  at  Chislehurst.  He  will 
be  a  great  loss  to  East  London." 

This  is  the  first  mention  of  Stainforth  House,  on 
Clapton  Common,  which,  owing  to  this  generous  pro- 
posal on  the  part  of  Mr.  Richard  Foster,  became  the 
home  of  Bishop  Walsham  How  and  of  Bishop  Billing 
during  their  respective  tenures  of  office  as  suffragans  for 
East  London. 

[To  his  sister.'] 

"  Whittington,  April  18,  1879. 
"  Dearest  Minny, 

"  Of  course  it  is  a  grand  thing  to  have  a  house  to 
turn  into  at  once  whenever  one  may  want  one,  so  that 
one  cannot  but  gratefully  accept  the  offer.     Otherwise  it 


Appointment  to  East  London  133 

is  not  quite  what  I  should  have  selected.  It  is,  to  begin 
with,  at  the  extreme  N.E.  corner  of  the  district,  and 
a  more  central  position  would  be  much  better.  The 
chief  trouble  of  all,  however,  is  the  church,  which  is  very 
advanced,  and  will  cause  me  some  difficulty.  It  would 
be  very  marked  to  go  a  mile  beyond  it  to  a  church  I 
should  like  far  better,  and  scarcely  well  to  be  supposed 
to  sympathise  with  the  very  advanced  type.  So  I  am 
perplexed.  The  house  is  a  very  good  one  :  there  is  a 
nice  garden,  and  a  small  field  capable  of  supporting  two 
cows.  The  house  stands  high,  and  on  gravel,  so  is  very 
healthy.  It  is  quite  rural  at  the  back,  looking  down  the 
slope  of  the  ridge  to  the  river  Lea." 

Time  went  on,  and  yet  no  appointment  was  made. 
These  months  must  have  been  exceedingly  trying  ones  to 
the  future  Bishop,  for  there  was  still  great  uncertainty  as 
to  whether  he  would  be  selected  by  the  Crown,  and  at 
the  same  time  there  was  the  prospect  that  he  might  be 
leaving  the  beautiful  home  at  Whittington  where  he  had 
spent  twenty-eight  happy  years. 

\_To  his  brother^ 

"  Whittington,  yi<;«^  3,  1879. 

"  I  may  be  going  to  leave  this  parish,  and  it  seems  to 
me,  in  looking  back,  that,  though  I  may  have  been  more 
or  less  busy,  I  have  in  reality  scarcely  touched  great  parts 
of  a  clergyman's  true  work.  I  have  failed  entirely  to  win 
the  labouring  men,  probably — nay,  certainly — because  I 
have  not  sympathised  enough  with  them,  nor  gone 
among  them  when  I  could,  and  have  been  reserved  with 
them.  And  I  have  failed  to  win  the  lads  for  the  same 
reasons." 


134  Bishop  Walsham  How 

[To  the  same.] 

"  Jerusalem  Chamber,  Westminster, 

'"'■June  24,  1879. 

"  I  believe,  after  all,  it  is  quite  true  that  the  difficulty  as 
to  East  London  arises  from  my  name  getting  into  the 
papers.  .  .  . 

"The  Bishop  of  London  has  just  called  me  out,  and 
told  me  he  has  been  inquiring  from  Lord  Beaconsfield's 
private  secretary  the  cause  of  the  delay,  and  is  sorry  to 
say  he  has  learnt  that  the  Queen  was  greatly  offended  at 
the  paragraphs  in  the  papers,  that  she  has  been  told  by 
some  one  that  I  teach  private  confession,  and  that  Lord 
John  Manners,  who  has  been  with  her,  and  who  was  a 
parishioner  of  Mr.  Burrows  [Rev.  H.  W.  Burrows,  after- 
wards Canon  of  Rochester]  in  his  late  parish,  has  been 
pressing  him  strongly  upon  her." 

The  Bishop  of  London  had  submitted  two  names  to 
the  Crown,  as  is  the  rule  in  such  cases,  placing  Canon 
Walsham  How's  first  and  Mr.  Burrows'  second.  It  is 
usually,  but  not  invariably,  the  first  name  that  is  selected. 

The  suspense  was,  however,  soon  to  be  relieved. 
Convocation  ended  on  Friday,  July  4,  and  that  night 
Canon  How  returned  to  Whittington.  The  next  morning 
brought  him  a  letter  from  Lord  Beaconsfield  in  the 
following  terms  : 

"  10  Downing  Street,  Whitehall, 

"  July  ^.  ■LZ^q. 

"Sir, 

"The  Queen  having  been  pleased  to  approve  of  the 
appointment  of  a  suffragan  bishop,  to  be  styled  suffragan  of  the 
See  of  Bedford,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
London  in  the  duties  of  his  diocese,  and  having  had  under  con- 
sideration the  two  names  submitted  in  accordance  with  the  statute, 


Appointment  to  East  London  135 

I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  her  Majesty  has,  on  my 
recommendation,  been  graciously  pleased  to  select  you  to  fill  that 
office,  and  that  I  have  requested  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the 
Home  Department  to  take  the  necessary  steps  to  give  effect  to  the 
Queen's  commands. 

"  I  have  the  honour  to  be 

"Yours  faithfully, 

"  BEACONSFIELD." 

It  was  a  happy  chance  that  there  was  a  small  family 
gathering  at  Whittington  Rectory  at  the  time  the  above 
letter  was  received.  Canon  How's  eldest  son  and  his  wife 
were  there  on  their  honeymoon,  besides  other  members 
of  the  family,  so  that  the  news  arrived  at  an  opportune 
moment.  The  entry  in  the  Bishop  designate's  diary  for 
this  day  is  characteristically  simple  : 

"  Ju^y  5-  Saturday. — Heard  from  Lord  B.  of  my  appoint- 
ment." Then  follows  a  list  of  some  half-dozen  sick  people 
to  whom  he  paid  visits,  and  the  entry  closes  with  :  "  Small 
lawn-tennis  party." 

He  wrote  at  once  to  his  sister  telling  her  that  the  sus- 
pense was  over  : 

"Whittington  Rectory, y?^/^  5,  1879 
"  Dearest  Minny, 

"  It  has  come  at  last.  A  formal  letter  from  Lord 
Beaconsfield  has  announced  to  me  by  this  morning's  post 
that  her  Majesty  has  been  graciously  pleased  to  select  my 
name  for  the  suffragan  bishopric  of  London,  with  the 
title  of  Bishop  of  Bedford.  ...  And  now,  my  one  dear 
sister,  I  know  that  you  will  pray  for  me,  even  more  than 
ever,  that  I  may  have  grace  and  wisdom  for  this  great 
responsibility  and  laborious  work  ;  and   I   ask  this  great 

favour  of  you  all. 

"  Your  affectionate  brother, 

"W.  w.  H." 


136  Bishop  Walsham  How 

His  brother  seems  to  have  got  earlier  intelHgence,  for 
on  the  same  day  the  following  letter  was  written  : 

"  My  very  dear  Brother, 

"  I  do  value  your  brotherly  greeting  and  sympathy 
most  truly,  and  am  very  glad  that  your  letter  should  be 
the  first  after  the  news  has  been  definitely  received.  I 
am  myself  thankful  that  the  trying  suspense  is  over  ;  but  it 
would  have  been  a  great  deal  more  convenient  if  they 
had  made  a  little  more  haste  about  it,  for  it  is  too  late 
now  to  get  things  ready  by  the  25th  (St.  James'  Day),  and 
the  next  Saint's  day  falling  on  a  weekday  is  Michaelmas 
Day.  I  shall  doubtless  hear  from  the  Bishop  of  London 
in  a  few  days.  It  was  the  last  thing  I  expected  to  have 
any  letter  this  morning,  as  I  did  not  leave  London  till 
6.30  yesterday  evening,  and,  as  the  Bishop  was  sitting 
among  the  bishops  in  conference  with  us  in  the  afternoon, 
I  felt  sure  that,  if  anything  was  decided,  I  should  hear  it 
from  him.  I  do  hope  we  have,  for  the  present  at  least, 
done  with  that  wretched  Ornaments  Rubric.  Though  I 
cannot  agree  with  Dean  Stanley's  contemptuous  and 
insolent  protest  against  wasting  our  time  on  a  question  of 
*  clergymen's  clothes,'  yet  I  do  think  it  very  sad  that  the 
matter  should  have  been  forced  upon  us  by  the  converg- 
ing currents  of  ambiguous  rubrics,  contradictory  rulings 
in  the  Law  Courts,  extravagant  practices,  and  impractic- 
able parsons.  But  there  is  truth  in  the  strong  assertion 
of  the  Denison  School  that  they  are  not  lighting  for  a 
vestment,  but  for  a  faith  which  it  symbolises,  and  for  a 
link  of  continuity  with  the  ancient  Church  of  the  land. 
However,  I  think  what  we  passed  yesterday  will,  if  ever  it 
become  law,  be  a  great  discouragement  to  the  extreme 
ritualists." 


Appointment  to  East  London  137 

[To  Rev.  H.  W.  Burrows.] 

"  Whittington  Rectory,  y«/^/y  5,  1879. 

"My  dear  Burrows, 

"  At  last  the  suspense  is  over.  I  have  heard  this 
morning,  having  only  reached  home  after  midnight  last 
night,  that  I  am  selected.  I  believe,  in  many  ways,  you 
would  have  been  a  wiser  and  a  better  man,  but  I  am 
younger,  and  so  I  dare  not  shrink  from  a  labour  which, 
in  a  few  years,  I  might  not  unreasonably  dread  to  under- 
take. I  know  that  you  will  sympathise  with  and  pray  for 
me,  as  I  should  have  done  for  you  had  it  been  reversed. 

With  love  to  all. 

"  Ever  your  affectionate  friend, 

"W.  WALSHAM  HOW." 

As  may  readily  be  supposed,  letters  from  friends  poured 
in  as  soon  as  the  appointment  to  East  London  became 
known.  Some  few  of  these  are  of  special  interest,  and 
are  given  here. 

[From  Bishop  Harvey  Goodwin.] 

"  Jidy  18,  1879. 

"My  dear  Walsham  How, 

"  I  address  you  by  this  name  because  it  is  a  pleasure  to 
do  so  before  it  vanishes  into  the  somewhat  apocryphal  title  of 
Bishop  of  Bedford.  I  really  feel  ashamed  of  not  having  written 
you  one  line  of  welcome  before,  but  other  necessary  matters  have 
somehow  claimed  precedence.  You  have  a  fine  field  before  you, 
one  really  to  be  envied  if  you  have  strength,  as  I  pray  God  you 
may,  to  cope  with  the  work.  There  is  no  field  in  which  there  is 
more  to  be  done. 

"  It  strikes  me  as  very  curious,  the  change  in  feeling  and 
opinion  about  bishops.  I  can  remember,  and  so  can  you,  the 
time  when  the  cry  was,  '  We  don't  want  ornamental  men,  we  want 
working  clergy,'  and  the  notion  of  applying  the  bishops'  own  estates 


138  Bishop  Walsham  How 

to  an  increase  of  the  episcopacy  was  scouted  as  a  heresy.  Now 
people  are  beginning  to  find  out  that  what  they  call  working  clergy 
do  not  work  successfully  without  leaders.  It  seems  common 
sense,  and  not  to  require  much  appeal  to  argument  or  to  primitive 
antiquity,  but  it  has  cost  the  Church  of  England  some  years  and 
some  loss  to  find  it  out. 

"  God  bless  you,  my  dear  brother,  in  your  new  and  arduous  work. 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"H.  CARLISLE." 

\Fro77i  Bishop  Claughton.] 

"  Danbury  Palace,  Chelmsford,  July  7. 

"  My  dear  Walsham, 

"  I  could  not  tell  what  had  befallen,  when  from  day  to 
day  we  heard  nothing  of  the  East  London  Bishopric.  It  is  now 
settled  as  we  all  wished,  and  I  am  most  thankful  that  your  ad- 
ministrative powers  will  be  exercised  in  a  sphere  where  they  are  so 
much  needed.  Moreover,  I  am  very  thankful  for  the  relief  your 
establishment  there  will  be  to  my  brother  [Bishop  Piers  Claughton] 
who  has  a  great  deal  too  much  to  do.  Moreover  I  am  glad 
you  succeed  John  Bunyan,  and  not  Stern,  the  last  Bishop  of  Col- 
chester, for,  though  I  should  have  been  delighted  to  have  had  you 
as  suffragan  to  me  at  Colchester,  I  did  not  want  them  to  fill  up 
my  *  sedem  suffraganeam  si  quando  ingraviscente  infirmitate '  I 
needed  help.  I  only  wish  you  came  into  the  Upper  House  of 
Convocation.  .  .  . 

"  Dear  How,  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to  think  that  I  may  see  you 
now  and  then.  Where  shall  you  live  ?  At  St.  Mary  Axe,  or  St. 
Andrew's  Undershaft,  or  in  Finsbury  Square  ?  Some  day  let  me 
hear  from  you.  My  three  daughters  and  my  wife  send  their  love 
to  you. 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"T.  L.  St.  ALBANS." 

\From  Bishop  Christopher  Wordsworth.] 

"  RisEHOLME,  Lincoln,  July  9,  1879. 
"  My  dear  Canon  How, 

"  Allow  me  to  express  the  thankfulness  that  I  feel  for 
your  appointment  to  the  office  of  bishop  suffragan  of  and  for  the 


Appointment  to  East  London  139 

diocese  of  London,  and  to  assure  you  of  our  hearty  prayers  for  the 
divine  blessing  upon  you  and  your  episcopal  work. 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

••C.  LINCOLN." 

\From  Bishop  Harold  Browne.] 

"  78  Portland  Place,  W.,  July  7,  1879. 

*'My  dear  Canon  Walsham  How, 

"  I  am  rejoiced  to  learn  from  the  papers  that  you  are 
really  to  be  the  bishop  suffragan  for  East  London,  with  a  title 
from  my  old  diocese.  There  was  supposed  to  be  some  hitch,  and 
I  did  not  like  to  say  anything  to  you  about  it.  I  hope  now  that 
all  will  run  smooth.  Every  one  must  rejoice  that  you  are  to 
occupy  a  position  of  so  much  importance  and  influence.  I  only 
regret  that  it  is  not  to  a  diocesan  bishopric  that  you  are  to  be 
consecrated.  I  am  reconciled  to  losing  your  help  in  my  diocese, 
which,  as  you  know,  I  once  coveted,  for  I  feel  that  what  I  lose 
London  more  abundantly  gains.  May  it  please  God  to  give 
health,  strength,  and  wisdom,  and  to  bless  all  your  labours  for 
Him  and  His  people. 

*'  Ever  most  sincerely  yours, 

"E.  H.  WINTON." 
\From  Bishop  John  Selwvn.] 

"  Mv  dear  Canon  How, 

***** 

"  You  won't  mind  me  telling  you  how  deeply  I  sym- 
pathise with  you  in  your  self-sacrifice.  I  went  from  smoke  and 
dirt  to  sunny  climes,*  you  from  one  of  the  prettiest  places  on 
earth  to  what  ? — well,  one  of  the  grandest  works  a  man  could  be 
called  to.  You  must  be  very  bright  and  never  look  at  the  dark 
side  of  things  or  you  won't  get  along,  and  those  East-enders,  they 
tell  me,  are  very  depressed.  The  herewith  sent  doggerel  {vide 
infra)  is,  I  trust,  a  prophecy  of  the  help  you  will  be  to  them. 

"  At  any  rate  you  are  not  fewer  there  than  were  the  Apostles  on 
the  Day  of  Pentecost.     I  hope  your  example  will  lead  a  few  others 

*  He  left  a  parish  in  Wolverhampton  to  become  Bishop  of  Melanesia. 


140  Bishop  Walsham  How 

to  give  up  what  I  call  the  luxury  of  religion — plenty  of  services 
and  nice  rectors  and  all  the  rest  of  it.  I  know  two  right  good 
men  who  want  to  come  to  the  East-end,  but  they  must  not  leave 
their  work  in  the  north  yet :  Pelham  at  Beverley  and  Kennion*  at 
Bradford.  The  latter  had  100  mill  hands  at  early  celebration  on 
Ascension  Day,  so  he  has  got  some  stuff  in  him. 

"  What  are  they  going  to  call  you  ?  Poplar  would  not  be  a  bad 
title — I.  Because  I  hope  you  will  be  a  pop'lar  bishop  in  the  best 
sense.  2.  Because  poplar  goes  straightest  and  points  straightest  to 
heaven  of  any  tree  I  know. 

"  Believe  me,  yours  most  truly, 

"J.  R.  S.,Bp." 

"THE  CRY  OF  THE  EAST  LONDON  CLERGY. 

"  How  shall  we  reach  these  masses  dense, 
Beneath  whose  weight  we  bow  ? 
At  last  a  light  breaks  through  the  gloom 
And  we  will  show  you — How." 

{From  Dean  Burgon.] 

"The  Deanery,  Chichester,  July  15,  1879. 

"  My  dear  Walsham  How, 

"  I  have  been  for  five  weeks  ill — ill  with  fever.  Only 
this  day  have  I  felt  energy  enough  to  totter  into  my  library,  and 
stare  at  the  familiar  books,  and  rejoice  at  the  sight  of  the  blazing 
fire.  Laxis  Deo !  This  is  my  first  letter — written  in  the  old 
place  and  with  the  old  tools,  and  it  is,  as  you  see,  to  you. 

"  Congratulations,  and  all  that  kind  of  thing,  are  out  of  place 
between  men  like  you  and  me.  I  hope  your  new  duties  are 
acceptable  to  you,  and  that  your  new  station  will  prove  congenial 
to  you.  Will  you  wonder  if  an  old  bachelor  feels  strongly  tempted 
to  add — and  to  your  wife  ? 

"  I  am  at  least  pretty  sure  that  your  presidency  will  be  a  blessing 
for  the  district  over  which  you  will  have  episcopal  supervision,  and 
I  pray  that  the  Father  of  Light  will  send  you  divine  wisdom,  and 
give  you  '  a  right  judgment  in  all  things.'     To  which  I  must  add 

*  Now  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells. 


Appointment  to  East  London  141 

a  prayer  that  you  may  be  blessed  with  health,  and  (if  it  is  God's 
pleasure)  length  of  days. 

"  I  am  ever,  my  dear  Walsham  How, 
"  Very  faithfully  your  friend, 

"JOHN  W.  BURGON." 

There  were  also,  of  course,  numberless  letters  from 
relatives,  which  it  is  not  necessary  to  notice,  except  to 
quote  one  expression  in  a  letter  from  the  Bishop's  brother, 
which  confirms  the  impression  of  the  congenial  nature  of 
the  new  work  :  "  I  must  send  you,"  he  says,  "  the  earliest 
expression  of  my  earnest  and  best  wishes  on  your  new 
calling,  and  my  thankfulness  that  your  heart's  desire  has 
not  been  disappointed." 


CHAPTER   XI 

HIS  CONSECRATION  AND  DEPARTURE  FROM 
WHITTINGTON 

As  has  been  shown  in  the  last  chapter,  the  appointment 
of  Canon  Walsham  How  to  the  suffragan  bishopric  for 
East  London  met  with  the  hearty  approval  of  his  personal 
friends.  It  will  be  well  now  to  turn  and  see  how  it  was 
received  by  those  over  whom  he  was  to  preside.  The 
idea  of  the  formation  of  some  such  office  was  no  new  one 
to  the  Church  people  of  East  London. 

In  a  magazine  called  The  Worker  (now  defunct)  we  read 
that  some  years  before 

"  There  were  gathered  in  the  committee-room  of  the  Addi- 
tional Curates  Society,  at  the  old  offices  in  Whitehall,  a  little 
body  of  clergy  and  laity,  whose  attention  was  being  called  by  the 
then  secretary  of  the  society  (Rev.  Canon  A.  J.  Ingram)  to  some 
returns  as  to  the  number  of  candidates  presented  for  confirmation 
by  certain  of  the  parish  churches  in  Bethnal  Green.  .  .  . 

"There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  idolatry  of  statistics,  and  the  evil 
results  of  the  idolatry  of  spiritual  statistics  are  conspicuously  fatal. 
.  .  .  But  it  is  equally  easy  to  make  too  little  of  them.  We  see 
the  value  of  a  wise  study  of  statistics  when  we  look  back  to  that 
dingy  little  dark  office  in  Whitehall,  and  see  that  committee 
bending  over  those  confirmation  returns  from  Bethnal  Green, 
placed  before  them  by  Canon  Ingram  ;  see  them  startled  and 
appalled  at  that  tremendous  revelation  of  spiritual  destitution ; 


His  Consecration,  etc.  143 

see  them  rise,  resolved  to  take  action,  which,  by  the  mercy  of 
God,  and  under  the  leadership  of  Bishop  Jackson,  resulted  in  the 
consecration  of  Bishop  VValsham  How  as  Bishop  of  Bedford." 

Public  attention  had,  therefore,  been  called  to  the  wants 
of  East  London  for  some  time.  The  work  of  many  lay- 
men and  clergy  in  and  for  that  region  had  also  thrown 
into  deeper  contrast  the  spiritual  barrenness  of  a  large 
part  of  the  area.  Of  these  it  is  only  necessary  to  name 
such  men  as  the  great  Lord  Shaftesbury ;  Mr.  Denison,  the 
member  for  Newark  ;  Dean  Champneys,  formerly  Rector 
of  Whitechapel ;  Prebendary  Harry  Jones  ;  the  late 
Bishop  of  Bedford  (Dr.  Billing) ;  the  Rev.  Charles  Lowder, 
the  Rev.  J.  F.  Kitto,  &c.  These  men,  and  many  others, 
whose  names  are  still  household  words  in  many  a  poor 
home  in  East  London,  were  all  there  before  Bishop 
Walsham  How  came,  and  had  done  a  great  work  in 
laying  a  foundation  on  which  he  was  enabled  to  build. 
But  what  did  these  and  other  workers  know  of  their  new 
Bishop  ?  Some  few,  but  very  few,  knew  much  of  him, 
and  viewed  his  appointment  with  hopefulness.  The 
larger  number  knew  of  him  as  a  writer  of  simple  sermons, 
an  occasional  mission  preacher,  a  cheery,  kindly,  country 
clergyman,  whose  tastes  and  interests  and  experience 
were  not  likely  to  give  him  any  insight  into  their  needs, 
and  whose  health  and  spirits  they  thought  would  soon 
succumb  to  the  depressing  influence  of  his  new  sur- 
roundings. 

Probably  no  better  idea  of  the  general  feeling  can  be 
given  than  that  contained  in  a  short  paper  written  by 
Prebendary  Shelford,  Rector  of  Stoke  Newington.  He 
says  : 

"  I  remember  well  the  circumstances  under  which  the  suffragan 
bishopric  of  Bedford  was  revived  in  the  diocese  of  London. 


1.44  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  Efforts  had  been  made  for  many  years  to  bring  the  influence 
of  the  Church  to  bear  upon  the  vast  populations  in  the  East-end, 
which  for  various  reasons  had  been  too  much  lost  sight  of  and 
too  little  cared  for,  in  the  rush  of  modern  life. 

"  First  under  Bishop  Blomfield,  and  then  under  Bishop  Tait, 
many  new  churches  had  been  built  and  new  parishes  formed, 
with  a  proportionate  increase  in  the  number  of  clergy,  who  with 
much  zeal  and  self- sacrifice  devoted  themselves  to  earnest  efforts 
for  the  good  of  the  people  committed  to  their  spiritual  charge. 
In  Bethnal  Green,  Spitalfields,  Shoreditch,  and  Stepney,  the  sub- 
divisions of  huge  parishes  proceeded  rapidly,  and  many  able  men 
were  found  ready  to  devote  themselves  to  winning  back  to  the 
Church  the  multitudes  who  had  lapsed  from  her  in  days  of 
supineness  and  inactivity. 

"  Yet,  somehow,  the  success  attending  on  these  efforts  had  not 
been  equal  to  the  expectations  which  had  been  formed  by  those 
who  planned  or  carried  them  out.  The  churches  which  had  been 
built  at  great  cost  were  not  filled  with  worshippers.  The  clergy, 
after  years  of  disappointment,  were  in  many  instances  growing 
weary  and  disheartened.  The  results  of  their  labours  were  dis- 
heartening. Certain  statistics,  relating  to  some  East-end  parishes 
which  the  A.C.S.  had  assisted,  came  under  the  notice  of  the  com- 
mittee about  the  year  1877,  and  were  considered  so  important  as 
to  demand  the  attention  of  the  bishop  of  the  diocese. 

"  On  his  visit  to  the  society  for  the  purpose  of  consulting  with 
the  committee,  Bishop  Jackson,  in  reply  to  suggestions  made  to 
him,  expressed  his  desire  to  obtain  further  episcopal  help  in  the 
supervision  of  his  vast  diocese. 

'*  In  that  proposal  he  was  warmly  supported  by  the  com- 
mittee. .  .  . 

*'  Dr.  Walsham  How  was,  on  St.  James'  Day,  1879,  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Bedford.  At  that  time  certain  titles  named  in  the  Act 
of  Henry  VIII.  alone  could  be  used,  and  although  Bedford  is  far 
removed  from  the  East-end  of  London,  it  was  nearest  to  the 
metropolis  which  was  then  available  for  the  purpose.  Since  then 
the  Act  has  been  amended,  so  that  the  two  last  of  the  suffragans 
who  have  followed  Bishop  Walsham  How  have  received  the  more 
appropriate  designation  of  Bishop  of  Stepney. 

"It  is  undeniable  that  the  appointment  of  Bishop  Walsham 


His  Consecration,  etc.  145 

How  was  received  by  many,  who  did  not  know  him,  with  some 
doubt  and  even  fear.  It  was  thought  that  one,  who  had  spent 
most  of  his  ministerial  Hfe  in  a  country  parish,  would  not  be 
sufficiently  in  sympathy  with  his  toiling  town  brethren,  or  would 
quickly  succumb  to  the  unwonted  strain  on  his  physical,  mental 
and  spiritual  faculties.  Very  soon,  however,  were  the  clergy  satis- 
fied that  in  this  they  had  been  mistaken.  The  Bishop  threw 
himself  at  once  with  ardour  and  enthusiasm  into  the  work." 


Those  only  who  knew  him  chiefly  by  reputation 
were  moved  by  such  fears  as  these.  Walsham  How 
had  indeed  for  twenty-eight  years  been  a  ^"country 
parson,"  but  scarcely  one  of  the  type  usually  signified 
by  those  words.  He  had  always  been  a  worker,  and 
the  sphere  of  work  did  not  make  so  very  much  differ- 
ence. From  morning  service  at  8  a.m.  until  at  about 
midnight  he  laid  down  his  pen  in  his  study,  each  day 
at  Whittington  was  fully  occupied,  and  a  man  can  after  all 
do  no  more  than  work  his  whole  time.  The  nature  of 
the  work  was  to  change,  the  quantity  was  only  slightly 
increased.  The  burden  of  a  bishop's  correspondence  was 
to  take  the  place  of  the  writing  of  "  Commentaries  "  and 
series  of  "Plain  Words."  The  visits  to  country  farms  and 
cottages  were  to  be  changed  to  expeditions  to  cheer  the 
workers  in  Limehouse  and  the  Isle  of  Dogs.  His  way  to 
church  past  the  old  Castle  and  its  shady  pools  at  Whitting- 
ton was  to  give  way  to  a  more  noisy  route  by  tram  or 
train  or  'bus.  But  he  was  to  show  that  the  training  and 
habit  of  work  to  which  he  had  disciplined  himself  all  his 
life  long  would  help  him  to  bear  the  new  conditions  and 
added  strain  from  which  so  much  was  feared.  The  great- 
ness of  his  heart  never  for  a  moment  failed  him,  the 
loving  brightness  of  his  disposition  was  never  dimmed  by 
dreary  surroundings  or  London  fog,  but  shone  with  fresh 

K 


146  Bishop  Walsham  How 

lustre  as  more  frequent  calls  were  made  upon  it  to  cheer 
the  lives  of  his  fellow  workers  in  his  new  sphere. 

The  following  letter  from  the  then  Rector  of  Hackney, 
who  was  to  become  one  of  the  Bishop's  dearest  friends 
and  warmest  supporters,  shows  that  there  were  some  at 
least  who  rejoiced  and  feared  not  at  his  coming  : 

"The  Rectory,  Hackney,  E.,  July  5,  1879. 

"  My  dear  Sir, 

*'  I  have  been  anxiously  longing  for  the  announcement 
which  has  to-day  appeared  in  the  Times. 

"  I  thank  God  that  you  have  been  chosen  as  our  suffragan 
bishop,  and  pray  that  His  blessing  may  rest  upon  you  and  upon 
your  work.  We  shall  give  you  a  cordial  welcome,  and  I  rejoice 
to  think  that  you  are  likely  to  reside  so  near  us.  We  hope  that  you 
will  make  any  use  of  this  house  in  arranging  your  future  plans. 
It  will  be  a  great  pleasure  to  my  wife  as  well  as  to  myself  to  receive 
you  here  at  any  time.  .  .  . 

"  Yours  most  faithfully, 

"  ARTHUR  BROOK. 
"  Rector  of  Hackney,  and  Rural  Dean." 

Meantime  the  preparations  for  his  consecration  were 
being  hurried  on.  It  had  been  feared  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  have  everything  ready  by  July  25,  but  great 
haste  was  made,  and  on  Wednesday  July  23,  Canon  and 
Mrs.  How  went  to  stay  at  Fulham  Palace  for  the  event. 
On  the  day  of  their  arrival  a  large  party  of  incumbents  of 
the  chief  parishes  of  East  London  was  invited  by  the 
Bishop  to  meet  them,  and  thus  they  were  introduced  to 
many  with  whom  and  whose  work  they  were  shortly  to 
become  intimate.  On  the  following  day  the  Bishop 
designate  was  instituted  to  the  living  of  St.  Andrew's 
Undershaft,  and  also  to  the  prebendal  stall  (that  of 
Brondesbury)  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  to  which  he  had 
been  presented  by  the  Bishop. 


His  Consecration,  etc.  147 

On  Friday,  July  25,  St.  James'  Day,  he  was  consecrated 
in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  :'with  three  other  bishops — viz., 
Bishop  Barclay  for  the  Anglican  Church  in  Jerusalem, 
Bishop  Speechley  of  Travancore,  and  Bishop  Ridley  of 
British  Columbia.  It  was  the  first  time  since  St.  Peter's 
Day,  1847,  that  as  many  as  four  bishops  had  been  conse- 
crated together,  and  the  interest  taken  in  the  ceremony 
was  very  great,  though  it  naturally  centred  chiefly  in  him 
who  was  to  labour  in  London. 

The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  (Tait)  performed  the 
ceremony,  assisted  by  the  Bishop  of  London  (Jackson), 
the  Bishop  of  St.  Albans  (Claughton),  the  Bishop  of 
Rochester  (Thorold),  and  the  Bishop  of  Lichfield 
(Maclagan).  The  sermon  was  preached  by  Dr.  Fremantle, 
Dean  of  Ripon,  who  spoke  mainly  on  the  subject  of  the 
Church  in  Jerusalem.  The  Bishop  of  London  presented 
his  new  suffragan  to  the  Archbishop,  and  it  must  have 
added  much  to  the  emotion  of  the  Bishop  of  Bedford  to 
feel  that,  besides  the  bishop  under  whom  he  was  to  serve, 
other  participators  in  his  consecration  were  his  beloved 
old  vicar,  Dr.  Claughton,  and  his  intimate  friend.  Dr. 
Maclagan. 

After  the  ceremony  the  new  Bishop  with  all  his  family 
returned  to  Fulham,  the  Bishop  of  Lichfield  also  coming 
to  spend  the  evening. 

It  is  to  be  noted  as  characteristic  of  the  man  how  little 
time  he  lost  in  getting  to  work.  The  next  day,  Saturday, 
July  26,  he  spoke  at  the  opening  of  a  Mission  and 
Sunday-school  Room  at  All  Saints,  Clapton,  he  attended  a 
garden  meeting  for  the  Additional  Curates  Society,  and 
he  preached  in  Hackney  Parish  Church  at  night,  this 
being  the  first  sermon  preached  by  him  in  East  London 
as  suffragan  bishop. 


148  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

On  the  following  day  he  read  himself  in  at  St.  Andrew's 
Undershaft,  and  on  the  Monday  took  Mrs.  How  to  see 
Stainforth  House,  their  future  home. 

His  consecration  had  been  so  rapidly  hurried  on  that  a 
return  to  Whittington  was  necessary,  and  the  next  six 
weeks  were  spent  busily  there  in  saying  many  farewells 
and  setting  everything  in  order  before  finally  leaving. 
During  this  period  Archdeacon  and  Mrs.  Ffoulkes  of 
Llandyssil,  who  were  to  succeed  the  Bishop  and  Mrs. 
How  at  Whittington,  paid  a  visit  of  inspection,  and  the 
Bishop  of  Lichfield  (Maclagan)  and  other  friends  came  to 
stay  once  more  in  this  beautiful  country  home. 

On  Sunday,  September  7,  the  Bishop  preached  his  fare- 
well sermon  in  Whittington  Church  to  what  was  described 
as  "  an  unprecedently  crowded  congregation."  Preaching 
on  the  words"  Being  confident  of  this  very  thing,  that  He 
which  hath  begun  a  good  work  in  you  will  perform  it 
until  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ,"  he  thanked  God  that  he  had 
been  privileged  to  watch  many  souls  in  the  parish,  and  to 
see  their  fellowship  in  the  Gospel  from  the  first  even  till 
then.  But  he  would  not  pretend  that  all  had  been  bright 
and  hopeful,  that  in  his  survey  of  his  parish  and  of  his 
own  work  he  had  nothing  but  thanksgiving  to  offer  up. 
He  knew,  he  said,  that  for  himself  he  had  something  very 
different  to  offer  up — he  had  to  offer  up  a  confession 
before  he  could  speak  of  thanksgiving.  He  had  to  tell 
his  God  of  many  things  left  undone  that  he  might  have 
done,  and  of  many  things  done  slackly  and  unworthily 
that  should  have  been  done  more  to  His  glory.  .  .  . 
There  were  days  of  brightness  and  days  of  clouds  and 
darkness  in  every  clergyman's  life.  And  yet  he  thanked 
God  upon  every  remembrance  of  them,  because  he  shut 
from  his  thoughts  the  sadder  side,  and  he  chose  that  night 


His  Consecration,  etc.  149 

to  look  on  the  brighter  side.  He  would  recollect  the  joys 
he  had  had,  he  would  recollect  the  encouragements  they 
had  given  him.  He  would  recollect  the  dear,  dear  friends 
who  so  often  had  spoken  to  him  of  their  souls,  and 
whom  he  had  seen  growing  and  persevering,  and  coming 
nearer  and  nearer  to  their  God. 

The  sermon  ended  with  a  prayer  that  God  might  lead 
them  all  upward  and  nearer  and  nearer  to  Him,  the  final 
words  being  : 

"O  God,  when  the  end  shall  come,  still  let  it  be  the 
same,  still  nearer  and  nearer  to  Thee  ;  yea,  and  at  last 
through  the  grave  and  gate  of  death  lead  them  all,  and 
lead  me  with  them,  nearer,  O  God,  to  Thee,  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord,  Amen." 

Thus  his  last  words  to  those  for  whom  he  had  laboured 
for  twenty-eight  years  breathed  the  same  spirit  of  humility 
and  hopefulness  and  prayer  which  his  life  among  them 
had  shown  forth  from  day  to  day. 

Before  he  actually  left  his  old  home,  however,  his  parish- 
ioners wished  to  give  him  some  token  of  their  affection 
to  take  away  with  him,  and  at  a  large  meeting  in  the 
National  Schools  he  was  presented  with  a  beautiful  silver 
epergne  of  the  date  of  1775,  to  the  purchase  of  which  all 
classes  and  all  denominations  among  his  people  had 
subscribed. 

The  late  Mr.  Edmund  Wright,  of  Halston,  in  making 
this  presentation  concluded  with  the  following  words  : 

"  His  life  here  has  been  a  busy  and  an  active  one.  It  has  not  been 
a  negative,  but  it  has  been  a  positive  thing,  and  positive  things 
rather  invite  than  avoid  discussion.  And  yet,  although  this  life 
has  been  so  active  in  doing  many  things  that  have  given  rise  to 
discussion,  I  can  say  honestly  I  do  not  believe  there  has  been 


150  Bishop  Walsham  How- 

half  an  hour's  interference  with,  or  interruption  of,  that  [friendly 
intercourse  which  has  existed  between  the  pastor  and  his  flock  for 
twenty-eight  years.  Now  this  denotes  certain  qualities  of  mind 
and  heart  of  great  value.  They  are  most  attractive  qualities  ;  but 
they  are  much  more  than  this.  They  are  qualities  which  give  a 
man  power  and  influence  in  his  work.  I  believe  that  these 
qualities  will  attend  the  Bishop  of  Bedford  wherever  he  goes — to 
East  London  or  anywhere  else.  ...  I  know  no  man  who  can 
do  so  much  work  with  so  little  moral  friction,  if  I  may  use  a 
mechanical  rather  than  an  ecclesiastical  expression,  as  the  Bishop 
of  Bedford." 

The  truth  of  these  words  has  been  amply  proved.  In 
the  organisation  of  new  work — a  most  difficult  and 
delicate  process — both  in  East  London  and  afterwards  at 
Wakefield,  these  qualities  enabled  him  to  accomplish 
much  in  a  few  years,  and  to  overcome  difficulties  that 
would  have  proved  stumbling-blocks  to  one  less  favour- 
ably endowed. 

Besides  this  presentation  from  his  parishioners,  the 
Association  of  Church  Workers  in  Whittington  gave  him 
a  handsome  service  of  communion  vessels  for  use  in  his 
private  chapel,  and  the  clergy  of  the  Rural  Deaner}'  of 
Oswestry  asked  his  acceptance  of  a  combined  library 
table  and  desk.  The  clergy,  too,  of  the  diocese  of  St. 
Asaph  presented  him  with  his  portrait  by  Mr.  Edward 
Taylor,  in  connection  with  which  may  be  quoted  the 
words  of  Archdeacon  Thomas  of  Montgomery,  who 
says  : 

"  It  would  be  ungrateful  to  omit  to  mention  the  more  than 
friendly  welcome  so  readily  extended  at  Whittington  Rectory  to 
the  younger  clergy  in  general,  and  especially  I  would  name  one 
whom  I  knew,  who  in  days  of  weakness  found  there  a  very  home, 
and  to  whom  Mrs.  How's  parting  words,  on  what  seemed  to  be 
the  coming  of  the  end,  were,  '  You  will  come  to  us  to  die.'    For  the 


His  Consecration,  etc.  151 

diocese  of  St.  Asaph,  none  rejoiced  more  than  they,  for  they  knew 
him  best,  at  his  well-deserved  promotion ;  and,  as  they  would  not 
have  the  connection  altogether  severed,  they  sped  him  on  his  way 
with  a  presentation  portrait  to  be  for  them  an  abiding  link  between 
his  future  and  his  past." 

His  episcopal  ring  was  the  gift  of  his  old  curates,  a 
matter  of  the  greatest  pleasure  to  him.  By  a  happy 
thought  it  arrived  on  his  next  birthday  accompanied  by 
the  following  letter  : 

[jFrom  Rev.  H.  Trevor  Williamson.] 

"  Bredwardine,  Hereford,  Dec.  12. 
"  My  dear  Bishop, 

"  The  ring  has  arrived.     As  there  has  been  already  too 

much  delay  I  shall  send  it  you.     It  is  hopeless  to  try  and  arrange 

a   meeting   of    us  all    to    present    it.      To-morrow    being  your 

birthday  I  decided  to  let  you  have  it  at  once.     If  I  am  doing 

wrong  I  hope  the  other  subscribers  will  forgive  me.     In   their 

name  I  ask  you  to  accept  this  ring — a  token  of  the  loving  esteem 

which  we  bear  to  you.     We  thank  you  for  all  you  have  done  for 

us  in  the  old  Whittington  days,  and  pray  that  God  may  bless  you 

in  all  your  work  as  a  bishop  of  His  church,  and  give  you  many, 

many  days  of  health  and  happiness  in  the  years  to  come. 

"  {Signed)  F.  P.  Johnson  O.  M.  Fielden 

H.  D.  NiHiLL  G.  E.  Sheppard 

Charles  Bridges  J.  J.  Turner 

D.  P.  Evans  F.  G.  Inge 

F.  D.  Hall  R.  B.  Dowling 

M.  J.  Burrows  H.  T.  Williamson 

W.  R.  Verney  R.  Willoughby" 

[The  last  two  signatures  are  those  of  men  who  had 
read  at  Whittington  for  Holy  Orders,] 


CHAPTER   XII 

EAST  LONDON 

In  the  middle  of  September  1879,  Bishop  Walsham  How 
finally  left  his  country  parish,  and  plunged  into  his  East 
London  work. 

His  title  of  "  Bishop  of  Bedford  "  was  always  a  source 
of  annoyance  to  him,  as  being  inappropriate  and  mean- 
ingless. He  often  told  the  story  of  a  correspondent  who, 
after  reading  a  speech  in  which  the  Bishop  of  Bedford 
described  the  wide  extent  of  poverty,  congested  popu- 
lation, courts,  alleys,  &c.  amidst  which  his  daily  duties 
lay,  at  last  in  despair  wrote  and  appealed  to  the  Bishop  to 
explain  how  such  things  could  possibly  exist  in  a  "  purely 
agricultural  diocese  ! "  However,  it  did  not  take  many 
years  for  the  title  to  become  known  to  all  as  identified 
with  one  who  has  been  described  as  being,  under  God, 
the  "  leader  of  an  East  London  Crusade." 

It  was  not  unfitting  that  his  introduction  to  his  new 
sphere  should  take  place  from  Whitechapel  Rectory, 
where  he  was  the  guest  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kitto  for  some 
days  before  taking  up  his  residence  at  Upper  Clapton. 
During  this  visit  the  eagerness  and  avidity  with  which  he 
embraced  every  opportunity  of  learning  what  were  the 
conditions  of  life  of  those  amongst  whom  his  work 
would  lie,  went  far  to  remove  the  not  unnatural  anxiety 


East  London  153 

which  liad  been  felt  on  the  appointment  of   a  country 
clergyman  to  this  onerous  post. 

It  was  an  appropriate  circumstance  that  one,  who 
gained  for  himself  the  name  of  "The  Children's  Bishop," 
should  have  had  an  early  opportunity  of  speaking  to 
some  of  the  little  ones  in  his  new  area  of  work.  During 
these  first  few  days  Mr.  Kitto  invited  all  the  Board-school 
teachers  in  the  neighbourhood  to  bring  the  children 
to  church  one  week  day  afternoon  after  school  was 
over.  The  Bishop  expressed  some  doubt  as  to  whether 
there  would  be  a  congregation,  but  his  fears  were 
quickly  dispelled  when  he  entered  the  great  White- 
chapel  church,  and  had  the  delight  of  finding  it  filled 
from  end  to  end  with  some  of  the  poorest  children  in 
East  London.  Some  account  of  this,  and  other  bits  of 
early  experience  of  his  new  life,  are  contained  in  the 
following  letter  to  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Maclagan. 

"  Stainforth  House,  Upper  Clapton,  E. 

''Oct.  4,  1879. 

"My  dear  Mrs.  Maclagan, 

"  The  leaves  and  the  flower  with  the  smooth  stem 
are  certainly  Saponaria.  The  single  flower  with  the 
woolly  stem  is,  I  should  say,  not  a  wild  flower  at  all,  and 
certainly  has  no  connection  with  the  other. 

"  I  am  not  in  our  house  yet,  being  really  with  a  clergy- 
man at  Dalston,  but  I  have  been  up  there  this  morning. 
It  is  a  scene  of  frightful  confusion,  but  I  hope  to  sleep 
there  on  Monday.  I  have  spent  this  week  in  the  south 
part  of  the  district,  chiefly  at  Whitechapel,  and  have  been 
initiated  into  a  little  real  East  London  life.  Among  a 
multitude  of  other  things,  I  addressed  1200  children, 
rows  and  rows  of  girls  without  anything  on  their  heads, 


154  Bishop  Walsham  How 

and  many  without  anything  on  their  feet,  in  Whitechapel 
church  one  afternoon  at  a  quarter  to  five.  All  of  them 
came  voluntarily,  in  answer  to  our  invitations  sent  round 
the  parish.  Mr.  Kitto  said  it  was  a  discovery  he  had 
made,  that  they  would  come,  if  asked,  any  time.  They 
behaved  very  well,  and  sang  very  well,  and  attended  very 
well,  though  there  were  no  grown-up  people  among 
them,  except  a  few  officials  posted  here  and  there. 

"  I  went  one  night,  late,  to  address  the  men  in  the  long, 
low  kitchen  of  a  Whitechapel  lodging-house,  where  they 
make  up  two  hundred  beds  (by  no  means  one  of  the 
largest).  It  was  a  curious  sight,  some  of  the  men  were 
smoking,  some  drunk,  some  snoring,  many  with  hats  and 
caps  on,  and  one  combing  his  head  all  the  time  with  a 
bit  of  broken  comb.     But  they  listened. 

"  I  also  attended  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  in  a  large 
Jewish  synagogue.  I  am  afraid  they  gave  Mr.  Kitto  and 
me  the  '  chief  seats  in  the  synagogue,'  and  we  were  the 
only  Gentiles  present.  It  was  the  very  oddest  sight  I 
ever  saw,  and  I  must  some  day  tell  you  about  it,  as  it  is 
too  long  a  story  to  write.  I  find  I  want  a  secretary 
already,  for  I  can  hardly  get  through  my  correspondence. 

"  My  best  love  to  the  dear  Bishop. 

"  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"  V^M.  WALSHAM  BEDFORD." 

In  speaking  of  the  Bishop's  visit  to  the  lodging-house, 
Mr.  Kitto,  who  accompanied  him,  says,  "  Never  before  had 
he  preached  in  such  a  place,  or  to  such  a  congregation, 
and  his  evident  pleasure,  and  his  keen  and  active  sympathy, 
made  a  great  impression." 

These  were  the  introductions  that  he  had  to  East 
London.     The  state  of  things  that  he  found,  and  his  first 


East  London  155 

impressions  of  how  to  meet  it,  are  so  well  brought  out  in 
a  contribution  to  The  Worker  for  July  1890,  that  the 
words  of  that  article  must  find  a  place  here  : 

"  A  church  cruelly  under-manned,  and  struggling  to  provide  the 
bread  of  life  for  700,000  people,  mostly  poor;  this  was  the  church 
over  which  Bishop  ^Valsham  How  was  called  to  preside.  The 
clergy  were  too  few^  and  many  of  them  were  disheartened  ;  jaded 
by  the  overstrain  against  too  great  odds ;  jaded  by  the  unlovely 
pressure  of  their  surroundings ;  jaded  sometimes  by  illness,  some- 
times by  old  age.  The  endowments  were  sufficient  for  the  incum- 
bents in  almost  every  case,  but  were  not  sufficient  to  provide 
assistant  clergy,  or  lay  workers,  male  or  female.  The  paid  Church 
workers,  therefore,  like  the  clergy,  were  too  few.  In  parish  after 
parish  the  necessaries  of  Church  life  were  lacking  or  inadequately 
provided.  In  the  very  corner  of  England,  where  the  Church 
needed  her  fullest  equipment,  was  that  equipment  utterly  in- 
adequate. .  .  . 

^  ^  ^  "jp"  ^ 

"  The  result  of  Bishop  Walsham  How's  preliminary  inspection 
came  to  this  :  people  too  many  and  too  poor ;  churches  enough ; 
clergy  and  paid  Church  workers  too  few ;  the  Church  unequal  to 
her  task. 

"The  Bishop's  movements  were  watched  with  enthusiastic 
interest  from  every  corner  of  England.  In  East  London  itself 
every  one  who  was  in  earnest  about  Church  work  began  to  think 
upon  'songs  of  deliverance.'  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  when 
the  Bishop,  after  full  conference  with  his  East-end  councillors, 
delared  his  policy,  it  was  most  cordially  welcomed,  and  help  from 
many  quarters  was  spontaneously  and  generously  proffered. 

"  The  policy  was  to  Jill  up  the  gaps  ifi  the  ministry,  clerical  and 
lay.  A  sufficient  ministry,  the  Bishop  argued,  is  '  the  first  thing 
needful '  for  Church  work ;  a  sufficient  ministry  will  strengthen 
whatever  exists  for  good  all  along  the  line  ;  and  each  minister  of 
such  a  ministry,  whether  in  holy  orders  or  not,  whether  male  or 
female,  ought  to  become  a  centre  of  energy  and  hope,  a  bread- 
winner of  the  necessaries  of  Church  life. 

"  The  machine  by  which  this  policy  was  to  be  carried  out  was 
the  East  London  Church  Fund.     This  fund  has  been,  from  the 


156  Bishop  Walsham  How 

day  of  its  birth,  in  an  increasing  degree,  the  centre  of  Church  life 
in  the  Bishop  of  Bedford's  district.  .  .  . 

"  If  it  be  difficult  now  to  speak  much  of  Church  work  at  the 
East-end  without  frequent  allusion  to  this  fund,  it  is  just  because 
the  fund  has  supplied,  from  the  human  side,  the  power  which 
enabled  Bishop  Walsham  How  to  develop  his  policy. 

"  On  June  18,  1880,  the  East  London  Church  Fund  was  founded 
at  the  Mansion  House,  which,  being  the  centre  of  the  City  of 
London,  was  the  fittest  birthplace  of  an  agency  which  was  in- 
tended to  supply  with  the-  bread  of  life  those  thousands  whom 
the  influences  of  the  City  had  in  so  great  a  degree  focused  to  its 
gates. 

"  The  fund  being  created,  a  council  of  clergy  and  laity  was 
immediately  formed  to  assist  the  Bishop  in  the  administration  of  it. 
This  council  declared,  without  delay,  that  the  one  object  of  the 
fund  should  be  the  provision  of  that  which  the  Bishop  had  said  the 
Church  in  East  London  so  obviously  needed- — a  sufficient  staff  of 
resident  clerical  and  lay  workers.  The  wisdom  of  that  programme 
has  been  demonstrated  more  and  more  from  that  day  to  this. 

"  (a)  Large  parishes,  in  which  sub-division  was  inexpedient, 
have  been  suppHed  with  additional  curates,  wholly  or  partly  paid 
by  the  fund. 

"  (/3)  In  parishes,  where  sub-division  was  considered  expedient, 
mission  districts  have  been  formed  and  placed  under  mission 
clergy. 

"  (y)  Incumbents  who  from  old  age  or  other  adequate  cause 
are  unable  any  longer  to  do  their  duty  to  their  parishes,  have  been 
enabled  to  retire  ;  the  Bishop  of  Bedford  has  taken  over  the  charges 
of  their  parishes,  and  has  placed  over  them  curates  licensed  to 
himself. 

"  (8)  An  East  London  diocesan  deaconess'  home,  with  a  series 
of  branch  homes,  has  been  established  at  a  cost  to  the  fund  of 
something  more  than  ^^looo  a  year. 

**  (e)  Scripture  readers,  lay  evangelists,  and  parish  nurses,  have 
been  and  are  being  provided  here  and  there,  as  the  needs  of  the 
various  parishes  require  them,  and  the  income  of  the  fund  permits 
the  expenditure. 

"  And  all  these  new  workers  came  to  the  work  bringing  new 
power  of  their  own,  and  they  strengthened  the  hands  of  those 


East  London  157 

already  there,  and  they  attracted  new  workers  to  the  East-end, 
over  which  the  light  of  a  new  dawn  was  beginning  to  glow.  And 
among  them,  at  every  turn,  they  found  their  Bishop  a  spiritual 
force ;  the  author  of  Plain  Words,  preaching,  as  he  had  written, 
forcibly,  because  simply  and  spiritually ;  always  cheery,  always 
hopeful,  always  busy  about  '  My  Father's  business.' 

"  And  the  contagion  spread.  The  colleges,  the  public  schools, 
the  counties,  began  to  plan  their  missions.  ,  .  .  The  clergy  and 
laity  of  the  Church  in  richer  parts  of  the  world  espoused  the  new 
cause  with  generosity,  such  as  is  obvious  in  the  records  which  tell 
how  the  Archdeacon  of  Middlesex,  Dr.  Hessey,  raised  ;!^iooo  to 
provide  the  stipends  of  two  mission  chaplains  to  be  practically 
diocesan  missioners  for  the  district ;  how  a  certain  lady  has  for 
many  years  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Bishop  of  Bedford  ;^2ooo 
a  year  to  build  mission  rooms  in  parishes  where  such  machinery  is 
required ;  and  how,  in  a  West-end  church,  in  which  Bishop  Wal- 
sham  How  was  once  pleading  for  his  fund,  some  one  placed  in  the 
offertory  bag  a  cheque  for  ^500,  across  the  back  of  which  was 
written,  'A  thank  offering  for  Plain  Words.'  .  .  . 

"Thus  the  Bishop's  wise  policy  of  'fill  up  the  gaps  in  the 
ministry  '  became  possible,  under  God,  chiefly  through  the  agency 
of  the  East  London  Church  Fund.  .  .  . 

"  But  not  all  the  funds  in  the  world,  nor  all  the  clergy,  nor  all 
the  lay  workers,  nor  all  the  eloquence,  nor  all  the  tact,  nor  all  the 
activity,  nor  all  the  organisation,  can  effect  anything  unless  the 
motive  power  is  '  the  promised  power  from  on  high,'  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  We  are  thankful,  therefore,  to  record  here  the 
anxiety  with  which  Bishop  Walsham  How  always  sought  to 
emphasise  the  claims  of  the  spiritual  life.  .  .  . 

"  He  was,  on  coming  to  East  London,  quickly  recognised  to  be 
a  spiritual  force.  During  a  long  period  of  preparation  he  had  the 
will  and  the  opportunity  to  cultivate  those  '  spiritual  gifts '  with 
which  he  was  in  an  unusually  high  degree  endowed.  This  was 
the  secret  of  his  power  in  the  pulpit,  on  the  platform,  and  in 
personal  intercourse.  And  what  he  was  himself  he  sought  to 
make  others  to  be,  not  only  under  the  normal  process  of  '  spiritual 
attraction,'  but  also  by  using  every  opportunity  of  speaking  or 
working  on  behalf  of  the  spiritual  life.     His  devotional  gatherings 


158  Bishop  Walsham  How 

of  the  clergy,  for  instance,  at  the  Ember  seasons,  on  which 
occasions  he  usually  gave  the  addresses  himself,  will  long  be  held 
in  dear  remembrance,  as  precious  moments  snatched  from  '  this 
hurrying  hfe  '  for  the  highest  purposes  of  all.  Such  quiet  morn- 
ings— for  they  were  scarcely  more  than  that,  and  indeed  were  only 
'  quiet '  by  comparison — offered  an  authoritative  protest  on  behalf 
of  the  spiritual  life,  and  emphasised  the  other  precious  protests 
made,  here  and  there,  by  the  isolated  lives  of  those  saints  on  earth 
whose  worship  is  something  like  what  it  should  be  even  in  a  nine- 
teenth-century age." 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  the  foregoing  article  reference 
is  made  to  the  Bishop's  "  East  London  councillors." 
His  position  when  he  came  to  London  was  not  exactly 
that  of  other  suffragans.  He  found  himself  practically  in 
charge  of  the  East-end,  and  was  allowed  to  confine  his 
work  to  that  portion  of  the  diocese.  The  Bishop  of 
London  also  handed  over  to  him  such  patronage  as 
he  possessed  in  that  district.  He  did  not  hold  ordi- 
nations, or  license  men  to  curacies,  &c.,  but  in  most 
things  he  exercised  episcopal  supervision  over  a  certain 
accurately  defined  portion  of  the  diocese  of  London. 
It  was  largely  owing  to  this  arrangement  that  he  was 
able  to  devise  schemes  and  plan  his  work  in  such ,  a 
manner  as  to  ensure  the  large  measure  of  success  that 
attended  his  efforts.  Owing  to  this  he  was  also  able  to 
concentrate  his  energies,  sympathy,  and  affection,  in  a 
manner  to  which  many  a  despondent  East  London 
worker  owed  not  only  practical  assistance,  but  fresh 
courage  to  renew  the  struggle. 

Finding  himself  in  this  position  he  wrote  to  consult  the 
Bishop  of  Truro,  Dr.  Benson,  afterwards  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  to  his  advice  was  partly  owing  the  body 
of  East  London  councillors  who  were  of  so  great  an 
assistance  to  Bishop  Walsham  How.     Dr.  Benson's  letter 


East  London  159 

is  of  so  great  importance  that  it  cannot  be  omitted.     He 
wrote  : 

"  Kenvvyn,  Truro,  Aug.  30,  1879. 

"  My  dear  Bishop  of  Bedford, 

"  I  have  read  and  re-read  with  love  and  care  your  most 
interesting  letter.  It  is  very  good  of  you  to  talk  to  me  on  such 
subjects,  and  I  would  fain  be  worthier  to  reply. 

"  If  I  understand  your  position  properly  it  must  be  almost,  if 
not  quite,  unique.  Is  it  not  the  case  that  East  London  is  quite 
appropriated  to  you,  and  that  you  are  not  asked  to  fly  to  and  fro 
over  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  the  diocese  ?  If  this,  or  something 
like  it,  is  the  case,  it  is  clear  that  according  to  the  true  idea  of 
episcopal  governing  you  do  want,  and  (supposing  it  to  be  true,  as 
it  surely  is,  that  we  suffer  mainly  from  our  desertion  of  the  old  and 
essential  idea)  you  must  have,  a  quasi-chapter,  or  a  real  chapter 
rather,  though  not  consisting  of  the  canons  of  a  cathedral 
church. 

"  (It  would  be  ^^^^ye  ideal,  I  conclude  (in  both  senses),  to  dream 
of  re-erecting  in  these  days  a  collegiate  church  :  else  of  course  in 
old  times  St.  Andrew's  Undershaft  could  have  been  at  once  erected 
into  a  collegiate  church,  of  which  you  would  appoint  canons  and 
assign  them  duties,  such  as  you  could.  .  .  .  But  this  I  suppose 
must  be  looked  on  as  visionary,  and  you  must  find  your  concilium 
elsewhere.  Those  collegiate  canons  might  be  parish  priests  or 
others,  with  perfect  propriety,  or  a  mixed  body.) 

"  Well  then,  the  natural  body  for  you  to  take  as  your  co7icilium 
is  undoubtedly  the  rural  deans.  How  many  of  these  have  you  ? 
This  is  an  important  point.  It  does  not  seem  to  me  to  matter 
that  they  are  not  representative.  The  idea  of  representation  is 
running  away  with  us  :  it  is  not  the  only  form  of  government,  nor 
in  monarchies  is  it  the  best.  It  is  a  fiction  really  because  of  the 
minorities,  which  contain  often  the  wisest  individuals. 

"  It  is  far  more  important  that  they  should  be  men  of  weight, 
and  that  they  should  earn  a  character  for  fairness,  than  that  they 
should  represent  opinions  on  such  debatable  matter. 

"  But  whatever  they  may  be  at  the  present  moment,  undoubtedly 
they  are  your  natural  concilium — (they  would  be  members  of  your 
collegium,  if  you  could  get  one) — and  in  many  matters  you  would 


i6o  Bishop  Walsham  How 

consult  them  as  rural  deans  without  the  presence  of  any  others. 
It  would  be  wisest  in  all  cases  to  consult  them  for  advice  not  for 
votes,  the  decision  of  an  irresponsible  majority  cannot  be  the 
guide  absolute  for  a  responsible  individual.  .  .  . 

"  Next  you  seem  to  want  first  a  larger,  and  secondly  a  smaller, 
circle  than  that  concilium.  You  want  the  larger  to  include  lay- 
men, you  want  the  smaller  for  the  sake  of  special  help  and  unity 
of  spiritual  life.     I  look  on  both  as  essential. 

"  Thus  you  would  have  :  i.  A  body  of  rural  deans.  2.  A  series 
of  ruridecanal  conferences  of  the  clergy  and  laity  of  each  rural 
deanery,  and  this,  I  fancy,  would  give  you  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
opinion  and  feeling  and  intimacy  with  the  best  men.  As  to  the 
smaller  circle  of  spiritual  priests  who  would  more  live  about  you, 
have  frequent  communion  with  you,  and  the  like,  these  would  not 
be,  I  suppose,  a  formal  body ;  they  would  be  sometimes  larger, 
sometimes  smaller.  I  should  think  it  would  be  well  to  form  it  in 
quite  quiet  ways,  and  to  let  a  spiritual  purpose  rule  all,  or  nearly 

all,  the  talk.  .  .  . 

***** 

"  My  dear  bishop,  I  feel  that  this  is  a  very  inadequate  answer 
to  such  a  letter.  But  all  our  work  must  be  tentative  perhaps.  The 
principle  cannot  be  wrong.  It  is  Koivavia  [fellowship],  frequent, 
constant,  sustained,  living,  loving,  consulting,  self-withdrawing, 
corporate,  and  conscious  of,  and  exerting  its  corporeity,  which 
breathes  from  every  line  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  And  the 
one  function  of  the  bishop  is  surely  in  its  essential  indea  *  Con- 
secration,' to  consecrate  everything  that  needs  consecration  or 
admits  of  it,  and  then  subordinately,  for  he  has  to  be  two  men  at 
once,  the  Church  man  and  Church  ruler,  to  prepare  all  for  conse- 
cration, and  to  keep  up  its  energy  after  consecration.  And  for  all 
these  things  he  is  distinctly  promised  8vvaixis  avadev  [power 
from  above]  fireKTdvuneda  ovv  [let  us,  then,  stretch  forward]. 
"Yours  ever,  most  sincerely  and  brotherly, 

"  E.  W.  TRURON. 

"  The  offer  you  had  of  a  man's  life  and  means  for  work  to  be 
found  by  you,  is  most  delightful.  I  hope  T<iTrfivo(ppo<TvvT)  [lowliness 
of  mind]  is  his  virtue." 


East  London  i6i 

Partly,  no  doubt,  as  a  result  of  the  above  letter  the 
Bishop  of  Bedford  surrounded  himself  with  various  bodies 
of  advisers.  The  principal  one  was  the  Council  of  the 
East  London  Church  Fund,  a  body  composed  of  both 
clergy  and  laity ;  then,  for  other  matters,  the  rural 
deans  were  called  together  as  a  "  quasi-chapter,"  and,  for 
a  short  time,  a  smaller  body  still  met  to  advise  the  Bishop 
in  the  matter  of  appointments  and  patronage. 

This  was  the  machinery,  by  the  aid  of  which  the  East 
London  crusade  was  carried  on,  the  East  London  Church 
Fund  being,  in  the  words  of  the  Rev.  E.  S.  Hilliard  (for 
some  years  its  secretary),  "  a  sound  channel,  through  which 
Churchmen  outside  the  district  can  express  their  home 
missionary  zeal,  and  a  treasury  of  East  London  thank- 
offerings  for  the  Church  revival  among  themselves." 

The  growth  of  the  fund  has  been  such  as  to  warrant 
the  Bishop's  audacity  in  daring  to  found  a  new  Church 
fund  in  the  London  diocese.  The  Bishop's  faith  in  his 
own  cause  challenged  the  faith  of  the  laity  in  the  Bishop, 
and  both  were  found  true. 

The  first  eighteen  months  (1880-1881)  brought  in 
;^i  1,527,  the  following  year  (1882)  ^5319.  From  that 
time  onwards  there  has  been,  with  one  or  two  exceptions, 
a  steady  increase,  the  receipts  for  1896  reaching  the  con- 
siderable total  of  ;^i8,266. 

Commenting  upon  this  Mr.  Hilliard  writes  : 

"  In  every  sermon  for  the  fund,  at  every  meeting  in  town  hall, 
drawing-room,  or  garden,  the  Bishop's  power  to  commend  his 
cause  was  made  quite  plain  ;  but  his  hold  upon  the  confidence 
and  sympathy  of  the  people  at  large  was  never  more  strikingly 
illustrated  than  once,  when,  just  at  the  time  of  Mrs.  Walsham 
How's  death  (1887),  the  fund  had  fallen  so  low,  through  a  change 
of  secretaries,  that  it  seemed  likely  that  money  for  the  quarter's 
salaries  would  not  be  forthcoming.     Six  careful  letters  were  written 

L 


i62  Bishop  Walsham  How 

to  six  influential  ladies  and  gentlemen  with  an  earnest  request  that 
the  Bishop  might  be  spared  all  financial  worry  at  that  time  of  great 
sorrow.  The  prompt  replies  to  these  letters  contained  ^^,  ^£30, 
^5°}  ;^2  5o,  p^5oo,  ;^iooo  !  The  financial  crisis  was  over  before 
it  was  known." 

While  considering  the  vastness  of  the  Bishop's  under- 
taking as  suffragan  for  East  London,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  he  was  also  Rector  of  St.  Andrew's  Under- 
shaft.  It  would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  have 
carried  on  the  double  duty  of  rector  and  bishop  had  it 
not  been  for  the  able  assistance  of  the  Rev.  W.  Frazer 
Nash,  assistant  curate  of  the  parish.  Inhabitants  of  St. 
Mary  Axe  will  be  the  first  to  acknowledge  that  Bishop 
Walsham  How  never  allowed  his  wider  duties  to  swamp 
those  which  he  owed  to  his  parish.  Twice  in  each  month 
he  preached  at  St.  Andrew's,  besides  taking  the  whole 
duty  during  Mr.  Nash's  holidays.  He  also  gave  addresses 
to  city  men  at  mid-day  on  the  Wednesdays  in  Lent.  He 
took  the  greatest  possible  interest  in  the  splendid  choir, 
and  from  time  to  time  entertained  the  members  of  it  at 
Stainforth  House.  He  visited  the  schools  as  often  as 
possible,  and  his  diaries  give  evidence  of  his  attendance  at 
their  treats.  Once  a  month,  or  oftener,  he  used  to  accom- 
pany Mr.  Nash  in  a  round  of  parochial  visits,  chatting 
with  some,  praying  with  others.  His  visits  were  much 
appreciated,  for  his  bright  smile  and  genial  cheery  ways 
brought  a  bit  of  sunshine  into  the  homes  of  the  care- 
takers, who  formed  the  main  portion  of  his  parishioners, 
and  who,  though  inhabitants  of  the  busiest  city  of  the 
world,  lived  isolated  lives.  Mr.  Nash  writes  that  he  remem- 
bers well  one  Christmas  Eve,  when  the  Bishop  came  down 
from  Clapton  to  visit  and  pray  with  a  poor  housekeeper 
who  was  dying. 


East  London  163 

This  brings  to  mind  Bishop  Walsham  How's  invariable 
custom,  wherever  he  Hved,  of  spending  much  of  Christ- 
mas-tide, and  especially  of  Christmas  Day,  in  trying  to 
bring  a  bit  of  happiness  to  the  sick.  Many  a  lonely  in- 
valid has  had  a  cheerless  Christmas  brightened  by  the 
Bishop's  sitting  awhile  by  the  bedside  and  talking  about 
the  joy  that  comes  to  all  Christian  people  on  that  day. 

A  society  in  which  Bishop  Walsham  How  took  im- 
mense interest,  although  unconnected  with  his  special 
East  London  work,  was  that  called  "  Watchers  and 
Workers."  Of  this  association  he  was  one  of  the 
founders,  though  the  idea  originated  in  the  minds  of  a 
few  friends  in  the  diocese  of  Winchester.  The  object 
was  to  form  a  guild  of  invalids  who  should  write  to  one 
another,  intercede  for  one  another,  form  correspondence 
classes  for  the  study  of  Holy  Scripture,  natural  science, 
art,  &c.,  and,  in  fact,  try  to  break  down  in  any  way  the 
barriers  formed  by  long  seclusion,  and  give  the  members 
the  wholesome  stimulus  of  a  feeling  of  responsibility  and 
of  "  being  wanted,"  In  addition  to  this,  it  was  proposed 
that  chaplains  should  be  attached  to  the  society  to  whom 
members  might  have  access  in  time  of  need. 

It  was  first  intended  that  the  league  should  be  con- 
fined to  the  diocese  of  Winchester,  and  Bishop  Harold 
Browne  gave  his  warm  approval  to  its  objects,  but  sug- 
gested that  the  question  of  chaplains  should  be  submitted 
to  some  clergy  of  approved  judgment  before  being  finally 
adopted.  It  was  then  that  Canon  Walsham  How  (as  he 
then  was)  first  heard  of  the  proposed  society.  A  paper 
was  sent  him  setting  out  the  whole  scheme.  "  His 
reply,"  says  Miss  Eidth  Jacob  [sister  of  the  Bishop  of 
Newcastle],  who  has  kindly  supplied  most  of  the  history 
of   his   connection   with  Watchers   and  Workers,   "  was 


164  Bishop  Walsham  How- 

characteristic  and  immediate.  '  If  anything  comes  of 
that  guild/  he  wrote,  '  I  hope  I  may  be  admitted  as  a 
priest-associate.' " 

Shortly  after  this  he  became  Bishop  of  Bedford,  and 
presided  at  the  new  society's  first  annual  meeting,  at 
which  he  explained  that  he  welcomed  the  guild  with 
special  satisfaction,  because,  when  it  was  first  brought  to 
his  notice,  his  approaching  consecration  as  bishop  suf- 
fragan for  East  London  seemed  about  to  put  an  end  to 
further  visitation  of  the  sick,  a  branch  of  pastoral  work 
which  he  had  always  loved.  He  expressed  his  hope  that 
through  this  society  he  should  find,  as  indeed  he  had 
already  done,  some  to  whom  he  might  minister  as  of 
old. 

He  made  an  appointment  with  the  writer  of  the  paper 
which  had  originally  been  sent  him,  in  order  to  consult 
as  to  the  working  of  the  guild.  Less  familiar  with 
London  then  than  he  became  afterwards,  he  missed  his 
way,  and  arrived  late,  "  but,"  says  Miss  Jacob  : 

"  Nothing  could  be  more  encouraging  than  his  cheery  '  Here  I 
am  at  last,  but  I  have  been  two  hours  getting  to  you,  and  you 
must  be  quick  in  telling  me  how  I  can  help  you.  What  can  I  do 
for  you  ? ' 

"  The  need  of  the  moment  was  to  make  the  society  known  in 
the  right  quarters.  His  name  would  give  confidence.  Would  he 
write  to  the  Guardian  for  us  ?  Yes,  he  would  do  that  and  more, 
for  he  was  convinced  of  the  need  and  value  of  such  a  guild,  though 
he  must  honestly  add  that  his  wife  did  not  share  his  opinion. 
(Mrs.  Walsham  How  afterwards  entirely  changed  her  view  on  the 
matter,  and  the  Home  for  Fallen  Girls  at  Walthamstow,  founded 
by  her,  has  been  helped  by  the  Society  of  Watchers  and  Workers 
ever  since  her  death.) 

"  Asked  if  he  thought  that  the  '  chaplain  '  part  of  the  scheme 
would  give  offence  to  the  parochial  clergy,  he  answered  with  an 
amused  smile  :  '  Nine  out  of  every  dozen  will  be  thankful,  the 


East  London  165 

other  three  will  be  vexed — and '  (with  a  merry  twinkle  in  his  eyes) 
'  do  them  good.^ " 

For  seven  years  Bishop  Walsham  How  celebrated  at 
every  anniversary  of  this  society,  and  presided  at  every 
meeting.  Once  only,  after  becoming  Bishop  of  Wake- 
field, was  he  able  to  do  so  again.  On  this  occasion  it 
was  characteristic  of  him  that,  hearing  of  a  very  poor 
member  in  South  London  who  had  been  unable  to 
obtain  a  private  celebration  for  nine  months,  he  should 
offer  at  once  to  go  to  her  himself,  although  he  had  only 
two  days  in  London.  "And  so,"  says  a  report  of  the 
society,  "  he  left  us,  and  we  saw  him  again  no  more." 

"  The  last  note  I  had  from  him,"  says  Miss  Jacob,  "  was 
a  burst  of  joy  and  thankfulness  at  my  brother's  appoint- 
ment to  Newcastle." 


CHAPTER  XIII 

EAST  LONDON— CONTINUED 

It  was  the  Bishop  of  Bedford's  first  aim  to  know  and  be 
known  by  the  clergy  of  East  London,  in  order  that  he 
might  understand  their  difficulties,  appreciate  their  work 
and  cheer  their  sorrows.  He  set  about  this  in  two  ways. 
First  of  all  he  encouraged  them  to  feel  that  his  house 
and  garden  in  Upper  Clapton  were  ever  open  to  them. 
He  was  ready  every  morning  to  receive  calls  from  those 
who  came  to  him  for  help  or  counsel,  and  it  was  notice- 
able on  these  occasions  that  not  only  was  spiritual  advice 
and  help  ever  at  the  disposal  of  his  visitors,  but  that, 
owing  to  his  orderly  and  methodical  habits,  business 
matters  also  were  most  promptly  attended  to.  He  knew 
exactly  where  to  lay  his  hand  on  a  required  paper  :  he 
never  seemed  in  any  confusion  or  haste.  His  interviews 
were  frequent,  and  his  correspondence  immense,  but  he 
was  never  impatient  of  interruptions,  or  anxious  to  be 
rid  of  his  visitor. 

"  On  Thursdays,"  writes  Prebendary  Shelford,  "  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  entertain  his  clergy  and  their  wives  at  luncheon,  and 
this  exercise  of  a  simple  but  bountiful  hospitality  did  much  to 
inspirit  the  toil-worn  and  weary,  and  to  endear  their  Bishop  to 
them." 


East  London  167 

Naturally,  those  who  came  to  him  during  the  mornings 
did  not  always  come  to  discuss  pleasant  subjects,  for, 
besides  the  despondent,  there  came  also  those  whom  he 
had  been  obliged  to  summon  to  him  for  admonition  or 
rebuke.  His  sympathies  were  ever  on  the  alert  to  soothe 
the  suffering  and  cheer  the  downcast,  but  he  could  be 
stern  when  occasion  required,  and  severe  in  condemna- 
tion of  what  he  thought  wrong.  It  was  the  cause  of  real 
suffering  to  himself  that  there  should  for  a  single  day 
cease  to  be  kindly  relations  between  him  and  any  one  of 
his  clergy.  On  one  occasion,  after  administering  a 
rebuke  to  an  East  London  clergyman,  he  wrote  the  same 
night  the  following  letter  : 

^'-  Feb.  1 6,  11.30  P.M. 
"  My  dear 

"  I  wrote  in  a  great  hurry,  on  coming  in  from  one 

confirmation  and  starting  for  another  to-day  ;  but,  before 

I  go  to  bed,  I  want  to  say  just  this — come  and  let  us  join 

together   in   the    Holy  Sacrament   on    Monday   at   

Church  at  8.30  A.M.     That  is  the  best  re-knitting  of  the 

broken  thread. 

"  Yours  sincerely  in  our  dear  Lord, 

"W.  w.  B." 

Rebukes  from  such  a  man  must  have  gone  home, 
because  it  pained  him  so  much  to  give  them,  and  that 
pain  roused  all  his  great  tenderness. 

Occasionally  a  letter  or  request  from  one  of  his  clergy 
would  draw  a  playful  reply,  especially  when  it  found  him 
in  one  of  his  happiest  moods.  An  instance  of  this  was 
his  answer  to  a  request  made  by  an  East  London  incum- 
bent that  the  Bishop  would  permit  a  slight  irregularity — 
trivial  in  itself,  but  illegal.  The  applicant  was  probably 
astonished  to  receive  the  following  answer  : 


i68  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  May  I  ?     May  I  ?  "  shyly  blushing, 

Love-sick  Damon  sighs  : 
"  No,  Sir !     No,  sir  !  "  brightly  flushing, 

Phyllis  quick  replies. 

Silly  Damon  !     Had  you  done  it. 

Saying  not  a  word, 
You  had  ne'er,  depend  upon  it, 

That  refusal  heard ! 

Prebendary  Kitto,  in  writing  about  the  Bishop's  deal- 
ings with  the  clergy,  says  : 

'•  He  made  it  evident  from  the  very  first  that  he  intended  to  be 
a  help,  as  far  as  he  could,  to  all  who  were  working  for  the  Lord. 
It  was  impossible  to  discover  the  slightest  difference  in  his  dealing 
with  men  of  various  opinions  and  various  practices  under  his 
guidance  and  direction.  Himself  a  thoroughly  loyal  Churchman, 
he  was,  from  first  to  last,  ready  to  sympathise  with  all,  of  whose 
loyalty  he  felt  assured.  But  he  was  impatient  of  those  who 
seemed  to  him  to  have  passed  beyond  the  fair  boundaries  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  although  he  was  ready  to  be  of  help  to 
these,  he  let  them  understand  that  he  could  not  approve  of  their 
services  or  their  teaching." 

The  second  way  in  which  the  Bishop  tried  to  get  to 
know  his  clergy  was  by  visiting  them  frequently  in  their 
own  homes. 

"  There  was  probably  no  part  of  his  work,"  continues  Mr. 
Kitto,  "  in  which  his  influence  was  so  much  felt  as  in  his  personal 
intercourse  with  the  clergy.  In  every  kind  of  domestic  or  parochial 
anxiety  the  Bishop  was  always  amongst  the  first  to  sympathise,  if 
he  could  not  help ;  and  he  seemed  to  know,  as  if  by  instinct,  what 
other  persons  would  most  wish  to  have  or  to  do  in  exceptional 
circumstances.  If  there  was  illness,  he  was  always  amongst  the 
earliest  visitors.  He  would  carry  off  the  children  to  his  own  home, 
lest  they  should  be  a  trouble  in  the  sick  house  ;  he  would  arrange 
to  have  services  and  meetings  taken,  and  would  lay  himself  out 
to  do  whatever  could  be  done  to  help." 


East  London  169 

His  rule  was  to  spend  a  Sunday  with  one  or  other  of 
his  clergy  in  turn,  and  see  all  the  details  of  his  parish 
work,  to  preach  in  the  church,  address  the  Sunday 
School  teachers,  and  talk  to  the  children.  Besides  these 
visits,  he  gave  many  week-day  afternoons  and  evenings 
to  parochial  gatherings  and  meetings,  thus  gaining  yet 
further  acquaintance  with  his  fellow  labourers  in  the 
East-end. 

But  this  was  not  enough  for  him.  The  main  purpose 
of  his  life  was  distinctly  spiritual,  and  he  never  allowed 
it  to  be  forgotten.  Prebendary  Shelford  tells  of  this  in 
the  following  words  : 

"  He  loved  to  spend  a  quiet  day  at  the  Ember  seasons  with  his 
clergy,  to  gather  them  round  him  and  speak  of  the  deep  things  of 
God.  We  remember  still  how  in  loving  zeal  he  urged  us  to  self 
scrutiny  as  to  our  own  spiritual  conditions,  and  how  he  held  up 
Christ  Jesus  before  our  eyes  as  claiming  our  devotion  and  our 
service.  I  have  still  some  pregnant  sentences  in  my  Prayer-book 
as  I  took  them  down  from  his  lips  at  some  of  these  clerical  gather- 
ings. He  bade  us  beware  of  '  a  full  hand  and  an  empty  heart,  a 
busy  life  and  an  idle  soul,'  or  reminded  us  that  '  the  spiritual  life 
is  not  an  elaborate  system,  but  a  divine  life — not  a  book  of 
Leviticus  but  a  gospel  of  St.  John.'  '  A  man  who  makes  religion 
a  gloomy  thing  is  guilty  of  treason  against  religion.'  '  We  are  not 
to  live  among  the  tombs,  but  we  are  even  now  to  be  caught  up  to 
meet  the  Lord  in  the  air.'  His  spirit  even  more  than  his  words 
impressed  itself  upon  his  hearers.  His  intense  reality,  his 
humility,  his  simple-hearted  devotion  to  all  that  was  good,  his 
love  for  God,  were  felt  in  all  he  said.  One  could  not  be  in  his 
company  without  realising  that  he  was  a  man  of  God.  This  was 
manifest  in  his  sermons  and  confirmation  addresses  as  well  as  in 
his  intercourse  with  his  clergy.  '  I  have  attended  a  good  many  of 
these  mission  services,  but  of  all  the  preachers  I  have  heard,  the 
root  of  that  man's  tongue  seems  most  closely  connected  with  his 
heart,'  was  the  criticism  of  an  American  who  heard  the  Bishop 
give  an  address  at  Hackney  during  the  London  Mission  of  1884. 


lyo  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  Another  instance  of  the  effect  of  his  preaching  is  given  in  the 
story  of  how  during  a  confirmation,  which  he  was  holding  in  an 
East-end  church,  a  poor  hawker  of  infidel  literature  strolled  into 
the  church,  and  listening  to  the  Bishop's  address  was  struck  by 
his  assertion  of  the  fatherhood  of  God,  At  the  close  of  the  service 
the  man  asked  a  churchworker  at  the  door,  with  much  earnestness, 
'Is  what  the  Bishop  says  true?  Is  God  indeed  the  Father  of 
men  ? '  'Of  course  it  is  true,'  said  the  lady.  *  Then,'  said  he, 
'  my  occupation  is  gone ;  I  have  been  teaching  the  reverse  of  this 
for  years,  but  I  can  do  so  no  more.' 

"  The  effect  of  such  a  personality  in  East  London  was  striking. 
He  attracted  all  spiritually  minded  men  round  him,  so  that  they 
forgot  their  differences,  and  worked  together  in  unity  for  the  pro- 
motion of  what  he  and  they  had  at  heart.  Party  spirit  was  to  a 
great  extent  slain,  and,  though  all  remained  faithful  to  their  own 
convictions  of  the  truth,  they  learned  to  look  with  more  charitable 
eyes  on  such  as  differed  from  them. 

"  In  the  exercise  of  the  patronage  which  the  Bishop  of  the 
diocese  placed  in  his  hands,  he  was  always  anxious  in  the  first 
instance  to  appoint  an  incumbent  best  suited  to  the  special 
requirements  of  the  district,  but  in  all  cases  he  sought  for  such 
among  those  who  were  working  under  him  already  before  he  pro- 
moted others  from  outside.  Hence  both  the  elder  and  younger 
clergy  felt  that  he  was  their  father  in  God,  and  that  he  made  their 
interests  his  own.  He  was  the  pastor  pastoriwi.  No  wonder 
that  strong  men  loved  him,  and  that  sad  faces  smiled  in  his 
presence. 

"As  an  example  of  his  extreme  thoughtfulness  in  small  details 
I  may  say  that,  when  staying  with  me  this  last  summer,  he  noticed 
the  difficulty  I  had  in  growing  flowers  or  plants  beneath  the  trees 
of  my  garden,  and  recommended  some  particular  kinds  which  he 
thought  would  be  successful.  After  his  death  I  received  a  parcel 
of  these  plants  from  his  gardener,  who  stated  that  he  had  been 
instructed  by  the  Bishop  to  forward  them  to  me  on  his  return." 

Thus  in  every  possible  way  Bishop  Walsham  How 
sought  to  win  the  love  and  confidence  of  the  clergy  in 
Fast  London.     But  there  remained  the  masses.     "A  sort 


East  London  171 

of  ecclesiastical  Botany  Bay,"  was  the  somewhat  ex- 
aggerated description  of  the  sphere  of  work  to  which 
he  had  been  called.  Although  this  phrase  was 
perhaps  too  strong,  yet  the  fact  remained  that  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  inhabitants  of  his  district  were 
for  the  most  part  untouched  by  the  Church's  work,  and 
were,  to  a  sadly  large  degree,  living  without  any  visible 
religion. 

It  must  have  appalled  the  Bishop  at  first.  In  his  old 
Shropshire  parish  he  had  had  Dissenters,  he  had  possibly 
from  time  to  time  met  with  a  stray  unbeliever,  he  had 
parishioners  of  various  ranks.  But,  after  all,  they  were 
either  squires,  or  farmers,  or  artisans,  or  labourers,  and 
he  knew  them  all,  and,  what  was  more,  they  all  knew  and 
trusted  him.  But  here,  in  London,  he  was  face  to  face 
with  a  great  multitude  who  knew  him  not,  and  cared 
nothing  for  him  or  his  office.  He  had  to  do  with  a 
population  who,  while  for  the  most  part  belonging  to 
the  poorer  classes,  differed  vastly  amongst  themselves. 
Shrewd  artisans,  hard-headed  and  sceptical ;  factory 
girls,  hard-worked,  gregarious,  pleasure-loving  ;  men  and 
women  out  of  work,  honest,  starving,  despairing  ;  a 
criminal  population,  suspicious,  drunken,  dangerous  ;  a 
dockyard  and  seafaring  contingent,  reckless  and  ever- 
changing — these  were  some  of  the  many  varieties  of  the 
sheep  over  which  he  had  come  to  be  the  shepherd.  Of 
their  religious  opinions  (those  who  had  any)  the  number 
was  beyond  reckoning ;  probably  few  denominations 
were  unrepresented.  What  wonder,  then,  that  to  the 
question  "  How  are  these  masses  to  be  won  to  Christ  ?" 
he  replied  "  Anyhow  !  "  And  by  this  he  did  not  mean 
to  encourage  reckless  or  spasmodic  efforts,  nor  any  that 
militated  against  the  Church  to  which  he  belonged,  but 


172  Bishop  Walsham  How 

it  was  a  cry  for  freedom  which  rang  through  all  he  said, 
and  planned,  and  taught,  and  did,  in  East  London.  To 
illustrate  this,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  quote  a  sentence 
from  the  literature  of  that  fund  which  was  his  right  hand 
throughout  this  portion  of  his  ministry  : 

"  The  object  of  the  Church  in  East  London  is  to  secure  the 
welfare  of  the  spirit,  the  soul,  and  the  body  of  every  man,  woman 
and  child  of  the  East  London  district  in  this  world  and  in  the 
next. 

"The  methods  of  Church  work  in  East  London,  as  we  now 
understand  them,  may  be  thus  described  :  We  will  always  main- 
tain, in  the  first  place,  and  upon  a  divine  level  of  their  own,  the 
Gospel  and  the  Sacraments  of  Jesus  Christ,  beginning,  continuing, 
and  ending  all  work  in  Him.  As  loyal  and  practical  members  of 
a  Church  which  must  preach  a  present  salvation,  we  will  reject  no 
opportunity  of  developing  social,  educational,  and  recreational 
agencies  for  the  good  of  the  people ;  we  will  fear  no  experiment 
which  is  justified  by  Church  order  and  common  sense  ;  and  we 
will  always  work,  not  on  the  chance  that  '  something  may  be 
saved,'  but  on  the  principle  that  '  nothing  be  lost.' " 

The  versatile  and  sympathetic  mind  of  the  Bishop 
caused  him  to  enter  heartily  into  any  scheme  which 
seemed  to  further  his  one  great  end,  and  no  doubt  this 
fact  helped  greatly  to  break  down  barriers  and  to  pro- 
mote cordial  relations  between  him  and  his  people, 
though  there  were  some  who,  with  minds  cased  in  a 
buckram  ecclesiasticism,  thought  it  was  inconsistent  with 
his  ofBce  that  he  should  engage  in  any  so-called  "secular" 
work. 

It  was  a  totally  new  experience  that  a  bishop  should  be 
seen  continually  in  the  streets  of  East  London.  Hurry- 
ing along,  bag  in  hand,  with  his  quick  springy  step,  he 
was  to  be  met  with  continually.  The  occupants  of  tram- 
car  and  omnibus  found  something  new  to  stare  at  in  a 


East  London  173 

bishop  seated  opposite  in  shovel  hat,  apron,  and  gaiters. 
At  first  his  episcopal  dress  caused  much  amusement  and 
many  queries  as  to  who  he  might  be,  but  after  a  time  he 
was  pleased  to  hear  it  said,  "That's  a  bishop."  Then 
there  came  the  time  when  he  was  still  better  pleased  to 
hear,  "  That's  the  Bishop,"  and  he  would  often  tell  of  his 
delight  when  at  last  the  familiar  phrase  became,  "  That's 
our  Bishop." 

Prebendary  Shelford  tells  a  story  of  how  one  poor 
fellow,  who  had  wrecked  his  life  by  evil  habits,  and 
became  a  degraded  outcast,  told  him  with  unfeigned 
pleasure  that  he  counted  it  the  highest  honour  to  have 
been  permitted  to  carry  the  Bishop's  bag  and  walk  by  his 
side  through  the  streets  of  an  East-end  parish. 

Many  stories  might  be  told  of  how  he  attracted  mem- 
bers of  the  less  educated  classes  by  his  genial  presence, 
and  also  no  doubt  (though  they  might  not  be  conscious  of 
it)  by  the  power  of  unaffected  holiness.  He  was  present 
on  one  occasion  at  the  opening  of  a  home  in  London 
Street,  Ratcliff,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Women's 
Help  Association,  and  a  number  of  the  roughest  of  East 
London  girls  were  there.  A  lady  seated  near  some  of 
these  girls  overheard  one  of  them  say,  "  Ain't  he  a  nice 
old  gentleman  ? "  and,  as  a  proof  of  the  way  he  won 
them,  several  of  their  number  came  forward  afterwards, 
and  actually  wished  to  be  confirmed  !  No  one,  who  does 
not  understand  what  this  means  to  a  low  class  girl  in  that 
district,  can  properly  appreciate  the  effect  which  the 
Bishop's  words  and  presence  must  have  had  upon  his 
hearers  that  day. 

The  men,  too,  were  struck  by  his  downright  simplicity 
in  speaking  to  them.  When  addressing  a  working  men's 
meeting  at  Carlisle  he  told  this  story  : 


174  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"A  great  compliment  was  paid  me  the  other  day  in 
East  London.  I  had  been  preaching  to  about  eight 
hundred  men  in  a  church  in  Bethnal  Green,  and  after 
the  service  a  son  of  mine  walked  by  the  side  of  two 
men  as  they  left  the  church,  and  he  heard  one  say  to  the 
other,  'That  seems  a  straight  chap.'  Now,  I  hope  he 
didn't  mean  stiff  and  starched.  If  you  can  give  two 
meanings  to  a  word,  always  choose  the  best.  So  I  took 
it  as  a  compliment.  I  hope  he  meant  '  straightforward, 
no  humbug.'  I  like  a  man  who  says  what  he  means,  and 
means  what  he  says,  and  so  I  try  to  do  the  same." 

Bishop  Walsham  How  was  probably  the  only  bishop 
who  ever  preached  to  the  Salvation  Army.  Dr.  Belcher, 
who  was,  in  1882,  Vicar  of  St.  Faith's,  Stoke  Newington, 
tells  the  following  story  of  the  way  in  which  this  came 
about : 

"  It  was,"  he  says,  "  in  the  time  when  sermons  of  that  sort 
were  being  given  in  various  churches,  before  the  '  Army '  had 
developed  into  an  organised  sect.  When  in  Rome  in  the  spring 
of  1882,  I  got  an  anonymous  letter,  asking  me,  for  the  glory  of 
God  and  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  to  give  a  sermon  in  my  church 
to  the  local  corps  of  the  Salvation  Army.  I  replied  to  the  chief 
ofificial  of  the  Salvation  Army  in  London,  asking  if  that  application 
had  his  sanction,  and,  on  being  informed  that  it  was  so,  on  my 
return  to  England,  I  repaired  to  the  Bishop  at  Stainforth  House, 
and  had  a  long  consultation  with  him  as  to  whether  the  sermon 
ought  to  be  given  or  not.  In  the  end  the  Bishop  said,  '  I  think, 
Doctor,  that  it  ought  to  be  done.'  '  Well,  then,  my  Lord,'  I  rejoined, 
'  will  you  come  and  do  it  ?  '  He  turned  round  in  his  chair,  had  a 
good  look  at  me,  and  said,  '  You  have  me  now — I  will.'  And  so 
he  did.  We  soon  arranged  the  details,  and  the  service  and  sermon 
came  off  as  fully  reported  in  the  Guardian^  the  Church  Times, 
and  the  War  Cry,  which  had  a  large  engraving  of  the  church 
with  the  Bishop  in  the  pulpit." 


