The Annual Dinner Benevolent Society for the Relief of the Aged and Infirm Poor 1883

Albion Tavern, 172 & 173 Aldersgate Street, Aldersgate EC1

I wasn’t going to do any more of these for a while. There are relatively few members of the family there. Uncle Edmund (Bellord), and cousin John, as well as Frank Harwood Lescher, who is a first cousin by marriage (to Mary Grehan – Paddy Grehan III’s daughter), he’s also the nephew of Harriet Grehan (neé Lescher) who is also Mary Grehan’s step-grandmother. herman Lescher is his brother.

The main reason for posting this one is the absolutely extraordinary speech by the chairman. I can’t quite work out if he’s scolding them, teasing them, speaking more bluntly than he intended it to sound, or whether the “highly felicitous terms” and “equally happy manner” are just euphemisms for a bit pissed.

The annual dinner of the Benevolent Society took place on Monday at the Albion, Aldersgate-street, and was presided over by the Hon. Mr. Justice Day, supported by the Bishop of Emmaus. Among those present were Mgr. Goddard, Canons Gilbert, D.D., V.G., Wenham, Moore, O’Halloran, McGrath, and Murnane; Very Revv. P. Fenton, President of St. Edmund’s College, Stephen Chaurain, S.M.,Vincent Grogan, Michael Kelly, D.D., and Michael Watts Russell ; Revv. W. E. Addis, J. J. Brenan, D. Canty, G. Carter, C. Conway, D.D., C. A. Cox, J. E. Crook, G. S. Delaney, E. English, M. Fanning, W. Fleming, J. Hussey, C. Harington Moore, E. F. Murnane, T. F. Norris, P. O’Callaghan, M. O’Connell, D. O’Sullivan, E. Pennington, Leo Thomas, D. Toomey-Vincent, C.P., T. Walsh, and J. Wright ; the Abbé Toursel, and the Abbé Richard ; Sir James Marshall and Judge Stonor ; Drs. Carré, Hewitt, and McDonell ; Messrs. J. Bans, W. Barrett, C. J. Standon Batt, E. J. Bellord, J. G. Bellord, A. J. Blount, George Blount, James Brand, Arthur Butler, George Butler, George Butler, junior, John Christie, H. A de Colyar, E de V. Corcoran, J. Conway, E. Curties;, Samuel H. Day, W. H. Dunn, V. J. Eldred, A. Guy Ellis, R. M. Flood, E. J. Fooks, J. Fox, Garret French, J. B. Gallini, W. O. Garstin, Dickson Gray, E. Hackney, W. B. Hallett, J. S. Hansom, A. Hargrave, W. D. Harrod, A. Hawkins, A. Hernu, H. Hildreth, Thomas Hussey, Thomas Hussey, junior, J. J. Keily, K.S.G., Stuart Knill, K.S.G., G. P. Kynaston, Denis Lane, F. D. Lane, C. Temple Layton, F. Harwood Lescher, Herman Lescher, Sidney Lickorish, W. H. Lyall, G. S. Lynch, J. P. McAdam, Francis McCarthy, M. McSheehan, James Mann, J. J. Merritt, Wilfrid Oates, T. O’Neil, Bernard Parker, F. R. Wegg-Prosser, L. J. Ratton, Eugene Rimmel, E. W. Roberts, G. St. Aubyn, M. A. Santley, Joseph Scoles, A. W. C. Shean, Charles Spurgeon, C.C., Philip Thornton, M. E. Toomey, G. A. Trapp, E. F. Devenish Walshe, John Wareing, Thomas Welch, and Stephen White.

After the concluding grace had been said by the Bishop of Emmaus, Mr. Justice Day in giving the health of the Pope, said he really did not know how to deal with his Holiness without incurring ecclesiastical censure. If he wished him a long life, he might be accused of desiring to keep him out of heaven, if a short one he would be denounced as a traitor. But of this thing he was sure he could leave the toast of the Pope to the good wishes of such an assembly as he had the honour to preside over.

“The Queen, “The Prince of Wales and the rest of the Royal Family,” were the next toasts.

