| Husenbeth Describes Sedgley's First President:
A memorandum in his ( Mr. Kendal's) hand-
writing in 1779, will be amusing in these days
of iron roads and steam-power travelling. It
runs thus : " January 14, 1779. Mr. Morgan,
"at the Crown Inn, Stone, informs us that a
" coach sets off from his house every Tuesday
"and Friday, at two o'clock in the afternoon,
" for Lancaster and Kendal, and reaches those
"places in two days from Stone. Fare for
"Insides, 1. Is., Outsides, 10s. 6d."
Mr. Kendal finding the establishment attended
with so much success, and the number of scholars
rapidly increasing, found it necessary, probably
in the second year, to provide more extensive
accommodation. Though he had no lease of
the premises, he had experienced so much
generosity and kindness from Lord Dudley
and Ward, that he felt secure in his establish-
ment, and was encouraged to add such buildings
as the increased number of scholars required.
He, therefore, erected, on the eastern side of
the " High House," a range of building which
connected it with the wing which before stood
detached from it. It was an extensive double
building of very plain character, having two
long rooms on the ground floor, the one in
front being the boys' play-room, and the one
at the back, the refectory. Over both were
two other rooms, that above the play-room
being divided later by boarded partitions into
three "study-places," and the room over the
refectory being the chapel. The altar end
of this chapel was at the eastern extremity.
The wall at that end appears to have been
covered with a rich red paper, as much
remained on that wall for many years after-
wards. The old chapel chandeliers of japanned
tin were long after used in the refectory, and
the old tabernacle and some other articles of
the altar furniture long remained in the little
oratory in the " New Building," and in other
parts of the house. The top story of course
was made into two dormitories, with small
rooms for the masters, boarded off in the
corners, and some openings left in the main
partition-wall which ran the whole length
between them, for the purpose of ventilation.
The windows were in keeping with the plain
character of the building, being merely case-
ments, with square panes of ordinary glass.
And thus they remained till but a few years
ago, in their primitive and venerable simplicity.
As an instance of the little attention paid to
appearance, there was an ugly spout passing
down the front, and almost in the centre, when
a very little contrivance would have produced
a less unsightly arrangement. As this double
building was of course twice the breadth of the
old wing, the front stood several feet before it,
and allowed room for a porch-entrance to the
play-room from the " bounds," which porch, it
hardly need be observed, was also in perfect
keeping with the building,
" Ut prisca gens mortaliura."
The good president evidently consulted utility
even to the exclusion of ornament ; or he might,
with little more expense, have so constructed
his building, as to form a harmonious appendage
to the really beautiful centre, the " High House."
The buildings now consisted of four edifices,
three of which were united, and formed a line,
but were of very different heights, dimensions,
and character. The old wing on the eastern
side, which was now joined on to the new
building, between it and the "High House,"
consisted of only two stories; it had a door
in the centre, on each side of which were
two plain windows, and small square windows
appeared above these, with one over the door.
Only two years after the first establishment
of Sedgley Park, the most illustrious of its
pupils began his studies there. JOHN MILNER,
arrived April 22, 1765, but remained only one
year. He had been preceded, among others,
by John Greenway, John Halford, and Joseph
Hanson, in 1763, and by John Bew, James
Crosby, and Roland Broomhead, in 1764.
Stephen Tempest came a fortnight before him,
in 1765. All these became priests. John Bew
was afterwards a Doctor of Sorboiine, and pre-
sident of Oscott College, till it was purchased by
Bishop Milner, and then for a short time of
Old Hall Green College. He died October 25,
1829. Roland Broomhead studied afterwards
at Rome, and came over in 1775, being the
first Parker who came on the mission. He
was a most zealous, laborious, and edifying
missioner for many years at Manchester, and
died October 12, 1820. In the same year, with
John Milner, came Charles Timings, John
Griffiths, and Thomas and William Southworth.
Thomas was destined to be afterwards connected
most intimately with Sedgley Park, as will be
seen; but he remained as a scholar only five
months, leaving, with his brother, in May,
1766. The above were all priests, but to avoid
tedious enumeration, it will suffice to mention
the more conspicuous names of boys who came
afterwards, and chiefly of those who became
priests. Joseph Hodgson, afterwards Vice-Pre-
sident of Douay, and subsequently Vicar-Gene-
ral in the London District, came in 1766. The
classical tourist, John Eustace, came in 1767.
On the 25th of April, 1770, came John Kirk,
who remained at the school three years. He
will appear in the course of this history in
close connexion with the establishment, and his
merits and labours elsewhere are well known.
Thomas Smith came July 5, 1774, and remained
about seven years. He was afterwards conse-
crated Bishop of Bolina, in 1810, and coadjutor
to Bishop Wm. Gibson; on whose death, in 1821,
he became Vicar Apostolic of the Northern
District, and died at Ushaw, July 30, 1831.
