We regret to announce the death, on December 31, at 10.30 a.m. at St. Peter’s Priory, Hinckley, of the Rev. Wilfrid Lescher, 0.P., P.G., aged sixty-nine. He was buried. at Mount St. Bernards, Charnwood Forest, on January 5, the Requiem being celebrated at Hinckley by Very Rev. Father Bede Jarrett, 0.P., while Father Laurence Shapcote, Father Vincent McNaliob, Father Lewis Thomson, Father Michael Browne, 0.P., were present in the choir. The chief mourner was his nephew, Mr. Edward Lescher. Father Wilfrid had been a well-known figure in English Catholic. life for many years. He came of the old Lescher family, of Boyles Court, Brentwood, a younger son of Joseph Sidney Lescher and Sarah Harwood, but was born at 17, Church Row, Hampstead on October 2, 1847. His school days were spent at the famous Catholic Academy of Mr. James Butt, at Prior Park and at Ushaw, whence he passed to join the Dominican Order at Woodchester, September 3, 1864. Ordained priest on March 8, 1873, he was stationed successively in various Dominican Priories, besides remaining for nearly seven years as chaplain to Mathew Liddell, Esq., of Prudhoe Hall. Later he obtained leave to study theology at Louvain, under Father Lepidi, 0.P., at present Master of the Sacred Palaces in Rome, and returned to England in 1884. In 1889 he was elected Prior of Woodchester, and in 1910 Prior of Pendleton. He also was for three years chaplain to the contemplative Dominican Nuns at Carisbrooke. But his main work consisted in preaching and writing. In the latter field he was a strenuous fighter, especially for the Anti-Vivisection Society (on the general committee of which he served for some years) and in Catholic controversial literature. But of late years he has been especially prominent in the discussed authenticity of St. Dominic’s founding of the Rosary. Following the Papal tradition he defended the conservative view in letters, pamphlets and articles, which exhibited his dogged loyalty of character and the warmth ‘of feeling which lay behind an exceedingly impassive appearance and manner. After three months of general enfeeblement resulting from a slight paralytic shock, he died of suffusion of blood to the head on the last day of the year. Those who followed his intense devotion to the Rosary will notice with a sense of fitness that his last Mass was said on the octave day of Rosary Sunday. A staunch friend, a just and fatherly ruler, his going will be felt by a wider circle than his own Order.—R.I.P.
561 MAIN STREET, NEAR HARRISON STREET. EAST ORANGE, N. J.
It is well nigh the universal custom now to place the arrangements for formal dinners, suppers, etc., in the hands of caterers, for experience has conclusively proved that in this way only can the most desirable results be attained. Of course the success of an occasion in which a collation bears a prominent part is dependent directly upon the quailty of the refreshments and the efficiency of the service, and therefore the selection of a caterer is a matter calling for no little care and discrimination. The residents of East Orange are excellently well served in this respect, for in Messrs. Purssell Brothers they have a firm of caterers who have few equals and no superiors. gentlemen are natives of New York city, and were formerly connected with the celebrated ” Purssell Company ” of Nos. 910, 912 and 914 Broadway. They utilize spacious and finely-appointed premises at No. 561 Main street, and do a general catering business, besides carrying on a first-class bakery. The main floor is 25 x100 feet in dimensions, and every facility is at hand to insure the comfort of patrons and render it easy to fill orders promptly and accurately. The bill of fare is very extensive and varied, comparing favorably with those offered at the leading New York establishments, and as the cooking is excellent and the service remarkably prompt and efficient, it is natural that this establishment should enjoy a large as well as a select patronage. A great varietv of creams and ices are obtainable here, and are furnished by the quart and delivered at residences at moderate rates. French, Vienna and American bread and rolls will be delivered every morning, and patties, pastry, etc., are made fresh every day. Some of the specialties of this concern are fine assorted cakes, Dundee, lady and wine cakes, gingerbread, birthday cakes, Purssell’s English plum cake. plain or decorated, English plum pudding, English mince meat, and Purssell’s calves’ foot jelly for invalids. The finest quality of French fruit is always in stock. Dinners, wedding breakfasts, suppers, etc., will be supplied with every requisite, and orders by telephone (No. 316), are assorted prompt and careful attention.