Mr. Justice Day then rose to propose ” Success to the Benevolent Society.” He found it was usual to make an appeal for the charity, and if he did not make one it would be no fault of their excellent secretary (Mr. A. Butler, whose name was received with loud cheers), who had filled his (the chairman’s) pockets with details and statistics of the society. But the more he respected their secretary the more he resisted him. He was not going to make an appeal, He was afraid he could not make use of the stock excuse of want of custom of public speaking, nor could he say he was a man that knew nothing about charity, for he was a most charitable man (and he could lay his hand on his heart when he said so). He had been engaged all his life in getting for others what they could not get for themselves. He had had to appeal to juries for justice which judges denied. What would be the good of any appeal from him ? He saw before him a number of well-known charitable gentlemen who came there full of interest in the Benevolent Society and determined to support it to the best of their means. What more could they desire? He had no faith in after dinner speeches. If he attempted to rise into the higher regions of oratory, he would be sure to break down and fall into weariness and dulness. He saw on the title page of their report that this was stated to be ” the oldest Catholic charity in the metropolis,” he presumed that meant the oldest charity in the hands of Catholics, for it was a very long way off from being the oldest, Catholic charity in London was well known by its ancient charitable endowments. This charity was established at a time of hardship, penalty, and trials of our ancestors, and they naturally sought a way of supplying the wants of the old and infirm of their community and founded this charity, and he called on them to support it by their generous contributions this day. He was glad to see the merchants and bankers of the City of London contributed to this excellent work, which was entirely carried out by unpaid officials. He saw they gave gave 150 pensioners what ?—three and four shillings a week !  Not enough for the comforts, barely enough for the necessaries of life !  Let them think of that and of the many applicants who were eagerly waiting to get even this small pittance to eke out their subsistence for the few remaining years of their life.

[According to “The Art of Dining; or, gastronomy and gastronomers”  by Abraham Hayward. pub. John Murray, London 1852,  the ordinary price for the best dinner at this house [The Albion] (including wine) is three guineas. If the prices were still about the same in 1883, the dinner cost the equivalent of one month’s pension for each of the 150 pensioners.]

The collection was then made, which amounted to £1,040.

The Chairman afterwards proposed, in highly flattering terms, the health of his Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, for whom the Bishop of Emmaus replied, in eulogistic expressions, of the great charity of his Eminence to all men.

Sir James Murshall proposed, and the Very Rev. Canon Murnare replied for, the ” Bishop of Southwark.”

The Bishop of Emmaus, in highly felicitous terms, proposed the health of the Hon. Justice Day, who replied in an equally happy manner.

Then followed the healths of the “Bishop of Emmaus,”  “The Clergy of Westminster and Southwark,”  “The Stewards,” given by the hon. chairman, and replied to by Judge Stonor, after which the proceedings terminated.

1st December 1883, Page 34

Bishop of Emmaus, (Right Rev. the Hon. Algernon C. Stanley) 1843 – 1928

The starting point for an interest in  the Bishop of Emmaus was that he was the principal celebrant at Aunt Edythe and Uncle Charles (Cary-Elwes)’s wedding in 1897. But pretty rapidly, the more one looks at the Stanleys,  it becomes clear that they are from the look of it absolutely bonkers in a very English upper-class way.

According to the Catholic Who’s Who 1908.   The Right Rev. the Hon. Algernon C. Stanley was born in 1843, the fourth son of 2nd Lord Stanley of Alderley; [he was also the great uncle of Clementine Churchill, and a great great uncle to the Mitfords]. He was educated at Harrow, Rugby, and Trinity College, Cambridge (M.A.); formerly Anglican incumbent of Holy Cross Church, N.W (1);  having become a Catholic, he studied in Rome, where he was ordained; nominated Dom(estic). Prel(ate). to Leo XIII and Protonotary Apostolic; attached to St James’s, Spanish Place, 1883-93, subsequently settling in Rome for a further ten years. After his consecration there he returned to London for a year as Bishop-Auxiliary to Cardinal Vaughan; but since 1904 he has again been resident in the Eternal City. The Bishop is a nephew of Dean Stanley, the famous Broad Churchman, to whom Disraeli wittily remarked ” No dogmas, no Deans ”  [ I have absolutely no idea why this is the vaguest bit witty]; and of Miss Mary Stanley, a convert to the Catholic Church, who devoted her life to the love and service of the poor. Of the Bishop’s brothers, the late Lord Stanley became a Mohammedan, 

