The use of the Sunday school buildings of both the Manchester Road Methodists and Mclaren Baptist churches has already been well covered on this blog and I have nothing new to add to their stories. However, the churches in the township also have other links to the War.
Among the multitudes of young men who lost their lives in the conflict were two with links to a couple of prominent churchmen with strong ties to Chorlton-cum-Hardy churches.
These were Rev. John Cocker a curate at St Georges, Hulme and a close friend of Walter Sidney Tuke the future rector of St Werburgh’s Church (April 1944 – March 1953) and Raymond George Grayson, (1) the son of a former minister of High Lane Primitive Methodist Church, Rev. Joseph Watson Grayson. (1910 - 1913)
High Lane (Macpherson Memorial)
Primitive Methodist Church
(m 17903 A.E. Landers: 1959)
Rev. John Cocker K.i.A. Flanders 25th
April 1916
John Cocker and his “chum” (2) Walter Tuke volunteered together to serve as private soldiers in the newly formed 24th battalion of The Royal Fusiliers – the “Sportsman’s Battalion”.
At the time of their enlistment both men were curates of the Church of England serving in neighbouring Manchester parishes, Rev. Cocker at St. George’s and Rev. Tuke at St. Stephen’s both in Hulme. The two friends decided to join up as ordinary soldiers wishing to share in the common hardships of the other ranks.
While shaving outside his dugout on the morning of 25th April 1916 Rev. John was hit by a shell fragment and died instantly. He is thought to be the first serving minister of the Church of England to be killed whilst on active service in World War 1. This factor and the human interest of his “chum” Walter having to conduct his funeral service led to the incident being widely reported in the press.
John Cocker was born, the son of William Pickup Cocker and Catherine (née Williams), in 1887, in Blackburn, Lancashire where his father, brother and two sisters all worked in a cotton mill – the family also ran a grocer’s shop. John’s mother came from Meliden Nr. Prestatyn, North Wales.
Soon after this incident Walter Tuke, himself, was also badly wounded, four pieces of shrapnel piercing his shoulder. While recuperating from this injury on 19th December 1916 Walter was appointed a temporary Army Chaplain which carried a rank of Captain. He served as chaplain at The Whalley War Hospital near Blackburn until the end of the War and later as chaplain with his old regiment in Egypt.
Walter was born in Leeds on 15th November 1889. His parents were George Thomas Tuke, a manager for a corn & hay merchant (who later became a contractor for The Post Office) and his wife Henrietta (née Roadhouse). A graduate of Durham University and London Divinity College he was ordained a deacon by the Bishop of Manchester at Manchester Cathedral on 7th June 1914 and was appointed to a parish in Burnley, Lancashire.
The following year he was ordained as a priest and appointed to his position at St. Stephen’s, Hulme. On leaving the army Walter returned to parish work initially at Ashton-under-Lyme then St. Luke’s, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester and from 1927 as the vicar of St. John’s Church, Smallbridge, Wardle, Rochdale, Lancashire. (3) From this Rochdale parish he was appointed to St. Werburgh’s taking up this post from April 1944.
After 10 years as rector of St. Werburgh’s Rev. Tuke left the parish in 1954 and passed away in the March quarter of 1964.
Raymond George Grayson D.o.W. 7th August 1917
Lance Corporal Raymond George Grayson of the 15th battalion The Royal Scots – (“The Edinburgh Pals”) died on the 7th August 1917 at Nottingham General military hospital and is buried in Colchester military cemetery where his father was the chaplain.
Raymond was born in Ealing, Middlesex on the 18th September 1897 the son of Rev. Joseph Watson Grayson and Bessie Mary (née Kidd). Just 8 days after his 19th birthday he enlisted on 26th September 1914, initially at Colchester into the 5th battalion Essex Territorials. After just 10 days he was discharged from this unit in order to travel to Edinburgh where on 7th October 1914 he joined the “Edinburgh Pals” His civilian occupation is recorded as accounts clerk.
Lance-corporal Raymond G. Grayson suffered a serious shrapnel wound to his head on the Western Front in France on 24th April 1917. After a lengthy stay at a hospital in Boulogne he was transferred back to England on 9th June and admitted to Nottingham General Hospital.
For a time, he appeared to be on the road to recovery only to experience a sudden and rapid deterioration of his condition due to an abscess forming around an undiscovered foreign object lodged in his cerebellum which was to prove fatal. He died some 12 hours after an operation to remove the shell fragment from his brain.
Canon Edward McGuinness M.C.
Long after peace had returned, at least temporarily, to Europe Chorlton-cum-Hardy’s churches links to the “Great War” continued when another ex-Army Chaplain Edward McGuinness M.C. was installed as the new parish priest of Our Lady and St. John’s Roman Catholic Church on the death of Monsignor Joseph Kelly in 1930.
Father Edward was born on 21st February 1878 in Workington, Cumbeland. His parents were John McGuinness, a mason / builder and his wife Sarah (née McMullen). Edward’s mother died aged just 40 when he was only 6 and his younger brother, Robert William not yet one year old.