East  London  175 

The  Bishop  preached  from  the  words,  "  Unto  a  perfect 
man/'  and  his  sermon  was  printed  with  a  preface  by  Dr. 
Belcher.  Three  hundred  copies  were  sent  to  the  local 
Salvation  Army  corps,  but  it  was  said  that  an  order  came 
from  head-quarters  prohibiting  its  distribution  ! 

Bishop  Walsham  How  had  a  happy  knack  of  gaining 
the  confidence  of  his  hearers  by  his  first  few  words.  He 
had  more  than  once  the  trying  ordeal  of  addressing 
gatherings  of  men  who  were  met  together  for  matters 
which  might  have  been  supposed  to  be  out  of  sympathy 
with  his  aims.  For  instance  he  was  several  times  allowed 
to  speak  to  men's  associations  in  the  East-end,  and  he 
himself  bore  witness  that  he  had  a  hearty  welcome  even 
in  a  democratic  club.  It  was  on  an  occasion  of  this 
kind  that,  on  rising  to  speak  and  finding  a  small  table 
in  front  of  him,  he  had  the  happy  thought  of  pushing  it 
to  one  side,  saying,  "  No  !  we  won't  even  have  a  table 
between  us  ! " 

Amongst  the  many  and  various  meetings  addressed  by 
the  Bishop  was  one  of  an  unusual  character.  "  Mothers' 
meetings "  are  common  enough,  but  a  "  Fathers'  meet- 
ing "  has  not  often  been  tried.  Mr.  Jay,  of  Christ  Church, 
Watney  Street,  however,  uses  these  among  his  many  other 
methods  of  reaching  his  people,  and,  in  February  1888, 
he  invited  Bishop  Walsham  How  to  come  and  speak  to.a 
gathering  of  this  description.  Needless  to  say  the  invita- 
tion was  readily  accepted,  and  some  short  time  afterwards 
the  Bishop  was  much  touched  by  receiving  a  pair  of  red 
leather  slippers  accompanied  by  the  following  letter  : 

"Dear  fellow  Farther, 

"  We  are  members  of  one  farthers  meeting  held  at  Christ 
Church,  Watney  Street,  and  we  long  to  see  you  with  us  again.  I 
do  not  forget  your  address  when  last  you  came.     We  were  all 


176  Bishop  Walsham  How 

very  much  disopointed  on  Boxing  Night.  We  did  expect  you, 
do  come  as  soon  as  you  can.  Will  you  axcept  of  this  little  present 
from  me  as  a  fellow  farther,  belonging  to  the  sam  meeting  as 
yourself,  and  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  say  belonging  to  the  sam 
Saviour  and  looking  forward  to  the  sam  rest  at  last. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"J..  G.." 

Could  anything  bear  stronger  witness  than  this  letter  of 
the  Bishop's  power  of  making  the  working  men  to  whom 
he  spoke  feel  the  genial  warmth  of  his  sympathy  and  the 
common  bond  of  manly  Christianity  which  united  him  to 
them  ? 

One  more  story  to  evidence  the  affection  he  won  in 
East  London.  His  work  there  was  finished  ;  it  was  his 
last  day ;  just  once  more  he  took  his  place  in  the  familiar 
white  tram-car  ;  to  his  surprise  the  conductor  asked  him 
for  his  ticket,  which  is  usually  thrown  away  by  the  pas- 
senger. "  What  do  you  want  it  for  ?  "  said  the  Bishop. 
"  P'raps  you  won't  be  coming  with  me  again,"  said  the 
man,  "  and  I  should  like  to  keep  it  for  a  remembrance." 
The  Bishop  told  him  he  should  have  something  more  than 
that,  and  afterwards  gave  him  his  photograph. 

But  to  return  to  the  details  of  the  Bishop's  East  London 
work.  Two  of  his  primary  objects  were,  as  has  been 
shown,  to  know  and  be  known  by  (i)  the  East  London 
clergy  ;  (2)  the  East  London  people.  But,  in  addition  to 
this,  there  was  a  mass  of  work  which  called  him  hither 
and  thither,  and  filled  up  every  moment  of  his  time.  His 
correspondence  was  very  heavy  :  he  received  about  15,000 
letters,  post-cards,  &c.,  annually,  and  many  of  these  had 
to  be  answered  by  his  own  hand,  besides  those  to  which 
he  was  able  to  dictate  or  suggest  answers  to  be  written  by 
his  secretary.     Perhaps  the  simplest  way  of  giving  an  idea 


East  London  177 

of  the  variety  of  his  work  is  to  take  a  day  at  random,  and 
to  see  what  engagements  his  diary  shows.  Here  is  one  : 
Thursday,  April  7,  1881. 

Address  to  men  only  ;  St.  Laurence  Jewry,  1.15  p.m. 

S.P.G.  2.30  P.M. 

Diocesan  Home  Mission,  121  Pall  Mall,  4  p.m. 

Deaconesses'  Institution,  4.30  p.m. 

Call  upon  Mr.  G.,  7  P.M. 

Confirmation,  St.  Peter's,  London  Docks,  8  P.M. 

These  appointments  would,  of  course,  succeed  a  morning 
given  up  to  interviews  and  correspondence. 

It  has  been  stated  that  before  the  Bishop's  arrival  in 
London  many  of  the  clergy  there  feared  that  he  would 
break  down  quickly  under  the  strain  of  the  work.  As 
they  watched  him,  these  fears  were  soon  dispelled  ;  but 
those  friends  and  relations  at  a  distance,  who  could  not 
see  his  bright  face  and  undaunted  look,  but  who  heard 
and  read  accounts  of  all  that  he  was  doing,  began,  not 
unnaturally,  to  take  alarm.  We  find  the  following  re- 
assuring letter  from  him,  written  after  his  first  few  months' 
of  his  new  life,  in  reply  to  an  anxious  inquiry  from  his 
brother : 

"Stainforth  House,  Dec.  13,  1879. 

"  Indeed  I  am  not  over-doing  myself.  I  never  was 
better,  and  I  have  not  had  at  all  a  heavy  week  this  week. 
Indeed  I  had  a  very  jolly  little  holiday  at  the  beginning  of 
it,  for  I  went  to  the  Archbishop's  at  Addington  from  the 
Monday  evening  to  the  Wednesday  morning.  ...  On 
Tuesday  morning  I  had  a  long  and  very  nice  walk  with 
the  youngest  Miss  Tait,  and  after  luncheon  an  afternoon's 

M 


178  Bishop  Walsham  How 

skating.  So  you  see  it  is  not  '  all  work  and  no  play.'  I 
enjoyed  my  day  most  thoroughly.  It  was  a  sight  to 
behold  the  episcopal  gaiters  cutting  the  outside  backwards, 
and  the  shovel  hat  twirling  about  as  friskily  as  a  young 
wideawake  ! " 

Three  years  afterwards  he  was  at  Addington  again  ; 
but  this  time  it  was  to  attend  the  funeral  of  the  Archbishop 
(Tait). 

"Stainforth  House,  Dec.  9,  1882. 

"  My  dear  Maynard, 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  what  an  interesting  and  helpful 
day  yesterday  was.  Not  only  was  everything  connected 
with  the  funeral  very  beautiful  and  well-ordered,  but  I 
had  much  very  nice  talk  with  your  bishop  (Lichfield),  the 
Bishop  of  Newcastle  (Wilberforce),  and  various  others. 
There  were  about  twenty  bishops  present.  The  flowers 
— all  white — were  most  lovely.  .  .  .  I  joined  Lord  Alwyne 
Compton  and  Canon  Wilkinson  and  his  daughter  in  a 
fly  from  Croydon  to  Addington  and  back  (it  is  three  and 
a  half  miles — very  hilly),  and  the  return  drive  was  one  of 
the  most  delightful  and  helpful  half-hours  I  ever  spent. 
The  Dean  of  Worcester  talked  very  little,  and  Miss 
Wilkinson  not  at  all.  I  fear  I  did  some  talking,  but 
Canon  Wilkinson  was  simply  delightful.  .  .  .  We  began 
by  discussing  *  Lead,  kindly  Light,'  which  was  one  of  the 
hymns  sung  at  the  funeral,  and  its  confession,  '  I  was  not 
always  so,'  &c.,  and  from  this  we  got  upon  the  question 
of  the  general  use  of  hymns  descriptive  of  special  and 
occasional  moods ;  and  then  from  that  to  the  deep 
language  of  penitence  in  the  Confession  in  the  Commu- 
nion  Service,   and   so   to   the   exalted   language   in   the 


East  London  179 

Psalms,  as,  *  My  soul  is  athirst  for  God,'  &c. ;  and  then 
we  naturally  got  upon  the  subjects  of  repentance,  and 
love  to  God,  and  private  devotions  in  the  Holy  Com- 
munion ;  and  I  came  away  feeling  as  if  I  had  spent  half 
an  hour  in  some  purer  and  brighter  atmosphere.  ...  I 
thought  how  you  would  have  enjoyed  it,  for  I  do  not 
forget  how,  in  the  Engadine,  you  used  to  crave  for  more 
open  talk  on  holy  things  ;  and  I  am  often  so  vexed  with 
my  own  shyness  and  reserve." 

Meanwhile  the  home  life  at  Stainforth  House  went 
quietly  on.  It  was  always  a  happiness  to  the  Bishop  that 
both  in  East  London,  and  in  his  subsequent  work  at 
Wakefield,  the  area  over  which  he  had  supervision  was 
sufficiently  small  to  enable  him  to  sleep  at  home  as  a 
general  rule.  By  this  means  he  kept  pace  with  his  corres- 
pondence, which  had  his  first  attention  after  breakfast, 
and  he  dreaded  the  loss  of  a  morning's  work  at  his  writing- 
table,  which  was  entailed  by  absence  from  home  for  a 
night. 

The  difficulty  he  had  felt,  to  which  he  gave  expression 
in  a  letter  previously  quoted,  as  to  attending  the  services 
at  St.  Thomas's,  Upper  Clapton,  the  church  of  the  parish 
in  which  he  lived,  was  put  aside,  and  he  seldom  missed 
daily  Morning  Prayer  there.  He  was  also  in  the  habit  of 
communicating  at  this  church  every  Wednesday  and 
Friday  morning,  and  the  vicar  and  his  family  became 
great  friends  with  the  inmates  of  Stainforth  House.  Once 
the  vicar,  the  Rev.  F.  W.  Kingsford,  called  upon  him  to 
ask  him  (not  as  bishop  but  as  a  resident  parishioner) 
whether  the  introduction  of  vestments  at  St.  Thomas's 
would  deter  him  from  coming  to  the  church  as  usual. 
The  Bishop  replied  that  it  would   do   so — more  for  the 


i8o  Bishop  Walsham  How 

sake  of  others  than  for  his  own — and  Mr.  Kingsford  post- 
poned their  introduction  until  the  interval  between  the 
Bishop's  translation  to  Wakefield  and  the  appointment  of 
his  successor.  This  act  of  consideration  the  Bishop  in 
after  years  mentioned  with  much  gratitude.  For  the 
whole  of  his  nine  years  in  East  London  he  attended 
this  church  frequently,  and  when  he  was  leaving  the 
following  letter  appeared  in  the  Parish  Magazine  : 

"My  dear  Friends, 

"  Your  good  vicar  has  kindly  allowed  me  to  occupy 
a  little  space  in  your  Parish  Magazine  that  I  may  say  a  few 
parting  words  to  those  with  whom  I  have  been  a  fellow 
parishioner  for  eight  years  and  a  half.  This  sojourn  in 
your  parish  has  given  me  many  kind  and  dear  friends 
from  whom  I  shall  part  with  great  sorrow.  My  life  and 
my  work  in  East  London  have  been  very  happy,  and  to 
you  and  your  constant  kindness  I  owe  much  of  the  happi- 
ness I  have  enjoyed.  Nor  can  I  ever  forget  how  much 
the  dear  partner  of  my  life  and  of  my  work,  whom  God 
has  been  pleased  to  call  to  her  rest,  valued  your  friendship 
and  your  ever  ready  interest  in  the  work  she  from  time  to 
time  brought  before  you.  From  the  great  press  of  busi- 
ness, which  is  now  occupying  my  time,  I  fear  I  shall  not 
be  able  to  say  good-bye  to  many  of  you  individually.  I 
must  ask  you,  therefore,  to  let  me  say  it  by  this  letter 
collectively.  I  shall  ever  take  a  deep  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  St.  Thomas's  parish,  and  shall  ever  carry  with  me 
a  grateful  remembrance  of  many  peaceful  hours  in  St. 
Thomas's  Church.  I  trust,  if  I  live,  I  may  sometimes  find 
my  way  to  Upper  Clapton,  and  to  see  some  of  my  dear 
friends  again. 

**  Meanwhile,  I  commend  you  to  the  grace  of  God,  and 


East  London  i8i 

pray  that  every  blessing  which  is  good  for  you  may  be 
yours  for  this  world  and  the  next. 

"  Your  faithful  and  affectionate  friend, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  BEDFORD 
*'  (Bishop  Designate  of  Wakefield)." 

Ten  years  did  not  suffice  to  obliterate  his  memory  in 
the  parish,  for  in  April  1898,  a  memorial  window  was 
dedicated  by  the  Bishop  of  Stepney  in  St.  Thomas's 
Church,  with  the  following  inscription  : 

"  In  majorem  Dei  gloriam  et  in  piam  memoriam  viri  admodum 
Reverendi  Gul :  Walsham  How  S.T.P.  Episcopi  Suffraganei  in 
Diocesi  Londinensi,  titulo  Bedfordise;  deinde  ad  sedem  Wake- 
fieldensem  translati :  haec  fenestra,  in  ecclesia  qua  per  novem 
annos,  dum  in  hoc  pago  commorabatur,  divinis  officiis  interesse 
consuescebat,  ab  amicis  mcerentibus  dedicata  est. 

"  Obdormivit    in    Jesu.     "  A.    S.    mdcccxcvh.     ^tatis    suae 

LXXXIV." 


CHAPTER   XIV 

EAST  LONDON— CONTINUED 

From  time  to  time  during  the  Bishop's  sojourn  in  East 
London,  incidents  occurred  which  are  interesting  in 
themselves,  but  have  no  special  place  in  the  account  of 
his  work.  Some  few  of  these  may  therefore  form  a 
chapter  to  themselves. 

In  1882  he  was  one  of  a  Commission  appointed  to 
select  a  new  bishop  for  the  See  of  Adelaide.  Writing 
about  this,  he  says  : 

"  I  am  asked,  together  with  the  Archbishop  [Tait],  and 
the  Bishops  of  Winchester  [Harold  Browne],  Durham 
[Lightfoot],  and  Truro  [Benson],  to  elect  the  successor 
to  Bishop  Short  of  Adelaide.  It  is  a  responsible  office. 
One  knows  of  very  good  men,  but  then  they  won't  go. 
Two  men,  perfect  strangers  to  me,  have  already  written 
to  ask  me  to  propose  them  !  " 

The  choice  ultimately  fell  on  Dr.  Kennion,  the  present 
Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells. 

In  this  same  year  the  Bishop  spent  his  holiday  abroad 
with  his  brother  and  other  members  of  his  family. 
During  this  expedition  he  consecrated  a  new  church  and 
churchyard  at  Pontresina  on  August  19,  and  preached 
the    sermon     on    the    occasion,    Prince    and    Princess 


East  London  183 

Christian  being  among  those  present.  Writing  on  this 
day  to  the  Rev.  W.  Frazer  Nash,  assistant  curate  of  St. 
Andrew's  Undershaft,  he  gives  a  description  of  an  adven- 
ture which  he  had  experienced  on  the  previous  day  : 

"PONTRESINA,  Aug.   19,   1882. 

"  It  has  not  been  a  good  week,  and  on  Thursday  we 
had  much  snow  and  rain,  and  it  was  Hke  mid-winter. 
Yesterday,  however,  was  very  fine,  and  we  went  a  glacier 
expedition.  We  had  a  guide,  but  no  rope,  as  it  was 
thought  pretty  safe,  but  the  newly  fallen  snow  was  treach- 
erous, and  one  of  our  party,  an  elderly  gentleman,  fell 
into  a  deep  crevasse,  twenty  or  thirty  feet  down,  and 
quite  out  of  sight.  It  was  very  anxious  work,  as  we  had 
to  send  a  long  way  for  a  rope,  and  there  he  had  to  stay. 
We  could  shout  down  to  him,  and  he  up  to  us,  and,  most 
mercifully,  he  was  not  seriously  hurt,  only  jambed  in  the 
ice.  When  the  guide  brought  the  rope  and  some  other 
men  he  had  some  difficulty  in  getting  it  round  his  chest, 
but  did  at  last  manage  it,  and  then  some  seven  or  eight 
good  hauls  by  four  strong  men  brought  him  up.  Some 
of  us  could  not  help  bursting  into  tears  when  he  was 
saved,  and  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  who  was  with  us, 
and  who  is  an  experienced  Alpine  climber,  gathered  us 
all  together  on  the  ice  (we  were  a  party  of  about  twelve), 
and  offered  up  a  thanksgiving,  and  then  we  all  sang  the 
Doxology  together.  It  was  very  affecting.  I  had  only 
just  crossed  the  dangerous  spot,  and,  on  hearing  the 
shout  of  an  accident,  turned  round  to  go  and  see,  and 
slipped  and  twisted  my  left  knee.  A  shade  more  and  I 
could  not  have  got  away,  and,  as  it  was,  I  had  to  walk  two 
hours  more  over  the  ice,  often  very  dangerous,  limping  in 


184  Bishop  Walsham  How 

great  pain.  I  can  only  just  hobble  with  a  stick  to- 
day. We  all  feel  we  had  a  lesson  in  caution  in  glacier 
work." 

The  "twist"  turned  out  to  be  the  breakage  of  a  small 
bone,  and  on  his  return  to  England  the  Bishop  was  con- 
fined to  his  bed  for  some  days,  and  afterwards  got  about 
with  difficulty  upon  crutches. 

Bishop  Walsham  How's  work  in  Convocation  has  been 
spoken  of  before,  and  it  must  have  seemed  strange  to  him 
to  have  no  longer  any  part  in  the  deliberations  of  that 
body.  But  he  had  not  a  seat  in  the  Upper  House,  being 
a  suffragan  bishop,  neither  was  he  elected  as  a  representa- 
tive of  the  clergy  to  the  Lower  House,  though  in  1882  an 
attempt  was  made  to  return  him  as  proctor  for  the  arch- 
deaconry of  London.  The  following  requisition  was 
received  by  him  in  February  of  that  year  : 

*'  To  the  Right  Reverend  the  Bishop  of  Bedford,  Bishop  Suffragan 
for  East  London,  and  Rector  of  St.  Andrew's  Undershaft. 

"  We,  the  undersigned  clergy  of  the  archdeaconry  of  London, 
respectfully  request  that  you  will  allow  yourself  to  be  put  in 
nomination  for  the  office  of  Proctor  in  Convocation,  in  place  of 
our  much  respected  representative,  the  late  Prebendary  Gibbs." 

This  requisition  was  signed  by  over  one  hundred  of  the 
clergy,  including  the  rectors  of  Hackney,  Stepney,  Spital- 
fields,  Whitechapel,  &c.,  and  the  vicars  of  Islington, 
Bromley,  St.  Peter's  London  Docks,  &c. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  to  return  to  Convocation 
would  have  been  a  great  pleasure  to  him,  but  at  the  last 
moment  he  withdrew  his  name,  the  reason  being  explained 
in  the  subjoined  letters  : 


East  London  185 

[To  his  daughter?^ 

"Stainforth  House,  Feb.  17,  1882. 

"The  election  for  Convocation  is  on  Monday,  and  I 
am  sorry  to  say  a  number  of  men  (almost  all  of  the  Broad 
school)  strongly  object  to  me  as  a  nominee  of  the  Bishop, 
and  so  practically  strengthening  the  official  element  in 
Convocation.  They  have  put  up  Mr.  Harry  Jones,  and 
written  various  not  very  pleasant  letters  in  the  Times,  the 
East  London  Observer,  &c.  The  requisition  to  me,  signed 
by  so  many  of  the  incumbents  in  the  archdeaconry,  and 
men  of  all  schools,  means  a  very  decided  majority  in  a 
poll,  but  I  do  not  mean  to  be  dragged  through  a  contest 
with  one  of  my  own  clergy,  and  his  supporters  all  saying 
that  he  is  handicapped  by  my  official  position  and 
influence,  and  so  it  cannot  be  a  fair  election.  I  have 
therefore  determined  to  withdraw.  It  is  causing  some 
little  excitement,  but  I  do  not  greatly  mind,  for,  however 
enjoyable  it  may  be  to  meet  my  friends  in  Convocation,  I 
daresay  I  am  better  employed  elsewhere." 

The  Bishop  consequently  put  out  the  following  circular 
letter  : 

"  Stainforth  House,  Upper  Clapton,  E., 

''Feb.  18,  1882. 
"  Dear  Sir, 

"  I  have  received  with  sincere  pleasure  a  very 
numerously  signed  requisition,  asking  me  to  allow  myself 
to  be  proposed  as  Proctor  in  Convocation  in  place  of  the 
late  Prebendary  Gibbs.  When  this  proposal  was  first 
brought  before  me,  I  felt  it  would  be  a  great  honour  if 
the  clergy  of  this  archdeaconry  should  invite  me  to  return 
to  Convocation  as  their  representative.     I  also  felt  that 


i86  Bishop  Walsham  How 

my  doing  so  might  help  in  some  Httle  degree  to  remove 
the  erroneous  impression  that  bishops  and  presbyters 
must  necessarily  have  opposing  aims  and  interests,  and  I 
should  have  rejoiced  in  any  way  to  forward  the  interests 
of  the  parochial  clergy,  with  whom  it  is  my  earnest  desire 
to  be  in  closest  sympathy.  I  should  have  supported  (as  I 
always  did  support)  every  proposal  for  the  enlargement  of 
the  representation  of  the  parochial  clergy,  and  for  the 
admission  of  non-beneficed  clergy  to  vote. 

"  But  having  learnt  that  there  is  a  strong  wish  on  the 
part  of  some  to  be  represented  by  a  brother  presbyter, 
and  that  at  least  one  respected  incumbent  will  be  proposed 
with  that  view,  I  have  consulted  some  of  the  chief  pro- 
moters of  the  requisition  to  myself,  and  with  their  con- 
currence, in  order  that  there  may  be  no  contest,  I  have 
requested  that  my  name  may  not  be  proposed. 

"  I  am,  dear  Sir, 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"Wm.  walsham  BEDFORD. 
"(Bishop  Suffragan  for  East  London,  and  Rector  of  St.  Andrew's  Underskaft)." 

This  circular  he  sent  to  his  son  (Rev.  H.  W.  How)  with 
the  following  letter  : 

"iv3.  20,  1882. 
"  Dearest  Harry, 

"  This  will  show  you  the  result  of  the  Convocation 

difficulty.     It  is  not  very  satisfactory,  for  the  Broad  men 

(a   small   minority)  get  their  man  in  without  a   contest 

to-day,  because  I  resign  at  the  last.     1  cannot  be  dragged 

through  a  contest  with  one  of  my  own  clergy,  but,  if  I 

had  declined  at  first,  no  doubt  another  man  would  have 

been  put  up.     To-day's  Times  has  a  leader  about  me,  and 

three  letters  which  you  should  read.     No  doubt  you  can 


East  London  187 

see   it.     Mr.   Walrond   delicately   calls   Mr.   Brook,    Mr. 

Billing,  Mr.  Kitto,  and  Mr.  Abbott,  '  busybody  satellites,' 

which  will  be  soothing  to  their   feelings.     I    could   not 

withdraw  earlier,  for  I  did  not  receive  the  requisition  till 

Thursday  evening,  and  had,  of  course,  to  consult  my  chief 

promoters. 

"  Your  loving  father, 

"W.  w.  B." 

The  leading  article  in  the  Times,  referred  to  above, 
contained  the  following  criticisms  on  the  controversy  : 

"  The  number  of  officials  who  have  seats  in  the  Lower  House 
of  Convocation  is,  Mr.  Main  Walrond  [of  St.  Laurence  Jewry] 
pointed  out  in  a  letter  we  printed  last  Tuesday,  so  large  as  to 
make  the  House  no  proper  representative  of  the  parochial 
clergy,  ...  In  view  of  these  facts  Mr.  Main  Walrond  and  some 
others  of  the  London  clergy  look  with  grave  disapproval  on  a 
proposal  which  has  been  made  to  elect  the  Bishop  Suffragan  of 
Bedford  to  a  place  in  the  Lower  House.  .  .  .  Mr.  Kempe,  Rector 
of  St.  James's,  Westminster,  in  a  letter  we  printed  last  Thursday, 
takes  the  opposite  side.  If  the  Bishop  of  Bedford,  Mr.  Kempe 
argues,  be  elected  by  the  London  clergy,  he  will  be  representa- 
tive of  the  London  clergy.  Mr.  Kempe  strengthens  his  case  by 
suggesting  some  doubts  as  to  the  full  episcopal  rank  of  the  Bishop 
of  Bedford.  He  is  no  more  a  bishop  than  Lord  Hartington  is  a 
peer.  If  a  marquis,  by  courtesy,  can  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
a  bishop,  by  courtesy,  may  sit  in  the  Lower  House  of  Convocation, 
and  bring  just  as  little  of  aristocratic  taint  with  him.  The  various 
disadvantages  of  Dr.  How's  present  position  are  duly  set  out  in 
Mr.  Kempe's  letter.  He  is  a  suffragan  only,  with  no  prospect  of 
succession  to  the  Episcopal  Bench,  or  to  a  seat  of  his  own  in 
Parliament  or  Convocation.  It  is  for  the  London  clergy,  there- 
fore, to  supply  some  part  of  his  defects.  They  can  treat  him  as 
one  of  themselves,  which,  by-the-bye,  he  has  not  yet  ceased  to  be, 
since  he  is  the  occupant  of  a  London  living,  and  they  may  thus, 
and  thus  only,  obtain  a  renewal  of  the  services  he  rendered  for 
ten  whole  years  before  he  became  a  bishop  of  any  sort.     It  is  a 


i88  Bishop  Walsham  How 

hard  case  we  must  admit,  ,  .  .  There  is  good  sense  in  some  of 
Mr.  Walrond's  objections  to  his  proposed  candidature,  contained 
in  a  second  letter  which  we  give  to-day.  As  a  bishop,  which, 
pace  Mr.  Kempe,  Dr.  How  unquestionably  is,  he  will  be  placed 
in  the  improper  position  of  seeking  votes  from  men  who  owe  a 
certain  measure  of  canonical  obedience  to  him,  and  some  of  whom 
are  dependent  on  his  favour  for  promotion.  If  Dr.  How's  election 
is  opposed,  if  Mr.  Harry  Jones,  or  any  other  London  clergyman  is 
put  forward  against  him,  the  struggle  with  be  a  somewhat  un- 
seemly one.  .  .  .  Mr.  Harry  Jones  is  to  be  put  in  nomination  if 
his  friends  can  ensure  him  a  fair  measure  of  support,  but  not 
otherwise.  If  a  sufficient  amount  of  promises  is  not  obtained  for 
him,  there  will  be  no  contest,  and  officialism,  in  the  very  moderate 
form  in  which  it  is  represented  by  Dr.  How,  will  prevail.  This, 
we  are  inclined  to  think,  would  be  the  best  solution  of  the  whole 
difficulty." 

The  Bishop's  refusal  to  enter  on  a  contest  with  one  of 
his  clergy  had,  however,  already  been  issued,  and  the 
matter  ended  in  a  different  manner  from  that  recom- 
mended by  the  Times. 

In  1884  he  was  elected  a  member  of  "  Nobody's 
Club,"  and  on  May  29  in  that  year  was  present  at  his  first 
dinner,  and  had  to  make  the  usual  speech  to  explain  his 
right  to  be  present.  His  explanation  was  couched  in  the 
following  remarks  : 

"  How  to  justify  my  appearance  among  Nobody's 
Friends  I  know  not,  unless  the  absurdity  of  being  Bishop 
of  Bedford,  while  having  no  connection  with  that  ancient 
and  respectable  borough,  be  admitted  as  a  plea,  a  plea 
perhaps  the  stronger  inasmuch  as  the  title  I  unhappily 
possess  very  naturally  leads  the  more  thoughtful  of  the 
people  in  my  sub-diocese  to  imagine  that  I  am  a  bishop 
who  has  been  tried  at  Bedford  and  has  failed,  and  is 
having  a  new  chance  given  him  in  East  London, 


East  London  189 

"  But  it  is  difficult  to  talk  about  oneself,  self-knowledge 
bring  a  gift  of  singular  rarity,  so  that  it  will  be  better  to 
glean  a  few  of  the  expressed  opinions  of  others,  and,  if 
possible,  to  extract  from  their  combined  or  contrasted 
force  some  ground  of  confidence  in  presenting  myself 
before  this  honourable  assemblage.  I  presume  that  a 
certain  amount  of  haziness  of  outline  and  indefiniteness 
of  conception  might  stand  me  in  good  stead  in  the  present 
ordeal,  so  I  beg  to  plead  that,  while  on  the  one  hand  the 
less  cultured  and  refined  of  the  East-end  continually 
exclaim  as  I  pass  by  '  What's  that  ? '  on  the  other  hand  an 
intelligent,  but  curious,  person  one  day  asked  my  good 
friend  the  Rector  of  Stepney,  'Who  is  this  Bishop  of 
Suffragan,  who  is  coming  to  preach  here  ?'  Again,  it  was 
only  the  night  before  last  that  a  small  boy  in  Poplar 
shouted  to  another  as  I  passed,  *  Here's  a  Scotchman  ; 
look  at  his  legs  1 '  while  Mr.  Punch  has  played  me  a 
sorry  trick,  for  since  that  odious  picture  by  Du  Maurier 
of  a  bishop  in  the  East  End,  I  have  had  that  detestable 
Americanism  '  Masher '  shouted  after  me  in  Spitalfields. 

"  As  with  my  person,  especially  my  poor  legs,  which  are 
the  subject  of  many  more  or  less  graceful  and  compli- 
mentary criticisms,  so  with  my  sphere  of  work.  I  am  filled 
with  admiration  at  the  playful  vivacity  of  the  descriptive 
genius,  which  has  revealed  to  a  confiding  public  the 
nature  of  my  surroundings,  a  daily  paper  not  long  ago 
(and  we  know  that  daily  papers  seldom  make  mistakes) 
having  spoken  of  the  '  purely  agricultural  diocese  of  the 
Bishop  of  Bedford.' 

"  Such,  sir,  is  the  anomalous  and  paradoxical  individual 
who  has  ventured  to  intrude  into  your  presence,  trusting 
for  his  welcome  to  the  generosity  of  the  friends  of 
Nobody." 


190  Bishop  Walsham  How 

In  after  years  Bishop  Walsham  How  attended  the 
dinners  of  this  club  when  possible,  but  his  many 
engagements  caused  him  to  put  in  a  somewhat  infrequent 
appearance. 

In  1884-5,  the  Bishop  was  much  occupied  with  the 
Royal  Commision  on  the  housing  of  the  poor,  to  which 
he  had  been  appointed. 

The  Commission  was  moved  for  by  Lord  Salisbury  in 
the  House  of  Lords  on  February  23,  1884,  when  notable 
speeches  in  its  support  were  made  by  the  Prince  of  Wales 
and  the  late  Lord  Shaftesbury.  The  Commissioners 
originally  appointed  were  Sir  Charles  Dilke,  M.P. 
(chairman)  ;  H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Bishop  of 
Bedford,  Mr.  H.  Broadhurst,  M.P.,  The  Earl  Brownlow, 
Lord  Carrington,  Mr.  Jesse  Collings,  M.P.,  Sir  R.  A.  Cross, 
G.C.B.,  M.P.,  Mr.  George  Godwin,  F.R.S.,  Cardinal 
Manning,  Mr.  Samuel  Morley,  M.P.,  the  Marquis  of 
Salisbury,  K.G.,  the  Hon.  Lyulph  Stanley,  M.P.,  Mr.  W. 
M'C.  Torrens,  M.P.,  and  Mr.  J.  C.  Bodley  (Secretary). 

It  was,  naturally,  a  subject  of  deep  interest  to  one  so 
closely  connected  with  a  crowded  area  such  as  East 
London,  and  the  Bishop  seldom  missed  one  of  the 
meetings.     The  following  letters  refer  to  this  subject  : 

[To  Ms  brother.l 

"Stainforth  House,  Dec.  2,  1884. 

"  I  had  a  chat  with  the  Prince  over  the  fire  to-day,  when 
we  rose.  He  told  me  that  old  Canon  Girdlestone,  who 
preached  [at  Sandringham]  in  my  place,  caught  a  fearful 
cold  there,  and  had  been  laid  up  ever  since.  I  also  had  a 
little  chat  with  Mr.  Goschen,  who  said  he  thought  the 
Seats  Bill  as  revolutionary  a  change  as  the  abolition  of 
the  House  of  Lords  would  have  been.  ,  .  .  However,  no 


East  London  191 

doubt  the  immense  number  of  one-horse-chaise  constitu- 
encies will  give  greater  variety,  and  in  a  measure  secure 
the  representation  of  all  interests." 

[To  Rev.  H.  W.  How.] 

"Viceregal  Lodge,  Dublin,  May  27,  1885. 

"  Dearest  Harry, 

"  You  will  like  to  hear  about  our  visit  here.  Most 
of  the  Commission  came  last  Friday,  but  Lord  Brownlow 
and  I  came  over  on  Monday.  We  had  a  beautiful  day, 
and  a  fine  passage,  but  I  am  sorry  to  see  it  was  a  wet 
Bank-holiday  in  England.  We  had  a  tremendously  swell 
dinner-party  here,  the  Lord  Chancellor  and  wife.  Lord 
Chief  Justice  and  wife.  Marquis  and  Marchioness  of 
Drogheda,  &c.  They  keep  up  Court  state.  Lord  and 
Lady  Spencer  do  not  enter  till  all  the  guests  are  assembled, 
and  then  go  round  and  formally  salute  each,  and  the  same 
on  leaving  at  night.  .  .  .  The  crimson  footmen  are  mag- 
nificent .  .  .  and  the  aides-de-camp  and  suite  scarcely 
less  splendid  !  There  are  carriages  to  take  you  every- 
where, and  in  fact  we  are  royally  entertained.  This  is  a 
large  place  in  a  park,  being  part  of  the  Phoenix  Park,  and 
is  guarded  in  all  directions  by  soldiers  and  police.  The 
site  of  the  murders  is  just  outside  the  garden,  and  two 
crosses  are  cut  in  the  ground  where  the  two  bodies  lay. 

"  Last  night  we  of  the  Commission  all  dined  with  Mr. 
Dwyer  Gray,  our  Irish  member,  and  that  was  a  very  swell 
affair.  About  thirty-two  sat  down,  all  men,  but  Mrs.  Gray 
had  a  reception  afterwards,  to  which  about  400  came. 
It  was  a  great  crush,  but  amusing  enough.  A  ball 
followed,  but  we  all  came  back  here.  I  had  some  nice 
talk  with  the  Lord  Chancellor,  who  is  a  very  nice,  clever, 


192  Bishop  Walsham  How 

unassuming  man.  Also  with  the  now  notorious  Dr. 
Walsh,  who  may  at  any  moment  be  proclaimed  Roman 
Catholic  Archbishop  of  Dublin.  Also  with  the  Solicitor- 
General — '  The  McDermott ' — who  sat  on  my  left,  I  being 
next  to  Mr.  Gray,  on  his  left.  It  was  a  happy  family 
politically,  for  we  had  lots  of  Nationalists,  and  Lord 
Brownlow  and  Sir  Richard  Cross  strong  Conservatives. 
Mr.  Gray's  is  a  splendid  house.  We  have  finished  our 
work  to-day.  They  sat  nine  hours  on  Saturday,  and  we 
sat  seven  hours  yesterday,  but  only  two  to-day,  having 
finished  our  witnesses. 

"  This  morning  I  begged  off  breakfast,  and  went  to  give 
an  Ember  address  to  about  forty-eight  clergy  at  an  early 
celebration  at  St.  Patrick's.  I  afterwards  had  a  sit  with 
old  Archbishop  Trench,  and  lunched  with  the  new  Arch- 
bishop, Lord  Plunkett." 

"  Your  loving  father, 

"  w.  w.  B." 

Bishop  Walsham  How  had,  on  becoming  Bishop  of 
Bedford,  taken  a  D.D.  degree  from  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  Of  his  University  (Oxford)  he  still  remained 
simply  M.A.  In  the  summer  term  of  1886  this  was 
rectified,  and  Oxford  gave  him  an  honorary  D.D.  degree. 
The  ceremony  was  performed  on  June  15,  a  day  which  he 
described  in  a  letter  as  "  a  perfect  day — beautifully  bright 
and  clear,  and  Oxford  looking  its  best." 

With  the  Bishop's  literary  tastes  it  is  not  surprising  to 
find  in  his  diaries  mention  of  his  acquaintance  with 
various  authors.  Thus,  on  the  occasion  of  his  preaching 
the  sermon  at  the  Cuddesdon  Festival  in  May  1877,  he 
noted  that  he  "  saw  a  good  deal  of  Miss  Yonge,"  and  in 
the  following  February,  when  at  Cannes,  there  is  an  entry 


East  London  193 

of  the  fact  that  "  Miss  Ingelow  came  to  tea.  I  walked 
back  with  her." 

"  Edna  Lyall"  was  also  among  the  Bishop's  friends,  and 
in  April  1888,  he  had  the  pleasure  of  entertaining  all 
three  of  these  authoresses  together  at  Stainforth  House. 
Unfortunately  it  was  an  exceedingly  busy  time  with  the 
Bishop,  and  it  fell  to  the  lot  of  Mrs.  Kenyon,  his  daughter, 
who  was  staying  with  him,  to  do  most  of  the  entertaining. 
In  her  company  they  visited  the  Children's  Hospital  at 
Shadwell,  and  the  People's  Palace,  and  generally  made 
such  acquaintance  with  East  London  as  their  short  visit 
allowed. 

In  this  connection  the  following  letter  written  to  his 
niece.  Miss  M.  Douglas,  will  be  interesting : 

'■'■June  26,  1889. 

"  I  really  do  not  think  I  have  written  to  you  (have  I  ?) 
since  my  visit  to  Cambridge  to  preach  the  University 
sermons  on  Ascension  Day  and  the  Sunday  after.  I 
stayed  for  the  former  day  with  the  Lytteltons  at  Selwyn, 
who  are  always  very  delightful,  and  for  the  latter  with  the 
Master  of  Trinity,  where  were  also  staying  the  Bishop  and 
Lady  Alwyne,  and  Robert  Browning  !  The  latter  was  very 
interesting  and  pleasant,  a  jolly,  chatty,  cheery  old  gentle- 
man, not  an  ideal  poet  by  any  means.  I  talked  to  him 
about  his  lunar  rainbow  in  '  Christmas  Eve,'  wondering 
about  his  description  of  the  base  being  duly  *  with  seven- 
fold columns  chorded,'  and  the  summit  passing  into  a 
'triumph  of  whitest  white,'  besides  the  farther  second 
bow  above.  The  only  one  I  ever  saw  was  all  white.  He 
told  me  his  was  exactly  as  he  describes  it.  It  must  have 
been  in  stronger  moonlight." 

N 


194  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Among  other  matters  that  were  a  Httle  apart  from  his 
work,  the  Bishop  went,  in  1887,  to  hear  a  great  socialist 
debate.  His  interesting  description  of  what  he  saw  and 
heard  is  contained  in  the  following  letter  to  Mrs.  Kenyon  : 

"  Stainforth  House,  ya«.  26,  1887. 
*  *  * 

"  I  want  to  tell  you  about  a  most  interesting  evening  I 
had  on  Monday.  I  went  to  Toynbee  Hall  to  hear  a  dis- 
cussion between  Champion  the  Socialist  and  a  Mr. 
Benjamin  Jones,  a  leader  of  the  Co-operatives,  on  their 
respective  systems,  Mr.  Leonard  Courtney  being  in  the 
chair.  Each  set  forth  his  own  plan  for  bettering  the 
condition  of  the  people  first,  twenty  minutes  being  allowed 
to  each.  Then  they  questioned  each  other  in  turn  for 
about  thirty  minutes.  Then  the  audience  were  allowed 
to  send  up  questions  in  writing  to  be  answered  by  the 
debaters  for  about  forty-five  minutes.  Then  Mr.  Court- 
ney summed  up,  and  finally,  votes  of  thanks  were  passed. 
It  was  more  than  interesting,  for  it  was  very  exciting. 
Champion  was  the  best  a  good  deal  in  clearness,  definite- 
ness,  and  compression.  He  did  not  say  a  word  too  much, 
nor  attempt  any  speechifying.  But  he  was  awfully  strong 
and  dangerous.  He  is  a  thin,  keen  man,  a  gentleman  by 
"voice  and  manner,  with  a  quick,  rather  small,  but  very 
keen  eye,  and  thin,  compressed  lips.  He  looked  as  if  he 
•could  bite.  He  advocated,  without  apology  or  hesitation, 
the  taking  by  the  State,  without  compensation,  of  all  land, 
railways,  factories,  and  means  of  producing  wealth  ;  the 
-entire  abolition  of  all  non-working  classes,  the  supreme 
power  being  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  as  compensation 
for  all  political  and  commercial  power  having  been  so 
long  monopolised  by  the  rich.     If  only  he  had  ranted 


East  London  195 

and  raved  one  would  have  laughed  at  the  absurdity  of  it 
all,  but  his  quiet,  determined  manner,  and  extremely  terse 
language,  gave  it  the  effect  of  some  power  and  of  great 
danger.  Mr.  Benjamin  Jones  was  a  large,  rather  jolly- 
looking  man,  far  more  oratorical,  not  at  all  perfect  in 
grammar,  but  quick,  well-informed,  and  tolerably  effective. 
No  doubt  the  worse  cause  had  the  best  advocate,  but  the 
majority  present  in  a  frightfully  crowded  room  were  with 
the  co-operator.  Mr.  Courtney  summed  up  very  strongly 
in  his  favour,  and  Mr.  Barnett,  in  proposing  a  vote  of 
thanks  to  the  Chair,  ended  with  some  very  fine  words, 
which  he  said  he  had  heard  used,  and  were  not  his  own. 
He  said,  even  if  the  Socialist  scheme  could  be  carried  by 
the  nation,  it  could  never  be  carried  out,  or  be  in  any 
degree  workable,  without  the  highest  moral  qualities,  such 
as  unselfishness,  honesty,  &c.  But  these,  he  said,  were 
simply  the  Christian  virtues,  and  so,  he  contended,  '  Until 
the  people  are  Christian,  Socialism  is  impossible,  and  when 
the  people  are  Christian,  it  will  be  unnecessary."  Champion 
distinctly  said  he  held  that  physical  force  was  the  only 
resource  for  his  party,  if  their  just  claims  were  refused, 
and  he  considered  his  cause  worth  fighting  for. 

"  There  were  a  good  many  very  strong-minded  females 
present,  some  obviously  Socialists,  applauding  Champion." 


In  March  1887  the  Bishop  of  Bedford  went,  for  the 
£rst  time,  to  stay  at  Windsor  by  command  of  the  Queen, 
and  to  preach  before  her  Majesty,  who  graciously  invited 
him  on  several  other  occasions  to  preach  at  Windsor,  the 
last  time  of  all  being  May  9,  1897,  a  few  months  before 
liis  death. 

On  April  6,  1888,  within  a  few  weeks  of  his  leaving 


196  Bishop  Walsham  How 

London  for  Wakefield,  he  went  to  Cumberland  Lodge  to 
confirm  Princess  Louise,  daughter  of  Prince  and  Princess 
Christian  of  Schleswig  Holstein.  Writing  about  this,  he 
said  : 

"  I  had  a  very  nice,  pleasant  day  yesterday,  when  I 
went  to  luncheon  at  Cumberland  Lodge.  .  .  .  Prince 
Christian  Victor  was  at  home,  and  the  two  daughters,  the 
younger  of  whom  I  went  to  confirm  in  the  church  in  the 
Park.  .  .  . 

"  It  was  rather  trying  having  to  address  one  girl  alone 
in  church,  and  before  such  an  audience.  I  should  have 
been  happier  if  there  had  been  one  hundred  ! " 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE  BISHOP  A  BRIDGEMAKER 

Bishop  Walsham  How  was  once  called  "  a  great  bridge- 
maker."  This  was  true  in  several  ways.  In  the  first 
place  it  was  true  in  his  treatment  of  Dissent.  He  had  had 
great  experience  of  Dissenters  in  his  Shropshire  parish. 
Whittington  is  one  of  the  places  on  the  borderland 
of  Wales,  a  fact  to  which  the  ruins  of  its  old  castle 
bear  witness.  This  propinquity  to  the  Principality 
accounted  for  the  strength  of  the  Dissenting  community, 
but  Dr.  Walsham  How,  when  rector,  lived  on  terms  of 
friendliness  with  them  all,  trying  his  utmost  to  see  the 
points  of  agreement  rather  than  those  of  difference.  This 
was  always  his  line,  and  he  did  what  he  could  to  promote 
re-union  by  trying  by  every  lawful  means  to  bring  men  to 
be  of  one  mind.  It  has  been  noticed  elsewhere  that  he 
was  a  member  of  Bishop  Woodford's  Committee  of  Con- 
vocation on  the  subject. 

When  in  East  London  the  unceasing  calls  of  Church 
administration  left  him  little  time  for  other  considerations, 
but,  when  he  arrived  at  his  West  Riding  diocese,  he  was 
confronted  with  a  development  of  political  dissent 
probably  unequalled  in  any  other  part  of  the  country  for 
violence.    With  this  he  had  no  patience.     He  was  never 


198  Bishop  Walsham  How 

tired  of  insisting  upon  the  distinction  to  be  drawn  between 
religious  and  political  dissent.  He  was  no  bridge-maker 
between  the  Church  and  the  latter  unscrupulous  faction. 
With  the  devout  Dissenter,  who  was  sincerely  religious, 
he  had  sympathy  and  common  ground,  on  which  the 
foundations  of  a  bridge  might  be  laid. 

But  in  another  sense  he  was  also  a  great  bridge-maker. 
When  he  became  suffragan  for  East  London  he  found 
that  his  district  consisted  of  vast  areas  in  which  no  wealthy 
people  at  all  were  to  be  found,  with  a  few  other  parts, 
such  as  Clapton,  Tottenham,  &c.,  out  of  which  the  well- 
to-do  inhabitants  were  rapidly  moving.  Large  funds 
were  needed  to  provide  men  and  machinery,  and  one  of 
the  tasks  the  Bishop  set  himself  to  do  was  to  bridge  over 
the  gulf  of  indifference  to,  and  ignorance  of,  the  needs  of 
East  London,  which  existed  between  it  and  wealthier 
localities.  To  accomplish  this,  he,  with  the  help  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  East  London  Church  Fund  and  others, 
arranged  many  drawing-room  meetings  in  the  West  End, 
and  obtained  the  use  of  the  pulpits  in  St.  Peter's,  Eaton 
Square,  and  other  churches,  that  he  might  personally  plead 
the  cause  of  his  work.  A  large  amount  of  pecuniary 
support  was  thus  obtained,  but,  more  important  still,  a 
vast  interest  was  stirred  up  in  the  condition  of  the  East 
End,  and  many  went  to  see  for  themselves  the  state  of 
things  that  existed.  It  is  not  claimed  that  Bishop 
Walsham  How  originated  the  idea  of  that  practice,  which 
has  somewhat  flippantly  been  termed  "  slumming,"  but  it 
is  probable  that  he  gave  it  a  turn  which  brought  it  into 
closer  connection  with  the  work  of  the  Church. 

This  sympathy  of  the  wealthy  Vk^ith  their  poorer  brethren 
he  also  succeeded  in  arousing  in  such  places  as  Brighton, 
Tunbridge  Wells,  Eastbourne,  &c.,  and  visited  these  and 


The  Bishop  a  Bridgemaker  199 

other   places   in   person   to    tell    his    story   about    East 
London. 

He  never  altogether  gave  up  this  work.  His  love  for 
East  London  led  him  to  give  what  time  he  could,  even  in 
the  stress  of  his  Wakefield  work,  to  pleading  her  cause. 

[To  Mrs.  R.  Ll.  Kenyon.] 

*' OVERTHORPE,  JVoV.  27,   1889. 

"  On  Saturday  morning  I  went  to  Brighton,  and  that 
afternoon  we  had  a  meeting  for  East  London  in  the  Hove 
Town  Hall,  Bishop  Billing  and  the  eloquent  Mr.  Hilliard 
and  myself  being  chief  speakers.  On  Sunday  I  cele- 
brated at  an  early  Communion,  and  preached  three  times 
for  East  London. 

"  On  Monday  we  had  a  splendidly  crowded  meeting  in 
the  Pavilion  for  East  London,  and  altogether,  with 
sermons  in  eight  churches  and  the  two  meetings,  we 
realised  about  ;^35o." 

Again  he  built  yet  another  bridge,  this  time  between 
the  Universities  and  Public  Schools  on  the  one  hand,  and 
his  beloved  East  London  on  the  other.  The  Rev. 
H.  L.  Paget,  Vicar  of  St.  Pancras,  who  was  the  first  "  Christ 
Church  Missioner"  in  Poplar,  has  written  on  this  subject 
as  follows  : 

"  It  was  probably  this  gift  of  vigorous  and  sanguine  cheerfulness 
that  enabled  Bishop  Walsham  How  to  win  for  East  London  the 
support  of  the  Universities  and  Public  Schools.  Even  before  his 
time,  venturous  and  clear-sighted  schoolmasters,  like  Dr.  Thring 
at  Uppingham,  had  seen  the  possibility  and  the  gain  of  associating 
English  public  schoolboys  with  the  work  of  the  Church  in  desolate 
places ;  but  it  is  to  Bishop  How's  episcopate  that  we  owe  the 
vigorous  movement   in   this   direction,  which  is  still   spreading. 


200  Bishop  Walsham  How 

The  Eton  Mission  in  Hackney  Wick,  and  the  Christ  Church 
Mission  in  Poplar,  date  alike  from  the  earlier  years  of  his  work. 
Each  had  the  same  humble  beginning :  Eton  began  in  a  small 
shop,  Christ  Church  in  a  two-roomed  cottage  ;  the  work  of  each 
has  attained  to  splendid  dimensions." 

To  these  early  beginnings  the  Bishop  paid  the  greatest 
attention.  A  good  gardener  himself,  he  knew  how 
tenderly  the  young  plants  must  be  cared  for  and  watered. 
Mr.  Paget  further  says  : 

"  It  goes  without  saying  that  he  worked  extremely  hard.  Yet 
he  never  disappointed  either  clergy  or  people  by  coming  to  them 
obviously  tired  or  bored,  or  disposed  to  clip  arrangements  that  had 
been  made,  or  do  less  than  was  expected  of  him.  The  function 
at  which  he  had  promised  to  be  present  was  very  likely  of  a 
humble  order.  His  clergy  will  probably  recall  the  kind  of  scene  : 
an  iron  mission  church,  a  lean-to  vestry  crammed  with  a  newly- 
formed  choir,  eager  sidesmen  and  churchwardens,  the  whole  affair 
ridiculously  small,  sadly  cheap,  and  yet,  so  far  as  it  went,  the 
crown  of  a  good  deal  of  labour,  the  fruit  of  a  sensible  measure  of 
self-denial  and  prayer.  Then  it  was  that  the  Bishop  never  seemed 
to  fail  or  flag.  He,  as  well  as  they,  might  have  been  looking 
forward  to  that  day  for  months  past ;  he,  too,  might  have  been 
saving  himself  up  for  it  for  weeks  !  No  touch  of  weariness  or 
scorn  ever  made  you  feel  as  though  he  hardly  thought  it  worth 
while  to  have  come  for  so  little.  Yet  here  his  strength  and 
simplicity  gave  true  dignity  to  what  in  some  might  have  seemed  a 
little  trifling.  It  was  the  day  of  small  things  in  many  parts  of  East 
London ;  and  no  doubt  he  was  often  asked  to  bless  comparatively 
small  enterprises,  to  consecrate  very  humble  gifts.  It  was  clearly 
difficult  to  be  at  once  sympathetic  and  dignified ;  neither  to  belittle 
the  gift,  nor  to  belittle  the  Bishop.  He  was  wonderfully  equal  to 
the  occasion,  and  his  clergy  will  gratefully  remember  the  touch  of 
crowning  brightness,  the  touch  of  dignity,  as  well  as  of  gladness, 
that  his  coming  gave  to  their  parish  festivals. 

"People  were  never  disappointed  in  him.  They  knew  him 
quite  well,  they  knew  what  to  expect :  and  yet  he  came  with  a 
freshness,  an  eagerness,  a  readiness  to  be  surprised  and  pleased, 


The  Bishop  a  Bridgemaker  201 

that  were  wonderful  indeed  in  one  who  had  to  be  doing  the  same 
thing  in  the  same  way  almost  every  day  of  the  year." 

And  how  great  has  been  the  result  of  many  of  these 
small  beginnings  thus  fostered  by  him  !  St.  Mary  of 
Eton  is  one  of  the  finest  churches  in  London  ;  the  Christ 
Church  Mission  owns  a  block  of  parochial  buildings  such 
as  few,  even  of  the  wealthy  West-end  parishes,  can  match, 
while  the  Marlborough  Mission  at  Tottenham,  under 
Mr.  Noel  Smith,  and  the  Shropshire  Mission  at  Wood 
Green,  under  the  Bishop's  old  curate,  Mr.  Dowling,  have 
built  fine  churches  and  set  on  foot  a  great  work  in  their 
respective  neighbourhoods.  The  present  Bishop  of 
Stepney  (Dr.  Ingram)  bears  testimony  to  this  branch  of 
Bishop  Walsham  How's  labours.     He  writes  : 

"  I  am  much  struck  by  his  statesmanship  in  dealing  with  the 
increase  of  population  in  the  Enfield  Deanery.  The  Marlborough 
and  the  Shropshire  Missions  are  examples  of  his  skill  in  creating 
new  parishes,  choosing  the  right  men,  encouraging  them  to  build 
gradually  all  needful  buildings,  and  working  in  outside  bodies, 
such  as  Marlborough  College  and  Shropshire,  to  back  them  up." 

A  few  years  later  came  the  movement  which  started  the 
Oxford  House  in  Bethnal  Green. 

A  committee  was  formed  in  Oxford,  and  half  a  dozen 
members  of  it,  with  Sir  William  Anson,  Warden  of  All 
Souls'  College,  went  up  to  town  on  March  22,  1884,  to 
inspect  St.  Andrew's,  Bethnal  Green.  They  were  met  by 
the  Bishop  and  by  the  late  Mr.  Knight  Bruce,  vicar  of  the 
parish  [afterwards  Bishop  of  Bloemfontein].  A  great 
consultation  ensued,  chiefly  on  the  ways  and  means  of 
transforming  the  disused  schools  and  schoolhouse  into  a 
grand  lay  house.  The  result  of  it  all  is  well  known,  as 
also  is  the  grand  work  that  has  been  carried  on  there  ever 
since. 


202  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Again  to  quote  the  Rev.  H.  L.  Paget : 

"  It  was  Bishop  How  who  got  all  this  for  East  London.  With- 
out any  touch  of  sentimental  exaggeration,  without  making  out 
East  London  either  better  or  worse  than  it  really  was,  he  managed 
to  make  men  feel  the  need  of  work,  the  happiness  of  working 
there.  He  never  spoke  of  his  people  otherwise  than  they  would 
have  wished  him  to  speak.  Those  were  days  in  which  East  London 
was  apt  to  be  described  in  melodramatic  language  and  painted  in 
lurid  tints.  The  Bishop  was  too  loyal  to  his  people  and  to  his 
office  to  wish  to  win  men's  ears  by  extravagance  of  that  sort. 
When  he  spoke  he  told,  of  course,  of  the  miserably  inadequate 
spiritual  provision,  the  starved  condition  of  many  of  the  parishes ; 
and  then  you  were  left  to  gather,  chiefly  from  the  Bishop's  tone 
and  manner,  the  happiness  of  going  where  you  might  be  really 
wanted,  of  doing  even  a  little  to  win  souls  to  Christ." 

For  a  description  of  what  Bishop  Walsham  How 
appeared  to  be  to  those  who  worked  with  him  in  those 
days  the  same  correspondent  must  be  quoted  : 

"  A  bishop  who  ran  to  catch  trams  and  omnibuses,  who  would 
fly  from  Tottenham  to  Wapping,  from  Bromley  to  Whitechapel,  to 
preside  at  a  very  humble  parish  festival,  was  a  new  figure  in  the 
EngUsh  hierarchy.  People  liked  him  for  the  same  reason  that 
Israel  and  Judah  loved  David — because  he  went  out  and  came  in 
before  them.  Such  activity,  such  movement,  may  easily  become 
comic.  It  slips  quickly  from  the  winning  to  the  ridiculous.  A 
touch  of  affectation,  a  hint  of  self-consciousness,  and  its  charm  is 
gone.  But  with  Bishop  How  its  attraction  was  irresistible.  The 
neat  well-knit  figure,  the  crisp  grey  hair,  the  bright  brown  eye,  and 
the  mouth,  so  whimsical  and  sympathetic,  with  its  trick  of  becoming 
suddenly  very  firm  and  set  if  he  heard  or  saw  what  he  did  not 
like,  this  was  not  the  sort  of  thing  to  pass  unnoticed  in  the  life  of 
the  East  End.  It  was  the  kind  of  thing  that  might  have  been 
created  for  the  express  purpose  of  brightening  the  dulness  epidemic 
in  those  parts.  It  was  a  cheering  vision  when  people  were  worn, 
or  weary,  or  out  of  heart.  Its  instinctive  protest  did  a  good  deal 
to  mend  matters,  if  any  one  were  thoughtless  or  wicked." 


The  Bishop  a  Bridgemaker  203 

It  would  have  been  impossible  for  the  Bishop  to  have 
maintained  this  brightness  and  activity  had  it  not  been  for 
the  help  he  found  in  his  home  life.  The  work  of  Mrs. 
Walsham  How  is  mentioned  elsewhere,  but  that  of 
his  daughter  was  of  no  less  importance,  and  of  perhaps 
even  greater  personal  assistance  to  him.  Miss  How  for 
several  years  acted  as  his  private  secretary,  and  was  com« 
pletely  in  his  confidence,  and  all  those  who  have  described 
the  Bishop's  East  London  work  mention  how  greatly  her 
unflagging  zeal  and  friendly  helpfulness  to  all  aided  in 
promoting  that  work's  success.  No  doubt  the  Bishop 
would  have  faced  the  new  work  in  Yorkshire,  to  which  he 
was  afterwards  called,  with  an  even  greater  courage,  had 
he  been  allowed  to  have  these  two  dear  fellow-workers 
still  by  his  side. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

LAST  YEARS  IN  EAST  LONDON 

On  the  Feast  of  the  Epiphany,  January  6,  1885,  Dr. 
Jackson,  Bishop  of  London,  died,  and  Bishop  Walsham 
How's  anxiety  as  to  who  would  be  his  new  chief  was 
naturally  great.  It  did  not  necessarily  follow  that  the 
next  bishop  would  be  willing  to  continue  him  in  his 
office  of  suffragan,  but  on  Bishop  Temple's  appointment 
this  doubt  was  set  at  rest,  and  the  Bishop  of  Bedford 
settled  down  once  more  to  the  work  he  loved  so  well. 
His  devotion  to  East  London  was  put  to  the  test  in  the 
following  autumn  when  Lord  Salisbury  offered  him  the 
See  of  Manchester  on  the  death  of  Bishop  Eraser.  At 
this  time  there  was  no  idea  that  the  nature  of  his  work  in 
London  was  likely  to  be  changed,  and  he  sent  the  follow- 
ing reply  to  the  Prime  Minister  : 

"  Stainforth  House,  Upper  Clapton, 

"Bee.  8,  1885. 
"My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  feel  very  deeply  the  confidence  reposed  in  me 
by  her  Majesty  and  by  your  lordship,  and  am  very 
grateful  for  the  offer  of  so  honourable  a  position  as  that 
of  the  Bishopric  of  Manchester,  but  it  is  quite  clear  to  me 
that  my  duty  is  to  stay  where   I  am.     I  have  given  my 


Last  Years  in  East  London  205 

life  and  my  heart  to  East  London,  and  I  could  not  now 
leave  it.  I  therefore  beg  to  be  permitted  to  decline  the 
kind  offer  made  to  me. 

"  Believe  me,  my  dear  lord, 
"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  Wm.  WALSHAM  BEDFORD. 

"To  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury." 

So  strong  was  his  attachment  to  his  sphere  of  work, 
and  so  decided  his  opinion  of  his  duty,  that  he  seems  to 
have  consulted  no  one  on  the  subject,  and  indeed  not 
even  to  have  mentioned  it  to  Mrs.  How  until  after  his 
refusal  had  gone  to  Lord  Salisbury. 

Writing  to  his  brother  a  week  afterwards  he  said  : 

"  It  will  interest  you  to  know  that  I  refused  Manchester 
some  little  time  ago,  I  have  given  my  life  and  my  heart 
to  East  London,  and  I  could  not  go.  I  told  no  one — not 
even  F.  [Mrs.  How] — till  to-day,  but  it  has  leaked  out 
somehow.     I  don't  want  it  put  in  the  papers." 

The  following  day  he  wrote  to  one  of  his  sons : 

"FuLHAM  Palace,  S.W.,  Dec.  17,  1885. 

"Dearest  Harry, 

"  Before  I  go  to  bed  I  will  just  write  you  one  line 
to  tell  you  that  I  refused  Manchester  last  Tuesday  week. 
I  have  kept  it  secret  till  yesterday,  not  wishing  it  to  get 
into  the  papers,  but  a  letter  from  your  dean  [Manchester] 
tells  me  it  has  got  known,  so  there  is  no  longer  any  need 
of  secrecy.  The  one  thing  I  should  have  liked  in  it 
would  have  been  to  have  you  among  my  clergy  [the 
Rev.  H.  W.  How  was  then  Vicar  of  St.  Anne's,  Haughton, 


2o6  Bishop  Walsham  How 

near  Manchester].  But  I  felt  I  could  not  give  up  East 
London  just  when  I  am  getting  a  grasp  upon  the  work, 
and  I  also  felt  much  more  fit  for  the  subordinate  post 
I  now  hold  than  for  the  more  difficult  and  responsible 
one  I  was  asked  to  accept.  I  do  not  think  I  have  the 
gift  of  government. 

"  God  bless  you,  dear  boy, 

"  Your  loving  father, 
"W.  w.  B," 

When  it  became  known  to  the  clergy  of  East  London 
that  he  had  refused  the  offer  of  a  See,  in  order  to  stay  and 
work  among  them,  the  utmost  enthusiam  was  aroused. 
Numberless  letters  poured  in  upon  him,  all  expressing 
deep  thankfulness  for  his  decision.  Of  these  it  may 
suffice  to  give  that  received  from  the  late  Bishop  Billing, 
his  successor,  at  that  time  Rector  of  Spitalfields. 

"The  Rectory,  Spitalfields,  E., 
"Christmas  Day,  1885. 

"My  dear  Bishop, 

"  If  I  could  tell  you  all  that  has  been  felt  and  said,  and  by 
whom,  on  hearing  of  your  noble  resolve  to  remain  with  us,  it 
would  do  your  heart  good. 

*'  Independent  of  the  good  your  abiding  with  us  must,  in  the 
future,  as  in  the  past,  be  to  the  Church  in  East  London,  the  fact 
that  you  have  refused  such  an  offer,  and  declined  to  leave  the 
work  in  East  London,  will  have  an  immense  influence  for  good. 
I  for  one  feel  greatly  confirmed  in  my  resolution  to  remain  where 
I  am,  in  spite  of  all  that  is  still  urged  upon  me  as  reasons  for 
retirement ;  retirement  would  be  desertion,  and  base  desertion 
now.  Your  position  is  greatly  strengthened  in  other  quarters  than 
in  the  East  End.  I  am  sure  of  this,  and  I  rejoice  because  of  it. 
I  confess  I  trembled  when  I  knew  I  might  any  hour  hear  you  were 
to  be  taken  from  us,  though  I  felt  that  the  spiritual  power  God 
has  given  you  is  greatly  needed  in  Manchester,  and  to  no  other 
sphere  could  I  have  more  willingly  seen  you  called. 


Last  Years  in  East  London  207 

"If  I  may  presume  a  little  more  on  your  kindness  in  allowing 
me  always  to  say  what  I  think  and  feel,  I  must  add  that  I  include 
the  fact  that  your  remaining  involves  the  continuance  of  Mrs. 
How's  presence  and  really  invaluable  services  as  not  the  least 
cause  for  thankfulness  and  congratulation.  And  I  am  recording 
not  my  own  sentiments  alone.  The  clergy  of  the  East  End,  and 
the  laity  too,  must  feel  more  than  ever  bound  to  do  all  in  their 
power  to  assist  your  efforts  and  to  ease  your  labours,  and  to  show 
themselves  somewhat  worthy  of  such  a  bishop  as  the  Great  Head 
of  the  Church  has  given  them.  We  at  this  rectory  have  had  a 
happy  Christmas  Day,  and  have  felt  how  different  would  have 
been  our  feelings  had  we  been  under  the  shadow  of  a  terrible 
bereavement ;  it  would  have  been  a  dark  shadow  indeed.  Thank 
God  it  was  not  so  to  be. 

"  I  am  respectfully  and  most  affectionately  yours, 

"R.  C.  BILLING." 

Surely  a  more  charming  and  cheering  letter  could  not 
have  been  penned,  and  the  Bishop  was  much  moved  by  it 
and  others  of  a  like  nature.  All  the  same  his  modesty 
would  not  allow  his  decision  to  be  called  "a  noble 
resolve." 

Writing  to  the  Rev.  H.  W.  How,  he  says  : 

"/  don't  think  it  at  all  a  'noble'  resolve,  for  it  would 
have  been  a  great  act  of  self-denial  to  me  to  go  to  Man- 
chester. I  should  like  to  have  you  among  my  clergy, 
but  perhaps  that  may  be  effected  in  another  way  some 
day."  [This  wish  was  fulfilled  three  years  afterwards  by 
his  son's  appointment  to  the  Vicarage  of  Mirfield  in  the 
diocese  of  Wakefield.] 

But  the  East  London  clergy  were  not  content  with 
letters.  They  presented  their  Bishop  with  an  illuminated 
address  framed  in  massive  oak,  round  which  ivy  leaves 
were  carved,  emblematic  of  the  affection  with  which  they 
clung  to  him.    The  address  read  as  follows  : 


2o8  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  To  the  Right  Reverend  Father  in  God,  ]ViUiavi  Walsham, 

Bishop  of  Bedford,  Bishop  Suffragan  for  the 

Diocese  of  London. 

"We,  the  undersigned  clergy  of  the  rural  deaneries  of  Hackney, 
Spitalfields,  and  Stepney,  having  learnt  that  you  have  declined  the 
Bishopric  of  Manchester,  from  a  desire  to  carry  on  your  work  in 
the  East  of  London,  wish  to  express  our  deep  thankfulness  to  God 
for  the  manifest  blessing  which  has  rested  on  your  labours  during 
the  past  seven  years  under  the  late  Bishop  of  London  and  his  present 
successor  in  the  See.  We  are  anxious  to  assure  you  of  our  warm 
affection  and  of  our  hearty  gratitude  for  the  spiritual  strength  and 
comfort  which  God  has  bestowed  on  ourselves  and  on  our  parishes 
through  your  sympathy,  teaching  and  example.  We  are  convinced 
that  if  at  any  time  you  should  feel  bound  to  obey  a  call  to  leave 
this  diocese  and  labour  for  Christ  and  His  Church  elsewhere,  we 
shall  not  lose  your  loving  interest  in  our  welfare,  and  shall  ever  be 
remembered  by  you  in  your  prayers. 

"Easier  1886." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Bishop  Walsham  How's  fixed 
intention  was  to  end  his  days  as  bishop  suffragan  for 
East  London.     But  this  was  not  to  be. 

A  most  unfortunate  crisis  arose  in  February  1886, 
owing  to  the  circumstance  that  the  new  Bishop  of  London 
never  understood  the  position  held  by  the  Bishop  of 
Bedford,  while  the  latter  had  taken  it  too  much  for 
granted  that,  as  no  change  had  been  proposed,  that 
position  was  to  remain  unaltered. 

As  has  been  already  explained,  his  work,  under  Bishop 
Jackson,  had  been  limited  to  the  East  End,  so  that  he 
had  been  able  to  arrange  and  organise  schemes  for  carry- 
ing on  his  "  Crusade  "  with  reference  solely  to  his  own 
district.  Doubtless  it  would  have  been  wiser  to  have 
fully  explained  this  to  Bishop  Temple  at  an  earlier  date, 
but  he  probably  thought  that  it  was  well-known,  and  left 


Last  Years  in  East  London  209 

it  to  his  chief  to  propose  any  change.  Had  the  explana- 
tion been  made  six  months  earHer,  there  is  Httle  doubt 
that  it  would  so  far  have  altered  the  course  of  Bishop 
Walsham  How's  subsequent  life  that  he  would  have  died 
Bishop  of  Manchester,  and  not  of  Wakefield. 

The  blow  fell  in  the  latter  part  of  February.  The 
Bishop  of  London  wrote 'desiring  him  to  take  confirma- 
tions, &c.,  in  various  parts  of  the  diocese  during  the  year. 
By  this  time  all  the  East  London  confirmations  and  other 
engagements  had  been  arranged,  and  the  Bishop  of 
Bedford's  time  was  fully  pledged.  He  wrote  to  Dr. 
Temple  as  follows  : 

"  Stainforth  House,  Upper  Clapton,  E., 

''March  i,  1886. 

"My  dear  Bishop  of  London, 

"  I  have  done  my  best  as  to  the  confirmations  for 
this  season,  but  I  cannot  quite  manage  all.  I  enclose  a 
list  of  those  I  cannot  take. 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  do  all  I  can  to  help  this  year,  as 
you  have  not  yet  made  any  arrangement  for  further  epis- 
copal help,  but  it  is  best  to  say  plainly  that  I  cannot  do  so 
again.  The  strength  and  happiness  of  my  position  has 
been  its  concentration  upon  a  manageable  area,  in  which 
I  could  know  thoroughly  all  the  parishes  and  all  the  men. 
To  do  what  I  am  doing  this  time  involves  giving  up  a 
great  many  things,  and  some  of  the  weeks  are  so  full  of 
engagements  that  my  heart  sinks  at  the  thought  of  the 
impossibility  at  such  times  of  keeping  on  a  level  with  my 
correspondence.  This  is  always  difficult.  Moreover  I 
have  a  parish,  and  I  cannot  quite  neglect  the  poor  souls 
in  it,  especially  when  my  good  fellow  workman  [Rev.  W. 
Frazer  Nash,  curate  of  St.  Andrew's  Undershaft]  is  away 
for  his  holiday. 


2IO  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  The  late  bishop  never  asked  me  to  take  a  confirmation 
out  of  my  own  district,  and  indeed  did  not  allow  any  of 
the  clergy  in  other  parts  of  the  diocese  to  ask  me,  which 
I  thought  unnecessarily  considerate.  He  always  had  the 
help  of  a  third  bishop,  generally  Bishop  Tozer  after 
Bishop  Piers  Claughton's  illness  and  death.  Bishop 
Bromby  is  now  available,  and  is  generally  to  be  found  at 
his  son's,  St.  John's  Vicarage,  Bethnal  Green.  I  do  not 
know  what  pecuniary  arrangements  were  made,  but  such 
an  arrangement  was  being  made  with  Bishop  Bromby  at 
the  time  of  the  late  bishop's  death.  You  are  able  to  do 
far  more  than  he  could,  and  all  the  clergy  welcome  you 
most  heartily,  and  there  is  no  idea  of  any  separation  of 
East  London,  nor  would  we  ignore  the  unity  of  the 
diocese.  And  more  than  thankfully  will  I  take  as  many 
confirmations  in  other  parts  as  you  are  kindly  willing  to 
take  in  East  London.  But  beyond  this  I  really  cannot 
go.  Do  forgive  me  for  saying  this.  You  see  I  am 
inclined  to  be  a  little  rebellious. 

"  And  now  I  have  said  what  I  wanted  to  say,  and  can 
only  throw  myself  on  your  forgiveness  and  generosity, 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"Wm.  walsham  BEDFORD." 

He  had  not  long  to  wait  for  a  reply.     The  Bishop  of 
London  wrote  : 

"  FuLHAM  Palace,  S.W,,  March  2,  1886. 

"My  dear  Bishop  of  Bedford, 

"  I  am  exceedingly  sorry ;  but  I  cannot  work  on  the  lines 
that  you  lay  down.  Nor,  if  you  had  told  me  that  these  were  the 
conditions  on  which  you  proposed  to  hold  the  office  of  suffragan 
bishop,  would  I  have  consented  last  year  to  continue  relations 
with  you  on  that  footing. 

"  I  do  not  think  it  right  that  I  should  hand  over  any  part  of  the 


Last  Years  in  East  London  211 

diocese  absolutely  to  another.  I  may  delegate  work,  but  responsi- 
bility I  cannot  delegate.  Nor,  again,  is  it  right  that  one  part  of 
the  diocese,  very  much  less  than  half,  should  have  the  whole  of 
one  bishop  and  part  of  another,  and  all  the  rest  (three  times  if  not 
four  times  as  much)  should  be  left  entirely  to  the  latter. 

"  The  main  business  of  a  suffragan  is,  and  must  be,  to  aid  the 
principal  bishop.  It  is  no  doubt  far  pleasanter  to  have  a  work  all 
to  oneself ;  but  it  is  not  consistent  with  the  due  working  of  the 
whole. 

"  The  position  you  wish  to  assume  is  not  tenable.  A  man  must 
either  be  responsible  and  rule,  or  be  irresponsible  and  obey.  He 
must  either  take  the  lead  or  follow.  You  wish  to  be  free  from 
the  responsibility  of  being  chief,  and  yet  to  be  as  independent  as 
if  you  were  chief.  That  cannot  be.  I  am  of  course  meeting 
plainness  with  plainness :  this  I  am  sure  you  will  not  resent,  for 
indeed  you  have  left  me  no  choice. 

"  God  knows  I  value  your  work,  and  I  reverence  your  character. 
But  I  am  bishop  of  the  diocese,  and  cannot  divest  myself  of  what 
belongs  to  my  office. 

"Yours  very  truly, 

"F.  LONDIN." 

The  crisis  that  called  for  the  above  letter  must  have 
been  severe,  but  it  was  short-lived,  and  it  is  a  matter  of 
thankfulness  and  congratulation  that  the  friendly  relations 
between  the  two  bishops  were  not  permanently  disturbed. 
Bishop  Walsham  How's  anxiety  was  for  East  London — 
his  beloved  East  London — not  for  himself,  and,  although 
some  things  in  Bishop  Temple's  letter  pained  him,  he  saw 
that  the  bishop  might  very  probably  be  right,  and  he  had 
then,  as  always,  an  unbounded  admiration  for  Dr.  Temple's 
single-heartedness  and  judgment.  It  was  to  Dr.  Temple 
that  he  referred  the  subsequent  offers  he  received  of  the 
bishoprics  of  Wakefield  and  Durham,  and  on  each  occa- 
sion was  governed  by  his  advice. 

But  to  return  to  the  story.  It  is  usually  better  to  talk 
ithan  to  write  when  disagreements  arise,  and  in  pursuance 


212  Bishop  Walsham  How 

of  this  maxim,  Bishop  Walsham  How  went,  on  March  6,  to 
discuss  the  matter  personally  with  the  Bishop  of  London. 
Of  this  interview  he  has  left  a  written  account,  foreseeing^ 
perhaps,  the  interest  that  would  be  felt  in  the  future  in  a 
circumstantial  record  of  what  passed  between  them.  It  is 
headed : 

^'^  Notes  of  Interview  ivith  the  Bishop  of  LondoJi,  March  6,  i886c 

"  I  began  by  saying  his  letter  (that  of  March  2)  was  very 

plain,  and  I  could  only  read  it  in  one  sense,  which  was 

that  he  wished  to  withdraw  from   me,  or  withdraw   me 

from,  the  position  I  had  held  as  exercising  a  delegated 

episcopal  superintendence  over  a  definite  limited  portion 

of  the  diocese.     He  said,  '  I  did  not  mean  quite  that,'  and 

then  went  on  to  state  the  impossibility  of  his  doing  the 

confirmation  and  other  work  in  the  rest  of  the  diocese, 

while  I  confined  myself  to  so  small  a  part.     He  asserted 

again  and  again  that  he  had  never  known  or  thought  that 

I  limited  myself  as  regards  work  to  East    London,  and 

said,  had  he  known  of  this,  he  would  never  have  consented 

to  my  remaining  suffragan  on  such  terms.     I  said,  '  Then 

you  do  wish  to  withdraw  me  from  the  position   I    have 

held?'     To   this   he  again  rephed,  'No,  not  altogether,' 

explaining  that  a  suffragan  was  to  help  the  bishop  in  any 

way  required,  and  that  my  position  in  East  London  was 

in  its  nature  temporary,  East  London  having  no  doubt 

required  at  the  time  I  came  the  concentrated  efforts  of 

one  bishop,  but  that  need  not  be  always  so.     I    argued 

that  it  was  surely  a  great  boon  to  relieve  the  bishop  of 

such  a  district  as  East  London,  and  that  other  bishops  were 

available  for  part  of  the   confirmations.      He   expressed 

great  dislike  to  employing  chance  bishops   in   this  way, 

and  then  said  he  thought  the  diocese  ought  to  have  three 


Last  Years  in  East  London  213 

suffragans,  and,  if  he  could  succeed  in  making  this 
arrangement,  he  should  assign  a  district  to  each,  and 
would  like  to  meet  all  three  monthly,  or  at  stated  times,  to 
talk  over  the  districts  and  take  common  counsel,  he  him- 
self giving  an  equal  amount  of  supervision  to  each.  He 
assured  me  he  should  work  for  this,  and  was  anxious  to 
procure  another  suffragan  as  soon  as  possible,  but  ex- 
plained the  various  difficulties.  I  asked  him  then  if  I 
might  look  upon  his  request  for  so  many  confirmations 
all  over  the  diocese  as  a  temporary  matter,  which  would 
be  remedied  when  he  could  carry  out  his  plans,  and  he 
said,  *  Yes.'  He  also  said  the  work  he  asked  from  me  was 
almost  solely  confirming,  and  would  affect  only  that  part 
of  the  year  in  which  confirmations  were  regularly  held, 
namely  February  to  July.  For  the  other  half-year  I  might 
consider  myself  wholly  at  the  disposal  of  East  London. 
He  said  he  did  not  wish  me  to  alter  my  description  of 
myself  as  '  suffragan  for  East  London.'  He  was  also 
quite  willing  to  leave  in  my  hands  the  patronage  as 
before,  not  feeling  the  exercise  of  patronage  to  be  so 
essentially  an  episcopal  responsibility  as  many  other 
things.  I  then  said  that  after  his  explanation  I  would 
withdraw  what  I  had  said  in  my  letter  as  to  not  again 
taking  the  confirmations  throughout  the  diocese.     I  said, 

*  Supposing  you  send  me  a  list  of  what  you  want,  and  I 
find,  as  I  have  found  in  some  cases  this  time,  that  I 
cannot  manage  all,  what  must  be  done  then  ?'     He  said, 

*  When  the  Queen  commands  me  to  preach  at  Windsor,  I 
am  obliged  to  say  to  any  one  to  whom  I  may  be  engaged 
that  I  have  the  Queen's  commands  to  go  to  Windsor,  and 
so  cannot  fulfil  my  engagement.'  He  wished  me  not  to 
multiply  confirmations  in  East  London,  thinking  the 
clergy  inconsiderate  in  wanting  so  many.     I  told  him  one 


214  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

thing  in  his  letter  had  hit  me  hardest,  and  that  was  his 
speaking  of  the  position  I  '  wished  to  assume/  as  though  I 
had  not  held  it  all  along.  This  he  explained  away,  saying 
he  only  meant  the  position  I  wished  theoretically  to 
assume  as  the  one  to  be  maintained,  not  at  all  as  denying 
that  I  had  practically  held  it. 

"As  I  left  he  said,  'Well,  are  you  happier  ?'  and  I  said 
*  Yes.' " 

"W.  W.  B." 

This  account  is  a  valuable  comment  on  the  desirability 
of  a  talk,  man  to  man,  where  any  difficulty  has  arisen. 
Many  letters  might  have  passed  without  nearly  so  good 
an  understanding  being  arrived  at,  and  much  time  might 
have  elapsed  before  the  Bishop  of  Bedford  could  have 
returned  to  his  work  with  the  clear  comprehension  of  his 
chief's  intentions  which  he  took  away  with  him  from 
Fulham.  He  was  happier,  but  it  had  been  a  shock  to  him. 
He  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  any  kind  of  separation 
from  East  London.  Writing  to  a  niece  on  March  8,  1886, 
he  says  : 

"  I  have  had  rather  a  hard  trial  this  last  week.  The 
Bishop  of  London,  to  my  dismay,  has  told  me  that  he 
cannot  retain  me  as  suffragan  if  I  limit  myself  to  East 
London,  and  that  he  expects  me  to  work  all  over  the 
diocese.  He  has  cut  out  a  great  deal  of  work  for  me  in  a 
vast  number  of  confirmations  all  over  the  diocese.  .  .  , 
It  is  very  hard  to  bear  patiently,  but  I  must  try  to  do  so. 
It  is  especially  hard  just  after  telling  Lord  Salisbury  that 
I  had  given  my  heart  and  life  to  East  London,  and  could 
not  now  leave  it." 

No  one  who  knew  Bishop  Walsham  How  could  fail  to 
understand   that   a   misunderstanding   of  this   kind   was 


Last  Years  in  East  London  215 

intensely  painful  to  him,  but  those  who  knew  his  gentle 
unassuming  spirit,  and  his  simple  desire  to  do  God's  will 
in  everything,  would  be  sure  that  his  work  would  lose 
nothing  of  its  earnestness,  nothing  of  its  persistence,  in 
consequence.  He  seems  to  have  quickly  reconciled 
himself  to  his  new  circumstances,  and  when  in  the 
following  year  he  was  offered  the  Bishopric  of  Wake- 
field, he  spoke  of  his  London  work  as  one  in  which 
he  was  "  so  happy."  It  is  just  possible  that  he  would, 
after  all,  have  lived  out  his  life  in  East  London  but 
for  two  other  circumstances,  — viz.,  the  death  of  Mrs. 
How  in  August  1887,  and  the  strong  opinion  of  the 
Bishop  of  London  that  he  ought  to  accept  the  See  of 
Wakefield. 

Before  alluding  to  the  circumstances  that  attended  the 
death  of  the  Bishop's  wife  and  fellow  labourer  (for  such 
she  had  ever  been),  it  will  be  well  to  notice  how  large  a 
share  Mrs.  How  had  in  promoting  the  work  of  the  Church 
in  East  London,  and  in  furthering  to  the  best  of  her 
ability  all  that  seemed  to  her  to  tend  towards  the  uplifting 
and  regenerating  of  the  most  helpless  and  hopeless  in 
that  crowded  area. 

For  some  years  before  leaving  Whittington,  Mrs.  How's 
health  had  been  very  bad.  Bronchitis  and  asthma  had 
greatly  reduced  her  strength,  and  she  had  dreaded  the 
move  to  East  London.  The  result,  however,  was  far 
better  than  could  have  been  expected.  The  climate  of 
London  appeared  to  suit  her  better  than  that  of  Shrop- 
shire. She  left  behind  her  a  great  many  friends  and 
interests,  which  had  brightened  her  days  of  illness,  but  it 
was  not  long  before  new  friends  gathered  round  her  in 
East  London,  and  the  fresh  sphere  of  work  enabled  her 
to  exercise  in  an  extended  degree  the  thoughtfulness  for 


2i6  Bishop  Walsham  How 

others   and  devotion  to  good  works  which  had  already 
marked  her  earher  hfe. 

Although  never  strong  in  health,  she  was  able  to  show 
a  cheerful  and  encouraging  mien  to  the  over-worked  and 
often  desponding  East  London  clergy  and  their  wives. 
Her  influence  with  them  was  that  of  sympathy  and  strong 
common  sense,  rather  than  of  any  special  intellectual 
power.  She  shared  in  the  Bishop's  desire  to  know 
personally  the  special  circumstances  of  all  her  fellow 
labourers  in  the  district,  and  the  Thursday  luncheon 
parties  and  "At  Homes"  at  Stainforth  House  helped  her 
greatly  to  this  end,  besides  being  the  means  of  drawing 
all  churchworkers  more  closely  together.  She  also 
attended,  as  far  as  possible,  all  parochial  gatherings  where 
an  opportunity  might  be  afforded  her  of  making  the 
acquaintance  of  some  of  the  women  of  East  London.  She 
addressed  mothers'  meetings  and  drawing-room  meetings, 
and  advocated  the  claims  of  many  good  works,  the  Girls' 
Friendly  Society  being  especially  dear  to  her  heart,  as  a 
sort  of  Church  "purity"  society.  In  the  years  when  the 
distress  in  East  London  was  greatest,  Mrs.  How  worked 
hard  at  collecting  clothes,  which  she  sent  out  to  the 
different  parishes  to  be  sold  at  a  cheap  rate  to  the  res- 
pectable poor.  This  was  usually  done  by  ticket,  the 
money  thus  obtained  forming  in  each  parish  a  fund  from 
which  assistance  could  be  given  in  time  of  sickness. 
Writing  to  her  daughter,  Mrs.  R.  LI.  Kenyon,  who  had 
been  married  in  the  previous  summer,  Mrs.  How  says  : 

'•Dec.  23,  1886. 

"  I  do  so  miss  you ;  I  cannot  help  crying  sometimes,  when  the 
work  is  more  really  than  I  can  do.  .  .  . 

***** 

All  the  clothes  that  have  come  in  have  taken  up  such  a  great 


Last  Years  in  East  London  217 

deal  of  time.  I  have  had  a  ton,  I  should  think,  mostly  in  small 
packages,  all  of  which  have  had  to  be  thanked  for.  Morgan  [her 
maid]  has  worked  like  a  brick  every  morning  for  ten  days,  and  we 
have  sent  out  fifty  great  bales.  I  have  also  had  over  ;z^8o  in 
money.  People  write  so  gratefully,  and  it  is  nice  to  know  that  the 
poor  have  been  able  to  buy  clothes  at  a  very  low  price. 
***** 

"We  have  the  first  children's  party  on  the  29th,  and  the  choir- 
men  [St.  Andrew's  Undershaft]  on  the  4th.  I  a  little  wish  it  was 
all  over." 

The  letter  from  which  these  extracts  are  taken  was 
written  only  six  months  before  Mrs.  How's  death,  and 
there  is  evidence  of  a  feeling  of  weariness,  a  readiness 
for  that  rest  which  was  so  soon  to  come. 

But  the  chief  work  undertaken  by  Mrs.  How  was  the 
rescue  of  fallen  girls.  In  the  London  Mission  of  1884 
she  left  her  home  and  lived  in  a  house,  obtained  for  the 
purpose,  in  a  populous  part  of  East  London,  and  there, 
with  the  help  of  other  ladies,  got  hold  of  a  number  of 
these  poor  girls,  who  were  by  this  means  induced  to  enter 
Homes. 

The  "  Walsham  How  Memorial  Home "  at  Waltham- 
stow  was  practically  founded  by  Mrs.  How  for  the  rescue, 
protection  and  tuition  of  young  London  girls  of  thirteen 
to  twenty  years  of  age,  who  have  fallen.  To  the  welfare 
of  this  Home  she  gave  endless  time,  and  much  devoted 
personal  work.  Few  days  passed  without  either  a  visit 
to  or  some  communication  with  the  Home.  And  not 
only  did  Mrs.  How  busy  herself  thus  deeply  in  the 
work,  but  she  was  most  successful  in  interesting 
many  influential  persons,  who  helped  her  in  the  under- 
taking. Chief  amongst  these  was  H.R.H.  Princess 
Christian,  who  had  for  some  years  given  much  attention, 
and  much  support,  to  East  London  work,  and  who  was 


2i8  Bishop  Walsham  How- 

ever a  most  kind  friend  both  to  the  Bishop  and  to  Mrs. 
How.  The  last  meeting  at  which  Mrs.  How  advocated 
the  claims  of  the  Home  was  held  at  Stainforth  House  in 
the  presence  of  Princess  Christian.  This  was  a  month 
before  Mrs.  How's  death.  After  this  sad  event  her 
Royal  Highness,  in  conjunction  with  Mrs.  Benson,  Mrs. 
Temple,  Mrs.  Church,  Mrs.  Benyon,  Lady  Helen  Stewart, 
and  the  Hon.  Mrs.  James  Stuart-Wortley,  with  other  well 
known  ladies,  raised  a  fund  in  memory  of  Mrs.  How,  and 
presented  to  the  Bishop  a  sum  of  p^yoo,  "  which  they  had 
collected  as  a  mark  of  respect  and  affection  for  her,  to  be 
used  for  whatever  portion  of  his  wife's  work  he  might 
think  most  useful."  It  was  added  by  him  to  the  trust 
fund  of  the  Walthamstow  Home. 

The  Bishop  used  to  tell  how  on  one  occasion  he  had 
the  honour  of  taking  Princess  Christian  over  the  Home, 
and,  at  her  desire,  had  not  divulged  to  the  inmates  who 
their  visitor  was.  However,  the  temptation  was  too 
great,  and  the  Princess  yielded  to  his  desire  to  be  allowed 
to  give  the  girls  the  great  pleasure  of  realising  the  honour 
done  to  them.  So  great  was  their  astonishment  and 
delight  when  they  grasped  the  fact  that  it  was  really  one 
of  their  Queen's  daughters  who  had  been  to  see  them, 
that  it  well  repaid  the  Bishop  for  his  temerity  in  making 
the  request. 

During  all  the  spring  of  1887  Mrs.  How's  health  was 
so  bad  as  to  prevent  her  taking  her  usual  share  in  all  the 
work  going  on.  On  Easter  Eve  the  Bishop  wrote  to 
Mrs.  Douglas  (his  sister) : 

"Dearest  Minny, 

"This  carries  with  it  our  truest  wishes  for  a  very, 
very  happy  Easter  for  you  all.     You  will  be  a  large  and 


Last  Years  in  East  London  219 

happy  family  party,  while  we  have  only  A.  [his  third  son], 
He  and  I  hope  to  go  together  to  the  early  Communion  at 
St.  Thomas's  ;  Fanny  wants  much  to  go  with  us,  but, 
though  her  bronchitis  is  much  better,  I  fear  it  would  be 
very  rash  in  this  very  cold  wind,  as  she  has  been  keeping 
to  her  little  sitting-room  and  bedroom  these  last  ten 
days.  She  is  going  to  ask  the  doctor,  but  I  fear  he  will 
say  *  No.'  We  have  just  been  rather  amused  to  hear  that 
a  large  guild  of  very  rough  girls  at  St.  John's,  Stamford 
Hill,  where  I  preach  to-morrow  evening,  are  in  the  habit 
of  hiring  large  ostrich-feathers  for  their  hats  for  each 
Sunday,  and  generally  affect  scarlet,  blue,  or  mauve. 
However,  they  think  the  Bishop  would  probably  prefer 
white  (which  shows  great  insight  into  character),  and  so 
they  are  all  going  to  hire  white  feathers  for  to-morrow, 
and,  as  they  are  to  sit  all  together,  I  am  anticipating  a 
rather  startling  effect. 

