He flung himself with the greatest ardour into the work at Lincoln, and far from finding himself at leisure for literary work, he was busier, he said, than he had ever been before. He started a Theological College, Cancellarii Scholae, where he lectured, assisted by his dear friend, Prebendary Crowfoot'. He caused to be restored a Chapel in the Cathedral where he held a daily early Matins. He had a little Bible-Class of mechanics from Clayton and Shuttleworth's, and Robey's Works. He gave Lenten Lectures on Church History in the Chapter House, and, with some trembling, he started Night Schools in the city; but rough as were many of the students who attended them, his personal ascendency carried all through. Canon Crowfoot writes: The opening of the Night Schools for men and lads in the city was due to a suggestion made by Miss S. Wordsworth. I remember walking down on the first night with the Chancellor and a few students, thinking it possible that we might find sixty pupils. To our astonishment when we came in sight of the Central School in Silver Street we found the street blocked with working men and lads. There were 400 waiting for admittance. As soon as the doors were open the Chancellor mounted the table and in stentorian tones shouted, "All over 40 years old go to such a room," ," "All over 30 to another," and so in an incredibly short time the mass of men and boys was roughly sorted. Then, thanks to the extremely efficient help of Mr Mantle, and his son Rev. W. Mantle, simple test papers in writing and arithmetic Classes were soon formed, and order throughout the schools was introduced. Their after success was largely due to the help given by Mr Mantle and his sons. were set. Miss Wordsworth writes: The Chancellor's night schools proved very successful. He enlisted the services and sympathy of many of the residents in support of them. Two old ladies however who were somewhat 1 In July, 1898, upon the death of Canon Clements, Subdean of Lincoln, Canon Leeke, who succeeded my father, accepted the Subdeanery, and Canon Crowfoot was appointed to the vacant Chancellorship. 2 Master of the Cathedral School at Lincoln. B. 1. 24 of the Cranfordian type, were with difficulty induced to subscribe: "We give this to you, Mr Chancellor," said the elder sister, "to show our regard for you, but for our parts, Patty and I prefer an ignorant poor." Professor Mason writes : One time that I was with him at Lincoln, I had the pleasure of going round with him to the Night Schools, which were reopening that evening. He was the founder of them, and it was delightful to see the way in which he was received wherever he appeared in them. He had a large Bible-Class of men in connexion with them, composed of all sects. He began to read St John's Gospel with them, by their own choice, if I remember right. He told me that when they came to the 3rd chapter, he said to them, "Now this is a chapter about which there is a good deal of difference of opinion. I have a very decided opinion of my own about it; and some of you would not agree with that opinion at all. So on the whole I think the best plan will be to leave the chapter out, and go on with the next." Of course the consequence was, as he had intended, that all the Baptists and Methodists were most anxious to have the 3rd chapter; and Dr Benson was delighted at the way in which his explanation of it was received. My mother reminds me that in his first speech to the Night School at Lincoln he began, "Gentlemen-no,Men and boys." "And nippers," called out a voice (“nipper" meaning in Lincolnshire a boy of about 15). "Men, boys and nippers," he went on straight. The men who composed his Bible-Class were delighted with my father's prompt and outspoken replies. Not less was he delighted with their vigour and readiness of thought and speech. He used often to quote how on one occasion a man began a discussion on "Wealth" by saying, “If all the money in the world were to be equally divided, how long would it remain so?" "Not long," said another doubtfully: "Not three minutes!" said the original speaker. On one occasion the Chancellor illustrated a spiritual truth by quoting some mechanical principle; the men made him in their own time and at their own expense a little machine to illustrate this more effectively. When he left Lincoln these same men made him a set of dessert dishes out of bronzed metal from the mines of Coleby, procuring the material themselves and working in their free time. This service he loved, and though it was not, artistically speaking, very beautiful, there were few days on which it did not appear on the dinner table for the rest of his life. Of my father's work at Lincoln, in the town and among the working-men, Mr Duncan McInnes' writes: The qualities that endeared your father to the working class here were something almost too intangible to describe it was not just because he was a dignitary, or a Clergyman by any means. If he had been a working man he would have gained the support of his class and have been a trusted leader, trusted instinctively, and, possibly, not one of his supporters would have been able to say exactly why. When with us he seemed to be of us, not through designing so to be, but because he couldn't help it. I believe many of us, perhaps the majority, thought he had had a workshop training in his early years, because he appeared to have the faculty of