The name of Purssell is prominently connected with bakery interests in the east, and, as associated with any enterprise in that line, is a guaranty of the excellence of the articles manufactured by the house. James Purssell, the father of the Purssell Brothers, was born in London, England, and made his home in his native city until 1859, carrying on business as a baker and confectioner at Cornhill for many years.
Crossing the Atlantic to the New World, he established himself in the same line of business in Broadway, New York City, near Twenty-first street, and his superior knowledge and understanding of the business soon brought him a constantly increasing trade. His growing patronage from time to time necessitated the enlargement of his facilities in order that he might meet the demands of his patrons, for the excellence of the articles manufactured soon won him a most enviable reputation, and the name of Purssell connected with pastry or confectionery was taken as a guaranty of superior quality. Mr. Purssell continued to conduct a large and profitable business in New York until his death, which occurred March 4, 1887. Previous to that time a stock company was formed, which uses the name of the Purssell Manufacturing Company. After his death, however, the family had no further connection with the corporation, the new company simply securing the right to use his name, which they found gave their business a prestige otherwise unattainable.
Mrs. Purssell bore the maiden name of Eliza West, and she is still living. Their children, in order of birth are as follows:
James,
William A.,
Arthur J. ;
Eliza C, wife of J. Louis Kight, of London, England;
Francis J.,
Charles,
Charlotte J.,
Mary L.
and George.
In 1887, after his father’s death, James Purssell, Jr., established a bakery business in East Orange (N.J.), continuing the same until 1889. when the business was reorganized under the name of Purssell Brothers, the partners being Francis J. and Charles Purssell. Their mother still resides in East Orange.
Francis J. Purssell, who is the managing director of the firm, was born in New York city, April 19,1863, and his brother, Charles, who is financial manager of thebusiness, was born in New York, May 31,1865. Both were educated in the Catholic schools in the city of their nativity, and in early life began working in their father’s establishment, so that they are fortified by practical experience and long training for the work they now have in charge. Their business in East Orange has assumed extensive proportions, and they employ a large force of competent men at the head of the various departments. The place is characterized by a neatness that would be difficult to improve upon, and the artistic manner in which they put their products upon the market is one of the attractive features of the enterprise, and combined with their honorable dealing, has brought them a very gratifying success. The brothers are both energetic and enterprising business man, whose careful oversight of their interests has made them prosperous, and Essex county numbers them among her most reliable and highly respected businessmen.
Biographical and genealogical history of the city of Newark and Essex County, New Jersey .. Volume 1: Isaac T Nichols: published 1907
On September 1,Mother Mary Aquinas, of the Convent of Mercy, Crispin-street, E., celebrated the Silver Jubilee of her profession. In addition to the blessing of the Holy Father, the jubilarian was the recipient of many congratulations from clergy, convents, the friends of the Night Refuge and Homes in Crispin-street, with which she has been so long connected, and the past and present pupils of St. Joseph’s School. Mother M. Aquinas is a sister of the late Bishop Bellord. Three of her sisters, two of whom survive, became Sisters of Notre Dame, one being at present Sister Superior at Mount Pleasant Training College, and the other Sister Superior at Everton Valley, Liverpool.
Mr. Thomas Edward Lescher, 0.B.E., of Birkdale, managing director of Evans Sons, Lescher and Webb, wholesale druggists of Liverpool, died on April 24th, after a fall, probably caused by a seizure, while skating at an ice-rink in Liverpool on the previous evening.
The elder son of the late Frank Harwood Lescher, his mother was Mary O’Conor Graham, daughter of Patrick Grehan, J.P., of Mount Plunket, Co. Roscommon. He was born on June 12th, 1877, and was educated at Stonyhurst, becoming the thirty-eighth President of the Stonyhurst Association in 1917, and later acting as Chairman of the Stonyhurst War Memorial Council. During the War he was responsible, under the National Health Insurance Commission, for the supply and control of drugs and chemicals needed by the public, and in 1920 his services were recognized by the grant of the O.B.E. From 1933 to 1935 he was Vice-Chairman of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, and for the two following years he was Chairman. He was also a Freeman of the City of London.