"The  Bishop  of  Southwell  was  going  to  some  house 
where  there  was  a  little  girl  of  three  or  four,  who  very 
much  wished  to  see  a  bishop.  So  she  was  sent  for,  and 
came  into  the  room,  but  would  not  go  and  speak  to  him. 
So  the  Bishop  said,  '  I  thought  you  wanted  very  much  to 
see  a  bishop,'  whereupon  she  turned  to  her  mother,  and 
with  the  utmost  scorn  said,  '  Why,  it's  only  a  man.'  " 

In  June,  however,  Mrs.  How  was  stronger  again,  and 
able  to  accompany  the  Bishop  to  the  Jubilee  service  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  of  which  he  gives  some  account  in 
the  following  letter  to  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Kenyon  : 

"Stainforth  Hovs'E.,  Jime  28,  1887. 

« *  *  *  * 

"  The  Standard  had  capital  accounts  of  the  Jubilee. 
We  were  in  the  lower  sacrarium  gallery,  but  at  the  very 


220  Bishop  Walsham  How 

back,  so,  though  our  view  was  a  very  good  one,  facing  the 
Queen,  it  was  rather  a  distant  one.  We  started  at  7.30  and 
got  all  right  to  about  the  middle  of  Regent  Street,  when 
the  block  began,  and  we  did  not  reach  the  Abbey  till  10.5 

"  The  streets  were  a  grand  sight,  especially  Piccadilly 
seen  from  the  Circus,  the  lower  part  of  Regent  Street  and 
Waterloo  Place.  It  was  like  fairy-land.  Our  tickets 
being  numbered,  we  thought  it  would  not  matter  so  long 
as  we  got  to  the  Abbey  at  all,  but  we  found  the  seats  were 
not  numbered,  and  our  gallery  was  quite  full,  so  that  we 
were  rather  in  dismay.  However,  Archdeacon  and  Mrs. 
Norris  caught  sight  of  mother  and  found  a  place  for  her 
by  them  at  the  back,  and  I  sat  on  a  step  in  the  gangway. 
We  were  among  lots  of  friends,  the  Bishops  of  Exeter, 
Salisbury  and  Colchester,  Canon  Paget,  Liddon,  Dr.  Ince, 
Dr.  Gott,  &c.  &c.     It  was  a  superb  spectacle. 

"  I  have  spent  a  good  part  of  the  last  week  at  the  People's 
Palace,  where  the  Drapers'  Co.  entertained  10,000  girls 
on  Thursday,  10,000  boys  on  Friday,  and  3500  workmen 
and  their  wives  on  Saturday  evening.  I  went  each  day. 
All  was  done  with  great  munificence  and  was  admirably 
organised.  Plenty  of  food  and  all  manner  of  amusements 
going  on  both  inside  the  big  hall  and  outside  all  the  time — 
conjurers,  performing  dogs,  vanishing  lady,  sailors  singing 
and  dancing,  performing  goats,  Punch  and  Judy,  Corney 
Grain,  &c.  &c.  I  stood  by  the  side  of  the  vanishing 
lady  and  saw  her  plop  down  through  a  trap  door.  ...  I 
also  went  on  Saturday  morning  to  the  laying  of  the  first 
stone  of  the  Library  at  the  People's  Palace  by  the  King 
of  the  Belgians." 

It  was  arranged  that  the  annual  August  holiday  should 
be  spent  at  Barmouth,  and  for  this  purpose  the  Bishop 


Last  Years  in  East  London  221 

took  a  house  in  Porkington  Terrace  immediately  over- 
looking the  glorious  estuary  of  the  Mawddach.  On 
July  21  Mrs.  How  left  London  on  her  way  to  Barmouth, 
breaking  the  journey  for  a  few  days  in  Shropshire  at  the 
home  of  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Kenyon.  The  Bishop's  diary 
for  this  day  notes  :  "  F.  went  to  Pradoe,  bearing  journey 
fairly  well." 

There  was  no  idea  in  any  one's  mind  that  on  that  day 
she  was  leaving  Stainforth  House,  and  all  her  London 
work  and  London  friends,  for  good. 

On  the  following  Monday  the  Bishop,  travelling  from 
town,  joined  her  at  Gobowen  Station,  and  they  completed 
the  journey  together  ;  the  diary  for  this  day  recording, 
"  F.  very  poorly  with  asthma." 

As  was  usual  in  these  summer  holidays,  they  gathered 
round  them  as  many  of  their  children  as  possible,  and 
during  the  next  few  weeks  all  the  family,  with  one  excep- 
tion, were  with  them,  some  at  one  time  and  some  at 
another. 

Mrs.  How  did  not  get  as  much  benefit  from  the  change 
as  was  hoped,  and  seldom  was  able  to  do  more  than  move 
into  the  room  adjoining  her  bedroom. 

Once  or  twice  there  is  an  entry  in  the  Bishop's  diary  : 
"  F.  rather  better,"  but  each  such  occasion  is  followed  by 
a  worse  account  on  the  following  day. 

At  last,  on  August  24  and  25,  there  seemed  to  be  some 
little  improvement,  and  on  Friday  26th,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Kenyon  left,  and  on  the  following  day  the  Bishop  went 
to  spend  a  Sunday  at  Whittington,  his  old  home. 

It  had  been  arranged  that  Mrs.  How  was  to  accompany 
him,  but  she  had  been  so  poorly  that  the  idea  was  given 
up,  and  a  further  stay  at  Barmouth  was  substituted.  Two 
of  her  sons  (her  eldest  and  youngest)  and  her  eldest  son's 


222  Bishop  Walsham  How- 

wife  remained  with  her,  and  it  was  settled  that  the  whole 
party  should  move  on  the  Monday  into  another  house  in 
a  different  part  of  Barmouth. 

On  the  Saturday  Mrs.  How  was  well  enough  to  sit  at 
the  drawing-room  window  on  the  first  floor,  and  wave  to 
her  husband  as  he  passed  in  the  train  across  the  bridge. 
Towards  evening  the  asthma  became  more  severe,  and 
the  doctor  had  to  be  called  in  again — he  had  been 
frequently  to  see  her  during  the  previous  weeks.  Her 
daughter-in-law  sat  up  with  her  that  night,  and  became 
alarmed  towards  midnight  to  find  it  impossible  to  rouse 
her.  A  messenger  was  sent  for  the  doctor,  who  for  some 
time  tried  many  means  of  restoring  consciousness,  but  in 
vain,  and  at  4.30  a.m.  she  died  in  her  son's  arms.  As 
early  as  possible  on  the  Sunday  morning  a  telegram  was 
sent  to  the  Rev.  Hugh  Holbech,  then  Rector  of  Whitting- 
ton,  with  whom  the  Bishop  was  staying,  asking  him  to 
break  the  news.  The  diary  for  that  day  has  the  simple 
entry  :  "  After  early  Celebration,  at  breakfast  Holbech 
received  telegram  telling  of  my  beloved  wife's  death  at 
4.30  A.M." 

There  was  no  possibility  of  getting  a  train  the  whole 
way  through  to  Barmouth  on  a  Sunday,  so  the  Bishop 
had  to  drive  all  the  way  from  Corwen  to  Dolgelly,  at 
which  place  he  found  a  train  that  took  him  to  Barmouth 
Junction.  There  he  was  met  by  those  from  whom  he 
had  parted  so  cheerily  the  day  before.  They  had 
almost  feared  to  meet  him  ;  they  dreaded  the  effect  of 
the  blow.  But  all  such  fears  were  dissipated  at  once  : 
of  the  little  party  that  walked  back  across  the  bridge 
he  was  by  far  the  most  composed,  by  far  the  most 
cheerful.  Linking  his  arm  into  that  of  his  son,  he  just 
said  :  "  Come  along,  dear  old  fellow,  and  tell  me  every- 


Last  Years  in  East  London  223 

thing."  His  thought  was  for  others  ;  his  effort  was  to 
Hghten  their  sorrow,  not  to  add  to  it. 

Thus  Barmouth  became  consecrated  to  them  all 
once  more.  Two  of  the  Bishop's  family — his  first-born 
who  lay  in  "  the  little  grave  beside  the  sea,"  and 
now  his  wife — had  died  there,  where  Nature  is  so  beau- 
tiful that  it  might  almost  seem  a  little  stage  on  the 
way  from  the  turmoil  of  a  busy  world  to  the  rest  of 
Paradise. 

On  Wednesday  morning,  August  31,  they  took  Mrs. 
How  to  Whittington  and  laid  her  to  rest  among  many 
whose  illnesses  she  had  relieved,  whose  dying  hours  she 
had  cheered. 

The  following  day  Bishop  Walsham  How  spent  quietly 
at  Pradoe,  his  daughter's  home,  but  on  the  Friday  he 
returned  to  Whittington  and  took  the  Confirmation 
there,  which  had  been  necessarily  put  off  from  the 
Monday  before. 

He  felt  that  it  was  best  for  himself  to  take  his  work  up 
again  at  once.  The  sorrow  would  have  broken  him  down 
had  he  not  had  the  powerful  support  of  duty  to  be  ful- 
filled, and  so,  while  yet  the  first  tears  of  his  grief  were 
wet  upon  his  cheeks,  he  was  at  his  post  of  duty  on  Sunday, 
September  4,  four  days  after  the  funeral  at  Whittington, 
preaching  a  memorable  sermon  in  Manchester  Cathedral 
to  the  British  Association. 

As  may  be  supposed,  the  Bishop  received  numbers  of 
letters  of  condolence  on  the  loss  he  had  sustained,  and, 
amongst  others,  came  gracious  and  sympathetic  messages 
from  the  Queen,  who  expressed  her  warm  approval  of 
his  resolve  to  go  straight  on  with  his  work.  Most  wel- 
come too  was  the  following  affectionate  and  sympathetic 
letter  from  the  Bishop  of  London  (Dr.  Temple) : 


224  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"Crosthvvaite  Vicarage,  Keswick, 
"  August  31,  1887. 
"  My  dear  Bishop  of  Bedford, 

"  This  is  indeed  a  terrible  blow,  a  loss  that  nothing  can 
repair,  a  loss  not  only  to  you  but  to  all  of  us.  Few  women  could  do 
more  valuable  work  for  the  diocese  and  for  East  London  than  your 
wife ;  perhaps  not  any.  And  certainly  if  any  could,  none  ever  did. 
"  She  was  one  of  those  who  could  be  entirely  relied  on.  Her 
clear  head,  her  unvarying  kindness,  her  quiet  perseverance,  made 
her  service  to  the  Church  and  to  her  fellow  creatures  such  as 
cannot  be  replaced.  She  was  all  that  to  us.  I  cannot  speak  of 
what  I  know  she  was  to  you.  .  .  .  Our  hearts  are  with  you,  and 
our  warmest,  most  earnest,  most  sympathetic  prayers. 

"Your  most  affectionate  brother, 

"F.  LONDIN." 

But  few  of  the  Bishop's  letters  as  to  his  bereavement  are 

preserved.    On  the  day  of  Mrs.  How's  death  he  sent  a  line 

to  his  brother  : 

"In  the  Train,  Sunday,  Aug.  28,  1887. 

"My  one  dear  Brother, 

"  My  precious  wife  is  at  rest.  A  telegram  came  at 
breakfast,  and  I  have  caught  a  train  to  Corwen,  and  must 
post  on  from  there.  It  was  quite  sudden,  early  this  morning. 
Holbech  was  so  kind.  We  think  it  must  be  at  Whittington  on 
Thursday — you  will  come,  will  you  not  ?    Pray  for  us  all. 

"  Your  loving  brother, 

"W.  w.  B." 

In  reply  to  a  letter  of  sympathy  from  Canon  Burrows 

he  wrote  : 

"Pradoe,  Sepf.  2,  1887. 
"My  dear  old  Friend, 

"  I  cannot  do  much  more  than  say  that  my  heart 

is  very  full  of  gratitude  for  all  the  love  and  sympathy 

shown  me.     Yes,  Barmouth  often  brings  you  all  back  to 

my  thoughts.     It  has   become  a  second  time   a   sacred 


Last  Years  in  East  London  225 

place  to  me,  and  its  wonderful  beauty  will  always  be 
joined  in  my  remembrance  with  thoughts  of  the  fairer 
things  beyond  the  veil.  As  she  and  I  have  gazed  out  of 
our  window  on  the  glorious  lights  and  colours  of  Cader 
Idris  this  last  month,  St.  Augustine's  exquisite  description 
of  himself  and  Monica  at  the  window  at  Ostia  has  often 
been  coming  back  to  me.  God  purge  our  eyes  that  they 
may  be  fit  to  see.  Pray  for  me  that  God  will  give  me 
grace  to  work  better,  and  to  be  more  undividedly  His. 
Much  love  to  dear  Mrs.  Burrows,  and  all  your  dear 
children,  and  a  special  portion  to  M.  and  E.,  whom  she 
knew  so  well  and  loved  so  much. 

"  Affectionately  yours, 

"  Wm.  WALSHAM  BEDFORD." 

The  Bishop  did  not  revisit  Barmouth  for  a  time,  but 
early  in  1889  he  wrote  to  his  daughter  : 

"  I  should  like  to  go  to  Barmouth  again,  though  I 
know  it  will  be  very  hard.  ...  I  think  it  is  good  for  one 
to  let  one's  sorrow  have  its  outflow  now  and  then,  as 
the  rush  and  hurry  of  one's  daily  life  seem  to  choke  up 
the  spring,  and  make  one  sadly  dry  and  hard." 

In  the  following  May  he  went  there  again,  and  thus 
describes  his  feelings  : 

"  Yesterday  I  got,  what  I  had  longed  for,  a  little  quiet 
time  to  myself,  and  went  and  sat  for  an  hour  or  so  where 
I  held  those  children's  services  under  the  old  terrace 
[where  Mrs.  How  died].  I  think  it  is  good  for  one  to 
get  among  the  old  thoughts  and  feelings  and  associations. 
One's  Wakefield  life  is  all  so  new,  and  there  is  nothing 
to  recall  the  past,  but  there,  at  Barmouth,  it  all  comes, 
back  so  vividly,  and  all  is  so  full  of  sweet  sad  memories." 

p 


CHAPTER    XVII 

ACCEPTANCE  OF  WAKEFIELD— FAREWELL  TO 
EAST  LONDON 

After  the  death  of  Mrs.  How  the  Bishop's  eldest  sur- 
viving son  and  his  wife  came  to  Hve  at  Stainforth  House. 
One  morning  early  in  February  1888,  Mrs.  F.  D.  How 
was  sitting  opposite  to  the  Bishop  at  his  writing  table 
answering  some  letters  for  him,  while  he  was  busy 
opening  others.  A  sudden  exclamation  startled  her,  and 
looking  up  she  saw  him  apparently  greatly  troubled, 
so  much  so  indeed  that  she  feared  from  his  white  and 
anxious  face  that  some  great  blow  had  befallen  him. 

And  such  indeed  at  first  sight  he  fancied  the  letter  he 
had  received  from  Lord  Salisbury  to  be.  It  was  the 
offer  of  the  newly  created  See  of  Wakefield,  and  the 
Bishop  knew  that  he  must  go.  The  prospect  was  for  one 
constituted  as  he  was,  and  of  his  age,  appalling.  There 
was  the  thought  of  making  a  home  for  his  declining 
years  in  a  region  of  smoke,  and  coal  pits,  and  mill- 
chimneys.  There  was  the  not  unnatural  shrinking  of  a 
man  of  his  age  and  disposition  from  having  to  grapple 
with  a  population  who  had  the  reputation  of  being 
rough  and  vigorous.  There  was  also  the  knowledge  that 
the  post  offered  was  not  likely  to  be  a  bed  of  roses. 
But  these  things  were  nothing  compared  with  the  know- 


Acceptance  of  Wakefield  227 

ledge  of  the  effort  it  would  be  to  him,  tired  with  nine 
years'  labour  in  East  London,  and  suffering  from  the 
greatest  bereavement  that  could  have  befallen  him,  to 
take  up  at  the  age  of  sixty-four  the  work  of  organising  a 
new  and  difficult  diocese.  They  were  as  nothing,  too, 
compared  with  the  pain  which  it  would  be  to  him  to 
sever  the  many  threads  which  bound  him  to  East 
London. 

Lord  Salisbury  in  his  letter  described  the  position  he 
offered  as  one  of  great  importance  to  the  Church  on 
account  of  its  dense  population ;  but  he  stated  that, 
owing  to  its  small  geographical  area  and  the  existing  net- 
work of  railroads,  the  labour  of  travelling  would  be 
reduced  to  a  minimum. 

The  Bishop  of    London  was  the  only  person  whose 

advice   Dr.   Walsham    How  sought,   but   meanwhile   he 

wrote  privately  to  several  members  of  his  family  on  the 

subject. 

[To  Mrs.  R.  Ll.  Kenyon.] 

"Stainforth  House,  J^ed.  9,  1888. 

"  I  must  write  and  tell  you  of  the  great  perplexity  I 

am  in.     Please  observe  it  is,  and  must  be  for  the  next 

few  days — i.e.,  till  the  matter  is  settled,  quite  secret.     I 

have  to-day  been  startled,  and  made  very  unhappy,  by  a 

letter  from  Lord  Salisbury  asking  me  to  go  to  Wakefield. 

I  simply  hate  the  very  thought  of  it,  but  I  do  not  see 

how  it  is  possible  to  refuse.     I  have  asked  for  a  few  days 

to  consider  it  in,  and  have  asked  the  Bishop  of  London 

for  an  interview  to-morrow.     Do  pray  that  all  may  be 

for  the  best.     But,  oh  !  it  will  be   dreadful.     I  have  so 

learnt  to  love  my  work  here.    Tell   me  just  what  you 

think.     I   have   told   Lord   Salisbury   that   one    obvious 

objection  is  that  I  am  too  old  to  start  and  form  a  new 


228  Bishop  Walsham  How 

diocese.     But  a  second  offer  like  this  is  a  very  serious 
thing,  and  I  feel  it  will  result  in  my  going." 

[To  Rev.  H.  W.  How.] 

"  Stainforth  House,  Fe^.  lo,  1888,  11  p.m. 
"  Very  private. 

"My  dearest  Boy, 

"  They  won't  leave  me  alone  when  I  am  so  happy 
and  contented.  I  have  got  to  leave  East  London  after 
all.  Lord  Salisbury  yesterday  asked  me  to  go  to  Wake- 
field, and  I  have  had  an  interview  with  the  Bishop  of 
London  this  evening,  and  he  says  it  is  my  duty  to  go. 
So  I  have  said  'Yes.'  It  is  dreadful — about  the  most 
unattractive  post  on  the  bench,  but  one  must  not  choose 
for  oneself,  and  I  dare  not  again  refuse  what  others  think 
I  ought  to  do.  The  Bishop  was  most  kind  and  warm, 
and  said  he  gave  his  counsel  with  a  groan.  It  is  to  be 
kept  quite  secret  till   Lord  Salisbury  gives  me  leave  to 

make  it  known. 

***** 

"  God  bless  you,  dear  boy, 

'*  Your  loving  old  father, 

"W.  w.  B." 

From  these  two  letters  it  is  clear  that  Bishop  Walsham 
How  had  settled  down  again  into  his  London  work,  and 
the  little  cloud  that  had  come  between  him  and  Dr. 
Temple  had  completely  passed  away. 

In  reply  to  Lord  Salisbury  he  wrote  : 

"  Stainforth  House,  Upper  Clapton, 

"Feb.  10,  1888. 
"  My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  have  had  an  interview  with  the  Bishop  of 
London  this  evening,  and  he  is  so  clearly  of  opinion  that 


Acceptance  of  Wakefield  229 

I  ought  not  to  decline  Wakefield  that  I  do  not  think  it 
needful  to  consult  any  one  else,  especially  as  the  earnest 
thought  I  have  given  to  the  matter  since  I  received  your 
Lordship's  letter  has  led  me  to  the  same  conclusion.  I 
write  therefore  to  say  that  I  am  ready  to  go  to  Wakefield, 
and  will,  God  helping  me,  do  my  best  there.  Perhaps  I 
may  venture,  for  the  credit  of  my  consistency,  to  state 
that,  shortly  after  I  had  asked  to  be  allowed  to  decline 
Manchester,  the  Bishop  of  London  greatly  surprised  me 
by  saying  that  he  could  not  accept  the  view  of  my  posi- 
tion taken  by  his  predecessor,  and  must  ask  me  to  work 
all  over  the  diocese,  allowing  me,  however,  to  consider 
that  my  principal  work  was  to  be  in  the  East  End.  And, 
now  that  he  has  been  granted  another  suffragan,  he  has 
told  me  that,  while  he  will  not  ask  me  to  go  into  the 
western  part  of  the  diocese,  he  must  divide  the  diocese 
into  two  halves,  assigning  a  suffragan  to  each,  which 
would  involve  a  very  large  addition  to  my  sphere  of  work. 
I  think  he  is  quite  right,  and  he  has  been  most  kind  to 
me,  but  either  of  these  two  changes  in  my  work  and 
status  destroys  the  main  part  of  the  ground  on  which  I 
desired  to  remain  where  I  was.  I  shall  feel  very  keenly 
the  parting  from  the  clergy  and  the  people  of  East 
London,  and  also  from  the  Bishop  of  London.  I  must, 
however,  turn  to  the  future,  and,  so  long  as  God  gives  me 
health  and  strength,  strive  very  earnestly  to  prove  myself 
not  unworthy  of  the  trust  so  graciously  reposed  in  me. 
I  shall  of  course  consider  this  correspondence  as  confi- 
dential until  permitted  to  mention  it." 

In  the  new  diocese  there  had  been,  of  course,  much 
speculation  as  to  who  would  be  their  bishop.  No  one 
seems  at  first  to  have  thought  of  the  Bishop  of  Bedford. 


230  Bishop  Walsham  How 

It  was  understood  that  he  had,  but  a  Httle  before,  refused 
to  go  to  Manchester,  and  on  this  account,  if  his  name 
ever  crossed  people's  minds,  it  was  at  once  put  away. 

However,  in  February  1888,  a  rumour,  of  which  it  is 
impossible  to  trace  the  source,  arose  that  there  was  a 
probability  that  the  diocese  would  be  offered  to  him. 
Canon  (now  Archdeacon)  Ingham  Brooke,  one  of  the 
leading  clergy  in  the  diocese,  had  worked  under  Bishop 
Walsham  How  at  Hackney  during  the  London  Mission, 
and  determined  to  write  and  beg  him,  if  the  offer  were 
made,  "  to  think  three  times  and  thrice  three  times"  before 
declining  it.  The  Bishop  was  away  from  home  for  a  day 
or  two,  so  that  he  actually  received  this  letter  at  the  same 
time  as  that  from  Lord  Salisbury  offering  him  the  See. 

[To  Canon  Ingham  Brooke.] 

"  Stainforth  House,  Upper  Clapton, 

"London,  E.,  Fel>.  13,  1888. 
"  My  dear  Brooke, 

"  Your  letter  came  with  Lord  Salisbury's,  and  is 
my  one  ray  of  light  and  comfort.  The  Bishop  of  London 
was  very  clear  that  I  ought  not  to  refuse,  so,  as  to-day's 
papers  will  tell  you,  I  have  said  'Yes.'  I  shall  look  to 
you  to  be  my  right  hand.  To-day  I  have  no  time  to  do 
more  than  ask,  what  I  know  I  have  without  asking,  your 

prayers.  .  .  . 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"Wm.  walsham  BEDFORD." 

As  soon  as  the  news  of  the  appointment  to  Wakefield 
became  public,  the  Bishop  received  numberless  letters 
from  his  many  friends.  Some  few  of  these  must  find  a 
place  here. 


Acceptance  of  Wakefield  231 

{From  Bishop  Harold  Browne.] 

"  Forest  House,  Bournemouth,  Feb.  13,  1888. 

"My  dear  Bishop, 

"  I  rejoice  for  Wakefield  that  you  are  to  be  its  first  Bishop. 
No  better  appointment  could  be  made.  Only  London  will  be  a 
great  loser,  and  I  wish  you  were  to  be  in  the  southern  province, 
as  we  should  gain  by  your  counsels  in  Convocation.  May  all 
blessing  be  with  your  work  and  yourself.  Do  not  answer  this.  I 
know  the  trouble  you  will  have  from  letters.  Only  I  could  not 
but  offer  you  the  affectionate  greeting  of 

"  Your  brother  in  Christ, 

"  E  HAROLD  WINTON." 

\From  Bishop  Claughton  of  St.  A/dans.] 

••Feb.  13,  1883. 

"My  very  dear  old  Friend, 

"  I  am  much  more  inclined  to  congratulate  Wakefield  than 
Bedford.  Still,  you  who  have  broken  up  new  ground  in  London 
with  such  manifest  tokens  of  God's  blessing  on  your  work,  and 
with  so  great  general  approval,  are  the  right  man  to  do  like  work 
in  the  provinces.  I  could  not  help  being  delighted  when  I  saw 
the  appointment  this  morning.  It  has  not  been  God's  will  that 
she  who  has  been  the  sharer  in  your  labours  during  past  years 
should  be  at  your  side  in  your  new  sphere  of  work !  He  knows 
and  orders  what  is  best  for  us  all. 

"  I  think,  if  it  is  not  presumptuous  in  me  to  say  so  much,  that 
you  have  been  wise  in  both  your  recent  choices  :  wise  in  refusing 
to  take  up  the  tangled  skein  at  Manchester — wise  in  taking  up  the 
skein  at  Wakefield  with  not  a  tangle  in  it !  May  God  bless  you 
abundantly. 

"  Our  prayers  will  be  offered  for  you. 

"  I  am  very  much  better,  but  I  could  not  have  undertaken  the 
Bishopric  of  Wakefield !  How  those  honest  Yorkshiremen  will 
appreciate  your  plainness  of  speech  !  I  have  plenty  of  other 
things  to  think  of — plenty  of  tangled  skeins  to  unravel — but  your 
destination  occupies  my  soul  to-day. 

"  Ever  yours  affectionately, 

"  T.  L.  ST.  ALBANS." 


232  Bishop  Walsham  How 

\^From  Rev.  A.  Brook,  Rector  of  Hackney ?[ 

"  The  Rectory,  Hackney,  Feb.  11,  1888. 
"  My  own  dear  Bishop, 

"  May  God  comfort  and  strengthen  and  bless  you !  I 
tnew  it  would  be  so.  You  could  not  resist  such  a  call.  But 
what  will  East  London  be  without  you  ?  Where  can  we  get  the 
loving  sympathy^  fatherly  counsel,  spiritual  teaching,  which  God 
has  given  us  in  you  ? 

"  East  London  will  be  stunned  when  it  hears  the  news. 
***** 

"  We  are  sure  you  will  never  cease  to  pray  for  us,  and  it  may 
be  God  will  give  us  a  man  who  will  be  more  to  us  than  we  dare 
to  hope — but  he  never  can  be  you.  My  wife  is  not  at  home :  I 
wonder  if  she  will  have  the  courage  to  write  and  tell  you  what  she 
feels.  You  may  be  sure  we  are  in  no  hurry  to  tell  Dottie  [his 
daughter],  poor  dear  girl ! 

*'  Ever  your  loving  son, 

"ARTHUR  BROOK." 

From  the  Bishops  of  the  Northern  Province  he  re- 
ceived warm  letters  of  welcome  ;  that  from  Bishop  Harvey 
Goodwin  ran  thus  : 

"  House  of  Lords,  Feb.  17,  18S8. 
"  My  dear  Bishop, 

"  I  send  one  line  to  say  how  much  I  welcome  you  into  the 
Northern  Province.  You  will  find  most  interesting  work  to  do,  and 
I  know  you  will  do  it  with  your  might.  I  heartily  wish  you  God's 
blessing. 

"  The  least  .satisfactory  thing  in  the  Northern  Province  is  the 
Convocation.    It  is  (as  things  now  are)  partly  dore  and  partly  sAam. 

"Yours  sincerely, 

"H.  CARLISLE." 

Dean  Bradley's  letter  of  warm  appreciation  cannot  be 
omitted.     He  wrote  : 

"  Deanery,  Westminster,  Feb.  13,  1888. 
"My  dear  Bishop, 

"  It's  quite  right !  High  time  that  you  had  your  own 
diocese.     But  oh  !  the  loss  ! 


Farewell  to  East  London  233 

"You  are  not  aware,  so  let  an  outsider  tell  you,  of  the  depth  of 
feeling  it  will  call  forth.  Even  /  could  hardly  speak  to  tell  it  to 
my  son-in-law  when  I  saw  it  just  now.  You  have  gained  a  hold 
on  people's  hearts  which  will  make  the  wrench  and  the  loss  most 
profoundly  felt.  I  say  this  before  I  have  seen  a  soul  outside  the 
house ;  but,  if  I  feel  it  so  deeply  as  a  mere  spectator  and  listener, 
what  will  others  do  !  May  God  bless  you,  my  dear  Bishop,  in 
your  new  sphere.  .  .  . 

"  Ever  most  truly  yours, 

"G.  G.  BRADLEY." 

From  his  future  diocese  there  came  the  following 
among  many  others  : 

\From  Canon  Ingham  Brooke,  now  Archdeacon  of  Halifax 7\ 

"  Thornhill  Rectory,  Dewsbury,  Feb.  14. 

**My  dear  Lord  Bishop, 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  how  very  thankful  I  am — indeed,  we 
all  are.  You  will  be  received  with  a  rare  welcome.  I  only  write 
a  line  to  say  this  much,  and  to  add  that  we  shall  always  have 
rooms  ready  for  you  whenever  you  like  to  come.  You  could  in 
the  course  of  a  few  drives  from  here  get  an  admirable  view  of  the 
diocese.  If  it  is  thought  a  good  plan,  we  are  prepared  to  turn  out 
and  give  you  the  use  of  this  house  for  a  year,  until  you  can  decide 
where  to  live.  We  have  often  talked  of  this  as  a  reasonable 
possibility. 

"  If  you  wish  any  detailed  information  of  any  kind  to  be  got 
ready,  I  could  get  it  for  you  without  difficulty.  It  will  be  a  great 
delight  to  me  to  be  allowed  to  do  anything  in  my  power  to  make 
it  in  any  degree  easier  for  you  to  do  the  great  work  which  I  believe 
from  my  very  heart  God  will  give  you  to  do  in  this  diocese. 

"  I  have  prayed,  and  will  pray,  that  He  will  give  you  all  the 
strength  you  will  need,  but  at  present  I  can  find  room  for  little 
more  than  thanksgiving  as  I  think  of  how  our  prayers  have  been 
heard. 

"  I  am,  my  dear  Lord  Bishop, 

"  Ever  yours, 

"J.  INGHAM  BROOKE." 


234  Bishop  Walsham  How 

The  three  months  or  so  that  were  left  to  Bishop  Wal- 
sham How  in  East  London  were  naturally  exceedingly 
full  of  engagements.  There  were  all  his  usual  appoint- 
ments to  be  kept,  and  somehow  a  large  number  of  "  Fare- 
wells "  had  to  be  provided  for.  First  of  all  time  had  to 
be  found  to  call  at  the  various  offices,  &c.,  in  his  parish 
of  St.  Andrew's  Undershaft,  and  bid  farewell  to  those 
whose  rector  he  had  been  for  nine  years.  Then  he 
spent  a  last  evening  with  the  working  men  of  the  Oxford 
House  in  Bethnal  Green,  and  entertained  his  city  choir 
for  the  last  time  at  Stainforth  House.  He  addressed  for 
the  last  time  the  East  London  Deaconesses,  and  the  boys 
and  masters  of  the  Hackney  Grammar  School,  who  gave 
him  a  farewell  present.  He  attended  a  conversazione  at 
Sion  College,  arranged  by  the  President  and  Fellows  to 
say  good-bye  to  him  who  was  not  the  least  honoured  of 
their  body.     To  quote  Church  Bells,  he  paid 

"a  last  visit  to  more  than  one  of  those  clergy  upon  whom  the 
shadow  of  bereavement  has  fallen,  that  in  each  case  he  might 
strengthen  and  comfort,  and  that,  in  one  case,  he  might  grant  the 
request  of  lips  now  silent  for  ever  here,  and  become  the  godfather 
of  a  first-born  motherless  child." 

His  farewell  to  the  clergy  of  East  London  was  at 
St.  Andrew's  Undershaft,  where  he  invited  them  all  to 
join  with  him  in  celebrating  the  Holy  Communion  on 
Wednesday  morning.  May  3.  In  his  address  on  this 
occasion  he  said  : 

"  It  is,  my  brethren,  a  great  comfort  and  happiness  to 
me  to  part  from  you  with  this  Sacrament  of  love  and 
unity  as  our  last  common  act.  It  seals  and  consecrates 
that  union  of  hearts  and  spirit  which  has  (God  be 
thanked  !)  been  ours  for  long.  .  .  . 

"  I  desire  to  thank  you  for  all  the  kindness  and  affection 


Farewell  to  East  London  235 

you  have  shown  towards  me.  You  have  made  my  Hfe  in. 
East  London  very  happy,  nor  can  I  ever  forget  how  true 
a  bond  of  affectionate  regard  existed  between  yourselves 
and  the  partner  of  my  hfe  and  work,  who  gave,  un- 
grudgingly, her  time  and  strength,  and  at  last  her  very 
life,  in  labours  for  the  poor  and  for  the  fallen. 

"  I  leave  a  band  of  brothers,  than  whom  I  shall  never 
find  any  more  faithful,  more  generous,  and  more  devoted. 
Your  labours  and  self-sacrifice  have  often  made  me 
ashamed  that  anything  should  be  thought  of  my  lighter 
labours  and  easier  lot.  But  your  example  has  been  a 
spur  to  me,  and  I  pray  God  I  may  not  be  unmindful  of 
the  pattern  you  have  shown.  .  .  . 

***** 

"  And  now,  brethren,  I  commend  you  to  the  grace  of 
God,  and  to  that  Divine  Spirit  which  alone  can  keep  you 
steadfast  unto  the  end.  I  know  you  will  pray  for  me,  as 
I  shall  for  you.  God  be  with  you.  God  strengthen  and 
bless  you.  May  we  all  meet  at  last  at  our  Master's  feet  in 
His  eternal  kingdom,  for  His  own  mercies'  sake.    Amen." 

His  farewell  to  East  London  generally  was  spoken  at 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  East  London  Church  Fund  at 
the  Mansion  House  on  April  23,  1888,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Lord  Mayor. 

The  Rev.  E.  S.  Hilliard,  the  secretary,  read  the  report, 
which  concluded  with  these  touching  words  : 

"  Before  our  next  report  appears  the  Bishop  of  Bedford  will 
have  become  the  first  Bishop  of  Wakefield.  We  hope,  therefore, 
that  we  may  be  forgiven  if  for  once  we  speak  'apart  from  the 
Bishop.'  Bishop  Walsham  How  has  been,  under  God,  the  leader 
of  an  East  London  crusade.  He  goes  :  and  we,  who  remain,  are 
challenged  to  prove  our  loyalty  to  him  by  maintaining  and 
developing  the  work  which  he  has  in  so  large  a  degree  created, 


236  Bishop  Walsham  How 

and  has,  for  nearly  nine  years,  so  lovingly  cherished.  Of  our 
personal  loss  we  do  not  dare  to  speak.  But  we  are  more  than 
men ;  we  are  Churchmen,  and,  therefore,  we  can  give  him  up  to 
Wakefield.  We  can  give  him  up  because  we,  more  than  any, 
know  the  value  of  our  gift.  And  as  the  new  See  leaps  into  life  at 
the  call  of  that  Father  in  God,  whom  we  have  loved  to  obey,  we, 
neither  forgetting  nor  forgotten,  shall  remember,  with  grateful 
pride,  that  East  London  was  the  school  in  which  the  first  Bishop 
of  Wakefield  learned  what  it  is  to  be  a  bishop  in  the  Church  of 
Christ.  His  benediction  will  remain  with  us,  and  the  benediction 
of  East  London  shall  abide  upon  him." 

The  Bishop  of  Bedford  moved  the  adoption  of  the 
report,  and  received  a  great  ovation  from  the  meeting. 
In  the  course  of  his  speech  he  said  : 

"  It  is  no  easy  thing  to  begin  to  speak,  not  only  after 
those  last  words  of  the  report — words  for  which,  you  will 
believe  me,  I  am  not  responsible — but  also  so  immedi- 
ately after  the  more  than  kind  welcome  which  you  have 
just  given  to  me.  Now,  I  know  very  well  what  that  kind 
welcome  means.  I  know  that  it  means  that  you  wish 
me,  what  the  last  words  of  the  report  have  wished  me, 
every  blessing  and  prosperity  in  the  new  work  to  which  I 
am  going  ;  and  I  take  your  wishes  and  your  prayers  with 
me  as  a  very  precious  possession. 

"  I  could  expect  little  else  than  that  from  the  unvarying 
kindness  and  consideration,  from  the  gentleness  and  for- 
bearance, that  I  have  met  with  throughout  the  time  that 
I  have  been  in  East  London.  Now,  as  I  am  going  to  a 
new  part  of  the  great  field  of  work,  called,  as  I  hope  I 
may  truly  believe,  by  God's  good  providence  to  do 
another  work  of  a  rather  different  character,  but  never- 
theless for  which  I  do  hope  that  my  East  London  work 
has  taught  me  some  few  lessons  ;  going,  as  I  am,  to  that 
work,  there  is  one  comfort  in  it  for  which  I  cannot  help 


Farewell  to  East  London  237 

feeling  thankful.  I  believe  that  the  diocese  of  Wakefield 
will  be  more  like  East  London  than  any  other  diocese  in 
England,  and  I  have  learned  to  be  so  fond  of  East 
London  that  that  likeness  is  a  comfort  to  me.  I  shall 
have  there  a  compact  diocese,  one  which,  I  suppose,  will 
be  the  smallest  in  area  in  England,  leaving  out  London* 
I  shall  have  a  somewhat  dirty  and  smoky  diocese,  a  fact 
which  may  sometimes  remind  me  of  East  London  ;  I 
shall  have  a  population  in  many  ways  not  very  unlike 
that  of  East  London,  about  the  same  in  actual  numbers^ 
though  perhaps  rather  less.  When  I  first  came  to  East 
London  I  was  told  that  East  Londoners  were  very  like 
Yorkshiremen  in  character,  that  they  were  at  first  a  little 
rough,  if  not  rude,  but  that  when  you  had  gained  their 
confidence  they  were  very  true,  very  hearty,  and  very 
generous.  I  found  East  Londoners  like  that ;  and  it  is  a 
great  comfort  and  satisfaction  to  me  to  hope  that  I  may 
possibly  find  Yorkshiremen  not  unlike  East  Londoners. 
There  is  another  physical  resemblance  between  East 
London  and  the  diocese  of  Wakefield  ;  for  there  flows 
through  the  latter  diocese  a  river  which  is  even  dirtier 
than  the  river  Lea.  I  heard,  some  years  ago,  Professor 
Huxley  speak  of  East  London.  He  said  that  there 
seemed  to  be  inscribed  over  it,  *  No  hope  here,'  and  that 
he  had  never  met  with  any  savage  life  which  he  thought 
more  intolerable,  more  absolutely  miserable  than  the 
life  of  the  East  Londoner.  .  .  . 

"  Now  I  believe  that  things  have  improved,  and  that 
they  are  improving.  Mind,  I  do  not  lay  it  all  down  to 
the  action  of  the  Church,  but  I  believe  that  the  Church 
has  acted  very  considerably  in  improving  things,  and  that 
she  has  brought  a  great  deal  of  life  and  light  and  hope  to 
the  people  of  East  London." 


238  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Such  were  the  cheering  words  with  which  Bishop 
Walsham  How  parted  from  his  East  London  friends. 

The  Bishop  of  London  (Dr.  Temple)  then  moved  a 
vote  of  "  God  speed  "  to  the  Bishop  designate  of  Wake- 
field, and  his  words  must  have  been  singularly  grateful 
and  touching  to  one  who  had  worked  under  him  through 
times  of  some  little  difficulty.  Speaking  of  Bishop  Wal- 
sham How  he  said  : 


"  We  know  him — know  him  by  years  of  intimate  knowledge, 
know  him  by  his  work,  know  him  by  his  words,  know  him  by  his 
kindness,  by  his  simplicity,  by  his  humility.  We  know  him,  for 
he  has  lived  and  worked  amongst  us  ;  and  we  do  not  often  come 
across  such  a  man  as  we  find  him  to  be.  You  will  find  men  of 
great  devotion.  .  .  .  You  will  find  men  sweet  and  gentle  in 
society,  whom  you  cannot  help  feeling  in  your  inmost  heart  to  be 
saints  of  God.  .  .  .  You  will  find  men  to  whose  advice  you  are 
glad  to  listen.  .  .  .  You  will  find  men  so  humble  that  they  put 
themselves  absolutely  on  one  side,  so  simple  in  their  humility  that 
they  walk  through  this  world  as  if  they  were  still  children,  carrying 
with  them  the  charm  of  childhood  even  in  the  gravest  matters.  .  .  . 
You  will  find  such  men ;  but  you  will  not  often  find  such  men  in 
whom  all  these  things  are  combined  at  once.  Could  we  always 
get  such  men  for  Bishops  assuredly  the  Church  of  Christ  would 
so  shine  before  the  world  that  it  would  hardly  be  needful  to  preach 
sermons  or  to  teach,  for  men  would  learn  quickly  from  what  they 
-saw." 

The  Bishop's  last  Sunday  in  East  London  was  spent 
at  St.  Andrew's  Undershaft,  St.  Paul's,  Haggerston,  and 
the  parish  church  of  Whitechapel,  in  the  pulpit  of  which 
latter  he  preached  his  final  sermon. 

The  next  morning,  Monday,  May  7,  he  started  for  a 
short  fishing  holiday  in  North  Wales  with  one  of  his 
sons,  preparatory  to  taking  up  his  new  work. 


Farewell  to  East  London  239 

The  East  London  Advertiser  for  March  17,  contained 
the  following  lines  of  farewell  : 


THE  BISHOP  OF  BEDFORD. 

"  He  turned  from  shining  hills  and  azure  sky — 
The  heavenly  summons  urgent  on  his  soul — 
To  city  gloom,  where  sulphurous  fog-clouds  roll 
O'er  countless  hands  that  toil  and  hearts  that  sigh. 
And  there  with  grave  sweet  face  and  kindly  eye 
He  spurred  the  loiterers  onward  to  the  goal, 
And  held  the  lawless  spirits  in  control. 
And  cheered  the  faint  with  helpful  sympathy. 
For  pastoral  staff  his  steadfast  look  sufficed, 
Yet  childhood's  grief  or  joy  his  lips  would  curve. 
Men  said  behind  him  :  '  Lo,  a  slave  of  Christ, 
A  loving  heart  that  only  lives  to  serve ; 
A  soul  by  world-ambition  unenticed, 
Too  strong  to  falter,  and  too  true  to  swerve. ' 

But  change  and  loss  o'er  brightest  hopes  still  fling 
Dark  shadows,  like  gloom-islands  on  the  sea 
Dropped  by  the  drifting  clouds.     No  more  may  we 
Claim  as  our  own  his  kindly  shepherding  ; 
No  more  with  us  his  keen  '  plain  words  '  shall  bring 
Pastor  and  flock  alike  to  bended  knee. 
O  Wakefield,  dowered  with  pious  gifts,  to  thee 
From  poorest  hands  comes  richest  offering ! 
We  yield  our  Bishop — one  in  heart  and  mind 
Most  worthy  reverence — can  we  more  than  this  ? 
Altars  upraised,  souls  quickened,  lives  refined, 
God's  mercy  shown  o'erruling  all  that  is — 
These  were  his  works,  with  these  he  leaves  behind 
Eyes  that  still  follow,  hearts  that  beat  with  his. 

"X. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

WAKEFIELD— ORGANISATION.  ETC. 

In  the  little  interval  between  leaving  East  London  and 
arriving  at  Wakefield  Bishop  Walsham  How  took  one  of 
his  sons  with  him  for  a  fortnight's  rest  and  fishing  at 
Llangedwin  on  the  river  Tanat.  They  stayed  at  the 
charming  little  "Green  Inn,"  where  in  old  days  the  pony 
used  to  be  put  up,  when  the  Rector  of  Whittington  drove 
over  for  a  day's  fishing  in  Sir  Watkin  Wynn's  water.  It 
was  lovely  spring  weather,  and  nature  wore  her  most 
attractive  garb  :  the  river  was  in  capital  order,  and  the 
fishing  was  first-rate  :  but  was  it  altogether  wise  to  go 
straight  from  the  beauties  of  hill  and  vale,  of  sparkling 
stream  and  banks  of  bright  spring  flowers,  to  the  manu- 
facturing districts  of  the  West  Riding  ?  Certainly  the 
contrast  was  emphasised.  Taking  the  L.  &  N.  W.  train 
from  Manchester,  past  many  a  mill-chimney  belching 
forth  black  smoke,  the  Bishop  was  whirled  through  the 
great  Marsden  tunnel,  and,  turning  to  his  son,  said,  "  Now 
I  am  in  my  diocese  :  just  look  ! "  Once  upon  a  time 
nature  must  there,  too,  have  been  beautiful  with  a  rugged 
beauty,  but  the  hand  of  man,  feeling  after  money,  had 
besmirched  it  all.  Many  a  time  afterwards  the  Bishop 
used  to  say,  "  There  is  not  a  garden  in  my  diocese  where  I 
can  pick  a  flower  without  blacking  my  fingers  1 "     To 


Wakefield — Organisation,  etc.  241 

one  with  his  love  of  beauty  this  was  a  severe  trial.  There 
were,  it  is  true,  some  pretty  bits  here  and  there — e.g.y 
Woolley,  where  on  Whit-Monday  for  several  successive 
years  he  spent  a  happy  day  with  the  Vicar's  children  ; 
High  Hoyland,  with  its  woods  and  wide-spread  views ;  and 
the  Hebden  Valley,  where  the  river  rushes  down  a  leafy 
gorge  from  the  grouse  moors  above  ;  but  the  smoke  was 
everywhere  :  tree-stems,  stones,  the  very  earth  itself,  were 
soiled. 

Perhaps  it  was  well  that  a  man  with  a  cheery  buoyant 
disposition  such  as  his  should  be  the  one  who  was 
chosen  to  give  the  last  years  of  his  life  and  work  to  a 
district  with  such  depressing  natural  surroundings.  But 
he  had  been  nine  years  in  East  London,  and  a  home  in. 
a  district  more  after  his  own  heart  would  doubtless  have 
been  preferred  for  him  by  his  friends.  However,  he 
never  let  his  courage  be  daunted  or  his  spirits  flag,  and 
the  strong  human  interest  of  his  densely  populated  diocese 
was  an  entire  compensation.  That  he  did  lament  his 
surroundings  is  seen  from  the  following  extracts  : 

\^To  Miss  K.  Douglas — a  niece.'] 

^^ February  i,  i88g. 

"  F.  D.  has  written  to  say  they  have  plenty  of  primroses 
out  in  the  hedges  !  Alas  !  such  things  are  not  for  us  in 
the  West  Riding,  where  smoke  and  acid  fumes,  and  raw 
cold,  destroy  and  dirty  all  vegetation.  I  could  forgive 
the  smoke  dirtying  my  hands  and  my  wristbands,  but  I 
can't  forgive  it  for  dirtying  the  flowers.  I  like  the  human 
beings  though  :  they  are  so  full  of  energy  and  warmth 
and  heartiness.  They  do  nothing  by  halves.  They  are 
very  independent,  at  times  even  seemingly  rude,  but  will 

Q 


242  Bishop  Walsham  How 

do  anything  for  you  when  once  they  like  you  and  trust 
you." 

[To  Miss  M.  Douglas.] 

'■'■  November  2 \,  1891. 
"  I  went  to  dear  old  Whittington  to  preach  on  Friday 
night,  and  stayed  there  till  yesterday  morning,  preaching 
twice  at  Oswestry  on  Sunday,  and  spending  Saturday  and 
Sunday  afternoon  visiting  about  in  Whittington.  .  .  . 
Well,  I  do  not  know  how  to  describe  the  charm  of  those 
two  days.  They  were  absolutely  faultless  November  days, 
full  of  soft  lights  and  rich  warm  tints,  and  the  tender  calm 
of  the  slanting  sunlight  in  the  half-clothed  and  half-bare 
trees.  Gnats  were  dancing  up  and  down  in  the  still  mellow 
warmth,  and,  as  I  stood  by  the  grave  [his  wife's]  alone  on 
Saturday  afternoon,  the  sense  of  peace,  and  calm,  and 
loveliness  was  overpowering.  Each  evening  there  was 
the  most  exquisite  sunset  glow,  and  I  stood  entranced 
before  the  old  Castle  pool,  the  surface  reflecting  the  golden 
light  and  the  ivy-clad  trees,  so  that  it  seemed  more  beautiful 
than  I  ever  saw  it  before.  I  suppose  it  wasn't  really,  but 
to  appreciate  lowland  beauty  one  should  live  a  few  years 
away  among  stone  walls  and  tall  chimneys  ! " 

Having  said  thus  much  of  the  sort  of  country  in  which 
his  new  diocese  was  situated,  it  is  pleasant  to  turn  and 
contemplate  the  warmth  with  which  the  news  of  his 
appointment  was  received  by  many  of  the  inhabitants. 
His  first  visits  to  the  Wakefield  diocese  were  paid  to 
Canon  Ingham  Brooke  at  Thornhill  Rectory,  and  in  the 
magazine  of  that  parish  occur  the  following  comments 
on  their  new  Bishop  : 

"  Who  the  Bishop  of  Bedford  is,  what  posts  he  has  filled,  what 
books  he  has  written,  what  work  he  has  done :   all  these  are 


Wakefield — Organisation,  etc.  243 

now  known  in  every  house  in  Yorkshire.  The  papers  have 
been  full  of  the  subject,  and  they  have  recognised,  with  scarcely 
an  exception,  the  wisdom  of  the  appointment,  and  the  grounds 
for  thankfulness  and  hope  which  it  gives  to  all.  But  with  all  the 
kind  and  generous  things  which  have  been  so  justly  said  and 
written  about  our  new  Bishop,  there  is  one  thing  of  which  no 
description  can  give  an  adequate  idea,  but  which  it  will  soon  be 
our  delight  to  discover  for  ourselves ;  we  mean  the  sympathy  of 
his  large  heart,  and  the  love  and  single-hearted  earnestness  which 
he  throws  into  anything  he  undertakes.  What  the  influence  for 
good  of  such  a  Bishop  shall  be  in  the  great  West  Riding  it  is  not 
for  us  to  predict." 

The  feelings  which  inspired  such  words  as  these  were 
calculated  to  ensure  Bishop  Walsham  How  a  warm 
welcome,  and,  although  here  and  there  might  be  found 
an  incumbent  who,  having  of  necessity  known  but  little 
of  episcopal  supervision  when  in  the  vast  and  unwieldy 
diocese  of  Ripon,  openly  expressed  his  opinion  that  to 
see  more  of  his  Bishop  than  he  had  been  accustomed  to 
was  neither  necessary  nor  congenial  to  him,  yet  the 
Churchmen  of  the  diocese  who  cared  in  any  real  degree 
for  the  welfare  of  the  Church  and  of  their  parishes  shared 
fully  in  the  spirit  of  the  above-quoted  language.  It  would 
not  be  right  to  ignore  the  fact  that  some  alarm  was  felt 
by  the  ultra  Low  Churchmen  of  the  diocese  when  the 
Bishop's  appointment  of  High  Churchmen  to  important 
posts,  and  his  evident  desire  to  raise  the  level  of  Church 
life,  became  known.  These  things,  together  with  his 
open  disapproval  of  evening  Communions,  and  his 
advocacy  of  daily  services,  &c.,  caused  a  considerable 
flutter  ;  but  his  absolutely  independent  line,  free  from  any 
kind  of  bias,  commended  itself  to  the  plain  common  sense 
of  the  West  Riding.  It  has  been  said  of  him  that  the 
inclination  of  his  mind,  when  dealing  with  any  subject, 


244  Bishop  Walsham  How 

was  always  to  set  out  the  pros  and  cons  and  to  judge  for 
himself,  and  then  to  take  the  common-sense,  workable 
course.  This  inclination  certainly  influenced  him  in  his 
theological  position.  Without  ignoring  "authority"  he 
was  wont  to  apply  to  it  the  test  of  common  sense  and 
workableness,  and  to  this  is  probably  largely  due  the 
universality  of  his  influence  among  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men. 

He  was,  in  essentials,  a  High  Churchman  of  the  type  of 
the  last  generation,  and  has  been  likened  in  many  respects 
to  John  Keble.  At  the  same  time  he  was  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  danger  of  the  extravagances  indulged 
in  by  the  advanced  section  of  Ritualists.  A  striking 
instance  of  this  is  found  in  a  letter  written  by  him  in 
1896,  in  which  he  says,  "  I  entirely  agree  in  dreading  the 
language  used  by  the  'advanced'  party  as  to  Holy 
Communion.  It  is  not  faithful  to  our  Church,  nor  to  the 
Bible." 

None  the  less  was  he  completely  out  of  sympathy  with 
the  modern  "  Protestant,"  often  expressing  his  regret  at 
the  difficulty  in  dealing  properly  with  men  of  this  stamp, 
who  closed  their  churches  from  week-end  to  week-end, 
and  provided  few  and  meagre  spiritual  opportunities  for 
their  people. 

He  took  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  as  his  standard 
in  all  simplicity,  and  was  ready  to  approve  of  whatever 
could  be  found  within  its  covers. 

The  fact  that  his  doctrinal  position  was  of  this  nature 
was  an  undoubted  assistance  to  him  in  the  organisation 
of  a  new  diocese,  and  it  was  but  very  few  of  the  clergy,  and 
those  belonging  to  one  or  other  of  the  extreme  schools  of 
thought,  who  did  not  quickly  rally  round  him  when  he 
came  among  them,  whatever  perturbation  they  may  have 


Wakefield— Organisation,  etc.  245 

felt   beforehand.       Archdeacon    Brooke,   who    was    the 
Bishop's  host  on  his  first  arrival,  says  : 

"  I  cannot  recall  anything  about  that  first  visit.  It  was  the 
first  of  many  that  followed  both  at  Thornhill  and  here  [Halifax], 
The  Bishop  always  seemed  to  bring  sunshine  with  him.  So  bright, 
so  content  with  anything  that  was  done  for  him,  so  loving  to  the 
•children,  with  always  a  kind  word  for  the  servants,  and  many  a 
kind  gift  too.     It  was  always  a  delight  to  have  him  with  us." 

One  great  difficulty  occupied  much  of  the  time  and 
fhought  of  the  new  Bishop  during  his  first  few  weeks. 
The  Trinity  Ordination  was  close  at  hand,  but  the  Order 
in  Council  creating  him  Bishop  of  Wakefield  had  not 
been  passed,  and  it  seemed  probable  that  he  would  not 
be  able  to  hold  the  Ordination  in  person — a  great  dis- 
appointment to  all  concerned.  He  was  still  Suffragan 
Bishop  of  Bedford,  and  an  act  of  Henry  VIII.  precludes 
a  suffragan  doing  any  official  or  authoritative  act  in  any 
•other  diocese  than  that  to  which  he  is  commissioned. 

There  were  three  ways  out  of  this  difficulty  :  first,  to 
defer  the  Ordination,  which  would  have  caused  great 
inconvenience ;  secondly,  to  ask  Bishop  Pulleine  of 
Penrith  to  take  it,  "  in  which  case,"  said  the  Bishop,  "  I 
shall  be  standing  by  as  dummy  ! "  thirdly,  to  resign  the 
Suffragan  Bishopric.    As  to  this  latter  course  he  wrote  : 

[To  Canon  Ingham  Brooke.] 

"Maj>  13,  1888. 
"  I  have  written  off  at  once  to  see  if  I  can  resign  my 
post  as  Suffragan,  and  so  escape  the  disabilities  of  the  Act 
of  Henry  VIII.  Many  thanks  for  the  suggestion.  I  did 
offer  the  Bishop  of  London  to  do  so  some  time  ago,  but 
he  took  no  notice  of  my  offer,  and  then  I  was  told  there 


246  Bishop  Walsham  How 

were  very  heavy  fees  for  resigning  a  see  (and  Bedford  is 
counted  as  a  see),  and  so  I  thought  no  more  about  it." 

None  of  these  courses  ultimately  proved  necessary.  On 
May  16  he  wrote  again  to  Canon  Ingham  Brooke  : 

"  News  !  Government  have  been  pressing  for  a  Council 
in  order  to  pass  the  Wakefield  Order,  and  it  is  to  be  held 
to-morrow.  .  .  .  Mr.  Lee  says  he  feels  sure  he  can  get 
the  Letters  Patent  appointing  me  issued  before  Trinity 
Sunday." 

This  was  done,  and  the  Bishop  held  his  first  Ordination 
at  Wakefield  on  May  27,  1888.  Great  interest  was  taken 
in  the  service,  as  no  Ordination  had  ever  been  held  there 
before. 

In  the  evening  he  preached  in  the  Cathedral  to  a  con- 
gregation which  filled  every  corner.  Taking  as  his  text 
Eph.  iv.  13  :  "Till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith, 
and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect 
man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of 
Christ,"  he  urged  the  necessity  of  clear  dogmatic 
teaching.  At  the  same  time  he  pointed  out  that,  whilst 
no  compromise  in  matters  of  principle  must  be  made, 
we  must  remember  in  how  many  things  we  agree  with 
others  who  are  working  for  the  spread  of  religion,  and 
that  the  real  fight  must  be  against  secularism,  infidelity, 
and  materialism. 

After  the  service  the  open  space  in  front  of  the 
Cathedral  was  filled  with  a  vast  crowd  (many  of  whom 
had  been  unable  to  get  places  inside),  who  waited  to  greet 
the  Bishop  as  he  came  out. 


Wakefield — Organisation,  etc.  247 

[To  Canon  Ingham  Brooke.] 

'^  Wakefield,  May  28,  1888. 

"  My  dear  Brooke, 

"  Norris  tells  me  he  has  written  you  some  account 
of  our  proceedings  [at  the  Ordination].  He  has  been  all 
I  could  wish,  and  more — so  very  nice  and  helpful.  It  is 
really  a  great  blessing  to  have  only  six  men  at  once,  as 
one  gets  to  know  them  so  well. 

"You  will  see  by  the  papers  that  on  coming  out  of 
church  last  night  I  found  a  dense  crowd  filling  all  the 
space  opposite  the  church,  so  I  told  Percival  Pott,  my 
chaplain,  to  run  to  the  vestry  and  get  a  chair,  and  I 
mounted  it  at  the  church-gate,  and  gave  them  a  little 
address.  It  was  a  happy  opportunity.  A  number  of  the 
junior  members  of  the  crowd  accompanied  me  back  to 
this  house. 

"Will  you  do  me  a  favour,  and  be-lord  me  no  more, 
please.  I  am,  or  at  least  want  to  be,  only  your  dear 
Bishop. 

"  With  kindest  regards, 

"  Affectionately  yours, 

"W.  w.  w." 

•  The  words  spoken  by  the  Bishop  at  the  church-gates 
will  long  be  remembered  for  their  earnest  and  kindly 
import,  conveying,  as  they  did  to  the  crowd,  his  hope 
that  he  might  be  allowed  to  be  the  Bishop  of  them  all. 

Not  alone  on  this  occasion  was  he  followed  by  a  crowd 
of  lads.  For  some  time  afterwards,  until,  in  fact,  a  bishop 
was  no  longer  an  unfamiliar  object  in  the  streets  of 
Wakefield,  he  very  generally  had  a  certain  number  of 


248  Bishop  Walsham  How 

attendants  trotting  at  his  heels,  who  would  point  him  out 
to  passers-by  with  cries  of  "  t'  Beeshop  !  t'  Beeshop  ! " 

In  Halifax,  Huddersfield,  Barnsley,  and  other  centres 
very  hearty  receptions  were  given  him,  but  the  crowning 
point  was  reached  on  June  25,  when  he  was  enthroned  in 
Wakefield  Cathedral  by  the  Archbishop  of  York  (Dr. 
Thompson). 

It  was  the  first  real  summer's  day  of  the  year,  and  the 
sun  blazed  out  in  a  cloudless  sky.  The  city  was  gay  with 
bunting,  and  half  the  diocese  seemed  to  be  filling  its 
streets.  The  proceedings  began  in  the  Council  Chamber 
of  the  Town  Hall  where  addresses  were  presented  to  the 
Bishop  by  the  Mayor  (Mr.  Henry  Lee)  from  the  Mayor, 
Aldermen,  and  Burgesses  of  Wakefield ;  by  Colonel 
Spencer  Stanhope,  C.B.,  from  the  laity  of  the  Rural 
Deanery  of  Silkstone,  and  by  Canon  Ingham  Brooke  (as 
senior  rural  dean)  from  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  diocese 
at  large. 

The  great  feature  of  the  day,  never  to  be  forgotten  by 
those  who  witnessed  it,  was  the  procession  from  the 
Town  Hall  to  the  Cathedral.  This  covered  the  entire 
distance  between  the  two  buildings,  and  passed  through 
two  densely  packed  lines  of  sightseers,  while  every 
window  en  route  was  occupied,  and  the  roofs  of  the 
houses  were  utilised  by  more  adventurous  spectators. 
The  sermon  at  the  service  was  preached  by  the  Arch- 
bishop, who,  in  commending  their  new  Bishop  to  his 
hearers  said  : 

"  Now  he  is  called  among  you.  Welcome  him.  Take  him  to 
your  hearts.  Bishops  have  gone  through  various  preparations : 
some  have  been  students ;  some  have  spent  their  time  in  academic 
leisure;  some  have  been  priests.  The  training  he  has  gone 
through  has  been,  if  I  may  reverently  say  so,  nearer  to  the  training 


Wakefield — Organisation,  etc.  249 

of  Christ  Himself  during  His  painful  ministry  than  any  other 
could  be." 

A  movement  had  been  early  set  on  foot  to  present  the 
Bishop  with  a  pastoral  staff.  Thus,  on  May  4,  1888,  in 
the  course  of  a  letter  to  Canon  Ingham  Brooke,  he  says  : 

"  As  to  the  staff,  I  think,  if  given  to  the  diocese  by  the 
laity,  it  would  be  very  nice." 

It  was  not,  however,  till  the  following  April  that  the 
presentation  was  actually  made.  A  gathering  was  held  at 
the  Church  Institution,  Wakefield,  presided  over  by  Mr. 
J.  A.  Brooke,  of  Fenay  Hall,  Huddersfield,  and  the  staff, 
which  was  of  exquisite  design  and  workmanship,  was 
given  to  the  Bishop  for  his  use  and  that  of  his  successors. 
The  words  with  which  the  Latin  inscription  on  the  staff 
closed,  "  Pasce  verbo,  pasce  vita"  (Feed  with  the  word, 
feed  with  the  life  "),  were  chosen  by  the  Bishop  himself, 
who,  in  returning  thanks  to  the  laity  for  what  he 
described  as  "  this  noble  gift  to  the  See,"  said  that  this 
extract  from  the  writings  of  St.  Bernard  had  long  been 
printed  on  his  memory. 

In  the  original  draft  of  the  Bishopric,  it  was  proposed 
to  have  only  one  Archdeaconry.  On  hearing  of  this. 
Canon  Ingham  Brooke,  who  knew  the  impossibility  of 
the  whole  work  being  adequately  done  by  one  Archdeacon, 
got  a  memorial  signed  by  every  incumbent  in  the  diocese 
(except  two  or  three,  who  were  absent)  and  presented  to 
the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners.  This  memorial  was 
actually  prepared,  signed,  and  presented  in  three  days. 
The  result  was  the  foundation  of  two  Archdeaconries, 
instead  of  the  one  originally  proposed. 

The  following  letters  refer  to  this  early  organisation  of 
the  diocese  : 


250  Bishop  Walsham  How 

[To  Canon  Ingham  Brooke.] 

''TH0RNHILL,y2/;/V  30,   1888. 

"  My  dear  Brooke, 

"  I  have  had  the  draft  scheme  for  the  diocese  from 
the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  and  have  returned 
it.  .  .  . 

"  The  two  Archdeaconries  are  all  right,  so  that  we  may 
consider  that  practically  settled. 

"  I  want  you,  please,  to  be  Archdeacon  of  Halifax,  which 
will  give  you  the  three  deaneries  of  Halifax,  Birstall,  and 
Dewsbury.  .  . 

"  I  have  waited  as  to  Rural  Deans  till  this  was  settled,  as 
I  must  recommission  the  old  ones,  and  appoint  new 
ones  for  Dewsbury  and  Wakefield. 

"  I  have  quite  made  up  my  mind  not  to  ask  the  clergy  to> 
elect  Rural  Deans,  as  1  have  seen  within  the  last  fortnight 
a  case  in  London  in  which  that  plan  produced  party 
spirit  and  intrigue,  and  ended  in  securing  the  wrong 
man,  and  I  am  told  this  is  not  unusual.  At  any  rate, 
you  generally  get  a  discontented  minority.  .  .  . 
Affectionately  yours, 

"Wm.  walsham  WAKEFIELD." 

[To  the  same."] 

"Wakefield,  August 6,  1888. 

"I  think  a  Commission  to  report  on  the  spiritual 
needs  of  the  diocese  is  almost  indispensable.  It  has  been 
most  useful  in  East  London. 

"  I  shall  not  change  my  mind  about  the  Archdeaconry, 
...  It  is  very  good  of  you  to  be  so  willing  to  give  up 
the  post  to  another,  but  I  cannot  do  without  you.  ...    I 


Wakefield — Organisation,  etc.  251 

think  and  hope  Norris  will  say  '  Yes '  to-morrow.     It  is 
aggravating  to  leave  before  hearing." 

This  letter  makes  reference  to  two  most  important 
matters.  First  of  all,  to  the  appointment  to  the  Commis- 
sion from  which  sprang  the  Bishop's  Appeal  Fund,  of 
which  more  hereafter,  and,  secondly,  to  the  coming  into 
the  diocese  of  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Norris. 

The  living  of  Almondbury,  near  Huddersfield,  fell 
vacant,  and  Sir  John  Ramsden,  the  patron,  kindly 
consulted  the  Bishop  as  to  the  future  Vicar.  After  the 
offer  had  been  made  to  several  clergy  and  refused,  Mr. 
Norris's  name  was  suggested  by  the  Bishop  for  the  post. 
He  was  already  one  of  the  Examining  Chaplains,  and, 
being  connected  with  the  Bishop  by  the  marriage  of  his 
sister  to  one  of  the  Bishop's  sons,  he  was  quite  one  of  the 
family,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  Bishop  Walsham 
How  learnt  to  love  him  and  depend  upon  him  to  almost  as 
great  an  extent  as  he  did  upon  his  own  son,  the  Rev.  H. 
W.  How,  who  was  shortly  to  enter  the  diocese  as  Vicar 
of  Mirfield.  He  (Rev.  H.  W.  How)  was  presented  to 
this  living  by  Mrs.  Ingham,  and  his  residence  there  was 
the  greatest  comfort  and  support  to  the  Bishop  during 
his  last  years. 

The  Commission,  to  which  allusion  was  made  above, 
was  issued  on  January  25,  1889,  in  the  following  form  : 

"We,  William  Walsham,  by  divine  permission  Bishop 
of  Wakefield,  send  greeting. 

"Whereas  it  appears  to  us  that  for  the  development 
and  strengthening  of  the  Church  in  the  Diocese  of 
Wakefield,  with  its  vast  and  increasing  population,  largely 
increased  efforts  are  urgently  needed  ;  and  whereas  we 
have  commended  to  the  Church  people  of  the  Diocese 


252  Bishop  Walsham  How 

several  Diocesan  Societies  organised  for  the  support  of 
Church  Extension,  Church  Education,  and  the  greater 
efficiency  of  the  Clerical  Staff,  and  many  liberal  sub- 
scriptions have  been  promised  towards  these  societies  ; 
we  are  anxious  to  obtain  from  those  best  able  to  advise 
us  reliable  information  as  to  the  special  needs  of  the 
Diocese,  in  order  that  the  funds  contributed  may  be 
wisely  and  beneficially  administered. 

"  We  therefore  request  and  direct  you,  the  Clergy  and 
Laity  above  named,  to  inquire  and  examine  into  the 
wants  and  requirements  of  the  Diocese  under  the  several 
heads  specified  in  an  annexed  schedule,  and  to  report  to 
us  in  writing  the  result  of  your  inquiries  and  deliberations." 

This  Commission  was  issued  to  the  Archdeacons  and 
Rural  Deans,  together  with  six  representative  clergy  and 
sixteen  laymen. 

In  the  following  year  the  Commissioners  issued  their 
report,  which  the  Bishop  in  the  "Appeal"  he  put  out 
shortly  afterwards  said  that  he  had  studied  almost  with 
dismay. 

The  following  were  the  chief  recommendations  : 

I.  Five  entirely  new  Parishes. 

II.  Twelve  Chapels  of  Ease,  or,  in  other  words,  second 
churches,  in  twelve  parishes. 

III.  Thirty-four  Mission  Churches,  or  Mission  Rooms. 

IV.  Additional  Clergy  in  twenty-seven  parishes,  and  at 
least  Lay  Readers  in  seventeen  others. 

V.  The  raising  of  all  benefices  to  at  least  ;£2oo  a  year, 
a  list  being  given  of  eleven  which  were  of  less  than  that 
value. 

VI.  A  Pension  Scheme  to  enable  old  and  infirm  clergy 
to  resign. 


Wakefield — Organisation,  etc.  253 

VII.  The  making  all  Church  Schools  and  buildings 
thoroughly  good  and  efficient. 

The  report  concludes  with  the  recommendation  of  a 
large  Central  Fund  to  deal  with  the  extraordinary- 
deficiencies  which  the  inquiry  had  brought  to  light, 
which  fund  the  Commissioners  trusted  would  receive 
willing  and  generous  support  throughout  the  diocese. 
They  were  the  more  confident  that  this  expectation 
would  be  realised  since  they  knew  how  deep  and 
universal  was  the  gratification  with  which  the  diocese 
had  heard  that  the  Bishop  had  considered  it  to  be  a  duty 
to  decline  the  great  Bishopric  of  Durham. 

It  is  scarcely  surprising  that  in  the  face  of  such  a 
formidable  list  of  recommendations  the  Bishop  should  in 
his  Appeal  have  said  : 

"And  how  is  all  this  to  be  achieved  ?  I  do  not  know. 
But  I  pray  God  to  put  it  into  the  hearts  of  His  people  to 
do  far,  far  more  than  they  have  yet  done,  or  have  thought 
of  doing,  for  the  great  cause.  There  must  be  generosity. 
Nay,  more,  there  must  be  sacrifice.  I  do  not  think  I  shall 
appeal  to  Yorkshire  Churchmen  quite  in  vain. 

"  May  I  remind  the  diocese  of  one  danger  ?  I  have  no 
doubt  that,  as  various  schemes  are  taken  up,  much  local 
interest  will  be  aroused,  and  much  local  liberality  will  be 
evoked.     This  is  well  .... 

"  But  there  may  be  selfishness  in  this,  nevertheless,  and 
I  hope  earnestly  that  it  will  not  be  forgotten  that  a  large 
central  fund  will  be  needed,  from  which  grants  may  be 
made  to  the  most  necessitous  places." 

This  warning  was  not  superfluous.  Great  numbers  of 
the  towns  in  the  Diocese  of  Wakefield  are  of  rapid  and 
recent  growth,  and  one  of  the  tendencies  of  this  fact  has 


254  Bishop  Walsham  How 

been  to  promote  a  rivalry  essentially  selfish.  Any  one 
whose  business  takes  him  into  that  part  of  England  will 
be  struck  with  the  fact  that  almost  every  one  of  the 
smaller,  and  newer,  and  more  depressing-looking  towns 
possesses  a  gorgeous  town-hall.  It  is  said  that  the 
magnificence  of  these  buildings,  in  most  cases  out  of  all 
proportion  to  their  surroundings,  is  due  to  the  spirit  of 
rivalry  :  not  that  the  inhabitants  really  care  to  have  a 
splendid  building  in  their  town,  but  that  they  cannot  bear 
that  a  neighbouring  place  should  have  a  better  one.  It 
rhas  been  rumoured  that  a  feeling  of  this  sort  has  even 
been  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  project  of  enlarging  the 
Cathedral  at  Wakefield,  though  it  is  difficult  to  conceive 
such  narrow  pettiness  existing  among  Church  people,  or 
such  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  a  cathedral  is  not  a  local 
possession  so  much  as  a  diocesan,  and  not  even  more 
diocesan  than  it  is  national  in  its  character. 

But  to  return  to  the  Appeal  Fund  by  which  the  Bishop 
hoped  to  be  able  to  supply  the  deficiencies  pointed  out  in 
the  Report.  "  I  feel  sure,"  he  said,  "  that  we  ought  not  to 
aim  at  a  less  capital  sum  than  ;^5o,ooo."  This  was,  con- 
sidering the  wealth  of  the  diocese,  a  very  moderate  amount 
for  which  to  ask.  Several  exceedingly  generous  gifts 
were  immediately  made,  noticeably  one  of  ;^5ooo  towards 
the  needs  of  the  Church  in  Heckmondwike.  This  was 
given  by  the  late  Mr.  Wheatley-Balme,  who  had  no  interest 
in  that  parish  beyond  a  knowledge  of  its  needs,  and 
thereby  set  a  splendid  example  of  disinterested  generosity. 
This  excellent  start  was  most  encouraging,  but  it  was 
not  as  warmly  followed  up  as  the  Bishop  had  hoped,  the 
larger  proportion  of  the  gifts  coming  from  the  few  whose 
generous  support  of  the  Church  might  be  invariably 
depended  upon.     He  lived,  however,  to  see  several  of  the 


Wakefield — Organisation,  etc.  255 

new  parishes  formed,  and  not  a  few  of  the  additional 
churches  and  mission  rooms  erected. 

One  of  the  earlier  acts  of  the  Bishop  with  a  view  to 
organising  the  work  of  the  diocese  was  to  summon  a 
Synod  of  the  Clergy.  This  gathering  assembled  on 
April  29,  1889,  upwards  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  being 
present.  The  clergy  met  in  the  Church  Institution  at 
Wakefield,  and  proceeded  to  the  Cathedral  at  10.30  a.m., 
where  a  choral  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion  was 
held,  the  Bishop  being  celebrant.  At  the  conclusion  of 
this  service  the  choir  withdrew,  and  the  Bishop  delivered 
a  charge  to  the  clergy  on  such  subjects  as  the  personal 
holiness  and  activity  of  the  clergy,  the  use  of  daily 
services,  and  divisions  in  the  Church.  In  the  course  of 
his  remarks  he  took  occasion  to  condemn  the  prosecution 
of  Ritualists. 

In  the  afternoon  the  Synod  assembled  for  conference, 
and  the  following  subjects  were  discussed  : 

I.  Diocesan  Conference.  Rules  and  standing  orders 
being  adopted. 

II.  Purity. 

III.  Divorce. 

This  Synod  will  be  long  remembered  by  all  present  as 
one  of  the  most  important  starting-points  of  Church  work 
in  the  diocese. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

WAKEFIELD— THE  SEE  HOUSE 

The  first  few  years  of  the  period  during  which  Dr. 
Walsham  How  held  the  Bishopric  of  Wakefield  were 
rendered  more  uncomfortable  than  seemed  necessary  by 
various  vexatious  difficulties  as  to  a  residence. 

This  matter  is  treated  here  at  some  length,  both  because 
it  occupied  so  much  of  the  Bishop's  time,  and  also 
because  it  is  of  special  interest  from  the  fact  that  Bishop- 
garth  was  the  first  See  house  actually  built  from  the 
foundations  since  the  Reformation. 

The  ladies  of  the  Ripon  Diocese  (out  of  which  that  of 
Wakefield  was  carved)  had,  under  the  leadership  of  Mrs. 
Boyd-Carpenter,  wife  of  the  bishop,  raised  a  sum  of 
^10,000  for  the  purchase  of  a  house.  But  the  question 
arose  whether  a  house  must  be  provided  before  the  final 
creation  of  the  See,  or  whether  a  body  of  guarantors 
might,  having  first  pledged  themselves  to  raise  the 
episcopal  income  by  ;^5oo  per  annum  in  five  years'  time 
if  no  house  were  provided,  be  released  from  their 
guarantee  upon  their  presenting  a  house  approved  by 
the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners  any  time  within  the  five 
years. 

The  episcopal  income  of  ;^3ooo  per  annum  had  been 
raised,  but  before  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners  would 


Wakefield — The  See  House  257 

sign  the  certificate  necessary  for  the  formation  of  the  new- 
diocese  the  guarantee  about  the  house  had  to  be  signed. 
There  had  been  considerable  difficulty  in  connection  with 
this  very  subject  on  the  formation  of  one  of  the  more 
recently  founded  bishoprics.  Possibly  owing  to  this  fact 
being  known,  or  possibly  owing  to  the  natural  caution  of 
the  dwellers  in  the  West  Riding,  the  four  guarantors 
required  were  not  to  be  found  ! 

Those  readers  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
the  Wakefield  Diocese  up  to  the  present  time  will  ncrt  be 
surprised  to  hear  that  in  this  emergency  Archdeacon 
Brooke  and  his  brother  Mr.  John  Arthur  Brooke  came 
forward  and  offered  themselves  as  two  of  the  number.  A 
third  was  found  in  the  person  of  the  late  Mr.  Wheatley- 
Balme,  of  Mirfield.  To  these  three  men,  together  with 
Mr.  Wm.  Brooke,  brother  of  the  first  named,  the  Diocese 
of  Wakefield  owes  so  much  both  of  moral  and  financial 
support  that  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  they  made 
smooth  much  of  the  path  of  the  first  Bishop,  and  that  the 
diocese  would  be  in  a  very  different  position  to-day  had 
it  not  been  for  their  loyal  assistance. 

But  a  fourth  guarantor  had  yet  to  be  found.  Several 
leading  Wakefield  gentlemen  were  asked,  but  declined — 
a  fact  which  caused  additional  soreness  when,  later  on, 
the  very  men  who  refused  to  incur  any  responsibility 
agitated  against  the  decision  of  the  guarantors  to 
purchase  the  house  at  Mirfield  hereafter  referred  to.  In 
this  difficulty  the  Bishop,  who  was  most  anxious  that  no 
unnecessary  delay  should  occur  in  the  settlement  of  the 
preliminaries,  himself  became  the  fourth  guarantor.  It 
was  perhaps  not  much  to  the  credit  of  Yorkshire  Church- 
men that  he  should  have  been  allowed  to  do  so. 

The  matter  being  in  this  way  settled,  time  was  given 

R 


258  Bishop  Walsham  How 

for  a  leisurely  search  for  a  suitable  house,  and  the  Bishop 
rented  temporarily  a  house  of  Mr.  M.  E.  Sanderson's  in 
the  South  Parade,  Wakefield. 

A  little  incident  connected  with  the  actual  arrival  of 
the  Bishop  to  live  in  Wakefield  must  be  related  here. 

When  in  East  London,  he  used  generally  to  have 
luncheon  with  Dr.  Gordon  Browne  on  those  Sundays 
when  he  was  preaching  at  St.  Andrew's  Undershaft. 
Here  he  had  made  friends  with  a  little  niece  of  Dr. 
Browne's  who  often  stayed  at  the  house.  On  the  Bishop's 
first  coming  to  the  South  Parade,  Wakefield,  feeling  a 
little  of  the  loneliness  which  always  accompanies  the  first 
sight  of  a  new  home,  whom  should  he  see,  standing  on 
the  steps  of  the  very  next  house,  but  his  little  friend 
Phyllis,  whom  he  had  not  connected  in  any  way  with 
Wakefield,  and  whose  glad  welcome  did  much  to  cheer 
him  !  It  turned  out  that  she  was  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Lett, 
afterwards  to  become  the  Bishop's  valued  physician,  and 
the  Bishop  often  told  of  his  delight  at  finding  a  child- 
friend  ready  to  greet  him  on  his  arrival. 

During  the  first  few  months  a  number  of  houses  and 
sites  were  inspected  in  and  immediately  round  the  city, 
but  for  various  reasons  they  none  of  them  seemed  prac- 
ticable. It  was  not  until  the  Bishop  had  been  for  some 
little  time  at  work  in  the  diocese  that  he  began  to  doubt 
whether  Wakefield  was  really  the  best  place  for  a  see- 
house.  The  diocese  is  shaped  somewhat  like  a  fan, 
Wakefield  being  at  the  end  of  the  handle.  The  two  large 
centres  of  population  are  the  towns  of  Halifax  and 
Huddersfield  with  their  surrounding  parishes,  and  to 
these  places  there  were  scarcely  any  trains  from  Wake- 
field by  which  it  was  not  necessary  to  change.  Mirfield 
Junction,  gloomiest  and  draughtiest  of  stations,  saw  the 


Wakefield — The  See  House  259 

Bishop  day  after  day,  and  night  after  night,  waiting  about 
on  its  platforms,  and  it  soon  became  apparent  to  him 
that,  were  it  possible  to  find  a  house  near  to  that  place,  it 
would  save  him  much  time  and  much  exposure,  besides 
being  far  more  central  for  the  clergy  from  all  parts  of  the 
diocese  to  visit  him. 

Before  long  such  a  house  was  discovered,  admirably 
suited  in  every  way,  and  at  a  price  within  the  sum  which 
the  guarantors  had  at  their  disposal.  An  additional 
advantage  was  the  offer  made  by  a  neighbouring  solicitor 
to  give  ;^5oo  for  the  building  of  a  chapel  should  this 
house  be  purchased.  A  very  large  portion  of  the  diocese 
could  have  been  reached  by  driving  from  this  centre,  and 
at  the  Bishop's  time  of  life  it  would  have  been  an  ines- 
timable boon  could  he  have  thus  been  relieved  of  some 
of  the  wear  and  tear  necessitated  by  living  at  Wakefield. 

However,  this  was  not  to  be.  The  Wakefield  people, 
thinking  more,  perhaps,  of  their  wish  to  have  their  Bishop 
living  among  them  than  of  the  general  advancement  of 
the  work  of  the  diocese  or  of  the  convenience  of  the 
Bishop,  determined  to  oppose  the  purchase  of  this  house 
in  every  possible  way.  They  held  a  great  meeting,  of 
which  the  Bishop  wrote  : 

"  The  meeting  yesterday  was  very  warm,  I  am  told,  and 
I  am  to  be  memorialised  as  well  as  the  Ecclesiastical 
Commissioners." 

A  strong  deputation  waited  upon  this  latter  body,  with 
the  result  that,  when  the  question  was  argued  before  them, 
the  Commissioners  decided  that  the  house  must  be  either 
in  or  near  Wakefield. 

It  would,  of  course,  have  been  an  added  pleasure  to 
the  Bishop  had  he  been  able  to  live  at  Mirfield,  to  have 


26o  Bishop  Walsham  How 

been  not  more  than  a  mile  or  two  from  his  son,  who  was 
Vicar  there,  though  anything  more  absurd  or  insulting 
than  the  opinion  freely  printed  in  the  Wakefield  papers, 
that  the  Bishop  only  wanted  to  go  and  live  near  his  son, 
can  hardly  be  imagined,  and  certainly  proved  that  the 
Wakefield  people  had  not  begun  to  understand  their 
Bishop  yet ! 

Immediately  after  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners' 
meeting,  which  he  attended,  Dr.  Walsham  How  went  to 
the  Great  Northern  Hotel,  and,  while  waiting  for  his 
train,  wrote  to  tell  the  news  to  his  son. 

[To  Rev.  H.  W.  How.] 

"/u/y  i8,  1889. 

"  Dearest  Harry, 

"  I  want  a  good  down-right  cry,  and  feel  as  if   I 

must  have  one,  if  I  find  myself  alone  in  the  train  just  now. 

Hall  Croft  [the  Mirfield  house]  is  over  !     I  am  forbidden 

to  make  known  the  resolution,  as  it  is  only  provisional, 

and  must  be  confirmed  next  week,  but  I  may  tell  you 

that  all  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners  were  against  us. 

I  must  try  and  bear  it  as  cheerfully  as  I  can,  but  it  is  a 

heavy   blow.      I    am    to    be    tied   to   Wakefield   or   its 

neighbourhood. 

"  Your  loving  Father, 

"W.W.  w." 

Meantime,  the  Bishop  had  left  the  house  in  South 
Parade,  Wakefield,  for  Overthorpe,  in  the  Parish  of 
Thornhill,  about  six  miles  from  the  city,  and  here  he 
spent  three  and  a  half  years  until  the  house,  which  was 
ultimately  built  at  Wakefield,  was  ready. 

He  had  not  been  here  more  than  a  couple  of  months 


Wakefield — The  See  House  261 

when,  in  November  1889,  the  Mayor  of  Wakefield 
(Alderman  Benjamin  Watson)  most  generously  offered 
a  site  for  a  See  house  on  some  property  he  possessed  at 
a  considerable  distance  from  Wakefield  in  the  direction 
of  Horbury.  There  were  those  who  thought  that  this 
offer  ought  to  be  accepted,  arguing  that  a  bishop  ought 
not  to  be  too  accessible,  and  that  the  days  might  return 
when  a  Bishop  of  Wakefield  would  prefer  to  lead  a 
quieter  and  more  studious  life,  further  from  railways  and 
their  hurry  and  bustle,  than  was  the  fashion  of  the  present 
times.  But  this  did  not  at  all  suit  the  ideas  of  Bishop 
Walsham  How,  and,  when  a  deputation  of  Wakefield 
gentlemen  waited  upon  him  on  the  subject,  he  told  them 
that,  while  he  was  most  grateful  for  the  offer,  the  long 
distance  from  a  station,  entailing  for  himself  a  consider- 
able drive,  and  for  clergy  who  wished  to  see  him  a  large 
expense  in  cab  hire,  was  fatal  to  the  proposed  site.  He 
was  able  to  add  that  he  had  already  informed  the  mayor 
of  this ;  and  that  he  (the  mayor)  had  most  generously 
promised  to  help  to  provide  a  residence  in  any  other 
place,  provided  it  were  in  or  near  Wakefield. 

It  was  generally  felt  that,  as  the  Wakefield  people  had 
practically  prevented  the  Bishop  from  acquiring  the  house 
he  desired  near  Mirfield,  it  devolved  upon  them  to  secure 
a  site  in  their  own  city,  and  for  this  object  a  committee 
was  formed,  the  ultimate  result  of  whose  labours  was  the 
acquisition  of  the  site  in  St.  John's  parish  where  the 
Bishop's  house  now  stands,  and  the  presentation  of  it  to 
the  See. 

Unfortunately,  a  considerable  piece  of  ground — two 
and  a  half  acres — adjoining  the  site  had  not  been 
acquired  at  the  same  time,  and  it  soon  became  obvious 
that,  if  this  were  built  upon,  it  would  greatly  destroy  the 


262  Bishop  Walsham  How 

eligibility  of  the  whole  position.     Mr.  Foster,  then  Vicar 
of  St.  John's,  took  the  matter  up,  and  mainly  owing  to  his 
exertions  the  extra  ;^988  was  raised,  and  the  two  and  a 
half  acres  were  added  to  the  grounds. 
Writing  on  this  subject  the  Bishop  said  : 

"OvERTHORPE,  Thornhill,  November  4,^  1891. 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Foster, 

"  It  is  indeed  good  of  you  to  think  of  trying  to  help 
in  securing  what  it  is  plain  would  be  a  boon  to  the  See 
for  ever  ....  I  hate  the  thought  of  anybody  doing  any- 
thing more  for  the  bishopric  when  so  much  has  been 
done.  The  only  people  I  should  not  be  sorry  to  tax  are 
those  who  prevented  the  Ecclesiastical  Commissioners 
from  accepting  Hall  Croft,  and  forced  us  to  build  at 
Wakefield  ....  I  value  much  your  kind  interest  in  the 
house  we  hope,  God  willing,  to  inhabit  ere  long. 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"Wm.  walsham  WAKEFIELD." 

The  amount  was  quickly  raised,  as  the  following  letters 
relate  : 

"OvERTHORPE,  Thornhill,  November  g,  1891. 

"  Dear  Mr.  Foster, 

"The  exceedingly  kind  interest  you  and  Mrs. 
Foster  have  taken  in  the  matter  of  the  extra  land  at  the 
new  house  at  Wakefield  makes  me  want  to  open  my  heart 
to  you  about  it.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  I  dislike 
seeming  to  wish  to  make  the  place  larger  or  more  pre- 
tentious in  any  way.  I  hate  the  name  *  palace,'  and  for 
myself  I  should  not  the  least  mind  the  ground  being 
smaller,  and  other  houses  being  built  on  the  extra  part 


Wakefield— The  See  House  263 

now  in  question.     But  I  know  I  could  get  hardly  any  one 

to   feel  with   me,  and  perhaps   it  is  right  to  accept  the 

general  verdict,  especially  as  I  am  planning  for  the  future, 

and  cannot  myself  expect  to  occupy  the  house  for  long. 

.  .  .  One  generous  layman,  not  connected  with  Wakefield, 

has  said  he  will  give  ;^2oo  rather  than  that  the  land  should 

be  lost,  and  I  will  give  ;^ioo.  .  .  .  My  prayer  is  simply 

that  what   is   best  for  the  good  of  the  diocese  may  be 

done. 

"  Gratefully  yours, 

"Wm.  VV^ALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 

"OvERTHORPE,  Thornhill,  November  10,  1891. 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Foster, 

"  I  only  wish  I  deserved  such  kindness.  The 
matter  is  all  but  practically  settled  !  Another  ;^ioo  is  all 
that  is  really  needed  now.  I  do  not  know  how  to  thank 
you  enough.     But  one  lifts  one's  thanks  higher  still. 

"  Gratefully  yours, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 

On  the  site  thus  generously  provided  and  augmented,  a 
house  began  to  rise  designed  by  Mr.  William  White, 
F.S.A.,  of  Wimpole  Street.  The  Bishop  had  roughly 
sketched  out  his  requirements,  which  were,  as  may  be 
imagined,  of  a  thoroughly  practical  kind,  his  desire  being 
for  a  house  which  should  be  sufficiently  comfortable  as 
a  residence,  but  which  should  be  in  the  first  place  adapted 
for  the  accommodation  of  candidates  and  for  the  general 
business  of  a  bishop's  life.  To  this  end  a  good  library 
with  a  chaplain's  study  immediately  adjoining  was  an 
essential,  as  were  also  a  large  room  for  examinations, 
and  a  number  of  tiny  bedrooms  for  the  occupation  of 


264  Bishop  Walsham  How 

candidates  for  Orders.  In  these  last  an  ingenious  device 
of  the  Bishop's  own  was  placed  in  order  to  save  labour. 
The  little  bath  in  each  room  was  constructed  in  such  a 
manner  that  it  could  be  tilted  up  against  the  wall,  the 
water  being  at  the  same  time  emptied  into  the  rainwater 
pipes  outside.  The  Bishop  would  frequently  take  visitors 
into  these  rooms  to  show  them  this  little  invention,  which 
answered  its  purpose  perfectly. 