looking at things with a "workman's mind." I have seen hundreds of gentlemen try to do this in my time and fail, but your father did it unconsciously. To give an instance. Two of our Committee were Secularists; once at a meeting when your father was speaking about a life to come, one of them who was in the Chair, dissented audibly. It was a social meeting (of men and women) following a tea-he had had tea with us. Now, most clergymen hearing an ejaculation of that kind would have solemnly repeated the statement and enlarged upon it. Your father did nothing of the sort. He simply nodded his head backward to the Chairman behind him, laughed, and with a knowing kind of look at his audience-said to the Chairman, "Come, it won't do, you know," meaning the Chairman's denial that there was a future life wouldn't "go 1 Formerly a journeyman moulder, and since 1883 Foreman of the Globe Works, Lincoln; Secretary of the Educational Committee of the Lincoln Cooperative Society from 1877-1891, and General Secretary of the Society since 1880; Member of the Executive Bureau of the International Cooperative Alliance. down" with that audience at any rate. This by-play was infinitely more effective than any laboured argument would have been. The allusion to a future life was merely a passing allusion, the subject was "how to get most good out of a course of reading." I remember he recommended that after one had read a leading article in a Conservative paper one should turn immediately to a red-hot Radical paper, and then try to come to a just estimate of the matter in question. As soon as the Chancellor was settled at Lincoln, he wrote to his old friend Mr Cubitt, then M.P. for West Surrey, to say that if he could get a Prebendal Stall temporarily endowed for a Theological tutor, acting under the direction of the Chancellor, he would "brave the foundation of a Theological College in direct connection with the Cathedral." He added, "I am anxious not to open a Theological College subscription with a Flourish of Trumpets and a Building, but to let that material garb grow up round the actual spiritual-educational work which I want to see organised first. Body will follow upon Spirit." He continued :— I am very happy in all I see of Lincoln. A grand place, grand opportunities. The Bishop you know all about, and I think he will make a great impression, he is conciliatory and insistent together. The Dean' is very able, not enthusiastic, but anxious for good things. I think this somewhat cynical soberness will make us all careful to do well what we do. The majority (two of the three) very anxious to extend the usefulness of the Cathedral. The Ecclesiastical Commission have robbed us much: have left scarcely enough for repairs. We have a grand old house, and I a delightful study, nearly in order now, and I am quite resolved to spend 10 or 15 years (if I have them) in this place without any work that shall call me away. I am declining preachments right and left, and mean to give myself to Cathedral work pure and simple, and if I can make it wide enough and busy enough, I shall stay here the rest of my days. I tell my children they must provide for their own education. 1 1 J. W. Blakesley, B.D. I am going off now in an hour to London (to stay with Lightfoot at the Chapter House, St Paul's) for two or three days. while Prescott Knight begins my portrait; which my deluded Wellington Masters insist on presenting to Mrs Benson. What a rise for Wellington College Miss Gladstone will be1! You had a sad gloom over Ranmore in your Bishop's' fatal fall. Mr Cubitt, replying to the preceding, offered to endow a Stall temporarily at Lincoln for Theological work, and in January, 1874, the Chancellor wrote to Mr Cubitt, acknowledging a cheque for £750 for the endowment of the temporary Tutorship. MY DEAR CUBitt, THE CHANCERY, LINCOLN. I have just received your kindest letter, together with your truly noble gift to the Church and to me, for I own I value more than I can express the honour and pleasure you put upon me by wishing me to pay it out fruitfully. You have now to water the good seed you have sown with your prayers, and I hope you will let me feel that you are counting this among the good works you pray for. I shall let you know how we proceed. The Precentor is going to give me lectures, and the Bishop Suffragan to lecture occasionally on Pastoral Theology. The more I hear him, the more thankful and almost surprised I am that so good a coadjutor has been secured3. I fancy he will be an eminent man. At present our applications for immediate work are from two University men (one settled in Lincoln), one local preacher from Lichfield, one gentleman of independent means tired of idleness and with a general interest in vestments, who tells his friends that he enjoyed being very plainly spoken to by me 1 The Very Rev. E. C. Wickham, Headmaster of Wellington College from 1873 to 1893, now Dean of Lincoln, married Miss Agnes Gladstone, daughter of the Rt Hon. W. E. Gladstone, in Dec. 1873. 2 Bishop Wilberforce was thrown from his horse on July 19, 1873. He was riding with Lord Granville from Leatherhead station to Holmbury, where he was to meet Mr Gladstone. After passing Ranmore Common and Ackhurst Downs, they descended towards Abinger, when the Bishop's horse stumbled and threw his rider forwards, killing him instantaneously. See p. 185. 3 Prebendary Crowfoot. |