Alderley Park

[Henry Edward John Stanley, 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley  he converted to Islam In 1862 and may have adopted the name Abdul Rahman. Lord Stanley was the first Muslim member of the House of Lords, inheriting his titles in 1869 upon the death of his father As a Muslim, he apparently ordered the closure of all public houses on his estate in Nether Alderley, south of Alderley Edge. He died and was buried on two of the most auspicious dates in the Muslim calendar, 21 and 25 Ramadan (11 and 15 December 1903 respectively).

Liverpool Mosque c.1890

He was buried according to Muslim rites in unconsecrated ground in the garden of the Dower House on his family’s estate, Alderley Park, at Nether Alderley, Cheshire. The chief mourner at his burial was the First Secretary to the Ottoman Embassy in London. Islamic prayers were recited over his grave by the embassy’s Imam. A Janaza service in memory of the deceased was held at the Liverpool Mosque,]

 

Edward Lyulph Stanley

and the present peer is the great opponent of Catholic education.  [the present peer: Edward Lyulph Stanley, 4th Baron Sheffield, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley and 3rd Baron Eddisbury PC (1839 – 1925) was an English peer. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1910.]

The Bishop is, moreover, the uncle of Earl Russell, whose quarrel with Christian marriage-laws is well known. [His sister Katharine was the mother of Bertrand Russell.]  The talents of the Stanleys are conspicuous, and the vagaries from which various members of the family have not been saved by their wits, lend a further interest to the recurrence of one of their number to the ancient ways of orthodoxy. During his former residence in Rome Mgr Stanley acted now and again as ” Vatican correspondent “ of The Times.

THE RIGHT REV. BISHOP STANLEY:  A cablegram from Rome on Monday brought the widely-regretted news of the death that morning of the Right Rev. and Hon. Algernon Charles Stanley, titular Bishop of Emmaus, who with the exception of a short period spent at Westminster as Auxiliary to Cardinal Vaughan towards the close of his Eminence’s life, had lived in the Eternal City since 1893. There he was a familiar figure, welcomed for his social qualities and an engaging personality, and in another connection revered by the mendicants and other recipients of his generous bounty. A prelate of the old school, typically English, the Bishop will be greatly missed in the circles where he had his friends and found his recreation ; but to the younger generation of Catholics in this country he was hardly more than a name.

Accademia Ecclesiastica

Bishop Stanley was born on September 16, 1843, the fourth son of the second Lord Stanley of Alderley, and was educated at Harrow, Rugby, and Trinity College, Cambridge;  at the University he took his M.A. degree. Electing for Anglican Orders as a career, he was ordained and served curacies at Kidderminster, West Bromwich, and St. Mary’s, Soho, and afterwards became incumbent at Holy Cross, St. Pancras. About this time Catholic teaching attracted his interest and ultimately won his submission, and in 1879 he was received. into the Church by Cardinal Manning. Conversion brought with it a desire for the priesthood. Mr. Stanley was commended by the Cardinal to the Accademia Ecclesiastica in Rome, where he made his studies. He was ordained in 1880 and was later attached for ten years (1883-93) to old St. James’s, Spanish Place, W. A similar period—really the beginning of what was to be henceforth a practically lifelong residence—was then spent in Rome, where Father Stanley was named a Domestic Prelate and Protonotary Apostolic by Pope Leo XIII. Early in 1903 the continued ill-health of Cardinal Vaughan, whose death took place in June of that year, called for help in the episcopal work of the Westminster diocese, and Monsignor Stanley was appointed Auxiliary. His consecration took place on March 15 at St. Gregory’s on the Coelian, and the new Auxiliary was in London not long afterwards. The Cardinal was near his end ; and although after his Eminence’s death Bishop Stanley remained in the Archdiocese for some months, his heart was with Rome and he sought and found opportunity to return there. In 1907 he was named by Pope Pius X.  Bishop-Assistant at the Pontifical Throne. Since 1911 he had been Consultor to the Consistorial Congregation, and in 1919 he was made a Canon of St. Peter’s. During his earlier period in Rome he had some years’ experience as a newspaper writer. He acted as Vatican correspondent of The Times, and later for the Daily Telegraph.

