THE CHURCH.

BISHOPS AND DISTINGUISHED ECCLESIASTICS.

WILLIAM of NOTTINGHAM, (d. 1251), was a Franciscan, as was also his brother who became Bishop of Laodicea. He (William) wrote a commentary on the Gospels. He hated crooked courses; was a faithful friend to those in trouble, '' thinking nothing of incurring the anger of the powerful for the sake of justice."

The Franciscan Order in Nottingham is said to have been founded in 1230, and William succeeded Hamo de Faversham, in 1239 as Minister General of the Order. When he had held the office nine years, for some unexplained reason, the Council of Metz deposed him, thereupon his English brethren unanimously re-elected him, but on his way to Rome, at Geneva, in attending to victims of the plague he caught it and died, and was buried at Marseilles. "A man most holy in God " is the testimony concerning him. (See an extended notice of him in Brown's "Worthies.")

HENRY de NEWARK, (d. 1299), was Rector of Barnby 1270, Prebendary in St. Paul's Cathedral—later of Southwell, became one of the Chaplains of Edward I, and was sent by the King to Rome on business relating to the Crusades; was afterwards employed in settling disturbances between the English and the Hollanders, and later on other State work. He took part in laying the foundation stone of the new nave in York Minster (1291), and five years afterwards became Archbishop of York, being consecrated thereto in 1298, but he died the year following. (See C. Brown's "Worthies," p. 32). He appears to have been more of a statesman than of an ecciesiastic.

S. de LEXINGTON

H. de LEXINGTON

O. SUTTON

C. MANNERS-SUTTON See "Families."

Thomas Cramner

MOST REV. THOMAS CRANMER, (1489-1556), Archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Aslockton, where "Cranmer's Mound," and "Cranmer's Walk," may still be seen, and there is in the adjacent Whatton Church an incised slab to the memory of his father, John Cranmer, 1501. The son " was placed under the tutorial care of a rude parish clerk. In the sports and pastimes of the period he indulged with boyish zest. He practised with the long-bow and cross-bow; used to hunt and hawk, and in horsemanship, of which he was specially fond, he became, for a boy, somewhat proficient." Upon the death of his father he was sent to Cambridge, where, devoting himself to his studies, he became B.A., and had a fellowship, which was forfeited by marriage, but on his wife dying, re-granted, and he became Doctor of Divinity, and was made Archdeacon of Taunton. At Waltham he was introduced to the King, and became one of his Chaplains. Here we enter into the disagreeable and unprofitable matters of the King's divorce, in which, looking from our present standpoint, there seems to be much in Cranmer's advice and acts that we must condemn. In 1533 he was made Archbishop of Canterbury, and took some questionable steps that we need not refer to.

He promoted a translation and publication of the Bible. He aided the light of the new learning, and the education of the people. He was a student whose pleasure was in books, and he became one of the most learned men of the day, and wrote a number of books, helpful to the people and to the government. He was a great collector of books. "The history of the Prayer Book down to the end of Edward's reign is the biography of Cranmer, for there can be no doubt that almost every line of it is his composition. It was a task for which he was well fitted." So says Canon Mason, his biographer.

Yet, this man, with all his learning, when the testing time came had a great fall! Queen Mary was on the throne, and zealous Catholics were in office and power, and death by a most awful process stared him in the face, and in the hope of saving his life he signed submissions and recantations, but was notwithstanding condemned to be burnt at the stake, and at the eleventh hour, on the morning of the execution, he retracted his recantations, which he had signed under the fear of death, and in order to save his life, and declared that the hand that had signed the papers should be the first to be burnt. The site where he was chained to the stake is marked by a stone in the pavement. The hand was held in the flame a good time before it came to any other part of his body. "This hand hath offended," he cried with a loud voice, and so he died.