In matters concerned with the Church he gave unsparingly of his time and abilities, and at various times he was Chairman, and later Vice-President, of the Westminster Catholic Federation, Chairman of the Catholic Confederation of England and Wales, President of the London Circle of the Catenian Association, Vice-President of the Catholic Reading Guild, Vice-President of the Liverpool Archdiocesan Branch of the Board of Catholic Action, and Chairman of the Liverpool Branch of the Catholic Truth Society. In addition to his notable abilities and unbounded energy, he had a capacity for enthusiasm which enabled him to throw himself with gusto into whatsoever he undertook, into games as well as into his business activities, and his work for the Church. At skating, in which pursuit he lost his life, he was particularly proficient, holding the Gold Medal of the National Skating Association, and being a member of the council of that body.
Mr. Lescher married on October 21st, 1903, Ella Mary, daughter of Louis Marino Casella, of Hampstead, who survives him with ten children. His third son, the Rev. Sydney George Harwood Lescher, was recently ordained in Rome.
The majority of the Roman postings are either events Mgr Henry O’Bryen was at, or things that were happening in Rome at the time. He moved to Rome in 1873, and lived there until his death in 1895; “Mgr. O’Bryen had the spiritual care of all the Catholics of English tongue, and the Church of St. Andrea della Valle, parochial for the Piazza di Spagna and its neighbourhood, was that in which he heard confessions.”. He became a papal chaplain to Leo XIII (Cameriere Segreto Sopranumerario)in 1881, and also served as a papal ablegate.
from The Tablet Page 17, 10th April 1886
PETER PENCE.
Sala Regia
Yesterday, at the close of the weekly sermon delivered coram Sanctissimo, by the Apostolic Preacher, the Rector of the English College, in private audience of his Holiness, made offering of £100 as Peter Pence from the Bishop of Southwark, being his lordship’s first contribution ; and received from the Pope his thanks and Apostolic Benediction for the Bishop, the clergy, and the faithful of that diocese.
He also presented to the Holy Father a copy of the Leaves from St. Augustine, by Miss Mary H. Allies, in which volume the Pope was greatly interested, making numerous inquiries and listening with pleased attention to the explanation given by Mgr. O’Callaghan ; whom he charged to convey the assurance of his paternal approbation and heartfelt blessing to the gifted authoress.
The English Sisters, known as the Poor Servants of the Mother of God, founded by the late Lady Georgiana Fullerton, have, with the special blessing of his Holiness, and at the express desire of the Cardinal Vicar, opened a House in Rome at 16, Via San Sebastianello, where on the Feast of the Annunciation they held an interesting re-union, presided over by Cardinal Parocchi, who, after the sermon—in English— delivered by Father Whitty, S.J., addressed the assembly in French, and gave Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
Among those present were the Rectors of the English and Scots College, Mgr. Stonor ; Mgr. O’Bryen, the Guardian of the Irish Franciscans of St. Isidore ; Father Armellini, S.J. ; Fathers Cody and Carney, 0.S.B. ; Mr. A. G. Fullerton ; the Princess Piombino ; the Countess of Denbigh ; the Marchesa Serlupi ; the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary, and many other guests, who at the close of the ceremony were presented to the Cardinal Vicar.
The majority of the Roman postings are either events Mgr Henry O’Bryen was at, or things that were happening in Rome at the time. He moved to Rome in 1873, and lived there until his death in 1895; “Mgr. O’Bryen had the spiritual care of all the Catholics of English tongue, and the Church of St. Andrea della Valle, parochial for the Piazza di Spagna and its neighbourhood, was that in which he heard confessions.”.He became a papal chaplain to Leo XIII (Cameriere Segreto Sopranumerario)in 1881, and also served as a papal ablegate.
The Tablet Page 17, 15th January 1876
During the Octave of the Epiphany services will be held in the Church of S. Andrea della Valle, Masses in the Oriental Rite being sung each day at 10 a.m. The sermons at 11 a.m. are thus arranged :
In French, on the 6th, Monsignor Monnier, Bishop of Lydda “in partibus” and Auxiliary of Cambray ;
German, on the 7th, Rev. Theodore Peters ;
French, on the 8th, Very Rev. J. B. Destomber, Canon of Cambray;
in English, on the 9th, Monsignor Michel Domenec, Bishop of Pittsburg, U.S;
in Polish, on the 10th, the Very Rev. Peter Semenenko, Superior General of the Congregation of the Resurrection of Our Lord and Consul of the Index ;
The majority of the Roman postings are either events Mgr Henry O’Bryen was at, or things that were happening in Rome at the time. He moved to Rome in 1873, and lived there until his death in 1895; “Mgr. O’Bryen had the spiritual care of all the Catholics of English tongue, and the Church of St. Andrea della Valle, parochial for the Piazza di Spagna and its neighbourhood, was that in which he heard confessions.”. He became a papal chaplain to Leo XIII (Cameriere Segreto Sopranumerario)in 1881, and also served as a papal ablegate.
