THE Rev. G. H. S. Walpole, D.D., Rector Of Lambeth
All I can say about the School is, that I know of no school where the central hall is at once so spacious and beautiful. We have already found it of great service-not merely as a hall for assembling the boys, but for parochial gatherings. It is always admired when seen. The other rooms are excellent, but more like those of other schools, and present no special features. One word, I think, should be said of the position of the School, which is as unique as the central hall. Standing as it does in the Archbishop's park, and approached by a drive under a handsome arch, it must give the boys who attend it a sense of the dignity of learning, such as is unconsciously caught at Cambridge or Oxford by the beautiful buildings where knowledge is housed. The contrast between rushing off the pavement into an ugly school, which gives the impression of a warehouse, and approaching gradually through paths bordered by shrubs and flowers our Temple School, is as marked as could be well conceived, and must have its effect upon the boys' minds. However little they may think about it. The situation and building show what Elementary schools ought to be, and suggest wonderful possibilities of effects on a poor neighbourhood such as that which some stately church has. It is much to be hoped that England is not going to lose in the future that marked individuality which some of the day schools have had in the past, and Archbishop Temple's School in a very special degree. Nothing could be worse than that all her schools should be the same. The spirit of John Hernaman would rise in protest against such dull uniformity.
THE Rev. H. P. Lindsay, M.A.
My association with the parish dates from 1890-1900, as Assistant Curate, a Manager of, and a Teacher in the Schools. During the greater part of this time Canon Pelham was Rector and Mr. Hernaman was Head Master.
In those days John Hernaman was a conspicuous feature in Lambeth life, his sphere of influence extended beyond even his connection with the School , beneath that quaint personality and unconventional manner lay a character of sterling worth, somewhat rough hewn, it 'was yet instinct with an old world courtesy of bearing, straight, honourable, and true, he loved his boys and they him.
We clergy valued always his friendship and admired his force of character.
It is of Canon Pelham more especially that I have been asked to write.
Our Rector was a man of lofty ideals -a simple faith, a practical tum of mind, and possessed with a true missionary spirit. His tall and athletic stature was but the outward sign of a vigorous manhood and strenuous life, the elastic spring in his step, as he walked, spoke of a restless energy of character and buoyancy of spirit. His love of outdoor games and manly sports, in which he, excelled, naturally attracted boys to his person and won for him opportunities of influencing lads which sometimes are denied to those who have not excelled in their games.
Canon Pelham was a reformer, his ceaseless activity has left its mark in tum on either the extension or improvement of almost every parochial building - the Church, Rectory Rooms, Schools, Star Mission Rooms, Young Men's Club, the Gymnasium, among others.
The minutest detail was gone into with unsparing pains, be would argue a point with the youngest of us clergy, brimful though we often were with the over assurance of youth and inexperience.
His quick and nervous temperament gave rise, at times, to a false impression of seeming haughtiness, and I have heard it said that II he could never forget that he was a nobleman." In a sense this was true-in a sense that, perhaps, was not then implied. For Canon Pelham was, in reality, by nature shy, he never sought popularity so called, while he was ever ready to take a leading part in any movement in municipal life for the betterment of the district, his services were invaluable as Chairman of the Lambeth Vestry and of the committees for founding the Free Libraries and acquiring parks and open spaces, rescue homes, and much other useful work.
From his life as a parish priest, we who were nearest to him learned much, and no one knew better than we the gentle care and sympathetic co-operation of Mrs. Pelham in that particular work that only a lady can do.
A pathetic and silent evidence of the deep affection for their old Rector could be seen by the group of Lambeth parishioners who journeyed to Staumer and stood round the grave of him they loved so well.
On All Saints' Day, 1906, the Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by the Bishop of Southwark, dedicated a side chapel in the Parish Church, erected to the memory of the late Earl of Chichester (Canon Pelham).
