inevitable was seen to be approaching, but unfortunately Mr. Clarke by his own act anticipated it. Being accidently left alone for a few moments he took a pistol, which he had concealed in a drawer, walked out into the garden and shot himself, the overwrought brain rendering him no longer accountable for his actions.
Of his successor, the Rev. Prebendary W. H. Milner, who, like Mr. Clarke, had held preferment in the diocese of Carlisle, we have only to say that he was an able man of business, carried on the work of the church with great energy, and introduced many reforms. He built the present vicarage. He was the last vicar nominated by the Bishop of Carlisle. Of the next two vicars it may be said that their tenure of office was all too short, hard faithful labour cutting off the Rev. Robert Giles (as we have before stated) in 1872, after a vicariate of only 4 years; while the Rev. Arthur Scrivenor died, after 10 years work in the parish, in his 51st year, in 1882. Canon E. Fowler Quarrington succeeded him, and held the vicarage during 18 years, when he was transferred, in 1900, to the Rectory of Welby, near Grantham. The Rev. Prebendary Alfred Edgar Moore, formerly Vicar of Messingham, near Brigg, began his vicariate in 1900, being inducted into the benefice on August 24, in that year.
Horncastle, we may here add, has been well served by its Curates. “Comparisons are (proverbially) odious,” we will not therefore refer to any of these in recent years; but we may take three typical cases of men whose memory is still green and redolent of good work.
In the latter years of the amiable vicar, Dr. Madely, he needed an active assistant, and such was the Rev. William Spranger White, of Trinity College, Cambridge, a member of a family of position, the head of which was his uncle, Sir Thomas Wollaston White, of Wallingwells Park, Worksop, High Sheriff 1839, and formerly of the 10th Hussars. Mr. White possessed independent means and was very generous. He was of a most sympathetic nature, and became greatly beloved by all classes. He worked hard in the parish from his ordination in 1833 to 1849. [61] In that year he was selected by the Marchioness of Lothian, to take charge of an Episcopalian Church, which her Ladyship built and endowed at Jedburgh, Roxburghshire. The church was opened with an octave of services, which were attended by the great Doctor Hook of Leeds, who had recommended Mr. White to her Ladyship. The father of the present writer, and many leading clergymen from this neighbourhood, and various parts of England and Scotland, attended the opening services. Mr. White remained there for some years, and married the eldest daughter of Lord Chancellor Campbell, who resided at Hartrigg House, near Jedburgh. This
marriage led to his subsequent return to England, being appointed by the Lord Chancellor to the Rectory of St. Just, near Land’s End, Cornwall; at a later date promoted to the Vicarage of Chaddesley Corbett, near Kidderminster, Worcestershire; and finally in 1859 to the Rectory of Potterhanworth, near Lincoln, of which cathedral he was made an Honorary Canon, in recognition of his generous gifts towards cathedral improvements. Here he did excellent work until his death in 1893. [62]
We next take two of the well chosen curates of the Vicar, T. J. Clarke, who were contemporaries at Horncastle; Charles Dashwood Goldie of St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he took Mathematical Honours in 1847, was ordained as Curate of Horncastle in 1848. An able preacher and indefatigable worker in the parish, he at once made his mark, not only in the town, but in the neighbourhood; he and his beautiful wife being welcome guests in many a rectory and vicarage. He was also a man of good social position and private means, and occupied a good house with large garden on the north side of West Street (then called Far Street), belonging to the late Mrs. Conington, within some 120 yards of the railway station, now occupied by Mr. Sills, and named “The Chestnuts.” Mr. Goldie being curate at the time when Holy Trinity Church was built presented the carved oak chairs within the communion rails. After leaving Horncastle he was appointed to the vicarage of St. Ives, in the diocese of Ely. The Goldies were an old Manx family; Col. Goldie, his brother, of the Scotts Guards Regiment, being President of the House of Keys, the local parliament. Their residence in that island is “The Nunnery,” near the town of Douglas, so called from the ruin close at hand of an ancient priory, said to have been founded by St. Bridget in the sixth century. Mr. Goldies’ nephew is the present Sir George Dashwood Tanbman Goldie, Privy Councillor, K.C.M.G., F.R.G.S., &c, formerly of the Royal Engineers, but latterly holding various Government appointments, director of several expeditions in West Africa, having travelled in Egypt, the Soudan, Algiers, Morocco, &c., and attended the Berlin Conference in 1884, as an expert on questions connected with the Niger country, where he founded the Royal Chartered Company of Nigeria. His latest honour (1905) is the Presidency of the Royal Geographical Society, in succession to Sir Clements P. Markham, K.C.B., &c.
