Part 7 (1/2)
In the chancel walls, north and south, are triple windows in the same style, but with plain columns and white gla.s.s. Below the east window is a stone Reredos, having four panels with decorated arches on each side, north and south; with a central canopy of 3 compartments, nicely carved, and plain cross in the centre. This was carved and designed by Messrs.
F. Bell & Son, of Horncastle. The Reredos was due to a movement originating with the Girls' Club, then under the management of Miss Agnes Armstrong; a.s.sisted by contributions from members of the choir, a considerable sum of money being raised by them, for altar frontals and other fittings in the chancel. These, and other additions, were dedicated by the late vicar, Prebendary E. F. Quarrington, on All Saints'
day, Nov. 1, 1895.
The Organ, on the north side of the choir, is a good instrument. In the early days of the church an old organ was transferred from St. Mary's Church and placed at the west end, but this was sold in 1869, and for some years a harmonium was used in the choir. The present instrument was the work of Messrs. Foster & Andrews, of Hull, and has one manual, with pedals.
The Pulpit, on the south of the lofty chancel arch, is of stone, having 5 panels with dog-tooth borders, illuminated in gold and various colours; and having, within central circles, figures of SS. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the fifth having the cross with the inscription ”Feed my sheep.” The Reading Desk, on the north, is part of the chancel sedilia; this, with the Lectern, slightly carved, in front of it, and all the sittings, are of pitch pine, stained.
At the west end of the south aisle is a plain lancet window of one light.
The window corresponding to this, in the north aisle, has good coloured gla.s.s, in memory of the late Hugh George, M.D., who died in 1895. It has two subjects (1) The healing of the lame man by SS. Peter and John, at the beautiful gate of the temple, and (2) Luke, the beloved physician, ministering to St. Paul, in prison at Rome.
The west window is of two lights, narrow lancets with circular window above, having quatrefoil tracery. These are filled with coloured gla.s.s, given by the late Miss Lucy Babington of The Rookery, Horncastle, in memory of her parents, brothers and sister. The subject in the upper ”Rose” window is the Holy Dove descending; those in the window below are (1) our Lord's Baptism, (2) His commission to the disciples, ”Go ye, and baptize all nations;” (3) The baptism of a Jew (St. Paul), and (4) The baptism of a Gentile (Cornelius). {59}
[Picture: Holy Trinity Church]
Below this window, and in keeping with the subjects above, stands the Font, on a plain octagonal base. The bowl is circular and larger than that in St. Mary's Church. It is supported by 8 carved pilasters at the angles, with a central one; rising from these are narrow arches with dog-tooth moulding.
In the eastern part of the churchyard lie the remains of four successive vicars of Horncastle, and the wife of a fifth. A coffin-shaped stone, adorned with a full-length floriated cross, has this inscription: ”Thomas James Clarke, M.A., Vicar of Horncastle, died 14th May, 1853. Is any among you afflicted, let him pray.” This stone was put down by the Rev.
Edmund Huff, who was curate at the time of Mr. Clarke's death, and afterwards Rector of Little Cawthorpe near Louth.
An upright stone, the head forming an inverted overhanging arch, ornamented with dog-tooth pattern (copied from a panel in the church pulpit), has the inscription: ”W. H. Milner, Vicar of Horncastle, died October 3rd, 1868, aged 64.” Within the arch is a Calvary Cross, on the steps of which are these words ”He that believeth in Me hath everlasting life.” On the base of the stone is a quotation from the Burial Service, ”Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord, &c.” Near this a ma.s.sive decorated cross bears the inscription: ”Robert Giles, Vicar of Horncastle, died July 12th, 1872. Jesu, Mercy.” This is an exact reproduction of a granite cross in Willoughby churchyard, erected to the memory of the late Archdeacon Giles, the vicar's brother.
A gra.s.s grave, surrounded by a kerb, has resting upon it a full-length plain Latin cross, along the arms of which is inscribed ”Jesu Mercy.”
Surrounding the kerb is the inscription ”Arthur Scrivenor, M.A., Vicar of Horncastle, born January 13th, 1831, died August 27th, 1882.” ”Never resting, never tiring, in the endless work of G.o.d;” the latter words being a quotation from Dr. Mansel's _Life of Bishop Wilberforce of Oxford and Winchester_.
Very near the last tomb is the grave of the wife of the late Vicar of Horncastle, Prebendary E. F. Quarrington, now Rector of Welby, near Grantham; the plain slab bears the inscription ”At rest, Nov. 25, 1888.”
The following biographical notes may not be without interest. The Rev.
T. J. Clarke was a remarkable man; born in this neighbourhood, in a humble rank of life (his widowed mother occupying a cottage in Woodhall, where, to his honour, he frequently visited her, and supported her, during his vicariate), he was apprenticed as a boy to a tradesman in Leeds. A lady upon whom he attended, as she made purchases in the shop, noticed his intelligence; the result being that she sent him, at her own expense, to be educated at a good school, and, in due time, a.s.sisted him to enter at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he took Double Honours, and obtained a Fellows.h.i.+p. He was afterwards appointed to the Vicarage of Penrith, c.u.mberland, thus coming under the notice of the Bishop of Carlisle, who, as Patron, presented him to the Vicarage of Horncastle, on the death of Dr. Madely in 1845. With Mr. Clarke's arrival in Horncastle it was felt that a new era in church life had begun. He threw himself with characteristic energy into every kind of work, and at one time had 3 curates. To him was due the erection of Holy Trinity Church, and a great multiplication of Church services. The old vicarage, a poor house close to St. Mary's churchyard, was pulled down, and he rented the house in South Street, with extensive gardens, which afterwards became the residence of Major Armstrong and now occupied by Mrs. Howland.