After attending St. Bede’s College, Whalley Range, Manchester he was trained for the priesthood at St. John’s College, Waterford, Ireland where he was ordained on the 19th June 1904. In the years before the First World War Fr. Edward was involved in parish work in Blackburn and Bolton in Lancashire. On the outbreak of hostilities, he became a chaplain with The Irish Guards. In this role he was awarded a Military Cross, for gallantry, while serving on the Western Front in the same battalion as Captain Harold Alexander the future Field Marshall (4), the two becoming life long friends. Fr. Edward remained a chaplain to the Irish Guards at the end of the war later spending a year in China. Immediately prior to his appointment to “St. John’s” he was the chaplain at Catterick Army Camp in Yorkshire. A few months before his death on 28th March 1946 Fr Edward had been made up to a Canon. He was buried in grave D 219A in the Roman Catholic section (naturally) of Southern Cemetery, Manchester on 3rd April 1946.
Pictures; High Lane (Macpherson Memorial) Primitive Methodist Church, A.E. Landers: 1959 m17903, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass remaining images, courtesy of Tony Goulding
Notes: -
1) During the three years of his father being the minister of High Lane Primitive Methodist Church, the family home was 3, Napier Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy
2) “chums” was how the newspapers of the day insisted on referring to the two friends.
3)While vicar of Smallbridge in May 1930 Walter was involved in a tragic and sensational case
when he was called upon to give evidence at the trial regarding the violent deaths of his sister-in-law and 15-year-old nephew. Testimony was given that Walter’s brother, William Clarence, a former electrical engineer turned accountant, had murdered his wife and child at their home in Edgware, London It was stated that he suffered from periodic mental breakdowns and it was alleged that at the time of the deaths he’d, had a particularly severe breakdown due to the stress over concerns regarding the future care of his mentally handicapped son. The jury brought in a verdict of ‘Guilty but of unsound mind” without having to leave the jury box and the defendant was sentenced to be “detained at His Majesty’s pleasure”
4) Having also been decorated with a Military Cross and a Distinguished Service Order in the First World War, Earl Alexander of Tunis was one of the most illustrious officers in the British army during World War 2. After overseeing the last part of the evacuation from Dunkirk he went on to serve with distinction in Burma, in operations in Tunisia harassing Rommels retreating “Afrika Korps” and in the capture of Sicily and the move into Italy. In 1946 he was appointed Governor General of Canada by King George VI a post in which he proved very popular. On his return to the United Kingdom in February 1952 he served briefly as the Minister of Defence in Sir Winston Churchill” s cabinet. He was created an Earl by one of the new Queen’s first acts on the 14th March 1952. A member of the organising committee for the Coronation he was chosen to carry the Queen’s orb in the procession on that occasion. Earl Alexander retired from politics in 1954 and died on the 16th June 1969.
 |
| High Lane (Macpherson Memorial) |
These were Rev. John Cocker a curate at St Georges, Hulme and a close friend of Walter Sidney Tuke the future rector of St Werburgh’s Church (April 1944 – March 1953) and Raymond George Grayson, (1) the son of a former minister of High Lane Primitive Methodist Church, Rev. Joseph Watson Grayson. (1910 - 1913)
High Lane (Macpherson Memorial)
Primitive Methodist Church
(m 17903 A.E. Landers: 1959)
Rev. John Cocker K.i.A. Flanders 25th
April 1916
John Cocker and his “chum” (2) Walter Tuke volunteered together to serve as private soldiers in the newly formed 24th battalion of The Royal Fusiliers – the “Sportsman’s Battalion”.
At the time of their enlistment both men were curates of the Church of England serving in neighbouring Manchester parishes, Rev. Cocker at St. George’s and Rev. Tuke at St. Stephen’s both in Hulme. The two friends decided to join up as ordinary soldiers wishing to share in the common hardships of the other ranks.
While shaving outside his dugout on the morning of 25th April 1916 Rev. John was hit by a shell fragment and died instantly. He is thought to be the first serving minister of the Church of England to be killed whilst on active service in World War 1. This factor and the human interest of his “chum” Walter having to conduct his funeral service led to the incident being widely reported in the press.
John Cocker was born, the son of William Pickup Cocker and Catherine (née Williams), in 1887, in Blackburn, Lancashire where his father, brother and two sisters all worked in a cotton mill – the family also ran a grocer’s shop. John’s mother came from Meliden Nr. Prestatyn, North Wales.
Soon after this incident Walter Tuke, himself, was also badly wounded, four pieces of shrapnel piercing his shoulder. While recuperating from this injury on 19th December 1916 Walter was appointed a temporary Army Chaplain which carried a rank of Captain. He served as chaplain at The Whalley War Hospital near Blackburn until the end of the War and later as chaplain with his old regiment in Egypt.