The divinity in a man is tested, not by his falls, but by his recovery. David fell into a hellish pit of guilt, but in his agony cried, "Have mercy upon me, O God! Wash me! Deliver me!" and he lived to become "the sweet singer of Israel," while he is said to have "executed judgment and justice to all his people;" and Peter had a sad fall, for which he "wept bitterly," and lived to "feed the flock of God." But Judas fell, committed suicide, and went to his own place. For more than three and a half centuries the prayers, worship and thanksgiving of thousands—it may be millions of people—have, to some extent, been expressed, not in Latin, but in their own language, as written or collected by one man, at once "chaste, lofty, and pathetic," as described by Lord Macaulay, full of scriptural thought, adapted to every day needs, and having largely tended to form and settle our noble heritage of language.

RT. REV. GERVASE BABINGTON, (1550-1610), D.D., was Bishop in succession of Llandaff, Exeter, and Worcester. He was of the old Nottinghamshire family of Babingtons. At Cambridge he became known as "a hard student of theology," well acquainted with Hebrew and Greek, and afterwards "was a constant preacher and a laborious student.'' He preached at St. Paul's Cross. He published a number of books on The Commandments, The Lord's Prayer, The Beatitudes, "Comfortable Notes upon the Five Books of Moses," The Creed, etc.

RT. REV. WILLIAM CHAPPELL, D.D., (1582-1649), Bishop of Cork, supposed to be the author of "The whole Duty of Man," was born at Laxton, educated at Mansfield, died at Derby, and was buried at Bilsthorpe, in the chancel of the Church, but his monument is in the belfry. At Cambridge he became a college tutor, and acquired great fame in that capacity. Milton the poet was one of his pupils. He afterwards became provost of Holy Trinity College, Dublin, and subsequently Bishop of Cork and Ross. While at Cambridge he was regarded as a Puritan because of the strictness of his life, but in Ireland he was regarded as a papist through his love of ceremonies. He was impeached in the House of Peers. On his return to England all his books and treasures were lost in a shipwreck, and he was impoverished, and settled at Bilsthorpe, living with the Rector.

RT. REV. ROBERT SANDERSON, (1587-1663), D.D., Bishop of Lincoln. His connection with the county was slight. His father and the family were connected with the parish of Blyth. He was a Prebendary of Southwell Collegiate Church, and served as one of the Clerks in the Convocation, for the county or Archdeaconry of Nottinghamshire, in the former part of the Long Parliament. (Dukery Records p. 117). He was Rector of Boothby Pagnell, and became Chaplain to Charles I. who said of him, "I carry my ears to hear preachers, but I carry my conscience to hear Dr. Sanderson." He was Divinity Professor at Oxford, but refusing to take the oath of the Solemn League and Covenant, both appointments were forfeited, and he suffered great privation. After the Restoration he was made Bishop of Lincoln. He was the author of the Preface which now appears in our Book of Common Prayer.

MOST REV. RICHARD STERNE, (1598-1683), Archbishop of York, was bom at Mansfield, and was educated at the Free Grammar School there. He went to Cambridge, gained a scholarship, and was elected a Fellow of Corpus. He became Master of Jesus College, and Chaplain to Archbishop Laud, to whom he ministered on the scaffold. He was imprisoned in the Tower twelve months, and was then sent on board a ship, with a view to further punishment, but the storm passed over, and he was set at liberty, and became master of a School at Stevenage. At the Restoration he resumed his post at Cambridge, but was shortly afterwards made Bishop of Carlisle, where the Cathedral was in ruins. He had four years hard work in organization and restoration, and was, in 1664, made Archbishop of York. He gave £1850 towards the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral, and made over estates for the founding of scholarships, one of them being for Mansfield boys, which in 1861 was made an open one. He had a part in the Prayer Book as we have it to-day.