The  chapel,  opening  out  of  the  hall,  was  unfortunately 
in  some  degree  spoiled  by  the  discovery  that,  if  it  were 
built  on  the  lines  originally  laid  down,  the  east  wall  would 
be  far  too  near  the  edge  of  the  pillar  of  coal  on  which 
the  house  stood.  The  length  of  the  chapel  had  therefore 
to  be  reduced  by  some  ten  feet.  In  spite  of  this  it  was 
large  enough  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  required, 
and  was  beautifully  furnished,  partly  with  the  ;^5oo  which 
his  East  London  friends  had  given  to  the  Bishop  for  the 
purpose,  and  partly  by  private  gifts. 

The  foundation  stone  of  the  chapel  was  laid  on 
October  24,  1891,  by  Mrs.  Boyd-Carpenter,  and  a 
memorial  stone  on  the  north  wall  bears  the  following 
inscription  : 

Ad  majorem  Dei  gloriam,  sumptus  harum  aedium 

conferendos,  necnon  Lapidem  quern  videtis 

ponendum  curavit 

boni  cujuslibet  operis  adjutrix  indefessa 

A.  M.  Boyd  Carpenter, 

Episc.  Riponensis  uxor. 

Die  xxiv.  Oct.  mdcccxci. 

Towards  the  close  of  1892  the  house  drew  near  to 
completion,  and  for  some  months  the  Bishop  had  to 
endure  a  persecution  which  would  have  made  a  less 
humble  and  patient  man  do  what  the  Bishop  was  forced 


Wakefield — The  See  House  265 

to  say  he  might  be  driven  to  do — viz.,  to  leave  the  new 
house  standing  empty  and  seek  a  residence  in  some  other 
part  of  the  diocese. 

There  had  been  sundry  extortionate  demands  made 
already  from  time  to  time — demands  which  would  never 
have  been  ventured  upon  had  it  not  been  known  that 
Bishop  Walsham  How  would  rather  pay  anything,  and 
suffer  anything,  than  resort  to  a  law  suit.  But  the  people 
of  Wakefield,  with  the  exception,  of  course,  of  the  better 
disposed,  were  bitterly  disappointed  with  the  result  of 
their  successful  endeavour  to  force  the  Bishop  to  live  at 
Wakefield.  They  knew  nothing  about  the  requirements 
of  a  See  house.  But  they  had  evidently  expected  a 
magnificent  "palace,"  and  one  expression  used  in  a 
local  paper  will  give  an  idea  of  the  terrible  downfall  of 
their  hopes.  It  was  actually  suggested  that  a  high  mound 
ought  to  have  been  raised,  and  an  edifice  after  the  style  of 
Haddon  Hall  erected  upon  it !  How  little  the  people 
understood  the  ideal  of  a  humble  life,  serving  the  Church 
of  God,  which  their  Bishop  had  set  before  him  I  But  the 
torrent  of  abuse  of  his  new  house  was  not  hard  to  bear, 
considering  whence  it  came.  The  climax  was  arrived  at, 
when  the  City  Council,  relying  on  some  obsolete  by-laws, 
for  some  weeks  put  the  Bishop  to  enormous  inconvenience 
by  refusing  to  allow  him  to  occupy  the  house,  as  it  did 
not  conform  to  their  rules.  In  due  course  it  was 
discovered  that  the  by-laws  had  long  ago  been  over- 
ridden by  Act  of  Parliament,  and  after  a  couple  of  slight 
alterations  had  been  made  the  Bishop  was  permitted  to 
take  possession.  It  will  scarcely  be  credited  that  Bishop 
Walsham  How,  whose  memory  is,  there  can  be  little 
doubt,  revered  to-day  by  the  greater  number  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Wakefield,  should  have  been,  as  one  paper 


266  Bishop  Walsham  How 

put  it,  "so  unfairly  and  discourteously  treated"  on  his 
arrival  to  occupy  the  house  which  Wakefield  had  forced 
him  to  build.  The  probability  is  that  the  cause  of  this 
display  of  feeling  was  twofold  :  in  the  first  place  the  dis- 
appointment caused  by  the  sort  of  house  erected,  and  in 
the  second  place  a  feeling  of  resentment  at  the  employ- 
ment of  an  architect  from  a  distance. 

One  word  is  necessary  as  to  the  name  chosen  for  the 
house.  The  Bishop  was  anxious  to  have  a  name  that  would 
be  suitable  to  the  locality,  and  many  were  suggested,  such  as 
"Bishoproyd,"  "Bishopcroft,"  &c.  &c.  Finally,  Dr.  Skeat 
of  Cambridge  was  consulted,  and  by  his  advice  "  Bishop- 
garth  "  was  selected,  "  garth  "  being  the  Norse  and  Anglican 
form  of  the  word  which  is  usually  spelt  "  yard."  Dr.  Skeat 
explained  that  "  Bishoproyd "  would  be  an  eminently 
unsuitable  name,  for  a  "  royd "  is  a  "  clearing "  :  thus, 
"  Ackroyd  "  is  a  "  clearing  among  oaks  "  ;  "  Bishoproyd  " 
would  therefore  mean  that  bishops  had  been  cleared 
away  to  make  room  for  the  house  ! 

An  event  had  taken  place  -early  in  the  previous  year 
(1892)  which  added  greatly  to  the  pleasure  with  which 
the  Bishop  looked  forward  to  occupying  his  new  home. 
On  a  vacancy  occurring  in  the  Vicarage  of  Wakefield  the 
Crown,  the  patrons  on  that  occasion,  had  appointed  an 
old  friend  of  his,  the  Rev.  William  Donne,  Vicar  of  Great 
Yarmouth,  to  the  living,  and  also  to  the  Archdeaconry 
of  Huddersfield.  Mr.  Donne's  father  had  been  an  old 
neighbour  of  Dr.  Walsham  How  in  Shropshire,  and  Mr. 
Donne  had  thus  been  known  to  him  from  boyhood,  and 
had  at  a  later  date,  when  Vicar  of  Limehouse,  worked 
under  him  in  East  London.  To  have  Archdeacon  and 
Mrs.  Donne  for  close  neighbours  and  fellow  workers,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  valuable  staff  of  clergy  which  were 


Wakefield — The  See  House  267 

always  maintained  at  the  Cathedral  Clergy  House,  proA^ed 
a  great  comfort  and  support  to  the  Bishop  during  his 
four  years'  residence  at  Bishopgarth.  The  following 
letter  exhibits  the  feelings  with  which  he  welcomed 
them  : 

''Private. 

**  OvERTHORPE,  Thornhill,  yb«^^ary  Hj  1892. 

"My  dear  William, 

"  I  have  this  morning  had  a  strictly  private  com- 
munication from  Mr.  Balfour,  the  purport  of  which  you 
will  already  know.  I  cannot  resist  writing  one  line  by 
the  earliest  post  to  say  how  very  earnestly  I  hope  you 
may  be  able  to  think  favourably  of  the  offer.  Unhappily 
it  is  a  poor  thing  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  but  it  is  a 
post  of  much  influence  and  importance,  and  also  at  the 
present  time  one  requiring  no  little  of  that  tact  and 
wisdom  which  you  have  shown  at  Limehouse  and  at 
Yarmouth.  We  are  said  to  be  cold  up  here,  but  certainly 
the  winters,  since  I  came,  have  been  colder  in  the  south 
than  here,  and  we  find  the  climate  extremely  healthy.  I 
think  Mrs.  Donne  would  not  find  it  so  trying  as  the  cold 
East  Coast. 

"  God  guide  you  aright. 

"  Your  affectionate  old  friend, 

••Wm.  WALSHAM  V^AKEFIELD." 

Soon  after  Easter  in  1893  the  Bishop  settled  in,  but  it 
was  not  until  the  following  July  that  the  house-warming 
proper  took  place.  A  great  bazaar  had  been  organised 
for  the  Church  of  England  Society  for  providing  Homes 
for  Waifs  and  Strays,  of  which  Society  the  Bishop  was 
Chairman,  and  a  Home  for  Waif  Boys  had  been  established 


268  Bishop  Walsham  How 

very  near  to  Bishopgarth.  Under  these  circumstances 
Bishop  Walsham  How  ventured  to  invite  Princess 
Christian  to  come  and  stay  with  him  to  open  the  bazaar,  to 
inaugurate  the  Bede  Home  (as  the  Home  for  Waif  Boys 
was  called),  and  to  give  a  royal  house-warming  to  his 
new  home.  His  invitation  was  graciously  accepted,  and 
Wakefield  gave  a  hearty  welcome  to  the  Princess. 
Whether  it  was  the  effect  of  this  visit,  or  whether  it  was 
that  Wakefield  people  began  to  know  their  Bishop  better, 
from  this  time  forward  he  was  allowed  to  live  in  peace. 
It  must  not  be  for  a  moment  supposed  that  the  better 
disposed  and  more  cultivated  people  in  Wakefield  were 
amongst  those  who  made  the  Bishop's  coming  to  live  in 
the  city  an  unpleasant  episode.  There  were  very  many 
who  regretted  deeply  the  language  used  and  the  trouble 
caused  to  him  ;  and  a  large  number  of  Wakefield  people 
were  from  the  first  among  his  most  faithful  supporters 
and  friends. 

Neither  must  it  be  supposed  that  he  allowed  the  dis- 
agreeables he  experienced  to  influence  him,  when  once 
they  had  passed  by.  One  of  his  strongest  characteristics 
was  the  power  of  throwing  off  unpleasant  or  hurtful 
thoughts,  and  entering  heart  and  soul  into  the  life  going 
on  around  him.  So  it  was  at  Wakefield  ;  wounded  though 
he  was  at  the  time,  yet  he  resolutely  put  all  the  unpleasant- 
ness behind  him,  and  certainly  never  let  Wakefield  people 
see  that  he  had  felt  his  treatment  at  all.  It  did  not  take 
long  for  a  good  feeling  to  spring  up  on  all  sides,  and, 
what  with  those  faithful  friends  who  had  known  and 
understood  him  all  along,  and  those  who,  now  that  he 
lived  among  them,  began  to  know  him  better,  and  to  have 
some  regard  for  the  old  white-headed  gentleman  so  often 
to  be  seen  about   their  streets,  the  four  years   spent  at 


Wakefield — The  See  House  269 

Bishopgarth  were  a  happy  time.  The  house  and  garden 
became  famihar  to  many  of  the  residents,  for,  besides 
other  lesser  festivities,  a  large  garden  party  of  some  five 
hundred  guests  was  held  there  each  summer,  and  the 
cathedral  officials,  choir,  &c.,  were  all  entertained  in  their 
turn. 

One  of  the  lesser  gatherings  held  at  Bishopgarth,  and 
one  in  which  the  Bishop  was  greatly  interested,  was  an 
"  at  home  "  held  fortnightly  (or  as  nearly  so  as  possible), 
to  which  the  young  ladies  employed  in  the  leading  shops 
were  invited.  These  evenings  proved  a  great  success. 
Several  friends  came  in  to  help  Mrs.  How  (the  Bishop's 
daughter-in-law)  to  amuse  her  guests,  and  the  two  hours 
from  eight  to  ten  passed  quickly  enough  with  Shakespeare 
readings,  music,  games,  &c.,  and  now  and  then  a  lecture 
given  by  some  friend,  the  Bishop  himself  delivering 
several.  At  ten  o'clock  service  in  the  chapel  brought 
the  proceedings  to  a  close. 

The  largest  assemblage  ever  seen  at  Bishopgarth  was; 
on  the  occasion  of  the  Diocesan  G.F.S.  Festival  being 
held  there.  No  fewer  than  eighteen  hundred  girls  were 
present,  and  passed  through  the  hall,  library,  and  chapel, 
on  their  way  into  the  garden. 

On  one  occasion  the  new  house  had  a  narrow  escape 
during  one  of  the  heavy  thunderstorms  that  are  somewhat 
frequent  in  Wakefield  during  the  summer  months.  To- 
this  incident  the  following  letter  refers  : 

[To  Mrs.  R.  Ll.  Kenyon.] 

"  Bishopgarth, y?^«i?  27,  1895. 

"When  I  reached  home  last  night  I  found  that  this- 
house  had  been  struck  with  lightning  (though  we  have 
two    lightning-conductors),   and    my    library  was    in   a 


270  Bishop  Walsham  How 

terrible  mess.  The  lightning  struck  the  library  chimney, 
and  damaged  the  roof,  and  seems  to  have  come  down  the 
chimney  and  covered  the  floor  with  soot,  water,  and 
rubbish.  Had  I  been  at  home  I  should  undoubtedly 
have  been  sitting  in  my  usual  place  quite  close  to  the 
fireplace.  Archdeacon  Donne  met  me  at  the  station  to 
offer  to  take  me  in  at  the  Vicarage,  but  I  am  camping  in 
the  drawing-room,  and  no  other  room  but  the  library  is 
damaged. 

"  B.'will  be  interested  to  hear  that  I  sat  all  day  yesterday 
from  10.30  to  4.0  as  assessor  in  the  first  appeal  case  under 
the  Clergy  Discipline  Act.  The  case  was  one  of  depriva- 
tion for  drunkenness,  and  we  allowed  the  appeal,  the 
evidence  being  wholly  insufficient.  Two  things  struck 
me  much  :  (i)  the  way  in  which  the  judges,  especially 
the  Lord  Chancellor,  badgered  the  counsel  for  the  prose- 
cution, never  allowing  them  to  finish  a  sentence  ;  and 
(2)  the  way  in  which  the  judges  openly  took  their  side 
from  the  beginning,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  for  instance,  in 
the  very  middle  saying,  "  There  isn't  a  magistrate  on  the 
bench  who  would  fine  a  man  five  shillings  on  such 
evidence." 

The  Bishop  took  great  interest  in  everything  that  con- 
cerned Wakefield,  and  was  often  able  to  show  that  interest 
by  being  present  at  various  municipal  and  other  functions. 
There  is,  moreover,  a  photograph  in  existence  of  two 
cricket  elevens  in  the  match  played  annually  on  Whit 
Monday  by  Wakefield  against  the  Yorkshire  Ger^tlemen, 
and  in  the  group  assembled  to  be  photographed  with  the 
teams  may  be  seen  the  Bishop,  who  was  an  interested 
spectator  of  the  game. 


Wakefield — The  See  House  271 

But  it  was  not  only  in  the  pleasures  of  the  people  of 
Wakefield  that  their  Bishop  sympathised.  There  are 
some  who  will  remember  that  he  was  among  their  earliest 
visitors  in  the  day  of  trouble  or  bereavement.  There  are 
invalids  who  could  tell  of  hours  snatched  from  his  busy 
life  that  he  might  comfort  and  pray  with  them.  The  last 
visit  he  paid  in  Wakefield  (with  the  exception  of  Sunday, 
August  I,  1897,  when  he  went  to  tea  with  his  close 
neighbour  and  friend,  Lady  Blomefield)  was  to  a  little 
cripple-boy,  since  dead,  in  a  court  off  a  side-street  near 
Kirkgate  Station. 

It  may  be  allowed  here  for  a  moment  to  lift  the  veil  of 
the  Bishop's  more  private  and  domestic  life.  His  sorrows 
were  many  ;  but  his  courage  was  immense  :  no  trouble, 
no  disappointment,  ever  prevailed  to  diminish  his  keen- 
ness and  interest  in  his  work.  He  came  to  Wakefield  just 
after  the  one  great  bereavement  of  his  life  :  he  never  let 
his  sorrow  sadden  the  lives  of  others  ;  he  never  let  those 
of  his  children  who  lived  with  him  see  how  irreparable 
his  loss  had  been.  He  was  ever  thinking  of  the  happiness 
of  those  around  him,  and  ever  sacrificing  himself  for 
them.  His  delight  was  to  have  his  children  with  him 
from  time  to  time,  especially  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Kenyon, 
who  came  for  a  protracted  visit  every  spring  during  the 
absence  of  the  Bishop's  son  and  daughter-in-law.  To 
Mrs.  F.  D.  How,  on  whom  devolved  the  responsible 
duties,  domestic  and  diocesan,  which  fall  to  the  lot  of  the 
lady  at  the  head  of  a  Bishop's  house,  he  showed  the 
greatest  consideration  and  a  wealth  of  affection.  When 
she  was  away  from  him  it  was  not  uncommon  for  her  to 
get  a  letter  from  him  nearly  every  day.  Writing  to  his 
son  in  1896,  the  Bishop  said  : 


272  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"(Wednesday  morning.)  This  is  your  wedding-day, 
dear  old  fellow.  What  a  blessed  day  for  you  !  Your 
dearest  wife  is  far,  far  more  dear  to  us  all  than  we  ever 
dreamt  of  once,  and  makes  us  love  her  more  and  more  all 
the  time.  God  spare  you  both  to  each  other  for  many 
happy  years.  What  I  mean  by,  '  than  we  ever  dreamt  of 
once,'  is  that,  when  the  mother  was  called  away  from  us, 
we  could  not  have  guessed  how  large  a  part  of  the  gap 
dearest  E.  would  fill  in  the  future.  I  must  always  thank 
God,  and  you,  for  giving  me  such  a  daughter." 

Needless  to  say  he  was  the  life  and  soul  of  the  house. 
In  the  evenings — all  too  few — that  he  spent  at  home,  he 
would  go  back  to  his  library  after  dinner  to  write  more 
letters,  but  at  nine  o'clock  he  was  pretty  sure  to  put  in  an 
appearance  in  the  drawing-room  for  a  cup  of  tea  and  a 
few  minutes'  chat  or  a  little  music.  On  the  evenings  that 
he  was  out  at  work  in  the  diocese  he  would  usually 
return  about  ten  o'clock,  or  often  later,  as  fresh  and 
cheery  as  if  the  day  were  young  and  he  were  a  boy  just 
home  from  school.  There  would  first  be  a  rapid  but 
interesting  account  of  what  he  had  done  and  whom  he 
had  seen,  with  a  humorous  touch  here  and  there  in  the 
story,  and  then,  "  Now  I  want  to  know  what  yoti  have 
been  doing,"  and  he  would  throw  himself  with  the  keenest 
interest  into  other  people's  affairs.  The  first  up  in  the 
morning,  he  would  be  the  last  to  bed  at  night,  and, 
when  others  were  wearied  out  and  sleepy,  he  would 
be  the  brightest,  and  youngest,  and  cheeriest  in  all  the 
house. 

The  Rev.  W.  Foxley  N orris.  Vicar  of  Almondbury, 
and  one  of  the  Bishop's  Examining  Chaplains,  says  of 
him  : 


Wakefield— The  See  House  273 

"  He  could  throw  himself  into  the  affairs  of  the  moment  with 
more  complete  whole-heartedness  than  any  one  else  I  ever  knew. 
This  must  have  been  on  the  one  hand  the  result  of  long  and  stern 
self-discipline,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  cause  of  much  of  that  fresh- 
ness and  buoyancy  which  carried  him  through  many  heavy  times 
and  gave  the  casual  observer  the  impression  that  his  was  'a 
singularly  cloudless  life  '  [as  some  of  the  newspapers  said  in  their 
obituary  notices  of  him]. 

"  Two  scenes,  which  exemplify  this,  I  shall  never  forget.  The 
first  was  when,  during  one  of  those  children's  parties  at  Bishop- 
garth — which  he  loved,  and  we  all  loved — he  called  me  into  the 
study.  He  had  received  some  terrible  news ;  he  passed  me  the 
letter,  and  put  his  head  on  his  hands,  and  quietly  cried  like  a 
child,  while  I  read  it.  What  followed  is  too  sacred  to  make  use 
of  here,  but  presently  he  simply  said,  '  Now  we  must  go  back,'  and 
back  he  went,  though  his  heart  was  heavy  as  lead,  and  clouded 
with  a  darkness  in  which  it  was  difficult  to  descry  the  dawn  of 
any  light,  and  in  a  moment  he  was  romping  and  laughing  with  the 
little  babies  in  the  hall  as  if  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as 
trouble  in  the  world. 

"  The  other  scene  I  have  in  my  mind  is  a  happier  one.  He 
had  arranged  with  me  to  go  down  to  Llanbedr  with  him  for  a  few 
days'  fishing  one  May.  He  had  to  preach  in  Chester  on  the 
Sunday,  and  I  in  my  own  church  at  Almondbury,  but  he  wanted 
to  start  early  on  the  Monday,  so  I  went  by  night  and  met  him 
at  Chester,  and  we  went  on  together ;  both  of  us  in  our  Sunday 
garb — not  at  all  in  holiday  clothes.  We  got  to  Pensarn  Station 
at  about  one  o'clock,  but  the  cart  for  the  luggage  had  not  come 
to  meet  us.  The  Bishop  would  not  wait,  and  proposed  to  me 
to  walk  on,  which  we  did.  When  we  got  to  the  inn  at  Llanbedr, 
the  cart  was  only  just  starting  for  the  station,  so  there  was  no 
chance  of  our  getting  our  luggage  and  being  able  to  change  our 
attire  for  some  time.  It  was  a  glorious  day,  and  the  Bishop 
insisted  on  starting  off,  just  as  we  were,  for  an  afternoon  on 
the  hills.  When  we  got  about  four  miles  up,  scrambling  and 
climbing,  regardless  of  silk  hats  and  long  coats,  he  clambered  to 
the  top  of  the  wall,  and  literally  shouted  for  joy  at  the  sunshine 
and  the  glory  of  the  view.  I  shall  never  forget  him  standing  on 
that  wall  in  gaiters  and  apron  and  shovel  hat,  shouting  with 

s 


274  Bishop  Walsham  How 

delight.  It  was  like  a  schoolboy  after  long  hours  at  the  desk,  and 
I  think  that  is  just  what  he  felt.  He  had  had  a  long  hard  winter, 
and  this  was  his  first  breath  of  spring  holiday." 

While  speaking  of  the  Bishop's  social  life  it  would  not 
be  just  to  omit  a  matter  which  has  been  frequently  criti- 
cised. He  seemed  sometimes  to  lose  the  proper  proportion 
of  things  when  scheming  out  his  time.  There  were  many 
wealthy  laity  in  his  diocese  who  would  have  enjoyed  (as 
some  did  from  time  to  time)  showing  him  hospitality. 
The  Bishop  felt  that  staying  away  from  home  for  a  night 
lost  him  much  valuable  time  the  next  morning,  and  for 
this  reason  declined  most  invitations  to  do  so.  It  is 
probable  that  the  increased  knowledge  of  the  laity  of  the 
district,  and  the  opportunities  of  putting  before  them  the 
needs  of  the  Church,  which  he  would  have  gained  by 
more  frequent  visits  to  their  homes,  would  have  proved  of 
more  value  than  appeared  to  him  at  the  time.  His 
influence  would  probably  have  been  even  greater  than  it 
was,  and  his  Appeal  Fund  would  probably  have  received 
even  greater  support. 

But  there  must  always  be  special  difficulty  in  dealing 
fairly  and  impartially  with  the  social  as  well  as  the  private 
or  home  life  of  any  one  on  the  part  of  those  closely  related 
to  him.  A  most  valuable  paper  has  been  supplied  by  the 
Rev.  W.  J.  W.  Marrow,  for  four  years  Domestic  Chaplain 
to  the  Bishop,  and  this  sketch  of  Dr.  Walsham  How  as 
he  appeared  to  one  who,  without  being  bound  to  him  by 
ties  of  relationship,  had  such  ample  opportunities  of 
observing  him,  will  greatly  assist  in  obtaining  a  true 
picture  of  the  subject  of  this  biography.  Where  Mr. 
Marrow  has  too  closely  covered  ground  already  occupied, 
passages  have  been  omitted  ;  otherwise  his  paper  is  given 
verbatim. 


Wakefield — The  See  House  275 

Recollections  of  Bishop  Walsham  How  of 
Wakefield. 

"  From  November  i8go  to  the  end  of  1894  I  knew  the  Bishop 
intimately ;  but  long  before  this  period  he  had  seemed  a  familiar 
personality.  In  the  years  1 880-1 881  I  heard  much  of  his  work 
and  character ;  at  Wells  Theological  College  he  was  constantly 
referred  to  as  having  been  the  model  parish  priest  of  Whittington 
in  Shropshire,  and  as  being  the  perfection  of  a  hard-working 
devoted  Bishop  in  East  London, 

"  I  remember  so  well  the  enthusiasm  he  caused  at  Wells  on  the 
occasion  of  a  Triennial  Festival,  when  he  came  from  London  to 
preach  the  sermon,  and  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  the  dinner 
afterwards.  The  Wells  men  were  carried  away  by  his  sermon, 
his  speech,  and  by  the  wonderful  attraction  of  his  personality; 
other  speakers  at  that  gathering  seemed  to  feel  and  realise  the 
attractiveness  I  speak  of,  and  one  of  them,  I  think  it  was  the  then 
Vicar  of  St.  Mary's,  Redcliffe,  tried  to  counteract  the  effect  of  the 
Bishop's  appeal  for  workers,  by  reminding  Wells  men  that  there 
were  other  places  needing  their  help  besides  East  London,  and  by 
urging  the  claims  of  such  places  as  Bristol  on  their  youthful 
energies ;  in  spite  of  this,  I  think  East  London  had  it. 

"  My  more  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Bishop  began  in  Novem- 
ber 1890,  when  he  was  living  at  Overthorpe,  near  Dewsbury,  while 
the  See  house  was  being  planned  and  built  at  Wakefield.  The 
Bishop  was  alone  on  the  day  of  my  arrival,  and  the  impression  he 
made  on  me  the  first  evening  of  my  residence  with  him  as  Chap- 
lain never  wore  away.  His  genuine  and  hearty  welcome  made 
one  at  home  directly ;  there  was  a  feeling  of  friendliness  and 
confidence  established  at  once,  and  one  was  impressed  by  the 
complete  absence  of  affectation,  or  anything  approaching  *  official 
side ' ;  it  was  evident  one  had  to  deal  with  a  man  who  was  abso- 
lutely straight  and  real ;  one  who  would  trust  you  completely,  and 
expected  to  be  trusted.  I  used  to  think  sometimes  that  the 
Bishop  had  this  characteristic  of  freedom  from  formality  in  excess, 
and  I  fancied  it  did  not  answer  with  every  one.  Some  natures, 
prone  to  conceit  and  self-approval,  would  take  advantage  of  the 
Bishop's  simplicity,  and  err  on  the  side  of  familiarity  in  their 


276  Bishop  Walsham  How 

dealings  with  him,  and  take  liberties  both  in  behaviour  and  con- 
versation which  were  most  unwarranted.  But  this  characteristic 
no  doubt  arose  from  what  was  the  foundation  of  the  Bishop's 
nature — absolute  self-forgetfulness  and  unselfishness.  In  his 
dealings  with  his  Chaplain  day  after  day  this  became  not  less,  but 
more  and  more,  apparent.  Although  the  Bishop  wrote  by  far  the 
larger  number  of  his  letters  himself,  he  was  always  anxious  not 
to  overburden  his  secretary,  and,  if  there  were  a  few  more  letters 
than  usual,  he  would  always  express  his  regret,  and  almost  apologise 
for  giving  him  so  much  to  do  ;  while  all  the  time  he  was  himself 
undertaking  an  extra  share  of  the  writing  in  order  to  save  his 
secretary  as  far  as  possible. 

*'  His  method  of  working  was  most  regular  and   thoroughly 
organised :  after  an  eight-o'clock  breakfast  and  morning  prayers, 
he  went  into  his  own  room,  and   began   the  work   of  looking 
through  his  letters — always  a  heavy  task.     All  that  required  any 
care,  or  raised  any  difficult  point,  he  answered  with  his  own  hand, 
and  the  most  important  were  copied  by  his  Chaplain ;  about  ten 
o'clock  the  Bishop  had  sufficiently  sorted  his  correspondence,  and 
then  called  his  Chaplain  into  his  room,  and  half  a  dozen  letters 
were  lying  ready  with  a  brief  note  of  the  answer  required  written 
across  the  top  corner :  '  Yes,' '  No,' '  With  pleasure,'  &c.,  or  the  date 
and  time  of  arrival  for  keeping  some  appointment.     On  going 
into  his  room  the  Bishop  generally  said,  '  There  are  some  letters 
to  write — tell  me  about  them  as  they  come  in  their  order ; '  a  few 
words  from  each  would  remind  him  of  their  contents,  and  he 
would  rapidly  dictate  a  reply,  going  on  immediately  with  his  own 
writing,  and  resuming  the  dictation  when  one  was  ready.     This 
faculty  of  keeping  practically  two  letters  going  at  once  was  certainly 
a  special  and  remarkable  gift.     I  think  that  he  almost  enjoyed 
letter-writing,  because  by  his  long  practice  and  very  ready  command 
of  expression  he  did  it  so  easily  and  so  well.     Day  after  day  he 
would  write  for  hours,  and  always  apparently  with  the  same  ready 
iiow  of  words  from  his  pen,  writing  as  a  rule  clearly,  and  with  a 
firm,  well-defined  hand,  always,  too,  sitting  in  a  very  characteristic 
way — the  picture  of  painstaking  energy.     He  never  lounged  on 
the  table,  but  sat  upright,  just  resting  his  hands  on  the  paper, 
using  what  would  be  to  most  people  a  most  tiring  position.     The 
Bishop's  character  of  keen,  restless  energy  came  out  very  strongly 


Wakefield — The  See  House  277 

in  this  question  of  position  ;  he  never  seemed  to  tire  of  standing 
or  walking,  and,  when  he  sat  down,  he  avoided  easy  chairs,  and 
never  lounged.  I  could  not  imagine  him  lying  on  a  sofa  for  a 
few  moments'  repose,  for  even  when  he  was  tired  out,  and  dropped 
asleep  in  the  evening,  it  was  generally  sitting  on  a  straight-backed 
chair,  and  never  for  very  long  together. 

"  As  might  be  expected,  his  own  life  was  arranged  and  planned 
in  an  orderly  way.  His  punctuality  and  love  of  being  in  good 
time  for  things  enabled  him  to  get  through  an  immense  amount 
of  work  with  little  friction.  By  not  putting  off,  and  by  arranging 
everything  beforehand,  his  engagements  fitted  in  together,  and 
much  time  was  economised. 

"  One  felt  as  one  listened  to  his  sermons,  and  perhaps  especially 
to  his  addresses  to  clergy  and  candidates  for  Ordination,  that 
what  he  tried  to  impress  upon  them  by  his  words  he  did  even 
more  thoroughly  by  his  life.  This  truth,  of  course,  gave  a  living  force 
to  his  words  which  nothing  else  could  do.  It  was,  I  think,  this 
reality  which  made  him  so  attractive  to  young  men  :  they  seemed 
to  love  him  at  once,  and  he  could  inspire  them  with  a  love  of  his 
own  high  ideals  in  a  way  few  men  can ;  one  felt  when  in  his 
presence,  and  under  his  influence,  how  mean  and  despicable  were 
all  things  low  and  bad ;  how  noble  and  attractive  all  things  high 
and  good. 

"  In  the  midst  of  all  his  busy  day  I  know  the  Bishop  found,  or 
rather  made,  quiet  hours  for  private  devotional  reading  and  prayer. 
These  he  never  allowed  to  be  altered.  He  liked  to  walk  down  to 
church  or  cathedral  for  an  early  Communion  quite  alone,  in 
order  that  his  thoughts  might  not  be  disturbed  or  distracted  by 
the  necessity  of  ordinary  conversation.  He  would  devote  a  fixed 
time  in  the  middle  of  the  day  to  prayer  and  reading,  and  the 
strength  and  refreshment  of  all  this  was  very  apparent  in  his  life. 
One  could  not  live  with  him  very  long  without  feeling  inspired  by 
his  wonderful  unselfishness  and  humility,  the  strength  and  power 
he  gathered  for  himself  spreading  round  and  infecting  others. 

"  I  think  this  impetuous  energy  made  the  Bishop  impatient  of 
delay;  it  urged  him  to  get  things  done  and  finished  with,  and 
perhaps  led  him  to  decide  things  too  hastily;  but  it  also  enabled 
him  to  throw  off  worries  and  disappointments — he  did  not  look 
back,  but  was  always  looking  forward — and,  by  not  dwelling  on 


278  Bishop  Walsham  How 

past  anxieties  he  was  better  able  to  face  coming  ones,  and  to  deal 
with  them  '  strongly.' 

"To  have  lived  with  such  a  man  has  been  a  great  privilege  and 
a  great  happiness,  and  in  a  hundred  ways,  direct  and  indirect,  a 
training  and  an  education. 

"  The  Bishop,  like  other  great  and  good  men,  had  no  doubt 
many  sides  to  his  character,  but  the  ones  that  most  attracted  one's 
attention  were  his  keen  energy,  his  complete  absence  of  anything 
approaching  conceit,  and,  above  all,  perhaps,  his  unselfish  affec- 
tionateness  and  love." 


CHAPTER   XX 

WAKEFIELD— HIS  RELATIONS  WITH  THE  CLERGY.  ETC. 

Much  was  said  in  a  previous  chapter  about  Bishop 
Walsham  How's  anxiety  to  know  and  be  known  by  the 
clergy  of  East  London.  It  is  not,  therefore,  surprising  to 
find  that  on  taking  possession  of  a  diocese  of  his  own,  he 
set  this  same  object— making  personal  friends  of  his 
fellow  workers — in  the  forefront  of  his  desires. 

Just  as  he  always  felt  the  vast  importance  of  getting  to 
know  the  children  in  his  old  Shropshire  parish,  so  that 
they  might  learn  to  know,  and,  it  might  be,  love  him  from 
their  earliest  days,  so  he  was  anxious,  when  he  came  to 
Wakefield,  to  do  what  he  could  to  draw  the  younger  men 
to  him,  especially  those  who  came  up  for  Ordination.  In 
reference  to  this,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  he  made  a 
practice  of  going  once  a  week  to  read  Greek  Testament 
with  the  junior  clergy  at  the  Cathedral  Clergy  House. 

When  the  diocese  was  in  its  infancy  he  determined 
to  set  out  all  the  Ordination  arrangements  on  the  best 
possible  lines.  He  felt  how  much  depended  upon  it,  and 
he  looked  back,  as  did  many  men  of  his  generation,  to  the 
lack  of  any  kind  of  spiritual  help  during  the  Ember  days 
at  the  time  of  his  own  Ordination,  when  the  examination 
was  held  on  the  days  immediately  before.  He  arranged 
to  hold  four  Ordinations  in  the  year,  so  as  to  avoid  large 


28o  Bishop  Walsham  How 

numbers,  which  interfere  with  the  individual  dealing  with 
the  candidates,  and  so  as  to  prevent  inconvenience  to 
incumbents.  The  examination  in  each  case  was  to  take 
place  six  weeks  before  the  Ordination,  so  that  the  can- 
didates might  be  free  from  all  anxiety  on  that  score  in 
good  time  and  might  have  a  quiet  interval  for  devotional 
and  spiritual  preparation.  He  printed  a  letter  of  advice 
on  the  best  manner  of  spending  this  time. 

Some  details  of  the  routine  of  the  days  preceding  the 
actual  Ordination,  when  the  candidates  were  always 
resident  at  Bishopgarth,  may  be  worth  quoting,  inasmuch 
as  the  Wakefield  Ember  days  have  been  taken  as  a  model 
in  other  dioceses  more  than  once  since  the  Bishop 
arranged  them. 

He  had  four  examining  Chaplains,  Canon  Whitaker 
(afterwards  replaced  by  Rev.  A.  J.  Robinson),  Archdeacon 
Brooke,  Rev.  W.  O.  Burrows,  and  Rev.  W.  F.  Norris,  one 
being  "  on  duty  "  at  each  Ember  season,  and  at  the  same 
Ember  season  in  each  year,  so  that  usually  an  examining 
Chaplain  would  have  to  do  with  the  same  men  as  deacons 
one  year  and  priests  the  next. 

The  days  were  mapped  out  thus  : 

Wednesday. — The  men  arrived,  and  the  Bishop  ad- 
dressed them  at  Compline. 

Thursday. — Papers  on  doctrinal  and  practical  subjects. 
Address  given  by  the  Chaplain  in  the  morning  and 
the  Bishop  in  the  evening. 

Friday. — Latterly,  this  day  was  observed  as  a  "Quiet 
Day" — the  addresses  being  generally  given  by  the 
preacher  of  the  Ordination  sermon. 

Saturday. — Interviews  with  candidates.  Legal  business, 
&c.    Addresses  as  on  Thursday. 

Holy  Communion  was  celebrated  each  morning. 


Wakefield— Ember  Days  281 

The  Rev.  W.  F.  Norris  writing  about  these  seasons 
says: 

'*  Two  things  stand  out  as  one  looks  back  on  these  Ember  days 
and  all  the  Ordination  work  at  Bishopgarth  during  the  last  ten 
years.  First,  the  method  and  orderliness  of  all  the  arrangements, 
and  this  was  for  the  most  part  due  to  the  Bishop's  scrupulous 
punctuality  and  regularity.  [In  these  arrangements  he  was  greatly 
assisted  by  his  domestic  Chaplain,  who  was  responsible  for  the 
candidates  knowing  exactly  what  they  were  expected  to  do.] 

**  Secondly,  the  extreme  simplicity  of  the  Bishop's  addresses  and 
charges  to  the  Ordination  candidates.  I  have  before  me  now  my 
own  notes  of  his  addresses  at  his  first  Ember  week  in  the  diocese 
(May  23-27,  1888).  The  subjects  are  'Holy  Communion,' 
*  Devotional  Reading,'  '  Conduct  of  Services,'  and  I  remember 
well  how,  when  speaking  of  devotional  reading,  he  told  us  how 
difficult  he  himself  found  it  to  practise  'meditation.'  He  put 
himself  always  on  a  level  with  those  he  was  addressing,  and  laid 
bare  his  own  difficulties  so  humbly  and  so  honestly  that  every  one 
who  listened  felt  '  Here  is  one  who  can  sympathise  with  me.'  In 
his  personal  dealing  with  the  men  it  was  the  same;  it  was,  I 
think,  natural  to  him,  and  no  effort  at  all  (as  it  is  to  most  people), 
to  put  himself  in  the  position  of  the  person  he  was  talking  to. 
Many  a  man  who  was  ordained  by  him  has  said  during  the  last 
few  months,  '  When  the  old  Bishop  died  I  lost  my  best  friend.' 
That  feeling  of  friendship  was  firmly  planted  during  the  Ember 
days,  and  every  man  who  passed  through  the  Bishop's  hands  at 
these  times  went  out  with  the  feeling  that  his  Bishop  was  indeed 
a  Father  in  God  to  him. 

"  It  seems  almost  profane,  and  certainly  presumptuous,  to  put 
it  into  words,  but  we  sometimes  felt  that  he  allowed  his  honesty 
to  carry  his  humility  too  far,  for  there  really  was  a  danger  of  men 
feeling,  '  Well,  if  even  the  Bishop  fails  in  this  or  that,  I  need  not 
be  too  much  concerned  at  my  own  failures.'  I  know  that  this 
sometimes  was  the  effect  on  the  minds  of  men  who  were  inclined 
to  be  easy  with  themselves. 

"  He  never  gave  a  regular  '  charge '  of  the  old-fashioned  kind 
on  the  eve  of  Ordination.  His  addresses  at  such  times  were 
always  on  some  such  subjects  as  I  have  mentioned,  or  on  the 


282  Bishop  Walsham  How 

•  Spiritual  Life,'  or  '  Hindrances,'  or  on  some  particular  grace,  as 

*  Love,'  '  Faith,'  &c.  In  fact,  his  addresses,  elementary  as  they 
sounded,  were  generally  on  foundation  principles  rather  than  on 
any  details  of  the  clerical  life.  In  his  Ember  addresses  he  only 
brought  in  details  by  way  of  illustration. 

"Then,  again,  one  cannot  help  recalling  his  inclination  to 
think  the  best  of  men.  I  remember  in  one  or  two  cases  of  un- 
satisfactory candidates  how  he  would  leave  no  stone  unturned  to 
show  that  they  were  really  less  unsatisfactory  than  appeared  at 
first  sight.  He  would  send  his  Chaplain  not  merely  for  the 
testimonials  and  ofificial  papers,  but  for  every  letter  that  had 
reference  to  the  case,  and  would  set  himself  to  establish  the  man's 
excellence,  if  it  could  by  any  means  be  done.  He  disliked  refusing 
any  man  who  seemed  good  and  in  earnest ;  and  when  the  examiners' 
marks  were  brought  to  him,  he  would  often  discover  most  in- 
genious reasons  why  such  a  man — who  had  failed  perhaps  in  one 
or  two  papers — should  be  treated  as  an  exception,  and  let  through. 

"  His  capacity  for  work  was  always  enormous,  and  this  came 
out  forcibly  in  Ember  weeks.  He  would  generally  go  back  into 
his  study  when  the  rest  of  us  went  to  bed,  and  look  over  a  pile  of 
papers,  making  his  comments  upon  them,  and  setting  them  in 
order  for  his  interviews  next  day.  He  always  expected  other 
people  to  work  as  he  did,  and  I  remember  well  my  consternation 
one  night  when,  just  before  twelve  o'clock,  as  I  was  gathering  my 
papers  together  thinking  I  had  finished  for  the  night,  he  put  his 
head  in  at  my  door  and  threw  me  a  bundle  of  deacons'  examination 
papers,  asking  me  to  look  them  over  before  I  turned  in  and  have 
them  ready  for  him  in  the  morning.  He  did  not  know  what  it 
was  to  be  tired,  and  once,  when  towards  the  end  of  a  particularly 
hard  day,  one  of  his  Chaplains  said,  '  My  Lord,  here  is  a  big  arm- 
chair doing  nothing,'  in  the  hope  that  he  would  rest,  he  turned 
sharply  round  and  said,  '  Why  don't  you  sit  in  it,  then  ! ' 

"  But  perhaps  the  most  delightful  recollection  I  have  of  the 
Ember  days  is  the  memory  of  those  little  excursions  round  the 
garden  in  the  odd  few  minutes  before  luncheon  or  chapel,  or 
between  interviews.  The  Bishop  could  not  bear  any  waste  of 
time,  and,  if  there  were  an  unexpected  few  minutes  between 
engagements,  he  positively  fidgeted  with  anxiety  to  fill  them  up. 
And  so  it  happened  that  he  would  many  a  time  take  one  of  us  by 


Wakefield— Ember  Days  283 

the  arm  and  say,  '  Come  out  into  the  garden  :  we've  got  a  few 

minutes,  and  I  want  to  show  you  a  Uttle  plant  I  got  from the 

other  day.'  Then  out  he  would  go  telling  us  little  things  of 
botanical  interest,  little  peculiarities  of  this  flower  or  that,  where 
he  got  it  from,  or  where  he  meant  to  put  it  next  year,  and  so  on  ; 
and  gradually  he  would  gravitate  towards  the  greenhouse,  which 
always  drew  him  like  a  magnet. 

"The  fascination  of  these  little  interludes  lay,  I  think,  to  a 
large  extent  in  the  fact  that  they  occupied  him  for  the  moment  so 
entirely.  No  matter  how  deep  the  work  which  he  had  just  left, 
no  matter  how  important,  or  how  troublesome,  the  work  he  was 
going  back  to,  he  threw  his  whole  soul  into  the  garden  and  the 
flowers,  and  the  thoughts  they  suggested  at  the  moment." 

During  the  Ember  days,  while  the  candidates  were 
preparing  at  Bishopgarth  for  Ordination,  his  examining 
Chaplains  had  on  several  occasions  to  consult  him  on  the 
subject  of  Confession  and  Absolution,  which  would  be 
treated  in  various  ways  in  the  examination  papers.  On 
this  point  he  was  always  perfectly  clear.  He  maintained 
the  authority  committed  to  the  priest,  and  used  the  old 
illustration  of  the  Queen's  messenger  conveying  the  royal 
pardon  to  a  criminal  recommended  to  mercy.  He  believed 
in  private  confession  in  exceptional  cases,  and  probably 
heard  many  such  confessions  himself  when  conducting 
missions.  In  the  case  of  Ordination  candidates  he  never 
discouraged  it,  and  on  the  other  hand  never  pressed  it 
upon  them. 

Some  notes  of  his  are  in  existence  on  the  subject  of 
Absolution,  and  in  them  he  sets  forth  that  absolution  by 
a  priest  is  founded  on  the  words,  "  whose  sins  ye  remit," 
&c.,  and  goes  on  to  show  that  it  primarily  existed  as  a  part 
of  Church  discipline,  and  secondly  was  used  to  convey  the 
formal  assurance  of  God's  pardon.  He  then  points  out 
the  dangers  (i)  of  asserting  that  God's  actual  forgiveness 


284  Bishop  Walsham  How 

waits  upon,  or  is  withheld  until,  the  priestly  declaration, 
(2)  of  teaching  that  sin  is  not  (ordinarily)  pardoned  with- 
out priestly  absolution.  He  concludes  by  pointing  out 
that  the  analogy  of  the  exhortation  in  the  Communion 
service  would  teach  that  its  special  blessing  is  for  those 
who  cannot  otherwise  grasp  God's  pardon  through  Christ, 
it  thus  being  for  "  comfort  and  assurance." 

In  the  course  of  the  examination  of  candidates  the 
Bishop  from  time  to  time  met  with  answers  which  greatly 
amused  him.  Some  of  these  he  has  left  on  record,  and 
as  (unlike  many  such  stories)  their  truth  is  thus  vouched 
for  by  him,  it  may  be  interesting  to  insert  two  or  three 
here. 

In  one  examination  a  number  of  w^ords  were  given  to 
be  explained,  and  among  them  was  "  Cherub."  One  man 
wrote,  "A  cherub  is  an  infant  angel,  who  died  before 
baptism,  and  will  undoubtedly  be  saved." 

Another  candidate  in  writing  out  the  Nicene  Creed 
said,  *'  I  believe  in  all  things,  visible  and  invisible,"  which 
the  Bishop  described  as  showing  "  a  magnificent  grasp  of 
faith." 

In  a  paper  on  practical  subjects  set  in  the  September 
examination,  1894,  one  of  the  questions  asked  was,  "What 
rules  for  almsgiving  would  you  recommend  ?  "  One  of 
the  candidates  advised  a  plan  he  had  seen  of  having 
about  six  boxes  in  the  house,  and  sending  them  round  at 
meals  for  various  societies  according  to  the  viands  on  the 
table.  Thus,  during  the  fish  course,  the  box  for  the  Deep 
Sea  Fisheries  would  be  sent  round,  and  when  pineapples 
were  being  eaten  that  for  the  S.P.G.  It  can  easily  be 
imagined  how  these,  and  such-like  answers,  were  enjoyed 
by  one  endowed  with  such  a  keen  sense  of  humour  as  was 
Bishop  Walsham  How. 


Wakefield — Relations  with  the  Clergy     285 

In  the  early  days  of  the  diocese  many  men  were 
attracted  by  the  wish  to  work  under  him,  just  as  had  been 
the  case  in  East  London.  The  difficulty  was  to  find 
places  for  them,  and  in  some  cases  this  proved  insuperable, 
and  good  men  had  to  be  refused.  The  Bishop  felt 
strongly  as  to  the  importance  of  the  choice  of  an  in- 
cumbent under  whom  a  young  man  was  to  work.  He 
considered  it  a  bad  start,  and  an  unfair  thing,  to  send  a 
man  to  a  parish  where  there  was  not  daily  service  and  at 
least  a  weekly  celebration.  It  is  important  to  notice  this, 
because,  a  bishop  being  equally  anxious  to  help  and 
befriend  those  incumbents  in  his  diocese  who  do  not 
come  up  to  this  standard,  and  besides,  finding  it  far  more 
difficult  to  deal  with  sins  of  omission  than  those  of 
commission,  people  in  general  may  hardly  be  aware 
of  the  importance  attached  to  such  matters.  Bishop 
Walsham  How,  at  all  events,  felt  most  strongly  about 
them.  Such  things  are  not  properly  "party  questions,'* 
but  simply  relate  to  the  proper  supply  of  services. 

Besides  the  weekly  celebrations  and  daily  services  he 
was  also  careful  to  inculcate  the  necessity  of  proper 
services  on  the  great  festivals  and  fasts.  It  was  a  grief  to 
him  that  during  the  first  few  years  of  his  work  in  the 
Wakefield  Diocese  there  was  an  insufficient  (as  he  con- 
sidered) supply  of  services  in  the  Cathedral  on  Good 
Friday,  and  this  though  he  offered  to  conduct  additional 
ones  himself. 

The  Rev.  W.  F.  Norris  tells  a  little  story  about  a 
Good  Friday  which  the  Bishop  spent  at  Almondbury.  It 
seems  that  he  had  promised  to  take  a  midday  service  at 
Huddersfield  Parish  Church  on  that  day,  but  for  some 
reason  the  idea  was  given  up,  and  he  wrote  to  Mr. 
Norris  and  said  he  would  go  to  Almondbury  and  sit  in 


286  Bishop  Walsham  How 

the  congregation  during  the  Three-hours  service,  which 
was  to  be  conducted  by  one  of  the  parochial  clergy.  On 
hearing  this  Mr.  Norris  wrote  and  pressed  the  Bishop  to 
take  the  service.  This  he  at  first  absolutely  declined  to 
do.  On  further  pressure,  and  on  its  being  represented 
to  him  how  greatly  it  might  help  the  congregation,  he 
consented,  but  said,  "  To  tell  the  truth  I  have  never  given 
the  Three-hours  addresses  in  my  life,  and  I  shrink  from 
doing  it  a  good  deal."  It  was  a  striking  example  of  his 
humility  to  shrink  thus  from  a  task  which  many  a  young 
clergyman  undertakes  without  a  misgiving.  "  Needless 
to  add,"  says  Mr.  Norris,  "that  day  stands  out  amongst 
all  our  Good  Fridays,  as  one  looks  back  over  the  past 
years." 

It  has  been  already  clearly  shown  that  the  Bishop  never 
attached  himself  to  any  party,  but  he  was  ever  urgent  in 
insisting  upon  frequent  and  reverent  services.  On  this 
subject  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Norris  writes  : 

"  He  never  cared  about  much  ritual ;  it  did  not  appeal  to  him. 
The  '  Points  '  to  him  were  mere  externals  of  secondary  importance, 
and  I  do  not  think  that  to  the  last  he  attached  much  importance 
even  to  the  eastward  position  (though  he  always  took  it  latterly). 
But  at  the  same  time  he  would  always  rather  send  a  deacon  to  a 
parish  where  these  things  were  attended  to  than  to  one  where 
daily  service  was  neglected.  I  remember  once  going  with  him  to 
a  certain  institution  where  full  ritual  was  practised.  In  the  vestry 
of  the  chapel  the  Chaplain  brought  out  a  chasuble,  &c.,  of  gorgeous 
embroidery.  The  Bishop  was  busy  putting  on  his  robes.  The 
Chaplain  diffidently  suggested,  '  The  vestment,  my  lord  ? '  '  Oh  ! 
thank  you,'  said  the  Bishop  ;  '  I'd  much  rather  not ! '  and  went  on 
with  his  robing  in  a  desperate  hurry,  as  if  he  wanted  to  prevent 
any  possibility  of  having  to  reconsider  ! 

"  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  7nost  particular  about  the  altar 
linen.  To  celebrate  at  a  church  where  the  vessels  were  put  on 
the  altar  with  no  proper  linen  always  tried  him  greatly.     I  have 


Lincoln  Judgment  287 

heard  him  say  very  sharp  things  about  carelessness  in  this  matter. 
He  considered  it  irreverent,  and  in  many  cases  he  himself  made  a 
present  of  a  set  of  linen  where  a  church  was  inadequately  supplied. 
Where  he  had  done  so,  he  would  generally  make  inquiries  after- 
wards to  know  if  it  were  used,  and  properly  kept. 

"  In  all  these  things  he  had  the  mind,  exactly,  of  the  English 
Church :  great  reverence,  a  strong  feeling  that  all  should  be 
dignified  and  in  order,  a  horror  of  slovenliness,  but  a  shyness 
about  much  ceremony,  or  excessive  ritual,  or  anything  which 
could  develop  into  fussiness." 

Speaking  of  his  dealings  with  his  clergy  in  these  matters 
brings  to  mind  his  action  with  regard  to  the  Lincoln 
judgment. 

He  had  great  hopes  (alas  !  unfounded)  that  this  judg- 
ment would  be  accepted  on  all  sides,  and  be  the  beginning 
of  a  closer  agreement  upon  questions  of  ritual.  With 
this  in  his  mind  he  wrote  to  each  Rural  Dean  a  letter, 
desiring  him  to  let  every  clergyman  in  his  deanery  have  a 
copy.  This  letter,  it  will  be  seen,  was  written  before  the 
terms  of  the  judgment  were  known. 

"OvERTHORPE,  Thornhill,  Dewsbury,  May  14,  1890. 

"  My  dear , 

"  I  am  anxious  to  write  to  you  as  Rural  Dean  with 
regard  to  the  impending  judgment  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  and  his  assessors  in  the  case  of  the  Bishop  of 
Lincoln.  It  is  possible  that  some  of  the  clergy  in  your 
rural  deanery  may  wish  to  know  their  Bishop's  opinion 
with  regard  to  the  duty  of  compliance  with  the  judgment 
in  the  case  referred  to,  when  that  judgment  is  pronounced. 
I  desire  therefore  to  record  my  opinion,  and  to  state  quite 
plainly,  that  I  think  it  is  the  duty  of  the  clergy  to  comply 
with  the  terms  of  the  forthcoming  judgment.  Of  course 
I  am  not  asserting  that  such  judgment  will  possess  legal 


288  Bishop  Walsham  How 

force  in  the  Province  of  York.  But  I  think  it  ought  to 
carry  the  greatest  moral  weight,  especially  with  those  who 
have  felt  such  strong  objections  to  the  courts  which 
have  hitherto  dealt  with  ritual  cases,  and  have  expressed 
so  strong  a  wish  for  a  purely  spiritual  court.  I  would 
earnestly  entreat  any  clergy  who  may  find  their  own 
practice  condemned  by  the  judgment  which  may  be 
shortly  expected  to  sacrifice  their  own  wishes  in  such 
matters,  and  to  yield  a  willing  obedience  to  what  may  be 
declared  to  be  the  law  by  the  spiritual  court  called  upon 
to  decide  the  matters  brought  before  it.  I  am  quite  sure 
that  the  example  of  simple  obedience,  involving,  as  it 
may,  some  little  sacrifice  of  personal  feeling,  will  be  far 
more  valuable  than  the  retention  of  any  practice,  however 
in  itself  harmless  or  edifying,  in  matters  which  are 
acknowledged  to  be  non-essential. 

"  Believe  me  to  be, 

"  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 

By  this  letter  the  Bishop  meant  to  express  his  own 
personal  feeling,  and  not  to  give  an  episcopal  order.  Some 
seem  to  have  taken  it  in  this  latter  sense,  and  he  is  said 
to  have  explained  that  when  he  described  compliance 
with  the  judgment  as  "the  duty  of  the  clergy,"  he  did  not 
thereby  lay  upon  them  his  absolute  commands. 

When  asked  to  do  so,  he  was  ready  to  give  plain 
directions  as  to  what  he  thought  right  :  thus  the  Rev. 
W.  F.  N  orris  says  : 

"  After  the  Lincoln  judgment  he  directed  me  to  place  water  in 
the  chalice  before  the  service,  and  to  pour  in  wine  only  during  the 
service ;  thus  preserving  the  '  mixed  chalice,'  without  the  cere- 
monial mixing.     I  know  that  on  this  point  he  had  consulted 


Wakefield — Relations  with  the  Clergy     289 

Archbishop  Benson  before  the  judgment,  and  had  found  that 
that  was  the  course  which  he  approved." 

The  Bishop  was  on  one  occasion  made  unhappy  by  a 
charge  being  brought  against  him  by  some  of  the  more 
"  advanced  "  among  his  clergy  of  attacking  them  !  In  his 
visitation  charge  of  April  1894  he  had  chosen  the  subject 
of  "The  Spiritual  and  Devotional  Aspects  of  Holy 
Communion,"  he  having  from  time  to  time  been  con- 
scious of  an  apparent  lack  of  reverence  and  devotion  in 
churches  vi^hich  he  had  visited.  After  speaking  of  the 
dangers  of  a  lack  of  devoutness,  he  went  on  strongly  to 
deprecate  the  habit  of  non-communicating  attendance, 
pointing  out  how  completely  the  Bible  and  the  Prayer- 
book  link  the  blessing  with  the  actual  reception.  He 
further  urged  the  spirituality  of  the  Real  Presence  in  the 
Sacrament,  and  expressed  his  dislike  of  expressions  which 
defined  and  localised  the  same.  To  this  charge  some  of 
his  closest  personal  friends  in  the  diocese  took  exception, 
and  wrote  several  letters  to  him  which  caused  him  much 

pain. 

[To  Rev.  H.  W.  How.] 

"May  2,  1894. 

"  Dearest  Harry, 

"  I  am  rather  miserable  to-day,  having  this  morn- 
ing received  a  long  and  very  severe  letter  from  dear 

condemning  my  charge.  It  is  hard  to  answer  briefly, 
and  I  must  take  a  day  or  two  to  think  it  over,  but  I  am 
sure  he,  and  those  he  speaks  of  as  joining  with  himself, 
have  taken  a  very  wrong  view  of  my  meaning.  They 
think  I  am  attacking  them  !  And,  even  if  not,  they  say  I 
am  so  understood.  I  do  trust  I  have  not  said  things 
which  could  be  justly  so  construed. 

"  Your  loving  Father, 

"W.  w.  v^." 

T 


2go  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

It  seems  extraordinary  that  any  of  his  clergy,  and 
especially  some  who  knew  him  well,  should  have 
imagined  that  he  meant  any  personal  attack.  The  fact 
was  that  in  the  Diocese  of  Wakefield  the  most  urgent 
work  had  to  be  directed  towards  improving  and  correct- 
ing the  slovenliness  and  neglect  which  had  prevailed  in 
so  many  parishes.  Seeing  the  Bishop's  zeal  in  this 
direction  some  of  the  more  ritualistic  among  his  clergy 
iailed,  perhaps,  to  understand  his  position  as  a  Church- 
man, and  fancied  that,  because  he  honoured  and  helped 
their  work,  he  also  approved  their  views.  It  may,  there- 
fore, have  been  more  or  less  of  a  shock  to  them  to  hear 
a  careful  statement  of  his  opinions — opinions  which  he 
-consistently  held  all  through  his  life.  Among  his  papers 
have  been  found  several  letters — from  the  Bishop  of 
Southwell  (Dr.  Ridding)  and  others — thanking  him 
warmly  for  this  very  charge. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  Bishop  Walsham  How 
pursued  much  the  same  course  in  his  endeavours  to 
know  his  clergy  personally  as  he  had  followed  in  East 
London.  Not  content  with  entertaining  them  at  his 
house  so  far  as  was  possible,  he  visited  them  continually 
in  their  parishes.  As  a  rule  he  went  by  train,  partly 
because  he  found  it  easier  to  read  in  the  train  than  in  his 
carriage — and  it  was  on  his  journeys  that  he  found  time 
for  most  of  his  lighter  literature — e.g.,  the  Spectator,  of 
which  he  was  particularly  fond — and  partly  because  he 
shrank  from  putting  his  clergy  to  the  expense  of  enter- 
.taining  his  coachman  as  well  as  himself.  He  had  a  great 
dislike,  too,  to  the  "  pomp  "  of  a  pair  of  horses,  &c.,  and 
only  on  very  dark  nights,  or  under  pressure  of  those  who 
thought  some  long  drive  safer  with  two  men-servants, 
would   he   consent    to   take   a  footman   also.     On   one 


Wakefield — Relations  with  the  Clergy    291 

occasion  his  modesty  in  this  matter  was  the  cause  of 
great  disappointment.  He  was  going  to  preach  to  the 
inmates  of  a  large  workhouse  in  his  diocese,  and,  as  it 
was  not  more  than  two  or  three  miles  away,  he  was  to 
drive.  He  expressed  great  sympathy  with  the  poor  folk 
he  was  to  visit,  and  declared  that  he  had  not  the  heart  to 
drive  up  in  his  carriage  and  pair.  He  consequently 
borrowed  his  daughter-in-law's  pony-cart,  and  drove  him- 
self up  to  the  workhouse.  On  his  arrival  he  found  every 
window  filled  with  expectant  faces ;  one  of  the  great 
events  of  the  day  was  to  see  the  Bishop  arrive,  and  great 
was  the  disappointment  when  all  that  was  to  be  witnessed 
was  an  old  gentleman  driving  up  in  a  pony-cart ! 

One  of  his  friends,  writing  about  his  intercourse  with 
the  clergy,  says  : 

"  His  general  dealings  with  his  clergy  may  be  summed  up  in  a 
very  few  words.  He  was  a  personal  friend  and  a  close  personal  friend 
of  every  one  of  them. 

"  I  go  about  a  good  deal,  and  of  course  men  speak  much  to  me 
about  the  Bishop.  It  is  most  striking  and  most  touching  to  hear 
one  after  another  say  the  same  thing,  *  Well,  I  have  lost  my  best 
friend.'     His  clergy  loved  him  and  trusted  him. 

"They  could  always  go  to  him,  and  he  would  see  them  at  any 
time  on  the  most  trivial  matter.  This  had  its  disadvantages  :  it 
is  possible  for  a  Bishop  to  be  too  accessible,  and  the  result  some- 
times was  that  the  purely  personal  view  of  a  difficult  question 
became  so  prominent  that  impartial  judgment,  or  at  least  impar- 
tial action,  became  more  difficult  than  it  need  have  been. 

"  He  was  always  thinking  about  his  clergy,  always  scheming  for 
them,  always  trjdng  to  help  them.  He  discouraged  any  talk  about 
any  of  them  that  was  uncharitable,  or  in  any  way  detrimental. 
He  would  sharply  snub  an  ill-natured  story,  or  at  once  make  an 
excuse  for  a  man  if  any  weak  action  were  criticised.  He  tried,  in 
fact,  always  to  see  what  was  good,  and  to  shut  his  eyes  to  what 
was  bad. 


292  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  He  would  always  go  to  his  clergy ;  he  was  constantly  in  and 
out,  up  and  down  his  diocese ;  until  '  The  Bishop  is  coming  to 
preach'  became  a  periodical  matter  of  course,  instead  of  an 
isolated  event  as  in  days  of  yore." 

Besides  doing  this  himself,  he  was  always  sending  his- 
domestic  Chaplain  to  help  any  clergy  who  were  ill  or 
needed  a  rest.  He  disliked  taking  a  Chaplain  about  with 
him,  partly  on  the  score  of  adding  to  the  amount  of  enter- 
taining which  it  would  necessitate  on  the  part  of  the 
clergy,  but  largely  because  it  worried  him  to  know  that 
any  one  in  the  church  had  heard  the  sermon  or  address  he 
was  delivering  before.  Every  Sunday,  and  often  in  the 
week,  his  Chaplain  for  the  time  being  was  busy  about 
the  diocese,  and  many  a  hard-worked  clergyman  will 
remember  with  gratitude  the  help  he  received  from 
Mr.  Pott,  Mr.  Marrow,  or  Mr.  Cholmeley.  This  practice 
was,  of  course,  also  of  considerable  use  in  helping  to 
keep  the  Bishop  in  touch  with  the  work  going  on  in  the 
various  parishes.  Among  the  clergy  of  the  diocese,  in 
whom  and  in  whose  work  he  felt  special  interest,  mention 
must  be  made  of  the  aged  Canon  John  Sharp,  Vicar  of 
Horbury.  The  Bishop  was  always  anxious  to  do  any- 
thing that  lay  in  his  power  to  show  his  sympathy  with 
the  Horbury  House  of  Mercy,  and  the  Sisters  of  that 
establishment  presented  him  with  a  portion  of  the  work 
for  his  private  chapel.  To  the  poor  girls,  inmates  of  this 
Home,  he  was  well  known.  After  his  death  one  of  them, 
in  speaking  of  him,  said  :  "  Nobody  but  him  ever  called 
us  his  dear  children."  One  special  bond  of  sympathy 
between  Canon  Sharp  and  his  Bishop  was  the  fondness  of 
each  of  them  for  sonnet-writing,  and  from  time  to  time — 
on  their  respective  birthdays  and  such-like  opportunities — 
greetings  in  this  form  were  very  generally  exchanged. 


Wakefield — Confirmations  293 

But  it  was  not  by  any  means  with  the  clergy  alone  that 
Bishop  Walsham  How  made  friends.  Much  has  been 
said  in  another  chapter  about  his  delight  in  gathering 
children  round  him,  and  he  made  friends  with  all  those 
whom  he  saw  in  the  houses  where  he  visited.  He  cared 
greatly  for  the  lambs  of  his  flock.  Naturally  enough  he 
was  specially  anxious  about  those  brought  to  him  for 
Confirmation.  More  than  one  child  in  his  old  diocese 
mourns  his  loss  in  a  special  degree,  inasmuch  as  he  or 
she  had  looked  forward  to  being  confirmed  by  him. 
He  was  exceedingly  particular  as  to  everything  being 
carried  out  on  these  occasions  in  the  most  orderly  way, 
and  greatly  annoyed  when  his  instructions  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  the  candidates  were  to  be  presented  to 
him  were  misunderstood  or  ignored.  In  1888  he  put  out 
a  letter  to  be  read  by  the  clergy  in  giving  notice  of  a 
Confirmation.  In  this  letter  the  following  passage 
occurred  : 

"  We  must  not  think  of  Confirmation  as  no  more  than 
the  renewal  of  our  baptismal  vows  and  the  dedication  of 
ourselves  to  God's  service.  It  is  this  ;  but  it  is  more  than 
this." 

A  few  years  later  he  withdrew  this  and  issued  another, 
explaining  to  one  of  his  Chaplains  that  he  did  so  on  the 
ground  that  he  did  not  consider  that  it  was  quite  strictly 
true  to  say  "it  is  this."  He  insisted  strongly  in  his 
Confirmation  charges  on  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
bestowed  in  the  rite,  and  seems  to  have  considered  that 
the  renewal  of  the  baptismal  vow  was  preliminary  to  and 
not  an  essential  part  of  the  ceremony. 

He  had  a  strong  body  of  Lay  Readers  in  the  diocese, 
whom  he  always  admitted  to  the  office  himself.     These 


294  Bishop  Walsham  How 

good  laymen  were  under  the  charge  of  the  Diocesan 
Chaplain — a  clergyman  whose  duties  were  distinct  from 
those  of  the  domestic  Chaplain,  and  who  gave  addresses, 
&c.,  and  worked  generally  about  the  diocese,  under  the 
direct  orders  of  the  Bishop. 

Wherever  he  went  he  tried  to  see  what  he  could  of  the 
people.     One  of  his  clergy  writes  : 

"  He  would  sometimes  offer  to  go  and  see  any  specially  anxious 
case  of  sickness  in  one's  parish,  and  I  have  several  times  been 
with  him  on  such  visits  here.  It  did  great  good  to  us  all.  I  have 
known  a  sick  man  long  afterwards,  when  he  was  getting  very 
feeble  and  in  great  pain,  comfort  himself  with  the  memory  of  such 
a  visit. 

*'  The  Bishop  on  such  occasions  invariably  did,  what  so  few  of 
us  have  the  courage  to  do,  and  said  audibly,  'Peace  be  to  this 
house  and  to  all  that  dwell  in  it,'  as  he  crossed  the  threshold. 
[This  was  simply  carrying  on  his  old  habit  when  Rector  of 
Whittington.]  The  people  loved  to  see  him  going  up  and  down 
amongst  them  ;  and  many  a  time  have  I  heard  an  enthusiastic 
*  E-e-e-eh  !  he  is  a  grand  old  gentleman,  is  our  Beeshop  ! '  " 

The  officials  and  porters  on  the  railway  grew  very 
familiar  with  the  sight  of  him,  and  many  a  chat  he  had 
with  one  and  another  of  them  as  he  waited  at  the  stations. 
One  of  these  men,  after  the  Bishop's  death,  made  a 
request  for  some  little  book  of  his  to  be  kept  in  remem- 
brance of  him. 

He  delighted  in  the  Yorkshiremen's  readiness  to  talk, 
and,  what  some  people  might  have  taken  for  impertinence, 
he  accepted  as  friendliness,  if  somewhat  roughly  expressed. 
For  instance,  on  his  return  home  one  night,  after  preach- 
ing in  an  out-of-the-way  part  of  the  diocese,  he  told  with 
great  delight  how  a  working  man  put  his  head  in  at  the 
railway-carriage  window  and  said  :  "  We  like  you  very 
well :  you  can  coom  again  ! "     No  doubt  his  strong  sense 


Yorkshire  Stories  295 

of  humour  added  piquancy  to  his  appreciation  of  the 
people  among  whom  his  last  years  was  spent.  It  was  in 
the  vestry  of  Almondbury  Church  that  the  verger  came 
up  to  him  on  one  of  his  first  visits,  and  said,  "  A've  put 
a  platform  in  t'pulpit  for  yow ;  yow'll  excuse  me,  but  a 
little  man  looks  as  if  he  was  in  a  toob  ! " 

His  store  of  Yorkshire  stories  grew  rapidly,  few  weeks 
passing  without  some  amusing  experience  or  some  tale 
told  him  on  his  journeys. 

On  one  occasion  he  had  held  a  Confirmation  at  West 
Vale,  near  Halifax,  and  among  the  candidates  was  an  old 
woman.  The  ordeal  was  almost  too  much  for  the  poor 
old  body,  for  after  the  service  she  said  to  the  clergyman's 
wife,  "  A  turned  sick  three  times,  but  a  banged  through  ! " 

The  strangely  casual  arrangements  as  to  services,  &c., 
in  some  of  the  parishes  in  the  diocese  were  such  as  often 
to  sadden  the  Bishop,  but  his  eye  would  twinkle  with 
amusement  as  he  told  how  a  lady  went  to  a  neighbouring 
church  one  Sunday  for  Holy  Communion,  but  was  dis- 
appointed at  finding  none.  Coming  away  she  told  the 
verger  that  she  thought  it  was  the  right  Sunday  for  it. 
"  Oh  !  yes,  ma'am,"  said  the  verger,  "  it  is  the  Sunday  for  it, 
but  we  had  the  '  Dead  March '  instead."  It  turned  out  that 
an  important  parishioner  had  lately  died. 

Another  story,  told  him  by  a  clergyman  in  the  Wake- 
field Diocese,  showed  how  much  need  there  was  of  some 
change  from  the  old  and  more  slovenly  methods.  This 
clergyman  introduced  an  early  celebration  of  the  Holy 
Communion,  which  had  hitherto  been  unknown.  An  old 
clerk  collected  the  alms,  and,  when  he  brought  it  up  to 
the  clergyman,  said,  "  There's  eight  on  'em,  but  two  'asn't 
paid." 

A  story,  to  which  there  was  no  amusing  side,  and  which 


296  Bishop  Walsham  How 

it  is  difficult  to  believe  in  these  days,  is  that  of  Bishop 
Walsham  How  and  his  family  on  the  first  Christmas  Day 
they  spent  in  Wakefield  being  obliged  to  walk  out  to  one 
of  the  district  churches,  there  being  no  early  service  in 
the  Cathedral. 

In  the  course  of  the  burden  of  his  correspondence  there 
often  came  letters  which  called  up  a  smile  and  lightened 
the  load.  There  were  the  usual  number  from  insane 
persons,  which  are  received  by  all  public  men,  but  which 
were  more  numerous  in  the  Bishop  of  Wakefield's  case  by 
reason  of  his  habit  of  corresponding  with  many  of  these 
afflicted  people.  Being  expostulated  with  on  increasing 
his  work  by  doing  so,  he  replied,  "Well,  I  don't  fancy 
many  people  write  to  them,  poor  things,  and  perhaps  it 
gives  them  a  little  pleasure."  It  was  very  like  him  to  do 
this  kindness  towards  those  whom  many  people  would 
have  considered  unable  to  appreciate  it.  It  was  like  him, 
too,  to  enjoy  to  the  full  the  unconscious  fun  of  many  of 
the  letters  he  thus  received. 

Of  absolutely  sane  letters  the  following  is  a  wonderful 
example  of  real  sense  hidden  in  a  mass  of  verbiage.  The 
letter  is  perfectly  logical  and  correct,  but  requires  some 
attention  in  reading  in  order  to  gather  its  meaning  : 

[Letter  received  by  t/ie  Bishop  of  Wakefield^  Feb.  10,  1890.] 

"  May  it  please  your  Lordship, 

"  To  inform  me,  my  Lord,  wether  I  have  a  Legal  Right  to  a 
Grave,  or  not,  supposing  my  Granfather  of  my  Mother's  side,  my 
Lordship,  and  the  said  Granfather  had  no  son,  and  my  mother 
was  the  eldest  daughter,  and  I  am  my  mother's  Oldest  Child  and 
only  Son,  my  Lordship,  who  would,  become  in  possession  of  the 
said  Grave,  my  Lordship,  supposing  my  Father,  loeses  my  Mother, 
my  Lordship,  has  he  a  Legal  Right  to  bury  my  Mother,  in 
the  said  Grave  if  it  is  not  left,  in  the  aforesaid, — Granfather's 
Will,   my  Lordship,  hasn't   the   aforesaid   Granfather's  Granson 


Institution  of  Incumbents  297 

the  Legal  Right  of  the  said  Grave^  my  Lordship,  has  a  Son-in-law, 
a  Legal  Right,  before  a  Granson,  to  the  said  Grave,  my  Lordship, 
has  my  sister  a  Legal  Right,  to  have  my  Father  buryed  in  the 
said  Grave,  my  Lordship,  without  the  concent  of  her  Brother,  my 
Lordship,  is  that  Grave  invested  with  Vicar's  Right's,  so  that  no 
one  can  interfear  with  the  said  Grave,  my  Lordship,  the  said  Grave 
has  a  Head  Stone  on  it  and  there  was  a  certain  amount  of  Fee's 
to  be  paid,  before,  the  said  Vicar  allows  the  said  stone  to  be  put 
over  the  Grave,  my  Lordship,  would  not  that  Grave  devolve  and 
become  Freehold  Property,  my  Lordship,  may  it  please  your  Grace 
to  send  me  a  reply 

"  from  yours  truly 


The  Bishop's  secretary  interpreted  the  letter,  and  the 
anxious  inquirer  got  his  reply. 

Among  the  many  means  used  by  the  first  Bishop  of 
Wakefield  to  spread  a  knowledge  of  himself  and  of  his 
work  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  diocese  at  large  were 
(i)  the  holding  of  Ordinations  from  time  to  time  in 
some  of  the  larger  churches,  and  (2)  the  public  institu- 
tion of  incumbents  to  their  parishes. 

Of  this  latter  practice  be  made  a  great  point,  invariably 
being  present  himself  and  preaching  the  sermon  on  the 
occasion.  He  considered  this  of  use  in  two  ways.  In 
the  first  place,  where  the  induction  (as  distinguished 
from  the  institution)  is  the  sole  public  function  witnessed 
by  the  parishioners,  it  follows  that  they  attach  chief 
importance  to  the  fact  that  the  new  incumbent  has  taken 
possession  of  the  temporalities  connected  with  the  living. 
The  really  greatest  matter — viz.,  the  giving  over  by  the 
Bishop  of  the  spiritual  charge  of  the  parish — is  not  likely 
to  impress  the  parishioners  when  it  takes  place  in  the 
privacy  of  the  Bishop's  study.  Bishop  Walsham  How 
was  anxious  to  show  clearly  that  the  institution  was  more 


298  Bishop  Walsham  How 

important  than  the  induction,  and  therefore  he  invariably- 
instituted  publicly  in  the  parish  church. 

In  the  second  place,  where  a  new  vicar  is  appointed, 
it  is  frequently  necessary  that  certain  changes  in  the 
services,  &c.,  should  be  made.  It  was  found  a  great 
help  to  have  these  things  suggested  by  the  Bishop 
in  the  course  of  his  sermon  at  the  institution,  and  more 
than  once,  when  some  alteration  has  been  afterwards 
made,  a  parishioner,  who  might  have  otherwise  been 
unduly  critical,  has  said,  "  Oh  1  it's  all  right ;  the  Bishop 
said  so." 

Writing  about  one  of  these  services  he  says  : 

"  The  form  of  institution  and  induction  which  I  always 
use  is  published  at  one  penny  by  Messrs.  Wells,  Gardner 
and  Co.  The  service  should  undoubtedly  be  in  the  evening, 
when  most  people  can  attend.  As  to  hymns,  any  Ember 
hymns  would  be  appropriate." 

As  an  example  of  the  kind  of  sermon  Bishop  Walsham 
How  was  in  the  habit  of  preaching  at  an  institution  the 
following  will  serve  admirably. 

He  began  by  speaking  to  the  assembled  parishioners^ 
introducing  to  them  their  new  pastor,  impressing  upon 
them  the  strange  importance  of  such  a  day,  and  urging 
them  to  consider  how  much  would  depend  upon  them- 
selves as  to  whether  that  day  should  eventuate  in  blessing 
or  in  loss  to  the  parish.  After  explaining  the  position  of 
the  society  of  Christ's  Church  on  earth,  he  turned  to  the 
new  vicar,  and  proceeded  :  "  And  now,  my  son,  I  must 
speak  to  you  who  are  coming  here  to  superintend  the 
work  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  this  part  of  His  inherit- 
ance. I  must  speak  to  you  a  few  words  of  loving  fatherly 
counsel  before  your  people,  because  I  want  to  enlist  their 


Institution  of  Incumbents  299 

interest  in  you  ;  I  want  to  plead  with  them  to  hold  up 
your  hands  by  their  prayers  and  by  their  sympathy.  .  .  . 
Here  is  a  new  sphere  of  work  opened  out  before  you,  and 
I  know  you  enter  upon  it  with  a  longing  desire  to  do 
God's  will.  .  .  .  Speak  in  Christ's  name,  set  Christ  before 
your  people,  as  their  Saviour,  their  Redeemer,  as  the 
Great  Eternal  Sacrifice,  who  died  for  them,  as  their 
Example,  leading  them  to  follow  His  steps.  And,  oh  !  my 
son,  if  you  would  lead  this  flock  you  must  go  first.  The 
good  shepherd  goeth  before  the  flock. 

T^  ^P  ^  ^  ^P 

"  And  let  me  now  say  something  about  the  worship  in 
this  House  of  God.  I  long  that  this  place  should  be  a 
place  of  prayer  for  all  the  people ;  I  long  that  His 
strength  shall  permit  the  services  in  this  church  to  be 
multiplied.  I  cannot  be  content  to  see  any  church  shut 
up  on  the  week-days.  I  know  that  you  are  a  busy  people 
— to  turn  to  you  once  more.  I  know  that  few  can  gather 
together  on  a  week-day  to  worship  God.  Yet,  is  it  not  a 
blessed  thing  to  know  that  the  church  door  is  open,  and 
that  offerings  of  prayer  are  evermore  going  up  from  the 
sanctuary  in  the  midst  of  the  people  ?  I  trust  it  may  be 
so  here.  .  .  . 

"And,  above  all,  O  my  son,  I  hope  that  God  may 
strengthen  you  to  lead  many  souls  to  Christ  through  that 
blessed  Sacrament  of  His  dying  love.  .  .  . 

"  Here  you  will  worship,  here  you  will  speak  for  God. 
Outside  you  will  have  your  parish  visits,  your  sick  to 
attend  to,  the  many  instrumentalities  of  the  parish  to  care 
for,  the  schools  especially  to  tend  and  watch  over.  Who 
is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?  Yes,  unless  God  strengthen 
you,  you  will  fail.  But  God  will  strengthen  you,  my 
brother,  and  give  you  that  grace  and  power  which  you 
need." 


300  Bishop  Walsham  How 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  extract  what  sort  of  line  the 
Bishop  took  in  these  institution  sermons.  Probably  few 
things  that  he  did  in  the  diocese  were  more  profitable. 
By  himself  publicly  instituting  an  incumbent  he  taught 
the  people  what  was  expected  of  them,  what  they  might 
expect  from  their  pastor,  what  improvements  might  be 
made  in  their  services,  and,  lastly,  by  publicly  giving  over 
the  spiritual  charge  of  the  parish  to  the  new  incumbent, 
he  taught  them  at  least  something  of  the  office  and 
duties  of  a  Bishop. 

If  proof  were  needed  of  the  hold  he  obtained  on  the 
affections  of  clergy  and  laity  alike,  it  was  supplied  by  the 
numbers  of  letters  received  by  his  friends  after  his  death. 
The  simple,  unaffected  grief  contained  in  these  letters  was 
most  touching.  A  vicar  writing  to  Archdeacon  Brooke 
said,  "  It  is  a  bitter  trouble  here  :  we  loved  him  so.  I  am 
broken-hearted  about  it.  He  was  so  good  to  us.  But 
what  a  welcome  there  must  have  been  above  ! " 

One  of  the  laity  of  the  diocese  expressed  a  very  general 
feeling  in  the  words  : 

"I  cannot  tell  you  the  depth  of  my  sorrow Therein 

lies  that  subtle  charm  which  real  goodness  of  character  inspires  : 
I  mean  the  personal  loss  which  a  removal  such  as  his  conveys  to 
hundreds  of  hearts.  *  His  little,  nameless,  unremembered  acts  of 
kindness  and  of  love'  (as  Wordsworth  writes),  sown  broadcast 
during  a  long  and  active  life,  despite  the  world's  hardness,  bring 
a  harvest  of  tender,  grateful  thoughts  far  and  wide  :  fit  tribute  to 
our  dear  friend's  memory. 

"  Did  you  know  that  he  had  remembered  's  [the  writer's 

little  daughter]  birthday,  and  sent  her  a  book  with  his  love 
inscribed  ?  " 

Neither  of  the  writers  of  the  above  extracts  were  in  any 
uncommon  way  intimate  with  the  Bishop,  though  both 


Wakefield — Relations  with  the  Diocese     301 

knew  him  well.  They  are  chosen  as  typical  exponents  of 
the  place  he  obtained  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  the 
Wakefield  Diocese.  Some  of  the  methods  he  used  to 
build  up  a  real  friendship  between  himself  and  them  have 
been  described.  These  were  the  stones  of  the  building  : 
they  were  cemented  by  the  tenderness,  the  cheeriness,  the 
never-failing  sympathy  of  his  bright  and  loving  nature. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

COLLIERY  STRIKE,    ETC. 

After  having  been  Bishop  of  Wakefield  for  about 
eighteen  months  Dr.  Walsham  How  went  to  Hve  at 
Overthorpe  in  the  parish  of  Thornhill.  This  house  was 
on  the  top  of  a  very  steep  hill,  which  had  to  be  ascended 
to  reach  the  house  from  the  station.  This  might  have 
hampered  a  less  energetic  man,  but  proved  no  obstacle  to 
the  Bishop's  daily  journeying  about  his  diocese.  In  spite 
of  his  frequent  visits  to  other  parishes  he  made  Overthorpe 
his  home  in  a  very  real  sense.  He  enjoyed  the  more  or 
less  countrified  surroundings,  and  the  capital  gardens 
in  which  he  delighted  to  walk  and  chat  with  one  of  his 
clergy  who  might  have  come  to  see  him,  or  with  some 
member  of  his  family.  Canon  Grenside,  Rector  of 
Thornhill,  who  with  his  wife  and  children  did  much  to 
make  the  Bishop's  sojourn  in  his  parish  happy,  records 
how  on  Sunday  mornings,  unless  he  was  celebrating  the 
Holy  Communion  elsewhere,  the  Bishop  walked  down  at 
half-past  seven  to  the  parish  church,  and  how  at  the 
Thursday  morning  celebrations  he  was  still  more  regular, 
his  engagements  on  that  day  being  less  frequent ;  and 
this  he  did  although  the  half-mile  walk  back  up  a  steepish 
hill  would  have  tried  many  men  of  almost  threescore 
years  and  ten  at  that  early  hour. 


Colliery  Strike,  etc.  303 

"  He  became,"  says  Canon  Grenside,  "  a  familiar  figure  in  the 
parish  in  which  he  was  Hving.  Although  his  interests  in  the 
diocese  were  so  varied,  and  his  engagements  so  numerous,  he 
found  time  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  many  people  in 
Thornhill,  visiting  especially  the  cottages  that  lay  near  to  his 
house.  This  might  have  been  expected  of  one  who  set  so  high  a 
value  on  quiet,  regular  pastoral  ministrations,  but  many  men 
would  have  been  quite  content  to  discharge  such  laborious  epis- 
copal work  as  he  set  before  himself  without  adding  anything  to 
it.  But  in  his  pleasures  and  recreations  he  found  opportunities 
for  little  pastoral  duties  of  this  sort,  and,  if  he  indulged  himself  in 
a  walk,  he  made  friends  by  the  way.  Thus,  always  genial  and 
accessible,  he  made  many  friends. 

"  To  one  who  loved  children  as  the  Bishop  did,  the  schools 
were  naturally  an  object  of  interest,  and  he  often  looked  in  and 
spoke  a  few  words  to  teachers  and  children.  When  possible,  he 
was  present  at  parochial  entertainments,  identifying  himself  in 
this  way  with  the  social  life  of  the  parish ;  and  one  Christmas  he 
gave  a  supper  and  entertainment  to  a  large  number  of  the  church- 
workers  of  Thornhill.  By  the  clergy  of  the  parish  his  kindness 
will  ever  be  remembered." 

By  far  the  greater  number  of  men  living  in  Thornhill  are 
colliers  working  in  the  two  large  pits  situated  in  the  village. 
After  living  between  three  and  four  years  on  such  friendly 
terms  with  the  inhabitants,  it  will  be  realised  how  severe  a 
shock  the  Bishop  received  when  he  heard  of  the  great 
colliery  explosion  in  one  of  these  pits,  which  occurred  on 
July  4,  1893,  less  than  three  months  after  he  had  removed 
to  his  new  house  in  Wakefield. 

[To  Ms  brother.'] 

"  BiSHOPGARTH,  WaKEFIELD,  y?^^  7,  1893. 

"  We  can  think  of  little  but  this  terrible  catastrophe  at 
Thornhill.  I  was  there  most  of  Wednesday,  the  day  after 
it  happened.  .  .  .  The  sight  of  thousands  of  men,  women, 
and  children,  sitting   in   rows   along   the  hill-side  over- 


304  Bishop  Walsham  How 

looking  the  pit,  and  all  in  dead  silence,  waiting  for  news, 
which  all  believed  could  only  be  the  worst,  was  one  of 
the  most  affecting  things  you  can  imagine.  In  the 
evening,  before  I  left,  two  men  were  brought  up  alive, 
and  it  was  reported  that  others  were  seen  breathing,  so, 
although  they  had  then  counted  sixty  dead  bodies,  we 
began  to  have  hopes  that  more  might  later  on  be  found 
alive.  But,  as  you  would  see  from  the  papers,  only  nine 
were  brought  up  alive  of  the  146,  and  one  of  these  has 
since  died.  I  visited  some  of  the  houses  with  Mr. 
Grenside  (the  Rector),  and  it  was  most  piteous.  The 
burying  is  to  go  on  all  day  to-morrow,  and  I  am  going  to 
be  there  to  take  my  part  in  the  sad  work.  Another  of 
those  brought  up  alive  has  died.  So,  of  the  146  who 
went  down  the  pit  on  Tuesday  139  are  dead  I" 

[To  Mrs.  R.  Ll.  Kenyon.] 

'^/u/y  16,  1893. 

"  On  the  Saturday,  yesterday  week,  I  was  all  afternoon 
helping  in  the  sad  task  of  burying  the  dead. 

"  There  were  ninety-two  funerals  in  Thornhill  Church 
alone  that  day,  eighteen  having  been  taken  there  the  day 
before  (no  in  all,  29  being  buried  in  neighbouring 
parishes).  We  had  the  funerals  in  batches  of  from  three 
to  five,  I  taking  the  Psalm  and  Lesson  all  the  time  in 
church,  while  four  or  five  clergy  were  ready  to  go  with 
the  funerals  from  the  church  to  the  graves.  The  number 
of  mourners  was  astonishing,  three  or  four  funerals  quite 
filling  the  church.  All  was  most  quiet  and  orderly.  The 
funerals  were  going  on,  in  the  way  I  have  described,  from 
one  o'clock  till  half-past  eight,  but  I  did  not  stay  to  the 
end,  having  to  go  to  an  evening  Confirmation.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  solemnity  of  the  day." 


Colliery  Strike,  etc.  305 

[To  his  brother. 1 

"  BiSHOPGARTH,  WaKEFIELD, /^<f/v  1 9,  1 893. 

"  Is  it  not  a  happy  thing  to  know  that  two  young  fellows 
aged  seventeen  and  sixteen  who  were  among  the  139  who 
died  in  the  colliery  accident  were  'waifs'  [i.e.,  had  been 
provided  for  by  the  Church  of  England  Society  for 
providing  Homes  for  Waifs  and  Strays,  of  which  the 
Bishop  was  chairman],  who  have  been  living  with  a  good 
woman,  who  for  some  years  has  been  a  regular  mother  to 
them  ?  They  had  both  been  to  their  Communion  the 
Sunday  before,  and  one  of  them  was  found  kneeling 
beside  his  truck  of  coal,  and  had  written  on  the  truck  in 
chalk,  *  Good-bye,  mother  dear.' " 

During  this  year  occurred  the  great  colliery  strike  in 
the  West  Riding,  and  the  Bishop's  interest  in  the  men 
was  no  doubt  largely  increased  by  the  more  intimate 
knowledge  of  them  which  he  acquired  by  his  residence  at 
Thornhill.  Before  this  arose  there  had  already,  in  the 
spring  of  the  year,  been  considerable  trouble  in  another 
industry  of  the  neighbourhood — viz.,  that  of  the  glass- 
blowers.  The  Bishop  did  all  that  he  possibly  could  to 
help  to  terminate  this  strike  :  he  wrote  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Masters'  Association  as  follows  : 

"  BiSHOPGARTH,  Wakefield,  March  18,  1893. 
"  My  dear  Sir, 

"I  venture  to  write  to  you  as  Secretary  to  the 
Masters'  Association  in  the  Glass  Bottle  Industry,  to 
express  to  you  the  pain  with  which  I  regard  the  prolonged 
struggle  between  the  employers  and  the  employed  in  their 
business.  Since  so  much  of  the  trade  is  carried  on  in  my 
diocese,  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  thought  presumptuous  in 

u 


3o6  Bishop  Walsham  How 

addressing  you,  and  expressing  my  earnest  desire  that 
some  method  should  be  found  of  terminating  the 
disastrous  dispute. 

"I  have  no  right  and  no  qualifications  to  form  an 
opinion  upon  the  merits  of  the  dispute,  but  I  am  sure 
that  a  prolongation  of  the  strife  must  lead,  not  only  to 
great  suffering,  but  also  to  great  bitterness  and  exaspera- 
tion. It  seems  to  me  that  arbitration  is  the  natural  and 
sensible  way  of  terminating  such  disputes,  and  I  venture 
to  suggest  to  you,  as  I  am  also  venturing  to  suggest  to 
the  Workmen's  Association,  that  it  would  be  a  great 
blessing  to  the  neighbourhood  if  the  two  Associations 
could  agree  upon  some  Board  of  Arbitration  to  settle 
their  differences.  It  ought  not  to  be  difficult  to  agree 
upon  some  board  which  would  possess  the  confidence  of 
both  parties,  and  ensure  impartial  treatment.  I  hope  you 
will  accept  this  appeal  as  the  outcome  of  a  sincere  desire 
to  see  peace  and  goodwill  restored  between  those  whose 
interests  must  be  to  so  large  an  extent  identical. 
"  Believe  me,  my  dear  sir, 

"  Yours  very  faithfully, 

"Wm.  walsham  WAKEFIELD." 