The pension at the beginning was twelve
guineas. The boys generally brought with
them a catechism, a prayer book or two, such
as the double or single Manual, or the Garden
of the Soul ; some brought spelling books,
and some dictionaries. Thus JOHN MILNER
brought with him a Douay Catechism, two
Prayer books, Dictionary, " Figures," &c., the
last being the old Douay name for the Latin
Grammar. The charges for extras are amusing
for their economy and simplicity, such as, for a
top, 2d. ; window broken, 3d. ; garden, Is. 6d. ;
a cushion (for the hair), 4Jd. ; for running
away, 5s. 4d. One boy, it seems, ran away
twice, and the charges are 6s. 7d. and 5s. 4d.
One boy's death is recorded, and his funeral
expenses charged only 18s. 4d., to which, how-
ever, must be added six quarts of ale, 2s. The
boys being chiefly of the mercantile and middle
classes did not usually remain long at the school.
Few stayed longer than three or four years, and
many only one or two. On the 5th of January,
1774, came John Sumner, who was so long after-
wards connected with the Park, and his younger
brother James. John left it for Lisbon College,
July 12, 1779.
The worthy president, Mr. Kendal, had the
satisfaction to find his establishment flourish
beyond his expectations ; and it became an
invaluable acquisition as a place of education
to the Catholics of this country. It has ever
since sustained its reputation, and continued
the principal nursery for the clergy, as well
as the most frequented school for the education
of Catholic youth in the middle classes of
society. A good commercial education was its
principal aim and object; ever subordinate,
however, to the sound and careful inculcation
of religious knowledge and practical piety.
The Rev. Joseph Syers continued at the Park,
as chaplain, but a short time, and having suc-
ceeded Mr. Hurst, either in the latter part of
1769, or early in 1770, was followed by Rev.
Thomas Hartley about three years after. It
was Mr. Hartley who inspired Dr. Kirk with a
desire to go to Rome, where he himself had
been educated, rather than to Douay College ;
and it is well known that this desire was accom-
plished. Mr. Thomas Hartley remained at the
Park as chaplain till the year 1781, when he
retired in consequence of bad health,, and died
at Moseley, July llth, in that year.
A few arrivals of boys may here be mentioned
as having occurred about this period, who after-
wards became worthy and exemplary priests.
Thomas Price came May 12, 1776, who went
from the Park to the English College at Valla-
dolid, where he was for some years Professor
of Divinity, was chaplain to Sir William and
Sir George Jerningham, at Cossey Hall, and
afterwards missioner at Stafford for about 18
years, till his death, which occurred suddenly,
in London, June 15, 1831, in the 70th year of
his age. Gaspar Bricknell came June 30, 1777,
who was many years missioner at Yoxall, and
died May 6, 1833, aged 64. William Croskell
came May 15, 1779, who was afterwards im-
prisoned at Dourlens with the inmates of Douay
College, and wrote an interesting account of
their imprisonment, which appeared in the
Catholic Magazine for 1831. He was ordained
priest at York with Dr. Lingard, was after-
wards Grand Vicar of the Northern District,
and died at Durham, February 19, 1838, aged
70. Edward Peach, so long the respected
pastor of St. Chad's, Birmingham, came to the
Park, June 24, 1783. He died at Birmingham,
September 8, 1839, aged about 70. George
Howe came July 15, 1783, who died at New-
port, Shropshire, in November, 1837.
What was the distribution of time or the
course of studies at the Park at this early time,
can only be conjectured from what is known to
have prevailed at a later period. For, with
due allowance for needful improvements, every
one acquainted with the Park knows well its
long tenacious adherence to old customs and
methods in every department. It may, there-
fore, be safely concluded that the very first
discipline and order of studies was the same,
or nearly the same, which prevailed for many
years afterwards. It has already been observed
that the whole system was literally an adapta-
tion of the venerable old usages of Douay
College, as far as circumstances would permit.
It was a common remark at Douay College,
that a boy from the Park was soon recog-
nised on his arrival at Douay, by the cor-
rect knowledge he had of his Catechism, and
of his religious duties. This was assuredly
the highest distinction to which the sons of
Sedgley Park could have aspired. And every
Parker may congratulate himself upon the well
known fact, that the same has ever been a
characteristic mark of a boy educated at that
careful nursery of religion and piety. It may
perhaps be allowed to repeat here a few words
of eulogy written long years ago, that, for the
truth they convey, they may be perpetuated.