The Rev. Thomas Castle Southey (a relative of the poet) was Fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford, where he took Classical and Mathematical Honours in 1847. He was ordained in the same year, and held the curacy of Horncastle from that year till 1849. He was an able and scholarly preacher and persevering worker in the parish. On leaving Horncastle he became Incumbent of the Episcopal Church at Montrose, N.B., which he held for six years, when he became Assistant Curate of St. Paul’s Church, Brighton, under the Rev. Arthur Wagner; then Curate of the church of St. Thomas the Martyr at Oxford; then Vicar of Wendron, Cornwall, and afterwards of Newbold Pacey, near Leamington, in 1868. After leaving Horncastle he was invited by the Governors, as an able scholar, to examine the Horncastle Grammar School, then a considerably larger school than it has been in later years, with a large number of day boys, and also boarders from London, many distant parts of the country, and even from Jersey and the continent.
As this is the last chapter in which we shall deal with church matters, we may here say that a Clerical Club, with valuable library and news room, was established in the town in the year 1823. At that time there was a numerous community of country clergymen living in the town; a dozen, or more, villages in the neighbourhood having no official residence in their parishes; thus a Clerical Club became a convenient institution for social intercourse, and valuable papers were often read at their meetings. This ceased to exist at the close of the 19th century, when the books were transferred to the Diocesan Library at Lincoln. In order to enable these country incumbents to maintain a town residence, they, in several cases, held a plurality of benefices, which would hardly be allowed in the present day. Even the Vicar of Horncastle, Dr. Madely, also held the Vicarage of Stickford, distant more than a dozen miles; another clergyman was Rector of Martin, Vicar of Baumber, and Rector of Sotby, several miles apart; while a third held the Perpetual Curacy of Wood Enderby, 4 or 5 miles to the south-east of the town, with the Curacy of Wilksby adjoining, and the Chapelry of Kirkstead, 5 or 6 miles to the west. Further, to eke out the family income, his daughter found employment of a somewhat novel kind in the service of the late Queen Victoria. Being in figure the exact size of the Queen, her Majesty’s dresses were all tried on this lady by the royal dressmaker; and, as a portion of her remuneration, the cast-off clothing of the Queen became her perquisite. On the occasion of the wedding of one of her friends at Horncastle, the bride and her bridesmaids were all attired in Queen’s dresses.
In connection with the church is the “Young Churchmen’s Union,” of which the Vicar is President. They have fortnightly meetings, in the Boys’ National School, at 8.15 p.m. There is also a Church Lads’ Brigade, No. 1951, attached to the 1st Battalion, Lincoln Regiment, B 51. This was enrolled Oct. 1st, 1901. The members are youths between the ages of 13 and 19; the present Lieutenant being H. W. Sharpe; Chaplain, the Vicar; Assistant Chaplain and Correspondent, the Senior Curate. Entrance fee 1/6, subscription 1d. per week.
The Church National Schools are good substantial buildings, erected at various periods, the Girls’ School in 1812, the Infants’ in 1860, and the Boys’ (at a cost of £1,000) in 1872; the total accommodation is for 300 children, the average attendance being about 250. The schools were taken over by the Lindsey County Council, on April 1st, 1903.