Edwin Sandys

MOST REV. EDWIN SANDYS, (1516-88), D.D., Archbishop of York, was at the time of the death of Edward VI. Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University, but favouring the succession of Lady Jane Gray, he was imprisoned by Queen Mary, and after a while released on condition of banishment. He went to Strasburg and elsewhere abroad, and having a large family he suffered much privation. In the first year of Queen Elizabeth he was at the head of a Royal Commission, the members of which held sittings at Nottingham, Southwell and Blyth, and reported on the deplorable state of the repair of the parish churches, the supply of clergy in charge, the services, books, etc. He, in 1570, became Bishop of Worcester, was translated to London, and in 1575-6 became Archbishop of York. He was one of the translators of the Bishops Bible, and one of the Commissioners for the revision of the Liturgy. He often resided at Southwell, and largely contributed to the restoration of the Old Palace. He died there, and his tomb is in the Cathedral.

RT. REV. THOMAS WHITE, (1628-98), D.D., Bishop of Peterborough, was born in Kent, but educated at Newark Grammar School, and went to Cambridge. He seems to have had a particular affection for Newark, of which place he became Vicar, and later Rector of All Hallows, and subsequently of Bottesford. He was Archdeacon of Nottingham. Having become Bishop of Peterborough he was one of the seven Bishops who refused publicly to read King James the Second's illegal "Declaration of Indulgence," and signed a temperate and suitable protest to the King accordingly. He was thereupon committed to the Tower, and appeared as a criminal at the bar of King's Bench, but was acquitted by the jury. He refused to swear fealty to William and Mary, and was deprived of his bishopric. In C. Brown's "History of Newark," the obverse of a medal is shown giving the heads of the seven bishops including Dr. White's. He left a legacy to the poor of Newark, and an excellent library to its church.

MOST REV. THOMAS SECKER, (1693-1768) D.D., Archbishop of Canterbury, was bom at Sibthorpe, in the Vale of Belvoir, where his father was what we should call a gentleman farmer, and a dissenter, who sent his son to schools and colleges kept by noncomformist divines; for the Universities were not then open to dissenters. When the student's training studies were completed, he hesitated as to entering the ministry, not feeling sure that he was called to the work. He thereupon became a medical student, and at Leyden in Holland he obtained the degree of Doctor of Physic. An opportunity having now presented itself whereby he could have the Oxford University course, and a living afterwards, he (in 1720) went and studied at Oxford, was ordained (1722), became Hector of Houghton-le-Spring, removed to Ryton, near Durham; was recommended to the King; became (in 1732) a court chaplain, and having good preaching abilities, with activity and geniality, he became popular, and by the Queen was appointed clerk to the closet, then Rector of St. James' (1733) the church the Court attended; was at the same time Bishop of Bristol (1734), and the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him. In succession he was Bishop of Oxford (1737), Dean of St. Paul's; and to crown all, Archbishop of Canterbury, (1753) which dignity he held ten years.

His usefulness was here best shown, for he was liberal in the use of money, in the building of churches, schools, parsonages, and in aiding Missions, Curates, Libraries, and Societies for the spread of religious knowledge. He was strongly in favour of appointing bishops to oversea mission work in America, but in this he was thwarted. He continued his friendship with Dr. Watts, Dr. Doddridge, and other noncomforming ministers, and John Wesley said the Archbishop did not regard the Methodist movement as a secession. He rose at six o'clock, and worked hard during the day. His medical studies he found very helpful among the people to- whom he ministered in his clerical offices.

William Warburton

RT. REV. WILLIAM WARBURTON, D.D., (1698-1779), Bishop of Gloucester, was born at Newark, where his father was Town Clerk, residing at Shelton and acting as Coroner of the County. His son, the future Bishop, after being articled as a solicitor, decided in favour of the church, and later on became Vicar of Greasley, and afterwards of Brant Broughton. In 1728 he, having devoted much time to observation and literary and theological studies, commenced what proved to be his greatest work, "The Divine Legation of Moses," and before, and later on, many other books and papers. He became the friend of Pope, and edited his works, and Pope when he died bequeathed half his library, copyrights, etc., to Warburton. He became Preacher at Lincoln's Inn, Chaplain to the King (1754) Dean of Bristol and, in 1760, Bishop of Gloucester. His wife was niece to Ralph Allen, of Prior Park, Bath, of Post Office celebrity. (C. Brown).