The Tablet Page 17, 11th December 1886
SACRED CONGREGATION OF RITES,
To-day the Sacred Congregation of Rites held an extraordinary session of the Cardinals deputed to examine as to the propriety of decreeing the introduction of the cause of the English Martyrs, Cardinal Fisher, Sir Thomas More, and their numerous companions, who suffered for the faith under the reigns of Henry VIII. and of Queen Elizabeth, for the purpose of asking of God that the decision of the Congregation may be favourable.
The Chapel at the English College, Rome
There was Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament from nine a.m. to mid-day in the chapel of the English College, which was visited by a number of invited guests. Among these were Cardinal Howard, who is personally interested, as it were, in the cause, because of his two ancestors, Philip, Earl of Arundell, and William Howard, Viscount Stafford, who are included in the list of the English Martyrs ; the Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh ; the Bishops of Richmond and of St. Paul, U.S.A. ; Mgr. Stonor, Mgr. Rouse, and Mgr..O’Bryen ; Abbot Smith, 0.S.B. ; Father Lockhart, the Rectors and deputations of alumni of all the foreign national colleges, of the Urban College of Propaganda; of the Pallottini Fathers; of the Pontifical Gregorian University ; the Superiors and members of the English Benedictines, and of the Irish Augustinians, Dominicans, and Franciscans, Father Douglus, C.SS.R. ; and other Redemptorist Fathers ; Fathers Ghetti, Casdella, and Armellini, S.J. ; Father Peter Paul Mackey, O.P. : the Oblates of Mary Immaculate ; the College of SS. Ambrose and Charles of the Lombards ; the Oratorians ; the Nuns of the Little Company of Mary ; the Poor Handmaids of Mary ; some of the Passionist Fathers ; the Marchioness Serlapi, née Fitzgerald ; the Marchioness Ricci ; and the members of the English Colony in Rome.
Callaghan: Arms – Az in base a mount vert on tb sinister a hurst of oak trees therefrom issaant a wolf passant pp
The reason the Callaghans feature is that Catherine Callaghan married James Joseph Roche who inherited Aghada from John Roche. It is quite clear that John Roche was attempting to build a Roche dynasty to maintain the family name, and the house that he had built for himself. The marriage itself has all the appearances of being at least in part a commercial link between two merchant families. John Roche’s will refers to his contribution of £ 4,000 to a marriage settlement in 1821. John Roche “amassed great wealth during the French wars”, and Daniel Callaghan Senior was, “one of the most enterprising and successful merchants of Cork”. This branch of the Callaghan family seem to have risen to prominence fairly recently, as can be seen from their entry in Burke’s Landed Gentry which only takes the lineage back as far as Daniel Callaghan Senior.
Having said that, to quote from the History of Parliament, ” This branch of the Callaghans, distant kinsmen of Lord Lismore, had remained Catholic, thereby enduring ‘confiscations’ and marriages ‘beneath their rank’ until their fortunes were restored by Daniel Callaghan’s father, who established a ‘monopoly of trade’ supplying the navy in Cork during the Napoleonic wars and became one of Ireland’s ‘most successful merchants’. Daniel Callaghan appears to have been the most active of his six brothers in the family business, and on his father’s death to have assumed control.”
Of the six brothers, John and Patrick seem to have concentrated on business. Daniel and Gerard were MP’s, and the youngest two, Richard and George were a barrister, and a soldier respectively.
Dan appears to have been a reasonable M.P., having first stood in a by-election in 1830 caused by Gerard being unseated because he was a government contractor. Gerard on the other hand seems to be a prize-winningly awful person.
Daniel Callaghan was born on the 7th June 1786, the second son of Daniel Callaghan (d.1824) of Sidney House, Cork and Mary Barry of ‘Donalee’; his sister Catherine married James Joseph Roche. Of the six brothers, John and Patrick seem to have concentrated on business. Daniel and Gerard were MP’s, and the youngest two, Richard and George were a barrister, and a soldier respectively.
