Later, Mr. Ellis writes to Madam Owen thus:—“I shew’d T. Edwards yr memorandum of yr Brother’s promising the sum of two hundred pounds to ye School dated May ye 1st, 1745. . . . Please to present my respects to ye Chancellor and to ask him if he would be offended at a Volunteer Master’s being put in ye School to take his chance till Providence sends an endowment.”
“. . . I’ve sent the Chancellor herewith a present of 2 London discourses. I’m employed by ye Society for promoting Xtian Knowledge to procure subscriptions towds printing ye 15,000 Welch Bibles, wch are now in ye Press. As Anglesey is call’d of old “Mam Cymru” or Mother of Wales, she’ll set her daughters (viz. ye other Counties) a good example on ys excellent occasion, wch will otherwise be a great reproach to ye Welch, who but for ye charity of ye English wd in a few years have scarce any such things as a Welch Bible among them.”
January, 1747:—“Please tell the Chancellor that I acquainted the Society with his £10 subscription and communicate to him the following good news, wch will give him pleasure, viz.: that the Society has at last got in benefactions enough to defray the whole expence of the impression of the Welch Bibles (except ye binding), and yt is expected it will be finished before Lady Day next. According to ye good old custom I heartily wish you all a happy new year and many. Your obliged servant to command, Thos. Ellis.”
The successive owners of Penrhos were closely connected with the fortunes of Holyhead. Sir John Stanley, afterwards first Lord Stanley of Alderley, his brother, the accomplished Bishop of Norwich and their sons, the Honorable W. O. Stanley, and Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster, took the keenest interest in chronicling the facts and legends connected with the venerable church, and in the preservation of its fabric.
During the last months of Mrs. Stanley’s life it was her great interest to plan a complete restoration of the church, to complete the clerestory left unfinished in Tudor times, and to render the dilapidated building once more a worthy sanctuary for the prayers and praises which had echoed within its walls for over thirteen centuries. Mrs. Stanley’s plan included the erection of a monument to the husband she had loved so well, and whose life had been devoted to the welfare of Holyhead.
The restoration of the church was carried out after her death from the plans of Sir Gilbert Scott, mainly at the expense of Mr. Stanley, in 1879. By the removal of the earth accumulated within the building, the bases of the pillars long buried were brought to light, and the church revealed once more in the beauty of its original proportions. And now Mrs. Stanley’s last wish has been fully carried out, as regards her husband’s monument, by its erection in a fitting shrine by one who, having filled a daughter’s place in the home at Penrhos, has put her whole heart into the perfecting of a work which she regarded as a sacred trust bequeathed to her.
The south chancel aisle was completed and unveiled on Sunday, the 20th June, 1897, the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s Accession. The carved figures on the outside representing St. Seiriol and St. Cybi, are from the designs of Mr. Hamo Thornycroft; the steps, of green serpentine marble, are taken from the Rhoscolyn Quarry, Holyhead Island, by the kindness of Colonel Hampton Lewis of Bodior.
Mr. Arthur Baker, who carried out the restoration of 1877 under Sir Gilbert Scott, has been the architect of the present addition; but to the deep regret of all who knew him, he has passed away this year, and we owe the perfecting and completion of the work to the devoted personal superintendance of his partner, and son-in-law, Mr. Harold Hughes, of Bangor.
The monument itself is of Carrara marble, designed by Hamo Thornycroft, R.A. It consists of a life-size recumbent figure with watching angels at the head and the feet. With the help of Mr. Watts, R.A., and his knowledge of the original, the sculptor has produced a wonderful likeness, recalling to all who knew him the characteristics of Mr. Stanley’s fine head and impressive features. Mr. Watts, who has himself followed the progress of the memorial for many years with keen interest, considers it one of the finest works of art of modern times.