RT. REV. SAMUEL HALIFAX, (1733-1790), L.L.D., S.T.P., D.D., Bishop of St. Asaph, was born at Mansfield, and educated at the Grammar School there, and at Jesus College Cambridge, where he gained a scholarship. He became Lecturer, Regius Professor of Arabic, and later, Professor of Civil Law, on which subject he published a work comparing Roman and English Law. He became Chaplain in Ordinary to King George III. In 1778 Mrs. Gaily presented him with the living of Warsop, and two years later he became Bishop of Gloucester, and afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph. A marble tablet in Warsop Church tells of his learning, ability, industry, the elegance of his writing, and—what he ever held to be of paramount importance—the uprightness of his life, etc. (Rev. R. J. King's paper).

REV. WILLIAM PALEY, (1743-1805), D.D., was not a Nottinghamshire man, but when he was Sub-Dean of Lincoln Cathedral (1795-1805) he was also Master-Governor of Trinity Hospital, Retford, and the record says, "when that eminent divine, Dr. William Paley, became master of the hospital he appointed six additional brethren, and erected for them six new dwellings." (White). His famous book, "View of the Evidences of Christianity," was published in 1794, the year before his appointment to the Sub-deanery and Governorship.

RT. REV. WILLIAM OTTER, (1768-1840), D.D., Bishop of Chichester, the son of the Vicar of Cuckney, was educated at Cambridge, where he was ordained, and secured a fellowship. He became incumbent of St. Mark's, Kennington, and in 1830 first Principal of King's College, London, and six years later Bishop of Chichester. He there established the Diocesan Association (for the building of churches and the augmenting of poor curates' salaries), the Theological College, the Training School for Masters, and brought about the restoration of the Rural Chapters to their ancient use throughout the diocese. Bishop Otter's College at Chichester was erected by public subscription as a memorial.

MOST REV. W. MARKHAM RT. REV. ED. DENISON

VEN. G. A. DENISON

See "Families."

VERY REV. J. H. BROWNE, M.A., was, in 1840, Archdeacon of Ely, and Rector of Cotgrave. He published a Charge, which he as Archdeacon delivered, with a copious Appendix (together 264 pages), the general theme being the apostasy of the Latter Times, with strictures on some parts of the Oxford Tract system. The Dedication of the Charge was dated at "Cotgrave, September 1st, 1840." His attitude throughout was "What does the Bible teach?"

RT. REV. JOHN JACKSON, (1811-1885), D.D., Bishop of Lincoln and translated to London, was a member of a Mansfield family, his father, Henry Jackson, having removed from there to London, where the son was born. He went to Pembroke College, Oxford, and in 1835 was ordained, and became a curate in London. Being appointed Vicar of St. James's Church, Piccadilly—which has often been a stepping-stone to something higher—he was also Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen. In 1853 he became Bishop of Lincoln, which then had Nottinghamshire as a part of the diocese, an unwieldy addition, but in 1868 he was transferred to London, being regarded as a "safe" prelate. Among other books he wrote "The Sinfulness of little Sins," and he was the author of a part of" The Speakers Commentary."

The family property was at Mansfield, and shortly before his death he sold for building purposes the land known as "The Garden of Eden."

BISHOPS SUFFRAGAN OF NOTTINGHAM.

When the ill-conceived step was taken of separating Nottinghamshire from York, and subordinating it to Lincoln, it was decided to make a Bishop of Nottingham, as a Suffragan to assist the Bishop of Lincoln, an office of much delicacy, and requiring special grace.

THE RT. REV. HENRY MACKENZIE, (1808-1878), D.D., was in 1870 the first Bishop so appointed. He had been ordained at Oxford, and served as curate in Dorset, and as Vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and elsewhere. He became one of the examining chaplains of Dr. Jackson, Bishop of Lincoln, sub-Dean, Archdeacon of Nottingham, and Vicar of South Collingham. His health was not vigorous, and he resigned his charge in 1877, when a testimonial, with £1,500 was presented to him.