In  reply  to  this  letter  came  the  discouraging  news  that 
■the  men  declined  arbitration  altogether.  The  Secretary 
of  the  Workmen's  Association  stated  that  the  Bishop's 
suggestion  had  been  brought  before  the  whole  body  of 
the  men,  but  that  only  twelve  out  of  1800  voted  in  favour 
of  his  proposal,  their  chief  reason  being  that  in  their 
opinion  no  person  apart  from  the  trade  could  sufficiently 
understand  its  peculiarities,  so  as  to  be  able  to  arrive  at  a 
conclusion  which  would  give  satisfaction  to  both  parties. 

This  was  no  doubt  a  disappointment,  but  a  greater  one 


Colliery  Strike,  etc.  307 

awaited  him  in  his  effort  to  make  peace  in  the  great  coal 
war  which  broke  out  immediately  afterwards.  The 
example  of  the  Bishop  of  Durham  (Dr.  Westcott)  had,  no 
doubt,  inspired  him  with  the  wish  to  be  able  to  help  in  the 
matter.  In  a  letter  dated  June  3,  1892,  Bishop  Walsham 
How  refers  to  the  addresses  at  the  Devotional  Day  for 
Bishops  being  given  by  the  Bishop  of  St.  Albans,  and 
says,  "  The  Bishop  of  Durham  was  to  have  done  it,  but 
he  had  to  throw  it  up,  and  was  engaged  in  settling  the 
strike.  He  has  for  some  time  been  having  the  chief  leaders 
of  the  men  at  Bishop  Auckland,  conferring  with  them, 
and  told  me  he  admired  them  greatly,  finding  them,  even 
when  mistaken,  high  principled,  teachable,  and  unselfish." 

The  strike  in  the  Wakefield  neighbourhood  assumed 
very  serious  dimensions,  and  rioting  occurred  at  various 
points.  A  body  of  cavalry  (Inniskilling  Dragoons),  under 
Colonel  Pennefather,  was  stationed  in  Wakefield,  as  well 
as  a  portion  of  the  Staffordshire  Regiment,  which  latter 
was  on  one  occasion  obliged  to  fire  on  a  dangerous  mob 
at  Featherstone,  a  circumstance  which  gave  rise  to  the 
inquiry  conducted  at  Wakefield  by  the  late  Lord  Justice 
Bowen,  Sir  A.  K.  Rollit,  M.P.,  and  Mr.  Haldane,  Q.C., 
M.P.,  as  commissioners. 

The  distress  among  the  families  of  the  miners  became 
acute,  and  a  Distress  Committee  was  formed  to  administer 
relief.  In  order  that  this  might  work  efficaciously,  it  was 
desirable  that  private  individuals  should  not  give  food  or 
money  independently.  The  Bishop,  however,  could  not 
resist  the  appeals  of  women,  and  more  especially  of  little 
children,  and  for  some  time  a  quantity  of  food  was 
distributed  daily  at  Bishopgarth,  in  spite  of  the  protest  of 
the  Chief  Constable.  One  day,  however,  an  end  had  to 
be  put  to  this  :  the  Bishop  was  away  at  the  Birmingham 


3o8  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Church  Congress,  but  his  family  were  assembled  at  after- 
noon tea  in  the  hall  in  the  centre  of  the  house.  Suddenly 
a  swing  door  leading  to  the  back  of  the  house  was  opened 
and  a  sound  was  heard  like  the  rushing  of  the  sea.  One 
of  the  Bishop's  sons,  fearing  what  it  might  mean,  ran 
quickly  to  the  back  door,  and  was  just  in  time  with  the 
aid  of  the  men  servants  to  bar  it  against  a  threatening 
mob,  which  completely  filled  the  yard,  and  was  every 
minute  increasing  in  numbers  and  in  loud  demands  for 
food.  A  messenger  was  sent  for  police  assistance,  and, 
after  every  bit  of  food  in  the  house  had  been  distributed, 
the  mob  were  gradually  persuaded  to  disperse,  the  process 
taking  the  best  part  of  an  hour.  It  must  be  mentioned 
that  the  bond-fide  miners  who  were  present  were  well- 
behaved,  the  chief  offenders  being  worthless  idlers  from 
the  slums  of  Wakefield,  who  took  advantage  of  the  strike 
to  pose  as  colliers  out  of  work. 

On  hearing  of  what  had  occurred  the  Bishop  wrote  at 
once  (though  with  some  reluctance)  to  say  that  nothing 
more  was  to  be  given  away  at  the  house. 

He  had  already  written  a  letter  of  appeal  to  the  miners, 
which  appeared  in  several  papers,  but  without  effect. 
This  was  the  letter  : 

"  Sir, 

"  I  am  bold  enough  to  want  to  say  a  word  to  the 
miners  in  the  Wakefield  Diocese,  and  to  ask  to  say  it 
through  you.  I  daresay  many  of  them  will  care  very 
little  what  a  Bishop  says  or  thinks  about  them.  Well,  I 
will  take  my  chance  of  that.  I  should  be  very  silly  if  I 
were  to  give  an  opinion  on  the  merits  of  the  dispute  with 
the  coalowners,  for  I  have  no  means  of  judging.  All  I 
can  say  is,  that  I  think  miners  deserve  the  best  wages  that 


Colliery  Strike,  etc.  309 

can  be  given,  and  I  never  hear  anybody  say  otherwise. 
What  wages  can  be  given  I  do  not  know.  But  one  would 
hke  to  sympathise  with  the  men. 

"In  the  great  dockers'  strike  the  riverside  clergy  in 
East  London,  and  I  with  them,  went  heartily  with  the 
dockers,  and  did  what  we  could  for  them.  But  what  can 
we  do  now  ?  I  have  constantly  spoken  in  other  parts  of 
England  in  warm  terms  of  the  Yorkshire  miners,  but 
what  can  one  say  for  those  who  wantonly  destroy 
property,  who  terrorise  a  neighbourhood,  and,  above  all, 
who  would  endanger  innocent  lives  by  setting  trucks  off 
on  a  line  of  railway  ?  I  know  perfectly  well  that  the  best 
men  are  heartily  ashamed  of  these  things.  Their  best 
leaders  have  condemned  such  acts  of  violence.  I  want  to 
honour  and  respect  our  miners.  But  how  is  it  possible 
to  do  so  till  they  have  some  respect  for  the  rights  of 
others,  some  power  of  self-command,  and  some  idea  of 
the  great  Christian  rule — to  do  to  others  as  they  would 
others  should  do  to  them  ?  Surely  it  is  time  to  submit 
the  dispute,  before  the  bitterness  is  past  healing,  to  arbi- 
tration. It  is  the  natural  and  reasonable  way  of  settling 
such  matters.  We  are  trying  in  international  disputes  to 
substitute  arbitration  for  war.  Do  our  miners  really 
believe  that  war  is  better  than  arbitration  ? 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 

This  letter  the  Bishop  followed  up  by  three  others, 
written  respectively  to  Mr.  Chambers,  of  the  Coal  Owners' 
Federation  ;  to  Mr.  B.  Pickard,  M.P.  ;  and  to  the  Mayor 
of  Sheffield,  who,  with  other  mayors,  was  trying  to 
mediate.  The  purport  of  all  three  of  these  letters  was  to 
suggest  that  work  should  be  resumed  at  the  previous 
wages,  with  an  agreement  that,  as  prices  fell,  there  should 


310  Bishop  Walsham  How 

be  an  equivalent  reduction.  The  letter  to  Mr.  Chambers 
concluded  thus  :  "  I  do  with  all  the  earnestness  of  which 
I  am  capable  beg  the  coalowners  to  make  some  offer  which 
the  miners  can  accept "  ;  while  in  that  to  Mr.  Pickard  he 
begged  him  (Mr.  Pickard)  "  not  to  counsel  the  miners  to 
refuse  some  such  method  of  ending  the  present  heart- 
rending state  of  things." 

To  the  Review  of  the  Churches  for  December  1893 
Bishop  Walsham  How  contributed  a  paper  on  the  coal 
war,  which,  in  spite  of  his  and  many  other  people's 
endeavours,  continued  to  rage  fiercely.  In  the  course  of 
this  contribution  he  justified  the  Church's  concern  in  a 
conflict  which,  of  necessity,  involved  all  sorts  of  moral 
questions,  but  not  her  interference  in  the  details  of  the 
dispute,  although  an  individual  might  be  allowed  to 
suggest  a  way  out  of  the  difBculty,  and  especially  to  press 
Christian  motives  upon  the  combatants.  "  This,"  said 
the  Bishop,  "the  Bishop  of  Durham  did  in  a  happy 
moment  a  little  while  ago  with  the  best  effect.  This 
I  have  myself  tried  to  do  in  the  recent  '  coal  war,'  but, 
alas  !  without  effect.  My  proposal,  made  just  before  the 
meeting  of  the  mayors  at  Sheffield,  was  the  resumption  of 
work  by  the  miners  on  the  full  wages,  but  with  an  under- 
standing, to  be  arranged  in  a  conference  of  coalowners 
and  miners,  that  upon  prices  lowering  to  a  certain  point 
the  men  should  submit  to  some  proportionate  reduction 
in  wages.  The  mayors  made  a  somewhat  similar  sugges- 
tion, and  it  was  a  great  grief  to  me  and  to  many  that  the 
coalowners  declined  to  accept  the  suggestion.  .  .  .  The 
Church  must  act  like  her  Master.  He  refused  to  settle 
the  dispute  between  two  brothers  as  to  a  division  of 
property.  Yes  ;  but  He  did  not  say  it  was  no  concern 
of  His.     On  the  contrary.  He  at  once  uttered  His  solemn 


Colliery  Strike,  etc.  311 

warning  against  the  sin  of  covetousness.  So  with  the 
Church.  Surely  she  has  her  method  to  both  employers 
and  employed.  I  venture  to  repeat  what  I  have  said 
publicly  in  my  own  diocese  as  to  the  Church's  duty. 
She  cannot  say  to  the  employers,  '  You  can  well  afford  to 
pay  such  and  such  wages ' ;  but  she  can  say,  '  Give  to 
your  workmen  that  which  is  just  and  equal.'  .  .  .  Again, 
the  Church  cannot  say  to  the  miners,  '  You  ought  to  be 
content  with  such  and  such  wages '  ;  but  she  can  say, 
'You  have  no  right  to  impute  evil  motives,  and  to  say 
bitter,  unchristian,  uncharitable  things.  You,  too,  are 
bound  to  consider  other  interests — the  interests  of  other 
trades,  aye,  even  your  employers'  interests — and  not 
merely  to  act  on  purely  selfish  motives.' 

"  Oh,  how  one  longs  to  say  to  both  masters  and  men, 
*  Sirs,  ye  are  brethren.' " 

This  extract  will  serve  to  show  the  spirit  in  which  the 
Bishop  of  Wakefield  ventured  to  interpose  in  the  great 
strife.  His  interposition  was  a  failure,  and  was  adversely 
criticised  by  many,  but  it  was  made  in  a  manner  and  in  a 
spirit  in  which  he  was  surely  justified  in  making  it. 

It  will  be  seen  from  all  this  that  he  was  keenly  alive  to 
the  social  as  well  as  the  ecclesiastical  welfare  of  the 
inhabitants  of  his  diocese,  and  was  often  prominent  as  a 
speaker  or  preacher  on  other  than  strictly  religious  sub- 
jects. Amongst  other  things  he  undertook  to  preach  to 
the  Co-operative  Congress  when  it  met  at  Dewsbury. 
His  sermon  came  in  the  afternoon,  those  in  the  morning 
and  evening  being  preached  in  Dissenting  chapels.  "  I 
console  myself,"  said  the  Bishop,  "  with  the  thought  that 
the  middle  is  the  most  nutritious  part  of  a  sandwich." 


CHAPTER   XXII 

REFUSAL  OF  THE  SEE  OF  DURHAM 

On  February  5th,  1890,  when  Dr.  Walsham  How  had 
been  less  than  two  years  Bishop  of  Wakefield,  he  received 
from  Lord  Salisbury  the  offer  of  the  Bishopric  of 
Durham,  the  last  of  the  many  offers  of  preferment  made 
to  him. 

The  following  was  the  Bishop's  reply  : 

"OvERTHORPE,  Thornhill,  Dewsbury,  J^ei>.  5,  1890. 

"My  dear  Lord, 

"  I  am  deeply  grateful,  though  somewhat  dismayed, 
by  the  offer  conveyed  in  your  Lordship's  letter  of  yester- 
day's date.  At  first  sight  there  seems  to  me  no  argument 
in  favour  of  my  deserting  the  half-finished  work  of 
organising  this  young  diocese.  But  I  have  determined 
to  consult  the  Bishops  of  London  and  Lichfield,  as  the 
two  who  know  me  best,  pledging  them  to  secrecy,  and 
will  ask  permission  to  defer  my  answer  for  a  few  days. 

"  Believe  me,  my  dear  Lord, 

"  Yours  very  gratefully 

"  and  faithfully, 
"Wm.  walsham  WAKEFIELD." 


Refusal  of  the  See  of  Durham  313 

There  was  much  to  attract  him  in  this  offer.  Durham 
was  dear  to  him  for  a  two-fold  reason.  He  had  resided 
there  for  a  divinity  course  and  taken  an  ad  eundem  degree 
after  graduating  at  Oxford.  But,  more  than  this,  it  was 
the  old  home  of  Mrs.  How,  whose  father,  Canon  Douglas, 
had  been  one  of  its  residentiary  canons.  It  would  have 
been  a  position  of  far  greater  dignity  and  influence  than 
the  one  he  was  filling,  but  this  rather  served  to  repel  than 
to  attract.  Then,  again,  it  would  have  enabled  him  to  cut 
himself  adrift  from  the  disagreeables  and  difficulties  with 
which  he  had  been  surrounded  in  the  matter  of  the  epis- 
copal residence  at  Wakefield.  But  he  felt  that  this  was 
an  additional  reason  for  sticking  to  his  post,  for  he  dis- 
liked the  idea  of  leaving  so  unpleasant  a  tangle  to  be 
unravelled  by  his  successor. 

The  Bishop  of  Lichfield's  reply  was  delayed  a  day  or 
so,  and  when  it  came  it  was  in  favour  of  the  acceptance 
of  the  offer  :  the  Bishop  of  London's  reply  came  by 
return  of  post,  and  it  was  his  opinion  that  the  work  at 
Durham  was  no  better  worth  doing,  possibly  even  less 
so,  than  that  at  Wakefield,  and  this  coincided  so  exactly 
with  Bishop  Walsham  How's  own  view,  that  he  wrote  at 
once  to  Lord  Salisbury  in  this  sense  : 

"OvERTHORPE,  Thornhill,  Dewsbury,  Feb.  1,  1890. 

"My  dear  Lord, 

"  The  advice  I  have  received  this  morning  entirely 
confirms  my  own  strong  conviction  that  it  would  not  be 
right  for  me  to  leave  Wakefield.  I  am  in  the  very  midst 
of  the  work  of  organising  this  new  diocese  ;  there  are 
difficulties  and  complications  which  I  have  no  right  to 
throw  on  to  another's  shoulders  ;  and  I  have  been  received 
with  a  cordiality  which  would  be  ill-requited  by  desertion. 


314  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  Besides,  I  am  conscious  of  no  gifts  which  should  fit 
me  for  a  larger  or  more  influential  sphere  of  work,  and  I 
have  no  academical  distinction  to  qualify  me  specially  for 
a  diocese  in  which  there  is  a  university.  I  would,  there- 
fore, earnestly  beg  her  Majesty's  permission  to  decline 
the  offer,  for  which  I  would  once  more  express  my  very 
sincere  gratitude. 

"  Believe  me,  my  dear  Lord, 

"  Your  Lordship's  very 

"grateful  Servant, 

"Wm.  walsham  WAKEFIELD." 

The  Bishop  told  no  one  of  this  offer  until  some  time 
after  he  had  refused  it. 

\To  T.  M.  How.] 
"OvERTHORPE,  Thornhill,  Dewsbury,  Feb.  17,  1890. 

"  Dearest  Brother, 

"  I  do  not  think  I  ought  to  hold  back  any  longer 
from  you  and  dear  Minny,  to  whom  also  I  am  writing 
to-day,  a  secret,  which  must,  I  suppose,  leak  out  ere  long, 
though  I  have  succeeded  so  far  in  keeping  it  a  secret. 
The  week  before  last  I  was  offered,  and  declined,  Dur- 
ham. I  had  very  little  difficulty  in  making  up  my  mind. 
It  seemed  to  me  clearly  wrong  to  desert  the  half-finished 
work  of  organising  this  new  diocese,  especially  with  some 
serious  difficulties  still  to  be  faced  and  surmounted,  nor 
could  I  detect  in  myself  any  special  fitness.  ...  Of 
course,  in  some  outward  aspects,  and  especially  from  the 
dear  old  associations,  it  was  very  attractive,  but  I  had  no 

right  to  think  of  this. 

"  Your  loving  Brother, 

••  w.  w.  W." 


Refusal  of  the  See  of  Durham  315 

The  Diocese  of  Wakefield  generally,  especially  many  of 
the  clergy  and  of  the  working  classes,  received  the  news 
of  their  Bishop's  determination  to  remain  with  them  with 
warm  expressions  of  gratitude.  Some  others  were  puzzled 
by  it.  Men  whose  one  object  in  life  had  been  to  get  on 
in  business  openly  expressed  their  astonishment  mingled 
with  some  little  contempt.  It  was  known  that  the  income 
of  the  See  of  Durham  was  more  than  double  that  of 
Wakefield.  It  was  this  that  perplexed  them  :  "  It  may  be 
a  very  fine  thing,"  they  said,  "  for  the  Bishop  to  have 
done — but  it's  not  business." 

Most  of  the  Bishop's  friends  were  agreed  that  he  had 
chosen  the  right  course,  and  he  received  almost  as  many 
letters  of  congratulation  as  if  his  decision  had  been  the 
other  way.  The  following  is  a  good  example  of  the 
opinion  of  Churchmen  generally  : 

[From  the  Bishop  of  Shrewsbury — Sir  Lovelace  Stamer.] 

"  Cliftonville,  Stoke-on-Trent, 
"Feb.  28,  i8go. 

"  My  dear  Bishop, 

"  On  the  understanding  that  you  do  not  think  it  necessary 
to  answer  this  letter,  you  must  let  me  say  how  much  I  thank  you 
for  the  example  of  entire  self-forgetfulness  and  disinterestedness 
which  you  have  set  us  by  your  refusal  of  such  an  advancement  as 
your  translation  to  Durham  would  have  been. 

"  I  was  not  aware  of  the  offer  having  been  made  you  until  I 
heard  it  three  days  ago,  and  yesterday  I  read  with  pleasure  the 
more  explicit  paragraph  which  made  it  public  in  the  Guardian. 

"  It  would  have  been  a  sore  loss  to  Wakefield  had  you  felt 
constrained  to  leave  the  diocese  before  it  had  emerged  from  its 
foundation.  That  you  should  have  deliberately  preferred  it  to 
Durham  must  make  it  more  than  ever  your  debtorto  do  what- 
ever you  call  upon  it  for,  for  the  strengthening  and  extending  the 
Church. 


3i6  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"God  bless  you  abundantly  to  devise  and  to  carry  through 
things  which  make  for  His  glory ! 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"  L.  T.  SHREWSBURY." 

The  Bishop  of  Wakefield's  simple  manner  of  telling  his 
friends  of  the  offer  and  its  refusal  was  most  characteristic. 
He  was  walking  on  February  21  with  his  much-loved 
chaplain,  W.  F.  Norris,  from  Huddersfield  Parish  Church 
to  the  Vicarage,  when  he  turned  to  his  companion  and 
said,  "  What  would  you  say  if  I  told  you  I  was  going  to 
leave  you  ?  "  Mr.  Norris  replied,  "  I  should  not  believe 
it."  The  Bishop  then  took  his  arm  and  said,  "You 
would  be  quite  right :  I  have  been  offered  Durham,  and 
have  refused  it." 

Mr.  Norris  in  describing  this  incident  adds  : 

"  He  would  have  no  more  said  about  it,  and  I  do  not  remember 
his  ever  mentioning  it  again.  We  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in 
persuading  him  to  allow  us  to  make  it  public." 

Speaking  further  of  Bishop  Walsham  How's  shrinking 
from  further  preferment,  the  same  friend  says  : 

"  When  the  Archbishopric  of  York  was  vacant  the  Bishop  was 
sent  for  somewhat  suddenly  to  Windsor.  I  was  with  him  when 
the  summons  came,  and  his  genuine  and  positive  dread  lest  there 
should  be  any  connection  between  that  summons  and  the  Arch- 
bishopric was  almost  amusing.  He  told  me  afterwards  that  he 
was  never  in  such  a  fright  in  his  life,  and  I  am  sure  it  was  so. 
His  transparent  relief,  when  he  found  it  had  nothing  to  do  with 
it,  was  such  as  in  this  place-seeking  age  will  hardly  be  believed  in." 

The  Bishop  himself  saw  nothing  but  a  very  simple  act 
of  self-denial  in  what  he  had  done.  "  I  wish,"  he  wrote 
to    his    daughter,   "people   would    not    speak    in    such 


Refusal  of  the  See  of  Durham  317 

exaggerated  terms  about  so  very  simple  and  obvious  a 
duty  as  that  of  refusing  Durham." 

The  newspapers,  especially  the  Yorkshire  Post,  published 
very  kind  articles  on  the  subject,  expressing  thankfulness 
that  in  spite  of  all  counter-attractions  Wakefield  was  to 
retain  its  Bishop,  and  hoping  that  the  diocese  would 
show  its  appreciation  of  this  act  of  devotion  to  its 
interests  by  a  generous  response  to  his  appeals  for  help  in 
his  arduous  efforts.  Some  such  articles  as  this  appear  to 
have  irritated  certain  of  their  readers,  for,  writing  to  his 
daughter,  the  Bishop  said  : 

"  I  have  had  a  very  odd  but  wholesome  letter  from  a 
working  man,  dissenting  from  the  praise  [as  to  declining 
Durham]  which  has  been  over-kindly  expressed  by  some, 
and  saying  there  are  plenty  of  unworthy  motives  which 
he  could  conceive  might  have  actuated  me,  such  as  pride,, 
love  of  the  good  opinion  of  men,  a  wish  to  be  thought 
indifferent  to  money,  an  idea  that  by  my  act  I  could  get 
more  money  for  the  Church  out  of  the  rich  people  here,  a 
desire  to  be  credited  with  humility,  and  many  other 
motives  centring  in  self.  It  does  one  good  to  have  one's, 
motives  somewhat  roughly  sifted  now  and  then.  I  have: 
thanked  the  man,  and  told  him  this,  and  said  that  I  dare 
not  boast  of  acting  only  and  solely  from  the  highest 
motive  of  all." 

This  is  a  fitting  opportunity  to  speak  of  the  Bishop's 
anxiety  as  to  his  private  financial  affairs.  This  anxiety 
sprang  from  two  causes.  His  work  lay  among  people 
who  put  everything  to  the  test  of  money,  forming  their 
opinions  largely  from  a  money  point  of  view.  To  the 
greater  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  his  diocese  an 
income  of  ;^30oo  appeared  enormous,  and  he  was  fully 


3i8  Bishop  Walsham  How- 

aware  of  the  severe  criticisms  made  by  many  of  the 
working  classes  on  his  receiving  so  large  a  stipend.  At 
one  of  the  Diocesan  Conferences  held  at  Wakefield  the 
Bishop  made  this  the  subject  of  his  address  to  the 
working-men's  meeting  in  the  Corn  Exchange.  He  said 
that  he  had  been  told  that  during  an  election  in  the 
Barnsley  division  a  politician  went  about  saying  that  the 
exorbitant  incomes  of  the  bishops  should  be  divided  up 
among  the  people.  Well,  he  (the  Bishop)  calculated 
that,  if  his  income  were  divided  amongst  the  population 
of  his  diocese,  it  would  amount  to  exactly  one  penny  per 
head  per  annum.  That  would  make  no  one  any  richer  ; 
but,  if  the  salaries  of  the  bishops  were  too  big — cut  them 
down.  Parliament  had  the  power  to  do  so,  and  the 
people  had  power  over  the  Parliament.  Parliament  had 
already  done  it  pretty  well.  But  don't  let  them  talk 
nonsense  about  the  people  being  richer  for  the  process. 
The  other  day  a  working  man  said  to  a  friend  of  his  (the 
Bishop's), "  A  think  t'  Bishop's  pretty  well  paid  for  t'  job ; " 
and  no  doubt  he  (the  working  man)  would  do  the  "job  " 
much  cheaper  !  God  forgive  the  bishops  if  they  thought 
their  salaries  were  given  them  to  make  them  rich,  or  to 
enable  them  to  live  comfortable  lives  in  luxury,  or  any- 
thing of  that  sort.  Their  incomes  were  given  them  to  do 
all  the  good  they  could  with.  The  Bishop  proceeded  to 
explain  how  much  of  a  bishop's  income  had  to  be 
expended  in  helping  churches,  schools,  poor  and  sick 
clergy,  &c. ;  how,  next,  the  expenses  of  hospitality  to 
Ordination  candidates  and  to  the  diocese  generally  were 
very  great ;  how  large  a  part  of  the  income  went  in 
travelling  expenses,  and  so  on  ;  and  he  ended  by  saying 
that  he  knew  of  many  bishops  who  spent  all  their  episcopal 
income  on  their  diocese. 


Refusal  of  the  See  of  Durham  319 

A  summary  of  this  speech  was  printed  and  distributed 
by  the  Church  Defence  Institution  in  a  leaflet  under  the 
title  of  "  How  a  Bishop  Spends  His  Income." 

The  other  cause  of  anxiety  which  was  often  in  Bishop 
Walsham  How's  mind  was  the  fear  lest,  after  his  death,  it 
should  be  imagined  that  the  money  he  was  able  to  leave 
to  be  divided  among  his  six  children  was  saved  out  of  his 
episcopal  income.  His  fears  were  not  unfounded,  for  no 
sooner  was  his  will  published  in  the  papers  than  many 
ill-natured  and  untrue  remarks  were  made.  To  meet 
these  the  Bishop  had  left  a  document  behind  him, 
evidently  meant  for  publication  should  occasion  arise. 
This  memorandum  appeared  in  several  papers  immediately 
after  the  publication  of  the  will :  it  ran  as  follows  : 

"  My  father  left  me  a  good  fortune  in  money,  and  this 
has  been  considerably  increased  since  the  death  of  Canon 
and  Mrs.  Douglas,  my  father-in-law  and  mother-in- 
law.  .  .  . 

"  I  have,  ever  since  I  possessed  an  income  at  all,  always 
dedicated  one-tenth  annually  to  God  in  charity.  When  I 
became  a  bishop  I  resolved  that  my  children  should  never 
profit  by  my  episcopal  income,  and  as  soon  as  I  became 
Bishop  of  Wakefield  I  dedicated  to  God  in  charity  (i.e.,  in 
direct  gifts  and  subscriptions)  ;^iooo  a  year,  or  a  full  fifth 
of  my  gross  income.  Perhaps  I  should  mention  that  I 
always  gave  away  the  large  sums  I  received  for  my  books 
in  addition,*  and  that  of  course  far  the  greater  part  of  my 
present  income  is  spent  on  my  diocese  in  travelling  about, 
entertaining  the  clergy,  &c. 

*  The  chancel  of  Whittington  Church,  the  reseating  of  the  nave,  and 
other  improvements  in  the  parish  were  the  result  of  this  generosity.  He 
also  on  one  occasion  sent  a  former  curate  a  donation  (towards  building  a 
church)  to  the  amount  of  ;^2oo,  which  sum  he  explained  that  he  had  just 
received  from  his  publishers. 


320  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  My  chief  object  in  naming  these  things  is  to  provide 
an  answer  to  the  charge  sure  to  be  made  that  I  have 
enriched  myself  and  my  children  out  of  the  endowments 
of  the  Church.  This  would  not  much  matter  if  my 
personal  credit  alone  were  at  stake.  But  such  belief  does 
great  harm  to  the  Church.  As  I  believe  there  is  no  class 
which  approaches  that  of  the  clergy  in  self-sacrifice,  so  I 
believe  there  is  no  class  which  approaches  that  of  the 
bishops  in  the  amount  they  give  away.  I  thank  God  the 
days  are  past  when  bishops  enriched  themselves  out  of 
the  revenues  of  the  Church.  ...  I  do  not  wish  to  con- 
demn a  bishop  for  making  some  modest  provision  for  his 
family  out  of  his  episcopal  income  if  he  has  no  private 
means.  It  is  a  great  privilege  to  have  no  necessity  to  do 
this." 

It  is  strange  to  have  to  record  that,  in  spite  of  this 
last  paragraph,  much  exception  was  taken  by  certain 
papers  to  this  memorandum,  on  the  ground  that  it  con- 
demned bishops  who,  with  no  private  means,  provided 
for  their  families  out  of  their  episcopal  income  ! 

It  may  serve  as  a  further  answer  to  any  who  have  used 
hard  words  in  connection  with  the  fortune  the  Bishop 
inherited  and  left  behind  him,  to  insert  the  consideration 
of  this  subject  here  in  close  connection  with  his  refusal 
of  the  valuable  See  of  Durham. 

Although  Bishop  Walsham  How  did  not  see  his  way 
to  succeed  Dr.  Lightfoot  in  his  bishopric,  yet  in  one  small 
matter  he  took  up  his  work — it  is  said  at  the  special  dying 
request  of  that  prelate.  The  latter  had  been  President 
of  the  Executive  Council  of  the  White  Cross  Society — a 
purity  society  working  on  undenominational  lines — and 
this  post  the  Bishop  of  Wakefield  undertook.    The  work 


Refusal  of  the  See  of  Durham  321 

of  the  Society  has  been  to  a  great  extent  absorbed  by  the 
Church  of  England  White  Cross  League,  in  which 
(formerly  called  the  Church  of  England  Purity  Society) 
the  Bishop,  when  in  East  London,  took  great  interest, 
advocating  the  formation  of  branches  in  the  various 
parishes,  when  he  addressed  the  Missioners  in  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral  at  the  time  of  the  East  End  Mission  in  1885. 
He  expressed  his  willingness  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of 
a  union  of  such  parochial  associations  when  the  Mission 
was  over. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

THE  BISHOP  AND  LEGISLATION 

In  March  1891  the  Bishop  obtained  his  seat  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  and  rejoiced  greatly  at  the  change  which  had 
recently  been  made,  whereby  the  junior  bishop  no  longer 
was  responsible  for  "prayers"  in  the  House,  but  all  the 
bishops  shared  alike  in  the  duty,  taking  each  a  fortnight 
in  turn.  He  was  always  so  deep  in  diocesan  engagements 
that  he  would  have  felt  any  lengthened  absence  in  London 
a  severe  interruption  to  his  work.  At  the  same  time  he 
never  thought  it  right  to  absent  himself  from  the  House 
when  any  great  social  or  religious  question  was  discussed, 
or  when  his  presence  was  requested  by  the  Archbishop. 
He  took  his  seat  on  Monday  March  9,  and  was  presented 
by  the  Bishops  of  Winchester  (Dr.  Thorold)  and  Durham, 
(Dr.  Westcott).  He  gives  a  quaint  description  of  the 
•ceremony  in  the  course  of  the  following  letter. 

[To  Ms  brother.'] 

"OvERTHORPE,  March  11,  1891. 

"Went  to  dinner  on   Saturday  at   Lambeth,  where  a 

small  party  only — viz.,  the   Lord   Chancellor  and  Lady 

Halsbury,  the  Bishop  of  Durham  (who  has  rooms  in  the 

Lollards'  Tower),  the  Hon.  Victoria  Grovesnor  (an   old 


The  Bishop  and  Legislation  323 

East  London  friend),  and  Miss  Tait,  also,  of  course,  an 
old  friend.  I  sat  between  Mrs.  Benson  and  Miss  Tait, 
whom  I  took  in  : — very  pleasant.  On  Sunday  I  preached 
to  about  thirty-six  Lords,  M.P.s,  and  members  of  their 
families  in  St.  James'  Chapel  Royal  at  twelve  (we  had 
early  Communion  in  the  chapel  at  Lambeth) — an  unsatis- 
factory function — then  got  luncheon  at  the  Kittos' 
(St.  Martin's  Vicarage,  Charing  Cross),  and  then  took  a 
Blackwall  'bus  to  St.  Andrew's  Undershaft,  where  I  knew 
Bishop  Billing  was  going  to  confirm  at  3.30,  and  paid 
them  a  surprise  visit.  I  was  very  heartily  welcomed  at 
the  Sunday  school  first.  ...  I  was  pressed  to  stay  and 
preach  in  the  evening,  which  I  did,  going  to  tea  with  the 
Gordon  Browns,  as  of  old. 

"  Returned  to  Lambeth  for  supper,  where  were  the 
Bishop  of  Durham  and  Mrs.  Westcott. 

"  On  Monday  morning  we  had  a  committee  meeting  at 
Lambeth  as  to  a  '  Quiet  Day '  for  bishops  in  May,  at  which 
(to  my  extreme  distress  and  dismay)  I  was  appointed  to 
give  all  four  addresses  ! 

"  Then  to  the  Levee  with  Mr.  Kitto,  where  we  shook 
hands  with  the  Prince,  the  Duke  of  Connaught,  and 
Prince  Christian.  Then  to  the  House  of  Lords  at  four 
o'clock,  where  presented  by  the  Bishops  of  Winchester 
and  Durham.  You  have  a  writ  given  you,  which  is  like 
a  small  cake,  or  a  large  sample  of  tea,  done  up  in  parch- 
ment, with  your  name  on  it.  Your  two  tame  elephants 
march  you  up  the  House  to  the  Lord  Chancellor,  who 
sits,  looking  very  like  the  '  Red  Queen,'  with  a  cap  on  the 
top  of  his  wig.  You  present  the  mystic  parcel  to  him  on 
your  knee,  and  he  gives  it  you  back,  and  bids  you  take  it 
to  the  Clerk  at  the  table.  This  estimable  functionary 
administers   an   oath   of  allegiance   to   you,  and,  under 


324  Bishop  Walsham  How 

cover  of  this  distraction,  secretly  purloins  the  small 
package,  which  you  see  no  more.  The  Bishop  of 
Winchester  told  me  the  contents  were  very  interesting, 
only  no  one  is  ever  allowed  to  see  them.  The  tame 
elephants  then  march  you  round  the  lower  end  of  the 
House,  where  you  bow  to  the  Lord  Chancellor,  and  then 
up  to  an  elevated  bench  on  one  side,  where  bishops  perch, 
and  there  you  sit  down  between  your  two  presenters,  and 
put  your  college  cap  on,  and  look  at  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
who  at  the  same  time  looks  at  you,  and,  being  seized  with 
a  sudden  spasm  of  politeness,  takes  off  his  cap  three  times, 
and  bows,  you  doing  the  same  thing  effusively  and  imita- 
tively  at  the  same  time.  Then,  having  received  this  ample 
evidence  of  his  cordial  feelings,  you  go  down  alone,  no 
longer  requiring  the  support  and  protection  of  the  tame 
elephants,  and  shake  him  by  the  hand.  Then  you  are  a 
*  spiritual  peer,'  and  feel  a  conscious  access  of  dignity 
(or  don't,  as  the  case  may  be)." 

By  far  the  most  interesting  occasions  when  the  Bishop 
was  present  in  the  House  of  Lords  were  those  nights  in 
the  first  week  of  September  1893,  when  the  second  read- 
ing of  the  Home  Rule  Bill  came  on  for  discussion,  and 
was  ultimately  rejected. 

[To  Rev.  H.  W.  How.] 

*'SeJ>f.  6,  1893. 

"  The  House  was  very  full  yesterday,  and  the  galleries 
resplendent  with  beauty  and  fashion.     I  could  not  hear 

either  Lord  Spencer,  or ,  as  I  was  placed  at '  short 

slip '  to  the  speakers.     [He  had  been  gradually  getting 

deaf   for   some   years.]     blurts   out   three   or   four 

words   at    the   beginning   of    each    sentence,   and   then 
crumbles  the  rest  into  his  waistcoat  pocket." 


The  Bishop  and  Legislation  325 

[To  F.  D.  How.] 

''Sep.  7,  1893. 

"  I  had  a  very  much  better  night  last  night  in  the 
House.  I  heard  so  little  the  evening  before  that  I  very 
nearly  stayed  away  last  night,  but  I  heard  very  well,  for 
the  Duke  of  Argyll  and  Lord  Ashbourne  both  spoke 
straight  opposite  me,  so  that,  being  at  '  mid-wicket,'  I 
could  catch  all." 

[To  the  same.] 

''Sept.  8,  1893. 

"  Last  night  the  House  was  crowded  in  every  part,  not 
a  vacant  seat,  lines  of  swell  ladies  in  the  galleries,  and  all 
the  principal  M.P.s — Harcourt,  Balfour,  Chamberlain, 
Mundella,  Bryce,  &c. — between  the  throne  and  the 
Speaker,  where  they  are  allowed  to  be.  It  was  a  grand 
sight.  I  had  to  read  prayers.  .  .  .  The  House  was  quite 
half-full  for  prayers,  and  then  came  a  rush.  ...  I  got  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury's  seat,  at  the  end  of  the  first 
bishops'  bench,  and  next  the  Government  front  bench,  so 
I  was  in  a  very  good  place.  Lord  Selborne  was 
immensely  vigorous  and  powerful.  It  was  a  great  effort 
for  so  old  a  man,  but  he  was  full  of  force,  and  fire,  and 
cogent  argument.  I  admired  Lord  Rosebery's  speaking 
greatly.  I  think,  as  a  speaker,  he  was  most  striking  of  all. 
I  did  not  stay  late,  reserving  myself  for  to-night." 

[To  the  same.] 

"  Sept.  9,  1893. 

"  You  will  have  seen  the  result  of  the  division.  It  was 
a  most  interesting  evening — a  tremendous  crush,  numbers 
sitting  on  the  steps  of  the  gangways,  six  on  the  Wool- 
sack  with    the   Lord    Chancellor,   and   many    standing 


326  Bishop  Walsham  How 

behind  him,  who  could  not  get  seats.  The  galleries 
densely  crowded,  many  of  the  ladies  returning  after 
dinner  in  evening  costume,  and  sparkling  with  diamonds. 
Rustem  Pasha,  and  other  diplomatists,  were  among  them, 
or  rather  the  peeresses  had  invaded  the  ambassadors' 
gallery.  I  could  not  hear  Lord  Salisbury,  for,  though  he 
spoke  loudly  enough,  he  had  the  back  of  his  right 
shoulder  to  us.  I  heard  the  rest  pretty  well,  though  Lord 
Kimberley  only  imperfectly.     The  Bishop  of  Ripon  spoke 

vigorously   and  well.      Lord  ,   who  was  across  the 

gangway  from  me,  sneered  at  him  two  or  three  times 
most  offensively,  leaning  across  to  me  and  saying  first, 
*  What  is  this  man  taking  up  the  matter  for  ? '  and  then  a 
little  later,  '  Why,  he  is  positively  making  a  long  speech.' 
To  this  I  answered,  '  I  suppose  he  has  a  perfect  right  to.' 

'  Oh,  yes,'  said  Lord ,  '  only  he  knows  nothing  about 

it ' — which  was,  of  course,  wholly  untrue." 

Among  other  matters  which  came  before  the  House  of 
Lords  in  which  the  Bishop  took  special  interest  were 
the  Parish  Councils  Act  and  the  Employers'  Liability  Bill. 

The  bishops  were  greatly  blamed  for  their  conduct  in 
the  House  with  regard  to  the  former  measure,  and  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Northern  Convocation  the  Bishop  of 
Wakefield  took  occasion  to  point  out  what  had  been  the 
real  attitude  of  the  Episcopal  Bench  with  respect  to  both 
these  Bills.     He  said  : 

"  The  bishops  have  been  accused  of  being  careless  of 
the  interests  of  the  rural  parishes,  and  opposed  to  any 
enlargement  of  the  liberties  of  the  people.  [Because 
they  thought  that  the  constant  use  of  the  schools  for 
parish  work  might  be  very  greatly  interfered  with  by  the 
large  number  of  purposes  for  which  the  use  of  school- 


The  Bishop  and  Legislation  327 

rooms  would  have  to  be  conceded — e.g.,  for  meetings  on 
behalf  of  candidates  for  Parish  Councils,  for  the  discussion 
of  questions  as  to  allotments,  &c.  &c.]  I  think  that  that 
accusation  is  hardly  deserved  ;  and  I  do  think  it  ought  tO' 
be  stated  that  the  bishops  were  unanimously,  I  think  I 
may  say,  in  favour  of  the  Bill  at  large  .  .  .  even  though 
certain  particular  portions  were  pointed  out  where  we 
thought  that  amendment  might  be  desirable.  .  .  . 

"The  amendments  were  exceedingly  small  in  their 
operation  when  compared  with  the  general  purposes  of 
the  Bill,  and  I  am  quite  sure  that  we  ourselves,  as 
bishops,  would  have  been  exceedingly  disappointed  if 
any  amendment  which  we  supported  had  proved  fatal  to 
this  Bill,  in  the  same  way  that  an  amendment  carried  in 
the  House  of  Lords  proved  to  be  fatal  to  another  Bill, 
which  we  all  of  us  heartily  approved  in  its  great  principle 
— I  mean  the  Employers'  Liability  Bill,  the  destruction  of 
which  was,  I  think,  exceedingly  unwelcome  to  us  all, 
and  appears  to  many  of  us  to  have  been  extremely 
unnecessary." 

The  Clergy  Discipline  Bill  was  another  subject  which 
naturally  engaged  much  of  Bishop  Walsham  How's 
attention,  and  the  fact  that  it  has  been  a  burning  question 
among  Church  people  for  some  years  gives  interest  to  the 
following  letters,  which  narrate  his  effort,  made  some 
years  ago,  to  influence  the  Government  of  the  day  in  the 
matter  : 

[To  the  Right  Hon.  W.  H.  Smith,  M.P.] 

''May  2,  1891. 
"Dear  Mr.  Smith, 

"  I  am  anxious  to  press  upon  you  the  very  great 

importance   of   introducing    into   the   Clergy   Discipline 

Bill,  now  before  the  House  of  Commons,  a  provision  for 


328  Bishop  Walsham  How 

the  withdrawal  of  the  spiritual  charge  of  the  parish,  in  the 
case  dealt  with  under  Clause  2,  by  the  bishop  who  con- 
fers it.  The  voidance  of  the  ecclesiastical  preferment 
(called  in  the  margin  *  Deprivation ')  is  not  equivalent  to 
the  withdrawal  of  the  spiritual  charge  of  the  parish. 

"  The  distinction  is  readily  perceived  by  the  distinction 
between  the  two  acts  of  institution  and  induction,  the 
former  (always  performed  by  the  bishop)  giving  the 
incumbent  the  spiritual  '  cure  of  souls,'  the  latter  (per- 
formed by  any  clergyman  under  *  mandate '  from  the 
bishop)  admitting  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  temporalities 
of  the  benefice.  The  122nd  Canon,  though  grammati- 
cally applicable  to  sentences  of  an  Ecclesiastical  Court, 
yet  affirms  the  principle  that  sentence  of  deprivation 
should  be  pronounced  by  the  bishop  alone. 

"The  strongest  objection  is  felt  to  the  provisions  of 
Clause  2,  without  any  act  of  the  bishop  withdrawing  the 
spiritual  charge,  by  a  very  large  number  of  the  most 
thoughtful  and  learned  of  the  clergy. 

"  Were  the  Bill  to  be  enacted  in  its  present  form,  a 
criminous  and  unscrupulous  clergyman,  convicted  (say) 
of  adultery  in  a  Divorce  Court,  might  argue  that, 
although  the  act  could  take  away  his  benefice,  it  could 
not  take  away  what  the  bishop  had  given  him,  namely, 
the  spiritual  charge  of  the  parish,  and  he  might  accord- 
ingly open  a  room  and  hold  services  in  defiance  of  the 
act  of  his  bishop  ;  being  supported  (i)  by  unscrupulous 
friends,  (2)  by  over-scrupulous  Church  people,  who 
would  hold  him  not  rightfully  deprived  of  his  spiritual 
office. 

"The  bishop  has  no  power  to  suspend  or  inhibit  an 
incumbent  except  after  processes  in  the  Ecclesiastical 
Courts,  which  it  is  the  object  of  this  Bill  to  render  un- 


The  Bishop  and  Legislation  329 

necessary  ;  and,  even  if  he  had  such  power,  its  exercise, 
unless  statutably  provided  for,  would  inevitably  be  repre- 
sented as  an  undue  assumption,  and  a  slur  upon  the 
sentence  of  the  temporal  court. 

"  It  seems  to  me  that,  if  it  could  be  argued  that  there 
are  great  doubts  whether  deprivation  of  the  ecclesiastical 
benefice  necessarily  carries  with  it  inability  to  continue 
the  exercise  of  spiritual  functions,  there  might  be  some 
chance  of  such  a  provision  as  I  am  pleading  for  being 
accepted.  I  am  sure  that  with  such  a  provision  the  Bill 
would  be  universally  welcomed  as  a  vast  boon,  but  that 
without  such  a  provision  it  would  be  regarded  by  many 
with  very  great  disfavour,  and  would  be  the  cause  of 
much  confusion  and  distress.  I  venture  to  sketch  such 
an  amendment  as  would  effect  what  so  many  desire. 

"  Believe  me, 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD 

"  Suggested  Amendment  : 

"When  the  ecclesiastical  preferment  held  by  any 
clergyman  shall  become  vacant  as  a  consequence  of  a 
conviction  by  a  temporal  court,  as  aforesaid,  or  as  a 
consequence  of  a  bastardy  order,  or  of  a  verdict  of  a  jury 
or  decision  of  a  court  finding  him  guilty  of  adultery,  as 
aforesaid,  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  or,  in  the  event  of 
the  diocese  being  vacant,  the  archbishop  of  the  province, 
may  {or  shall)  pronounce  a  sentence  inhibiting  the  said 
clergyman  from  all  spiritual  acts  and  functions  within  the 
parish  of  which  he  has  had  the  spiritual  charge,  and  the 
sentence  of  inhibition  shall  be  recorded  in  the  registry  of 
the  diocese." 


330  Bishop  Walsham  How 

To  this  letter,  a  copy  of  which  was  also  sent  to  the- 
Attorney-General  (Sir  Richard  Webster),  the  following 
reply  was  received  : 

"  10  Downing  St.,  Whitehall,  May  7,  1891. 

"  My  dear  Lord  Bishop, 

"  I  have  carefully  considered,  with  those  who  are  in  a 
position  to  advise  me,  your  letter  of  the  2nd  inst.  relating  to  the 
Clergy  Discipline  Bill.  I  quite  understand  your  point,  but  I  think 
perhaps  you  hardly  realise  that  it  is  no  new  principle  that  is  being 
introduced,  because  since  1388  ipso  facto  avoidance  of  benefices 
by  virtue  of  an  Act  of  Parliament  has  been  known.  So  again  the 
Felony  Act  of  1870  made  the  benefice  of  a  clergyman  convicted 
of  felony  ipso  facto  vacated,  and  made  the  clergyman  incapable  of 
preferment.  There  is,  I  am  advised,  no  doubt  that,  if  an  Act  of 
Parliament  declares  that  the  benefice  is  vacant,  the  clergyman 
ceases  to  hold  the  cure  of  souls,  the  patron  is  entitled  to  present, 
and,  if  he  presents,  the  bishop  must  institute  as  to  a  vacant  bene- 
fice. Upon  the  institution  of  the  new  incumbent  any  service 
held  without  his  permission  in  the  parish  is  illegal,  both  ecclesias- 
tically and  civilly.  Further,  under  Clause  17  of  the  present  Bill^ 
the  bishop  can  depose  the  convicted  clergyman  from  his  Orders. 
I  think,  therefore,  the  evils  you  fear  as  possible  can  hardly  arise. 
But  from  the  political  point  of  view  I  am  extremely  averse  to 
introduce  into  the  Bill  any  controversial  ecclesiastical  matter,  as  I 
am  sure  it  would  meet  with  great  opposition. 

"  ....  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  talking  privately  with  Mr. 
Gladstone  on  the  Bill,  and,  although  I  think  he  himself  does  not 
in  principle  object  to  your  suggestion,  he  made  it  clear  to  me  that 
there  would  be  very  strong  opposition  among  others  on  his  side  of 

the  House. 

"  Believe  me, 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  W.  H.  SMITH." 

Another  measure  in  which  Bishop  Walsham  How  was 
naturally  deeply  interested  was  the  Education  Bill.  In 
1896,   when   the   Government   introduced   their   ill-fated 


The  Bishop  and  Legislation  331 

Bill,  which  was  afterwards  withdrawn,  he  felt  strongly 
that  Clause  27,  which  dealt  with  the  opening  of  all 
schools  to  denominational  teaching  under  certain  condi- 
tions, should  be  limited  in  its  application  to  districts 
where  there  was  only  one  school  available,  or  no  school 
where  parents  could  obtain  the  religious  teaching  they 
desired  for  their  children.  He  urged  the  Bishop  of 
London  (Dr.  Temple)  to  move  in  the  matter,  but  un- 
successfully : 

[To  Rev.  W.  F.  Norris.] 

''May  II,  1896. 

"The  Bishop  of  London's  letter  is  disappointing.  .  .  . 
No  doubt  the  Bishop  is  right  in  saying  that  where  there 
are  two  schools,  so  that  Clause  27  would  not  (with  my 
limitation)  apply,  the  lay  subscribers  might  plan  to  starve 
out  the  voluntary  school,  and  so  make  the  school  district 
one  to  which  the  clause  would  apply.      But  this  would  be 

rarely  done,  whereas candidly  acknowledged  that  the 

temptation  under  Clause  27  to  surrender  the  Church 
School,  if  power  existed  to  introduce  Church  teaching  in 
the  Board  Schools,  would  be  very  great.  I  shall  not  let 
the  matter  alone,  but  shall  try  either  Gregory,  or  Brown- 
rigg,  or  Lord  Cranborne." 

On  the  Rate-aid  versus  State-aid  question  he  changed  his 
opinion  in  1896,  as  many  others  did,  and  in  Convocation 
in  June  of  that  year  voted  in  favour  of  rate-aid.  This  was 
because  he  considered  it  hopeless  to  get  a  sufficient  amount 
of  help  out  of  the  Imperial  Exchequer.  Many  disagreed 
with  the  Bishop  on  this  question,  and  viewed  the  prospect 
of  rate-aid  with  despair.  But  he  was  always  hopeful  that 
things  would  work  out  better  than  was  expected. 


332  Bishop  Walsham  How 

The  following  letter,  written  just  at  this  time,  is  full  of 
interest  concerning  both  this  and  other  matters  : 


[To  Rev.  H.  W.  How.] 

"  BiSHOPGARTH,  Wakefield,  May  1 6,  1896. 

"  I  read  a  good  deal  of  Purcell's  '  Life  of  Cardinal 
Manning.'  It  is  immensely  interesting,  though  (as  usual 
in  '  Lives ')  too  much  spun  out,  especially  in  giving  too 
many  letters  on  the  same  subject.  It  has  greatly  raised 
my  conception  of  Manning's  powers.  He  was  a  great 
power,  and  with  a  great  statesman's  gifts  and  influence. 
And  what  an  Ultramontane  he  was  !  It  was  he  apparently 
who  secured  the  decree  of  Papal  Infallibility,  working 
indefatigably,  plotting  and  planning,  seeing  and  reasoning 
with  great  numbers  of  the  dissentients,  and  by  his 
eloquence  and  fervour  carrying  all  before  him  at  last. 
He  also  seems  to  have  won  over  a  great  number  from 
our  Church  to  Rome.  As  to  the  recognition  of  our 
Orders  by  Rome,  one  gets  a  fair  idea  of  the  tremendous 
force  to  be  dealt  with.  I  have  no  doubt  Vaughan  pretty 
well  represents  Manning's  views. 

"  I  have  also  been  in  correspondence  with  the  Bishop 
of  London,  Lord  Cranborne,  Norris,  and  Archdeacon 
Wilson,  about  Clause  27  of  the  Education  Bill,  which  I 

do  not  like.     Did  you  see  B 's  speech  about  two  or 

three  weeks  ago,  in  which  he  said  (speaking  in  support  of 
the  Bill)  that  under  this  Clause  27  we  might  get  our 
Church  teaching  into  Board  Schools,  and  then  need  not 
make  such  exertions,  or  spend  our  money,  in  retaining 
our  Church  Schools  ?  This  just  touches  the  danger,  and 
it  is  very  serious.  I  am  working  to  get  the  clause  confined 
to  school  districts  in  which  there  is  only  one  school,  or 


The  Bishop  and  Legislation  333 

no  school  in  which  the  religious  teaching  desired  is 
given.  This  would  greatly  lessen  the  danger.  I  think 
Archdeacon  Wilson  is  right  when  he  says  the  Church  has 
not  made  up  its  mind  what  it  wants,  and  will  find  the 
clause,  if  unguarded,  very  disastrous.  I  am  fast  coming 
round  to  the  Manchester  scheme,  and  think  the  accept- 
ance of  rate-aid  for  our  schools  better  than  the  miserable 
financial  proposals  of  the  Bill. 

"  I.  I  would  limit  the  measure  to  Board  School  areas. 

"2.  I  would  accept  representation  of  rate-payers,  so 
that  they  should  never  exceed  one-third  of  the  committee 
of  management. 

"3.  I  would  entrust  the  election  of  teachers  to  the 
whole  board  of  managers. 

"4.  I  would  place  the  religious  teaching  under  a  sub- 
committee of  members  of  the  religious  body  providing 
the  school. 

"5.  I  would  deal  with  poor  struggling  schools  in  non- 
school-board  districts  by  some  special  increase  in  the 
Government  grant  (where  proved  to  be  necessary)." 

[To  Mrs.  R.  Ll,  Kenyon.] 

'*  Wakefield, /une  4,  1896. 

"  I  have  come  back  from  York.  Yesterday  we  had  a 
great  field-day  at  the  Education  Bill.  It  was  most 
interesting,  and  a  most  able  debate.  The  Bishops  of 
Manchester  [Moorhouse],  Durham  [Westcott],  Chester 
[Jayne],  and  Newcastle  [Jacob]  were  especially  good, 
and  the  Archbishop  [Maclagan]  was  splendid,  as 
President,  in  tact,  courtesy,  and  clearness.  All  ten 
Bishops  of  the  Province  were  present,  and  voted 
unanimously !  !  We  all  went  in  for  some  measure  of 
rate-aid  for  our  schools,  the  special  religious  character  of 


334  Bishop  Walsham  How 

4he  schools  being  adequately  safeguarded.  The  Lower 
House  agreed  by  43  to  8,  some  abstaining  from  voting. 
It  was,  as  usuaj,  very  pleasant  at  Bishopthorpe." 

[To  the  same.^ 

"21  Endsleigh  St.,  Tavistock  Square,  Nov.  6,  1896. 
"  My  darling  N., 

"  The  above  address  is  the  Bishop  of  St.  Albans, 
with  whom  I  am  staying  till  to-morrow,  having  come  up 
for  the  great  Educational  Conference  yesterday  and  to- 
day. It  is  over  now,  and  we  were  very  unanimous,  at 
least  in  voting,  though,  of  course,  different  opinions  were 
expressed.  I  was  fairly  satisfied,  and  thought  we  had 
done  good  work,  but  I  saw  the  Bishop  of  Peterborough 
(London-designate)  as  we  came  away,  and  he  said  quite 
contemptuously,  'We've  done  nothing.'  I  confess  I  do 
not  know  what  he  meant.  The  Archbishop  of  York  was 
in  the  chair.  I  have  often  praised  his  conduct  of  the  busi- 
ness as  President  of  Convocation,  but  he  was  not  quite  so 
successful  this  time,  and  made  a  considerable  mistake  as 
to  order  in  putting  resolutions  and  amendments  yesterday. 
However,  it  was  a  very  responsible  and  difficult  post 
which  he  occupied,  and  he  did  very  well  on  the  whole. 

"  On  Sunday  I  preach  at  St.  Michael's,  Stoke  Newington, 
A.M.,  and  at  All  Saints',  Lower  Clapton,  in  the  evening. 
On  Monday  I  preach  to  Church-workers  and  also  address 
a  meeting  at  South  Acton,  and  on  Tuesday  I  go  home. 
This  morning  I  was  clumsy  enough  to  have  another  fall. 
I  was  crossing  Piccadilly,  and  hurrying  to  get  across  in 
front  of  an  omnibus  I  tripped  and  went  a  regular  cropper 
and  got  up  in  a  most  disreputable  condition,  covered  with 
..dirt  and  with  a  pair  of  new  breeches  cut  into  bits,  and 


The  Bishop  and  Legislation  335 

both  knees  somewhat  the  worse.  However,  I  felt  it  was 
not  very  serious,  so  I  went  on  to  the  big  conference  and 
sat  it  out. 

"  Good  night,  dear  child. 

"  Your  loving  old  Father, 

"W.  w.  w. 

"  I  forgot  to  say  a  clergyman  helped  me  up  when  I  fell, 
and  took  me  into  his  tailor's  close  by  to  be  cleaned  up." 

Finally  the  Bishop's  grave  disapproval  of  the  action  of 
the  present  Government  in  the  matter  of  the  Benefices 
Bill  must  be  noted.  When  the  more  important  parts  of 
this  Bill  were  thrown  overboard,  he  wrote  a  line  from  the 
House  of  Lords  to  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Norris  : 

"  I  have  done  with  the  Conservative  party.  The  action 
of  the  Cabinet  in  the  matter  of  the  Benefices  Bill  seems 
to  me  to  mean  nothing  short  of  the  sacrifice  of  principle 
to  expediency." 

Besides  attending  to  such  matters  as  the  foregoing, 
there  were,  of  course,  numerous  other  occasions  when  he 
felt  it  his  duty  to  attend  meetings,  and  to  speak  on 
social  and  other  subjects,  in  London  and  elsewhere,  all 
of  which  added  greatly  to  his  work. 

He  had  for  many  years  been  a  teetotaler,  and  from 
time  to  time  appeared  on  the  platforms  of  the  Church  of 
England  Temperance  Society. 

He  felt  that  in  all  his  East  London  work  he  owed  an 
immense  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  Additional  Curates' 
Society,  which  had  always  been  ready  to  help  him  in  any 
case  of  need,  regardless  of  party  Shibboleths,  which  were 
repugnant   to   the    Bishop,  and   which    prevented   some 


336  Bishop  Walsham  How 

other  similar  societies  from  being  of  practical  use  to  him. 
On  this  account  he  was  always  ready  to  speak  or  preach 
for  the  Additional  Curates'  Society  when  his  other 
engagements  permitted.  In  1894  he  attended  the  great 
Missionary  Conference,  of  which  a  somewhat  depressing 
account  is  given  in  the  following  letter  : 

[To  Mrs.  R.  Ll.  Kenyon.] 

"Wakefield,  J^ufie  i,  1894. 

"  I  came  home  yesterday  afternoon,  instead  of  this  even- 
ing as  I  had  intended,  having  had  as  much  Missionary 
Conference  as  I  could  stand.  Sir  James  Philipps  was  the 
principal  secretary  and  organiser,  and  he  had  immensely 
overdone  it  all.  They  had  taken  three  halls,  and  two  of 
them  had  simultaneous  meetings  of  three  hours  in  the 
morning,  and  two  and  a  half  in  the  afternoon  and  evening, 
for  a  mixed  audience,  and  in  the  third  an  afternoon  meet- 
ing each  day  for  women  only ;  and  this  for  four  days, 
besides  the  opening  service  at  St.  Paul's  on  the  Monday^ 
and  the  reception  and  speeches  that  day  at  the  Mansion 
House.  This  meant  twenty-eight  missionary  meetings  in 
four  days  !  I  could  only  go  up  on  Tuesday  morning,  but 
attended  the  afternoon  and  evening  meetings  that  day, 
three  on  Wednesday,  and  yesterday  morning's.  Then  I 
fairly  ran  away.  Two  or  three  of  the  meetings  were 
interesting  and  lively,  but  most  were  very  dull,  and  the 
attendance  was  poor,  the  big  hall  never  being  half  full. 
The  platform  also  was  scanty,  and  to  prevent  the  meetings 
from  collapsing,  they  went  round  pressing  people  to 
speak.  Far  the  best  thing  I  heard  was  a  most  earnest 
and  powerful  speech  yesterday  morning  from  the  Bishop 
of  Durham,  who  was  president  for  the  day.    The  Arch- 


The  Bishop  and  Legislation  337 

bishop  of  Canterbury  presided  on  Tuesday,  and  the 
Bishop  of  London  on  Wednesday.  I  was  very  sorry  for 
him  that  evening  (much  the  worst  session  of  all),  as  there 
were  not  a  hundred  in  the  audience,  and  about  six  on  the 
platform,  and  he  could  not  get  people  to  speak.  They 
bothered  me,  but  I  have  no  idea  of  getting  up  to  speak 
when  I  have  nothing  special  to  say. 

"  Your  loving  Father, 

"  Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

A   CHAPTER  OF  ACCIDENTS 

The  year  1892  was  a  year  of  misfortunes.  Never 
probably  in  his  whole  life  had  the  Bishop  been  so  often 
and  so  long  laid  aside  as  he  was  fated  to  be  during  this 
year. 

It  was  his  regular  custom  to  get  ten  days'  holiday 
•during  May  as  a  refreshment  after  the  bulk  of  the  Con- 
firmations for  the  year  were  finished.  On  this  occasion 
he  went  on  Monday  May  16  with  several  members  of  his 
family  to  stay  at  Llanbedr.  On  the  Wednesday  he  went 
to  fish  the  river  running  just  below  the  house,  stepped  on 
a  loose  stone  and  badly  sprained  his  ankle  and  instep. 
This  spoilt  the  holiday  completely,  his  diary  mentioning 
day  by  day  that  he  was  kept  indoors,  and  on  his  return 
home  on  Saturday  May  28,  there  is  the  following  entry  : 

"  Dr.  Lett  came  and  ordered  me  to  lay  up.  Had  to 
put  off  sermons  for  to-morrow." 

This  sprain  troubled  him  for  a  long  time,  but  it  was 
only  the  first  of  a  series  of  misfortunes.  In  August  he 
went  with  two  of  his  sons  and  his  daughter-in-law  to  stay 
at  Stack  Lodge,  which  was  put  at  his  disposal  by  the  kind- 
ness of  the  Duke  of  Westminster,  and  greatly  enjoyed  the 


A  Chapter  of  Accidents  339 

fishing,  but,  owing  to  his  weak  ankle,  he  confined  himself  to 
boat-fishing  on  the  loch.  He  then  paid  several  visits  in 
England  to  relatives,  and  ended  up  with  a  visit  to  his 
daughter  (Mrs.  Kenyon)  at  Pradoe  in  Shropshire.  Here 
the  second  accident  befell  him,  which  shall  be  described  in 
his  own  words. 


[To  Ms  sister. "] 

"Pradoe,  Oswestry,  Se^.  7,  1892. 

"  Dearest  Minny, 

"The  papers  have  got  hold  of  our  accident  on 
Sunday,  so  I  will  write  you  a  line  to  assure  you  that  we 
are  all  right.  Bob  Kenyon  [his  son-in-law]  was  sending 
me  into  Oswestry  to  preach  in  the  evening,  Mary  Godsal 
[an  old  friend]  being  with  me,  when,  soon  after  starting, 
the  bridle  fell  off  the  horse's  head,  and  of  course  away  he 
went,  full  gallop.  M.  was  capital,  so  calm  and  collected. 
We  determined  to  jump  out  if  we  saw  any  obstacle  in  the 
road,  but  hoped  the  horse  would  slacken.  However, 
after  galloping  some  three  or  four  miles,  as  we  got  near 
Oswestry,  we  thought  there  was  sure  to  be  a  smash  in  the 
town,  so  we  had  better  jump  out,  which  we  did,  one  on 
each  side  [the  carriage  was  a  Victoria].  We  both  came 
down  good  croppers  (one  hardly  knew  how  hard  a  road 
feels  when  it  is  approached  in  that  fashion),  but  mercifully 
both  escaped  with  only  broken  knees.  ...  I  am  very 
lame,  and  my  sprained  ankle  is  quite  cocky  over  my 
scarified  knee  !  The  horse  went  right  through  Oswestry, 
getting  back  into  the  road  home  by  another  route, 
galloped  home,  burst  open  gates,  and  smashed  the 
carriage  to  pieces  among  some  trees  in  front  of  this 
house  !     I  got  in  time  to  preach  (in  borrowed  plumes), 


340  Bishop  Walsham  How 

and  preached,  I  think,  better  than  usual,  without  notes, 
to  a  splendid  congregation.  M.  said  she  could  not  listen 
for  thinking  of  the  gallop  and  jump,  but  I  never  thought 
of  it  once  during  the  sermon.  It  is  a  great  mercy  to 
have  escaped  so  well,  and  we  are  very  thankful. 

"  Your  loving  Brother, 

"W.  w.  w." 

There  is  an  old  saying  that  accidents  happen  in 
"  threes,"  and  this  was  borne  out  when  in  the  following 
November  he  had  an  exceedingly  dangerous  fall  outside 
the  Deanery  at  Edinburgh. 

[To  Rev.  H.  W.  How.] 

"  OVERTHORPE,  ThORNHILL,  JVoV.  30,   1892. 

"Dearest  Harry, 

"  I  fell  on  Saturday  night  down  the  Dean's  doorsteps 
in  the  dark  going  to  the  Cathedral,  and  hurt  my  left  knee, 
but  hobbled  on  to  the  Cathedral,  and  gave  my  address  to 
the  mission-workers.  But  when  I  left  the  pulpit  I  could 
hardly  stand,  and  was  rather  bad.  I  was  taken  into 
Dr.  Cotterill's  close  by,  and  he  put  laudanum  on  and 
bandaged  it,  and  wanted  to  lay  me  up  for  the  Sunday. 
But  I  would  not  submit,  and  by  help  of  cabs  and  a  bath- 
chair  I  got  to  the  Cathedral  and  the  two  other  churches, 
sat  through  the  services,  and  gave  my  addresses  after 
episcopal  fashion,  ex  cathedra,  sitting  in  a  chair  on  the 
chancel  steps.     I  do  not  think  I  was  the  worse  for  it." 

In  this  opinion  the  Bishop  was  wrong.  His  courage 
was  greater  than  his  discretion,  especially  when  he  fol- 
lowed up  his  rashness  by  paying  a  visit  to  his  brother  at 
Shrewsbury  that  same  week.     On  Friday,  December  2,  he 


A  Chapter  of  Accidents  341 

returned  home  and  sent  for  the  doctor.  It  was  Christmas 
day  before  he  came  downstairs  again,  and  Sunday 
January  8  before  he  was  able  to  go  out.  On  this  day  he 
preached  twice,  noting  in  his  diary,  "  Managed  these  two 
by  driving  in  the  brougham,  and  sitting  to  preach." 

To  a  man  of  his  active  habits  this  seclusion  was  par- 
ticularly trying,  though  he  managed  to  do  a  good  deal  of 
writing.  One  of  his  letters  written  from  his  bed  con- 
tained the  following  passage  : 

[To  Mrs.  R.  Ll.  Kenyon.] 

'■''  December  10,  1892. 

"  Only  think  of  me  with  my  *  poor  dear  leg  '  strapped  fast 
in  a  wooden  trough,  and  ordered  to  be  immovable  at  least 
till  Christmas.  Talk  of  the  efficacy  of  *  short  sentences,'  I 
wonder  what  they  call  this  !  Do  you  remember  that 
Ruskin  having  (to  my  dismay)  announced  that  he  was 
coming  to  a  service  at  which  I  was  to  preach,  and  then 
not  having  appeared  (to  my  relief !),  wrote  to  the  Vicar  to 
say  his  face  had  been  like  a  pumpkin,  ^  but,'  he  added, 
*  the  devil,  having  succeeded  in  keeping  me  out  of  good 
company,  is  now  suffering  it  to  subside.'  So,  having  suc- 
ceeded in  keeping  me  out  of  two  confirmations,  two  insti- 
tutions, two  prize-givings,  two  important  meetings,  six 
sermons,  a  quiet  day  for  clergy,  and  an  ordination,  he  is 
now  suffering  my  knee  slightly  to  subside.  But  I  am 
very  uncomfortable,  and  the  retention  for  indefinite 
periods  of  the  same  obtuse  angle  reveals  to  one  that  one 
is  not  made  of  wood." 

In  the  spring  of  the  following  year  it  was  found  neces- 
sary that  the  Bishop  should  seek  further  advice,  and  he 
went  to  London  to  consult  Mr.  Wharton  Hood. 


342  Bishop  Walsham  How 

[To  Rev.  W.  F.  Norris.] 

"The  Athen^um,  Aj>ri7  i8,  1893. 

"My  dear  Bill, 

"...  I  have  done  a  good  stroke  of  work  since  I 
came  up  on  Saturday,  and  have  been  *  dusting  up  and 
down  a  bit.'  On  Saturday  night  I  addressed  a  large  Com- 
municants' Guild  in  the  grand  new  Mission  Church  in 
Stepney  :  on  Sunday  I  preached  A.M.  in  the  old  Stepney 
Parish  Church,  and  confirmed  in  the  afternoon,  and 
preached  in  the  evening  in  the  magnificent  new  church  of 
St.  Philip's,  Stepney.  It  is  like  a  young  cathedral,  and 
was  quite  full  in  the  evening — a  most  inspiring  sight.  I 
think  it  moved  me  to  preach  better  than  usual,  and  wholly 
without  notes.     I  met  lots  of  dear  old  friends. 

"  Yesterday  I  went  in  the  morning  to  Wharton  Hood, 
who  put  me  in  good  spirits  by  telling  me  there  was 
nothing  the  matter  with  my  knee  or  ankle  except  weak- 
ness and  want  of  muscular  fibre.  He  sent  a  rubber  to 
me  in  the  afternoon,  and  after  three  rubbings  of  an  hour 
each  I  am  to  go  to-morrow  afternoon  to  a  gymnasium, 
and  for  four  days  (not  all  day,  I  believe)  to  practise 
gymnastics  !  Fancy  setting  an  old  fellow  like  me  to  do 
gymnastics  !  I  believe  the  place  is  full  of  men  doing  all 
sorts  of  ridiculous  things.  The  doctor  is  cramming  as 
much  into  the  week  as  he  can,  as  I  have  told  him  I  can't 
stay  longer.  I  am,  however,  to  rig  up  a  gymnasium  at 
home,  and  go  on  with  the  antics.  After  the  rubber  I 
went  off  to  the  Mansion  House  to  a  meeting  of  the  East 
London  Church  Fund.  It  was  a  splendid  meeting,  and 
they  gave  me  a  very  jolly  reception,  and,  of  course,  I  had 
to  make  a  speech. 

"  In  the  evening  yesterday  I  gave  an  address  to  a  Com- 


A  Chapter  of  Accidents  343 

municants'  Guild  at  St.  Martin's  [Charing  Cross],  where 
I  am  staying  till  Thursday.  So  you  see  I  am  not  quite 
idle.  I  have  to  make  a  bit  of  a  speech  to-day  at  a  High- 
school  prize-giving.  I  had  a  committee  of  bishops  to 
attend  yesterday,  but,  as  no  one  turned  up  but  myself, 
this  was  not  laborious.  I  only  wasted  forty-five  minutes. 
I  am  delighted  that  I  am  not  to  lie  up,  or  save  my  leg. 
In  fact  I  am  to  use  it  in  moderation  (in  addition  to  the 
gymnasium,  where  you  can  think  of  poor  me  turning 
somersaults  over  bars,  running  breathless  races  round  the 
arena,  and  hanging  on  to  a  beam  with  a  fifty-pound 
weight  attached  to  my  foot,  &c.  &c.). 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"W.  w.  w." 

Besides  getting  through  an  immense  amount  of  corre- 
spondence and  a  certain  quantity  of  authorship  during 
the  many  weeks  that  he  was  laid  by,  the  Bishop  also 
found  more  time  than  usual  for  reading.  He  was 
exceedingly  fond  of  a  good  novel,  and  at  such  times  as 
this,  or  when  away  for  his  August  holiday,  he  invariably 
had  a  volume  of  light  literature  on  hand.  He  was  accus- 
tomed to  keep  a  book  in  which  he  entered  the  names  of 
any  novels,  &c.,  which  he  had  seen  well  reviewed,  or  had 
been  advised  by  friends  to  read,  and  against  them  he 
would  frequently  write  the  source  of  recommendation. 
Many  such  books  he  would  buy  outright,  meeting  not 
seldom  with  disappointment,  the  volume  not  by  any 
means  coming  up  to  the  expectation  he  had  formed  of  it 
by  reading  the  review.  He  felt  very  strongly  the  danger 
of  the  "  realistic  "  school,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  and 
his  indignation  knew  no  bounds  when  a  book  which 
exceeded  the  limits  of  decency  came  into  his  hands.      On 


344  Bishop  Walsham  How 

one  occasion  one  of  his  sons  had  tried  to  read  a  more 
than  usually  nasty  book  of  this  description,  which  had 
been  sent  up  from  Smith's  library  to  fill  up  the  number  of 
volumes  required.  Finding  it  impossible  to  go  on  with 
it,  he  took  it  down  to  the  library  and  told  his  father  that, 
though  not  over-particular,  he  was  quite  unable  to  wade 
through  the  unclean  matter  contained  in  the  book  in 
question.  The  Bishop's  sole  reply  was  to  take  an  envelope 
out  of  his  paper-stand  and  address  it  to  W.  F.  D.  Smith, 
Esq.,  M.P.  The  result  was  the  quiet  withdrawal  of  the 
book  from  the  library,  and  an  assurance  that  any  other 
books  by  the  same  author  would  be  carefully  examined 
before  they  were  allowed  to  be  circulated. 

On  June  8,  1896,  the  Yorkshire  Post  had  a  leading 
article  strongly  condemning  this  class  of  literature,  and 
on  that  day  Bishop  Walsham  How  wrote  to  the  editor  as 
follows  : 

"  BiSHOPGARTH,  WaKEFIELD. 

"Sir, 

"  Will  you  allow  me  to  publicly  thank  you  for  your 
outspoken  leader  in  your  to-day's  issue  denouncing  the 
intolerable  grossness  and  hateful  sneering  at  all  that  one 
most  reveres  in  such  writers  as  Thomas  Hardy  ? 

"  On  the  authority  of  one  of  those  reviews  which  you 
justly  condemn  for  this  reticence,  I  bought  a  copy  of  one 
of  Mr.  Hardy's  novels,  but  was  so  disgusted  with  its 
insolence  and  indecency  that  I  threw  it  into  the  lire.  It 
is  a  disgrace  to  our  great  public  libraries  to  admit  such 
garbage,  clever  though  it  may  be,  to  their  shelves. 

"  I  am,  sir, 

"  Yours,  &c., 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 


A  Chapter  of  Accidents  345 

On  this  subject  he  also  had  some  correspondence  with 
the  late  Mrs.  Oliphant,  who  had,  apparently,  written  a 
pamphlet  denouncing  the  same  school  of  literature. 

[To  the  Bishop  of  Wakefield.] 

"  4  Windsor  Place,  Dundee. 

"  My  Lord, 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  have  your  approval  of  my  little  paper, 
all  the  more  as  I  hesitated  much  whether  it  was  right  for  me, 
myself  a  novelist,  to  say  so  much  concerning  others  of  my  trade, 
in  my  own  person. 

"I  thought,  however,  that  the  very  long  time  I  have  been 
known  to  the  public  gave  me  a  certain  standing-ground  from  which 
such  a  protest  might  come. 

"  I  should  not  like  to  set  up  my  opinion  against  yours,  but  is 
not  an  Index  rather  a  dangerous  thing  ?  [The  Bishop  seems  to 
have  suggested  a  public  Index  of  books  of  this  class.]  Smith's 
action,  however,  is  curious.  He  put  upon  his  index  the  work  of  a 
friend  of  mine,  unfortunately  bitten  with  this  venomous  '  realism,' 
as  they  call  it,  but  only  '  on  principle,'  strange  as  these  words 
seem,  and  not  with  any  inclination  that  way.  His  comparatively 
innocent  book  was  refused  for  the  bookstalls.  I  suspect  it  is 
much  more  easy  to  make  an  example  of  the  comparatively  un- 
known than  of  a  man  like  Hardy,  who  commands  a  great  sale ; 
and  this  would  always  be  the  case,  I  fear. 

"Allow  me  to  thank  you  for  your  very  reassuring  and  kind 
•letter,  which  has  truly  encouraged  and  cheered  me,  and  believe 
me,  my  Lord, 

"  Gratefully  and  truly  yours, 

"M.O.W.  OLIPHANT." 


CHAPTER   XXV 

THE  LAST  YEAR 

During  the  last  year,  or  more,  of  the  Bishop's  life  he 
suffered  from  time  to  time  from  attacks  of  indigestion, 
which  caused  palpitations  and  giddiness,  more  alarming, 
perhaps,  than  actually  painful,  but  which  he  accepted  as 
warnings  that  his  physical  strength  was  on  the  wane.  The 
life  he  had  led,  regardless  of  the  nature  or  the  hour  of  his 
meals,  one  day  sharing  a  meat  tea  at  some  vicarage  house 
early  in  the  evening  before  preaching,  the  next  being 
obliged  to  wait  until  his  return  home  at  lo  o'clock  before 
getting  his  supper,  no  doubt  conduced  to  hasten  the  break- 
down of  his  splendid  constitution  :  but  it  could  not  well 
have  been  otherwise,  and  much  of  the  work  he  did  would 
never  have  been  done  but  for  his  determination  to  make 
everything  give  way  to  its  demands.  Naturally,  his 
friends  became  anxious,  and  Dr.  Lett,  his  valued 
physician,  was  consulted  as  to  making  an  effort  to  limit 
his  work,  or,  indeed,  as  to  the  advisability  of  begging  him 
to  resign.  The  doctor's  advice  on  this  latter  point  was 
clear :  he  felt  no  doubt  that  the  Bishop  would  be 
miserable  without  his  work,  and  that  to  deprive  him  of  it 
would  only  make  his  last  years  unhappy.  "  Let  him,"  he 
said,  "  die  in  harness  "  ;  and,  looking  back,  it  is  clear  that 
the  advice  was  good. 


The  Last  Year  347 

There  had  been  remonstrances  made  to  him  from  time 
to  time  as  to  the  multitude  of  his  engagements.  It  seemed 
to  many  that  through  the  very  kindness  of  his  heart  he 
wasted  force  by  accepting  invitations  to  preach,  or  to 
attend  parochial  functions,  without  duly  considering 
their  importance.  Thus  he  would  fill  up  much  time  with 
apparently  trivial  duties,  the  result  being  that  he  had  not 
always  sufficient  leisure  to  prepare  for  occasions  of  greater 
import,  and  sometimes  would  be  (though  he  seldom 
owned  to  it)  tired  out  when  arriving  on  a  Sunday  evening 
to  preach  some  special  sermon.  In  consequence  of  this 
criticisms  became  not  infrequent  and  were  hard  to 
contradict. 

One  of  his  sons  wrote  to  him,  urging  some  limitation  of 
work,  in  reply  to  which  the  Bishop  said  : 

"  How  could  I  '  take  umbrage,'  dear  old  boy,  at  your 
loving  counsel  about  not  doing  so  much  ?  I  can  only 
thank  you  heartily  for  speaking  plainly.  Indeed,  I  do  see 
the  force  of  what  you  say,  though  I  think  I  have  created  a 
somewhat  false  impression  by  saying  that  I  have  no  free 
day  this  year,  for  it  is  not  as  if  the  engagements  were  all 
for  work.  There  are  social  days,  such  as  when  the 
Bishop  of  Rochester  is  with  us  ...  .  and  then  I  have 
kept  Christmas  week  for  parties  and  'home  consumption.'' 
The  really  serious  consideration  in  your  letter  is  the 
suggestion  that  my  preaching  shows  signs  of  deteriora- 
tion. That  would  be  a  very  strong  argument  for  less 
preaching  and  more  preparation.  But  I  cannot  under- 
stand showing  signs  of  being  tired  out,  for  I  am  quite 
unconscious  of  ever  feeling  the  least  bit  tired.  I  have 
long  thought,  if  I  began  to  feel  at  all  tired,  I  would  at 
once  pull  up.      But  preaching  never  seems  to  me  any 


348  Bishop  Walsham  How 

more  exertion  than  talking  to  a  friend.  Still  there  is 
something  in  not  yielding  to  invitations  for  unimportant 
events,  and  also  something  in  the  fact  of  my  being  close 
upon  seventy.  Well ;  I  will  try  to  be  good,  and  do  what 
others  think  right,  even  if  I  do  not  feel  conscious  of  the 
necessity." 

This  letter  was  written  in  October  1893,  and  a  few 
months  afterwards,  writing  from  London  to  the  same  son, 
he  seemed  anxious  to  give  proof  of  his  well-sustained 
vigour,  for  he  said  : 

"  I  was  carried  off  by  Mr.  Storrs  [Vicar  of  St.  Peter's, 
Eaton  Square]  to  a  grand  exhibition  of  Arts  and  Crafts, 
partly  parochial  and  partly  from  St.  John's,  Bethnal  Green, 
a  parish  which  St.  Peter's  takes  under  its  wing.  I  had  to 
open  it,  and  to  *  make  them  a  little  speech.'  I  expected  a 
lot  of  working  lads,  but  found  a  large  and  swell  assemblage 
of  West-Enders,  and  a  capital  exhibition  (largely  loan)  of 
all  sorts  of  things,  from  Lobengula's  war-shield  to  Sisters 
of  Charity  made  out  of  paper  by  the  choir-boys.  I  greatly 
enjoyed  my  speech  (1),  for  I  somehow  got  upon  theories 
of  beauty  of  form  and  sound,  and  changes  of  taste  in 
architecture,  painting,  ladies'  dress,  ladies'  hair  (wasn't  I 
bold  ?),  love  of  scenery,  &c.,  and  then  on  to  principles  of 
decorative  art,  the  richness  of  succession  of  uniformity, 
grace  with  strength,  &c.  &c.  I  have  no  idea  how  or  why 
I  was  so  much  at  my  ease,  and  had  such  a  lot  of  things  to 
say,  but  it  seemed  as  if  I  had  suddenly  got  the  spirit  of 
inventiveness  and  a  bubbling-up  of  thought,  which,  as  I 
said,  made  me  quite  enjoy  it !  It  seemed  quite  a  relief 
not  for  once  to  be  preaching,  and  not  to  have  to  study 
simplicity  of  language.  One  could  let  oneself  go  before 
such  an  audience,  and  I   did.     I  hope  this  is  not  very 


The  Last  Year  34^ 

boastful,  but  I  was  quite  surprised  myself  to  find  myself 
wound  up  and  going  so  cheerily." 

No  doubt  the  Bishop  hoped  by  this  account  of  himself 
to  relieve  some  of  the  anxiety  which  had  begun  to  be  felt 
about  him.  But  the  last  sentence  gave  away  the  whole 
position.  In  years  past  it  had  been  no  unusual  thing  for 
him  to  speak  with  great  '•'  inventiveness,"  and  "  go,"  and 
it  was  a  considerable  confession  on  his  part  to  own  him- 
self surprised  at  finding  himself  "wound  up,  and  going 
cheerily." 

In  spite  of  all  promises  "to  be  good,"  he  found  it 
impossible  to  alter  his  habits  except  to  a  very  limited 
extent,  and  up  to  the  last  spent  much  time  in  hurrying 
about  his  diocese.  Archdeacon  Brooke,  in  writing  on 
this  subject,  has  said  : 

"  His  sympathies  with  the  parish  clergy  were  so  great — he 
realised  so  keenly  what  the  joy  must  be  to  get  him  to  preach  or 
speak — that  it  led  to  what  seemed  to  me  a  waste  of  force,  and  a 
certain  amount  of  seeming  restlessness." 

During  the  last  year  or  two  of  his  life  he  showed  a 
growing  reluctance  to  attend  large  public  ceremonies 
or  gatherings.  This  was  especially  the  case  with  Church 
Congresses,  which  he  latterly  wished  to  avoid,  giving  as 
his  reason  that  the  applause  with  which  he  was  greeted 
was  painful  to  him.  He  never  could  help  shrinking  from 
any  commendation. 

He  would  doubtless  have  declined  to  appear  at  the 
Congress  of  1896  had  it  not  been  that  it  was  held  at 
Shrewsbury,  and  that  his  nephew  (Mr.  W.  M.  How)  was 
Mayor  of  the  town  and  received  the  members  of  the 
Congress.     As  it  was  he  took  little  leading  part  on  the 


350  Bishop  Walsham  How 

occasion,  though  his  speech  on  the  Holy  Communion 
made  a  considerable  impression. 

In  December  1896,  the  Bishop  kept  the  Jubilee  of  his 
Orders,  he  having  been  ordained  in  Worcester  in 
December  1846. 

[To  his  brother ?j^ 

"  BiSHOPGARTH,  Dec.  20,  1896. 

"  Dearest  Maynard, 

"  I  have  this  morning  ordained  eight  men,  four 
priests  and  four  deacons,  all  University  men,  and  a  very 
nice,  promising  set,  who  will  do  the  Church  good  service. 
Do  you  realise  that  this  is  my  jubilee  ?  I  can  hardly 
believe  that  I  have  been  half  a  century  in  Holy  Orders. 
As  I  look  back  it  seems  to  me  half  a  century  of  very 
unworthy  living  and  working,  all  wanting  forgiveness. 
But  what  wonderful  advances  the  Church  has  made  in 
these  fifty  years  !  Although  there  are  things  one  mourns 
over,  and  dangerous  excesses  here  and  there,  yet  one 
cannot  but  thank  God  for  the  manifest  growth  of  earnest- 
ness and  devotion  and  spirituality  in  the  Church  at  large. 
Our  preacher  this  morning,  Mr.  Winter,  Rector  of 
Elland,  made  a  very  kind  reference  to  my  fifty  years  of 
service." 

The  next  three  months  were  spent  in  the  usual  routine 
of  diocesan  work,  and  at  Easter  the  last  family  gathering 
assembled  at  Bishopgarth,  the  occasion  being  the 
marriage  of  one  of  the  Bishop's  sons,  which  took  place  in 
Leeds  on  the  Thursday  in  Easter  week.  This  was  the 
last  time  that  Bishop  Walsham  How  had  all  his  children 
with  him,  but,  though  a  party  of  relations  were  also 
staying  in  the  house,  he  was  not  forgetful  of  the  sick  and 


The  Last  Year  351 

needy.  His  diary  shows  that  during  that  Easter  week  he 
paid  several  visits  to  invalids  in  the  town,  in  one  case 
administering  the  Holy  Communion. 

It  was  on  Easter  Eve  that  he  received  the  following 
letter  from  H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales  : 

"  Sandringham,  Norfolk,  April  i6,  1897. 

"  Dear  Bishop  of  Wakefield, 

'*  It  is  proposed  that  a  special  hymn  should  be  composed 
to  be  sung  in  all  our  churches,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  on 
June  20,  the  day  on  which  the  Queen  attains  the  sixtieth  year  of 
her  reign.  I  write  these  lines  to  ask  you  whether  you  will  kindly 
consent  to  compose  this  hymn.  Sir  Arthur  Sullivan  has  consented 
to  compose  the  music,  and  is  also  most  anxious  that  the  hymn 
should  be  sent  to  all  the  colonies.  Forgive  my  troubling  you  at 
such  a  busy  time  of  the  year  for  you,  and 

"  Believe  me, 

•'  Sincerely  yours, 

"ALBERT  EDWARD." 

The  Bishop  felt  much  honoured  by  this  request,  but 
was  considerably  alarmed  at  the  difficulty  of  composing 
a  hymn  "to  order."  In  connection  with  this  he  told  a 
good  story  of  how,  when  the  hymn  had  been  published, 
a  Wakefield  gentleman  spoke  to  him  about  it.  "  It  is  a 
very  difficult  matter,"  said  the  Bishop,  "  to  write  a  good 
hymn  to  order."  "Impossible,  I  should  think,"  replied 
his  friend. 

There  was,  however,  no  time  to  be  lost,  and  the  hymn, 
which  was  so  universally  sung  and  so  popular  with  most 
people,  was  rapidly  composed  and  sent  off  to  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  whose  letter  of  thanks  is  permitted  to  be 
published  here. 


352  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  Sandringham,  Norfolk,  April  21,  1897. 
"My  dear  Bishop, 

"  I  have  just  received  the  words  of  the  beautiful  hymn  you 
have  composed,  and  shall  not  fail  to  send  them  on  to  the  Queen. 
Sir  A.  Sullivan  shall  also  receive  the  hymn  as  soon  as  possible. 
With  renewed  thanks  for  having  so  kindly  complied  with  my 
request  so  promptly, 

"  Believe  me, 

"Sincerely  yours, 

"ALBERT  EDWARD." 

After  sending  the  hymn  off,  the  Bishop  wished  to 
correct  one  line  in  it,  and  asked  Sir  Arthur  Sullivan  to 
propose  the  alteration  to  the  Prince  of  Wales.  This  was 
done,  and  the  amendment  was  approved. 

Sir  A.  Sullivan  sent  a  message  from  the  Prince  in  the 
following  letter  as  to  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  hymn  with 
both  the  original  and  amended  lines  being  sent  to 
Sandringham  for  preservation. 

"  I  Queen's  Mansions,  Victoria  Street,  S.W. 

"April  30,  1897. 
*'  My  dear  Lord  Bishop, 

"  I  delayed  writing  to  you  in  the  hope  that  I  could  send 
you  a  copy  of  the  music  of  your  hymn  at  the  same  time.  But  in 
consequence  of  heavy  rehearsals  all  this  week,  I  have  not  been 
able  to  write  it  out,  and  will  therefore  send  it  you  next  week. 
I  cannot,  however,  longer  delay  expressing  my  delight  with  your 
words.  I  have  rarely  come  across  so  beautiful  a  combination  of 
poetry  and  deep  religious  feeling,  and  I  am  sure  you  yourself  must 
be  pleased  with  them.  I  have  set  them,  but  the  music  wants  the 
final  touch.  The  corners  want  rounding  and  the  surface  polishing  • 
this  is,  however,  a  very  small  task,  I  hope  you  will  like  it.  It  is 
nof  a  part  song,  nor  an  exercise  in  harmony.  It  is  a  tune  which 
every  one  will,  I  hope,  be  able  to  pick  up  quickly  and  sing  heartily. 
I  took  your  letter,  with  the  alteration  in  the  words,  to  the  Prince 
of  Wales  yesterday,  and  he  agrees  with  you.     He  told  me  to  ask 


The  Last  Year  353 

you  if  you  would  kindly  write  out  the  words  for  him  yourself, 
and  send  them  to  him,  with  the  original  line  and  the  alteration  as 
well.  It  will  be  like  possessing  the  absolute  original  manuscript, 
which  is  what  he  wants.  Will  you  kindly  do  this  ?  What  about 
the  copyright  ?  I  cannot  print  it  without  an  assignment  from  you, 
and  my  idea  is  that  //"there  is  any  profit  (there  can't  be  much  as  I 
propose  selling  it  at  about  cost  price)  we  should  give  it  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales'  Hospital  Fund  in  both  our  names.  But  of  course 
I  shall  do  nothing  until  I  hear  your  views  on  the  subject. 

"  I  am  yours  very  sincerely, 

"  ARTHUR  SULLIVAN." 

