| 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.
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