THE RT. REV. EDWARD TROLLOPE, (1817-1894), D.D., was appointed successor to Dr. Mackenzie. After taking orders at Oxford, he became Vicar of the family parish of Leasingham, in Lincolnshire, and was afterwards made a Prebendary of Lincoln and Archdeacon of Stow. In 1877 he was consecrated Bishop Suffragan, and spent, it was said, £4,000 out of his own pocket in the partial restoration of the old palace at Southwell, and also assisted in the work for the formation of the new diocese, but when it was accomplished, he was passed over, Dr. Bidding being appointed. He devoted himself largely to the study of church architecture and antiquities, on which he wrote many papers, being a competent and reliable historian. (See an article "A.N.C." in the "Nottingham Guardian," March 27th, 1924).

Rt Rev George Ridding

RT. REV. GEORGE RIDDING, (1828-1904), D.D. First Rishop of Southwell, was a Winchester boy, afterwards at Oxford, where he was very studious and successful, having single-mindedness, common sense, and prayer-fulness. In 1853, and for ten years, he was Tutor and Fellow at Exeter College, and, said the Rishop on his deathbed, "This day fifty-one years ago I was made Tutor and Fellow of Exeter, and I have been working very hard ever since." He was ordained in 1854. He became Second Master-of Winchester College 1863-1866, and Head Master 1866-1884, during which time he effected supreme changes, built six Tutors' houses, and twenty-six new class rooms were made, a Library opened, Rotanical Garden and Racquet Court given, Chantry and Chapel restored, and many other additions made, and the School transformed. His work was described as "enormous," and his benefactions very large.

A visit to the school by the Prince and Princess of Wales, and another visit by Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone, were followed by a letter asking Dr. Ridding to consent to be nominated as the first Rishop of Southwell. He undertook it, but it was a great task. Through the want of foresight on the part of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, Nottinghamshire had in 1841 been torn from the Diocese of York, to which it had been attached for twelve hundred years, and joined to Lincoln, a diocese already too large for one man to exercise complete supervision upon. Now Derbyshire must be torn from Lichfield, and married to Nottinghamshire, notwithstanding the old jealousies of the two principal towns, through the counties having anciently had only one Sheriff, and one jail, and the King's command for the men of Derbyshire to go to Nottingham to market (A.D. 1135) and the modern sore arising from Nottingham having opposed Derby's water navigation, and the head-quarters of the Midland Railway being placed at Derby; and, further, the two counties forming a dioceise of unwieldy size, and Southwell an inaccessible centre, and, to add to the difficulties, the Commissioners had in 1841 caused all the peculiar privileges of the Collegiate Church of Southwell to be dispossessed, and the canonries and estates transferred to Ripon and Manchester, and many livings were also alienated. Here then was required the energy of a giant to carry the gates of a new centre, and to form its roads throughout the diocese.

Dr. Ridding shrank from the cost of building a new bishop's residence, for the money was required for other purposes, so he settled at Thurgarton Priory, in order to be more accessible for travelling purposes; he then surrounded himself with suitable men to operate in various directions, and held conferences in all local centres, and formed diocesan societies and committees—more than sixty of them—for effectively carrying out religious study, social help, evangelistic effort, financial aid, etc.

The Bishop was not an eloquent or elegant preacher, but he was a hard worker, and his activity stimulated work in others. During his labours in the diocese sixty new substantial churches, and twenty-one district mission chapels were erected, one hundred and ninety-three churches restored, one hundred and eighteen of them having enlargements. Forty out of eighty of the worst livings had received a real increase in their annual income. He personally conducted 1,193 confirmations, having in the whole 72,330 candidates, being about half the occasions and persons so dealt with in the diocese.