Owing  to  the  kindness  of  Sir  Arthur  Sullivan,  a  fac- 
simile of  the  Bishop's  original  manuscript  of  the  hymn  is 
given  here,  as  well  as  that  of  Sir  Arthur's  splendid  tune. 

The  Bishop  received  a  vast  number  of  letters  about  the 
hymn.  Many  of  these  were  from  Scotsmen,  and  were 
mostly  anonymous.  They  were  full  of  abuse  of  him  for 
having  used  the  words  "  England's  flag "  instead  of 
"  Britain's  flag."  He  regretted  having  unintentionally 
pained  any  one,  and  actually  published  a  letter  express- 
ing his  regret.  But  nevertheless  letters  and  postcards 
from  infuriated  Scotsmen  poured  in,  and  would  have 
distressed  the  Bishop  greatly,  had  not  their  exaggerated 
frenzy  made  many  of  them  extremely  comic. 

But,  besides  these,  there  were  of  course  many  kindly 
letters  on  the  same  subject. 

"  The  Palace,  Exeter,  June  9,  1897. 
"My  dear  Brother, 

"  I  meant  to  have  written  ten  days  ago  to  thank  you,  from 
my  heart,  for  your  noble  hymn  '  O  King  of  Kings,'  far,  far  the  best, 
to  my  thinking,  of  all  this  year  has  produced — the  only  one  which 
has  satisfied  my  very  heart.  And  now  I  am  writing  selfishly.  You 
will  see  from  enclosed  I  am  inviting  all  the  staff  of  our  many 
hospitals,  &c.,  (some  550  in  number)  to  a  fete  on  the  24th  and 

z 


354  Bishop  Walsham  How 


BISHOPGARTH, 
WAKEFIELD. 


/^^x^     ^^3<5^      y£i;«^      4C^/>e^^^*>t&<uf  f 
^^^^    /J7ie/J^     2^^^2.^7S^^  /&C/2  ^^^^i^r^*^  yf  f'^^ 


The  Last  Year  355 


^^    /ai^    ^cY"  4^/^^:/>7(CU^   ^iPi2>i^^^2^^  / 


^!^t/'f  ^JZl^^    ^ ez^  ^^^   ^^^   ^is^i>z^ 


356 


Bishop  Walsham  How 


f*  .■>  L  , 

— 1         ,    1 — 3^T — 1 r r 

3 S T 7— \ 

f— 1 — T- 

> 

— e — 4^ 

— ,^'>'-  i' 

— =1 '- 

Li     t7  •   1      q ? 

In    q    'M  !==:: 

f  h  - — ^ 

■^A-^ 

iK=^-  ^    d    J 

^     d    d     ^ 

— I — -' — ^ — m — ' 

\  IS-, — |- 

1  ^    ^ 

21— 

H  ■    1     n     'I 
4-     -^    4  -St 

-f — tJ     -q     H- 

..fe-^ z^.^ 

L — 

: ! , 

' r— n — -] 

'     '    q   q  - 

The  Last  Year 


357 


Stately, 


l^El 


r 

o 


a^Eo; 


=1: 


22-S3: 


King  of  Kings,  whose 


—©—I — -J — [— •- 


I         t        I        I 
reign  of  old  Hath 

•      '    J- J- 


z:pi:p=Gi:^ 

r-r-t~t- 


:2i: 


-1^ 


d— I— I— 

1        I        lUJ 
been    from    ever- 


Z=f3. 


=5^^: 


-t 


::t 


last-ing; 


a5iis=t:= 


Be- 


::]==1: 


=^EgEg: 


T 


fore  whose  throne  their 

I  I  I  I 

-&-   ■&-  -iS>-   -S>- 


^^E=g 


HaE5 


-©—1©- 
crowns  of  gold  The 


-•M-^ 


— ©-- 


P-©- 


£ 


© 


'rp^ 


white  rob'd  saints  are 

J     J     J     ^ 


=?2=:p: 


I 

cast  -  ing ; 


^ 


While 


?ip- 


Ir     1        1 


la: 


I    [   I   I 

all  the    shin-ing 

I  J  A,   I 


-m. 


-j:iL 


-P2^^-o- 


courts  on  high  With 
J        I        I        I 


:?2=p=2t 


=«:— ^ 


^ 


S 


I   t   I    r 

an  •  gel  songs  are 


A.  S. 


358  Bishop  Walsham  How 

25th.     May  I  print  your  hymn  with  mine,  '  God  of  our  Fatherland, 
and  give  it  each  of  our  guests  as  a  souvenir  ? 

"  Ever  yours  affectionately, 
••E.  H.  EXON." 

Canon  Norris,  Rector  of  Witney,  wrote  : 

"  May  I  thank  you  for  your  beautiful  hymn  ?  A  well  known 
rector  in  this  archdeaconry  writes  to  me  what  many  must  be  feeling 
everywhere  : 

"  '  How  thankful  we  ought  to  be  that  the  Bishop  of  Wakefield 
has  at  last  given  us  a  jubilee  hymn  that  we  can  sing ! ' " 

Two  letters,  one  to  Mrs.  La  Trobe  Foster,  wife  of  the 
Vicar  of  Widcombe,  Bath,  and  the  other  to  her  little  son, 
Pelham,  are  worth  quoting  here  : 

"BiSHOPGARTH,  Wakefield,  y"//;;^  19,  1897. 
"  My  dear  Mrs.  Foster, 

"  How  very  kind  of  you.  Thank  you  so  much. 
Such  nice  letters  as  yours  and  Pelham's  would  make  me 
very  vain,  I  fear,  if  I  had  not  others  telling  me  that  my 
hymn  was  the  veriest  rubbish,  not  up  to  a  fourth  form 
boy,  &c.  Then  I  have  showers  of  abuse  from  Scotland 
for  writing  *  England's  flag '  instead  of  '  Britain's.'  As  a 
specimen,  a  letter  this  morning  speaks  of  my  '  arrogantly ' 
using  '  England,'  and  says  the  hymn  is  *  laughed  at.'  So 
you  see  good  folk  help  to  save  me  from  vanity.  .  .  . 

"  With  kindest  remembrances, 
"  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"  Wm.  walsham  WAKEFIELD." 
"BiSHOPGARTH,  WAKEFIELD,yi^«^  19,   1897. 

"  My  DEAR  Pelham, 

"  I  must  write  you  a  letter  to  thank  you  for  your 
nice  little  letter  to  me  telling  me  that  you  like  my  hymn. 


The  Last  Year  359 

I  am  so  glad  you  do.     I  should  like  very  much  to  hear 

you  and  your  brother  sing  it  together.     When  you  sing  it 

properly  in  church,  you  must  try  to  think  you  are  singing 

it  to  God,  and  thanking   Him  for  giving  us  so  good  a 

Queen. 

"  God  bless  you. 

"  Your  affectionate  old  bishop, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD," 

During  the  first  week  in  May  1897,  his  final  visitation 
took  place,  Wakefield  Cathedral  and  Halifax  Parish 
Church  being  the  two  centres  selected.  The  Archdeacon 
of  Halifax  in  his  Visitation  Charge  of  the  following  year 
(1898)  thus  refers  to  the  Bishop's  words  : 

"As  I  meet  you  here  to-day,  my  thoughts  go  back,  as  yours 
will,  to  the  Visitation  of  last  year.  It  was  our  Bishop's  Triennial 
Visitation,  and  you  will  remember  how  he  surprised  us  by  putting 
on  one  side  the  discussion  of  either  diocesan  matters  or  questions 
of  the  day  afifecting  the  general  interests  of  the  Church,  and  taking 
for  the  subject  of  his  charges  :  '  The  Ideal  Clergyman,'  and  '  The 
Ideal  Layman.'  He  gave  his  reason  for  the  selection  of  these 
subjects.  '  It  is  very  probable,'  he  said,  '  that  this  may  be  my 
last  Visitation,  and  I  long  to  speak  words  which  may  be  spiritually 
helpful  to  the  diocese  on  this  occasion,  rather  than  to  discuss 
topics  of  external  interest.'  These  words  struck  many  who  heard 
or  read  them.  Some  took  alarm,  as  though  they  signified  an 
intention  on  his  part  to  resign  the  post,  which  he  held  to  our 
great  advantage.  But  those  who  knew  him  best  understood  his 
words  in  a  different  sense.  They  seemed  to  carry  with  them  a 
note  of  prophecy,  uttered  as  by  one  whose  vision  was  cleared  by 
the  light  of  another  world  not  very  far  away.  The  prophecy  has 
had  its  sad  fulfilment.  It  was  his  last  Visitation.  The  desire  to 
leave  behind  him  words  that  might  cling  and  be  spiritually  helpful 
to  all  of  us,  clergy  and  laity  alike,  was  prompted  by  the  thought 
that  his  work  on  earth  was  nearly  finished.  This  thought,  as  we 
know  now,  was  never  long  absent  from  him  during  the  last  few 


360  Bishop  Walsham  How 

months  of  his  life.  It  did  not,  however,  affect  the  bright  natural- 
ness and  cheerfulness  of  spirit  and  manner  which  carried  with 
them  so  great  a  charm.  It  did  not  hinder  one  purpose  of  his 
unmatched  activity,  and  the  kindliness  which  never  refused  his 
willing  help  whenever  it  might  be  claimed.  It  only  made  him 
more  thoughtful  for  others,  more  diligent  in  setting  his  house  in 
order,  more  careful  that  those  whom  he  must  leave  behind  should 
have  as  little  trouble  as  possible,  and  as  little  perplexity  as  to  what 
his  wishes  might  be.     '  He  prepared  abundantly  before  he  died.' " 

It  had  been  for  some  time  clear  to  his  family  that 
he  considered  his  life  to  be  drawing  to  a  close,  though 
they  thought  that  he  was  over-alarmed  by  the  attacks  of 
palpitation  which  were  particularly  distressing  to  one  who 
had  for  many  years  known  little  illness.  During  the  last 
months  of  his  life  he  would  not  infrequently  call  one  of 
his  sons  into  his  library,  and  point  out  exactly  what 
papers  would  be  found  in  this  or  that  drawer,  and  after 
his  death  the  fullest  and  clearest  directions  were  left  to 
his  children  on  all  matters,  and  even  such  small  things  as 
instructions  to  his  successor  at  Bishopgarth  with  respect 
to  ventilators  and  other  details  were  not  forgotten.  No 
man  certainly  ever  set  his  house  in  order  with  greater 
care.  During  the  spring  of  1897  he  was  exceedingly 
anxious  about  his  youngest  grandchild,  son  of  the  Vicar  of 
Mirfield,  and  the  entries  in  his  diary,  such  as  "  Little 
Bobby  very  ill,"  "  Doctors  give  little  hope,"  &c.,  are  very 
touching  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  thought  of 
his  own  death  which  seems  to  have  been  ever  with  him 
at  this  time.  It  was  always  a  great  delight  to  him, 
especially  as  years  went  on,  to  have  his  grandchildren 
near  enough  for  them  to  come  over  and  see  him  from 
time  to  time,  and  they  were  never  more  pleased  than 
when  with  him.  He  used  to  tell  with  much  amuse- 
ment how  one  day  he  and  a  small  grandson  were  alone  in 


The  Last  Year  361 

the  library  when  a  deputation  of  churchwardens  was 
shown  in.  The  Httle  chap  knew  that  he  must  run  away, 
but,  before  doing  so,  considered  it  good  manners  to  go  up 
and  kiss  the  deputation  all  round — to  their  vast  astonish- 
ment ! 

Immediately  after  his  visitation  in  this  year  he  paid  his 
last  visit  to  the  Queen  at  Windsor,  and  then  took  his 
usual  ten  days'  spring  holiday,  the  first  part  of  which  he 
spent  with  Archdeacon  Sowter  at  Dorchester,  preaching 
several  times  for  him,  and  also  getting  a  little  fishing  in 
the  river  there.  The  last  few  days  of  this  holiday  were 
spent  at  Salwarpe  with  Canon  and  Mrs.  Douglas,  and  at 
Nearwell  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Maynard  How,  these  being 
his  last  visits  to  his  sister  and  brother,  and  the  two  homes 
he  had  loved  so  well. 

The  following  month  was  an  exceedingly  active  and 
busy  one.  There  were  some  seven  or  eight  Confirmations, 
there  was  a  bishops'  meeting  in  London,  there  was  the 
Ordination  at  Wakefield,  and  Convocation  at  York,  besides 
many  minor  engagements.  The  Queen's  Diamond  Jubilee 
was  celebrated  on  June  22,  and  he  had  been  one  of  the 
bishops  invited  to  receive  her  Majesty  on  the  steps  of 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  But  he  seemed  reluctant  to  face 
the  exertion  of  the  day.  "  I  am  too  old,"  he  said  :  and 
he  was  also  anxious  to  address  his  own  people  in  the 
Cathedral  at  Wakefield  on  the  occasion.  This  he  did 
with  all  his  old  vigour,  and  few  would  have  guessed  how 
nearly  it  was  the  last  time  that  his  voice  would  be  heard 
from  that  pulpit.  Just  at  this  time  Mr.  Hugh  Norris,  who 
had  been  commissioned  by  Wadham  College  to  paint  the 
Bishop  of  Wakefield's  portrait  for  their  hall,  came  down 
to  do  the  work,  and,  so  successful  was  he,  that  a  most 
valuable  portrait  was  obtained  during  the  week  that  he 


362  Bishop  Walsham  How 

remained  at  Bishopgarth.  The  Bishop  had  originally- 
proposed  to  defer  the  sittings  to  a  later  date,  in  which 
case  the  portrait — by  far  the  most  satisfactory  one  ever- 
painted  of  him — would  in  all  probabilty  never  have  beersi 
achieved. 

On  July  5  Bishop  Walsham  How  went  up  to  Londors 
for  the  Lambeth  Conference,  and  the  last  month's  work 
of  his  life  was  given  to  the  meetings  and  committees 
connected  therewith. 

One  matter,  however,  important  to  the  Wakefield 
Diocese  was  settled  by  him  during  his  stay  in  London. 
Canon  Gore's  Community  had  made  up  their  minds  to 
migrate  to  the  North  of  England,  and  application  was 
made  to  the  Bishop  for  permission  to  settle  in  the  Diocese 
of  Wakefield.  This  was  an  anxious  matter,  for  they 
would  be  an  independent  body  of  men,  not  working  a 
parish,  but  free  lances,  whom  it  might  be  difficult  to 
control.  The  Bishop  sympathised  to  a  great  extent  with 
their  endeavours,  and  thought  that  the  Parish  of  Mirfield, 
of  which  his  son  was  Vicar,  would  be  an  advantageous 
centre  for  them. 

\To  Rev.  H.  W.  How.] 

The  Athen^um,  Pall  Mkll,  July  17,  1897. 

"  Dearest  Harry, 

"  I  received  the  enclosed  from  Canon  Gore  just  as 
I  was  coming  up  to  London,  and  to-day  I  have  had  a 
good  long  talk  with  him.  It  turns  out  that  they  want  to 
plant  their  head-quarters,  and  not  a  branch-house,  in  the 
North.  I  see  no  reason  to  refuse  them  a  welcome  (as 
Manchester  has  done),  and  it  struck  me  that  Mirfield 
would  not  be  a  bad  centre,  if  a  suitable  house  could  be. 


The  Last  Year  363 

had.  What  do  yoii  think  of  the  idea  ?  They  seem  to 
want  to  get  among  our  more  energetic  Northerners.  Gore 
says  he  has  men  of  different  views  among  his  small  society 
of  nine,  two  or  three  being  very  moderate  men.  They 
do  not  want  to  be  diocesan,  but  to  work  all  over  England, 
only  to  make  their  home  in  the  North,  and  they  hope  to 
have  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  as  visitor ;  they  have 
no  life  vows.     Would  Hall  Croft  suit  them  ?  " 

This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the  house  originally 
desired  by  the  Bishop  as  a  residence  for  himself.  The 
house  was  afterwards  obtained,  and  the  community  is 
now  located  there. 

Of  the  Bishop's  work  at  the  Lambeth  Conference  there 
is  very  little  record.  Almost  the  only  letter  on  the  subject 
is  one  to  the  Rev.  H.  W.  How,  on  July  14,  in  which  he 
says  : 

"  We  are  having  a  very  interesting  time.  The  debates 
in  full  conference  last  week  were  on  the  whole  admirable, 
some  of  them  very  able,  especially  that  on  the  critical 
study  of  the  Bible,  and  that  on  the  relation  of  the  Church 
to  social  and  labour  questions.  This  week  we  are  busy 
at  committee  work.  I  am  on  three  committees  :  (i)  'The 
Relation  of  Religious  Communities  to  the  Church  and 
the  Episcopate';  (2)  'The  Unity  of  Christendom ';  and 
(3)  '  The  Adaptation  of  the  Prayer-book,  and  its  Enrich- 
ment by  Additional  Services.'  I  have  just  got  out  of  a  com- 
mittee on  the  last  subject,  and  have  half  an  hour  before 
going  to  get  a  bit  of  luncheon,  after  which  I  have  to  be 
at  the  Bounty  Board  at  two.  I  divided  last  week  between 
the  Shelfords  [Rector  of  Stoke  Newington]  and  the 
Vatchers  [Vicar  of  St.  Philip's,  London  Hospital].  On 
Sunday  morning  I  celebrated  for  Vatcher  at  eight  in  hia 


.364  Bishop  Walsham  How 

grand  church,  and  what  was  my  astonishment  to  find 
■ninety-one  communicants,  all  parishioners,  all  poor,  and 
iialf  males  !  As  we  went  in  Vatcher  whispered  to  me, 
'^  Say  a  few  words  to  them,  if  you  like,'  so  after  the  Creed 

I  went  to  the  chancel  step,  and  gave  a  short  address. 

It   was    a   delightful    service,   and    all   so   reverent   and 

nice." 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  latter  part  of  this  extract  that, 
as  usual,  Bishop  Walsham  How  did  not  allow  himself 
any  idle  time.  Not  content  with  the  work  of  the  Con- 
'ference,  he  preached  two  or  three  times  each  Sunday,  two 
of  the  sermons — viz.,  those  at  St.  Peter's,  Eaton  Square, 
and  at  Highbury — being  for  the  Church  of  England 
Society  for  Providing  Homes  for  Waifs  and  Strays. 

All  this  time  he  was  feeling  the  heat  terribly  :  most  of 
all,  perhaps,  on  the  sad  day  when  he  took  the  service  at 
the  funeral  of  his  old  friend.  Miss  Jean  Ingelow. 

[To  his  brother!\ 

"The  AxHENiEUM,  Pall  Mall, y«/j^  22,  1897. 

"  Here  we  have  had  it  fearfully  hot,  and  I  have  not  had 
a  blanket  over  me  at  night  since  I  came  up  to  London 
last  Monday  fortnight.  With  all  the  windows  open,  a 
single  sheet  is  as  much  as  I  can  bear.  I  never  knew 
such  a  continuance  of  heat.  ...  I  am  going  to  look  in 
this  afternoon  at  an  '  At  home '  at  Miss  Fanny  Patteson's, 
where  I  am  to  meet  dear  old  Mrs.  Selwyn,  which  will  be 
very  pleasant." 

A  week  later,  July  29,  the  following  entry  occurs  in  his 
diary. 

"  Rather  seedy,  and  half  asleep  all  day." 


The  Last  Year  365- 

And  on  July  30  : 

"  Very  far  from  well.  Could  not  stay  in  the  Conference 
Hall  P.M.,  and  very  poorly  in  the  evening." 

He  was  noticed  on  that  day  alone,  and  apparently 
asleep,  on  a  sofa  in  the  library  at  Lambeth  on  the  ground 
floor.  Such  an  unusual  circumstance  naturally  caused 
some  alarm  to  those  who  saw  him. 

However,  next  day  he  returned  to  Wakefield,  and  his 
diary  says  : 

"  Home   in   afternoon.     Better.     Did  good  evening's, 
work  writing." 

Unfortunately  his  son  and  daughter-in-law  had  started 
for  Ireland  the  day  before  to  get  the  house  ready,  so  that 
there  was  no  one  at  home  to  find  out  how  poorly  he  was 
and  to  call  in  Dr.  Lett,  who  knew  him  well,  and  would 
doubtless  have  pronounced  him  unfit  to  follow  to  Ireland 
on  the  Monday. 

He  wrote  to  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Kenyon,  and  mentioned 
that  he  was  unwell,  but  she  did  not  receive  the  letter  in 
time  to  do  more  than  telegraph  to  the  servants  at  Bishop- 
garth  on  Monday  morning  to  know  whether  the  Bishop 
had  started,  receiving  a  reply  that  he  had  done  so. 

On  Sunday  August  i  he  wrote  to  his  brother  : 

"  BiSHOPGARTH,  WaKEFIELD. 

"  I  was  bowled  over  by  the  heat  at  last.  I  never  knew 
such  a  month — not  one  night  all  July  in  which,  with 
windows  open,  I  could  sleep  under  more  than  a  sheet  ! 
On  Thursday  I  was  half  asleep  all  day,  and  very  limp,  and  ■. 
on  Friday  I  could  not  remain  in  the  Conference  Hall,  but 
stole  away  and  sat  alone  in  the  library  half  asleep  all. 


566  Bishop  Walsham  How 

afternoon,  and  feeling  very  seedy.  I  could  eat  nothing, 
;and  when  I  got  back  to  Wimbledon  [where  he  was  stay- 
ing with  some  cousins]  I  would  not  even  go  in  to  dinner. 
I  trembled  for  to-morrow,  especially  when  I  found  myself 
-very  feverish.  .  .  . 

"  I  was  much  better,  though  with  little  appetite,  all 
yesterday,  and  to-day  am  doing  my  appointed  work, 
though  I  suppose  I  am  not  very  vigorous.  I  took  an 
.early  Celebration  at  7.30,  and  am  preaching  twice.  I  start 
.dreadfully  early  to-morrow,  joining  the  Mirfield  party 
[Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  W.  How  and  their  eldest  son]  at 
Mirfield.  .  .  . 

"  I  wish  Rudyard  Kipling  had  omitted  the  last  verse 
in  his  recessional  hymn.  It  would,  I  think,  be  better 
without  it." 

The  celebration  he  took  that  Sunday  morning,  the  last 

,  of  many  in  his  fifty  years'  ministry,  was  in  the  chapel  of 

the  Home  for  Girls,  at  St.  John's,  Wakefield.*     He  then 

preached  at  the  Cathedral  in  the  morning  and  at  Wren- 

thorpe  at  night. 

The  Bishop  had  taken  a  house  in  County  Mayo  for  the 
month  of  August,  and  had  greatly  looked  forward  to 
having  many  members  of  his  family  round  him  while 
there.  Looking  back  upon  the  time,  earlier  in  the  year, 
when  he  was  making  his  holiday  arrangements,  it  is 
remembered  how  eager  he  was  to  have  some  house  that 
summer  which  would  be  large  enough  to  take  in  a  good 
many  of  his  family,  and  how  often  he  said,  "  I  want  this 
holiday  to  be  a  specially  good  one  "  :  it  was  as  if  he  were 
feeling  sure  that  it  would  be  the  last.  The  position  of  the 
house    he    had    taken   was   quite   after   his   own   heart. 

*  A  handsome  brass  has  been  placed  in  the  chapel  as  a  memorial  of  this. 


The  Last  Year  367 

Surrounded  by  magnificent  scenery,  it  stood  just  above 
(the  Dhulough,  some  two  or  three  miles  from  Killary 
Harbour.  His  hoHdays  were  almost  always  spent  among 
mountains,  rivers,  and  lakes,  and  here  were  all  three  in 
greatest  beauty. 

The  party  assembled  for  the  first  fortnight  were 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  F.  Norris  and  their  eldest  boy,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  F.  D.  How,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  W.  How  and  their 
eldest  boy,  and  Mr.  F.  A.  W.  How.  Others  of  the  family 
were  to  have  come  in  their  turn,  and  to  have  spent  the 
second  fortnight  with  him. 

On  Tuesday  August  2  the  Bishop  arrived,  having 
broken  the  journey  by  sleeping  the  night  at  Dublin,  and 
it  was  noticed  that  he  looked  exceedingly  white  and  tired, 
but  it  was  hoped  that  a  few  days  in  that  lovely  spot 
would  recruit  him  thoroughly.  The  next  day,  Wednesday, 
he  went  out  fishing  in  a  boat  on  the  lough  after  tea,  and 
killed  a  few  good  sea-trout,  feeling  afterwards  rather 
better  than  he  had  done  for  some  time.  On  the  Thursday 
there  were  heavy  rainstorms,  and  the  Bishop  did  not  go 
out.     The  entry  in  his  diary  for  this  day  is  : 

"  Very  seedy  all  day.     Could  not  go  out." 

On  Friday  there  occurs,  the  last  entry  ever  made  by 
him. 

"  Rather  better,  but  very  limp." 

He  proposed  to  go  out  again  on  the  lough  that  evening 
with  one  of  his  sons,  but,  when  tea-time  came,  he  felt  too 
poorly,  and  went  to  bed  early. 

He  never  came  downstairs  again.  A  doctor  was  sent 
for  from  Leenane,  the  other  side  of  Killary  Bay,  and  he 
gave  a  cheering  report,  saying  that  he  quite  hoped  that 


368  Bishop  Walsham  How 

the  choleraic  attack,  from  which  the  Bishop  was  suffering, 
would  be  easily  conquered,  and  that  he  would  be  up  and 
about  again  in  a  couple  of  days.  All  Saturday  and  Sunday 
the  Bishop  was  very  drowsy,  and  could  not  take  any 
nourishment  to  speak  of,  but  the  doctor,  who  visited  him 
constantly,  did  not  even  then  take  alarm.  On  Monday 
morning  it  was  thought  wise  to  telegraph  for  Dr.  Lett 
from  Wakefield,  and  for  the  Bishop's  daughter,  neither 
of  whom  was  able  to  arrive  till  it  was  too  late. 

All  that  day  the  Bishop  was  exceedingly  heavy  with  a 
kind  of  stupor.  When  any  of  his  family  came  into  the 
room  his  great  desire  seemed  to  be  that  they  should 
leave  him  alone,  and  his  one  remark,  made  constantly  all 
through  the  day,  was,  "  Good-night,  I  don't  want  any- 
thing, thank  you." 

At  luncheon  time  he  seemed  a  little  better,  and  the 
doctor  had  gone  away  giving  a  more  cheerful  account,  so 
that  the  Bishop's  eldest  son,  who  had  been  with  him  all 
the  morning,  went  out  in  a  boat  on  the  lough. 

He  had  not,  however,  been  gone  for  more  than  half 
an  hour  when  he  was  hurriedly  summoned  back,  and 
found  his  father  apparently  in  a  state  of  collapse,  the  pulse 
stopping  every  few  beats,  and  the  general  symptoms  being 
most  alarming.  The  doctor  was  sent  for  at  once,  but  did 
not  arrive  for  some  hours,  during  which  time  the  Bishop 
revived  slightly,  and  the  doctor  fancied,  when  he  saw  him, 
that  there  had  been  unnecessary  fear.  Shortly  afterwards, 
however,  a  fresh  collapse  came  on,  and  the  doctor  became 
thoroughly  alarmed.  He  stayed  all  that  night,  trying  by 
every  means  to  revive  the  strength  of  his  patient.  In  the 
very  early  hours  of  the  morning  (Tuesday,  August  10) 
he  found  that  all  his  efforts  were  unavailing,  and  told  the 
Bishop's  family  that  he  could  do  no  more.    At  this  time 


The  Last  Year  369 

the  Bishop  was  exceedingly  restless,  trying  to  throw  off 
the  bed-clothes,  and  it  was  very  doubtful  how  far  he  was 
aware  of  his  surroundings.  He  held  the  hand  of  one  of 
his  sons  for  a  long  time,  and,  on  some  one  in  the  room 
expressing  a  doubt  as  to  whether  he  knew  who  was 
present,  he  raised  the  hand  to  his  lips — the  last  act  of 
which  it  could  be  certain  that  he  was  conscious. 

It  became  clearer  every  moment  that  the  end  was 
approaching,  and  his  three  sons,  two  daughters-in-law, 
and  his  Chaplain,  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Norris,  gathered  together 
in  his  room.  By  this  time  the  great  restlessness  had 
ceased,  and  the  breathing  was  becoming  a  little  more 
difficult.  The  Holy  Communion  was  celebrated  by  Mr. 
Norris,  who  said  afterwards  that  he  felt  sure  that  the 
Bishop  was  aware  of  what  was  taking  place,  as  he  slightly 
turned  his  head  to  receive  the  Sacrament. 

At  half-past  seven,  while  all  were  kneeling  quietly 
round  his  bed,  Bishop  Walsham  How  died  :  there  was 
no  pain,  no  struggle  :  just  one  last  breath,  and  all  was 
over.  The  commendatory  prayer  was  said  by  Mr.  Norris, 
who  had  also  performed  the  same  office  just  ten  years 
before  by  the  death-bed  of  Mrs.  How,  this  being  one  of 
many  similarities  between  the  deaths  of  the  Bishop  and 
Mrs.  How.  Both  took  place  somewhat  suddenly  during 
the  August  holiday,  and  both  in  the  midst  of  lovely 
scenery  :  one  occurring  in  the  first  Jubilee  year  1887,  and 
the  other  in  the  Diamond  Jubilee  year  1897. 

After  his  death  the  Bishop  was  dressed  in  his  full 
episcopal  robes,  with  his  hands  clasped  as  if  in  prayer, 
and  it  was  thus  that  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Kenyon,  saw  him 
for  the  last  time,  when  she  arrived,  an  hour  or  two  after 
Dr.  Lett,  on  the  afternoon  of  August  10. 

It  was  decided  that  the  funeral  was  to  be  at  Whitting- 

2  A 


370  Bishop  Walsham  How 

ton,  as  he  had  always  wished,  in  the  plot  of  ground  that 
had  been  kept  for  him  beside  his  wife.  The  people  of 
Wakefield  were  affectionately  anxious  that  he  should  be 
buried  in  the  Cathedral  there,  but  it  was  felt  that  his  own 
frequently  expressed  desire  ought  to  prevail. 

The  little  telegraph  office  at  Leenane  was  busy  all  day 
sending  and  receiving  telegrams,  and,  indeed,  had  to  be 
kept  open  till  a  late  hour,  so  continuous  was  the  stream 
of  messages.  The  last  batch,  which  included  a  gracious 
telegram  of  sympathy  from  the  Queen,  did  not  arrive  at 
Dhulough  until  after  midnight.  Among  other  messages 
received  were  those  from  H.R.H.  Princess  Christian, 
from  the  Mayor  and  citizens  of  Wakefield,  and  from  the 
two  Archdeacons  and  many  of  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the 
diocese.  One  layman  and  neighbour  telegraphed,  "Am 
bowed  down  with  grief,"  and  that  was  the  note  that  was 
struck  by  all.  So  many  had  lost  a  dear  friend  :  a  feeling 
that  was  more  than  once  expressed  in  the  words,  "  I  feel 
as  if  I  had  lost  a  near  relation." 

The  funeral  had  to  take  place  on  Thursday,  August  12, 
only  two  days  after  the  Bishop's  death,  and  it  seems 
marvellous  that  this  was  possible,  considering  that 
Dhulough  Lodge  was  in  the  far  west  of  Ireland,  and  was 
nearly  twenty  miles  from  a  railway.  That  the  journey 
was  made,  and  everything  smoothly  carried  out,  was  in 
great  measure  due  to  the  courtesy  of  the  officials  on  the 
various  lines  of  railway,  who  seemed  as  if  they  could  not 
do  enough  to  show  their  respect  for  one  whom  most  of 
them  knew  by  name,  and  many  by  sight. 

At  a  little  before  four  o'clock  on  a  lovely  afternoon  the 
train  arrived  at  Whittington  in  Shropshire,  and  was  met 
by  a  large  number  of  relations  and  friends  of  the  family, 
as  well  as  by  the  village  choir  and  a  number  of  clergy  in 


The  Last  Year  371 

surplices.  A  simple  wheel-bier  decorated  with  flowers 
received  the  coffin,  and  was  propelled  by  Whittington 
men,  who  had  been  schoolboys  when  Bishop  Walsham 
How  was  Rector  of  the  parish.  Slowly  the  procession 
went  on  its  way  headed  by  the  choir  singing  hymns  ;  past 
the  schools  which  he  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in 
building  forty-five  years  before  :  along  the  road  so  often 
trodden  by  him  between  them  and  the  Rectory  ;  past  the 
long  wall  and  high  holly  hedge  of  the  Rectory  garden  : 
and  so  by  the  familiar  way  beside  the  old  Castle  Pools,  to 
the  church  where  he  had  ministered  for  eight  and  twenty 
years,  and  to  the  churchyard  he  had  himself  added.  Here 
a  vast  crowd  of  village  folk  and  other  friends  were  waiting: 
and  it  was  touching  to  see  the  numbers  of  women  with 
little  children  clinging  to  their  skirts  who  had  themselves 
been  schoolgirls  when  he  was  called  away  to  his  East 
London  work.  It  was  all  just  what  he  would  have 
wished.  There  was  an  entire  absence  of  any  sort  of 
pomp.  The  dear  old  village  looked  its  loveliest ;  children 
and  flowers — two  of  the  things  he  loved  the  best — were 
everywhere  in  evidence  :  it  was  difficult  for  even  those 
who  mourned  him  most  not  to  feel  a  sense  of  thankful- 
ness at  the  thought  of  laying  him  to  rest,  after  a  life  of 
ceaseless  toil,  where  all  was  so  much  after  his  own  heart 
and  where  so  many  loved  him  well. 

The  service  in  the  church  was  taken  by  the  Rev.  E.  P. 
Edmonds,  Rector  of  Whittington,  and  the  Lesson  was 
read  by  the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph.  Lord  William  Cecil, 
representing  the  Queen,  then  laid  a  wreath  from  her 
Majesty  upon  the  coffin,  and  the  procession  streamed 
out  into  the  churchyard.  Here  the  service  was  said  by 
the  Archdeacon  of  Halifax  and  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Norris, 
Vicar  of  Almondbury,  both  of  whom  were  among  the 


372  Bishop  Walsham  How 

number  of  the  Bishop's  examining  chaplains,  the  Bishop 
of  St.  Asaph  giving  the  benediction  at  the  close  of  the 
service.  Lovely  flowers  were  sent  in  profusion  from  all 
parts,  but  especially  from  the  Wakefield  Diocese,  whence 
also  came  many  clerical  and  lay  representatives.  The 
large  number  of  people  present  would  doubtless  have 
been  greatly  increased  had  it  not  been  for  the  necessity 
of  hurrying  on  the  funeral,  many  persons  not  even 
hearing  of  his  illness,  much  less  his  death,  until  they 
heard  also  that  he  had  been  laid  to  rest. 

A  tall  churchyard  cross,  some  eighteen  feet  high,  with 
the  figure  of  the  Good  Shepherd  in  the  centre  of  the 
actual  cross,  and  the  pastoral  staff  and  mitre  on  the 
slender  octagon  shaft,  has  been  erected  over  the  two 
graves,  so  that  the  villagers  of  Whittington  may  be 
constantly  reminded,  as  they  pass  by,  of  "  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
How,"  who  for  so  many  years  loved  their  country  parish, 
and  "  did  what  they  could,"  looking  upon  it  to  the  last  as 
their  home. 

After  Bishop  Walsham  How's  death  there  were  of 
course  numberless  tributes  to  his  memory  in  sermons  and 
speeches  as  well  as  in  the  newspapers. 

That  from  Truth  was  perhaps  the  most  concise,  as 
it  was  one  of  the  most  appreciative.  In  this  he  is 
described  as 

"A  thoroughly  good,  single-hearted  man — downright  and  up- 
right— who  possessed  the  very  rare  gift  of  speaking  and  preaching 
straight  to  the  popular  sense  and  popular  spirit  of  all  classes  of 

his  hearers He  was  himself  a  sound  High  Churchman, 

but  entirely  tolerant  and  wide-minded  in  all  his  views.  He  was, 
moreover,  distinguished  for  his  common  sense.     Throughout  life 

his  great  object  was  to  do  his  duty  thoroughly His  character 

was  remarkable    for   its    affectionateness,    simplicity,   generosity, 


The  Last  Year  373 

and  courage.  There  was  an  entire  absence  of  meanness,  self- 
seeking,  or  ill-nature.  In  private  life  he  was  the  most  charming 
of  men." 

To  these  few  words,  showing  an  entire  knowledge  of 
the  man,  little  can  be  added. 

Whatever  he  did  he  did  with  all  his  might.  He  wasted 
none  of  his  time,  he  grudged  none  of  his  strength.  Those 
who  were  much  with  him  scarcely  realised  how  his 
vitality,  his  energy,  his  love,  his  self-denying  humility, 
permeated  the  whole  atmosphere  in  which  he  lived,  until 
he  had  entered  into  his  rest,  and  they  were  left  alone  with 
memory. 

When  the  Northern  Convocation  met  at  York  in 
February  1898,  the  Archbishop  called  together  the  two 
Houses,  and  those  who  were  present  describe  the  speeches 
then  delivered  by  the  Archbishop  (Dr.  Maclagan)  and  the 
Bishop  of  Ripon  (Dr.  Boyd  Carpenter)  as  being  splendid 
oratorical  utterances.  No  better  summary  of  Bishop 
Walsham  How's  life  and  work,  no  more  touching  tribute 
to  his  memory  could  be  conceived,  and  no  memoir  of 
him  would  be  complete  that  did  not  contain  the  words 
spoken  on  that  occasion.  The  following  report  is  taken 
from  the  Guardian  of  February  23,  1898  ; 

*'  Thursday,  February  17. 
"  Meeting  in  Full  Synod. 

"  The  two  Houses  met  in  full  synod  in  Archbishop  Zouche's 
Chapel.  There  were  present  all  the  members  of  the  Upper 
House.     Litany  was  said  in  Latin. 

"The  Late  Bishop  of  Wakefield. 

"  The  President  :  It  is  with  a  sorrowful  heart  that  I  remind 
you  of  the  great  loss  which  has  been  sustained  by  this  Convo- 
cation since  we  last  met  by  the  withdrawal  from  amongst  us  of 


374  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Bishop  Walsham  How.  It  was  my  privilege  and  my  happiness 
to  enjoy  for  more  than  thirty  years  his  intimate  friendship.  From 
the  happy  days  when  we  were  both  parish  priests,  he  in  his  widely 
scattered  but  not  otherwise  large  parish  on  the  borders  of  Wales, 
and  within  sight  of  her  beautiful  mountains,  and  I  in  a  poor  and 
populous  district  in  the  south  of  London,  it  was  always  a  happi- 
ness to  be  allowed  to  pay  him  a  visit,  and  I  am  certain  that  I 
never  returned  from  visiting  him  at  Whittington  without  bringing 
some  blessing  with  me.  In  trying  to  recall  to  myself  and  to 
remind  you  of  some  characteristics  of  his  personality  and  his  work 
and  his  life,  I  think  the  first  thing  that  strikes  me  is  the  recollec- 
tion of  a  kind  of  bright  seriousness  about  the  man.  You  remember 
all  of  you  the  habitual  expression  of  his  face.  It  seemed  always 
ready  to  develop  into  a  smile.  Yet  there  was  nothing  weak  about 
it.  He  was  a  strong  man,  was  Walsham  How.  But  with  all  that 
brightness  there  was  a  very  deep  seriousness.  And  one  thing 
that  I  remember  very  well  was  the  readiness  with  which  his 
conversation  would  always  turn  from  the  most  commonplace 
matters  towards  higher  things.  It  needed  but  a  suggestion  and 
that  face  became  beautifully  serious,  and  immediately  his  mind 
and  his  conversation  rose  far  above  the  level  of  ordinary  human 
life.  And  as  a  counterpart  to  that  bright  seriousness  there  was 
what  I  may  call  a  chastened  humour.  You  know  how  humorous 
he  was.  Never  was  this  more  evident  than  when  he  was  parish 
priest  of  Whittington.  As  I  used  to  drive  about  with  him  from 
place  to  place  in  his  parish  in  a  very  humble  little  chaise,  which 
was  all  he  had  in  those  days,  every  now  and  then  something  that 
we  passed  on  the  road,  or  some  person  we  passed  on  the  road,  was 
made  the  occasion  for  some  charming  story  full  of  humour.  It 
was  a  delight  to  hear  it  coming  from  such  lips.  And  his  personal 
kindness  with  his  people,  which  enabled  him  to  recall  these 
stories,  was  one  of  the  strongest  points  in  his  ministry.  And  yet 
with  all  his  humour  he  never  said  anything  that  was  really  unkind. 
He  could  express  himself  in  terms  of  very  strong,  righteous 
indignation  at  what  was  wrong  or  unjust  or  untrue  ;  but  unkind- 
ness  to  any  person  I  never  heard  come  from  his  Hps.  I  think  I 
may  say — and  it  is  a  great  thing  to  say,  but  I  believe  it  is  true — 
that  I  cannot  recall  having  heard  him  say  a  single  word  that  his 
Master  would  have  been  vexed  to  hear.     Amongst  the  features  of 


The  Last  Year  375 

his  work— and  his  work  and  his  life  really  were  so  interwoven 
that  it  is  difficult  to  separate  the  one  from  the  other — was  his 
great  diligence.  He  loved  his  work  and  he  did  it  with  happiness. 
It  never  seemed  to  be  a  burden  to  him,  and  yet  he  was  a  very 
busy  man  indeed.  And  one  of  the  secrets  of  his  success,  I  think, 
was  his  great  promptitude  in  everything  he  did.  He  never  wasted 
a  moment  in  idle  thought ;  but  if  he  felt  that  he  had  anything  to 
do  it  must  be  done  at  once,  and  he  did  it.  And  then,  again,  he 
was  a  most  careful  husbandman  of  time ;  and  there  are  few  more 
valuable  characteristics  in  a  parish  priest  than  that.  I  remember 
very  well  how  after  his  family  prayers  and  before  the  early  break- 
fast of  his  household  he  would  go  to  a  little  side  table — if  I 
remember  rightly,  a  desk  at  which  he  stood — and  until  breakfast 
was  quite  ready  he  would  be  writing  half  a  dozen  little  notes  that 
required  to  be  written,  filling  up  in  this  way  the  vacant  spaces  of 
time.  It  was  an  evidence  of  his  great  diligence  and  promptitude, 
and  I  am  quite  sure  that  this  helped  him  greatly  in  doing  -  so 
much  as  he  did  during  his  earthly  life.  He  was,  I  think,  if  I 
remember  rightly,  about  twenty-seven  or  twenty-eight  years  in 
Whittington,  and  yet  he  was  perfectly  and  absolutely  contented  to 
remain  in  that  little  parish ;  a  man  who  must  have  been  conscious 
in  himself  of  powers  that  were  able  to  cope  with  a  greater  work, 
as  the  world  itself  saw  afterwards.  He  was  not  a  man  who  for  a 
moment  claimed  to  be  a  great  theologian,  but  he  was  a  most 
careful  student  of  theology ;  and  when  at  last  the  call  came  to 
him — and  I  was  privileged  in  being  the  messenger  who  first 
carried  to  him  that  he  was  to  be  Bishop  of  the  East  of  London — 
he  accepted  it  with  the  greatest  diffidence  in  his  own  powers,  but 
with  a  perfect  readiness  to  do  whatever  work  God  might  have  in 
store  for  him  ;  for  he  was  a  man  with  a  very  humble  estimate  of 
himself,  and  often  sought  advice  from  those  whom  he  might  very 
well  have  advised  under  similar  circumstances.  And  one  thing 
more — because  I  do  not  wish  to  detain  you,  and  there  are  others 
who  will  speak  to  you  on  the  subject— there  was  a  softness  and 
strength  combined  in  his  character  which  shows  itself,  I  think, 
very  beautifully  in  the  hymns  which  he  has  left  as  a  perpetual 
treasure  to  the  Church.  (Cheers.)  I  do  not  know  that  among  any 
of  the  hymn-writers  of  our  day  there  is  one  who  has  so  completely 
presented  in  his  hymns  the  best  spirit  of  the  nineteenth-century 


Bishop  Walsham  How 

Church — (cheers) — a  man  warmly  attached  to  what  was  ancient  and 
keenly  appreciative  of  what  was  new — bringing  out  of  his  treasure 
things  new  and  old.  I  should  like  to  end  with  a  word  of  hope. 
We  all  of  us  feel  the  great  loss  that  we  have  sustained.  I  con- 
tinually remember  him,  and  think  how  much  I  would  give  to 
shake  his  hand  once  more  and  look  in  his  beautiful  face,  and 
hear  his  beautiful  voice,  and  have  fellowship  again  with  him  in 
that  fellowship  we  enjoyed  for  more  than  thirty  years.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  is  a  comfort  to  us  to  know,  from  our  own 
experience,  that,  however  great  the  losses  are  which  the  Church  of 
England  suffers  in  this  way  from  time  to  time,  there  are  always 
ready  some  who  are  called  by  God's  providence  to  fill  the  vacant 
place,  and  to  fill  it  well.  It  is  very  remarkable,  looking  back  on 
the  history  of  the  Church  of  England  within  the  last  thirty  or 
forty  years,  how  unexpectedly,  sometimes,  a  vacant  place  has  been 
filled.  Sometimes  not  to  our  satisfaction  at  the  moment,  but 
after  years  of  experience  leaving  with  us  the  conclusion  that  it  was 
filled  by  the  very  man  for  the  place.  We  are  not  all  of  the  same 
type,  and  we  cannot  expect  another  Walsham  How  to  be  found 
when  his  place  is  vacant,  but  there  are  other  men  who  have  charac- 
teristics which  may  have  been  wanting  in  him.  He  did  not 
profess  or  wish  to  be  regarded  as  a  perfect  man.  So  far  as  his 
personality  went  he  did  his  work  to  the  best  of  his  power.  But 
it  is  well  sometimes  that  a  man  of  another  turn  of  mind,  but  with 
the  same  deep  sense  of  what  is  holy  and  right  and  true  and  just, 
and  with  the  same  earnest  desire  to  serve  his  Master,  but  with 
different  powers  and  different  capacities,  should  fill  the  vacant 
place.  So  it  has  been  in  many  instances  within  the  last  thirty 
years,  and  so  we  may  well  believe  it  will  continue  to  be.  (Cheers.) 
The  great  goodness  of  God  to  our  Church  of  England,  even  in 
these  matters  of  appointments,  I  will  not  say  of  bishops  only,  but 
to  other  positions  in  the  Church,  with  all  the  drawbacks  there  will 
be,  and  some  failures  that  there  will  always  be — but  yet,  through- 
out the  course  of  these  thirty  years  there  has  been  a  remarkable 
evidence  of  God's  goodness  to  us  in  the  matter  of  the  men  he  has 
placed  in  vacant  positions,  and  it  is  a  matter,  I  think,  for  our 
deepest  thankfulness.  (Cheers.)  I  know  no  department  of  life 
to  which  the  words  of  the  poet  more  strictly  or  happily  apply, 
Uno   avulso  non  deficit  alter.     And  so,  my  brethren,  while  we 


The  Last  Year  377 

regret,  and  most  deeply  regret,  the  loss  we  have  sustained  in  his 
removal  from  us  to  another  world,  where  he  will  find  not  only 
rest,  but,  as  we  well  believe,  scope  for  the  exercise  of 'his  beautiful 
faculties  and  capacities,  while  we  mourn  his  loss  from  among  us, 
let  us  be  of  good  heart.  He  is  only  waiting  for  us  in  a  higher 
sphere  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  still  one  of  ourselves,  still  in  closest 
fellowship  with  us,  thinking  of  us  undoubtedly  while  we  are  met 
together  here  to-day  ;  praying  for  us — can  we  for  a  moment  doubt 
it  ? — in  that  nearer  presence  of  his  Master  and  ours,  and  so  still 
strengthening  us,  though  he  is  absent  from  us ;  he  may  be  able  to 
use  the  words  and  thoughts  of  St.  Paul  when  he  says — "  I  am 
with  you,  beholding  your  order  and  the  steadfastness  of  your 
faith  in  Christ."     (Cheers.) 

"  The  Bishop  of  Ripon  :  I  feel  there  is  intrusted  to  me  a  task 
the  discharge  of  which,  I  am  quite  sure,  all  of  you  who  are 
present  to-day  can  little  envy  me.  It  is  always  difficult  to  cast 
one's  mind  back  and  consider  the  days  that  are  gone  and  those 
who  were  with  us  labouring  in  a  dear  fellowship  without  that 
species  of  emotion  which  more  or  less  upsets  the  balance  of 
one's  thoughts  and  disturbs  the  equanimity  of  one's  heart.  Will 
you  allow  me  at  the  outset  to  say  that  in  anything  which  I  say 
to-day  there  is  not  lacking  one  whit  more  in  the  warmth  of  the 
welcome  which  we  accord  to  the  successor  of  Bishop  Walsham 
How  because  we  are  constrained  by  the  affection  which  we  bore 
to  his  predecessor  to  speak  first  of  the  loss  we  have  sustained  ?  I 
cannot  claim  the  right  to  speak  more  than  others  except,  perhaps, 
for  this  accident — that  out  of  my  own  diocese  of  Ripon  there  was 
carved  the  new  diocese  of  which  he  was  the  first  and  the  able 
Bishop.  In  the  providence  of  God  there  have  been  given  to  the 
English  Church  bishops  of  various  types.  There  have  not  been 
wanting  those  whom  we  may  describe  as  learned  bishops,  whose 
vast  erudition  and  whose  guiding  scholarship  have  been  the  glory 
of  their  age  and  the  delight  of  the  years  that  have  followed.  We 
have  had  Archbishop  Ussher ;  we  have  had  Bishop  Lightfoot. 
But  the  Church  has  also  been  dowered  with  another  class  of 
bishop — men  of  robust  understanding,  of  keen  intelligence,  of 
logical  force,  who  have  buttressed  up  the  strength  of  the  bulwarks 
of  the  Church  by  some  powerful  work  of  theology.  And  so 
we  have  had  in  our  day,  in  the  goodness  of  God's  providence, 


378  Bishop  Walsham  How 

bestowed  upon  us  men  like  Bishop  Butler  and  men  like  Bishop 
Thirlwall,  whose  strong  force  and  robust  and  vigorous  intellects 
have  been  the  great  refuges  for  the  weak  and  the  doubtful.  We 
have  had  also  the  brilliant  eloquence  of  men  whose  eloquent 
speech  has  flowed  up  like  a  great  flood,  and  has  carried  refresh- 
ment wherever  it  has  gone  to  attract  and  persuade  the  souls  of 
men — men  like  Jeremy  Taylor,  men  like  Bishop  Wilberforce,  men, 
your  Grace,  like  your  illustrious  predecessor.  But  we  are  thankful 
to  add  that  in  the  order  of  God's  providence  there  has  been 
another  type  of  bishop,  which  also  has  not  been  wanting  as  God's 
gift  to  us — the  man  of  devout  spirit,  of  cultivated  intelligence,  of 
persistent  piety ;  the  man  of  the  type,  I  may  say,  of  Archbishop 
Benson,  or  Bishop  Ken.  And  if  we  were  to  describe  the  place 
which  Bishop  Walsham  How  would  be  likely  to  take  in  the  great 
order  of  prelates  I  have  described,  I  think  we  should  assign  him 
a  place  beside  Bishop  Ken.  God  had  bestowed  upon  him,  as 
your  Grace  has  remarked,  certain  special  gifts — a  sobriety  of 
judgment,  a  happy  mirthfulness  of  spirit,  a  kindly  disposition, 
and  untiring  diligence.  But  there  was  another  gift,  your  Grace, 
to  which,  if  I  understand  rightly,  you  did  not  do  more  than  give 
an  indirect  allusion — a  gift  of  a  rare  and  precious  sort,  the  gift,  I 
mean,  of  being  able  to  interpret  the  piety  of  the  people  to  the 
heart  of  the  people.  For  this  it  is,  I  imagine,  which  has  given 
that  very  wide  circulation  to  those  happily  conceived  and  simply 
written  books  which  have  been  the  sustaining  strength  and  guide 
and  help  to  many  a  confirmation  candidate  and  many  a  young 
beginner  in  ministerial  life.  (Cheers.)  Added  to  this  there  was 
that  happy  gift  of  sacred  song,  by  which  he  was  able  to  give  ex- 
pression to  the  secret  aspirations  of  the  Church  ;  and  i  think 
there  must  be  a  melancholy  suggestion  in  contemplating  this — 
that  almost  with  his  last  breath  he  voiced  the  great  Jubilee  thanks- 
giving of  the  people  of  this  country,  and  they  were  the  words 
which  he  had  written  which  were  sung  in  every  parish  church  in 
England.  (Cheers.)  And  if  those  gifts  were  bestowed  upon  him, 
one  turns  for  one  moment  to  the  life  in  which  the  use  of  those 
gifts  was  seen.  In  the  quiet  little  parish  to  which  your  Grace 
has  alluded  he  wrought  with  a  diligence  which  has  been  abun- 
dantly attested  by  those  who  knew  him,  dispensing  his  hospitality, 
living   in  that  simple  and  diligent  and  non-self-seeking   fashion 


The  Last  Year  379 

which  made  his  life  somewhat  resemble  that  of  those  earlier 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  of  which  Ken  and  Richard  Hooker  and 
John  Keble  are  examples.  And  then  he  is  called  from  that 
simple  little  parish  to  the  choking  and  overflowing  population  of  the 
great  East  of  London,  to  become  a  conspicuous  example  of  the 
truth  of  that  axiom  which  underlies  all  English  wisdom,  that  a  man 
who  is  fit  for  one  post  is  fit  for  almost  any  other  post,  and  if  the 
stuff  and  the  quality  be  in  the  man,  you  need  not  be  afraid  to  trust 
him,  even  though  the  sphere  of  his  work  be  considerably  changed. 
And  that  is  what  we  saw  in  him.  The  diligence  with  which  he 
pursued  his  work  in  the  East  of  London,  the  way  in  which  he 
organised  and  revived  the  interest  of  Churchmen  in  that  most 
diflficult  part  of  the  metropolis,  is  now  already  a  matter  of  past 
history ;  till  there  came  that  other  post,  which  brought  him  into 
our  midst,  and  once  more  altered,  so  to  speak,  the  atmosphere  of 
his  life,  and  at  the  time  of  life  he  did  it  required  courage,  and 
was  again  a  test  of  the  qualities  which  were  in  the  man.  If  I 
may  say  it  in  the  North,  it  is  said  that  Yorkshire  is  a  somewhat 
difficult  county  for  a  southern  or  a  western  mind  to  grow  acclima- 
tised to.  But  whatever  the  difficulties  of  northern  atmosphere 
there  may  have  been,  he  so  lived  and  he  so  wrought,  and  his 
example  was  so  clearly  read  and  understood,  that  ere  he  passed 
away  men  had  learned  to  trust  him,  little  children  to  welcome 
him,  and  the  people  to  love  him.  (Cheers.)  Your  Grace,  and 
my  right  rev.  and  rev,  brethren,  we  have  now  lost  him,  and  it  only 
remains  for  us  to  gather  up,  as  it  were,  what  were  the  experience 
and  the  teaching  of  his  example.  There  remains  to  us  that  price- 
less legacy  of  sacred  song ;  and  still  evermore,  as  under  his 
guidance  we  sing  it,  it  seems  as  though  heaven's  gates  were 
opening,  and  the  great  multitude  from  all  quarters  of  the  world 
were  hastening  along  the  glorious  avenue  in  and  through  the 
crystal  barriers,  and  still  ever  there  is  heard  on  each  door  the 
silent  knocking  of  that  Christ  who  not  only  welcomes  the  dear 
dead  into  His  immediate  presence,  but  seeks  to  find  admission  to 
every  human  heart.  And  therefore,  though  we  have  lost  him,  we 
have  not  lost  the  help  of  his  example.  We  can  still  sing  the  songs 
which  he  has  left  us.  We  can  still  draw  experience  from  his 
example ;  and  perhaps,  your  Grace,  best  of  all  we  can  trace  with 
grateful  hearts  that  divine  wisdom  which  showed  us  in  the  sweet 


380  Bishop  Walsham  How- 

sacred  Ethos  which  pervaded  all  that  he  did  that  measure 
of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  that  was  in  him.  I  would  venture,  with 
your  Grace's  permission,  to  submit  this  resolution  : — 

"  '  That  this  meeting  of  the  joint  Houses  of  the  Convocation  of 
York  desires  to  place  upon  record  its  deep  sense  of  the  loss  which 
has  been  sustained  by  the  Church  at  large  and  by  the  Northern 
Province  by  the  death  of  the  Right  Rev.  W.  Walsham  How, 
Bishop  of  Wakefield,  whose  diligent  ministrations,  sober  counsels, 
and  living  voice  of  sacred  song  have  left  the  Church  a  debtor  to 
that  divine  love  and  wisdom  which  consecrated  and  inspired  his 
life.' " 

The  memorial  to  Bishop  Walsham  How  which  has 
been  set  on  foot,  and  which  is,  it  is  hoped,  to  be  supported 
by  his  friends  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  is  the  enlarge- 
ment of  Wakefield  Cathedral.  For  this,  and  for  a  recum- 
bent effigy  of  the  Bishop,  a  large  sum  is  needed,  but  no 
more  fitting  memorial  to  the  first  bishop  of  the  diocese 
could  easily  be  found.  The  fine  old  parish  church  was 
created  a  cathedral  at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the 
See,  but  it  is  far  too  small  for  the  purpose.  It  is,  however, 
exceedingly  good,  as  far  as  it  goes,  and  to  convert  it  into 
a  really  fine  edifice  would  be  a  grand  and  lasting  monu- 
ment to  its  first  bishop.  Many  who  loved  to  see  his 
white  head  bowed  in  prayer,  in  the  throne  which  Wake- 
field hands  erected  for  him,  will  do  their  utmost  to  further 
the  work ;  many  others,  too,  who  will  remember  his 
labours  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  will  like  to  aid  in 
such  a  national  project  as  the  completion  of  his  Cathedral 
Church. 

A  beautiful  idea  (originating  with  the  Rev.  A.  E.  Jalland, 
Vicar  of  Woolley)  is  also  being  carried  out — the  Bishop's 
numerous  children-friends  being  invited  to  put  up  a 
window,  or  some  other  memorial,  in  the  enlarged 
cathedral  to  the  "  Children's  Bishop." 


CHAPTER   XXV 

THE  BISHOP  AS  AN  AUTHOR 

By  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  Bishop's  works  were 
written  while  he  was  Rector  of  Whittington.  It  was 
as  the  author  of  "Plain  Words"  that  he  first  became 
known  to  the  public.  As  has  been  already  stated,  the 
first  series  of  these  well  known  publications  consisted 
of  short  sermons  written  for  use  at  family  prayers  in  his 
father's  house.  They  were  sold  to  Messrs.  Wells  Gardner, 
the  publishers,  or  rather,  they  were  purchased  by  the 
predecessor  of  Mr.  Wells  Gardner,  whose  partner,  Mr. 
Darton,  describes  the  first  and  second  series  of  "  Plain 
Words"  as  among  the  most  popular,  and  certainly  the 
most  useful,  sermons  ever  issued.  It  would  be  interesting, 
were  it  possible,  to  know  how  often  they  have  been 
preached  by  others  than  their  author.  On  one  occasion 
Mrs.  How  and  one  of  her  sons  were  present  at  a  service 
in  a  church  at  a  little  seaside  place,  and  the  officiating 
clergyman  was  proceeding  happily  with  the  sermon 
when  he  caught  sight  of  Mrs.  How,  with  whom  he  was 
acquainted.  He  stopped  for  a  moment,  looked  some- 
what confused,  and  then,  before  his  next  sentence,  put  in 
the  remark,  "  As  a  writer  of  the  present  day  observes." 
It  was  a  sermon  out  of  "  Plain  Words." 
Two  further  series  were  afterwards  issued,  making  four 


382  Bishop  Walsham  How 

in  all,  and  so  lately  as  Easter  1897  the  Bishop  received 
an  anonymous  letter  saying  : 

"  I  feel  a  desire  to  thank  you  for  the  help  your  writings  have 
been  to  me,  and  especially  at  this  time  for  your  volume  on  prayer 
[*  Plain  Words,'  series  iv.]  which  has  been  read  daily  in  our  church 
this  Lent." 

The  next  work  of  importance  was  his  commentary  on 
the  Four  Gospels,  written  at  the  request  of  the  S.P.C.K., 
and  published  by  that  Society  as  one  volume  of  their 
Commentary  on  the  Bible.  He  began  this  arduous  task 
in  July  1863,  and  finished  it  in  June  1868 — just  five  years' 
work.  The  book  was  on  the  whole  exceedingly  well 
received.  The  Rock  described  it  as  the  best  commentary 
in  so  small  a  space  yet  seen.  His  power  of  extreme 
plainness  of  language  enabled  him  to  undertake  success- 
fully what  was  at  the  time  described  as  "  the  most  difficult 
task  that  can  be  assigned  to  any  one  " — viz.,  to  write  a 
"  plain  commentary."  The  criticism  most  frequently  met 
with  was  that  of  "  omitting  "  various  matters.  Probably 
this  was  a  fault  belonging  to  the  very  nature  of  a  short 
commentary,  and  unavoidable.  The  sale  of  this  book  has 
reached  the  considerable  total  of  223,000. 

In  1874  he  was  at  work  upon  the  book  which  has  had, 
possibly,  the  greatest  influence  of  any  of  his  writings — 
viz.,  "  Pastor  in  Parochia." 

In  an  article  in  Church  Bells,  Mr.  Darton  says  that 
both  they  (the  publishers)  and  the  author  thought  that 
it  would  have  but  a  limited  sale.  Few  of  the  Church 
papers  (the  Literary  Churchman  excepted)  noticed  it 
favourably.  But  in  spite  of  this  the  book  rapidly  gained 
popularity,  and  the  publishers  were  able  in  a  few  years' 
time  to  show  that  the  sale  of  "  Pastor  in  Parochia  "  and 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  383 

"  The  Priest's  Prayer-Book "  was  so  large  as  to  imply 
that  every  clergyman  in  the  Church  must  possess  one 
or  the  other  of  them. 

It  was  once  said  that  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  younger 
clergy  have  been  "  brought  up  on  *  Pastor  in  Parochia/  " 
but  it  has  appealed  to  a  wider  class  than  the  clergy,  and 
has  been  valued  by  laymen  also  in  their  hour  of  trouble 
or  sickness.  The  following  letters  are  of  interest  as 
showing  the  value  the  book  has  obtained  in  the  eyes  of 
men  of  various  conditions. 

"  Addington  Vicarage,  Croydon. 
"My  dear  Sir, 

"  You  will  hardly  remember  me.  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  you  when  I  was  Secretary  of  the  Tract  Committee  of 
S.P.C.K.  and  also  had  some  correspondence  with  you  about  the 
Commentary,  in  which  I  am  doing  '  the  Acts.' 

"  I  write  now  because  I  am  sure  it  will  give  you  pleasure  to 
hear  the  inexpressible  comfort  the  dear  archbishop  [Longley] 
found  in  my  readings  to  him  from  your  '  Pastor  in  Parochia.'  The 
chapters  which  he  liked  best  were  those  on  Crosses  and  on  Death. 
Ail  the  prayers  which  I  used  seemed  to  comfort  him  more  than  I 
can  tell  you. 

'•  For  some  hours  yesterday  I  stood  by  him  and  read  the  sen- 
tences and  ejaculations,  and  his  looks  and  movement  of  his  hands 
showed  how  fully  he  entered  into  them.  The  book  has  been  a 
great  comfort  to  the  family  since.  I  am  sure  you  will  be  glad  to 
know  this  of  one  so  dearly  loved  as  he  was,  and  I  therefore  make 
no  apology  for  writing  to  you.     So  touching  and  beautiful  a  death 

falls  perhaps  to  the  lot  of  few  men  to  see. 

***** 

"  I  remain,  my  dear  Sir, 

"  Yours  very  faithfully, 

."W.  BENHAM." 

Canon  Benham  remembers  the  archbishop  whispering, 
"  Sweet,  sweet,"  over  the  "  reading "  beginning,  "  You 
have  a  Cross  to  bear." 


384  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"The  Rectory,  Witney,  Oxon.,  yune  2,  1897. 

"My  very  dear  Bishop, 

"This  note  requires  no   acknowledgment  whatever;  but 

you  won't  blame  me  for  yielding  to  an  impulse,  and  telling  you 

something  about  your  '  Pastor  in  Parochia.'     We  have  a  sad  case 

of  cancer  in  the  mouth.     The  sufferer  is  a  man  of  the  woolstapler 

class,  who  used  to  hunt  and  keenly  '  enjoy  life.'     His  malady  has 

developed  very  rapidly,  and  he  has  now,  when  I  am  with  him,  to 

wrife  his  words.     Well,  his  constant  companion  is  your  book, 

which  seems  to  have  been,  both  in  this  and  in  a  previous  great 

trial,  the  greatest  help  both  to  him  and  to  his  wife.     When  I  use 

it  at  his  bed-side,  he  likes  me  to  see  that  he  has  it  open  at  the  same 

page,  and  this  appears  to  be  both  a  pleasure  and  an  assistance  to 

his  thoughts.     Your  book  being  chiefly  in  usum  deri^  I  was  struck 

with  the  discovery  that  a  layman,  in  extreme  suffering,  had  made 

it  his  companion  and  invaluable  friend. 

***** 

"  Yours,  my  dear  Bishop, 

"  Ever  affectionately, 

"W.  FOXLEY  NORRIS." 

"  March  12,  1884. 

"My  Lord  Bishop, 

"  I  have  long  wished  to  tell  you  how  invaluable  a  book 
your  '  Pastor  in  Parochia '  has  been  for  a  very  great  many  years  to 
me,  and  to  relations,  friends  and  neighbours  in  different  parts  of 
the  world,  and  to  poor  uneducated  people  cut  off  from  religious 
help  and  instruction  in  the  bush  of  Australia. 

"  But  I  find  it  impossible  to  tell  in  a  letter  what  light  and  hope 
issued  on  two  very  different  paths,  whose  end  was  death — death 
made  easier  by  your  book. 

"  One,  a  young  Christian  mother,  who  had  to  tear  herself  from  a 
devoted  husband,  and  the  anxious  care  of  five  little  children. 
Her  dying  gift  to  her  husband  when,  after  a  life  of  bodily  suffering 
she  unreservedly  resigned  herself  to  the  will  of  God  and  said 
good-bye,  was  a  worn  copy  of  '  Pastor  in  Parochia,'  every  pencil 
mark  revealing,  after  her  death,  the  secret  history  of  the  life  of  her 
soul,  its  crucifixion,  and  the  strength  and  comfort  you  helped  to 
give  her  in  your  book. 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  385 

"  The  other  case  in  which  your  book  was  of  value — a  soul,  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  that  did  not  know  God,  brought  to  His  feet 
by  the  agonies  and  horrors  of  cancer  in  the  face.  ... 
***** 

"  It  is  an  unusual  thing  for  a  stranger  to  write  you  such  a  letter 
as  this,  but  it  has  long  been  in  my  heart  to  thank  you  for  your 
book,  a  treasure  I  give  to  bride,  widow,  all  in  trouble  or  difficulty, 
and  feel  it  is  the  best  help  I  know  how  to  give  next  to  a  Bible  or 
Prayer-book,  and  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  of  my  life  from 
girlhood  to  age,  as  wife,  mother,  mistress  of  a  household,  and  the 
neighbour  of  poor  uneducated  people  isolated  in  the  bush,  without 
a  living  '  Pastor  in  Parochia.' 

"  Yours  very  truly, 


The  "  Manual  for  the  Holy  Communion,"  compiled  by 
the  Bishop,  and  published  first  in  1878  by  the  S.P.C.K., 
is  well  known  and  must  be  very  widely  used.  No  less 
than  237,000  copies  were  sold  in  the  first  eight  years 
after  its  publication,  the  total  at  the  present  day  being 
657,000. 

There  were  numerous  smaller  books  of  sermons  and 
addresses  issued  by  him  at  various  dates,  such  as  his 
"  Pastoral  Work "  (originally  delivered  at  Cambridge), 
for  which  Bishop  Christopher  Wordsworth  promised  a 
place  "with  St.  Gregory  and  George  Herbert,"  and  his 
"Words  of  Good  Cheer."  In  1892  Messrs.  Sampson 
Low  and  Co.  brought  out  a  volume  of  his  sermons  in  their 
series  of  "  Preachers  of  the  Age."  The  second  of  these 
sermons,  called  "The  Bible  and  Science,"  was  the 
sermon  preached  before  the  British  Association  in  Man- 
chester Cathedral  on  September  4,  1887,  exactly  one 
week  after  the  death  of  his  wife.  It  is  perhaps  the  best 
serm.on,  intellectually,  he  ever  preached.  Mr.  Gladstone 
and  the  late  Professor  Huxley  were  both  much  struck  by 
it,   and    the    latter   in   his   book   on   "Science   and   the 

2  B 


386  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Christian  Tradition,"  mentions  this  sermon,  and  says  of 
the  Bishop  that  he  was  one  of  the  only  people  who  so 
treated  of  religion  and  science  that  he  (Professor  Huxley) 
felt  he  could  go  with  them. 

The  Bishop,  in  the  course  of  this  sermon,  said  that  the 
subject  of  the  Bible  in  relation  to  science  was  so  vast, 
that  he  wished  to  select  some  one  point  for  illustration. 
The  point  he  selected  was  the  theory  of  evolution.  On 
this  question  he  said  that  there  were  undoubtedly  facts 
and  arguments  in  its  favour  which  it  would  be  silly  to 
despise,  and  which  to  many  scientific  men  appeared  to 
possess  all  but  conclusive  weight. 

He  warned  people  against  saying,  "All  such-like  specu- 
lations are  straight  against  God's  word,  and  therefore 
utterly  untrue,"  reminding  them  how  great  an  injury  to 
the  cause  of  religion  was  done  in  former  days  by  the 
stolid  resistance  of  the  Church  to  the  discoveries  of 
astronomy  as  being  opposed  to  the  Bible ;  and  how 
recent  were  the  silly  denunciations  uttered  against 
geology  because  it  taught  that  the  days  of  Creation 
signify  vast  periods  of  time. 

"  God's  Word,"  he  said,  "  in  abstaining  from  scientific 
revelations,  is  simply  adapting  itself  to  our  understand- 
ings, in  the  same  way  that  it  does  when  it  speaks  of  God 
Himself  in  anthropomorphic  language,  ascribing  to  Him 
the  members  of  a  human  body,  that  we  may  see,  as  it 
were,  a  shadow  of  His  actings  on  the  wall." 

Later  on  he  says  that  it  seems  to  him  that  religion  and 
science  revolve  in  different  orbits,  but  that  these  orbits 
cut  one  another  at  certain  points.  The  origin  of  man 
is  one  of  those  matters  on  which  God  speaks  to  us  both 
by  His  Word  and  by  His  works.    It  was,  therefore,  one  of 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  387 

the  points  of  contact  and  of  possible  collision,  and  had 
to  be  considered  very  carefully.  For  argument's  sake,  he 
was  willing  to  suppose  the  theory  of  evolution  to  be 
fully  established.  He  would  suppose  that  we  are  taught 
by  the  teaching  of  God's  handwriting  in  His  works  to 
look  upon  man  as  the  latest  development  of  a  structure 
and  system  of  which  we  trace  back  the  rudiments  and 
gradual  growth  through  ten  thousand  earlier  and  pro- 
gressive forms  of  life. 

"  What  then  ? "  asked  the  Bishop.  "  Why,  then  this 
was  the  wonderful  way  in  which  *  the  Lord  God  formed 
man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground.'  We  then  behold 
God  creating  by  evolution  instead  of  by  isolated  and  un- 
connected acts  of  creative  energy.  .  .  .  What  if  God  had 
chosen  to  let  His  creatures  ripen  by  slow  degrees  into  more 
and  more  perfect  forms,  until  one  was  produced  which  in 
His  wisdom  He  counted  fit  for  the  inbreathing  of  an  im- 
mortal spirit  ?  ...  To  me  it  seems  quite  possible  to  recon- 
cile the  theory  of  physical  evolution  in  the  case  of  man's 
outward  organism  with  the  dignity  which  the  fiat  of  the 
Creator's  will  has  bestowed  upon  the  being  whom  He 
made  to  be  a  new  creature  in  the  splendid  dowry  of  his 
spiritual  and  intellectual  powers." 

These  extracts  will  show  the  line  taken  by  the  preacher 
on  the  subject  which  he  boldly  selected  for  his  sermon 
before  the  British  Association — a  sermon  which  ended 
with  a  fervent  appeal  to  his  hearers  to  come  and  see  the 
things  which  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  have 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  but  from  the  sight  of 
which  they  should  go  back  to  their  science  rich  with  nevy 
treasures  of   wisdom,  strong  with  new  life  and  power, 


388  Bishop  Walsham  How 

glad  with  new  hope,  and  worshipping  not  Nature,  but 
Nature's  God. 

As  a  writer  for,  and  preacher  to,  children,  Bishop 
Walsham  How  excelled,  as  any  one  who  had  ever  seen 
him  in  the  company  of  children  would  have  imagined. 
Some  remarks  on  this  gift  of  the  Bishop's  were  once 
made  by  the  Rev.  B.  Waugh,  author  of  "  Sunday  Even- 
ings with  my  Children,"  &c.,  who  has  been  good  enough 
to  put  them  on  paper  and  allow  them  to  be  published 
here.     Mr.  Waugh  says  : 

"  Bishop  Walsham  How  was  that  rare  thing,  an  excellent 
preacher  to  children,  because  he  was  concise  and  vivid,  and  had 
an  earnest  and  thrilling  belief  in  the  greatness  and  goodness  of  his 
purpose.  One  of  the  striking  marks  of  all  his  methods  was  the 
use  which  he  always  made  of  the  knowledge  his  small  hearers 
already  possessed,  which  he  elicited  at  every  possible  place  in  his 
sermon  by  putting  to  them  a  question  and  awaiting  their  answer, 
or  saying  the  greater  part  of  a  sentence  and  pausing  for  them  to 
complete  it.  Capital  specimens  of  these  ways  are  '  Twelve  Years 
Old,'  and  '  Palm  Sunday  '  ["  Plain  Words  to  Children  "]. 

"  Mere  sonorousness,  unctuousness,  or  tone  of  priestly  authority 
he  never  used.  His  authority  was  the  holiness  and  delightfulness 
of  the  things  he  was  saying,  which  he  himself  first  felt  intensely 
enough  for  them  to  radiate  out  of  him.  His  sermon  was  of  his 
life. 

"  He  always  assumed  that  the  bright  round  faces  before  him, 
made  lovely  by  their  air  of  expectancy,  were  bred  and  born  to 
Christian  ideas  which  he  sought  to  arouse  and  feed  and  guide 
amid  the  duties  and  daily  scenes  of  youthful  life.  A  joyous 
servant  of  Jesus  himself,  he  sought  to  make  children  share  his  joy 
and  service.  Yet  few  preachers  to  children  were  more  practical 
and  matter-of-fact  than  was  Dr.  How.  He  sought  to  produce  no 
visionaries.  The  great  God  was  another  homely  father  ;  heaven, 
an  extension  of  their  kindly  home.  Duty  and  effort  in  all  sorts  of 
ordinary  ways  took  the  place  of  dreams  and  ecstasies. 

"  The  underlying  power  of  all  his  sermons  was  the  greatness  of 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  389 

his  reverence  for  childhood.  It  was  an  instinct  with  him,  rather 
than  an  act,  to  guard  and  tend  its  sacred  flame,  one  which  did 
not  follow  but  set  a  fashion.  When  he  first  began  to  share  his 
public  ministry  with  children,  beyond  their  submission  to  its  rites 
and  the  task-work  of  its  catechisms,  the  Church  had  little  for 
them. 

''  I  remember  him  saying  how,  then,  his  ecclesiastical  superiors 
remonstrated  with  him.  They  considered  his  venture  undignified 
and  wasteful.  Evangelical  Dissenters,  too,  were  without  services 
for  children,  not  considering  children  quite  lost  enough  to  be 
saved.  Dr.  How  rejoiced  to  see  the  day  when  all  this  was  changed, 
and  to  the  Good  Shepherd's  command,  '  Feed  my  Sheep,'  the 
Church  at  large  had  added,  '  Feed  my  Lambs.'  I  remember  his 
saying  at  a  public  meeting,  '  I  love  this  century  for  it  has  been 
the  children's  century.' 

"  In  this  he  declai-ed  what  was  the  secret  of  his  attractiveness  as 
a  preacher  to  children.  He  was  no  '  stranger '  to  them.  The 
voice  of  a  stranger  they  will  not  hear.  Children  knew  him  ;  they 
were  his  own.  The  light  and  warmth  of  his  feelings  towards 
them  was  a  transparent  medium  through  which  they  saw  him  and 
understood  his  thoughts,  as  they  saw  their  fathers  and  mothers 
and  understood  their  thoughts. 

"  To  the  little,  silent,  closely  sitting  children,  the  sound  of  his 
sermon  was  quite  different  from  the  sermons  of  others,  mainly 
because  their  place  in  the  soul  of  the  preacher  was  quite  different 
from  that  they  held  in  other  preachers.  He  was  in  them  and  they 
were  in  him.  When  the  congregation  had  broken  up  the  memory 
of  what  he  said  was  the  memory  of  him,  and  it  was  a  pleasant 
memory,  and  a  memory  for  life. 

"  As  their  teacher  by  music  he  has  almost  exceeded  himself  as 
a  teacher  by  sermons.  He  has  given  to  children's  lips  the  lan- 
guage of  a  children's  faith  and  love.  His  hymns  are  not  mere 
religious  thoughts  expressed  in  pleasant  verse  and  simple  words, 
they  are  children's  religious  thoughts.  In  this  Dr.  How  was  the 
greatest  of  a  new  tribe  of  sacred  singers  for  childhood.  He  did 
not  versify  dogma  but  feelings,  and  did  it  in  the  manner  and 
to  the  capacities  of  a  child. 

"  He  made,  to  use  the  language  of  one  of  his  sermons,  '  straight 
paths'  for  a  child-soul,  along  which  to  go  with  its  wonder,  its 


390  Bishop  Walsham  How 

gratitude,  its  love,  its  joy,  to  the  feet  of  God  with  natural  spon- 
taneous delight.  In  his  hymns  he  will  long  live  to  speak  immortal 
truths  for  children,  and  to  promote  their  immortal  life.  He  was 
indeed  the  Children's  Bishop." 

In  connection  with  the  Bishop's  writings  for  children, 
the  following  letter  from  Miss  Sewell,  the  authoress,  is 
particularly  interesting,  and  bears  out  the  opinions  ex- 
pressed in  the  above  appreciation. 

"  ASHCLIFF,  BONCHURCH,  I.W.,  Fch.  10. 

"  Dear  Lord  Bishop, 

"  My  sister  has  shown  me  your  note.  It  was  she  who 
wrote  to  you ;  but  may  I  be  allowed  to  say  that  I  quite  feel  with 
her  in  regard  to  the  '  Plain  Words  for  Children.'  They  are  so 
entirely  what  was  wanted,  and  speak  so  touchingly  to  the  little 
hearts  for  whose  help  they  were  written.  You  will  have  the 
thanks  of  hundreds  of  parents  and  friends,  if  not  uttered  to  your- 
self, yet  which  you  will  value  far  more,  acknowledged  in  gratitude 
to  God. 

"  You  are  very  kind  in  what  you  say  of  myself.  My  writing 
days  are  very  nearly  over,  but  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to  know  that 
anything  one  has  said  or  done  has  in  its  day  been  useful. 

"  I  am,  my  dear  Lord  Bishop, 

"  With  great  respect, 

"  Most  sincerely  yours, 

"ELIZABETH  M.  SEWELL." 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  Bishop's  lectures,  and 
these  form  almost  the  sole  examples  of  his  prose  writings 
on  what  may  be  called  secular  subjects.  In  these  lectures 
he  gave  full  play  to  his  humour,  while  at  the  same  time 
he  explained  in  his  own  peculiarly  simple  language  many 
elementary  scientific  matters,  in  which  he  took  great 
delight. 

The  most  characteristic  of  these   "  papers "  was  one 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  391 

entitled  "How  I  Learnt  to  See,"  originally  delivered  at  a 
conversazione  of  the  Oswestry  and  Welshpool  Naturalists' 
Field  Club  in  the  former  town  on  December  30,  1864. 
Some  extracts  from  this  lecture  will  serve  to  give  a 
notion  of  the  style  employed  by  Mr.  Walsham  How  (as 
he  then  was)  when  treating  of  such  subjects. 
He  begins  thus  : 

"  As  soon  as  I  was  born  I  opened  my  eyes.  But  as  I 
was  screaming  violently  at  the  time,  I  only  opened  them 
a  very  little  way,  and  then  shut  them  tight  up  again,  and 
screamed  rather  more  violently,  which  was  the  only  way 
I  could  think  of  to  express  my  intense  disgust  at  things 
in  general  and  the  monthly  nurse  in  particular. 

***** 

"  I  don't  call  that  first  peep  seeing  at  all.  It  was  just  a 
very  unpleasant  flash  and  glare  and  blaze  of  light,  and 
made  me  very  cross.  Next  day  I  was  calmer.  It  was 
then  that  I  made  my  first  attempt  at  seeing.  I  looked, 
and  this  is  what  I  saw.  A  shapeless,  formless,  meaning- 
less, chaotic  conglomeration  of  colours  and  lights  and 
shades,  like  a  great  kaleidoscope  gone  mad.  I  could 
make  nothing  of  it.  However,  I  stared  hard  and  tried  to 
look  as  if  I  knew  all  about  it,  which  a  great  many  older 
people  do  when  fairly  puzzled.  ... 

***** 

"  I  think  I  got  some  dim  notions  of  shape  almost  as 
soon  as  of  motion.  The  fact  is  I  learnt  to  see  shapes  by 
touch.  I  rather  think  I  learnt  my  first  ideas  of  form  by 
hitting  at  my  mother,  and  my  first  ideas  of  hardness  and 
softness  by  comparing  the  effects  of  this  far  from  un- 
pleasant -process  with  those  of  like  efforts  expended  upon 
the  side  of  my  crib  or  the  rim  of  my  basin.     Still,  my 


392  Bishop  Walsham  How 

ideas  of  shape  remained  for  some  time  decidedly  vague, 
and  it  was  not  till  I  had  secretly  made  experiments  as  to 
the  power  of  grasping  the  middle  of  a  flat  tea-tray,  which 
I  found  I  could  feel  but  not  grasp,  and  of  getting  hold  of 
a  tree  which  was  growing  in  the  garden  twenty  yards 
beyond  the  window,  and  which  I  found  I  could  neither 
feel  nor  grasp,  that  I  began  to  study  both  form  and 
distance  more  carefully.  The  latter  puzzled  me  vastly  even 
to  a  later  date ;  for  I  distinctly  recollect,  when  I  had  learnt 
my  first  accomplishment,  which  was  to  blowout  a  candle, 
I  was  shown  the  moon  through  a  window,  and  tried  with 
some  meritorious  perseverance  to  blow  it  out.  .  .  . 

"  My  great  stride  in  the  knowledge  of  distances  I  con- 
sider to  have  been  made  when  I  began  to  crawl.  I  felt 
quite  like  a  land  surveyor  or  a  civil  engineer  all  at  once. 
I  could  take  my  observations,  measure  my  ground,  and 
verify  my  calculations  as  much  as  I  pleased.  .  .  . 
*  #  *  *  # 

"  I  made  the  discovery  that  a  piece  of  bread-and-butter 
was  an  admirable  contrivance  for  obscuring  the  vision 
of  one  eye,  being  larger,  softer,  and  of  a  decidedly  more 
advantageous  shape  than  the  end  of  my  finger.  *  Now 
is  the  time,'  said  I,  'for  observations  as  to  why  I  have 
two  eyes.'  So  I  immediately  obscured  the  vision  of  one 
of  my  eyes  with  bread-and-butter,  and  looked.  .  .  . 
I  then  carefully  removed  the  bread-and-butter  to  the 
other  eye.  ...  'Ah!'  I  thought,  'I  have  got  it!  One 
eye  is  ever  so  much  more  to  one  side  than  the  other,  so 
that  accounts  for  seeing  round  the  corner ! '  I  had 
discovered  that  I  was  simply  a  living  stereoscope,  seeing 
everything  double,  so  that,  by  means  of  two  slightly 
different  images  of  the  same  object,  I  might  get  a  better 
idea  of  shape  and  perspective,  ♦  ,  . 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  393 

"  One  of  the  most  striking  of  the  phenomena  I  solved 
by  experiment  was  observed  cHnically — of  course  I  mean 
as  I  lay  in  bed.  If  the  room  was  tolerably  dark,  I 
noticed  that,  by  staring  at  the  window  for  a  few  moments, 
and  then  turning  to  the  dark  side  of  the  room,  I  could 
see  the  shape  of  the  window,  bars  and  all,  quite  plainly 
for  a  little  while,  where  there  was  no  window  at  all. 
The  only  thing  I  could  compare  with  this  observation 
was  a  playful  experiment  which  my  father  used  occasion- 
ally to  make  with  a  seal  upon  the  soft  white  places  on  my 
hand  and  arm.  The  impression  of  the  seal  would  re- 
main, to  my  no  little  wonder  and  delight,  for  a  few 
moments,  and  then  gradually  die  away  like  the  image  of 
the  window.  So,  having  no  other  analogy  to  guide  me,  I 
concluded  that  the  light  impressed  itself  upon  the  back 
of  my  eye  (I  suppose  I  ought  to  say  'retina')  just  as  the 
seal  upon  my  flesh." 

In  this  chatty  and  amusing  way  the  lecture  proceeded 
to  explain  one  after  another  many  of  the  simple  pheno- 
mena of  sight,  and  ended  with  the  following  passage : 

"  We  have  never  learnt  to  see  aright  until  in  His  works 
we  evermore  behold  the  love,  and  wisdom,  and  majesty 
of  God.  I  trust  I  shall  not  be  blamed  if  I  began  lightly 
and  end  gravely.  I  have  learnt  to  see  many  good  things, 
many  beautiful  things,  many  wonderful  things.  And  I 
thank  God.  But  I  hope  to  learn  to  see  better,  more 
beautiful,  more  wonderful  things  yet.     Only  not  here." 

This  paper  was  not  only  appreciated  by  the  audience 
before  whom  it  was  read,  but  grave  and  intellectual  men, 
friends  to  whom  the  author  sent  copies,  delighted  in  it. 
Thus  the  late  Archdeacon  Norris  of  Bristol  wrote  : 


394  ■        Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  The  Abbey  House,  Bristol,  22/3/71. 
"  My  dear  How, 

"  What  a  humorous,  playful,  fascinating  way  you  have  of 
making  abstruse  things  flash  their  meanings  upon  one's  mind  !  .  .  . 
I  have  been  reading  aloud  your  paper  at  luncheon  :  really  it  is 
admirable,  and  must  be  published  .  .  .  that  illustration  of  the 
lingering  of  the  image  on  the  retina  by  the  seal  on  the  white 
plump  arm  is  perfectly  delightful.  And  the  conclusion,  again,  so 
very  graceful. 

"  Thank  you  again  and  again  for  sending  it. 

"  Ever  yours, 
"J.  P.N." 

The  Bishop's  writings  in  verse  are  naturally  more 
diverse  in  character,  a  large  number  of  his  poems  being 
on  other  than  religious  subjects.  But  it  was  in  hymn 
writing  that  he  reached  his  highest  degree  of  excellence, 
and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  he  has  not  been  better 
known  for  his  hymns  than  even  for  his  "  Plain  Words " 
and  other  prose  writings.  The  Bishop  of  Ripon  has  most 
kindly  written  a  subsequent  chapter  on  Bishop  Walsham 
How  as  a  hymn  writer,  an  invaluable  contribution 
from  such  a  pen  on  such  a  subject. 

To  pass,  then,  to  other  verses.  From  his  early  boy- 
hood Walsham  How  had  written  verses,  some  of  which 
have  been  referred  to  in  the  account  of  his  young  days. 

His  first  volume  of  poetry  was  dedicated  to  his  old 
schoolmaster.  Dr.  Kennedy,  who  sent  the  following  letter 
of  thanks  : 

"  Shrewsbury,  May  13,  1861. 
*'  My  dear  How, 

"  I  thank  you  with  warm  affection  for  the  kind  words  pre- 
fixed with  my  name  to  your  welcome  volume  of  poetry.  I  read 
them  with  dimmed  eyes  and  grateful  heart,  and  not  until  I  had 
recognised  the  author,  not  so  much  from  handwriting  as  from  a 
known  and  striking  little  poem  which  caught  my  eye  at  page  80. 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  395 

"  What  I  have  already  read  assures  me  that  I  shall  often  turn 
with  pleasure  to  the  book,  as  expressing  in  the  language  of  true 
poetic  feeling  that  with  which  my  own  tastes  and  habits  of  thought 
make  me  sympathise. 

"  I  hope  it  may  please  God  that,  by  the  living  of  West  Felton,* 
we  may  see  more  of  each  other.  .  .  • 

"  Always  most  truly  and  gratefully, 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"  BENJ.  H.  KENNEDY." 

In  1886  a  larger  volume  was  published  by  Messrs. 
Wells  Gardner,  containing  all  that  the  Bishop  considered 
worth  making  public.  Many  of  these  poems  are  full  of 
beautiful  thoughts,  and  show  a  very  tender  appreciation 
of  the  loveliness  of  Nature.  They  give  proof  besides  of 
a  cultivated  and  elegant  power  of  versification,  but 
seldom  rise  to  the  level  of  greatness. 

Of  special  interest  are  the  lines,  "To  the  Primate 
Designate,"  which  were  written  on  the  news  of  the 
nomination  of  the  Bishop  of  Truro  (Benson)  to  the 
Primacy.  They  appeared  in  the  Spectator  in  December 
1882,  and  are  included  in  the  Bishop's  published 
"  Poems." 

Dr.  Benson's  letter  of  thanks  is  appended  : 

•'  Truro,  Jan,  19,  1883. 
"My  very  dear  Brother, 

"  I  think  you  will  find  excuse  in  your  kindness  for  my 
long  failure  to  acknowledge  the  very  noble  and  striking  lines  which 
you  sent  me — your  contribution  to  the  Spectator.  I  do  thank  you 
for  casting  your  good  wishes  for  me  into  prayer,  and  so  making 
them  into  a  birjo-is  'evepyovfievrj.f  I  can  but  ejaculate  ttoXw 
l(rxvot !  t    And  not '  for  me '  but  for  the  Church  in  her  *  ancient 

*  A  parish  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Whittington,  to  which  Dr.  Kennedy 
had  been  appointed, 
t  "  An  effective  prayer." 
+  "  May  it  greatly  prevail." 


396  Bishop  Walsham  How 

newness.'  For  me  it  would  be  enough  if  I  only  may  help  you  in 
any  measure  in  winning  back  the  '  Christless  thousands.'  Thank 
you  again  for  carrying  me  along  in  your  burst  of  intercession  for 
our  mother. 

"  Ora — oras — oral) is. 

"  Y.ours  in  brotherly  love, 

"  ED.  TRURON." 

Another  excellent  example  of  the  Bishop's  style  is  found 
in  the  verses  called  "  Poetry  and  the  Poor,"  "  which," 
wrote  the  Bishop  in  1889,  "  I  always  consider  about  my 
best  bit." 

POETRY  AND  THE  POOR. 

