Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Hereford / A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See

by A. Hugh Fisher

Herbert Croft, A.D. 1662-1671. The son of Sir Herbert Croft, of an ancient family in the county of Hereford, he was brought up at Douai and St. Omer as a Jesuit, but was restored to the English Church through the influence of Bishop Morton, of Durham. He became a determined opponent of Romanism, and wrote several treatises against it. About this time there seems to have been an appeal to the nobility and gentry of the county for help towards restoring the cathedral. Bishop Croft was buried in the cathedral, and joined to his gravestone is that of his intimate friend George Benson, the Dean. He left by his will a sum of money for the relief of widows, and for apprenticing the sons of clergymen of the diocese.

Gilbert Ironside, A.D. 1691-1701, warden of Wadham College, Oxford, was translated to Hereford from Bristol. He died in London, and was buried in the church of St. Mary, Monthalt. This church was destroyed in 1863, but the Rev. F. T. T. Havergal succeeded in getting the Bishop's remains and tomb-stone removed to Hereford Cathedral a few years later, in 1867.

Humphrey Humphreys, A.D. 1701-1712, a Welshman, was translated to Hereford from Bangor. He is said to have been a good antiquary. Again, in the early days of the eighteenth century, was the old contest revived between citizens and Bishop as to his jurisdiction in respect of the fair of St. Ethelbert. The episcopal rights remained unaltered, at least in form, down to 1838, when the privileges were taken away by a special Act[pg 107] of Parliament, and compensation was made to the Bishop for the profits arising from the fair privileges, to the amount of 12-1/2 bushels of wheat or its equivalent in money value, according to the price current. This has now been transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and the fair limited to two days' duration.

Philip Bisse, A.D. 1712-1721, translated from St. David's, was a man of great munificence, and of the best intentions, of whom it may be said he spent "not wisely but too well." He was entirely devoid of any æsthetic feeling or of architectural fitness, and in the most religious spirit committed acts of wholesale sacrilege. He employed, it is said, in the work of restoration in the palace, the stones of the chapter-house, at that time much injured, but certainly by no means ruined. He built a hideous structure intended to support the central tower of the cathedral, and as a crowning act of magnificent liberality, presented the church with the most dreadful, ponderous, and unsuitable altar-piece that could well have been devised. In an elaborate epitaph in the cathedral his virtues are recorded. It was in the time of Bishop Bisse that the meeting of the three choirs of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester first took place.

Benjamin Hoadley, A.D. 1721-1723, translated from Bangor, was again translated to Salisbury early in 1723. His rule over Hereford was too short for him to have influenced it for good or evil, and his history belongs rather to Salisbury and Winchester.

Hon. Henry Egerton, A.D. 1723-1746, fifth son of the third Earl of Bridgewater, was chaplain to George I. He is chiefly to be remembered for an attempt to destroy the early Norman building adjoining the Bishop's Palace, and thought to have been the parish church of St. Mary, each of its two stories containing a chantry founded by Bishop Hugh Foliot.

Lord James Beauclerk, A.D. 1746-1787, grandson of Charles II. and Nell Gwynn, a native of Hereford, was the next Bishop. It was during the last year of his episcopate on Easter Monday, April 17, 1786, that occurred the fall of the western tower of the cathedral, causing much injury. The west front of the church was destroyed, and also a great part of the nave was seriously injured. The Bishop died eighteen months after this calamity. The see was next occupied for six weeks only by the Hon. J. Harley.

John Butler, A.D. 1788-1802. By birth a German, was an active political supporter of the Government of the day.

He contributed largely to the repair of the cathedral.

Folliott Herbert Cornewall, A.D. 1802-1808. He was a member of an ancient family in the county of Hereford. Translated from Bristol to Hereford, he was again translated in 1808 to Worcester.