Upwards of R,600 had been sol)scribed by his friends for this object. There were present at the service the Bishops of Bath and Wells, Rhode Island (America), and many local clergy, besides former members of his Lambeth clerical staff and a, large congregation. The Archbishop's words of reference forcibly appealed to all the late Rector's friends, and were evidently the expression of one who himself intimately knew and valued the life and work of Lambeth's Parish Priest.
J. Skinner, Esq. (an old master)
Mr. Thomas Hanscomb (an old master)
THE Rev H. V. Bickersteth, M.A.
I must leave to others to write more particularly about the School and Lambeth life generally who know them better than I do. Lambeth was my first and only curacy, and it is just twenty years since Canon Pelham offered me to work with him. My recollections are, perhaps, too much connected with my ministerial work to bear putting on paper, and yet a clergyman of the Church happily so shares the life of his people that nothing common to them is foreign to him, and his life soon becomes a public one also.
In all well ordered parishes the Schools are a permanent part of the Church's work. We curates had to teach-Mr. Bickmore in the Girls' School, Mr. Grimston in the Boys', and myself in the Infants' and Boys'. I have never yet found that the advent of a parson was calculated to do much injury to the young folk of his parish. Papers say so sometimes, sometimes politicians say so , "we " decide it. For all that, I hope they will be allowed to go on. The influence of Mr. Hernaman and his staff have, doubtless, helped me in the other schools which I have had, and I mean to teach in my present school till driven out, and then to get in again if I see a chance.
I think workers at Lambeth and young men wanted all encouragement, and our Rector's cheery optimism and strenuous life, and visible self-sacrifice of much which might have fallen to him in other places, was, or should have been, a great stimulus. Others will write of him. Fifteen years after I started at Lambeth I was called by him to my present charge of two of his home parishes. Almost every day now I pass his last resting place. There, seventeen months ago, he was laid" in sure and certain hope," surrounded by representatives of his own large estates and of parishes which he had served, by school friends and men high in Church and State, under the shadow of the little church into which, sixty years before, he had been carried as an infant for Holy Baptism. "In labours often " was the mark of his course, while simple faith penetrating his ceaseless activities, enabled him to do great things for the Master whom he loved.
It is not for me to write of Alice Countess of Chichester, then as now, one of the finest Church workers in England, and who, while heartening so much of the work done in the old parish, was a most gracious hostess at the Rectory.
I have a happy memory of the Boys' School in a beautiful picture of Sir Joshua Reynolds' "Cherub," bung on my study walls, presented to me on leaving. My recollections are specially connected with the Young Men's Friendly Society, which started in a room in South Street, in quite a small way. I have the following note :-
"The first meeting of the Boys' Bible Class Weekday Meeting was held to-day, January 21st, 1887, at 34, South Street. 18 present, including Rev. the Hon. R. Grimston, Rev. H. V Bickersteth, and Mr. James Parkins. Games were played and papers read. Two of the members gave a recitation of] The Fall of Wolsey, ' and Mr. Eickersteth read some extracts from Bishop Hannington's life. At 9 p.m. business details were discussed. Some papers were suggested as being desirable to take in. These and other suggestions were -n6ted to be laid before the Rector.
I seem to have sketched out a little idea of what we hoped the Club would become, and Mr. Parkins spoke to us also. After a stay at the "Star" we branched out into a branch of the Young Men's Friendly Society.
James Parkins, Esq., A.K.C.
The names of the first members of the early meeting, at the beginning of 1887, included Edw. Wilcox, H. Gaitt, Joseph Angus, T. Newberry, Wm. C. Hall, Wm. Shillton, S. Cuthbert, W. Reid, F. J. Allen, Alb. Plummer, G. Westropp, Frank Boswarva, Wm. Milburn, Edwin Goodfellow, Frank Shipley, J. Dale, H. Holland, J. E. Brearcy, Fred Howell, T. Hanscomb, G. E. Sandgarde, A. H. Vince, R. Evans, E. Webb, W. Parratt, Holdstock, R. Peates, W. Burgess, Bittleston, H. W. Whitlock.