Walter was born in Leeds on 15th November 1889. His parents were George Thomas Tuke, a manager for a corn & hay merchant (who later became a contractor for The Post Office) and his wife Henrietta (née Roadhouse). A graduate of Durham University and London Divinity College he was ordained a deacon by the Bishop of Manchester at Manchester Cathedral on 7th June 1914 and was appointed to a parish in Burnley, Lancashire.
The following year he was ordained as a priest and appointed to his position at St. Stephen’s, Hulme. On leaving the army Walter returned to parish work initially at Ashton-under-Lyme then St. Luke’s, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester and from 1927 as the vicar of St. John’s Church, Smallbridge, Wardle, Rochdale, Lancashire. (3) From this Rochdale parish he was appointed to St. Werburgh’s taking up this post from April 1944.
After 10 years as rector of St. Werburgh’s Rev. Tuke left the parish in 1954 and passed away in the March quarter of 1964.
Raymond George Grayson D.o.W. 7th August 1917
Lance Corporal Raymond George Grayson of the 15th battalion The Royal Scots – (“The Edinburgh Pals”) died on the 7th August 1917 at Nottingham General military hospital and is buried in Colchester military cemetery where his father was the chaplain.
Raymond was born in Ealing, Middlesex on the 18th September 1897 the son of Rev. Joseph Watson Grayson and Bessie Mary (née Kidd). Just 8 days after his 19th birthday he enlisted on 26th September 1914, initially at Colchester into the 5th battalion Essex Territorials. After just 10 days he was discharged from this unit in order to travel to Edinburgh where on 7th October 1914 he joined the “Edinburgh Pals” His civilian occupation is recorded as accounts clerk.
Lance-corporal Raymond G. Grayson suffered a serious shrapnel wound to his head on the Western Front in France on 24th April 1917. After a lengthy stay at a hospital in Boulogne he was transferred back to England on 9th June and admitted to Nottingham General Hospital.
For a time, he appeared to be on the road to recovery only to experience a sudden and rapid deterioration of his condition due to an abscess forming around an undiscovered foreign object lodged in his cerebellum which was to prove fatal. He died some 12 hours after an operation to remove the shell fragment from his brain.
 |
| The George Cross |
Long after peace had returned, at least temporarily, to Europe Chorlton-cum-Hardy’s churches links to the “Great War” continued when another ex-Army Chaplain Edward McGuinness M.C. was installed as the new parish priest of Our Lady and St. John’s Roman Catholic Church on the death of Monsignor Joseph Kelly in 1930.
Father Edward was born on 21st February 1878 in Workington, Cumbeland. His parents were John McGuinness, a mason / builder and his wife Sarah (née McMullen). Edward’s mother died aged just 40 when he was only 6 and his younger brother, Robert William not yet one year old.
After attending St. Bede’s College, Whalley Range, Manchester he was trained for the priesthood at St. John’s College, Waterford, Ireland where he was ordained on the 19th June 1904. In the years before the First World War Fr. Edward was involved in parish work in Blackburn and Bolton in Lancashire. On the outbreak of hostilities, he became a chaplain with The Irish Guards. In this role he was awarded a Military Cross, for gallantry, while serving on the Western Front in the same battalion as Captain Harold Alexander the future Field Marshall (4), the two becoming life long friends. Fr. Edward remained a chaplain to the Irish Guards at the end of the war later spending a year in China. Immediately prior to his appointment to “St. John’s” he was the chaplain at Catterick Army Camp in Yorkshire. A few months before his death on 28th March 1946 Fr Edward had been made up to a Canon. He was buried in grave D 219A in the Roman Catholic section (naturally) of Southern Cemetery, Manchester on 3rd April 1946.
Pictures; High Lane (Macpherson Memorial) Primitive Methodist Church, A.E. Landers: 1959 m17903, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass remaining images, courtesy of Tony Goulding
Notes: -
1) During the three years of his father being the minister of High Lane Primitive Methodist Church, the family home was 3, Napier Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy
2) “chums” was how the newspapers of the day insisted on referring to the two friends.
3)While vicar of Smallbridge in May 1930 Walter was involved in a tragic and sensational case
 |
| Canon Edward McGuinness’s Grave |
4) Having also been decorated with a Military Cross and a Distinguished Service Order in the First World War, Earl Alexander of Tunis was one of the most illustrious officers in the British army during World War 2. After overseeing the last part of the evacuation from Dunkirk he went on to serve with distinction in Burma, in operations in Tunisia harassing Rommels retreating “Afrika Korps” and in the capture of Sicily and the move into Italy. In 1946 he was appointed Governor General of Canada by King George VI a post in which he proved very popular. On his return to the United Kingdom in February 1952 he served briefly as the Minister of Defence in Sir Winston Churchill” s cabinet. He was created an Earl by one of the new Queen’s first acts on the 14th March 1952. A member of the organising committee for the Coronation he was chosen to carry the Queen’s orb in the procession on that occasion. Earl Alexander retired from politics in 1954 and died on the 16th June 1969.
No comments:
Post a Comment