He held special missions in various places, and lived on the spot during their continuance. He had triennial missionary meetings in the Cathedral with a view to excite increased interest. He had Quiet Days for the Clergy, to develop spirituality in study and work. He hated party societies, for he had large catholicity of mind. He inaugurated schemes for providing the poor with trained nurses. He was a great believer in the value of women's philanthropic and religious work, a kind of spiritual succession of abbess directors, and therefore he encouraged the extension of the Women's League and Mothers' Union, Girls' Friendly Society, etc. He put himself at the head of women's rescue work, and he and Lady Laura established the Rescue Home, called Southwell House. He was a supporter of Women's Suffrage.

He was always a free giver. In his twenty yeans at Southwell he received £68,000, and spent on his Diocese over £69,000, so living on his private income, a course individually commendable, but for continuance impracticable and undesirable. He was buried on the South side of the Cathedral at Southwell, and his monument in the interior is a most striking likeness—it lives. (See the Biography named below).

LADY LAURA E. RIDDING, daughter of Lord Selborne, (Sir Roundell Palmer) became the second wife of Dr. Ridding, and ably supported the Bishop's work in organizing all the accessory movements connected with the Church in the Diocese. She had thirty-five lines of work with which she was connected, and served on the Southwell Rural District Council and as Poor Law Guardian, President of the Nottingham Branch of the National Council of Women, President of the Women's League and Mothers' Union: on the Committee of the Girls' Friendly Society; Ladies' Home Missions Association; Church of England Temperance Society; Needlework Guild; Lenton Orphanage for Girls; Nottinghamshire County Education Committee and its Religious Instruction Sub-Committee, and many other social efforts. She wrote a biography of her husband, "George Ridding, Schoolmaster and Bishop," 370 pp. London: Edward Arnold. A book well worthy of study.

Rev Samuel Reynolds Hole (Dean Hole)

VERY REV. SAMUEL REYNOLDS HOLE, D.D., (1819-1904), who became Dean of Rochester, was born at Caunton Manor, and educated at Newark Grammar School, and afterwards at Brazenose College, Oxford, where he took his degree, and was ordained by Dr. Kaye, Bishop of Lincoln, and became in 1844 Curate at Caunton and later for twenty-nine years Vicar. He married Caroline Pranklin, of Gonalston. He now developed his love of gardening, and among the many articles he wrote was one "A Gardener's Holiday in the Vale of Belvoir." In the beautiful gardens of the Castle he said " nature and art have kissed each other." With the Belvoir Hounds he met John Leech, the famous editor of "Punch," and they formed a life-long friendship, and together made a "Little Tour in Ireland," (1858) and Hole became an honorary member of the weekly dinner of the staff of "Punch."

In 1869 "A Book on Roses" appeared, showing much technical knowledge, and it ran through many editions. It began with a fine sentiment, "He who would have beautiful roses in the garden must have beautiful roses in his heart." He had roses not only in his garden, but he adorned the church-yard with them, and he encouraged the growing of roses by working men, many of whom remember the Rose Shows he attended on St. Ann's Well Road, in Nottingham.

He now devoted much attention to preaching, developing a happy, impressive, forcible, eloquent style. In 1875 he was made a Prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral, and his services were largely in demand throughout the country. He preached in over four hundred churches.

He delivered more than fifty sermons in St. Paul's Cathedral. He served as select preacher in the University of Oxford. He published "Hints to Preachers" in 1880. He became Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He lectured in many places on "The Vulgar Tongue," showing the use and abuse of the language. Another subject was "Nottinghamshire Worthies" and these lectures gave a fine display of his wit and humour, for he always saw the funny side of things.

In 1887 he became Dean of Rochester. The Cathedral had fallen into decay, and needed vigorous help. "In ten years he raised £7,000 for the West front." He took a lecturing tour of 15,000 miles in America, and so raised £500 for the fund—he being then seventy-five years of age.