How I should like to know what has happened to them all. Two were called away before I left into the nearer presence of God, another joined the “Black Watch”, one or two I have heard of in the Colonies, and I received a card the other day dated Palestine, from my old friend, Fred Allen, in the employ of Messrs. Cook 8; Son. I wonder if you remember Mr. Hernaman coming to take his part in dumb bell exercise, or his lecture on a trip on the Continent. Many a chat have I had with him in his little study, with the London and South Western trains rumbling overhead. I am right, I believe, in saying that he used to go out early sometimes to meet Old Boys in the Police Force or other lines of life, all of whom respected him. While he loved the country, his passion for his school in Lambeth was great indeed. It is, I believe, a fact that he might have got a far better post if he had been willing to leave Lambeth.
I had two Sunday Bible Classes, several members of whom were confirmed. You all ran out once, I think, when the Trafalgar Square riots were on. A photograph lies before me of happy cricketers, etc., whom we took down to play at Belvedere, where my brother, now Vicar of Leeds, was then Vicar. Another day we were at Cheam, the Rector's old school. I think Mr. J. B. Pelham, the present Earl of Chichester, played for us. Memories are keen of the football field and Boswarva's pretty and fast play and clean shots.
I see the first cricket committee of our Boys' Bible Class members - Were Edwin Goodfellow, J. F. Allen, Joseph Angus, H.W. Whitlock, H. Gantt.
We kept up interest in other recreations, and Miss Cons allowed us to attend the evening lectures at the Victoria Hall at greatly reduced prices. We heard there lectures on Dickens, London, and Astronomy. Expeditions were planned to the Apprentices' Exhibition at the People's Palace, to the Bethnal Green Museum to view Queen Victoria's Jubilee presents, to the South Kensington Natural History Section, and to Harapstead Heath, etc. When the Rector secured a railway arch for a "gym " we were glad. Boxing, Indian clubs, the maze, the " horse", 8cc., gave us plenty of muscular exercise, and we were able to give most creditable displays, at one of which General Fraser, V.C., M.P., presided, and at another, on the occasion of opening our Reading Room, the Hon. T. H. W. Pelham, C.B .
The Debating Society, with Mr. F. R. Taylor as Secretary, and Mr. T. F. Gamish as Librarian, drew up rules and good programmes, and also a Swimming Club was at least projected, if not started. I wonder if you recall a football match against the Lambeth Melrose, which I see we won by 7-0, and an account days: II Much interest was displayed. Many elder friends
also being present-the Rector also being there for a large part of the time. A glorious day, and our match not the least pleasant part of Boxing Day. Goals locked: Boswarva, 3, H. V. B., 2, Allen, l, Gray, l." We also entered for the London District Shield Competition in Athletics. Fred Allen, Joseph Dunman, Heniy Gaitt, Heniy Holland, William Morgan, A. W. Pamplin, John Trendell, and Frank Steane formed our "eight." The scoring was:-
Long Jump................................................ 14
Parallel Bars............................................. 571
Indian Clubs............................................. 70
141% points
Our opponents scored 157, but the "march in " was marked for, and this we had not studied particularly. But it was a close result. Now I must end this rather rambling letter of memories now eighteen years old. Others will, no doubt, have written of the many things, such as the Flower Show, etc., which in those days Canon Pelham and Mr. Hernaman fostered so successfully, and also others will have written of what has taken place since or goes on now.
Well, all these things are a sign of life, and I take it that we parsons, ministers of the Church of England, priests of the Catholic Church which is founded on the fact of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, that we felt nothing should be left outside our interests, and that the artificial distinction between "secular " and "religious " should be done away with. But how far all these outward things are an index of the unseen life which is the essence of all life, both parochial and individual, who can tell ? I know this, that in-noisy, dirty in parts, wicked in parts-old Lambeth, warm hearts were beating and true lives were lived, and that your old School had a large share in producing