"  The  world  is  very  beautiful !  "  I  said, 

As  yesterday,  beside  the  brimming  stream,* 
Glad  and  alone,  I  watched  the  tremulous  gleam 

Slant  through  the  wintry  wood,  green  carpeted 
With  moss  and  fern  and  curving  bramble  spray, 

And  bronze  the  thousand  russet  margin  reeds, 
And  in  the  sparkling  holly  glint  and  play, 

And  kindle  all  the  briar's  flaming  seeds. 

"  The  world  is  very  horrible  ! "  I  sigh, 

As,  in  my  wonted  ways,  to-day  I  thread 
Chill  streets,  deformed  with  dim  monotony, 

Hiding  strange  mysteries  of  unknown  dread — 
The  reeking  court,  the  breathless  fever  den, 

The  haunts  where  things  unholy  throng  and  brood ; 
Grim  crime,  the  fierce  despair  of  strong-armed  men, 

Child-infamy,  and  shameless  womanhood. 

And  men  have  looked  upon  this  piteous  thing — ' 
Blank  lives  unvisited  by  beauty's  spell — 

And  said,  "  Let  be  :  it  is  not  meet  to  bring 
Dreams  of  sweet  freedom  to  the  prison  cell. 

*  By  the  river  below  the  churchyard  at  Salwarpe,  Worcestershire.  . 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  397 

Sing  them  no  songs  of  things  all  bright  and  fair, 
Paint  them  no  visions  of  the  glad  and  free, 
Lest  with  purged  sight  their  miseries  they  see, 

And  through  vain  longings  pass  to  black  despair. 

O  brother,  treading  ever-darkening  ways, 

O  sister,  whelmed  in  ever-deepening  care. 
Would  God  we  might  unfold  before  your  gaze 

Some  vision  of  the  pure  and  true  and  fair  ! 
Better  to  know,  though  sadder  things  be  known. 

Better  to  see,  though'  tears  half-blind  the  sight. 
Than  thraldom  to  the  sense,  and  heart  of  stone. 

And  horrible  contentment  with  the  night. 

Oh  1  bring  we  then  all  sweet  and  gracious  things 
To  touch  the  lives  that  lie  so  chill  and  drear. 
That  they  may  dream  of  some  diviner  sphere. 

Whence  each  soft  ray  of  love  and  beauty  springs. 
Each  good  and  perfect  gift  is  from  above ; 

And  there  is  healing  for  earth's  direst  woes  ; 
God  hath  unsealed  the  springs  of  light  and  love, 

To  make  the  desert  blossom  as  the  rose. 

He  was  exceedingly  fond  of  writing  sonnets,  several  of 
which  are  to  be  found  in  his  "  Poems."  Among  the  most 
interesting  of  these  are  the  nine  sonnets  written  on  various 
East  London  clergymen.  They  are  interesting  not  alone 
for  their  poetry,  but  also  as  showing  how  warmly  the 
Bishop  appreciated  the  good  in  men  of  vastly  different 
schools.  To  quote  instances  of  this  :  Sonnet  i.  speaks  of 
the  late  Bishop  Billing  when  Rector  of  Spitalfields  : 

*'  Christ  pleased  not  Himself,"  the  Master's  lore. 
Bowed  at  His  feet,  full  well  the  servant  learnt ; 
For  in  his  breast  a  strong  pure  love  there  burnt. 
That  for  unlovely  souls  but  glowed  the  more. 
Full  many  a  wounded  lamb  he  homeward  bore. 
As  all  night  long  he  paced  the  desolate  street, 
Winning,  with  love  most  patient,  far-strayed  feet 


39^  Bishop  Walsham  How 

From  the  dark  paths  that  they  had  known  before. 

Keen-eyed  to  judge,  in  action  quick  and  sure, 

No  trumpet-blower,  scorning  all  display, 

Of  simple  life,  a  brother  of  the  poor  ; 

Yet  had  he  genial  mood,  and  store  of  mirth, 

And  all  the  poor  lads  loved  his  kindly  sway. 

And  knew  they  had  one  friend  upon  the  earth. 

Sonnet  iv.  speaks  of  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Lowder,  late  Vicar 
of  St.  Peter's,  London  Docks  : 

Like  some  tall  rock  that  cleaves  the  headlong  might 
Of  turgid  waves  in  full  flood  onward  borne, 
So  stood  he,  fronting  all  the  rage  and  scorn, 
And  calmly  waiting  the  unequal  fight. 
He  fashioned  his  ideal — stately  rite. 
High  ceremonial,  shadowing  mystic  lore  ; 
The  Cross  on  high  before  the  world  he  bore, 
Yet  lived  to  serve  the  lowliest  day  and  night.     , 
He  could  not  take  offence :  men  held  him  cold  ; 
Yet  was  his  heart  not  cold,  but  strongly  just, 
And  full  of  Christ-like  love  for  young  and  old. 
They  knew  at  last,  and  tardy  homage  gave  ; 
They  crowned  him  with  a  people's  crown  of  trust ; 
And  strong  men  sobbed  in  thousands  at  his  grave. 

A  friend  of  yet  another  school  was  Prebendary  Harry 
Jones,  then  Rector  of  St.  George's  in  the  East,  Of  him 
in  Sonnet  v.  the  Bishop  wrote  : 

The  genial  friend,  the  ever-welcome  guest, 
Of  keenly  flashing  wit  and  strenuous  mien. 
With  home  ancestral  in  the  woodlands  green 
Courting  to  rural  joys  and  leisured  rest ; 
Yet  this  the  dwelling-place  he  chose  as  best. 
Where  all  the  wild  sea-life  of  many  a  coast 
Flings  on  our  river-marge  its  motley  host 
To  swell  the  surge  of  sin  and  strife  unblest. 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  399 

What  though  from  land  to  land  he  loves  to  roam 

Keen-eyed  and  eager-hearted  as  a  boy, 

Yet  evermore  his  heart  is  in  his  home  ; 

And  there  he  rules  with  strong  but  gracious  sway, 

And  sad  men  catch  the  infection  of  his  joy 

As  cheery-voiced  he  greets  them  on  their  way. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  Bishop's  sonnets  was 
composed  at  Trondhjem  on  August  12,  1888.  It  runs 
thus  : 

And  was  it  there — the  splendour  I  behold  ? 
This  great  fjord  with  its  silver  grace  outspread 
And  thousand-creeked  and  thousand-islanded  ? 
Those  far-off  hills,  grape-purple,  fold  on  fold  ? 
For  yesterday,  when  all  day  long  there  rolled 
The  blinding  drift,  methinks,  had  some  one  said 
"The  scene  is  fair,"  I  scarce  had  credited  ; 
Yet  fairer  'tis  than  any  tongue  hath  told. 
And  it  was  there  !    Ah,  yes  !     And  on  my  way 
More  bravely  I  will  go,  though  storm-clouds  lour 
And  all  my  sky  be  only  cold  and  grey ; 
For  I  have  learnt  the  teaching  of  this  hour  : 
And  when  God's  breath  blows  all  these  mists  afar, 
I  know  that  I  shall  see  the  things  that  are. 

Another  favourite  kind  of  poem  was  the  narrative  verse. 
Of  these  the  best  known  are  "  The  Boy  Hero,"  and  "  A 
Tale  of  the  London  Mission,"  though  Miss  Jean  Ingelow, 
in  the  following  letter,  gives  the  palm  to  "Gentleman 
John "  : 

"  6  Holland  Villas,  Kensington,  Dec.  29. 

"  I  could  not  make  up  my  mind  to  write  and  thank  you  for 
your  very  kind  and  charming  present  [his  poems]  till  I  had  read 
it  with  attention,  and  could  at  least  say  (though  I  am  no  critic) 
which  poems  had  given  me  most  pleasure.  And  now  I  like  so 
many  of  them  that  this  is  not  at  all  easy. 

"  Almost  all  my  favourites  are  the  later  ones.  And  among 
these  I  own  that  '  Gentleman  John '  seems  the  finest,  or  rather 


400  Bishop  Walsham  How 

the  most  successful,  because  that  kind  of  poem  is  so  difficult  to 
write.  Then  I  think  '  A  Starlit  Night '  has  a  great  deal  of 
beauty  and  power ;  besides  it  is  a  very  perfect  little  composition, 
and  not  too  long.  That  is  a  great  virtue  ;  one  is  often  tempted 
to  add  a  touch  here  and  there  when  the  thing  to  be  said  has  been 
already  expressed. 

"  '  Man's  Littleness  and  Greatness  '  gives  me  great  pleasure,  too, 
but  so  do  many  others." 

It  may  interest  readers  of  "  The  Boy  Hero  "  to  know 
that  the  Bishop  received  a  letter  from  the  Rector  of 
Horfield,  Bristol,  telling  him  that  it  was  in  that  parish 
that  the  boys  of  the  story  were  found,  and  that  the  old 
lady,  to  whose  house  they  were  carried,  was  then  (1887) 
alive,  aged  eighty-three.  A  transept  in  the  church  at 
Horfield  was  built,  at  the  time  of  the  church  restoration, 
in  memory  of  "The  Boy  Hero." 

The  Bishop  published  a  very  small  portion  of  what  he 
wrote,  and  a  great  many  manuscript  poems  are  in  exist- 
ence. As  these  were,  for  the  most  part,  considered  by 
him  unworthy  of  publication,  they  will  not  be  given  here  ; 
there  is,  however,  one  poem,  written  comparatively  lately, 
which  shall  be  an  exception  : 

To  Miss  LUCY  CLAUGHTON,  on  her  50TH  Birthday, 
Dec.  8,  1893.* 

Ah  me  !     The  old,  old  days  !     Once  more 
Let  them  be  with  us  as  of  yore. 
We'll  bridge  the  gulf  of  years  between ; 
We'll  deck  them  with  their  early  sheen ; 
We'll  veil  awhile  from  wistful  gaze 
The  vanished  forms,  the  shrouded  days, 
And  weave  us  in  the  musing  brain 
Dreams  of  the  sunny  past  again. 

*  Daughter  of  Bishop  Claughton,  Dr.  Walsham  How's  vicar  in  the  old 
Kidderminster  days. 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  401 

Once  more  I  tread  with  duteous  feet 

The  squalid  court,  the  sordid  street ; 

Once  more  to  garden  lawns  I  pass 

And  cedar-spires  o'er  velvet  grass ; 

And  there  a  little  winning  face 

Makes  in  my  heart  its  resting-place. 

And  life  its  changeful  tale  has  told, 

New  homes,  new  scenes,  shut  out  the  old  ; 

But  there's  a  little  hidden  cell 

Where  memory  stores  her  treasures  well ; 

And  oft  in  dreamy  hours  of  thought 

That  secret  treasure-house  I've  sought, 

And  there  in  all  its  childish  grace 

I  find  the  little  smiling  face. 

And  now,  dear  friend,  in  later  life 

And  days  with  change  and  sorrow  rife, 

As  this  my  birthday  rhyme  I  pen, 

And  count  my  threescore  years  and  ten, 

An  old  man's  privilege  I  claim. 

Confessing,  with  no  silly  shame. 

How,  from  his  weary  care  beguiled, 

The  young  man  loved  the  little  child. 

The  smiling  eyes,  the  baby  kiss, 

The  tiny  trustful  hand  in  his. 

Ah  !  let  that  gentle  heart  confess 

It  shall  not  make  our  friendship  less 

To  know  that  in  those  days  of  yore — 

Those  days  that  can  be  never  more — 

That  little  face  had  spell  divine 

To  steal  into  this  heart  of  mine. 

"W.  W.  W." 

Of  humorous  verses  the  Bishop  was  extremely  fond. 
Several  examples  of  these  will  be  found  in  his  poems,  the 
wittiest  being  "  The  Babies'  Wood  Turkey-Cock."  Among 
many  scraps  which  have  been  preserved  the  following  are 
worth  inserting  here  : 


2  c 


402  Bishop  Walsham  How 

AN  EPIGRAM. 

The    bishops   in    1875,  '^^'i'^h  two    exceptions   only,  issued  a 
pastoral  against  ritualism,  so  manifestly  in  style  and  sentiment  the 
production  of  Archbishop  Tait,  that  no  one  could  doubt  its  source. 
When  the  bishops  agree  in  the  things  they  deplore, 
We  must  give  them  due  credit  for  esprit  de  corps  : 
Unless,  by  the  way,  it  were  truer  to  state 
That  the  spirit  which  moves  them  is  esprit  de  tete. 

Mr.  Darwall,  formerly  of  Criggion,  sent  the  Bishop  a 
Christmas  card,  with  a  coloured  thistle  on  it,  and  wrote 
saying  he  did  not  know  why  it  somehow  reminded  him 
of  him.     The  Bishop  wrote  in  reply  as  follows  : 

To  L.  D. 

You  wonder  in  your  kind  epistle 

How  comes  it  that  a  painted  thistle 

Should  in  your  dreaming  fancy  raise 

Thoughts  of  the  friend  of  olden  days. 

That  friend  may  venture  on  a  guess 

Your  kindly  heart  would  ne'er  express. 

It  may  be  (let  me  humbly  own  it) 

A  painted  thistle,  when  you're  shown  it, 

Suggests  a  beast  (could  taste  be  odder  ?) 

That  revels  in  that  prickly  fodder. 

"W.  W.  W." 

In  1890,  Bishop  Walsham  How  had  a  most  interesting 
correspondence  with  Mr.  Worsley-Benison,  F.L.S.,  which 
might  fall  under  the  heading  of  either  "  authorship  "  or 
"botany,"  but,  as  the  first  subject  of  the  letters  was  that 
of  the  Bishop's  books,  it  may  perhaps  find  fittest  place 
here. 

"  LuLwoRTH,  Sutton,  Surrey,  29.9.90. 
"  My  Lord, 

*  *  *  *  * 

"  Allow  me,  in  an  informal  and  friendly  way,  to  take  this 
opportunity  of  thanking  you  for  the  many  pleasant  hours  I  have 
spent  over  your  volume  of  '  Poems '  issued  by  Wells  and  Co.    Many 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  403 

a  time  in  the  rush  and  wear  of  a  very  busy  scientific  life  they  have 
soothed  and  calmed  me,  and  I  read  them  again  and  again  with 
ever  increasing  delight.  I  have  quoted  from  them  often  as  head- 
ings for  chapters  in  my  books,  and  I  never  see  the  Sundew  or  the 
Pimpernel  without  recalling  your  verse  describing  them.  God 
behind  Nature  runs  all  along  your  volume,  and  I  wish  that  more 
of  our  scientists — and  so7ne  more  of  our  religious  writers  also — 
could  and  would  see  Him  there.  Moreover,  your  name  is  a 
household  word  among  my  children,  who  frequently  say  at  family 
worship,  '  Let  us  have  one  of  W.  W.  How's  hymns.' 

"  You  have  not  lived  in  vain  if  you  have  ministered  to  many 
lives  as  you  have  to  my  own  and  those  of  my  family. 

"  Pardon  me  for  writing  freely,  and  omitting  the  orthodox  way 
of  addressing  you  in  this  letter.     I  write  as  I  feel  towards  you,  let 

this  be  my  plea. 

"  I  have  the  honour  to  be,  my  Lord, 

"  Yours  gratefully  and  faithfully, 

"  H.  W.  S.  WORSLEY-BENISON." 

To  this  the  Bishop  replied  : 

"  OVERTHORPE,  ThORNHILL,  DeWSBURY, 

"  Oct.  9,  1890. 
"  My  dear  Sir, 

"  I  do  not  know  how  to  thank  you  enough  for 
your  most  kind  and  delightful  letter,  which  has  touched 
and  gratified  me  much.  I  am  sorry  to  say  it  was  put 
aside  last  week  by  my  chaplain  with  a  bundle  of  busi- 
ness matters,  while  I  was  at  the  Church  Congress,  to  be 
attended  to  when  I  had  leisure,  and  this  has  not  been  the 
case  till  to-day. 

"  It  is  very  good  of  you  to  tell  me  of  my  verses  giving 
any  pleasure  to  you.  I  have  always  been  very  fond  of  a 
little  rather  superficial  science — chiefly  botany  and  astro- 
nomy— and  I  am  constantly  trying  to  teach  '  God  behind 
Nature.'  It  was  a  great  delight  to  me  to  be  among  the 
originators  of  three  Naturalists'  Field-Clubs — the  Durham, 


404  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

the   Worcestershire,  and   the    Oswestry   and   Welshpool. 
Of  the  last  named  I  was  president  for  many  years. 

"  You  mention  your  children.  If  they  do  not  possess 
my  '  Plain  Words  to  Children,'  may  I  have  the  privilege 
of  sending  a  copy  to  one  of  them  ?  Perhaps  I  might 
send  another  little  booklet  or  two  to  others,  if  you  do  not 
mind  supplying  me  with  names  and  ages  (without  saying 
anything,  please,  about  it),  that  I  may  write  their  names 
in  the  beginning.  One  of  the  titles  I  got  in  East  London, 
and  the  one  I  liked  best,  was  *  The  Children's  Bishop.' " 

''  Yours  gratefully, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 

The  Bishop  sent  one  of  the  childen  a  copy  of  his 
"  Poems  "  and  to  another  his  "  Plain  Words  to  Children." 
Mr.  Worsley-Benison  then  sent  the  Bishop  his  two  books 
called  "  Nature's  Fairyland,"  and  "  Haunts  of  Nature." 
The  letter  of  thanks  for  these  was  as  follows  : 

"  OVERTHORPE,  ThORNHILL,  DeWSBURY, 

''Oct.  20,  1890. 
"Dear  Mr.  Benison, 

"  Your  charming  books  have  arrived  this  morning, 

and,   though   very  busy,  I   have    been   spending   a   very 

happy  hour  among  the  streams  and  woods  and  marshes 

with  you.     It  is  delicious  to  be  carried  away  for  a  little 

while  from  our  smoky  trees,  and  dreary  stone  walls,  and 

befouled  river,  to  all  the  freshness  and  beauty  of  unsullied 

nature. 

"  I  am  so  glad  to   find  you   appreciate   my  dear  old 

friend  Jean  Ingelow.     By  the  way,  did  not  Mary  Howitt 

write,    '  For    He   that,'   and   not   *  Whoso   careth   for  the 

Flowers'  (see  'Haunts  of  Nature,'  p.  151)  ?     And  have 

you  not  inserted  '  it  is '  in  Wordsworth's  '  A  yellow  prim- 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  405 

rose  is  to  him,  and  it  is  nothing  more '  ?  I  see  you  know 
and  admire  Austin's  lovely  lines  to  the  primrose.  I 
never  saw  gladiolus  growing  wild,  but  most  of  your  finds 
are  very  old  friends  to  me.  It  is  curious  that,  finding 
quantities  of  Drosera  Anglica  this  last  August  in  Suther- 
landshire,  I  remarked  to  my  son,  who  was  with  me, 
'Why  it  is  called  Anglica  I  can't  tell,  for  it  is  much 
commoner  in  Scotland  and  Ireland  than  in  England.'  You 
say  the  same.  By  the  way,  in  Sutherlandshire  there 
grew  in  one  or  two  bogs  the  exquisite  little  Pingiiicula 
Liisitanica.  I  venture  to  enclose  you  a  very  poor  sonnet, 
just  a  record  of  my  Sutherlandshire  visit,  for  the  sake  of 
the  plants  you  love  and  I  do.  The  butterwort  was  both 
the  common  and  the  Lusitanica,  and  of  course  the 
asphodel  was  the  Narthecium.  In  my  Shropshire  home 
I  had  a  delightful  half-wild  garden  with  a  little  stream 
through  it,  and  one  winter  I  had  five  brace  of  trout 
making  their  nests  in  the  garden.  We  generally  had  two 
or  three. 

"The  only  rare  plant  I  can  hear  of  in  my  present 
diocese  is  Adcea  spicata,  which  I  gathered  in  June.  I 
should  think  the  diocese  of  Wakefield  is  far  the  worst  in 
England  for  plants  except  London.  I  must  not  ramble 
on,  though  it  is  very  pleasant. 

"  Please  thank  your  children  for  their  nice  letters. 
They  were  rather  too  big  for  some  of  the  things  I  had 
thought  of." 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"Wm,  Vi^ALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 

This  is  the  sonnet  mentioned  in  the  above  letter  : 


4o6  Bishop  Walsham  How 

A  MOORLAND  SONNET. 

A  wealth  of  heather  ghmmering  far  and  wide, 

Pink  spray,  and  crimson  tuft,  and  waxen  bell ; 

A  thousand  spears  of  yellow  asphodel 

Guarding  each  hollow  where  marsh-mosses  hide, 

And  butterworts  and  sundews  brown  abide  ; 

A  mountain  tarn  where  pale  lobelias  dwell ; 

Grey-lichened  rocks  all  slanted  down  the  fell, 

And  far-off  hills  with  purple  splendours  dyed ; 

Such  picture  I  would  grave  upon  my  soul. 

That,  in  some  day  of  weary  toil  and  care, 

When  the  world's  hoarse  loud  clamours  round  me  roll, 

I  may  turn  inwards  from  the  din  and  glare. 

And  for  one  moment  all  these  fair  things  see, 

And  cheer  me  with  the  beautiful  and  free. 

"  August  1890." 

The  next  letter  from  the  Bishop  is  dated  : 

"OVERTHORPE,  ThORNHILL,  DeWSBURY, 

"Ocf.  24,  1890. 
"Dear  Mr.  Benison, 

"  It  is  dangerous  quoting  or  criticising  without 
book.  Forgive  my  rashness.  I  am  wrong  as  to  Words- 
worth, and  probably  wrong  also  as  to  Mary  Howitt,  in 
whose  'Use  of  Flowers'  I  have  often  seen  'whoso'  given 
in  one  word,  but  never  '  who  so  '  in  two,  which  is,  I  daresay, 
the  true  reading.  Still,  all  my  life  I  have  said  it  *  He  that.' 
I  one  day  asked  Jean  Ingelow,  at  the  request  of  some 
friends  who  were  present  and  had  been  discussing  it, 
what  was  her  own  idea  of  the  parting  in  '  Divided.'  She 
at  once  answered,  '  Don't  you  think  to  limit  it  to  any  one 
idea  would  rather  spoil  it  ?  ' 

"I  daresay  you  know  Clough's,  'As  ships  becalmed,' 
written  upon  himself  and  Ward,  as  Wilfrid  Ward's  Life 
of  his  father  tells  us  (I  always  before  believed  it  to  be 
upon  Ward  and  Stanley,  who  were  inseparable   friends 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  407 

when  I  was  at  Oxford),  which  is  another  figure  with  the 
same  thought — perhaps  stronger,  but  not  so  beautiful  as 
'  Divided/  Yes,  Alfred  Austin's  *  Primroses '  is  a  great 
favourite  of  mine.  I  read  it  to  some  friends  only  a  night 
or  two  ago. 

"  I  think,  as  you  are  so  fond  of  poetry,  I  must  tell  you 
a  rather  interesting  little  story.  A  few  months  ago  the 
Master  of  Trinity  (Dr.  Butler)  sent  me  a  Latin  version  of 
Tennyson's  *  Crossing  the  Bar.'  I  ventured  to  criticise 
one  word.     In  rendering  the  lines  : 

"  When  that  which  drew  from  out  the  boundless  deep 
Turns  again  home," 

he  introduced  the  word  *  vita.'  I  said  I  thought  it  was 
wrong,  as  I  always  understood  those  lines  of  the  tide  and 
not  of  the  life.  He  replied,  referring  me  to  Tennyson's, 
*  Out  of  the  deep,  my  child,  out  of  the  deep,'  and  to 
various  other  passages  of  Tennyson,  proving  that  the 
thought  of  the  life  being  drawn  out  of  the  depths  of 
infinity  to  return  thither  again  was  a  very  familiar  one  to 
him.  He  also  showed  me  several  places  in  Wordsworth 
where  the  same  thought  occurs.  This  entirely  convinced 
me  that  I  was  wrong,  and  I  then  observed  that  in  each  of 
the  other  stanzas  the  third  and  fourth  lines  refer  to  the 
thing  typified,  and  the  first  and  second  to  the  type,  so 
that  symmetry  of  arrangement  was  against  me.  After 
some  time  the  Master  wrote  to  me  from  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
where  he  had  seen  Tennyson,  and  told  me  he  had  told 
him  of  our  correspondence,  and  the  poet  had  said  I  was 
right  and  Butler  wrong.  I  still  think  the  author  had 
better  adopt  Butler's  view,  and  make  it  his  own,  the  argu- 
ments for  it  being  so  strong. 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 


4o8  Bishop  Walsham  How 

The  last  letter  in  this  correspondence  is  some  two- 
months  later. 

*'  OVERTHORPE,  THORNHILL,  DeWSBURY, 

"Dec.  2,  i8go. 

"Dear  Mr.  Benison, 

"I  carefully  put  Jean  Ingelow's  interesting  letter 
in  an  envelope  addressed  to  you,  to  await  my  answering 
your  letter,  which  I  have  put  off  doing  far  too  long. 

"  I  wonder  whether  you  have  seen  the  Master  of 
Trinity's  monograph  on  'Crossing  the  Bar,'  It  is  very 
interesting,  but  is  not  published,  being  printed  only  for 
private  circulation.  I  do  feel  that  is  one  of  Tennyson's 
most  exquisite  lyrics.  It  is  wonderfully  touching  in  its 
exquisite  simplicity. 

"Arthur  Clough  was  my  tutor  one  Long,  when  we 
went  to  Ireland  together,  and  his  poetry  is  very  dear  to 
me.  I  have  long  been  very  fond  of  his  'Qua  cursum 
ventus,'  as  well  as  of  *  Say  not,  the  struggle,'  which  is, 
with  the  former,  marked  in  the  index  among  the  favour- 
ites. I  am  sorry  I  do  not  know  much  of  Whittier. 
Years  ago  I  read  a  good  bit  of  him  with  great  pleasure, 
but  I  am  not  at  all  familiar  with  him.  I  have  his  poems 
somewhere,  but  I  am  ashamed  to  say  I  cannot  find  the 

book. 

"  Believe  me, 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"Wm.  walsham  WAKEFIELD." 

Early  in  1895  Dr.  Walsham  How  read  the  third 
volume  of  Pusey's  Life.  Some  parts  of  this  book,  espe- 
cially chapter  iv.,  jarred  greatly  on  his  bright  and  happy 
nature,  and  on  his  conviction  of  the  duty  of  Christians 
to  "rejoice."     In  consequence  of  this  feeling,  he  wrote 


The  Bishop  as  an  Author  409 

an  article  called  "  Spiritual  Joy,"  which  was  published  in 
a  magazine  called  The  Minster.  Writing  about  this,  he 
said  : 

"  I  enclose  you  a  short  paper  I  wrote  for  the  February 
number  of  The  Minster.  It  was  written  just  after  reading 
that  dreadful  chapter  on  Preparation  for  Confession  in 
the  third  volume  of  Pusey.  It  seems  awfully  presump- 
tuous to  set  up  one's  shallow,  ignorant  self  against  such 
a  man,  but  the  'never  to  smile,  except  for  children,' 
shocked  me,  and  I  am  sure  he  is  wrong.  I  almost 
expect  to  find  some  recantation  in  the  fourth  volume." 

After  the  Bishop's  death  a  volume  of  addresses  given 
by  him  at  Retreats  and  Quiet  Days  was  published  by 
Messrs.  Wells  Gardner  under  the  title  of  "The  Closed 
Door."  These  addresses  had  been  carefully  prepared  for 
publication  with  the  assistance  of  the  Rev.  H.  W.  How, 
Vicar  of  Mirfield,  but  their  author  did  not  wish  them 
printed  until  after  his  death. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

HYMNS  AND  HYMN-WRITING 

The  first  hymn-book  with  which  Bishop  Walsham  How 
had  to  do  was  one  called"  Psalms  and  Hymns,  compiled 
by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Baker  Morrell,  M.A.,  and  the  Rev. 
William  Walsham  How,  M.A."  The  first  edition  of  this 
book  was  published  in  1854,  an  enlarged  edition  in  1864, 
and  a  supplement  in  1867.  It  was  his  strong  desire  that 
some  day  a  hymn-book  should  be  produced  which  should 
be  universally  used  by  the  Church.  In  the  book  of 
Whittington  Parish  Papers,  after  recording  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  new  hymn-book  in  1854,  he  adds  :  "  Most 
gladly  would  I  see  our  new  book,  and  all  others,  sup- 
planted by  a  well-made  collection  authorised  by  the  Church 
in  Convocation." 

Some  years  afterwards  he  was  chairman  of  a  Committee 
of  Convocation  on  the  subject.  The  report  was  delayed 
for  a  long  period,  during  which  he  seems  to  have  modi- 
fied his  opinion.  The  Committee  recommended  the 
introduction  of  an  authorised  hymn-book,  but  their  chair- 
man wrote  on  February  27,  1879,  as  follows  : 

"  It  was  no  fun  being  called  upon  to  take  up  and 
introduce  a  report  I  had  not  seen  for  years,  and  with 
which  I  did  not  agree.  I  spoke  against  myself,  and  got 
myself  happily  beaten." 


Hymns  and  Hymn-Writing  411 

In  the  later  years  of  his  life  he  was  glad  to  find  "  Hymns 
Ancient  and  Modern  "  so  generally  used,  and  expressed 
more  than  once  his  alarm  at  a  report  (which  he  thought 
must  surely  be  exaggerated)  that  the  proprietors  of  that 
book  were  about  to  withdraw  it  and  substitute  one  in 
which  all  the  tunes  were  to  be  Gregorian,  and  all  the 
hymns  translations  from  the  old  Latin — "  not,"  said  the 
Bishop,  ''  particularly  good  hymns  in  the  original." 

In  1871  "Church  Hymns"  was  brought  out  by  the 
S.P.C.K.  To  this  work  Canon  Walsham  How  (as  he 
then  was)  had  devoted  a  vast  amount  of  labour,  he  being 
one  of  the  original  compilers.  When,  in  1881,  Canon 
Ellerton,  Rector  of  Barnes,  published  a  large  annotated 
edition  of  this  book.  Bishop  Walsham  How  revised  all 
the  sheets,  and  also  inserted  the  whole  of  the  marks  of 
expression. 

Another  hymn-book  in  which  he  was  greatly  interested 
was  Mrs.  Carey  Brock's  "  Children's  Hymn-book,"  which 
was  published  under  his  revision  and  that  of  the  late 
Bishop  Oxenden  and  Canon  Ellerton. 

The  subject  of  the  Bishop's  own  hymns  is  discussed  in 
the  following  valuable  and  beautiful  paper,  which  has 
been  most  kindly  contributed  by  Dr.  Boyd  Carpenter, 
Bishop  of  Ripon. 

Bishop  Walsham  How  as  a  Hymn-Writer. 

The  qualities  requisite  for  a  good  hymn-writer  are  not 
common.  When  we  think  of  them  we  are  reminded  of  the 
popular  saying,  that "  nothing  is  so  uncommon  as  common 
sense."  This  means  that  most  minds,  even  the  minds  of 
very  capable  men,  are  liable  to  be  betrayed  by  some  weak- 
ness. The  brilliancy  of  some  minds  creates  eccentricity. 
Only  the  highest  minds  seem  to  possess  a  true  sense  of 


412  Bishop  Walsham  How 

proportion  ;  lesser  ability  is  often  deficient  in  it.  Balance 
of  mind  is  rare.  Next  to  true  devotional  feeling,  good  sense 
is  the  first  requisite  of  a  good  hymn.  There  are  other 
requisites,  no  doubt,  but  eccentricity  is  the  ruin  of  a 
hymn. 

Again,  the  great  poet  is  not  necessarily  a  good  hymn- 
writer.  This  will  be  apparent  to  any  one  who  studies  our 
collections  of  hymns.  Two  things  will  strike  such  a 
student.  He  will  find  that  among  the  hymn-writers  there 
are  few  men  of  first-class  literary  rank.  He  will  further 
find  that  the  most  popular  hymns  are  not  from  the  pens 
of  these  few.  In  other  words,  the  highest  poetic  gift  does 
not  ensure  the  power  of  writing  a  good  hymn.  Less 
gifted  men  succeed  where  men  of  higher  endowments  fail. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  infer  that 
success  in  hymn-writing  needs  no  literary  qualities. 
There  have  been  cases  in  which  men  of  little  or  no  culti- 
vated literary  capacity  have  produced  an  admirable  hymn ; 
but  an  examination  of  our  hymn-books  will  show  that  the 
bulk  of  our  best  hymns  have  been  the  work  of  devout  men 
who  have  possessed  natural  poetic  feeling  and  a  cultivated 
taste.  The  following  names  are  among  our  best-known 
hymn-writers,  and  all  of  them,  I  think,  fulfil  this  condition  : 
Isaac  Watts,  John  Keble,  Charles  Wesley,  Augustus  Top- 
lady,  Bishop  Ken,  Bishop  Reginald  Heber,  Henry  F. 
Lyte,  John  Henry  Newman,  and  Mrs.  Alexander.  None 
of  these  figure  in  the  first  rank  of  poets,  but  none  are 
deficient  in  poetic  sense,  while  one  or  two  might  well 
challenge  a  high  place  among  our  minor  poets. 

It  is  true  that  there  are  many  hymns  in  our  hymn-books 
which  are  not  the  product  of  good  sense  or  poetic  feeling, 
and  which  display  little  sign  of  cultivation.  It  may  be 
confessed   that   in   all   our   hymn-books   there   is   a   sad 


Hymns  and  Hymn-Writing  413 

quantity  of  rubbish,  and  our  congregations  are  often 
expected  to  sing  poor  stuff.  The  percentage  of  this  poor 
stuff  varies  in  different  books,  being  at  a  minimum, 
perhaps,  in  Mr.  Thring's  collection,  and  rising  to  a  maxi- 
mum in  "  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern."  But  we  are  not 
speaking  of  hymns,  but  of  good  hymns. 

For  the  good  hymn-writer,  then,  three  qualities,  not 
always  found  in  combination,  are  requisite.  These  are 
good  sense,  devotional  feeling,  poetic  sense  and  cultivated 
taste.  Among  the  good  hymn-writers  Bishop  Walsham 
How  takes  his  place  without  challenge.  His  published 
volume  of  hymns  is  interesting  as  exhibiting  the  tone 
of  his  mind  and  the  width  of  his  sympathies.  He 
evidently  felt  that  there  were  some  qualities  which  were 
indispensable  to  a  hymn  ;  for  one  or  two  of  the  hymns 
in  his  volume  are  efforts  to  re-write  certain  more  or 
less  popular  hymns.  He  evidently  felt  that  these  were 
defective  in  some  particular.  He  probably  believed  that 
they  had  too  strong  a  hold  upon  popular  taste  to  be  dis- 
regarded, and  he  therefore  undertook  the  not  very  envi- 
able task  of  recasting  them,  seeking  thus  to  preserve  what 
was  loved,  while  remedying,  as  far  as  he  could,  its  defects. 
This  will,  we  believe,  be  the  true  explanation  of  his 
attempt  to  re-cast  the  two  hymns,  "  Ashamed  of  Jesus," 
and  "  Nearer  my  God  to  Thee." 

The  width  of  his  sympathy  with  life  is  illustrated  by  the 
subjects  and  occasions  which  called  forth  many  of  these 
hymns.  They  are  written  for  time  of  war,  for  quiet  days, 
hospitals,  home  missions.  Church  guilds,  women's  associa- 
tions, and  school  festivals.  Sacred  seasons  and  days  of 
the  Church  year  appealed  to  him.  He  wrote  hymns  for 
Epiphany,  Holy  Week,  Easter,  Whitsuntide,  the  Purifica- 
tion, the  Annunciation  ;  for  St.  Peter's  Day,  St.  Matthew's 


414  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Day  (this,  however,  adapted  from  Bishop  Ken),  and  St. 
Luke's  Day.  The  services  of  the  Church  called  forth  his 
voice.  We  find  two  hymns  on  Holy  Baptism,  one  on  Holy 
Communion,  and  one  Confirmation  hymn.  Hymns  which 
give  expression  to  the  spiritual  longings  and  needs  of  the 
soul  are  here  also  ;  for  he  writes  of  the  attractive  power 
of  the  Cross  (47)  ;  the  sympathy  of  Christ  (46  and  52)  ; 
the  Christ  at  the  door  of  the  soul  (45).  The  seasons  of 
the  year  awaken  his  poetic  vein  :  Spring,  Summer, 
Autumn  and  Winter  have  each  their  appropriate  hymns. 
Commemoration,  and,  as  would  be  expected  by  all  who 
knew  him,  little  children  are  not  forgotten. 

This  short  survey  of  the  subjects  and  occasions  of  his 
hymns  serves  to  throw  light  upon  his  character.  He  had 
a  spirit  readily  responsive  to  the  changing  year ;  Nature 
in  her  shifting  moods  and  varying  vesture  was  dear  to 
him.  He  was,  besides,  a  true  son  of  the  Church,  whose 
spirit  moved  in  harmony  with  her  festival  thoughts  ;  he 
felt  the  quiet  poetry  of  the  Church's  seasonal  life.  His 
heart  vibrated  also  to  national  feeling ;  he  was  stirred  by 
the  sound  of  imminent  v^ar  and  by  the  shout  of  the  people's 
joy.  His  Thanksgiving  hymn  was  sung  from  Berwick-on- 
Tweed  to  Land's  End  on  Jubilee  Day  last  year.  He  loved, 
too,  the  simple  things  of  life:  simple  trust,  simple  character, 
simple  childhood.  He  felt  the  fervour  of  catholic  life  ; 
the  great  host  of  God's  serving,  struggling,  martyred, 
yet  triumphant  children  passed  before  his  view ;  he 
saw  the  glorious  procession  of  the  sons  of  God  as  they 
swept  through  the  open  gates  of  Paradise ;  he  heard  their 
victorious  song  of  praise ;  the  Alleluia  of  the  redeemed 
rang  in  his  ears  and  passed  into  music  in  his  noble  hymn 
for  All  Saints'  Day. 

Naturally  there   are   in   every  volume   certain   hymns 


Hymns  and  Hymn-Writing  415 

which  stand  out  head  and  shoulders  above  their  fellows. 
Among  Bishop  Walsham  How's  many  good  hymns  a 
certain  few  have  received  a  special  imprimatur,  for  they 
have  been  acknowledged  as  part  of  the  psalmody  of  the 
Church.  There  are  at  least  five  or  six  which  will  be  found 
in  many  collections  of  hymns  ;  these  are,  "  O  Word  of  God 
Incarnate,"  "We  give  Thee  but  Thine  own,"  "Who  is 
this  so  weak  and  helpless  ? "  "  For  all  the  Saints  who 
from  their  labours  rest,"  and  "  O  Jesu,  Thou  art  standing." 
In  the  last  four  of  these  hymns  a  happy  coincidence  of 
spirit  and  form  endows  them  with  force.  They  illustrate 
George  Herbert's  idea  of  fineness  : 

"  The  fineness  which  a  psalm  or  hymn  affords 
Is  when  the  soul  unto  the  lines  accords." 

The  last  two  possess  that  peculiar  quality  of  inevitable- 
ness  which  at  once  claims  and  is  accorded  a  place  in  our 
esteem.  We  feel  that  they  belong  to  the  Church  of 
Christ.  One  because  it  gives  utterance  to  the  collective 
joy  of  the  Church  triumphant ;  the  other  because  we 
hear  in  it  the  voice  of  that  divine  love  which  is  never 
silent,  but  speaks  to  every  human  soul  in  sermons,  in 
services,  in  leisure  hours,  in  business,  in  joy,  in  sorrow 
and  in  all  the  events  of  life.  It  translates  into  simple  and 
pleading  language  the  Christian  thought  of  the  constant 
love  of  Christ  which  found  pictorial  expression  at  the 
hands  of  one  of  the  sincerest  of  modern  artists.  Few 
can  read  the  words  of  the  hymn  without  recalling 
Holman  Hunt's  picture,  and  few  can  look  at  the  picture 
without  recalling  the  hymn.  The  popularity  of  the 
picture  tells  us  how  truly  it  satisfied  the  people's  heart ; 
but  yet  those  who  hung  the  picture  on  their  walls 
wanted  words  to  express  their  thoughts.     It  was  to  them 


4i6  Bishop  Walsham  How 

more  than  a  picture  ;  it  embodied  a  truth  which  the  soul 
of  man  sought  for  ;  for  all  men  in  their  better  moments 
would  fain  that  somewhat  divine  should  fill  their  spirits  ; 
but  words  would  help  them  ;  their  thoughts  yearned  for 
utterance.  Bishop  Walsham  How  liberated  the  captive 
emotions,  and  he  did  so  in  a  fashion  which  brought  our 
Lord  before  men  as  the  living,  loving,  Christ  who,  though 
He  might  command,  yet  condescended  to  plead  for 
entrance  into  the  hearts  of  men. 

It  is  the  fate  of  a  hymn-writer  to  be  forgotten.  Of  the 
millions  who  Sunday  after  Sunday  sing  hymns  in  our 
churches,  not  more  than  a  few  hundreds  know  or  con- 
sider whose  words  they  are  singing.  The  hymn  remains  : 
the  name  of  the  writer  passes  away.  Bishop  Walsham 
How  was  prepared  for  this ;  his  ambition  was  not  to  be 
remembered,  but  to  be  helpful.  He  gave  free  liberty  to 
any  to  make  use  of  his  hymns.  It  was  enough  for  him 
if  he  could  enlarge  the  thanksgivings  of  the  Church  or 
minister  by  song  to  the  souls  of  men.  There  will  be  few 
to  doubt  that  his  unselfish  wish  will  be  fulfilled.  Some 
of  his  hymns  have  become  already  the  heritage  of  the 
Church  of  God.  They  will  continue  to  be  sung  for  long 
years  to  come  ;  they  will  cheer  and  console  the  hearts  of 
millions  ;  many  who  hear  will  take  up  their  burden  and 
their  hope  again.  We  are  told  that  when  Melancthon 
and  his  comrades,  shortly  after  Luther's  death,  fled  to 
Weimar,  they  heard  a  child  singing  the  stirring  words  of 
Luther's  "Ein  Feste  Burg."  "Sing,  dear  daughter,  sing," 
said  Melancthon  ;  "  you  know  not  what  great  people  you 
are  comforting."  Even  so  the  voice  of  the  hymn-writer 
carries  comfort  to  unknown  hearts  and  to  after  ages. 
The  writer  dies  ;  the  hymn  remains  ;  the  song  goes  on  ; 
tired  men  listen  and  find  rest.     Struggling  men  are  en- 


Hymns  and  Hymn-Writing  417 

couraged  to  struggle  on  again  ;  statesmen,  philanthropists, 
the  broken  hearted  and  the  despairing  are  helped.  Sing 
on,  you  know  not  what  great  people  you  are  comforting. 
Such  a  reward  is  better  than  fame.  It  is  as  if,  even  after  life 
is  ended,  the  power  to  give  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  a  faint- 
ing soul  in  the  name  of  Christ  was  not  denied  to  the 
singer  of  the  Church.  To  be  praised  is  the  ambition  of 
the  world  ;  to  be  a  blessing  is  the  abundant  satisfaction 
of  those  who,  like  Bishop  Walsham  How,  sing  because 
their  hearts  are  full,  and  who,  like  their  Lord,  find  their 
joy  in  loving  service  of  their  fellow  men. 


2  D 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

THE   CHILDREN'S    BISHOP 

"  The  Bishop  was  always  at  his  best  with  children,"  so 
writes  one  who  knew  him  intimately  during  his  East 
London  life  and  work.  "If  he  came  across  a  little  child 
his  whole  countenance  changed,  so  that  the  little  ones 
knew  at  once  that  they  were  in  the  presence  of  a  friend," 
writes  another  who  knew  him  well ;  and  it  was  also  true 
that  on  his  entrance  into  a  roomful  of  children  their  faces 
lit  up  at  once  with  smiles  of  welcome  for  one  whom  they 
had  quickly  learnt  to  love.  Himself,  in  his  day,  a  merry 
affectionate  boy,  he  to  the  last  preserved  his  childish  spirit, 
his  love  of  fun,  his  sympathy  with  the  little  joys  and 
cares  of  childhood,  which  instantly  broke  down  all  reserve 
and  established  an  intimate  friendship  between  him  and 
the  small  folk  whom  he  delighted  to  have  round  him. 
How  intimate  this  friendship  sometimes  became  is  in- 
stanced by  one  wee  girl  being  overheard  to  say,  "  Bishop, 
why  do  you  wear  them  things  on  your  legs  ?  " 

It  was  just  the  same  in  degree  with  the  children  of 
another  class.  On  his  first  visit  to  one  of  the  smaller 
parishes  in  the  Diocese  of  Wakefield,  it  was  known  that 
he  was  pretty  sure  to  want  to  see  the  school.  On  the  day 
in  question  all  the  children  were  dressed  in  their  cleanest 
and  best,  and  manifest  were  the  feelings  of  awe  and  dread 


The  Children's  Bishop  419 

in  their  little  breasts,  for  few,  if  any,  had  seen  a  bishop, 
and  they   probably   expected   at   least  a  severe  Biblical 
examination,  such  as  Bishop  Vowler  Short  used  to  delight 
in  when  he  visited  the  schools  in  the  Diocese  of  St.  Asaph. 
Well,  the    Bishop   arrived,    and    lo  !    what   a    difference 
between  the    expectation  and   the  reality  !     No  Biblical 
examination,  no  awe-inspiring  words,  no  stern  looks,  but, 
instead,   a   face  beaming  with  kindliness,  a  man  whose 
smile  promised  nothing  but  love  and  tenderness.     There 
was  a  genial  greeting  for  the  master,  a  few  simple  words 
of  encouragement  to  the  children,  and  then,  turning  to 
the  vicar,  the  Bishop  asked,  "  Where  are  the  babies  ?  " 
and  was  at  once  conducted  to  the  infant  room.     What 
the  little  ones  expected  it  is  impossible  to  say,  but  what 
happened  caused  a  marked  surprise.     Going  up  to  one 
wee  dot  about  four  years  old,  and  gently  taking  her  small 
upturned  face  in  his  hand,  the  Bishop  began  the  lines  : 
"  Humpty  Dumpty  sat  on  a  wall."     The  children  did  not 
dare  at  first  to  laugh,  but  stared  in  open-mouthed  astonish- 
ment.    The  idea  of    a  bishop   talking  about    "  Humpty 
Dumpty "  was  something  they  could  not  by  any  means 
understand  !     However,  in  another  moment  or  two  the 
'  ice  was  broken  through,  and  as  the  Bishop  spoke  to  them 
in  the  homely  language  he  knew  so  well  how  to  use,  the 
face  of  every  little  child  in  the  room  was  wreathed  in 
smiles — smiles  which  greeted  him  afresh  on  his   many 
subsequent  visits  to  the  parish. 

With  a  love  for  children  such  as  his,  and  with  this 
power  of  gaining  their  friendship,  it  must  be  obvious 
that  he  was  the  object  of  the  utmost  devotion  on  the 
part  of  those  children  who  were  most  closely  connected 
with  him.  His  own  will  not  soon  forget  the  evenings 
when  in  his  study  at  Whittington  he  would  shov/  them 


420  Bishop  Walsham  How 

the  scrap-book  he  had  made  for  them  himself,  dehghting 
in  their  exultation  over  some  newly  added  picture,  and 
sharing  in  their  glee  over  Leech's  drawings  of  the  adven- 
tures of  Mr.  Briggs. 

Later  on,  there  was  tea-time  in  the  school-room,  when 
he  would  come  in  armed  with  Dickens'  "  Old  Curiosity 
Shop,"  and  bring  tears  into  the  children's  eyes  by  his 
reading  of  the  story  of  Little  Nell. 

And  then  his  own  stories.  They  were  the  greatest 
treat  of  all.  From  his  earliest  boyhood  he  had  been  a 
great  story-teller,  and  used  to  wile  away  many  hours  by 
telling  his  little  sisters  stories  of  his  own  invention,  or 
such  as  he  had  read,  and  in  this  way  they  gained  their 
first  acquaintance  with  many  of  the  novels  of  Sir  Walter 
Scott. 

In  after  years  "  Do  tell  us  a  story  "  was  an  oft-repeated 
request  from  the  lips  of  his  own  children,  and  sometimes 
in  the  dusk  with  one  or  two  on  his  knees,  and  others  on 
the  ground  at  his  feet  or  leaning  over  his  chair,  a  chapter 
or  two  of  some  thrilling  tale,  made  up  as  he  went  along, 
would  keep  them  all  enthralled,  while  not  infrequently  a 
grown  up  listener  or  two  would  surreptitiously  draw  near 
to  share  in  the  enjoyment.  Sometimes,  too,  the  stories 
would  be  told  in  the  pony  carriage  on  the  long  drives  over 
the  mountains,  when  he  would  in  this  way  take  one  or 
two  of  his  children  to  Barmouth — a  good  two  days' 
journey  from  Whittington. 

Of  his  intimate  and  loving  relations  with  his  children 
the  following  letter  in  verse  to  his  little  daughter,  when 
the  four  elder  ones  were  obliged  to  spend  Christmas  away 
from  home,  will  give  some  idea. 


The  Children's  Bishop  421 

"  A  Merry  Christmas,  my  little  Maiden  ! 
All  blessings  upon  you  fall : 
For  Christmas  comes  with  blessings  laden, 
Blessings  and  joy  for  us  all. 

A  Merry  Christmas !  so  let  it  be — 

Carol  and  laugh  and  play  : 
But  the  blithe  little  faces  I  shall  not  see 

For  many  a  long  long  day. 


Daddy  drones  in  his  study  and  dreams  away 

Of  his  little  absent  crew, 
Or  he  writes  his  '  little  sermon  '  *  all  day 

For  want  of  something  to  do. 

And  he  tells  no  thrilling  stories  at  tea, 
For  to  hear  them  no  one  would  care, 

And  he  nurses  no  little  pets  on  his  knee 
In  the  great  big  study  chair. 

But  his  three  little  men  and  his  one  little  maid, 

He  knows  they  love  him  well, 
And  how  much  he  loves  them  he's  much  afraid 

He  has  got  no  words  to  tell. 

And  his  three  little  men  he  would  have  them  be 

Brave  and  yet  gentle  too  ; 
And  his  one  little  maid  he  would  always  see 

Tender  and  meek  and  true. 

A  Merry  Christmas  to  great  and  small ! 

But  daddy  sits  moping  alone, 
For  his  four  bUthe  bonnie  birdies  all 

Away  from  the  nest  have  flown. 

A  Merry  Christmas  to  small  and  great ! 

And  daddy  must  do  his  best, 
And  patiently  sit  in  his  study  and  wait, 

Till  his  birdies  fly  back  to  the  nest." 

*  He  was  engaged  in  writing  further  series  of  "  Plain  Words. 


422  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Small  wonder  that  his  children  loved  him!  Who  more 
ready  than  he,  when  he  could  take  an  hour  from  his 
work,  to  share  in  their  games,  to  join  in  Sir  Roger  de 
Coverley — holding  out  the  skirts  of  his  coat  and  dancing 
his  "  steps  "  to  their  great  delight — to  consult  with  them 
over  their  little  gardens,  or,  when  too  busy  for  these  things, 
to  take  them  with  him  on  his  rounds  of  visits  in  his 
scattered  parish  ?  If  there  be  a  note  of  regret  in  these 
recollections  of  early  childhood,  it  may  be  perhaps  that 
his  natural  reserve  on  religious  subjects,  or  possibly  his 
inability  to  comprehend  that  his  own  sons  were  not  all  of 
them  as  naturally  religious  as  he  had  been  when  a  boy, 
robbed  them  of  a  portion  of  that  special  kind  of  talk 
which  in  after-life  they  would  have  valued  as  a  most 
precious  recollection. 

As  is  seen  from  the  account  of  his  parish  work  at 
Whittington,  he  was  ever  thinking  of  the  children  of 
his  schools,  believing  that  to  get  to  know  them  and 
to  teach  them  was  one  of  the  very  first  duties  of  his 
office,  and  to  this  personal  knowledge  and  care  may 
be,  at  all  events  partially,  ascribed  the  advancement  of 
many  of  the  national  school  boys  of  Whittington,  who 
have  since  risen  to  various  positions  as  successful  men. 
Ever  ready  with  a  smile  and  a  nod  for  them,  the  village 
children  would  have  thought  there  was  something  seri- 
ously amiss  had  he  passed  them  by  unnoticed,  and  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  in  his  farewell  letter  to  the 
parishioners  of  Whittington  he  wrote  : 

"  I  will  tell  you  of  another  thing  I  shall  sorely  miss 
besides  my  visits  to  the  houses,  and  especially  to  the  sick- 
beds, of  my  parishioners — and  that  is  the  bright  pleasant 
faces  of  the  children,  who  seldom  pass  the  old  Rector 
without  a  smile,  I  suppose  because  they  know  he  is  fond 


The  Children's  Bishop  423 

of  them.     May  God  bless  them,  and  keep  them  pure  and 
gentle  and  loving  as  they  grow  up  ! " 

Of  his  correspondence  with  children  much  might  be 
written.  He  seemed  always  to  find  time  for  a  little  letter 
to  one  of  his  children-friends,  and  he  delighted  exceed- 
ingly in  their  letters  to  him.  Their  birthdays  were  seldom 
forgotten  and  a  little  book  or  affectionate  greeting  would 
generally  be  sent  to  the  happy  child  from  "  my  bishop."  As 
specimens  of  such  letters  the  following  will  perhaps  suffice : 

[Oh  receiving  a  bunch  of  violets  as  a  birthday  present  fro7ii 
the  four  youngest  children  of  Dr.  Lett^ 

"BiSHOPGARTH,  Wakefield,  Dec.  13,  1895. 

"  My  dear  Children, 

"  The  violets  are  as  sweet  as  the  senders.  There  ! 
you  didn't  think  an  old  Bishop  of  72  could  make  com- 
pliments, did  you  ?  Well,  you  see  he  can,  and  he  loves 
you  all,  and  thanks  you  all  for  your  loving  remembrance 
of  him. 

"  Your  affectionate  old  Bishop, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD. 

"  P.S.  I  think  I  ought  to  have  put  in  '  almost '  between 
'  are '  and  '  as '  in  the  first  line." 

Sometimes  the  letters  would  be  in  verse.  Thus  he 
sent  the  following  lines  to  the  children  of  Mr.  Daniel 
Tyesen,  after  a  fruitless  call  at  their  house  in  Brighton  : 

Buttered  Toast. 

"  There  was  a  Bishop,  old  and  grey, 
Who  came  to  Brighton  one  fine  day, 
And  it  chanced  at  the  time  there  were  living  there 
Three  little  maidens  bright  and  fair, 


424  Bishop  Walsham  How 

And  they  were  as  merry  as  merry  could  be, 
And  the  Bishop  he  loved  them  one,  two,  three. 
Now  the  Bishop  he  craftily  planned  to  arrive 
At  the  door  of  the  house  as  the  clock  struck  five, 
For  once  on  a  time  he  had  called  at  the  door 
At  the  very  same  hour  two  years  before  : 
The  master  and  mistress  were  out,  you  see, 
And  the  children  were  having  their  nursery  tea, 
So  he  mounted,  unbidden,  the  topmost  stair, 
And  asked  to  partake  of  the  children's  fare, 
And  no  words  are  potent  enough  to  reveal 
The  exquisite  bliss  of  that  nursery  meal ! 
The  sweet  little  maidens  were  full  of  fun, 
And  the  Bishop  he  loved  them  three,  two,  one. 
But  that  which  enchanted  his  Lordship  most 
Was  the  hot,  brown,  well-buttered  nursery  toast ! 
Alas !  for  the  words  that  now  smite  on  his  ear, — 
'  Not  at  home,'  not  even  the  children  dear  ! 
So  sadly  he  turned  away  from  the  door. 
And  he  sighed  to  think  that  his  dream  was  o'er ; 
And,  as  memories  sweet  of  the  past  arose. 
He  brush'd  a  tear  from  the  end  of  his  nose, 
For  he'd  failed  in  his  longing  once  more  to  see 
Those  sweet  little  maidens,  one,  two,  three ; 
Yet  the  one  soft  vision  that  touched  him  most 
Was  the  thought  of  that  nursery  buttered  toast !  " 

Another  example  was  found  among  the  Bishop's  papers 
in  his  own  handwriting  ;  it  runs  thus  : 

"  Winny  T.  wrote  and  asked  me  to  tea  'upstairs'  on  my 
birthday,  when  I  preach  at  Leeds  in  the  evening,  and 
said,  '  We  will  have  a  splendid  birthday  cake  with  a  bishop 
on  the  top.'     I  wrote  in  reply  : 

"  You  promise  me  a  splendid  cake  to  eat, 
A  bishop  on  the  top — rare  birthday  treat ! 
A  horse  unused  will  eat  off  his  own  head  : 
A  fool  cuts  off  his  nose  to  spite  his  face  : 


The  Children's  Bishop  425 

Cold  missionary  is  a  dish,  'tis  said, 

Much  relished  by  a  certain  native  race  : 

But  oh  !  dear  Winny,  pause  before  you  dish  up, 

As  birthday  fare,  a  bishop  to  a  bishop  ! " 

Of  children's  letters  to  him  there  are  but  few  instances 
preserved,  but  the  following  are  interesting  in  different 
ways  :  they  all  three  refer  to  the  period  of  his  East 
London  work,  the  first  being  from  a  little  girl,  a  stranger 
to  him.     It  runs  as  follows : 

"My  Lord  Bishop, 

"  I  am  a  little  girl  and  want  to  give  away  some  money  that  I 
have  made  by  a  little  bazaar  which  I  have  had.  I  have  about  ^S, 
and  I  should  like  to  give  it  to  help  some  poor  children  to  go  into  the 
country  out  of  London  during  the  summer.  A  friend  of  mine 
has  told  me  that  you  can  tell  me  where  the  children  are  who  want 
the  help  most.  I  am  the  great-granddaughter  of  a  bishop,  and 
the  great-niece  of  another  bishop,  and  hope  you  will  help  me  in 
this. 

"  I  am,  my  Lord,  yours  obediently, 

"K.  M.  G." 

The  next  is  of  a  very  different  character,  being  written 
on  a  rather  dirty  scrap  of  blue-lined  copybook  paper.  It 
was  placed  in  his  hands  by  a  choir-boy  at  St.  John's, 
Bethnal  Green,  on  his  preaching  there  on  July  22,  1888, 
after  he  had  gone  to  Wakefield. 

"  Dear  Sir, 

"  V\^e  thank  you  for  the  kindness  to  give  us  the  chance  to 
see  you  once  more.  Good-bye  and  God  bless  you.  Please  God 
will  give  you  health  and  strength  and  long  to  live. 

"  We  remain, 

"  Your  humble, 


The  third  letter  was  received  by  him  when  just  about 
to  leave  East  London  : 


426  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  The  Rectory,  Hackney,  April  20,  18S8. 

"  Dear  Lord  Bishop, 

"  The  children  of  the  East  London  clergy  wish  to  give  you 
a  little  present  before  you  leave  this  diocese,  in  remembrance  of 
your  love  and  kindness  to  them.  In  the  name  of  the  contributors 
we  hope  you  may  be  able  to  spare  us  a  few  minutes  about  four 
o'clock  on  Saturday  May  5,  at  Hackney  Rectory. 
"We  remain, 

"Your  affectionate  children, 

"EVELYN  FRANCES  ELLIOTT, 
ELEANOR  INSLEY, 
GERALDINE  M.  ARBUTHNOT, 
MARY  LILIAN  BROOK." 

Mr.  Kitto,  Rector  of  St.  Martin's,  Charing  Cross,  tells 
of  the  Bishop's  love  for  children  in  these  words  : 

"  When  we  were  moving  from  Whitechapel  to  Stepney  he  and 
Mrs.  How  insisted  on  taking  some  of  our  children  to  their  own 
house,  so  that  they  might  be  out  of  the  way.  He  loved  the 
children  ;  he  knew  them  by  name,  and  never  tired  of  making 
them  happy.  To  each  one  he  was  emphatically  '  m_y  Bishop,'  as 
if  no  one  else  had  any  title  or  claim  to  a  share  in  his  regard. 
When  scarlet  fever  invaded  us,  and  our  children  had  to  go  to  the 
London  Fever  Hospital,  on  paying  my  first  visit  I  was  amazed  to 
find  that  the  Bishop  was  there  before  me.  If,  as  often  happened, 
we  were  out  when  he  called  at  our  house,  and  on  our  return  were 
told  that  the  Bishop  was  there,  it  was  pretty  certain  we  should 
find  him  in  the  nursery  or  schoolroom,  with  two  or  three  of  our 
children  hanging  about  him." 

There  is  a  good  story  told  of  him  when  some  years 
later  he  visted  Almondbury  Vicarage,  in  the  Wakefield 
diocese.  A  gathering  of  churchwardens  and  sidesmen 
from  many  neighbouring  parishes  had  been  invited  to 
hear  an  address  from  the  Bishop.  All  were  in  their  places 
in  the  Parish  Room,  which  forms  part  of  the  Vicarage 
house,  and  everything  was  in  readiness  for  the  proceed- 


The  Children's  Bishop  427 

ings  to  begin — but  the  Bishop  was  nowhere  to  be  found  ! 
Drawing-room,  dining-room,  study,  were  searched  in  vain. 
At  last  certain  sounds  were  heard  from  the  direction  of 
the  nursery,  and  there  he  was  discovered  on  the  floor, 
romping  with  the  Vicar's  Httle  children.  He  had  entirely 
forgotten  about  the  churchwardens  and  the  sidesmen  ! 
His  hair  was  rumpled,  and  his  coat  showed  traces  of  the 
nursery  carpet !  However,  a  hasty  toilet  put  things  to 
rights,  and  with  his  wonted  power  of  throwing  himself 
instantly  into  the  interests  of  the  moment  he  passed  quite 
naturally  from  the  children  to  the  graver  society  of 
church  officials. 

Nothing  he  enjoyed  more  than  a  good  story  about 
children,  and  great  was  his  delight  when,  in  the  course  of 
his  journeyings  about  his  diocese,  any  incident  provided 
him  with  something  worth  telling  on  his  return  home. 
He  once  came  back  very  full  of  the  anxiety  of  a  small 
boy  he  had  met  to  have  any  kind  of  episcopal  ceremony 
performed  on  him.  There  was  to  be  the  consecration  of 
a  church  or  churchyard,  and  the  little  son  of  the  Vicar 
had  on  a  previous  occasion  been  aware  that  the  Bishop 
had  confirmed  certain  boys  older  than  himself,  and  was 
extremely  desirous  to  share  in  the  distinction.  Going  up 
to  the  Bishop's  Chaplain  he  said,  "  I  say,  can  I  be  done  ?  " 
Finding  out  what  it  was  he  meant,  the  Chaplain  said,  "  Oh  ! 
but  this  is  a  consecration,  not  a  confirmation."  "  I  don't 
mind  a  bit  which,"  said  the  small  boy,  "  as  long  as  I  am 
done  ! " 

Writing  to  his  brother  the  Bishop  once  said  : 

"  On  Friday  night  I  stayed  at  a  house  where  there  was 
one  of  the  very  j oiliest  httle  girls  you  can  imagine — just 
three  and  a-half — very  pretty,   and  brimming  over  with 


428  Bishop  Walsham  How 

fun.  When  I  arrived  she  whispered  to  her  mother  that 
she  thought  I  should  come  in  a  frame  !  She  had  seen  a 
picture  of  a  bishop,  and  considered  a  frame  an  insepar- 
able attribute.  It  was  delicious  to  hear  her  tell  stories. 
She  sat  on  my  knee  and  we  told  stories  in  turn.  This 
was  one  of  hers,  told  nodding  her  head,  and  her  eyes 
dancing  with  merriment: — 'Once  I  had  a  little  pussy-cat, 
and  it  laid  on  its  back  and  put  up  its  feet  and  died.  And 
then  it  came  alive  again.  And  then  it  jump  into  the 
river,  and  the  fishes  came  and  caught  it  and  ate  it  up  ' — 
the  finale  with  tremendous  impressement  and  exultation." 
Then,  too,  how  keenly  he  looked  forward  to  and  en- 
joyed the  children's  parties  which  he  invariably  gave 
about  Christmas  time  !  Many  weeks  beforehand  he 
would  mark  off  an  evening  in  his  calendar,  and  nothing 
was  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  engagement.  When 
one  winter,  for  various  reasons,  some  of  the  usual  Christ- 
mas festivities  were  to  be  relinquished,  he  would  not  hear 
of  any  postponement  of  the  children's  party.  He  knew 
how  keen  would  be  the  disappointment  in  many  a  vicar- 
age in  the  diocese,  where  such  treats  were  few  and  far 
between,  and  he  would  himself  have  missed  one  of  his 
greatest  annual  pleasures.  From  far  and  wide  the  chil- 
dren came — by  train,  by  tram,  by  cab,  or  carriage — and  it 
was  good  to  see  the  bright  faces  as  they  went  up  to  be 
greeted  by  the  Bishop,  knowing  full  well  the  loving  wel- 
come they  would  receive.  After  tea  the  children  invari- 
ably had  a  kind  of  sham  bazaar,  for  which  they  were 
provided  with  paper  money,  and  were  able  in  this  way  to 
choose  what  presents  they  each  preferred.  During  this 
process  the  Bishop  would  generally  have  some  little  one 
in  his  arms,  helping  her  to  choose,  and  giving  her  thus  a 
better  chance  than  if  she  had  been  crowded  by  the  bigger 


The  Children's  Bishop  429 

ones,  or  he  would  be  busy  showing  some  little  purchaser 
how  to  work  a  mechanical  toy,  or  advising  in  the  choice 
between  a  book  and  a  box  of  pencils.  Later  on,  when 
dancing  was  in  full  swing,  he  would  be  found  seated  in  a 
corner  of  the  room  with  at  least  one  small  child  on  his 
knee,  as  happy  as  any  of  them  all. 

Then  came  supper  ;  and  how  busily  he  waited  upon  his 
little  guests  !  He  seemed  never  to  weary  of  plying  them 
with  good  things — a  process  watched  occasionally  with 
alarm  by  anxious  mothers  !  At  last  it  was  time  to  go  :  and 
nothing  was  left  to  be  done  except  for  each  little  tired 
person,  wrapped  in  v/oolly  shawl  or  muffler,  and  clutching 
tight  the  toys  and  presents  they  had  received,  to  kiss  and 
thank  the  Bishop,  who  joined  heartily  in  their  wish  to 
have  "  another  party  next  year." 

Writing  from  Bishopgarth,  Wakefield,  after  the  first 
children's  party  held  in  the  new  house,  the  Bishop  says  : 

"  The  party  was  splendid  :  we  had  eighty-six  or  eighty- 
seven  children,  and  a  certain  number  of  bigger  ones  to 
help.  A  good  few  of  the  little  ones  were  unusually  pretty 
or  picturesque,  and  the  Examination  Hall  did  not  know 
itself  in  festive  guise.  The  house  does  splendidly  for  the 
purpose,  the  non-dancing  little  ones  playing  games  in  the 
hall. 

"  Bishop  Andrewes  in  his  '  Devotions,'  in  a  list  of  things 
to  thank  God  for,  has  '  For  children,  the  delight  of  the 
world,'  and,  as  the  old  sailor  saj^s  in  '  Fo'c'sle  Yarns,' 
*  Bits  o'  infants,  what's  more  dearer '  ?  " 

No  account  of  the  ''  Children's  Bishop "  would  be 
complete  without  some  mention  of  the  Church  of  England 
Society  for  providing  homes  for  waifs  and  strays,  of  the 
executive  of  which  he  was  elected  the  first  chairman  on 


430  Bishop  Walsham  How 

April  27,  1882,  an  office  which  he  held  till  his  death.  Both 
at  Clapton  and  at  Wakefield  there  were  "  Waif  and  Stray 
Homes"  near  to  his  house,  and  in  these  he  always  took 
the  warmest  interest,  visiting  them  frequently,  and  delight- 
ing in  little  talks  with  the  children.  The  boys  of  the 
Bede  Home,  which  was  close  to  Bishopgarth,  Wakefield, 
were  occasionally  invited  to  tea  and  a  game  of  cricket  in 
his  garden,  and  looked  upon  him  as  one  of  their  greatest 
friends.  They  would  have  thought  themselves  greatly 
injured  had  their  Bishop  passed  them  in  the  street  on 
their  way  to  school  or  cathedral  service  without  a  special 
smile  and  greeting. 

Another  ''  Children's  Society  "  in  which  he  was  deeply 
interested  was  the  National  Society  for  the  Prevention  of 
Cruelty  to  Children,  of  which  he  was  a  vice-president, 
and  in  aid  of  which  he  spoke  annually  at  the  meeting  of 
the  Wakefield  branch,  and  also  journeyed  as  far  as 
Manchester  to  address  the  autumnal  conference  of  the 
society  there.  One  of  his  sons  has  for  some  years  been 
working  for  this  society,  and  the  Bishop  was  ever  keenly 
alive  to  the  sufferings  of  children,  and  to  the  efforts  of 
the  society  to  check  and  relieve  them. 

One  more  picture.  Those  who  were  present  will  not 
forget  a  broiling  Sunday  afternoon  in  August  1887,  ^  ^^w 
days  before  the  death  of  Mrs.  How,  when  the  little  bay 
below  Aberamfra  House,  at  Barmouth,  was  the  scene  of  a 
"  children's  service."  The  sandy  shore  was  thronged  with 
listeners,  while  the  white-haired  old  Bishop  spoke  simple 
helpful  words  to  the  younger  portion  of  his  congregation, 
who  were  gathered  round  his  feet,  and  with  his  still  clear 
voice  led  them  in  their  hymns,  the  sound  floating  out 
across  the  summer  sea. 

Towards  the  close  of  his  life  his  delight  in  the  society 


The  Children's  Bishop  431 

of  children  seemed  to  increase,  and  from  whatever  he 
might  be  doing  he  would  turn  at  once  to  notice  their 
presence.  In  walking  with  him  through  the  streets  of 
Wakefield  it  was  touching  to  observe  him  lay  his  hand, 
apparently  unconsciously,  on  the  head  of  any  little  ones 
to  whom  he  passed  sufficiently  close.  It  has  been  truly 
said  of  him  that  he  made  a  study  of  children,  and  that 
with  all  his  fondness  of  them  he  was  a  shrewd  observer 
of  their  ways,  and  quick  to  notice,  though  not  to  com- 
ment on,  any  affectation  or  forwardness.  It  was  the 
character  of  childhood  that  he  loved,  and  the  secret  of 
this  love  was  in  the  pureness,  simplicity,  and  piety  of  his 
own  heart.  He  approached  children  as  a  child,  for  he 
had  preserved  "a  young  lamb's  heart  among  the  full- 
grown  flocks." 


CHAPTER   XXIX 

THE  BISHOP  AS  A  FISHERMAN 

Next  to  his  work  and  to  his  love  for  children,  botany 
and  fishing  were  Walsham  How's  chief  delights.  It  has 
been  told  in  Chapter  I.  how  early  in  his  childhood  a  taste 
for  the  knowledge  of  flowers  was  developed.  His  skill  as  a 
fly-fisher  also  dated  back  to  his  boyhood,  when  he  would 
try  his  luck  in  the  Severn,  or  get  an  occasional  better 
day's  sport  on  the  Cound  brook.  He  was  never  what 
would  be  described  as  a  great  expert,  for  he  knew  nothing 
of  dry  fly-fishing,  and  no  one  nowadays  can  be  considered 
a  really  first-rate  trout-fisher  who  has  not  acquired  that 
branch  of  the  art.  On  a  rough  mountain  stream,  how- 
ever, or  on  a  wind-blown  loch,  he  had  few  equals,  and  it 
seldom  happened  that  he  failed  to  bring  in  the  heaviest 
basket  of  all  the  party.  His  excellence  consisted  mainly 
in  great  accuracy  in  casting,  whereby  he  was  able  to  get 
his  flies  on  to  the  water  in  tiny  pools  and  little  narrow 
runs,  and  in  extreme  quickness  in  striking,  by  vrhich 
means  he  basketed  many  a  trout  which  would  have 
escaped  a  slower  performer.  This  quickness  of  hand, 
gained  by  many  years'  experience  of  trout-fishing,  proved 
a  great  drawback  to  him  when  in  later  life  he  fished  for 
salmon.  As  is  well  known,  it  is  fatal  to  strike  as  soon  as 
the  rise  of  a  salmon  is  observed,  for  the  fly  is  thereby 


The  Bishop  as  a  Fisherman  433 

withdrawn  from  the  fish,  which  takes  it  in  a  totally 
different  and  much  slower  manner  than  a  trout.  Owing 
to  this  habit,  he  was  seldom  able  to  do  much  execution 
on  a  salmon  river.  A  Scotch  gillie,  who  had  attended 
him  frequently,  once  said  of  him  that  he  threw  the  best 
fly  and  was  the  worst  salmon-fisher  he  had  known  on  that 
water  !  But  it  was  not  only  the  actual  fishing  that  de- 
lighted him.  The  beautiful  and  often  romantic  scenery 
into  which  such  excursions  took  him,  and  the  rare  plants 
which  he  observed  on  the  mountain-side,  or  the  boggy 
margin  of  the  stream,  added  greatly  to  his  pleasure. 

When  Rector  of  Whittington  he  was  most  fortunately 
situated  for  an  occasional  fishing  excursion.  After  a 
day's  work  in  May  or  June  he  would  often  take  his  rod 
and  set  off  across  the  meadows  for  an  hour's  sport  on  the 
Perry  (a  tributary  of  the  Severn),  which  flowed  through 
the  parish.  In  those  days  this  stream  was  fairly  well 
stocked  with  trout  and  dace,  and  two  brace  of  nice  trout 
— from  half  a  pound  to  a  pound  and  a-half  apiece — 
and  a  few  dace  would  generally  reward  one  of  these 
evening  walks.  His  great  delight  was  to  take  one  of  his 
small  sons  with  him,  and  teach  him  to  throw  a  fly.  One 
of  them  remembers  well  his  father's  pleasure  at  the  capture 
of  a  good-sized  dace,  the  first  fish  taken  by  the  very 
juvenile  wielder  of  the  rod.  As  in  other  things,  so  in  his 
fishing,  Walsham  How  was  completely  unselfish.  His 
companion  on  a  day's  sport  would  often  have  some 
difficulty  to  avoid  the  monopoly  of  all  the  best  water. 
"  There's  a  good  pool !  Now  you  fish  that.  I  would 
rather  watch  you.  What  wouldn't  I  give  to  see  you  get 
hold  of  a  good  one  there  ! "  If  any  fair  division  of  the 
fishing  was  to  be  sustained,  such  remarks  as  these  would 
have  to  be  frequently  combated. 

2£ 


434  Bishop  Walsham  How 

For  a  longer  excursion  there  was  the  Ceiriog  (a  tribu- 
tary of  the  Dee),  just  beyond  the  northern  boundary  of 
his  parish.  To  this  stream  he  was  introduced  by  one  of 
the  squires  who  Uved  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  who 
used  to  tell  how  he  thought  it  would  be  a  friendly  action 
to  take  the  young  Rector  out  with  him  and  teach  him  to 
fish  for  trout,  and  how,  when  they  met  at  the  end  of  the 
day,  positions  were  reversed,  the  so-called  pupil  having 
nearly  three  times  as  heavy  a  basket  as  his  instructor  ! 

But  the  favourite  river  of  all  was  the  Tanat,  a  ten-mile 
drive  away,  on  which,  owing  to  the  kindness  of  Lord 
Bradford  and  the  late  Sir  Watkin  Wynn,  the  Rector  of 
Whittington  had  many  a  splendid  day's  sport.  It  is  a 
very  early  river,  and  the  temptation  to  drive  over  on  a 
warm  March  day  must  have  been  great.  But  no  such 
expeditions  were  ever  enjoyed  until  Lent  was  over,  and 
the  Eastertide  services,  after  which  the  diaries  invariably 
record  several  days  spent  somewhere  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Llanyblodwel  or  Llangedwin,  on  the  banks  of  that  • 
most  fascinating  river. 

Like  other  busy  men,  he  lost  many  a  •  good  fish 
through  using  old  and  rotten  tackle.  His  bulky  black 
leather  flybook  with  old-fashioned  steel  clasp  was 
crammed  wnth  flies  and  casts,  and  he  never  found  time 
to  examine  these  beforehand,  and  never  could  harden  his 
heart  to  burn  all  his  ancient  gut — the  only  really  safe 
thing  to  do.  When  the  actual  fishing-day  came,  a  cast 
would  be  hurriedly  made  up  and  wound  round  his  wide- 
awake hat,  only  in  too  many  instances  to  be  broken  by 
"  the  big  fish  which  came  at  the  tail  fly  in  the  rough 
water." 

Barmouth  was  a  holiday  ground  much  resorted  to  by 
all  the  family,  and  in  the  old  days,  before  the  famous 


The  Bishop  as  a  Fisherman  435 

bridge  was  built,  or  ever  a  railway  whistle  was  heai'd, 
there  was  abundance  of  trout-fishing  in  the  mountain 
streams.  Thither  year  after  year  Mr.  and  Mrs.  How 
would  take  their  children,  some  driving  all  the  way  in 
the  pony  carriage,  others  arriving  by  Colonel  Corbett's 
coach,  and  amongst  the  baggage  fishing  rods  and  baskets 
were  conspicuous. 

Such  streams  as  that  which  rapidly  descends  the  hill- 
side by  Corsygedol  House,  the  little  river  at  Llwyngwril, 
and  the  Arthog  brook,  all  paid  heavy  toll  to  his  rod.  For 
these  and  similar  spots  he  seldom  changed  his  cast  of 
flies — a  little  March  brown,  a  blue  dun,  and  a  small  but 
bushy  coch-y-bondhu  being  the  invariable  bill  of  fare. 
With  these  flies  he  once  took  over  sixty  trout  out  of  the 
stream  at  Drws-y-nant  in  a  couple  of  hours. 

In  after-years  he  went  much  farther  afield  for  his  sport, 
visiting  Ballinahinch  in  Connemara  several  times,  making 
two  expeditions  to  Norway,  and  once  going  in  search  of 
trout-fishing  to  the  Ardennes. 

In  1872  Mr.  How  paid  his  first  visit  to  Sutherlandshire, 
taking  with  him  one  of  his  sons.  This  was  a  district 
which,  when  Bishop  of  Wakefield,  he  visited  more  than 
once  and  in  which  he  spent  some  of  his  happiest  hoHdays. 

On  the  occasion  of  this  first  visit  ten  days  were  spent  at 
the  inn  at  Overscaig,  then  a  mere  cottage  by  the  side  of 
Loch  Shin,  incapable  of  housing  more  than  four  fisher- 
men at  one  time.  Capital  sport  was  enjoyed  here  on  this 
occasion,  the  total  for  the  two  rods  being  three  hundred 
trout,  weighing  somewhere  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds.  One  of  the  days  during  this  visit  was  spent  in  a 
long  tramp  over  the  hills  to  Loch  Fiag,  on  which  there 
was  then  no  boat,  where  a  basket  of  fish  was  taken  from 
the  shore,  one  of  the  trout  weighing  three  pounds.     Then 


436  Bishop  Walsham  How 

it  was  that  unknowingly  Mr.  How  first  looked  on  a  scene 
which  was  to  be  familiar  to  him  afterwards,  for  on  the 
shore  of  that  loch  a  wooden  house  was  built  by  Mr.  Gye 
(of  the  Italian  Opera),  and  afterwards  rented  by  Mr.  M.  E. 
Sanderson,  of  Wakefield,  who  on  several  occasions  enter- 
tained the  Bishop  and  his  family  there  during  part  of  their 
August  holiday. 

From  Overscaig  Mr.  How  and  his  son  went  northwards 
to  Rhiconich,  passing  Loch  Stack  en  route.  This  noted 
sea-trout  loch  was  then  rented  by  the  late  Lord  Dudley, 
who  met  the  travellers  near  his  house  at  the  head  of  the 
Laxford  River,  and  offered  them  a  day  or  two's  fishing,  if 
rain  came  to  make  it  worth  while.  Unfortunately  the 
weather  continued  very  hot  and  dry,  so  that  the  oppor- 
tunity was  lost  ;  but  the  impression  of  the  place  and  the 
great  reputation  of  its  fishing  lasted  many  years,  Mr.  How 
often  saying  that  one  of  his  dreams  was  some  day  to  be 
allowed  to  try  his  luck  on  that  loch  and  river.  How 
this  dream  was  fulfilled  some  twenty  years  afterwards  is 
told  later. 

It  was  in  1867  that  he  made  his  first  serious  attempt  at 
salmon-fishing.  Accompanied  by  his  cousin,  Mr.  G.  F. 
King,  he  went  to  Ballinahinch  and  stayed  a  fortnight  at 
the  noted  Deradda  Lodge.  The  sport  was  not  good,  and 
besides,  he  was  never  a  successful  salmon-fisher,  so  that 
it  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  only  three  fish  were  killed 
by  him  on  this  occasion.  He  chronicled  the  visit  in 
rhyme,  which  he  illustrated  by  spirited  pen-and-ink 
sketches.    The  verses  ran  as  follows  : 

Day  I. 
Calmly  bright 
Is  the  morning  light ; 
Lovelily  blue  are  the  mountain  ridges  : 


The  Bishop  as  a  Fisherman  437 

Gently  ripple  the  waters 

Like  the  prattle  of  Erin's  daughters ; 

But  oh  !  confound  these  venomous  midges  ! 

Day  2. 

Here  it  comes  !  raging  and  frantic 

Right  off  the  face  of  the  broad  Atlantic, 

Tearing  and  dashing 

And  shouting  and  splashing, 

All  day  long 

Steady  and  strong. 

The  only  thing  is  to  seek  a  retreat 

Under  the  lee  of  a  stack  of  peat, 

While  Patrick  Fitzpatrick,  to  cheer  one's  sorrow, 

Says,  "  Sure  there'll  be  beautiful  sport,  sir,  the  morrow ! " 

Day  3. 

One  minute  more 

We'd  have  been  safely  on  shore  : 

But  alas  !  and  alas  ! 

It  ne'er  came  to  pass. 

I  heard  a  great  wail 

That  turned  me  all  pale, 

Moaning  afar  from  the  point  surnamed  Monaghan, 

"  Arrah  !  bad  luck  to  him,  sure  and  he's  gone  again  !  " 

Day  4. 

As  slashing  a  rise  as  a  man  could  wish  ! 
"Hurroor  !"  Pat  cries,  "and  it  was  a  great  fish  !" 
Rest  him  a  minute,  and  then  a  fresh  cast, 
If  you  show  it  him  neatly  he'll  take  it  at  last. 
But  in  working  your  fly  on  the  rippling  pool 
You  must  keep  your  left  eye  on  an  Irish  bull. 
Till  old  Jimmy  Carr,  our  friend  at  a  pinch, 
Repulses  the  baste  from  Ballinahinch. 

Day  5. 
Tried  all  the  flies  : 
The  fish  wonH  rise  : 
Fishing  voted  a  bore, 


438  Bishop  Walsham  How 

We  repose  on  the  shore, 

And  have  a  good  snore, 

While  a  brute  of  a  cow  with  a  morbid  digestion 

Eats  the  macintosh  up  without  asking  a  question. 

Day  6. 

Off  goes  the  reel 

With  a  rattle  and  squeal, 

Down  through  the  rapid  away  the  line  spins, 

It's  ten  minutes  before  you  catch  sight  of  the  fins. 

And  says  Pat  as  he  plunges  and  tugs  and  bounds, 

"  Sure  he's  every  bit  of  twinty  pounds  ! " 

Six  times  or  more 

He's  brought  to  the  shore, 

When  off  with  a  burst 

As  fresh  as  at  first. 

Till,  seizing  his  moment,  with  dexterous  hand 

Pat  cleverly  gaffs  him,  and  flings  him  on  land. 

Then,  dancing  around  him,  uproarious  and  frisky, 

He  crowns  his  success  in  a  bumper  of  whisky ! 

A  second  visit  with  another  friend  (Colonel  Lloyd,  of 
Aston)  was  paid  to  this  same  place  in  1869  with  somewhat 
similar  results,  and  yet  a  third  in  1895,  when  he  took 
several  members  of  his  family  for  a  short  tour  in  Ireland, 
spending  ten  days  at  Deradda  Lodge. 

[To  Rev.  H.  W.  How.] 

^^  August,  14,  1895. 

"  I  am  sending  you  by  parcel  post  a  nice  fresh-run  9  lb. 
salmon,  which  I  killed  this  morning.  I  only  hope  it  will 
get  to  you  fresh.  I  have  only  killed  one  (8  lb.)  before, 
but  got  another  a  little  larger  quite  done  for  and  ready 
for  the  gaff,  and  I  was  towing  him  into  a  small  bay  for 
the  purpose  when  he  left  me  ! 

"  It  has  been  very  stormy  most  days  since  we  came. 


The  Bishop  as  a  Fisherman  439 

Yesterday  those  who  were  in  boats  on  the  lakes  had  to 
give  up,  as  it  was  too  rough.  I  was  on  the  river,  but  not 
a  fish  would  stir.  It  is  very  aggravating  to  see  them 
rolling  about  like  pigs.  There  is  a  whole  herd  of  them 
at  Corcoran's  Point,  but  the  one  I  am  sending  you  is 
the  only  one  that  rose  at  me.  There  are  so  many  that 
you  have  a  good  chance  of  snatching  one  by  whipping 
your  fly  past  him  when  he  rolls  up  between  your  fiy  and 
yourself. 

"  I  have  managed  to  get  in  a  bit  of  botanising,  and  have 
found  two  or  three  rare  plants,  but  I  am  going  to  cut  the 
fishing  one  day,  and  have  a  botanical  ramble  on  Round- 
stone  Hill,  three  or  four  miles  from  here,  where  there  are 
two  or  three  very  rare  heaths,  as  well  as  some  other 
rarities." 

In  1888  he  paid  his  first  visit  to  Norway,  taking  a  party 
of  six  to  stay  for  a  month  in  a  farm  about  seventy  miles 
from  Trondhjem,  near  the  Swedish  border,  and  close  to 
some  of  the  Lapp  settlements.  There  was  no  salmon- 
fishing  here,  but  the  trouting  was  excellent,  as  may  be 
gathered  from  the  following  letter  : 

\_To  Mr.  G.  F.  King.] 
"LovoEN,  Tydalen,  Norway,  August  24,  1888. 

"  We  men  fish  mostly,  and  the  women  cook,  each  with 
varying  success.  There  are  no  dishes  except  pie  dishes, 
and  no  jugs  except  a  little  one  for  the  cream.  There  is  a 
slop-basin,  which  begins  the  day  by  bringing  me  my 
shaving  water,  and  afterwards  accompanies  me  to  break- 
fast. The  bread  is  made  daily  in  my  wash-hand  basin, 
which  perhaps  accounts  for  its  not  rising.  Other  things 
rise  :  we  do,  the  trout  do — but  the  bread  never  !     It  is  so 


440  Bishop  Walsham  How 

solid  !  We  live  mostly  on  trout.  F.  and  I  went  to  a 
lake  and  caught  fifty-six  one  day,  and  forty-four  another, 
many  over  one  pound,  and  two  of  two  pound  each. 
Fortunately  we  had  a  pony  to  bring  them  back,  as  they 
were  a  terrific  weight. 

7F  ^  T^  ^  W 

"  Fancy  my  accidentally  leaning  my  rod  against  a  rock, 
and  then  finding  it  almost  touching  a  beautiful  clump  of 
the  rare  Woodsia  fern,  while  the  butt  was  standing  in 
a  little  cluster  of  Smilacina,  a  delicate  and  lovely  little 
sort  of  miniature  lily  of  the  valley." 

At  the  end  of  this  letter  there  is  a  drawing  of  a  trout, 
under  which  are  these  lines  : 

"  Hie  jacet,  illustri  tandem  certamine  victse, 
In  tumulo  ventris  '  spatium  mirabile  '  Truttse." 

In  the  next  year  he  re-visited  Norway,  this  time  in  the 
company  of  Bishop  Wilberforce,  of  Newcastle,  with  high 
hopes  of  at  last  getting  some  really  good  salmon-fishing. 
The  following  letters  to  Mr.  G.  F.  King  give  a  capital 
impression  of  the  success  of  this  visit : 

"Olden,  Nord  Fjord,  Norway,  August  15,  1S89. 

"My  dear  Farquharson, 

"  Here  I  am  in  a  simply  perfect  place.  We  arrived  on 
Friday  at  2  P.M.,  came  up  to  this  jolly  little  wooden 
house,  where  we  actually  have  a  flagstaff  and  the  Union 
Jack  flying,  had  luncheon,  and  were  on  the  river  by 
4  P.M. 

"  Before  five  I  had  killed  a  grilse  of  six  pounds  and  a 
salmon  of  twenty-four  pounds.  I  thought  I  was  going  to 
achieve  wonders,  but  day  by  day  the  conviction  has 
deepened   that  salmon  are  coy,  and   that    I  am  a  poor 


The  Bishop  as  a  Fisherman  441 

fisherman.  I  have  only  killed  five  as  yet,  my  best  being 
twenty-six  pounds  and  twenty-four  pounds.  The  Bishop 
of  Newcastle  has  killed  eleven,  averaging  twenty-four 
pounds,  his  largest  being  thirty-two  pounds.  But  then 
we  have  much  sport  with  grilse  and  sea-trout,  the  latter 
being  especially  abundant  and  large — e.g.,  we  have  each 
killed  a  sea-trout  of  eleven  pounds.  Grilse  under  six 
pounds  we  generally  label  and  put  back. 

"The  Bishop  of  Newcastle  is  a  grand  companion,  so 
keen  and  good-natured.  We  have  our  daily  prayers 
together  night  and  morning,  and  in  many  a  nice  talk  find 
ourselves  singularly  at  one." 

"Wakefield,  September  21,  1889. 

"My  dear  Farquharson, 

"  I  must  indulge  in  a  little  chat  with  you,  the  main 
end  and  object  of  which  is  to  bring  down  your  exalted 
cousinly  estimate  of  your  own  particular  bishop,  and  to 
present  him  to  you  in  all  his  incompetence  and  decrepi- 
tude. I  am  a  muff,  whatever  you  may  say,  for  I  could  not 
catch  the  salmon.  I  got  six  early  in  my  visit,  but,  though 
I  rose  them  now  and  then,  and  hooked  one  or  two,  never 
another  could  I  capture.  My  brother  of  Newcastle  went 
on  killing  salmon  to  the  end,  but  he  is  very  skilful  and 
knowing.  He  got  twenty-five  salmon.  Our  average  was 
the  same — nineteen  pounds.  His  first  eleven  averaged 
twenty-four  pounds,  but,  as  the  river  lowered,  the  bigger 
fish  did  not  rise.  However,  there  was  always  something 
to  be  done,  and  I  got  sixty-seven  sea-trout  of  all  sizes  up 
to  twelve  pounds,  besides  about  ten  grilse.  Of  course 
the  Bishop  of  Newcastle  beat  me  in  each  sort,  his  sea- 
trout  averaging  about  five  pounds — mine  about  three 
pounds  ;  and  his  largest   being  thirteen  pounds   to   my 


442  Bishop  Walsham  How- 

twelve  pounds.  He  is  very  fond  of  spiders,  and  brought 
in  two  very  big  ones,  and  established  them  in  two  of  the 
windows  in  our  sitting  room.  They  were  named  'Achilles' 
and  '  the  Claimant,'  and  their  diverse  character  interested 
us  greatly.  Achilles  was  shy,  timid,  and  given  to  sulk  in 
his  tent.  He  fled  into  a  corner  when  you  offered  him  a 
fly.  The  Claimant,  on  the  contrary,  was  brave  and  con- 
fiding, eagerly  took  flies  out  of  your  fingers,  and  even 
allowed  the  Bishop  of  Newcastle  to  take  him  in  his  finger 
and  thumb  and  carry  him  to  a  fly,  which  he  at  once 
seized  and  devoured.  I  am  not  sure  that  inordinate 
greediness  was  not  the  real  secret  of  his  valour  ! 