" That distinguished nursery of piety and asy-
lum of innocence was the temple where the
youthful Samuel was prepared for the sacred
functions of his sublime calling; it was the
encampment of those who were chosen to serve
God apart from the corruption of the nations
around them, and its tabernacles would have
extorted a blessing from the mouth which came
prepared with a curse. Religion was the foun-
dation on which every duty and every exercise
was established ; and a singular innocence and
purity of manners has been ever remarkable
.within the precincts of that happy institution.*' 1
As the great object of the establishment of
Sedgley Park was the education of the sons of
the middle and poorer classes of Catholics on
the most economical plan, there can be no doubt
that every thing about the school was homely
and simple. Enough, indeed, remained in after
years to attest this. Every part of the house
was fitted up and furnished in the plainest
manner, the diet was rather scanty than abun-
dant, and the clothing of the boys regulated
upon a plan of rigid economy. Possessing such
a procurator as the excellent Mr. Harbut, there
was no danger of mismanagement, needless
expenditure, or inaccurate accounts. He was
deprived of the use of his right hand, it is
believed, from his birth ; it was bent up from
the wrist, which appeared powerless, and this
lame hand was usually occupied with his hand-
kerchief ; but he wrote readily and beautifully
with his left hand ; and his account books were
perfect models of neat writing and accurate
keeping.
The school then was carried on during the
presidentship of Mr. Kendal, with the " High
House " occupied by the superiors, and the
masters, with strangers' apartments, and store-
room and bedroom for the housekeeper. It is
probable that parlour boarders were taken, as
they certainly were some years after, but this
is not known. The new building erected, as
already described by Mr. Kendal, gave him a
very commodious chapel on the south side, and
ample schoolroom on the north. Two long
dormitories, with, beds on both sides, accommo-
dated the boys, and some probably slept in two
small additional rooms, which were the garrets
under the roof of the stable-wing originally
existing. What makes it probable that these
rooms were made into dormitories at that early
period, is the style of the boys' bedsteads,
which stood in them for many years afterwards,
and corresponded exactly with those in the long
dormitories. The wood was plain beech, deal,
and poplar ; the last being also employed
throughout for the wainscoting of the play-
room which was left unpainted, and fo^ that of
the refectory, which was painted of a sober
lead colour. Over the stables, in the old wing,
were four small rooms, the farthest was in after
times the " Latin study;" and the one immedi-
ately adjoining was Mr. Harbut's room in all
probability, from the time when Mr. KendaPs
building opened a communication with the ori-
ginal stable-wing. Mr. Harbut had his office
next to his room, and there was a very small
room next to that, which in the latter part of
his time was filled with his school-books, but
was afterwards used as a servant's bed-room.
This had been at first the sacristy to the old
chapel, with a door into it near the window,
from the sanctuary. Mr. Harbut's room con-
tained his bed in a recess; and a plain table
and a couple of chairs completed its humble
furniture. And there that excellent man was
contented to lodge for more than half a century,
in a room very small, and affording but very
scanty accomodation, with little, indeed, that
could be called comfort. In front of the " High
House " was a square place walled in and laid
out in two long quadrangular grass-plots, with a
gravel walk leading up to the front door, from
a white gate of wood in the centre of the wall.
Round the walls inside were beds of flowers
and shrubs, with gravel walks between them
and the grass-plots. This enclosure is well-
known to all Parkers by the familiar name it
has always had of " The Platts." When the
school was small, it served as a playground for
the boys, but when it became requisite to have
a larger boundary, palings were put up in a
line with the west wall of the " Platts," and
carried round three sides of a square, which
enclosed about an acre of ground in front of
the whole line of contiguous buildings, as they
then existed. Thus was originally formed the
famous Park " Bounds," the dimensions of
which have continued ever since unchanged.
At the upper end of the " Bounds " a barrier
of strong oak posts and rails was placed as a
protection to the space left for the boys' gar-
dens, and most of these venerable oak railings
still remain. How many pleasurable recollec-
tions arise to the mind of a " Parker," when
he thinks of the old " Bounds," the scene of
so many sports, and joys, and light-hearted
pursuits in the golden morning of life. He can,,
perhaps, as the writer would undertake to do
for himself, recall some incident of every square
yard of that beloved and well-remembered
space of ground. His old companions, his
favourite games, his playthings, his adventures
in all the little chequered day of youth, with
its bright sun and its faint shadows, all come
back when he treads again, though but in fancy,
the old Park " Bounds."
" Up springs, at every step, to claim a tear,
Some little friendship formed and cherished here ;
And not the lightest leaf, but trembling teems,
With golden visions and romantic dreams."