In 1892 came the first volume of his "Memories," and"Our Garden, "and two years later "More Memories" and "Addresses to Working Men." In 1902 "Then and Now" appeared, in the preface to which he said that "having lived a long life as a squire and a parson, a churchman and a sportsman, in country and city, with high and low, he should have something to say which would interest others about the changes he had seen." In this book—as in all his books and speeches—"thoughts grave and mirthful bring shadow or sunshine to our hearts, like the uncertain glories of an April day, and he sketched them as they came."

His was a robust, manly, vigorous Christianity, which appealed to the artizan classes, who flocked to hear him wherever he went, and "he was convinced that no section of the community had a more appreciative respect for honesty, justice and truth than the genuine working man."

He died at Rochester, and was buried at Caunton, "in both of which places are memorials to his memory." (From C. Brown's "History," p. 196).

Very Rev Robert Gregory

VERY REV. ROBERT GREGORY, (1819-1911), D.D., Dean of St. Paul's, was born at the house No. 73 Canal Street, Nottingham, then a family mansion. His father was a lace net manufacturer and cotton doubler, and his factory still stands on the Western side of the Great Central Viaduct, adjoining to the Canal. He (the father) was a leading Wesleyan, connected with Halifax Place Chapel, and was a class-leader and local preacher. His mother was one of the Oldknow family, who at intervals over one hundred and fifty years supplied Mayors for Nottingham. Mr. and Mrs. Gregory were regarded as two of the brightest ornaments of the society, intelligent and kindly hearted. The Rev. John Hannah, whose son became Archdeacon of Lewes, preached their funeral sermons,' and memoirs were afterwards published. Robert Gregory, having received a private education, was placed in a merchant's office in Liverpool, and the training there received in business methods and habits was in after life very helpful to him. He applied himself diligently to his studies, and at the age of twenty-one matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He took his B.A., was ordained, became curate, married, took his M.A., continued his studies, and in 1850 carried off the Denver Theological essay prize—the theme being "Faith without works is dead."

In the crowded district East of Sussex Street, Nottingham, called by the beautiful names of Peach, Pear, and Plum Streets, Dean Gregory's father had built a number of houses of four storeys—for land was scarce— and these having been neglected during the son's long minority occasioned him much trouble and cost in restoration, and being anxious about good dwellings for the poor, he built on land belonging to his father's estate about fifty small houses in Stewart Place, Alfred Street South (so named after his wife's maiden name) each having a small garden in front and an enclosed back yard. These were built according to a prize scheme adopted by the Nottingham Corporation. They are approached through an avenue of trees, and the rents were fixed very low. A large number of such houses for the very poor would now be a Godsend.

Becoming a widower Mr. Gregory removed to Lambeth, was curate at St. Mary's for two years, and was then appointed Vicar of St. Mary-the-Less, where he worked for twenty years with great zeal and sympathy with the artizan class. Mr. Gladstone recognized his worth by placing his son—the Rev. Stephen Gladstone— under him as curate. He was very energetic in developing church agencies and buildings in Lambeth, although financially when he accepted the vicariate the income was less than the curate's stipend, so he hardly had bread and butter for his pains. A restored church, a new parsonage, a school of art, elementary schools built for eight hundred children, and afterwards for one thousand more, an orphanage, etc., testified to an astounding activity, which was further manifested by eight clergymen working in the parish where two sufficed before.

He now acted on a number of outside bodies: The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Ritual Commission, Convocation, the Contagious Diseases Commission, London Parochial Charities, Treasurer of the National Society, and then its Chairman, and many other works or offices combined or in succession made a full life.

At St. Paul's, as Canon in 1868, and Dean in 1894, he accomplished a great work in the revivifying of the services, and adapting them to modern conditions, and in the internal decoration and furnishing of the building, making a wondrous change from the bare and barnlike condition into which it had fallen in the forties when contrasted with the beautiful interior of the present day.

On his eightieth birthday his portrait was presented to him by the Chapter House, but he lived to see his ninety-second birthday, and yet his life was a strenuous one He was not by any means a great preacher. His forte was the constant exercise of a well-trained business capacity, with a definite high aim to which everything mint give way, combined with great energy and strong common sense. "Whatever happens, the Cathedral must come first," was his attitude, and for many years he attended nine of its services weekly.