"  Your  affectionate  Cousin, 

"  Wm.  walsham  WAKEFIELD." 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1890  that  the  Bishop's  dream 
of  some  day  fishing  Loch  Stack  in  Sutherlandshire  was  at 
last  fulfilled  owing  to  the  kindness  of  the  Duke  of  West- 
minster, who  lent  him  on  this,  as  well  as  on  a  succeeding 
holiday.  Stack  Lodge  for  a  fortnight's  fishing  on  the  loch 
and  on  the  River  Laxford.  At  the  end  of  this  first  visit  he 
wrote  as  follows  to  Mr.  G.  F.  King  : 

"  Stack  Lodge,  August  10,  1890. 

"  As  we  leave  to-morrow  morning  I  should  like  to  give 
you  a  little  account  of  our  last  few  days.  We  stuck  to 
the  river,  it  being  in  excellent  order  and  with  plenty  of 
fish  up,  for  a  whole  week  of  long,  laborious,  and  mostly 
disappointing  days.  On  Wednesday,  however,  after  a 
fruitless  morning  on  the  river,  we  thought  we  would 
try  the  loch.  And  now  don't  we  wish  we  had  tried  it  a 
little  sooner  !  We  were  told  it  was  the  best  in  Scotland, 
but   I  had  no  idea  any  loch  could  be  so   good.     It  is 


The  Bishop  as  a  Fisherman  443 

cram-full  of  sea-trout  with  a  sprinkling  of  salmon.  We 
were  very  unlucky  in  losing  big  fish,  especially  two 
salmon,  both  apparently  well  hooked,  and  some  very 
large  sea-trout,  and  of  course  we  hooked  and  lost  a  great 
many  of  all  sizes,  but  our  score  was  twenty-three  on 
Wednesday  afternoon,  forty  on  Thursday,  thirty-four  on 
Friday  afternoon,  and  twenty-six  yesterday.  We  got  two 
of  five  pounds  each,  and  plenty  from  that  to  two  pounds. 
Our  seven  best  yesterday  weighed  eighteen  pounds,  the 
largest  being  only  three  and  a-half  pounds.  It  was  most 
exciting  work,  the  fish  being  tremendously  strong  and 
game,  and  run  out  line  and  spring  into  the  air  again  and 
again.  Several  times  we  had  the  two  rods  with  good  fish 
on  at  once.     I  never  in  my  life  had  such  good  sport." 

In  1892  he  was  again  at  Stack  Lodge  : 

\To  Rev.  H.  W.  How.] 

"  August  4. 

"  As  we  came  on  Saturday  it  turned  to  rain,  and 
drizzled  all  Sunday,  which  brought  the  river  up  nicely 
On  Sunday  I  took  the  service  at  Loch  More  Lodge,  four 
miles  from  here,  at  the  other  end  of  this  loch,  and  there 
met  Professor  Drummond,  who  is  lodging  there  with  the 
bailiff  for  fishing.  He  is  a  pleasant,  friendly  sort  of  man, 
rather  of  the  Professor  Hughes  [of  Cambridge]  descrip- 
tion. He  says  the  geology  here  is  most  interesting,  the 
whole  country  showing  strong  records  of  the  Ice  Age. 
We  agreed  amongst  us  here  that  I  should  fish  in  the  boat 
on  the  loch  every  day  to  avoid  the  walk,  while  Fred  and 
Frank  [two  of  his  sons]  take  the  river  on  alternate  days. 
To  do  the  river  you  must  walk  down  one  side  to  the 
bridge  near  the  sea,  four  miles,  and  up  the  other  side, 
which  I  dare  not  attempt. 


444  Bishop  Walsham  How 

"  On  the  loch  the  fishing  has  been  nothing  like  what  it 
was  two  years  ago,  and  yesterday,  which  was  cold  and 
stormy,  not  a  fish  would  stir,  but,  though  the  fish  are 
'  stiff,'  as  they  say  here,  they  are  great  fun,  as  they  are 
very  strong  and  plucky,  jumping  into  the  air  again  and 
again,  and  rushing  away — a  good  many  getting  off.  They 
all  are  sea-trout,  or,  at  least,  we  don't  count  the  small 
brownies,  of  which  we  always  get  some.  To-day  Fred 
and  I  got  eighteen  sea-trout  (all  but  one,  which  was  a 
brown  trout  of  one  and  a  quarter  pound),  weighing 
twenty-five  and  a-half  pounds.     We  enjoy  it  much." 

More  than  once  afterwards,  when  the  guest  of  Mr.  M. 
E.  Sanderson  at  Loch  Merkland,  the  Bishop  was  allowed 
some  days'  fishing  on  Loch  Stack,  but  never  again  had 
quite  such  good  sport  as  during  these  first  visits. 

Many  of  these  fishing  holidays  were,  of  course,  spent  in 
out-of-the-way  places  far  from  any  church,  and  on 
Sundays  it  was  the  Bishop's  custom  to  hold  services  either 
in  his  sitting-room,  or  in  some  larger  place  when  avail- 
able, and  to  invite  the  foresters  and  gillies  to  attend. 
When  he  was  at  Overscaig  in  1872  he  held  a  service  in  an 
outhouse,  and  many  shepherds  and  boatmen  came  to  it 
accompanied  by  their  dogs.  He  thought  that  the  old 
tune  "Rockingham"  must  be  well  known,  so  started  a 
hymn  to  that  refrain  ;  but  he  forgot  how  far  north  he  was, 
and  it  ended  in  a  duet  between  himself  and  his  son,  while 
the  rest  of  the  congregation  sat  round  solemn  and  silent. 
He  often  used  to  tell  the  story,  and  say  what  a  trying  pro- 
cess he  found  it. 

When  on  a  visit  to  Mr.  M.  E.  Sanderson  the  time  was 
usually  divided  between  Merkland  Lodge  and  the  hut  on 
Fiag  Loch,  the  approach  to  which  latter  place  was  up  a 


The  Bishop  as  a  Fisherman  445 

rough  cart  track  for  six  miles  over  a  wild  moorland.  The 
Bishop  was  the  first  person  to  be  driven  in  a  dog-cart  up 
this  road,  which  had  previously  been  available  only  for 
mountain  ponies,  or  rough  carts.  To  this  fact  Mr.  Sander- 
son alludes  in  a  letter  (written  after  the  Bishop's  death) 
from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken  : 

"  It  is  difficult  to  give  incidents  of  the  ever-dear  Bishop's  visits 
to  me.  First  it  was  indeed  an  honour  and  privilege  for  him  to 
come,  and  when  I  think  as  I  write  that  his  life  is  ended  here,  I 
feel  much  difficulty  in  referring  to  him. 

"  The  foresters  in  their  simple  way  felt  much  veneration  for 
him,  believing  that  they  had  never  seen  one  so  good,  and  they 
will  always  remember  his  kindness  to  them  in  having  services  for 
them,  and  his  memory  will  be  dear  to  them,  one  and  all,  man  and 

woman !     Then  at  Fiag,  when sang  so  sweetly  those  old 

ditties,  how  his  face  brightened,  and  he  asked  about  others,  and 
hummed  the  tunes.  .  .  .  Then  the  longing  for  him  to  get  a  big 
fish — which  he  didn't.  Only  one  came,  and  the  reel  clogged  and 
broke  the  cast,  and  this  was  a  big  one  !  Then  his  geniality  and 
his  tales,  and  his  earnest  little  prayers  in  the  dear  old  hut  for  us 
all,  and  his  coming  up  on  a  pony  in  his  wading-stockings,  and 
afterwards  being  the  first  to  come  up  in  a  dog- cart,  and  always  his 
joy  at  the  luck  of  others'  fishing,  and  his  determination  to  throw  a 
fly  almost  till  the  dinner-bell  rang.  These  are  only  trifles  when  with 
us,  and  it  is  to  me  most  comforting  to  believe  he  enjoyed  these 
holidays." 

The  mention  in  the  above  letter  of  "  his  tales  "  brings 
to  mind  many  stories  he  told  relating  to  his  fishing. 

Once  when  returning  from  a  day's  fishing  in  South 
Wales  with  an  empty  basket,  he  was  overtaken  by  a 
small  boy,  when  the  following  conversation  ensued  : 

Small  Boy  :  "  Been  fishing  ?  " 

The  Bishop  :  "  Yes." 

Small  Boy  :  "  Caught  anything  ?  " 

The  Bishop  :  "  No." 


446  Bishop  Walsham  How 

Small  Boy  :  "  Ah  !  some  don't ! " 
The  fact  that  the  Bishop  was  very  seldom  amongst  the 
^'  some  who  don't "  makes  the  small  boy's  irony  delicious. 

On  another  occasion  he  had  been  to  a  confirmation  in 
a  country  parish,  and  after  the  service  the  squire,  knowing 
how  keen  a  fisherman  he  was,  begged  him  to  come  for  a 
short  walk.  They  soon  arrived  at  a  large  pool  with  a 
boat  on  it  and  a  fishing-rod  and  tackle  already  prepared. 
In  a  few  minutes  the  Bishop,  all  arrayed  in  shovel  hat 
and  apron,  was  hard  at  work  killing  several  large  trout, 
and  he  used  afterwards  to  say  that  no  one  ever  went  out 
fishing  such  a  swell  before  ! 

During  his  life  at  Whittington  the  Hon.  W.  R.  Verney, 
now  Rector  of  Lighthorne  in  Warwickshire,  read  with 
him  for  a  time  when  preparing  for  Holy  Orders.  His 
testimony  as  to  the  value  of  these  months  is  exceedingly 
strong,  but  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  this  chapter 
he  has  also  something  to  say. 

"  He  was  one  of  those  men,"  he  writes,  "  for  whom  no  task  was 
too  hard  and  no  day  too  long.  He  was  a  sportsman  too  at  heart, 
and  that  was  a  great  bond  of  sympathy  between  us,  though  he 
clearly  told  me  that  he  was  afraid  my  too  great  love  for  sport 
would  injure  and  interfere  with  my  ministerial  work.  You  know 
better  than  I  do  what  an  excellent  fisherman  he  was,  and  how  in 
his  holiday  times  he  loved  this  innocent  recreation.  I  remember 
one  day  he  was  going  to  a  week-day  service,  and  passed  me  at 
the  Castle  Pool  [between  the  Rectory  and  the  church]  when  I  had 
a  good  trout  on.  '  Come  on,  Verney,'  he  said,  '  you'll  be  late.'  I 
was  too  hard  on  the  fish,  and  lost  him.  I  think  the  Bishop  was 
sorry  afterwards  ! " 

One  more  fishing  episode,  and  that  of  too  recent  and 
too  sad  a  nature  to  dwell  upon  for  long. 

In  August  of  1897,  he  took  Dhulough  Lodge  near 
Killary  Harbour,  chiefly  for  the   sake   of   the   excellent 


The  Bishop  as  a  Fisherman  447 

fishing  that  went  with  it.  He  arrived  there  on  a  Tuesday. 
On  Wednesday,  after  tea,  there  being  a  good  breeze  upon 
the  lough,  he  went  out  in  a  boat  with  one  of  his  sons 
and  for  a  hour  and  a  half  they  had  excellent  sport,  the 
Bishop  fighting  and  killing  some  big  sea-trout  with  all  his 
wonted  vigour.  The  wind  had  risen  and  the  boatmen 
landed  the  fishermen  about  a  mile  above  the  Lodge.  He 
walked  home  with  apparent  ease,  but  said,  "  I  couldn't 
have  walked  this  distance  last  week "  (when  he  was 
feeling  very  unwell  during  the  last  days  of  the  Lambeth 
Conference).  He  never  went  out  fishing  again.  On  the 
following  Tuesday  morning  he  was  dead.  The  cast  he 
used  that  last  evening  is  still  round  his  hat — a  memorial 
of  one  of  the  keenest  and  most  unselfish  fisherman  who 
ever  lived. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

THE  BISHOP  AS  A  BOTANIST 

As  a  botanist,  the  Rector  of  Whittington  also  found 
himself  in  a  happy  position.  A  small  stream  through  the 
garden  was  altered  soon  after  his  arrival  at  the  Rectory, 
and  made  to  flow  between  rocky  banks  and  down  little 
falls.  In  the  Parish  Papers  the  following  entries  were 
made  by  him  : 

"  Stream  alteration.  Altogether  it  is  a  great  improvement 
to  the  garden,  especiallyto  a  botanist  with  a  mighty  love 
of  ferns,  of  which  I  hope  now  to  grow  many  of  the  rarer 
sorts,  and  do  not  despair  of  inducing  the  Hymenophylla 
to  take  up  their  abode  on  the  spray-bespattered  stones. 
If  my  successor  is  no  fern-fancier,  let  him  at  least  bring 
some  one  who  is  so,  to  see  what  is  there  before  he  lays 
violent  hands  on  any  of  my  nurselings.  [Since  that  day 
the  treasures  in  the  Whittington  garden  have  been  by 
turns  neglected  and  cared  for,  so  that  it  is  doubtful  how 
many  of  them  still  survive.] 

"I  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  Lakes,  and  have 
brought  back  with  me,  and  planted  in  the  new  rockwork 
by  the  water,  roots  of  the  following  ferns  :  Allosorus, 
(parsley  fern),  beech  fern,  oak  fern,  brittle  fern,  forked 
spleenwort  and  green,  Wilson's  filmy  fern  and  mountain 


The  Bishop  as  a  Botanist  449 

fern.  I  have  already  put  in  Osmunda  regalis  and 
Lastrea  thelypteris  and  christata,  with  several  of  the 
common  ferns. 

***** 

I  have  added  Polypodium  calcareum,Cystopteris  dentata, 
Lastrea  spinulosa,  Asplenium  lanceolatum,  and  a  variety  of 
Filix-mas  from  the  Breidden. 

*  *  •  •  • 

The  great  yew-tree  (close  to  the  house)  measures  21  feet 
II  inches  in  girth  5  feet  9  inches  from  the  ground."  This 
big  tree  stands  close  to  the  Rectory  house,  and  is  one 
of  the  largest  specimens  of  its  kind  in  Shropshire.  A 
former  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  tried  to  persuade  Mr.  How 
to  cut  it  down !  In  this  instance,  however,  episcopal 
wishes  were  ignored. 

In  his  early  days  at  Whittington  the  Rector  paid  much 
attention  to  budding  roses,  and  his  diaries  contain  many 
entries  relating  to  his  flowers,  such  as  "  Dahlias  cut  with 
frost,"  "Put  in  bedding-out  plants,"  &c. 

In  1857  the  Oswestry  and  Welshpool  Naturalists'  Field 
Club  was  founded,  with  Mr.  J  ebb,  of  the  Lyth,  near 
Ellesmere,  as  president,  and  the  Rector  of  Whittington 
as  vice-president.  The  meetings  of  this  club  were  a 
source  of  great  pleasure  to  Mr.  How,  and  he  seldom 
missed  any  of  their  excursions.  It  was  in  connection 
with  these  gatherings  that  he  first  met  Mr.  William  Whit- 
well,  F.L.S.,  who  contributed  an  exceedingly  interesting 
memorial  paper  to  "The  Naturalist"  of  October  1897,  on 
the  life  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Wakefield.  Much  of  the 
information  as  to  botany  contained  in  this  chapter  is 
gleaned  from  those  pages. 

Mr.  Whitwell  says  :  "  The  Bishop  had  a  good 
acquaintance  with  our  British  plants,  and   possessed   a 

2  F 


450  Bishop  Walsham  How 

tolerably  large  herbarium — devoted,  however,  mainly  to 
the  rarer  species."  This  herbarium  was  given  to  one  of 
his  nieces  some  years  ago,  when  press  of  work  prevented 
his  giving  sufficient  attention  to  it. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Field  Club  in  1862,  Mr.  How  read  a 
short  paper  on  the  "  Botany  of  the  Great  Orme's  Head  at 
Llandudno,"  showing  how  carefully  he  had  searched  that 
mountain  for  rare  br  interesting  plants.  In  the  course  of 
his  remarks  he  thus  describes  his  discoveries  : 

"  Several  of  the  commoner  limestone  plants  are  there 
plentifully,  such  as  Saxifraga  tridactylites,  Arabis  hirsuta, 
and  Geranium  lucidum.  .  .  . 

"  If  you  look  under  your  feet  in  this  breezy  exposed 
spot,  you  will  find  at  least  three  plants  worth  notice.  The 
pretty  Gnaphalium  dioicum,  the  Cistus  marifolius,  and  the 
delicate  little  Scilla  verna.  .  .  . 

"  Scrambling  up  to  the  steep  shelves  and  ledges  of  rock 
which  face  inland,  and  amongst  the  hawthorns  and  privets 
and  brambles  and  blackthorns,  we  will  poke  about  and 
see  if  we  cannot  discover  the  Orme's  Head  plant, 
Mespilus  cotoneaster.  Yes,  here  it  is,  just  like  one  of  the 
dwarf,  round-leafed  shrubby  willows,  a  tough  little  shrub, 
with  downy  leaves,  and  pretty  little  waxy  blossoms  like 
the  bilberry.  Happily  its  roots  are  so  deep,  and  so 
embedded  in  the  rocks,  that,  although  the  visitors  are 
cruelly  destructive,  I  think  they  will  not  succeed  in  quite 
extirpating  this  plant  from  its  only  British  dwelling-place." 

Other  plants  he  mentioned  as  inhabiting  the  Orme's 
Head  are  the  Chrysocoma,  the  Silene  nutans,  wild  fennel, 
Thalictrum  minus,  Statice  reticulata,  Brassica  oleracea, 
Asplenium  marinum  (a  few  stunted   plants  only),  while 


The  Bishop  as  a  Botanist  451 

on  the  shore  could  be  found  the  yellow-horned  poppy, 
and  on  the  Conway  side  the  sea-convolvulus.  He  also 
discovered  in  the  hedges  a  little  inland  Scrophularia 
vernalis  and  Veronica  hybrida. 

But  this  was  written  five  and  thirty  years  ago,  and  by 
this  time  many  of  these  plants  have  probably  been  exter- 
minated by  the  "  cruelly  destructive  visitors." 

Another  interesting  paper  on  wild  plants  was  the  one 
contributed  by  Mr.  How  to  the  " Gossiping  Guide  to  Wales" 
on  "  The  Botany  of  Barmouth  and  its  Neighbourhood." 

On  his  removal  to  London,  the  Bishop  was  delighted 
to  find  a  capital  garden  attached  to  his  new  residence, 
and  especially  to  discover  a  fern-house  well  stocked  with 
many  of  his  prime  favourites.  This  garden  and  fernery 
were  of  the  greatest  possible  service  during  his  nine  years 
of  arduous  work  in  the  East  End,  for  they  afforded  a 
never-failing  refreshment  and  interest  to  one  with  his 
passion  for  flowers  and  ferns. 

Another  great  enjoyment  to  him  was  the  fact  that 
Mr.  F.  J.  Hanbury,  the  celebrated  botanist,  lived  within  a 
few  minutes'  walk.  Writing  to  Mr.  Whitwell  the  Bishop 
says : 

*'  Stainforth  House,  Upper  Clapton,  Nov.  2,  1885. 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Whitwell, 

"  It  was  very  kind  of  you  to  write  to  me,  and  I  was 
very  glad  to  hear  of  you  again.  ...  I  am  living  close  to  a 
very  first-rate  botanist  here — Mr.  F.  J.  Hanbury — and  I 
now  and  then  go  in  and  look  over  some  of  his  plants. 
He  has  far  the  best  herbarium  I  ever  saw.  I  myself  do 
very  little  in  this  line  nowadays,  but  a  short  time  ago  in 
the  summer  I  stumbled  upon  a  good  plant.  I  had  been 
speaking  at  a  meeting  at  Watford,  and  took  a  little  walk 


452  Bishop  Walsham  How 

afterwards  through  some  woods,  where  I  found  a  large 
quantity  of  Impatiens  parviflora — quite  a  new  plant  to  me. 

"  Believe  me,  with  many  thanks, 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"  Wm.  walsham  BEDFORD." 

The  Bishop  used  to  have  many  a  botanical  chat  with 
Mr.  Hanbury  when  he  lived  at  Clapton,  and  was  delighted 
on  one  occasion  to  be  able  to  give  him  some  fine 
specimens  of  Hieracium  Pilosella,  var.  pilosissimum,  which 
he  obtained  from  a  rock  near  Barmouth.  This  was  the 
only  known  Welsh  locality  for  this  plant,  and  is  cited  in 
Mr.  Hanbury's  "  Monograph  of  the  British  Hieracia."  A 
year  or  two  afterwards  the  Bishop  revisited  the  same 
neighbourhood  to  try  and  procure  some  roots  of  the 
plant,  that  Mr.  Hanbury  might  grow  it,  but  found  to  his 
dismay  that  the  only  rock  on  which  it  grew  had  all  been 
blasted  away  ! 

The  Bishop's  holidays  were  invariably  planned  long 
beforehand,  his  keen  enjoyment  of  them  beginning  with 
the  anticipation  many  months  in  advance.  Amongst  all 
the  necessary  preparations  he  never  forgot  to  write  and 
find  out  from  Mr.  Hanbury  what  rare  plants  he  was  to 
search  for  in  the  selected  locality.  A  few  of  the  letters 
written  on  these  and  similar  occasions  will  probably  be  of 
interest  to  botanical  readers. 

"  Bala,  May  8,  1885. 

"My  dear  Mr.  Hanbury, 

"  I  have  made  up  a  few  verses  for  you  while  out 
fishing  to-day.     I  hope  they  will  do.* 

I  went  to  Barmouth  yesterday,  where  I  found  a  plant  of 

*  These  were  for  the  North  Eastern  Hospital  for  Children. 


The  Bishop  as  a  Botanist  453 

Asplenium  lanceolatum  in  quite  a  new  place,  in  a  wall  a 
mile  out  of  Barmouth  on  the  Harlech  Road,  and  a  lot  of 
Inula  Helenium  coming  up  in  a  field  where  I  never  saw  it 
before.  I  saw  also  plenty  of  old  friends  coming  up  in  the 
old  places. 

It  is  bitterly  cold  and  the  hills  are  covered  with  snow. 

"  Very  sincerely  yours, 

"  Wm.  WALSHAM  BEDFORD." 

"Stainforth  House,  Upper  Clapton,  E.,  May  19,  1885. 

"  Dear  Mr.  H anbury, 

"  I  found  Potentilla  verna  on  the  Malvern  Hills 
about  forty-five  years  ago.  Chrysosplenium  alternifolium 
I  have  found  in  various  places. 

"  I  am  sorry  that  it  is  quite  impossible  for  me  to  join 
you  in  June.  Every  Sunday  has  its  three  engagements, 
but  besides  that  every  day  is  pledged.  I  am  much  exer- 
cised about  an  anemone  we  sent  from  Capel  Curig.  I 
had  found  one  plant  of  it  there  about  twenty  years  ago, 
and  this  time  we  found  two.  It  is  plainly  Anemone 
nemorosa,  only  as  blue  as  Anemone  apennina.  Is  the 
variety  acknowledged  in  any  book  ? 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"  Wm.  WALSHAM  BEDFORD." 
"RossiE  Castle,  Montrose,  August  17,  1886. 

"  Dear  Mr.  Hanbury, 

"  It  is  indeed  good  of  you  to  have  taken  so  much 
trouble,  and  I  hope  to  make  some  little  use  of  your  notes 
and  information.  But  I  am  greatly  disappointed,  my 
friends  having  been  compelled  to  alter  their  plans,  and  put 
off  going  to  Glenshee  so  late  that  I  can  only  get  about 
two   days   there.     I   have   seen    nothing  of   interest  yet, 


454  Bishop  Walsham  How 

except  that  the  banks  of  the  river  South  Esk  here  are 
Hterally  covered  with  mimukis  in  full  blossom.  It  is 
lovely.  The  Sax.  aizoides  seems  quite  a  common  Scotch 
plant.  It  grows  in  all  the  little  rills.  The  neighbourhood 
of  Comrie  was  singularly  bare  and  hopeless,  quite  low- 
land country  with  cultivated  fields.  There  was  a  quantity 
of  Myrrhis  odorata  by  the  river  Earn. 

"  There  is  scarcely  any  fishing,  the  river  being  dried  up. 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  BEDFORD." 
"  BiSHOPGARTH,  WAKEFIELD,y?//v  29,   1 895. 

"  Dear  Mr.  Hanbury, 

'*  I  am  going  on  this  day  week  to  Connemara  for 
some  salmon-fishing,  and  shall  be  at  Ballinahinch,  not 
far  from  Roundstone  and  Clifden.  Can  you  tell  me  what 
plants  I  should  look  for  if  the  weather  does  not  do 
for  fishing  and  I  can  get  a  little  botanising  ?  It  is 
the  heaths  that  are  said  to  be  the  specialties  here. 
E.  Mackaiana  is  said  to  be  findable,  but  E.  ciliaris 
very  doubtful.  I  was  there  long  ago  but  did  not  get  to 
the  heath  habitats.  The  bogs  at  Ballinahinch  were  full 
of  Menziesia  polifolia  and  Drosera  anglica,  but  little  else 
interesting.  Yes,  by  the  way  I  found  Utricularia  minor 
there.  If  you  know  anything  of  the  region,  and  can  give 
me  hints,  I  shall  be  greatly  obliged. 

"  I  had  specimens  of  Trientalis  and  Cornus  suecica 
sent  me  from  near  Pickering  the  other  day.  Both  are 
very  common  in  Norway,  where  also  I  found  Menziesia 
caerulea,  and  many  other  of  our  chief  British  varieties. 

"  With  kindest  remembrances  and  love  to  the  children, 

"Yours  sincerely, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 


The  Bishop  as  a  Botanist  455 

"  BiSHOPGARTH,  WaKEFIELD,  AtlgUSt  21,   1896, 

"  Dear  Mr.  Hanbury, 

"  I  return  your  maps  with  many  thanks.  Alas  ! 
though  at  your  suggestion  I  wrote  a  fortnight  before- 
hand to  Inchnadamff,  they  had  no  beds,  so  we  could  not 
get  there.  We  went  to  Scourie,  spending  two  whole  days 
there,  doing  Handa  Island  one  day,  and  driving  to 
Kylesku  Ferry  the  next.  The  only  thing  I  found  worth 
naming  is  Ajuga  pyramidalis,  where  you  said.  I  could 
not  see  Pyrola  uniflora  on  Handa,  nor  the  Malaxis  at 
Kylesku.  By  the  way,  did  you  notice  the  strange 
character  of  the  gorse  all  about  these  parts  ?  There  were 
young  plants  I  should  hardly  have  guessed  to  be  gorse — 
it  grows  so  long  and  lax  and  tender-looking,  with  very 
long  spines,  and  of  a  pale  green  colour.  The  young 
shoots  are  astonishingly  long  and  lax. 

"  With  many  thanks  for  your  kind  help, 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"  Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD, 

"  Kindest  remembrances." 

The  late  Bishop  Billing  succeeded  Bishop  Walsham 
How  at  Stainforth  House,  and  on  the  house  again 
becoming  empty  a  few  years  later  it  was  taken  by 
Mr.  Hanbury,  who  still  cherishes  some  plants  placed  there 
by  Bishop  How.  Of  these,  special  mention  may  be  made 
of  the  Potentilla  rupestris,  which  the  Bishop  found  on  the 
Breidden  hills  and  brought  to  London.  This  plant  still 
flourishes  to  such  an  extent  that  Mr.  Hanbury  has  been 
able  to  sub-divide  it. 

In  1888  came  the  move  to  Wakefield.  Truly  the 
Bishop's  gardens  may  be  said  to  have  deteriorated  with 


456  Bishop  Walsham  How 

every  move.  The  London  garden,  though  well  cultivated 
and  delightful,  could  not  be  compared  with  the  large  and 
beautiful  garden  at  Whittington.  The  Wakefield  garden, 
though  extensive,  had  so  recently  been  a  field,  in  which 
grew  masses  of  rhubarb  and  cabbages,  that  it  was  in  turn 
less  attractive  than  that  at  Stainforth  House.  Still  the 
Bishop  never  swerved  in  his  devotion  ;  although  much 
that  he  planted  perished,  and  what  was  left  was  eternally 
black  with  Wakefield  smuts,  still  he  laboured  on,  and  took 
great  delight  in  the  carnations,  saxifrages,  and  other  things 
which  suited  the  locality. 

Among  his  chief  "  botanical "  friends  in  Yorkshire  may 
be  mentioned  Mr.  Claude  Leatham,  by  whose  kind  aid  the 
Bishop  was  enabled  to  stock  with  Alpine  plants  the 
rockery  which  he  constructed  during  the  last  years  of  his 
life,  and  the  Rev.  W.  Fowler,  of  Liversedge.  When  away 
for  his  summer  holiday  in  1895,  he  sent  the  latter  the 
following  delightful  lines  : 

"  Deradda  Lodge,  Connemara,  August  1895. 

"  Dear  Fowler,  I  think,  on  the  whole,  you'll  agree  with  me, 
This  place  is  delicious  (I  wish  you  could  be  with  me  !) ; 
But  especially  charming  to  one  who  has  got  any 
Fancy  for  fishing  conjointly  with  botany. 
Just  think,  when  on  land  from  your  boat  you  get  out, 
Having  captured  a  salmon,  or  ten  or  twelve  trout, 
As  you  lounge  on  the  margin,  enjoying  your  lunch, 
You  suddenly  find  that  your  cushion's  a  bunch 
Of  what  we  consider  our  fairest  of  spolia, 
Menziesia  to  wit,  species  polifolia. 

Then  to  stretch  your  cramp'd  legs  you  stroll  off  a  short  way 
And  lo  !  there's  the  heath  that  is  nam'd  from  Mackay ; 
Or  perchance  you  may  find  (you  know  it  most  rare  is) 
Another  heath  bearing  the  name  ciliaris ; 
Or  even  by  luck  one  outrivalling  any — a 
Bush  of  the  Erica  Mediterranea. 


The  Bishop  as  a  Botanist  457 

Then  look  in  that  ditch — there's  a  prize  for  herbaria  ! 

The  true  Intermediate  Utricularia. 

You  will  know  it,  without  any  flower  or  fruit, 

By  the  groups  of  small  bladders  apart  from  the  root. 

Then  in  casting  your  fly  you  hook  into  a  weed — 

Draw  it  in — why,  what  is  it  ?  a  rush  or  a  reed  ? 

No,  the  treasure  you've  hook'd  in  that  cast  so  unwary 

Is  the  Eriocaulon  septangulare  ! 

When  the  salmon  have  baffled  your  patience  and  skill, 

Take  half  a  day  off,  and  walk  over  that  hill. 

And  there,  on  the  rocks  (it's  no  fiction  or  phantom), 

Grows  the  real  unmistakeable  true  Adiantum  : 

While  in  that  little  lake  which  the  seabreezes  fall  on, 

All  full  of  Lobelia  and  Eriocaulon 

(In  vain  the  green  depths  of  its  waters  defy  us). 

With  a  gaff"  we  secure  the  much-coveted  Naias. 

Now  I  think,  my  dear  Fowler,  I've  well  proved  my  case, 

That  this  is  a  most  undeniable  place  ; 

And  once  more  I  wish  you  were  with  me  to  fish  up 

Big  trout  and  rare  plants  ! — 

'•  Your  affectionate  Bishop." 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  the  Bishop  as  a  botanist 
there  are  two  quotations  which  must  not  be  omitted. 
The  first  is  from  an  article  in  the  "  Leisure  Hour,"  written 
by  the  Rev.  F.  A.  Malleson,  M.A.  The  kind  of  "motto" 
at  the  head  of  the  article  is  a  quotation  from  a  letter  : 

"Fancy  my  forgetting  Broughton,  and  that  perfectly 
delicious  walk  with  you  up  the  Duddon,  and  the  Snow- 
flake,  and  the  Paris,  and  the  Cardamine  amara,  and  the 
TroUius,  and  the  Osmunda,  &c.  Why,  it  is  one  of  the 
brightest  little  pictures  in  the  gallery  of  my  memory. 

"  Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 

The  article  later  on  says  : 

"  Speaking  of  congenial  company  brings  back  to  me  the  remem- 
brance of  two  walks  in  the  Duddon  Woods,  on  each  side  of  the 


45^  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

river  Duddon,  which  bounds  this  beautiful  parish  of  Broughton- 
in-Furness  on  the  west.  The  first  of  these  was  in  the  company  of 
the  present  Bishop  of  Wakefield — at  that  time  Canon  Walsham 
How,  a  few  weeks  before  he  became  Bishop  of  Bedford.  It  is 
but  little  known  how  good  a  botanist  is  this  most  amiable  and 
energetic  chief  pastor.  After  greeting  many  a  flower  of  the 
district,  the  Touch-me-not,  the  Great  Sundew,  the  Spindle-tree, 
the  Larkspur,  the  Globe  flower,  the  Herb  Paris,  and  many  others, 
suddenly  he  left  my  side,  cleared  a  fence  at  a  bound,  and  dived 
into  a  wood,  out  of  which  he  brought  in  great  triumph  a  handful 
of  the  large-flowered  Bitter-cress  (Cardamine  amara),  which  I 
myself  had  never  discovered." 

The  other  quotation  is  from  an  address  given  to  the 
Wakefield  Paxton  Society  by  Mr.  J.  Wood,  F.R.H.S.,  of 
Kirkstall,  near  Leeds.  The  subject  was  "  The  late  Bishop 
Walsham  How  as  a  Gardener,"  and  in  the  course  of  his 
lecture  he  said  that  his  authority  for  what  he  had  to  tell 
them  was  throughout  personal.  When  a  great  and  good 
man  happened  to  be  a  bishop,  and  loved  and  found  time 
to  be  a  gardener,  they  must  feel  that  their  own  art  was 
well  stamped  and  emphasised,  if  not  patronised. 

"Besides,  who  more  than  a  good  man,  like  the  late  Bishop, 
could  win  minds  to  what  he  himself  appreciated  ?  How  well  he 
did  this  was  exemplified  by  the  fact  that  after  spending  some  time 
in  the  garden  he  would  be  summoned  into  the  house,  and  after  a 
short  interval  would  bring  his  visitors  out  into  the  garden  to  show 
them  what  was  going  on.  He  (Mr.  Wood)  had  known  several 
clergymen  brought  into  the  garden  in  that  way  in  the  course  of 

one  afternoon. 

***** 

"  They  could  also  imagine  that  they  saw  in  their  Bishop  a 
practical  admission  that  gardening  could  be  a  training  force  of 
thought  and  serenity  of  mind.  He  was  always  ready  to  own  his 
shortcomings,  and  equally  ready  to  point  out  the  pleasures  of 
gardening  as  one  who  knew  all  about  them. 


The  Bishop  as  a  Botanist  459 

"  The  Bishop  entertained  some  amusing  prejudices.  For 
instance  he  (the  lecturer)  found  one  of  the  best  Alpine  plants 
they  had  growing  on  a  rubbish  heap  at  Bishopgarth,  where  it  was 
thriving  beautifully,  but  he  felt  he  must  speak  to  the  Bishop 
about  it.  He  did  so,  suggesting  a  place  for  it  on  the  new  rockery. 
The  Bishop's  lips  tightened,  and  shaking  his  head,  he  laughingly 
said,  '  You  say  it  is  happy  on  the  rubbish  heap  ?  '  '  Yes.'  '  Then,' 
said  he,  '  let  it  stay  there :  I  could  not  tolerate  it  on  the  rockery  ! ' " 

Few  recollections  of  Bishop  Walsham  How  will  be 
more  enduring  to  those  who  knew  him  well  than  the  sight 
of  him  as  he  snatched  a  few  minutes  in  the  course  of  a 
busy  morning  to  walk  slowly  round  his  garden,  stopping 
every  yard  or  two  to  examine  a  tiny  flower,  or  impatiently 
to  pull  up,  and  throw  behind  him,  an  intrusive  weed. 
How  dearly  he  loved  his  flowers  and  ferns  it  is  difficult  to 
tell.  Wherever  he  lived  he  tended  them,  and  increased 
them.  Many  of  them  still  live  on,  and  bear  silent  witness 
to  his  care  for  them. 


CHAPTER   XXXI 

LETTERS  ON  SPIRITUAL  MATTERS 

A  CONSIDERABLE  portion  of  Bishop  Walsham  How's 
correspondence  consisted  from  quite  early  days  in 
answering  letters  on  spiritual  subjects,  and  advising  those 
who  in  this  manner  sought  his  help.  It  is  thought  that 
the  publication  of  some  of  these  letters  may  give  a  fresh 
insight  into  the  inner  life  and  thoughts  of  their  writer, 
and  may  perhaps  bring  help  and  comfort  to  some  who 
read  them. 

[Birthday  Letters^ 

"  My  dearest , 

"  I  will  seize  a  few  minutes  before  starting  for  my 
day's  work  to  write  you  my  warmest  greetings  for  your 
birthday.  May  God  ever  bless  you  more  and  more,  and 
make  each  year  fuller  of  peace  and  hope.  My  daily 
prayer  for  you  is  that  '  your  love  may  abound  more  and 
more.'  I  often  think  of  the  beautiful  spot  where  you 
asked  me  to  make  this  my  prayer  for  you.  I  think  the 
same  thing  is  what  I  too  most  need.  I  should  like  to 
think  that  we  ask  the  same  blessing  for  each  other." 

^^  December  14,  1887. 

"  Your  letters  are  always  a  great  delight  to  me  on  my 
birthdays,  aud  this  one  has  been  not  less  so  than  others. 


Letters  on  Spiritual  Matters  461 

One  leans  more  and  more,  so  far  as  this  world  is  con- 
cerned, on  the  long-tried  love  of  the  dear  ones  left  by 
God's  mercy  to  one,  and,  for  the  other  world,  one 
seeks  more  and  more  to  realise  the  hope  of  the  blessed 
reunion." 

"  Dear , 


"  May  God  bless  you  more  and  more  year  by  year 
and  bring  you  nearer  to  Himself  and  to  heaven.  I  do 
hope,  dear  child,  you  are  going  forward  a  little,  or  at 
least  sometimes  going  forward,  a  wave  now  and  then 
showing  that  the  tide  is  rising,  not  falling,  however  many 
waves  fall  short  between.  Don't  forget  Faber's  wonder- 
ful expression.  He  says,  '  When  all  is  known,  the  life  of 
many  a  saint  will  be  found  to  be  nothing  but  an  entangle- 
ment of  generous  beginnings.'  It  is  a  comforting  thought 
when  we  feel  what  very  beginners  we  all  are." 

"  Dear , 

"  May  every  year  bring  you  nearer  and  nearer  to 
what  you  would  be,  by  bringing  you  nearer  and  nearer  to 
God.  I  never  fail  to  pray  for  the  grace  of  pure  unselfish- 
ness for  you,  as  you  asked  me.  Though  others  do  not 
see  the  lack  of  it,  you  no  doubt  do,  for  selfishness  is 
a  curiously  subtle  thing.  God  help  you  to  detect  and 
escape  it.  Perhaps  it  is  a  little  delicate  shade  of  it  which 
makes  you  at  times  wrapped  up  in  your  own  interests  and 
not  of  very  ready,  or  perhaps  not  of  very  bright  and 
cheerful,  sympathy  with  the  lesser  things  which  others 
are  interested  in.  I  do  not  know,  you  can  perhaps 
find  out. 

"  God  bless  you." 


462  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

[To  a  girl  about  to  be  confirmed?^ 
"  Dear . 


"  To-morrow  will  be  a  very  solemn,  and  I  trust  a 
very  blessed,  day  to  you.  Perhaps  it  may  be  a  dis- 
appointing day  also.  For,  when  we  have  thought  much 
of  a  solemn  ordinance,  and  prepared  earnestly  for  it,  it 
very  often  is  so.  We  find  we  cannot  feel  quite  as  deeply 
at  the  time  as  we  thought  we  should,  or  as  perhaps  we 
did  in  preparing  for  it.  The  strangeness,  and  publicity, 
and  bustle,  attendant  on  such  scenes,  must  partly  check 
the  power  of  feeling  them  as  intensely  as  we  wish.  I 
know  I  found  it  so  at  my  ordination,  and  many  others 
have   experienced  this.     It  is  the  same  often   with  our 

first  communion,  and  I  name  this,  dear ,  that  you 

may  not  be  discouraged  if  it  should  so  happen  that  you 
are  a  little  disappointed  in  not  being  able  at  the  time  to 
realise  all  that  is  really  taking  place.     You  know  that  we 

shall  pray  for  our  dear  little that  God's  blessing  will 

rest  upon  her,  and  that  He  will  by  His  grace  make  her  a 
faithful,  consistent,  and  happy  Christian. 

"God  bless  you  and  give  you  a  large  portion  of  His 
grace  and  strength  to  meet  all  your  trials,  great  and 
small." 

[To  his  son  H.  W.  H.  on  being ordaitied Priest?^ 

''September  18,  1880. 
"  My  dearest  Harry, 

"  I  must  write  you  a  few  lines  to  reach  you  on  the 
day  of  your  ordination,  and  to  take  your  father's  truest 
and  best  blessing  to  you.  You  will,  I  know,  feel  the 
solemn  responsibility  of  being  called  to  the  high  office  of 
a  priest  in  the  Church  of  Christ.     May  you   well   and 


Letters  on  Spiritual  Matters  463 

worthily  exercise  the  stewardship  of  the  mysteries  of  God, 
and  be  found  faithful  ! 

"  Do  you  remember  how  Bishop  Patteson,  when  a  little 
boy,  longed  to  be  a  clergyman  that  he  might  make  people 
happy  by  saying  the  Absolution  ?  He  might  well  have 
added  the  celebrating  the  Holy  Sacrament  also.  I  have 
been  taking  as  one  of  my  Ember  subjects  this  week,  '  I 
brought  him  to  Thy  disciples  and  they  could  not  cure 
him,'  showing  that  their  impotence  was  because  of  their 
unbelief,  and  that  again  because  they  had  neglected 
*  prayer  and  fasting.'  These  I  took  as  two  great  principles 
of  the  inner  life,  devotion  on  the  one  hand,  including  all 
acts  by  which  the  soul  goes  forth  towards  God,  and 
self-discipline  on  the  other  hand,  extending  to  all  acts  by 
which  the  soul  turns  inwards  on  self  in  self-scrutiny, 
self-denial,  and  self-conquest.  Then  I  led  on  to  the 
thought  that  our  power  to  cast  out  evil  things,  either  from 
self  or  from  our  people,  would  be  proportionate  to  our 
use  of  these  two  great  strengths  of  the  inner  life.  I  name 
this  as  it  may  give  you  a  thought  for  to-morrow. 

"  Your  loving  old  Father, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  BEDFORD. 

"  God  bless  you,  my  dear  boy." 

\^To  afavourife  niece  on  her  death  bed?[ 

*' BiSHOPGARTH,  Wakefield,  May  23,  1893. 
"  My  precious  Niece, 

"  I  have  heard  from  that  Dr.  Pye-Smith  did 

not  think  he  could  do  much  for  you,  and  that  you  know 
you  have  just  to  bow  to  God's  will,  and  to  bear  the  cross 
He  sends  you,  and  to  wait.  It  is  best  to  know,  is  it  not  ? 
I  think  I  should  wish  it  myself.     We,  who  love  you  so 


464  Bishop  Walsham  How 

dearly,  would  have  wished  a  different  verdict,  but  God 
loves  you  better  than  we  do,  and  knows  better  too.  Dear, 
dear  child,  how  I  long  to  say  something  to  cheer  and  help 
you  !  But  when  one  has  to  face  the  great  realities  which 
one  talks  about  so  often,  it  makes  one  feel  so  shallow  and 
ignorant.  Well,  one  thing  seems  to  come  out  clearly  at 
such  times,  and  that  is  the  infinite  momentousness  of  the 
very  simplest  old  truths  compared  with  many  of  the 
things  which  occupy  men's  minds,  and  are  made  subjects 
of  dispute.  I  mean  such  things  as  repentance  and  faith, 
the  looking  inwards  with  shame  on  oneself,  and  the  look- 
ing outwards  with  trust  to  God.  .  .  .  The  facing  of  the 
great  problem  of  the  future  sets  things  so  in  their  right 
proportion,  and  makes  the  great  things  so  great,  and  the 
little  things  so  little.  I  often  question  myself,  to  take 
another  instance,  as  to  my  love  to  the  Saviour,  and  it  often 
makes  me  ashamed  to  feel  how  dim  and  cold  and  feeble 
the  love  is  :  sometimes  I  even  doubt  whether  it  is  there  at 
all.  .  .  .  But  sometimes  I  like  to  fancy  that  if  I  were  laid 
aside  by  some  sickness  or  infirmity,  and  knew  I  should  do 
no  more  active  work  for  Him,  and  all  this  busy  life  faded 
away  into  the  background,  and  I  had  only  to  think  and 
remember  and  prepare,  I  might  find  the  love  had  not 
quite  gone  out,  and  He  might  fan  it  up  into  a  little  flame, 
in  the  light  of  the  glow  of  which  I  might  look  up  with  a 
smile,  and  whisper,  '  Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee.' " 

"  BiSHOPGARTH,  WaKEFIELD,  y«;>i^  I3,   1893. 

"My  dearest  Child, 

"...  I  am  thinking  a  good  deal  about  faith  now, 
for  I  have  been  writing  an  instruction  on  it  for  a  retreat. 
.  .  .  Well,  after  all  we  walk  by  faith,  and  not  by  sight 
now.     But  what  \vill  it  be  when  faith  turns  into  sight, 


Letters  on  Spiritual  Matters  465 

and  we  sec  the  King  in   His  beauty.      Dearest  ,  it 

must  be  very  sweet  and  very  glorious  to  see  and  be  with 
Him.     God  bless  you  always. 

"  Your  loving  old  Uncle." 
[7b  his  brother  after  a  death  in  the  family^ 

"  BiSHOPGARTH,  WaKEFIELD,  y««5  29,  1893. 

"  How  merciful  it  has  all  been  for  her  !  I  was  dreading 
a  long  sad  time  of  clouded  mind,  though  I  prayed  with 
her  that  there  might  not  be  loss  of  mind  or  memory,  if  it 
were  God's  will.  We  went  to  our  morning  prayer  in  the 
chapel  just  after  reading  the  letters,  and  sang  as  our 
Saint's-day  hymn,  '  For  all  Thy  saints  who  from  their 
labours  rest.'  So  much  of  it  came  home  to  me  with  new 
meaning  to-day.  My  heart  is  very  full,  my  one  dear 
brother,  and  I  long  to  be  with  you.  It  does  comfort 
me  to  believe  that  to  '  depart  and  be  with  Christ '  is  *  far 
better '  than  to  stay  longer  here.  And  we  old  ones  shall 
not  have  so  very  long  to  stay  now,  and  we  may  sureh'^ 
rejoice  in  the  thought  of  the  reunion  within  the  veil. 
God  bless  you  and  all  of  you. 

"  Your  loving  old  Brother, 

"W.  w.  w." 

On  Prayers  for  the  Dead. 

"  The  Vicarage,  Halifax,  y«/>'  i6,  1893. 

"  I  must  begin  by  thanking  you  for  yours  of  the  13th  in 
which  you  speak  about  Canon  Swayne's  book.  I  wholly 
agree  with  what  you  say  as  to  the  Onesiphorus  argument. 
I  have  said  it  again  and  again.  It  is  at  best  a  probable 
assumption  that  he  was  dead,  but  by  no  means  a  cer- 
tainty ;  and,  even  if  it  were,  the  words  'the  Lord  have 

20 


466  Bishop  Walsham  How 

mercy,'  &c.,  can  only  by  the  most  forced  construction  be 
cited  as  a  prayer  for  the  dead.  They  are,  as  you  say,  a 
pious  wish.  At  any  rate,  to  build  a  whole  system  on  this 
passage  is  to  build  a  pyramid  on  its  point.  At  the  same 
time  I  am  far  from  condemning  prayer  for  the  dead.  If 
there  be  accessions  of  light  and  knowledge,  and  possibili- 
ties of  growth  and  progress,  after  death,  as  surely  we  may 
believe,  there  seems  nothing  wrong  in  prayers  for  such 
blessings.  Even  forgiveness  of  sin,  I  think,  may  be 
prayed  for,  if  we  once  allow  that  prayer  for  pardon  can 
prevail  at  all  (in  lifetime,  I  mean).  I  know  some 
hold  that  prayer  for  another's  pardon  can  only  mean  for 
that  other's  repentance  as  a  condition  of  pardon.  But  I 
think  St.  James'  words  must  mean  more  than  this.  Then, 
if  sin  is  forgiven  at  all  upon  the  prayer  of  another,  I  see 
no  real  ground  for  drawing  an  arbitrary  line  at  death. 
But  I  prefer  the  cautious  and  self-restrained  practice  of 
the  primitive  Church.  It  seems  to  have  been  quite  a 
recognised  practice  among  the  Jews  to  pray  for  the  dead, 
and  the  early  Christians  did  not  discontinue  it,  but  prayed 
for  '  light,  and  peace,  and  a  blessed  resurrection  '  for  their 
dear  ones  departed. 

"...  I  have  since  always  prayed  in  the  words  I  have 
quoted." 

[To  the  same.] 

''July  19,  1893. 

"  You  may  like  to  know  the  actual  words  I  use  daily  : 
*  Into  the  hands  of  Thy  fatherly  goodness  I  commend  my 
dear  ones  at  rest,  humbly  beseeching  Thee  that  they  may 
be  precious  in  Thy  sight.  Grant  them  light,  and  peace, 
and  a  blessed  resurrection.' " 


Letters  on  Spiritual  Matters  467 

•  \To  Mr.  Claude  Leatham.] 

"  BiSHOPGARTH,  WAKEFIELD,ya«?^fl;-J  l6,   1896. 

"My  dear  Leatkam, 

"  My  brother  sent  me  Mr.  Chambers's  book,  *  Our 
Life  after  Death/  about  three  or  four  months  ago,  asking 
me  my  opinion  about  it.  I  read  it  then  rather  hastily, 
and  have  now  read  the  more  important  parts  over  again. 
I  confess  it  impresses  me  much.  The  great  difficulty  it 
seeks  to  remove  has  been  troubling  me  often,  and  I  have 
felt  how  difficult  it  is  to  answer  one  alleging  the  objection 
stated  on  p.  172  without  allowing  that  God  may  have  deal- 
ings with  souls,  which  we  know  not  of,  after  death." 

[The  difficulty  referred  to  is  thus  stated  :  If  a  Christian  admits 
that  God  is  infinitely  good,  merciful,  and  just,  how  is  it  that 
nine-tenths  of  our  race  are  permitted  to  perish  because  God  has 
suffered  them  to  be  born,  and  to  live,  under  circumstances  where 
there  has  not  been  the  ghost  of  a  chance  of  their  being  saved  ?] 

"  I  have  for  many  years  seen  the  reasonableness  of 
allowing  that  the  soul  may  advance  in  knowledge  and 
love  in  the  unseen  world  between  death  and  resurrec- 
tion, but  I  have  never  quite  accepted  the  much  larger 
deductions  which  Mr.  Chambers  presses,  I  think  mainly 
because  they  have  seemed  so  different  from  my  early  teach- 
ing and  belief.  ...  I  do  not  think  the  Scriptural  argu- 
ment at  all  conclusive,  the  two  great  passages  of  St.  Peter  " 
["  by  which  also  He  went  and  preached  unto  the  spirits 
in  prison,"  and  "  For  this  cause  was  the  Gospel  preached 
also  to  them  that  are  dead  "]  "  being  generally  interpreted 
quite  differently.  The  preaching  in  the  former  passage  is 
literally  proclaiming,  and  has  been  generally  understood 
as  speaking  of  our  Lord  bearing  to  the  souls  in  the  place 
of  waiting — *  in  keeping  ' — i.e.,  in  Hades — the  great  news 


468  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

of  His  accomplishment  of  the  work  of  Redemption  : 
while  in  the  second  passage  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
'  to  them  that  are  dead  '  is  usually  understood  as  meaning 
while  they  were  alive.  But  I  would  not  affirm  that  these 
passages  could  not  bear  Mr.  Chambers's  meaning. 

"  Perhaps  the  most  startling  thing  in  the  book  is  the 
advocacy  of  what  is  called  '  conditional  immortality/  in 
that  part  which  argues  for  the  final  extinction  and  anni- 
hilation of  the  wicked.  One  feels  so  dreadfully  ignorant 
in  the  face  of  these  tremendous  questions.  May  God 
teach  us  by  His  Holy  Spirit,  and  show  us  the  truth. 

"  Very  sincerely  yours, 

"  Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 

"  P.S.  I  have  tried  hitherto  to  satisfy  myself  with  the 
thought  that  an  omniscient  God  would  know  exactly 
what  each  one,  dying  'without  a  chance,'  would  have 
done  had  the  offer  been  made  and  the  chance  given. 
But  of  course  this  shuts  out  moral  choice  and  disciphne, 
which  seem  essential  elements  in  the  salvation  of  moral 
beings." 

In  the  autumn  of  1894  the  Reverend  W.  F.  Norris  was 
in  great  trouble  owing  to  the  fatal  illness  of  one  of  his 
children.  He  received  the  following  letter  from  the 
Bishop. 

"Scarborough,  October  2,  1894. 
"  My  very  dear  Bill, 

"  I  am  seizing  a  few  minutes  during  a  quiet  day  I  am 
conducting  for  the  clergy  here,  to  write  a  line  to  you  only 
just  that  you  may  know  I  am  thinking  much  of  you  all. 
I  got  a  postcard  this  morning  telling  me  you  could  not 
spare  the  children  [whom  he  had  invited  to  Bishopgarth], 


Letters  on  Spiritual  Matters  469 

and  had  scarcely  any  hope.     I  can  only  say,  God  be  with 

you  and  comfort  and  support  you  all.     How  could  we 

bear  these   things   if   we   did    not   know   of  God's   love 

and  wisdom,  and  had  not  the  bright  and  blessed  hope 

of  the  Beyond  ?      Thank  God  for  the  revelation  He  has 

given  us  of  the  peace  and  bliss  of  Paradise,  and  of  the 

greater  and  more  glorious  things  in  the  resurrection  life 

to  come  !     I  like  to  think  how  the  soul  may  grow  in  the 

unseen  world,  gaining  ever  fresh  accesses  of  light  and 

knowledge.     Surely  it  cannot  be  wrong  to  pray  for  our 

loved  ones  beyond  the  veil,  as  the  early  Church  did  so 

freely,  and   yet  so  guardedly  and  reverently,  asking  for 

'  light  and  peace,  and  a  blessed  resurrection.'  .  .  . 

"  Novv^  I  must  go  back  to  church.     With  many  loving 

thoughts  of  sympathy  for  you  all,  and  dear  love  to  the 

children, 

"Your  loving  old  friend, 

"Wm.  WALSHAM  WAKEFIELD." 

And  again,  writing  a  letter  of  birthday  wishes  to  the 
same  in  the  following  February  ; 

"  You  will  sorely  miss  one  little  voice,  and  one  little 
smile  of  birthday  greeting  this  time.  May  not  a  stronger 
and  purer  birthday  prayer  be  going  up  for  you  in  Para- 
dise ?  " 

On  Spiritual  Difficulties. 

"  My  poor  Child, 

"  Though  you  say  it  is  not  your  health  which  makes 
you  so  unhappy,  I  am  sure  it  has  something  to  do  with  it. 
But  though  I  believe  this  to  be  so,  I  must  not  tell  you 
that  this  should  make  you  content  to  be  as  you  are,  as 
though    it  were   a   sufBcient  excuse.     Plainly  you  must 


470  Bishop  Walsh  am  How 

make  one  more  of  those  starts  which  you  have  so  often 
made,  and  which  have  so  often  failed.  This  state  of 
deadness  and  apathy  will  not  do.  It  is  not  safe.  You 
must  rouse  yourself  out  of  it,  and  make  new  efforts,  hard 
and  disheartening  though  it  be.  It  is  sadly  disheartening^ 
I  know  well,  to  begin  and  fail  so  often,  but  what  else  is  to 
be  done  ?  You  are  not  going  to  give  up,  and  aim  at  that 
recklessness  which  you  say  might  be  happier.  It  would 
not  be  happier,  thank  God !  He  will  not  let  you  be  content, 
and  your  very  dissatisfaction  is  a  sign  of  that.  When 
Satan's  'goods  are  in  peace,'  then  is  the  really  desperate 
danger.  As  long  as  his  prisoners  even  dash  themselves 
against  their  prison  bars,  it  is  a  proof  that  they  do  want 
to  escape — and  '  Lord,  Thou  knowest  all  my  desire,  and 
my  groaning  is  not  hid  from  Thee.'  Say  this,  dear  child, 
sometimes  in  your  heart  as  you  go  along  your  weary  way, 
and  perhaps  God  will  sometimes  let  you  see  more  light. 
Thank  Him  for  the  times  when  you  have  been  allowed  to 
pray  truly.  One  thing  more.  You  speak  of  your  inter- 
cession, and  say  you  can  hardly  think  it  worth  making  in 
the  midst  of  such  a  life  as  your  inner  life  is.  I  believe 
God  often  allows  us  to  learn  to  pray  for  self  through 
intercession  for  others.  It  not  unfrequently  is  the  form 
of  prayer  which  most  helps  the  soul.  When  our  Lord 
Himself  was  going  forth  to  Gethsemane  and  Calvary,  He 
offered  His  great  intercession,  possibly,  in  His  oneness 
with  us,  lightening  the  inner  cross  by  the  escape  from 
thoughts  of  self  into  thoughts  of  others.  God  bless  you 
and  help  you  once  more  to  turn  your  soul  Zionward,  and 
to  start  afresh.  I  can  never  forget  you,  though  I  feel 
sadly  as  you  do  about  my  intercessions  for  others." 


Letters  on  Spiritual  Matters  471 

"  Dear , 

"  I  must  find  time  to-day  to  write  you  a  few  lines 
just  to  cheer  and  encourage  you  now  you  are  once  more 
at  work,  and  perhaps  tried  rather  severely  by  the  old 
temptations.  I  do  trust,  dear  child,  you  are  striving — 
striving  in  a  better  strength  than  your  own — to  conquer 
your  besetting  fault.  Do  summon  up  courage  to  ask 
forgiveness  of  it — not  alone  from  God — when  you  fall 
into  it.  Why  not  say  at  once,  '  I  beg  your  pardon.  I 
am  very  sorry.'  I  think,  dear,  it  would  really  help  you. 
I  am  afraid  you  are  too  much  inclined  to  bear  on  others 
for  help  and  not  to  stand  firmly  in  higher  strength.  You 
know  you  will  soon  be  a  woman,  and  then  must  have  a 
more  formed  and  settled  character,  one  way  or  the  other. 
Only  remember  the  character  may  be  formed  and  settled 
into  a  habit  of  yielding  to  irritation  when  the  temptation 
occurs.  While  you  have  the  chance  do — do  battle  with  it 
and  show  that  you  mean  to  resolve  to  overcome  it.  I 
never  forget  you  in  my  prayers.  God  bless  you  and  make 
you  strong  to  withstand  in  the  hour  of  trial,  'and  having 
done  all  to  stand.' " 

"  Dear . 


"Do  not  expect  too  much.  Do  not  put  before 
yourself  as  an  aim  to  be  expected  that  you  should  not 
fall  back,  or  you  will  be  sure  to  be  disappointed.  But  let 
your  hope  and  aim  be  to  make  a  good  struggle  and  to  try 
your  best.  Above  all,  do  look  more  away  from  self  up  to 
God's  love.  You  must  believe  that,  for  it  is  true.  And 
you  must  not  really  think  that  His  allowing  wandering 
thoughts  and  dryness  in  prayer  is  any  sign  that  He  does 
not  love  you.  Nay,  I  think  your  very  helplessness  is  a 
plea  with  Him  for  His  pity.     You  must  not  mind  telling 


472  Bishop  Walsham  How 

me  openly  anything  you  like  ;  do  not  be  afraid  of  doing 
so.  I  am  so  very  glad  when  I  can  help  you  or  even  try  to 
do  so." 

"  Dear . 


"  I  was  grieved  to  read  your  sad  letter.  I  am  not 
going  to  tell  you  it  is  all  the  result  of  your  health,  though 
the  connection  between  body  and  mind  is  very  subtle  and 
mysterious.  Probably  you  are  right  in  rejecting  this 
excuse  or  palliation.  Anyhow,  I  will  assume  that  you  are 
right.  Now  this  state  of  things  must  not  go  on.  As  you 
say,  you  are  all  wrong.  And  the  question  is  what  can  be 
done.  I  don't  think  a  diary  will  help  you  much.  You 
must  not  set  yourself  any  one  thing  more  to  do.  Perhaps 
you  have  set  yourself  too  much  already.  Use  Mr.  Noyes's 
little  preparation  for  Holy  Communion  and  be  content 
with  that.  Don't  try  more,  only  try  to  use  that  really. 
Intercession  ought  to  help  you.  Set  down  the  persons 
and  causes  you  wish  to  pray  for,  and  go  through  them, 
not  dwelling  on  each,  but  remembering  each,  daily.  I 
say  this  because  this  ought  to  take  you  out  of  yourself,  and 
many  who  dare  scarcely  face  personal  questions  on  their 
knees  can  at  least  ask  things  for  others  for  His  sake  in 
whose  name  they  pray.  Don't  be  trying  to  gauge  and 
measure  the  amount  of  your  love  to  God.  Leave  that 
alone.  Think  more  of  His  love  to  you.  You  must  try 
again.  And,  above  all,  don't  be  ambitious.  Be  content 
with  very  little  expectations.  Just  try  to  pray  attentively 
and  to  do  your  duty,  and  even  if  it  be  ever  so  coldly  and 
drearily,  go  plodding  on.  God  knows  your  desires 
and  your  wretchedness.  I  will  pray  for  you  earnestly 
to-night." 


Letters  on  Spiritual  Matters  473 

"  Dear , 

"  I  should  not  attempt  what  is  technically  meant  by 
Meditation.  A  very  great  many  persons  cannot  do  it,  and 
when  in  the  London  Mission  I  gave  an  address  describing 
it  and  recommending  it  as  an  occasional  exercise,  Mr. 
Burrows  questioned  the  wisdom  of  doing  so,  on  account 
of  the  great  difficulty  of  the  practice  and  the  danger  of 
making  people  unhappy  by  failure  in  what  they  might 
think  they  ought  to  do.  Perhaps  he  was  right.  At  any 
rate,  I  am  sure  it  is  not  fitted  for  all,  and  cannot  be  done 
by  all.  So  do  not  try  this.  But  do  try  some  devotional 
reading.  It  is  better  it  should  not  be  much  daily.  Could 
you  not  do  it  best  at  night  ?  After  all  there  is  nothing 
like  the  Bible.  It  seems  to  satisfy  one  so  much  better 
than  any  other  book.  Try  some  of  the  more  practical 
Epistles,  such  as  the  Ephesians,  Philippians,  and 
Colossians,  and  read  not  more  than  six  verses  at  a  time, 
but  read  those  thoughtfully  and  prayerfully.  You  speak 
of  your  fears  of  not  being  able  to  bear  a  great  sorrow,  if 
God  should  send  it.  All  I  can  say  is,  if  God  should  send 
it.  He  will  send  strength  to  bear  it ;  but  why  should  you 
fear  to  ask  Him  to  spare  you  this  cross,  though  always 
with  '  if  it  be  Thy  will '  ?  God  bless  you.  He  will  bring 
you  safely  to  the  end.  Trust  Him  and  try  to  trust  Him 
cheerfully." 

"  Dear . 


"  I  could  not  tell  you  not  to  do  what  I  have  done 
myself.  I  went  to  Confession  years  ago,  not  because  I  had 
any  doubt  of  God's  pardon  of  the  past,  for  I  had  not,  but 
because  I  believed  it  would  help  me  to  realise  the  shame 
and  hatefulness  of  sin,  which  it  did.  As  a  means  of 
deepening  repentance,  it  seems  to  me  often  of  great  value, 


474  Bishop  Walsham  How 

as  well  as,  of  course,  in  the  case  of  inability  to  realise 
pardon,  which  is  the  case  the  Church  of  England  seems 
specially  to  contemplate  in  the  exhortation  to  Holy 
Communion.  If  God's  Holy  Spirit  is  leading  you  to  this, 
I  dare  not  counsel  you  against  it.  It  inay  be  a  great 
blessing  to  you. 

"  If  you  go  to  Confession,  I  pray  God  it  may  be  greatly 
blest  to  you  and  may  give  you  mych  comfort  and 
strength." 

\^To  his  brother  on  hearing  of  his  ii/ness.] 

"  OvERTHORPE,  October  29,  1892. 

"  Dearest  Brother, 

"  I  was  so  glad  to  see  you  in  London  and  to  hear  all 
about  you.  It  is  no  use  hiding  from  oneself  that  to  be 
told  your  heart  is  some  years  older  than  the  rest  of  you 
is  an  opinion  to  make  one  rather  anxious,  and  yet  one 
knows  how  many  by  care  and  quiet  go  on  for  years.  .  .  . 
Well,  we  are  getting  on,  and  I  am  trying  to  familiarise 
myself  with  the  thought  that  I  am  an  old  man,  though  I 
do  not  feel  it  much.  But  in  December  I  shall  pass  into 
my  70th  year.  I  cannot  expect  to  maintain  the  strength 
and  vigour  God  has  so  graciously  given  me  for  long. 
It  is  a  thing  to  be  very  thankful  for  that  I  can  still  work 
on  a  bit  without  feeling  it.  But  oh  !  how  much  easier 
the  outward  work  is  than  the  inward  !  I  wish  I  were 
more  ready  for  the  'one  clear  call.'  I  always  seem  to 
be  just  beginning,  and  delight  in  the  words  of  the  aged 
St.  Ignatius,  who,  when  being  taken  to  Rome  to  be 
exposed  to  wild  beasts  in  the  Coliseum,  wrote,  '  Now  I 
am  beginning  to  be  a  disciple.'  I  shall  pray  for  you 
daily,  dear  old  brother,  with  a  new  petition  that  you  may 
be  spared  to  us   yet  awhile,  besides  that  which  I   have 


Letters  on  Spiritual  Matters  475 

prayed  for  you  since  our  talk  at  Capel  Curig.  God  bless 
you  abundantly.  After  seeing  you  I  went  to  Bishop 
John's  :  dear  old  Mrs.  Selwyn  too  ill  to  see  me." 

On  the  Marriage  of  Divorced  Persons. 

"  I  want  to  write  to  you  about  that  most  disagreeable 

affair, 's  intended  marriage.     It  is  very  disgusting.  .  . 

but  I  do  not  think  it  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  or  of 
man.  As  with  the  Deceased  Wife's  Sister  Bill,  the  Bible 
argument  is  a  very  difficult  one,  the  various  passages 
being  interpreted  in  very  opposite  ways.  When  I  was 
doing  my  '  Commentary  on  the  Gospels  '  (of  which,  by  the 
way,  the  S.P.C.K.  told  me  to-day  they  had  sold  143,000, 
and  237,000  of  my  '  Holy  Communion '),  I  tried  to 
work  out  the  question  as  carefully  as  I  could,  but  found 
it  most  complicated  and  difficult.  In  fact,  I  hardly  felt 
myself  able  to  come  to  a  decision.  Do  you  remember 
my  spending  a  day  with  the  late  Bishop  of  Lincoln 
(Wordsworth)  at  his  daughter's  at  Harewood,  near  Leeds, 
one  year  ?  I  had  then  a  good  talk  with  him  about  the 
question,  and  he  told  me  he  was  quite  convinced  the 
marriage  of  the  innocent  party  after  divorce  must  be 
allowed,  however  much  to  be  deprecated.  I  believe  a 
little  pamphlet  by  him,  which  I  have  not  got,  but  will 
try  to  get,  is  the  best  summary  there  is  of  the  arguments 
and  history  of  the  question.  After  dinner  last  night,  I 
asked  the  Bishop  of  London  if  he  had  studied  the  question 
and  had  formed  any  decided  opinion  upon  it,  and  he 
said  he  had  read  all  he  could  find  about  it,  and  studied 
the  evidence  of  the  early  Christian  writers,  and  un- 
doubtedly they  held  that,  while  such  marriages  were  to 
be  discountenanced  in  every  way,  they  were  not  unlawful. 
He  also  said  that  even  the  marriage  of  the  guilty  party 


476  Bishop  Walsham  How 

was  condemned  rather  on  moral  grounds  than  on  legal, 
it  being  pressed  as  a  grave  scandal  that  any  one  should  be 
allowed  to  profit  by  his  sin  and  gain  his  ends  by  it." 

On  Baptism, 

"  Dearest , 

"  I  am  myself  a  little  shy  of  insisting  on  any  moral 
inherent  change  in  Baptism.  The  expressions — sowing 
the  seed — implanting  the  life,  &c.,  are  common  enough, 
but  I  am  never  quite  sure  about  them.  I  rather  insist 
upon  the  new  birth  into  the  covenanted  family  of  God, 
the  seal  of  the  new  relationship,  the  admission  into  the 
new  state  of  privilege,  the  bestowal  of  gifts  and  promises. 
No  doubt  grace  is  given — and  not  only  grace  in  the 
sense  of  the  favour  and  privilege  of  an  adopted  sonship, 
but  grace  in  the  sense  of  that  help  to  our  weak  fallen 
nature  without  which  we  cannot  serve  God.  But  I  dare 
not  assert  that  this  latter  grace  produces  at  the  moment 
of  Baptism  an  actual  moral  inherent  change.  I  rather 
regard  it  as  I  do  the  Bible  given  to  the  child  at  its 
Baptism,  as  a  possession  ready  for  its  use,  and  in  reality 
the  source  of  all  good  thoughts  and  desires  from  the  first. 
Still  there  comes  in  the  difficulty  that  you  find  the  same 
good  thoughts  and  desires  in  the  unbaptized,  and  one 
must  never  adopt  a  theology  which  contradicts  facts.  So 
one  must  allow  that  God  works  by  His  grace  very  widely 
and  freely,  though  one  holds  that  that  grace  is  a  pledged 
and  promised  gift  to  the  baptized." 

On  Confession. 
[To  a  friend.] 

"  I  myself  have  always  felt  that  special  confession  was  a 
remedy  more  valuable  in  case  of  special  trouble  of  mind, 


Letters  on  Spiritual  Matters  477 

and  special  sin  weighing  on  the  conscience,  than  for  the 
general  dissatisfaction  with  oneself,  which  is  more  your 
case.  It  seems  to  me  that  our  Church  recommends  it 
exceptionally  only,  and  that  the  object  of  priestly  abso- 
lution is  to  comfort  and  assure,  ivhere  a  penitent  doubts  of 
pardon,  by  the  authoritative  pronouncing  of  the  sentence  of 
Christ's  forgiveness.  Of  course  there  is  also  the  direction^ 
which  is  a  secondary  object  of  confession,  but  which  may 
be  given  otherwise.  I  think  our  Church  does  not  contem- 
plate* confession  and  absolution  except  when  the  con- 
science cannot  be  quieted  otherwise,  and  reason  also  points 
to  abroad  distinction  between  trouble  on  account  of  special 
sins  and  a  general  sense  of  failure  and  shortcoming.  .  .  . 
I  believe  you  ought  to  seek  the  special  remedy  only  if 
you  cannot  quiet  your  own  conscience  with  the  assurances 
of  God's  Word,  the  reliance  on  Christ's  Atonement,  and 
the  authoritative  pronouncing  of  absolution  in  the  public 
services  of  the  Church." 

On  "  What  is  the  Church  of  England!  " 
\To  afriend.\ 

" seems   to    have    arrived    at   a   happy   state    of 


puzzle  on  the  subject  of  the  Church,  from  which  I  should 
like  to  give  him  a  lift,  if  I  can.  .  ,  .  He  has  got  the 
wildest  ideas  of  the  changes  in  the  Church  of  England. 
The  original  Church  of  England  was  founded  in  very 
early  days,  and  only  very  gradually,  and  after  continued 
resistance  and  protest,  fell  under  the  power  of  the  Roman 
Church.  At  the  Reformation  our  Great  Reformers 
studiously  endeavoured  to  discard  only  novel  errors,  and 
to  bring  back  the  Church  in  this  land  to  the  model  of 
primitive  times.     If  (as  is  true)  Calvinistic  doctrines  have. 

*  Private  confession  is  obviously  meant  here. 


478  Bishop  Walsham  How 

prevailed  more  at  one  period  and  Arminian  at  another, 
they  have  never  affected  any  of  the  great  CathoHc 
doctrines,  nor  caused  any  sort  of  interference  with 
our  formularies,  after  they  were  once  settled  by  authority. 

"  As  to  the  Church  becoming  Presbyterian,  or  anything 
else,  it  is,  of  course,  a  mere  error.  In  Cromwell's 
Protectorate  the  Church  was  driven  out  of  its  teiupornlities, 
and  Presbyterianism  set  up,  but  neither  did  the  Church 
become  Presbyterian,  nor  Presbyterianism  the  Church. 
And  if  the  State  were  to-morrow  to  enact  that  the 
established  religion  of  this  country  should  be  Romanism, 
or  Mormonism,  or  any  other  *  isui,'  it  would  not  affect  the 
reality  or  vitality  of  the  Church,  which  is  a  spiritual  body, 
neither  made  nor  unmade  by  States  and  Governments. 

Thus will  see  that,  instead  of  the  Church  of  England 

being  '  not  a  bit  alike '  at  various  parts  of  its  history,  it 
has  in  reality  been  entirely  '  alike,'  maintaining  ever  since 
the  Reformation  the  same  (with  the  slightest  alterations 
only)  standards  of  doctrine  and  forms  of  worship.  It  is 
one  of  the  strong  points  of  our  Church  that  it,  while 
maintaining  its  great  central  truths  and  beautiful  formu- 
laries, is  able  to  suffer  within  its  wide  embrace  much 
swaying  and  counter-swaying  of  private  opinion. 

"  I  am  sure  the  more  we  stick  to  it,  and  try  to  imbibe  its 
really  Catholic  and  wise  and  loving  spirit,  the  better 
Christians  we  shall  be.  I  do  earnestly  hope  that  the 
young  men  of  the  present  day  will  not  forsake  the  grand 
old  divines  of  our  own  Church — e.£:,  Jeremy  Taylor, 
Hooker,  Jackson,  Waterland,  &c. — for  the  pamphlet  and 
newspaper  controversies,  which  are  really  the  staple  of 
many  a  man's  divinity  in  these  days  of  haste  and  shallow- 
ness." 


Letters  on  Spiritual  Matters  479 

On  Work. 
[To  the  same.] 

"  You  know  that  I  daily  name  you  in  my  prayers,  and 
so  I  may  tell  you  that  what  I  always  ask  for  you  is  an 
increase  of  faith  and  hope  and  the  grace  of  perseverance. 
I  believe  that  these  good  gifts  will  be  granted  you  through 
the  medium  of  active  work  for  God  rather  than  through 
that  of  passive  contemplation.  I  do  not  mean  that  it  is 
wise  or  right  to  smother  thought,  but  eager  active  thought 
like  yours  does  want  outward  work  of  some  sort  to  keep 
it  true  and  healthy.  I  think  you  have  sometimes  found  it 
so,  have  you  not  ?  I  mean  that  even  the  attempt  to  do 
some  good  to  others  has  given  you  a  restful  feeling,  and 
seemed  to  make  things  more  true  because  more  real. 
***** 

"  I  begin  to  feel  we  must  never  fret  to  see  things  very 
imperfect,  but  be  thankful  if  only  the  good  in  them  is 
more  than  the  evil.  This  is  true  of  ourselves,  too,  only 
we  must  not  be  satisfied  merely  to  have  the  balance  on 
the  right  side,  and  so  stop  trying.  But  I  do  not  think 
you  will  be  too  easily  satisfied  with  yourself.  May  we 
only  be  found  still  trying,  when  the  end  comes." 

[To  the  same.] 

^'•December  1896. 
"  My  dear  old  Friend, 

"  Once  more  I  write  to  greet  you  on  your  birthday. 

God  give  you  every  best  blessing.     I  can  hardly  believe  I 

am  seventy-three  !     I  do  not  the  least  feel  like  it,  and  it  is 

with  an  effort  that   I   realise  that  I   cannot  have  much 

longer  time  to  work  in.     I  am  afraid  life  becomes  too 

dear  to  me,  when  it  ought  to  become  less.     It  seems  a 


480  Bishop  Walsham  How 

hard  and  sad  thing  to  leave  the  people  and  the  beautiful 
things  one  loves  so  much,  when  it  ought  to  be  a  bright 
and  happy  thing  to  look  forward  to  better  joys  beyond. 
But  my  poor  faith  is  sadly  dim.  Well,  I  must  just  work 
on,  and,  when  the  time  comes,  'rest  in  hope,'  as  well  as  I 
can." 


INDEX 


Abbey  Church,  Shrewsbury,  40 

Absolution,  283 

Addington,  177 

Additional  Curates'  Society,  142, 

335 

All  Saints,  Margaret  St.,  offer  of, 
89 

Almondbury,  Mr.  Norris'  ap- 
pointment, 251 

Altar  linen,  287 

Ancestors,  11 

Appeal  case  under  Clergy  Dis- 
cipline Act,  270 

Appeal  Fund,  253 

Archbishop  Longley,  death  of, 

383 

Maclagan,  speech  by,  373 

Tait,  funeral  of,  178 

Thompson,  248 
Archdeaconries,  formation  of,  249 
Athanasian  Creed,  78 
Authorised  Version,  revision  of, 

71 

B 

Ballinahinch,  436 
Baptism,  476 
Baptist  Noel,  Mr.,  38 
Barker,  Rev.  F.,  loi 


Barmouth,  50,  225,  434 
Bateman,  Rev.  F.  la  Trobe,  106 
Bedford,  offer  of  Bishopric  of,  126 

appointment  to,  134 
Belcher,  Rev.  Dr.,  174 
Benefices  Bill,  335 
Benham,  Rev.  Canon,  383 
Benson,  Right  Rev.  Dr.,  159,  395 
Bible  and  Science,  the,  385 
Billing,  Right  Rev.  Dr.,  206 
Birthday  letters,  469 
Birthplace,  11 
Bishopgarth,  264 

choice  of  name,  266 

Wakefield  City  Council  and, 
265 

entertainments  at,  269 

mob  at,  308 

house  struck  by  lightning, 
269 

domestic  life  at,  271 

garden,  456 
Bishops,  address  to,  75 
Blomefield,  Lady,  271 
Boy  Hero,  the,  400 
Boyd  Carpenter,  Mrs.,  256 
Bradley,  Dean,  232 
Brighton,  199 
British  Association,  sermon  to, 

223 
Brook,  Rev.  A.,  146,  232 

2H 


482 


Index 


Brooke,  Archdeacon,  230,  233 

Brougham,  Lord,  119 

Browne,  Right  Rev.  Dr,  Harold, 

139.  231 
Browning,  Robert,  193 
Burgon,  Dean,  140 
Burrows,  Canon  H.  W.,  119,  224 
Butler,  Dr.,  and  Tennyson,  407 
"  Buttered  Toast,"  423 


Cannes,  115 

Capetown,  offer  of  Bishopric  of, 

89 
Cathedral,  first  sermon  in  Wake- 
field, 249 
first  ordination  in,  245 
Clergy  House,  279 
Cecil,  Lord  William,  371 
Chapel,  laying  foundation-stone 

of,  264 
Children,   letters   to   and    from, 

423.  425 

stories  to,  420 

about,  427 

the  Bishop  a  writer  for,  388 
Children's  Bishop,  the,  418 

party,  428 

services,  153,  430 
Church  of  England,  the,  477 

Congress,  Shrewsbury,  349 

Wolverhampton,  59 

Hymns,  411 
Clarke,  Canon  Erskine,  59 
Claughton,  Right   Rev.  Dr.,  28, 
118,  138,  231 

Miss  Lucy,  400 
Clergy,  dealings  with,  291 

Discipline  Bill,  327 
Closed  Door,  the,  409 
Clough,  Arthur  Hugh,  20 
Colliery  strike,  307 
Commentary  on  the  Gospels,  52, 
382 


Commission  of  Inquiry,  250 
Community,  Canon  Gore's,  362 
Confession,  283,  476 
Confirmations,  293 

of  H.R.H.  Princess  Louise 
of  Schleswig-Holstein,  196 
Congreve,  Mr.  Richard,  22 
Consecration,  the  Bishop's,  147 
Co-operative  Congress,  sermon 

to, 311 
Cuddesdon,  92 
Curacy,  selection  of,  27 

D 

Day's  engagements,  a,  177 

D.D.  degree,  192 

Death  of  the  Bishop,  369 

of  his  eldest  child,  50 

of  his  father,  54 

of  his  wife,  222 
Dhulough,  367,  446 
Diaries,  47 
Diocesan  chaplain,  294 

Synod,  255 
Dissenters,  88,  197 
Dogs,  13 

Domestic  chaplains,  292 
Donne,    appointment    of    Arch- 
deacon, 266 
Douglas,  Isle  of  Man,  69 

Rev.  W.  W.,  35 
Drowning,  escape  from,  69 
Durham,  26 

refusal  of  See  of,  312 

E 

East   London,   first    suggestion 
of,  115 
introduction  to,  152 
his  policy  in,  155 
Church  Fund,  156,  161 
spiritual  work  in,  169 


Index 


483 


East  London,  population  of,  171 

last  Sunday  in,  238 

farewells  to,  234 

Advertiser,ia.Tewe\\  lines,  239 
Ecclesiastical      Commissioners, 

meeting  as  to  house,  260 
Edna  Lyall,  193 
Edinburgh,  accident  at,  340 
Education  Bill,  ^3^ 
Enthronement,  248 
Ember  seasons  at  Wakefield,  280 
Employers'  Liability  Bill,  326 
Episcopal  ring,  gift  of,  151 
Evolution,  386 
Examination  stories,  284 
Examining  chaplains,  280 
Exhibition  at  St.  Peter's,  Eaton 
Sq.,  348 


Fasting  Communion,  82 
Fathers'  meeting,  a,  175 
Featherstone  coal  riot  inquiry, 

307 
Flag  Loch,  435 
Financial  affairs,  private,  317 
First  published  sermon,  64 
Fishing,  432 

stories,  445 
Foster,  Rev.  la  Trobe,  262 
Fowler,  Rev.  W.,  456 
Frankton,  53 
Friday,  observance  of,  33 
Funeral,  the  Bishop's,  370 


Glacier  accident,  183 
Glasgow,  Bishop  of,  183 
Glass-blowers'  strike,  305 
Good  Friday  services,  285 
Goodwin,  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Harvey, 

137.  232 
Goschen,  Right  Hon.  J.  G.,  190 


Grandchildren,  the  Bishop's,  360 
Grave,  letter  about  a,  296 
Great  Orme's  Head,  botany  of, 

450 
Green  Inn,  Llangedwin,  240 
Grenside,  Rev.  Canon,  302 
Guarantors  for  house,  257 

H 

Hall  Croft,  259 

Hanbury,  Mr.  F.  J.,  452 

Handwriting,  the  Bishop's,  53 

Hardy,  Thomas,  344 

Hawarden,  57 

Hilliard,  Rev.  E.  S.,  161 

Holy  Communion,  Manual  for, 

385 
Visitation  charge  on,  289 
Home  Rule  Bill,  Second  Read- 
ing, 324 
Hood,  Mr.  Wharton,  341 
Horbury  House  of  Mercy,  292 
House  of  Lords,  taking  seat  in, 

322 
Housing    of    the    Poor,    Royal 

Commission  on,  190 
"  How  I  learnt  to  see,"  391 
How,  Mrs.  Walsham,  49 

her  work   in  East  London, 

215 
her  last  illness,  221 
Hughes,  Right  Rev.  Dr.,  114 
Humorous  verses,  402 
Huxley,  Professor,  385 
Hymns,  410 


Illness  in  London,  the  Bishop's, 

365 
Inge,  Rev.  F.  G.,  112 
Ingelow,  Miss  Jean,  119, 193,  364, 

399 


484 


Index 


Inspector  of  Schools,  47 
Institution  of  Incumbents,  297 


Jackson,  death  of  Bishop,  204 
Jubilee  Service  (1887),  219 

Hymn,  351 

of  the  Bishop's  Orders,  350 

K 

Kennedy,  Dr.,  16,  394 

Kidderminster,  28 

Kitto,  Rev.  Prebendary,  85,  168 


Lambeth  Conference,  363 
Last  Visitation,  the  Bishop's,  359 

illness,  the  Bishop's,  367 
Lay  Readers,  293 
Leatham,  Mr.  Claude,  456 
Lectionary,  revision  of  the,  113 
Lecturing,  52 
Lett,  Dr.,  346 

Miss  Phyllis,  258 
Letters  to  one  on  her  deathbed, 

463 
to  one  about  to  be  confirmed, 

462 
to  one  about  to  be  ordained, 

462 
on  spiritual  matters,  469 
Lincoln  Judgment,  the,  83,  287 
Llanbedr,  51,  273,  338 
Loch  Merkland,  444 

Stack,  442 
Lodging-house,    address    in     a 

Whitechapel,  154 
London,  Bishop  of,  see  Temple 

East,  see  East  London 
Love  of  Nature,  19 
Lunatics,  letters  from,  296 


M 

Malleson,  Rev.  F.  A.,  457 
Manchester,  offer  of  See  of,  204 
Manning,  Cardinal,  332 
Mansion  House,  farewell  meet- 
ing at,  235 
Marriage,  the  Bishop's,  42 

of  divorced  persons,  475 
Marrow,  Rev.  W.  J.  W.,  274 
Memorial  at  Wakefield,  380 

at  Whittington,  372 
Men's  Bible  Class,  iii 
Mirfield,   appointment   of    Rev. 
H.  W.  How,  251 

Junction,  258 
Mission      at     Christ     Church, 
Albany  St.,  105 

at  Nortli  Malvern,  103 

at  Whittington,  loi 
Missionary  Conference,  336 
Missions,  loi 
Mixed  Chalice,  the,  288 
Moody  and  Sankey,  no 

N 

Nash,  Rev.  W.  Frazer,  162 
Natal,  offer  of  Bishopric  of,  53 
National  Society  for  the  Preven- 
tion  of  Cruelty  to   Children, 

430 
Nobody's  Club,  188 
Noel,  Mr.  Baptist,  38 
Norris,  Archdeacon,  106,  394 

Rev.  Canon,  384 

Mr.  Hugh  L.,  361 
Norway,  439 
Novels,  343 

O 

Offers  of  Preferment,  92 
Old  men's  dinner,  51 
Ordination,  the  Bishop's,  29 

Candidates,  Quiet  Days  for, 
98 


Index 


485 


Ornaments  rubric,  136 
Oswestry  and  Welshpool  Natu- 
ralists' Field  Club,  449 
"  Our  Bishop,"  173 
Overscaig,  435 
Overthorpe,  260,  302 
Oxford,  final  schools  at,  24-26 


Paget,  Rev.  H.  L.,  igg 
Palmer,  Mr.  William,  56 
Parish  Councils  Act,  326 
"  Pastor  in  Parochia,"  382 
Pastoral  visiting,  48 

Staff,  presentation  of,  249 
People's  Palace,  the,  220 
"  Plain  Words,"  42,  381 
Poems,  the  Bishop's,  394 
Lines  to  Una,  104 
Pontresina,  182 
Pradoe,  accident  at,  339 
Prayers  for  the  dead,  465 
Prince   of  Wales,    H.R.H.   the, 

190 
Princess  Christian,  H.R.H.  the, 

182,  217,  268 
Proctorship  in  Convocation,  71, 

184 
Profession,  choice  of,  17 
Purchas  Judgment,  the,  73 
Pusey,  Life  of  Dr.,  408 

R 

Retreats,  95 

at  Durham,  100 

at  Workington,  99 
Ridgeway,  Rev.  Canon  C.  J.,  103 
Ridsdale  Judgment,  the,  74 
Ripon,  Bishop  of,  377 

on  the  Bishop  as  a  hymn- 
writer,  411 
River  Ceiriog,  434 

Perry,  433 


River  Tanat,  434 
Rome,  winter  in,  54 
Rubrics,  Committee  on,  72 
Rudyard  Kipling,  366 
Rural  dean,  50 
Ruskin,  341 


St.  Andrew's  Undershaft,  127, 

131,  146,  162 
St.  Augustine  and  Monica,  120, 

225 
St.  John's  Home,  Wakefield,  366 
St.   Philip's,    London   Hospital, 

363 

Stepney,  342 
St.  Thomas',  Upper  Clapton,  179 
Salvation  Army,  the,  174 
Salwarpe,  38 

Sanderson,  Mr.  M.  E.,  444 
School  teaching,  47 
Selwyn,  Bishop  John,  139 
Sewell,  Miss  Elizabeth,  390 
Sharp,  Rev.  Canon  John,  292 
Shelford,  Rev.  Prebendary,  143 
Short,  Bishop  Vowler,  44 
Shrewsbury,  Bishop  of,  315 

School,  13 
Sites  for  See  house,  261 
"  Slumming,"  198 
Smith,  Rt.  Hon.  W.  H.,  327,  330 
Socialist  debate,  194 
Sonnets,  397 

South  Parade,  Wakefield,  258 
Spiritual  difficulties,  469 
Stack  Lodge,  338 
Stainforth  House,  132,  166,  455 
Sullivan,  Sir  Arthur,  352 


Temple,  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.,  208,  210, 

212,  224,  238 
Tennyson,  407 


486 


Index 


Thomas,  Archdeacon,  150 
Thornhill  colHery  explosion,  303 

Parish  Magazine,  242 
Tram-car  conductor,  the,  176 
Truth    tribute   to    the     Bishop, 
372 

U 

Una,  lines  to,  104 
University   and    PubHc    School 
Missions,  199 

V 

Verney,  Rev.  the  Hon.  W.  R., 

446 
Vestments,  73,  286 
Viceregal  Lodge,  Dublin,  191 

W 

Wadham  College,  Oxford,  16 
Waifs    and    Strays,    Church   of 

England  Society  for,  429 
Wakefield,  offer  of  See  of,  226 
welcome  from  Churchmen, 

243 
journey  to,  242 
See  house,  256 
Walrond,  Mr.  M.,  187 


Walsham  How  Memorial  Home, 
217 

Watchers  and  Workers,  163 

Waugh,  Rev.  B.,  388 

White  Cross  Society,  320 

Whittington,  43,  44,  45,  46,  242, 
448 

Whitwell,  Mr.  W.,  449 

Wilberforce,  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Ernest, 
440 

Wilkinson,  Canon  G.,  178 

Winchester,  offer  of  Canonry  of, 
123 

Windsor,  visits  to,  195,  361 
offer  of  Vicarage  of,  122 

Women's  Help  Association,  173, 

Wood,  Mr.  J.,  458 

Worcester  Festival,  37 

Wordsworth,  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Chris- 
topher, 138 

Work,  letter  on,  479 

Working  man,  letter  from,  317 

Worsley-Benison,  Mr.  402 

Wybergh,  11 


YoNGE,  Miss  C.  M.,  192 
Yorkshire  stories,  295 


^  fA^^^^f^Mi-Zn  *-^  Z'*-'-*^  '4-**—^  ^i^-i'^/C^  y-'/O 


y^^^     y/,.^    :^.,^    ^^a^ 


^4y\.eyl  o/  ri-Ue%.  *^*^ 


z-^-