The school went on prosperously, but its worthy
president found his health declining, and suf-
fered much from severe and repeated attacks
of gout. It became necessary for him to have
assistance in the management of so important
an establishment as Sedgley Park had now
become. Accordingly, his near relation and
confidential friend, Kev. Thomas Southworth,
was called over from Douay College, and af-
forded him important assistance during the
latter time of his life and presidentship. His
valuable life, however, was hastened to its close
by the shocks which his enfeebled constitution
had received, from the alarm excited by the
serious disturbances in London, and in various
parts of the kingdom, the memorable LordGeorge
Gordon's riots. The fury of the popu-
lace was excited by a society, calling itself the
Protestant Association, with Lord George Gor-
don at its head, organised in opposition to the
liberal intentions of the ministry to relax the
severity of the penal laws against Catholics. On
the 2nd of June, 1780, fifty or sixty thousand
people, wearing blue cockades, headed by the
turbulent Lord George, proceeded to the
Houses of Parliament, with a monster petition
signed by nearly 120,000 Protestants. After
insulting both Lords and Commons, the mob
dispersed about the metropolis, and continued
to commit the most dreadful outrages till the
night of the 7th of June, when, by the firmness
of the King, who, himself, ordered the military
to act, and stationed them all over the metropolis,
the riots were firmly and effectually suppressed.
In those five days, however, the outrages com-
mitted by this Protestant mob against their
inoffensive Catholic fellow -subjects were almost
incredible. They burnt several Catholic cha-
pels, plundered many Catholics, burnt or pulled
down some of their schools and many of their
houses, and uttered the most terrible threats
against their persons. The mischief .spread so
extensively, that they burnt and destroyed the
houses of several other persons who supported
the government, and even that of Lord Chief
Justice Mansfield. They set fire to the King's
Bench, Fleet, and other prisons, burnt down
Newgate, and of course released all the pri-
soners. They twice assailed the Bank of Eng-
land, but it escaped, by being well guarded.
In a word, the whole city was in the hands of
the rioters, till the arrival of large bodies of
troops in the evening of the 7th of June, who
dispersed the mob, killing and wounding many.
Not less than thirty-six fires were visible on
that evening. Thus, as a Protestant writer has
observed, did a dark and malignant spirit of
persecution show itself, in an unworthy petition
for the repeal of the wise and humane statute
just passed in favour of the Catholics. " That
" petition was brought forward by a mob, with
" the evident purpose of intimidation, and was
" justly rejected. But the attempt was accom-
" panied and followed by such daring violence
" as is unexampled in history.* The outrages
in London were imitated in some other parts of
the country ; and the populace, particularly in
Hull, Bath, and Bristol, in the first two of
which they actually burnt Catholic chapels,
would have perpetrated similar ravages, but
for the firm and speedy interposition of the
magistrates. Alarm and apprehension, however,
prevailed all over the country; and the esta-
blishment of Sedgley Park was most likely, in
a time of such excitement against Catholics, to
become an object of popular indignation and
violence. Groups of ill-looking fellows were
observed lurking about the premises, but Pro-
vidence watched over the institution, and no
mischief was attempted.
Poor Mr. Kendal, however, suffered from
the consternation into which, in common with
all Catholics, he had been thrown by the daily
intelligence of the excesses committed ; and his
constitution, already much debilitated by attacks
of gout, could not bear up against this double
assault of mental and bodily affliction. He
survived in a very weak state till the following
year, 1781, when he departed this life on the
2nd of July, after long and meritorious labours
in the cause of religion, and after spending
the last eighteen years of his life in the very
difficult work of forming, guiding, and govern-
ing the new establishment of Sedgley Park, with
conspicuous ability and consummate wisdom and
prudence. He was buried in the churchyard,
at Sedgley. It has been already recorded of
him that he was highly and universally respected.
From his portrait, which, by those who knew
him, was always considered a good likeness,
the traits of his character may easily be col-
lected. It hung for many years in the " Big
Parlour," but is now on the wall of the " Big
Staircase." It was painted by the old drawing-
master, Mr. Richard Paddey, and though a poor
stiff figure as a work of art, the countenance
bears the character of a faithful likeness. The
good old man looks with a calm blue eye
and mild benevolent features, kind, paternal,
and venerable. There is, however, incidental
evidence that he was somewhat severe in corpo-
ral punishment. For the Rev. John Chetwode
Eustace, the author of the " Classical Tour in
Italy," who had been a boy at the Park, from
1767 to 1774, speaks of Mr. Kendal as " of
flogging memory." This occurs in his letter to
Mr. Kirk, to be hereafter noticed, and would
seem the result of a feeling impression. Mr.
Kendal appears in his portrait in a white wig,
such as his good successor always wore, and is
dressed in a brown coat, which was indeed the
colour invariably worn by the Catholic clergy,
as in those days they could not venture to
appear in black, or at all in clerical costume.
A letter lies before him, addressed to himself,
as an ingenious mode of designating tne por-
trait. The decease of Mr. Kendal closed the
first marked period in the history of the Park ;
and but a short time before his death, a change
had taken place in the chaplaincy, the Rev.
Thomas Hartley having been succeeded by the
Rev. Richard Cornethwaite.
|