Notwithstanding his heavy parochial work Mr. Clarke (as the present writer can testify) kept up his cla.s.sical and mathematical studies. He was also devoted to music, and a very skilful performer on the flute.
Although these were relaxations from his more serious parochial labours, the amount of mental work involved eventually told upon his health, and in the 8th year of his vicariate it became perceptible, even in his pulpit utterances, that his mind was affected. He had married a c.u.mberland lady, but all her care and attention was unavailing; he gradually collapsed into a condition of melancholy, scarcely roused by anything except the music of his piano. {60} The end inevitable was seen to be approaching, but unfortunately Mr. Clarke by his own act antic.i.p.ated it. Being accidently left alone for a few moments he took a pistol, which he had concealed in a drawer, walked out into the garden and shot himself, the overwrought brain rendering him no longer accountable for his actions.
Of his successor, the Rev. Prebendary W. H. Milner, who, like Mr. Clarke, had held preferment in the diocese of Carlisle, we have only to say that he was an able man of business, carried on the work of the church with great energy, and introduced many reforms. He built the present vicarage. He was the last vicar nominated by the Bishop of Carlisle. Of the next two vicars it may be said that their tenure of office was all too short, hard faithful labour cutting off the Rev. Robert Giles (as we have before stated) in 1872, after a vicariate of only 4 years; while the Rev. Arthur Scrivenor died, after 10 years work in the parish, in his 51st year, in 1882. Canon E. Fowler Quarrington succeeded him, and held the vicarage during 18 years, when he was transferred, in 1900, to the Rectory of Welby, near Grantham. The Rev. Prebendary Alfred Edgar Moore, formerly Vicar of Messingham, near Brigg, began his vicariate in 1900, being inducted into the benefice on August 24, in that year.
Horncastle, we may here add, has been well served by its Curates.
”Comparisons are (proverbially) odious,” we will not therefore refer to any of these in recent years; but we may take three typical cases of men whose memory is still green and redolent of good work.
In the latter years of the amiable vicar, Dr. Madely, he needed an active a.s.sistant, and such was the Rev. William Spranger White, of Trinity College, Cambridge, a member of a family of position, the head of which was his uncle, Sir Thomas Wollaston White, of Wallingwells Park, Worksop, High Sheriff 1839, and formerly of the 10th Hussars. Mr. White possessed independent means and was very generous. He was of a most sympathetic nature, and became greatly beloved by all cla.s.ses. He worked hard in the parish from his ordination in 1833 to 1849. {61} In that year he was selected by the Marchioness of Lothian, to take charge of an Episcopalian Church, which her Ladys.h.i.+p built and endowed at Jedburgh, Roxburghs.h.i.+re.
The church was opened with an octave of services, which were attended by the great Doctor Hook of Leeds, who had recommended Mr. White to her Ladys.h.i.+p. The father of the present writer, and many leading clergymen from this neighbourhood, and various parts of England and Scotland, attended the opening services. Mr. White remained there for some years, and married the eldest daughter of Lord Chancellor Campbell, who resided at Hartrigg House, near Jedburgh. This marriage led to his subsequent return to England, being appointed by the Lord Chancellor to the Rectory of St. Just, near Land's End, Cornwall; at a later date promoted to the Vicarage of Chaddesley Corbett, near Kidderminster, Worcesters.h.i.+re; and finally in 1859 to the Rectory of Potterhanworth, near Lincoln, of which cathedral he was made an Honorary Canon, in recognition of his generous gifts towards cathedral improvements. Here he did excellent work until his death in 1893. {62}
We next take two of the well chosen curates of the Vicar, T. J. Clarke, who were contemporaries at Horncastle; Charles Dashwood Goldie of St.
John's College, Cambridge, where he took Mathematical Honours in 1847, was ordained as Curate of Horncastle in 1848. An able preacher and indefatigable worker in the parish, he at once made his mark, not only in the town, but in the neighbourhood; he and his beautiful wife being welcome guests in many a rectory and vicarage. He was also a man of good social position and private means, and occupied a good house with large garden on the north side of West Street (then called Far Street), belonging to the late Mrs. Conington, within some 120 yards of the railway station, now occupied by Mr. Sills, and named ”The Chestnuts.”
Mr. Goldie being curate at the time when Holy Trinity Church was built presented the carved oak chairs within the communion rails. After leaving Horncastle he was appointed to the vicarage of St. Ives, in the diocese of Ely. The Goldies were an old Manx family; Col. Goldie, his brother, of the Scotts Guards Regiment, being President of the House of Keys, the local parliament. Their residence in that island is ”The Nunnery,” near the town of Douglas, so called from the ruin close at hand of an ancient priory, said to have been founded by St. Bridget in the sixth century. Mr. Goldies' nephew is the present Sir George Dashwood Tanbman Goldie, Privy Councillor, K.C.M.G., F.R.G.S., &c, formerly of the Royal Engineers, but latterly holding various Government appointments, director of several expeditions in West Africa, having travelled in Egypt, the Soudan, Algiers, Morocco, &c., and attended the Berlin Conference in 1884, as an expert on questions connected with the Niger country, where he founded the Royal Chartered Company of Nigeria. His latest honour (1905) is the Presidency of the Royal Geographical Society, in succession to Sir Clements P. Markham, K.C.B., &c.
The Rev. Thomas Castle Southey (a relative of the poet) was Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, where he took Cla.s.sical and Mathematical Honours in 1847. He was ordained in the same year, and held the curacy of Horncastle from that year till 1849. He was an able and scholarly preacher and persevering worker in the parish. On leaving Horncastle he became Inc.u.mbent of the Episcopal Church at Montrose, N.B., which he held for six years, when he became a.s.sistant Curate of St. Paul's Church, Brighton, under the Rev. Arthur Wagner; then Curate of the church of St.