He was twice married—happily—and his children survived him.

RT. REV. SAMUEL TARRATT NEVILL, (1837-1921), M.A., D.D., Primate of New Zealand, (1904) was a Lenton boy, living in Abbey Street. He graduated from Magdalene College, Cambridge, B.A., in 1865, having been ordained some years previously. He became Bishop of Dunedin in 1871, and so continued till 1919, and dying in 1921, he had been half a century in the episcopate. He published little, but one of his works was called "Spiritual Philosophy."

It is necessary to go back. The father of the boy, afterwards Bishop, was a lace and hosiery manufacturer on High Pavement, and the sons assisted in carrying on their father's business. They were also active in working at the Young Men's Christian Association. Not having the opportunity of going to the University, Samuel,—deciding that he was called to the Church— went through a course of training, and was ordained by the Bishop of Chester, and was appointed to the rectory of Shelton, in Staffordshire. Here he determined to obtain the usual clerical degrees, and therefore went and studied at Cambridge, as before named. He was given by the University the degree of D.D., "honoris causa," in 1871, on his election as first Bishop of Dunedin, and in 1906 was made an Honorary Fellow of Magdalene College, and in the same year he was made Sub-prior of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. A Dunedin paper says:—"The Bishop's monument is in the sphere of his labours—in the noble cathedral, in the churches in the diocese, in Selwyn College, in the orphanages, and in other visible signs of the institutions in which he took so great a pride and interest." It will be of interest to Lenton people to know that the font in Dunedin Cathedral is copied from the Lenton Priory font of eight hundred years ago, now in Lenton parish church. (T. W. Martin).

RT. REV. W. H. STIRLING, (1829-1923), Bishop of the Falkland Islands, after graduating at Oxford (1854) was ordained by Dr. Kaye, Bishop of Lincoln, and for four years worked as Curate at St. Mary's, Nottingham, residing in Hanley Street, and then began his long association with the work of the church in South America. He was consecrated Bishop of the Falkland Islands in 1869, by Dr. Jackson, who had gone from Lincoln to the bishopric of London, which dignity he (Dr. Stirling) retained for thirty-two years. "Some years ago Dr. Stirling's old diocese was divided into two, but even so, one of them still claims so far as area is concerned, to be the largest diocese in the world." ("Times.") In 1901 Dr. Stirling returned to England, and was appointed Assistant Bishop of Bath and Wells and Canon of Wells Cathedral, resigning in 1911, when eighty-two.

As a young man in Nottingham Dr. Stirling was good looking and gentlemanly, and in old age he had a dignified bearing, joined to kindliness of heart.

RT. REV. JOHN WALMSLEY, (1867-1922), Bishop of Sierra Leone, born at Hereford, and educated at the Cathedral School, where at seventeen he won a scholarship of £80 a year at Brazenose College, Oxford, and stayed there five years. He was not conspicuous in College life but he was happy, for he saw the good in others, and knew how to keep the secret of his own individual goodness. He was physically strong, a great walker, a cyclist, a lover of the country, of simple piety, and devotion to the will of God. When ordained he had various experiences, thus—in a fishing village, in a parish in the suburbs of London; as Vice-Principal of Wycliffe Hall; as a Vicar among railway men at Normanton, Derby; and then (1904) at St. Ann's, Nottingham, a parish with a population of twenty thousand, two churches, and two Mental Hospitals. He was made a Canon of Southwell, and by his varied spheres of labour was well fitted for the higher post of Bishop of Sierra Leone, which the Archbishop of Canterbury offered to him in 1910, and to which he was consecrated in Westminster Abbey. He heartily worked in his diocese for twelve years for and with all classes. He was known as "the good Bishop," children loved him. He died a poor man; the whole colony was in mourning at his death. The funeral procession was estimated at a mile in length.

See "Life of John Walmsley," published by the S.P.C.K.