Arms –Az in base a mount vert on tb sinister a hurst of oak trees therefrom issaant a wolf passant ppr. Crest: A naked arm holding a sword with a snake entwined. Motto: Fidus et audax. Estates: In the county of Cork. Seat: Lotabeg
Dan was one of the M.P.s for Cork between 1830 and 1849
This is his obituary from
Lotabeg House, Cork City, Ireland.
The Gentlemans magazine 1849
Daniel Callaghan Esq MP. Sept 29 1849
At his residence Lotabeg near Cork aged 63 Daniel Callaghan esq MP for that city. He was the second son of Daniel Callaghan esq, one of the most enterprising and successful merchants of Cork. He was first returned to Parliament in 1829 by a combination of men of all parties, and supported the Reform Bill. He also became a Repealer, and despite of opposition from various quarters, remained for twenty years, the representative of his native city. Mr Callaghan had great knowledge of business and was intimately conversant with the social state of Ireland. He had acquired a large property in the provision trade. At one period it was the wish of some of the leading members of the Whig party to have made him Vice President of the Board of Trade, but Lord Melbourne objected on account of his having been a pledged Repealer, and at a subsequent period when that objection would not have been pressed against him, Mr Callaghan had become indifferent to office. He died of cholera, but for some months previously his health had been declining.
Christopher Hely Hutchinson
In 1820 he intervened in a duel which followed his brother Gerard’s unsuccessful candidacy for Cork, insisting that his younger brother Patrick was ‘perfectly satisfied’ after his first shot severed the finger of Christopher Hely Hutchinson, one of the Members. The duel came after an ill-humoured five-day election contest as Gerard conceded defeat, he boasted that the prospect of the new king’s death would enable him to stand again ‘at no very distant period’. His remarks were denounced by Christopher Hely Hutchinson, one of the Members, who a few days later lost a finger in a duel with Callaghan’s younger brother Patrick. ‘The general feeling seems to be that Gerard Callaghan put his brother in the place he was afraid to take himself’, commented one observer.
It has been stated that at the 1826 Cork by-election he refused on ‘public principle’ to vote for Gerard, who had abandoned the family religion to become a ‘red hot Protestant’, but at the 1829 by-election he lent him his full support, providing ‘both money and personal exertions’.
The unseating of Gerard as a government contractor supplying the navy created a vacancy in 1830, for which Daniel Callaghan came forward with the unlikely support of the local Brunswick Club. [The Brunswick Clubs were part of a campaign to deny Catholics the right to enter both houses of the British parliament. Numbering roughly 200 clubs and claiming 150,000 members between September 1828 and December 1829.]
The Cork Brunswick Club, it was said, had determined on ‘putting a Catholic in for a while, in order to keep the seat for one of their most virulent, violent and obnoxious members’, and considered it ‘better to vote for a Papist than a liberal Protestant’. Lord Francis Leveson Gower, the Irish secretary, observed that there was nothing in Callaghan’s character to ‘induce government to interfere against him’ and declined to assist his opponent. Pressed at the nomination, Callaghan praised the ‘beneficial influences’ of the established church but denied being his brother’s locum, although he admitted that at the next election he would ‘retire before him rather than come into such an unnatural collision’. After a 13-day contest of ‘unparalleled severity’ he was returned 16 votes ahead of his rival. A petition against his return on the ground of his also being a government contractor came to nothing. He took his seat, 26 Apr. 1830.
At the 1830 general election it was expected that he would retire in favour of Gerard, but to the fury of the Brunswick Club he offered again after family friends, with whose decision the brothers had ‘agreed to abide’, determined that he had the ‘best chance of success’.
At the 1832 general election Callaghan, who had ‘originally professed himself opposed’ to repeal of the Union, after some hesitation ‘pledged himself to vote for it’ and was re-elected with the support of O’Connell. He was defeated as a Liberal in 1835, but seated on petition, and successfully contested the next three general elections. He was apparently ‘tipped’ for appointment under the Liberals as vice-president of the board of trade, but Lord Melbourne, the premier, ‘objected on account of his having been a pledged repealer’. He died from cholera in September 1849.
There is more detail in the History of Parliament online