The funeral requiem was sung on Thursday in the chapel of the English College.—R.I.P.

The above text was found on p.14, 28th April 1928 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .

THE RIGHT REV. BISHOP STANLEY:  The Right Rev. the Hon. Algernon Charles Stanley, titular Bishop of Emmaus, a former Rome Correspondent of The Tablet, who died in Rome on April 23 last, left estate in his own disposition of the value of £84,815, with net personalty £84,734. [ a present day value of £24,910,000] He left £1,000 to St. Joseph’s Missionary College, Mill Hill, London, N.W.; £1,000 to the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Cronin, of Oscott College, Birmingham; £500 to the Convent of the Good Shepherd, East Finchley, N.; £500 to the Convent of the Sisters of Charity, Lower Seymour Street, W. £250 to the Little Sisters of the Poor, St. Pietro in Vincoli, Rome; £250 each to the Rt. Rev. Monsignor John Prior, the Rt. Rev. Bernard Ward, Bishop of Brentwood, the Rt. Rev. Joseph Butt, Bishop of Cambysopolis, the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Arthur Hinsley, of the English College, Rome, and the Rev. Herbert Loughton, of St. Andrews, N.B.; £100 each for Masses to the Rector for the time being of the English College, Rome, and the Rt. Rev. Monsignor John Prior; his robes, vestments and sacred vessels (not otherwise bequeathed) to the English College, Rome; his picture of St. Charles Borromeo to the Chapter of St. Mary Major’s, Rome; his picture of St. James’s Church, Spanish Place, W., and a large chalice and paten (and £100 for Masses) to the Rector for the time being of St. James’s Church, Spanish Place, W.;

Arthur Stanley

to his nephew the Hon. Arthur Stanley to devolve as heirlooms to follow the title of Lord Sheffield,and to be retained in the Library at Alderley the large folio Pontificale Romanum in four volumes (given to him by Pope Leo XIII on his consecration as Bishop), the Cross also given to him by Pope Leo XIII, and the Cross given to him by his brother Lyulph; to Viscount Halifax, ” who gave it to me,” his Crucifix on stand by Meyer; to his servant Luigi Campanelli £200, certain furniture and jewellery and a life interest in a trust fund of £3,750 with remainder to his residuary estate; to his servant Maria Pierluca, if still in his service, £300 and certain furniture. He also left £11,000 to his nephew the Hon. Oliver Hugh Stanley, £3,000 to his niece Lady Maude Whyte, £2,000 to his nephew Admiral William Goodenough, and £1,000 to his wife, £1,000 each to Lady Blanche Hozier and Frances Seymour, £250 each to his nephew the Hon. Geoffrey Howard and Herbert Leo John Bliss; and subject to numerous other legacies.

The residue of the property he left to the Right Rev. Joseph Butt, Bishop of Cambysopolis, and the Right Rev. Monsignor John Barry, Vicar-General of the Diocese of Shrewsbury, upon trust for the foundation of new Catholic missions in the dioceses of Westminster and of Shrewsbury, stating ” I request my residuary trustees to remember that my radical intention in making this bequest is that as many new missions as possible shall be from time to time assisted to be founded in the places where they shall be most needed for the saving of souls, and the glory of God, and the interests of the Catholic Religion.”

[By contrast]  His Eminence Cardinal Patrick O’Donnell, Archbishop of Armagh, who died on October 22 last, left personal estate in his own disposition of the gross value of £4,057 [ a present day value of £1,193,000]; this is left to the Right Rev. Monsignor Michael Quinn, the Right Rev. Patrick Segrave, and the Rev. Eugene O’Callaghan, to be disposed of as they may see fit.

The above text was found on p.13, 28th July 1928 in “The Tablet: The International Catholic News Weekly.” Reproduced with kind permission of the Publisher. The Tablet can be found at http://www.thetablet.co.uk .