Having done some research into the various churches of Chorlton-cum-Hardy I have discovered that a considerable number of their clergy were at some point in their career chaplains to a variety of institutions.
Unsurprisingly, owing to its close proximity, some were attached to Withington Hospital and its Workhouse precursor. There were others, however, who performed their ministry for both the army and the prison service.
The army chaplains, Fr. Edward McGuinness M.C. (of Our Lady and St. John’s) and Rev. Joseph Watson Grayson (of High Lane Primitive Methodist’s) were both included in another recent post on World War 1. What follows is a look at some more “Chorlton Chaplains”’.
Rev. Alfred Wightwick.
Rev. Wightwick was born in 1817 in Hawarden, Flintshire. He was trained for the ministry at St. Bees College, Durham and ordained at Chester on Sunday 10th October 1847. After a number of positions in the Bury area of Lancashire he was appointed to the curacy of St. Clement’s, Chorlton-cum-Hardy in 1859. Throughout the following decade he travelled considerably. In 1861 census he was recorded as the curate at Hunstanworth, Co. Durham it is also in the records that he officiated at ceremonies in South Manchester in the 1860’s christenings at St, Clement’s Chorlton-cum-Hardy on 22nd July and 3rd September, 1864 and a number of christenings at St. Matthew’s, Stretford during 1866 where he also conducted two weddings on 16th June, 1866 and 19th December, 1867.
At the 1871 census he was recorded at 167, Wellington Road South, Stockport visiting with a medical doctor, Richard Bradley and his wife Agnes. He was described rather floridly as “without care of souls” He was, however, soon to be appointed Chaplain to the Withington Workhouse.
He was already working in this post when he married Caroline Frances Drakeford on 25th September 1871 at St. Clements church, Chorlton-cum-Hardy (1) Rev. Wightwick spent 23 years at the workhouse retiring in August, 1894. He passed away at his home at 57, Lansdowne Road, Didsbury in Christmas week, 1898.
Fr. Frederick Pozzi Holt.
Fr. Holt was the first parish priest of the newly created Roman Catholic parish of Chorlton-cum-Hardy (then called St. Augustine’s) in 1900. In 1916 he became the chaplain of Withington Hospital. He was born on 19th August 1865 at 146, Drake Street, Rochdale His father was George Holt, a wholesale grocer and his mother were Mary Ann, the daughter of Dominic Pozzi an Italian born master butcher. Frederick attended the Roman Catholic Grammar School on The Crescent, Salford and was ordained on 26th October 1890.
In 1939 he was living in retirement at 23, Elm Grove, Didsbury. He died on 9th July 1948. Following a requiem mass at St. Catherine’s, East Didsbury on Wednesday 14th July, which was attended by Dr, Henry Vincent Marshall, Roman Catholic Bishop of Salford and 40 priests, he was buried in the same grave (D 220A) as Canon McGuinness in Manchester’s, Southern Cemetery.
Rev.Octavius Frederick Pigot: -
Rev. Pigot served for a time as a curate at St. Clements, Chorlton-cum-Hardy before taking up the position of Chaplain to Walton Prison, Liverpool. A role he performed for more than 2 decades.
Octavius was born on 26th August 1829 in St. Helens, Lancashire where his father Thomas was the parson. His mother was Mary Anne (née Kearsley)
The year1840 was a doubly tragic one for the Pigot family. Before Octavius’s 11th birthday his father passed away on 25th January, then on Christmas Eve Octavius’s, 23-year-old eldest brother (also a Thomas) was the victim of a skating accident near Greenock, Scotland: the ice breaking beneath him.
After concluding his Theological studies at University College, Durham, Rev. Pigot was created a deacon by the Bishop of Chester in that city’s cathedral on Sunday 25th September 1853, a year later he was likewise ordained a priest on Sunday, 24th 1854. His initial duties were in Ashton-in- Makerfield, near Wigan, Lancashire. On Tuesday 13th May 1856 The Bishop of Manchester appointed Octavius to the stipendiary curacy of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Later the same year, on the 29th October, Octavius married Margaret (née Frank) in the parish church of Keswick, Cumberland. The bride’s father, John, was the landlord of The Queen’s Head Hotel in that town.
Rev. Pigot christened his first child, Frederick, at St. Clement’s Chorlton-cum-Hardy on 24th September 1857. By the time of the 1861 census, however, he had been relocated back to the Wigan area as the minister at Hindley Hall Chapel. For most of the remainder of 1860’s decade Rev. Pigot continued in various posts in the Wigan area. As well as Hindley Hall he also held the position of chaplain to the Pennington Green Chapel and as the curate of Haigh.
In January 1869 he became chaplain to Walton Gaol, Liverpool (2) where he remained until leaving in the March of 1892 to take up the same role at Wandsworth Prison, London. Whilst at Wandsworth he married his second wife Flora Charlotte Helena Lindesay (3) at St. Stephens Church, Wandsworth on 24th May 1893. After 5 years at Wandsworth Rev. Pigot retired to Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire where he died on Tuesday 17th March 1908.
Tony Goulding © 2019
Pictures; Withington Workhouse Chapel, T.M. Brook 1892, m 53435, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, grave of Fr. Frederick Pozzi Holt, Walton Gaol, Liverpool in 1910, from the collection of Tony Goulding
Notes:
1) Rev. Wightwick married quite late in life – aged 54 (his bride was just 26!)
The couple had one son, Alfred, born in 1873 who qualified as a doctor at the University of Manchester. He worked at the county hospital, Chesterfield, Derbyshire before settling in Torquay, Devon where he died on 13th March 1941 leaving the princely sum in his will of £36,214 gross.
2) Capital punishment was in use at this time and Liverpool Prison was one of the main “place(s) of execution”. It was part of the chaplain’s duties to minister to the condemned and would usually accompany them to the scaffold. Newspapers of the day quite often carried rather morbid accounts of Rev. Pigot’s ministrations on these occasions.
3) His new wife was a daughter of Frederick Lindesay who had been The High Sherriff and later Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Co. Tyrone, Ireland. After Octavius’s death she remarried on Thursday 17th June 1909 at St. Peter’s Church, Bedford to Rev, Walter Wolfenden Kenny a widower and the rector of a neighbouring parish of Carlton.
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| Withington Workhouse Chapel, 1892 |
The army chaplains, Fr. Edward McGuinness M.C. (of Our Lady and St. John’s) and Rev. Joseph Watson Grayson (of High Lane Primitive Methodist’s) were both included in another recent post on World War 1. What follows is a look at some more “Chorlton Chaplains”’.
Rev. Alfred Wightwick.
Rev. Wightwick was born in 1817 in Hawarden, Flintshire. He was trained for the ministry at St. Bees College, Durham and ordained at Chester on Sunday 10th October 1847. After a number of positions in the Bury area of Lancashire he was appointed to the curacy of St. Clement’s, Chorlton-cum-Hardy in 1859. Throughout the following decade he travelled considerably. In 1861 census he was recorded as the curate at Hunstanworth, Co. Durham it is also in the records that he officiated at ceremonies in South Manchester in the 1860’s christenings at St, Clement’s Chorlton-cum-Hardy on 22nd July and 3rd September, 1864 and a number of christenings at St. Matthew’s, Stretford during 1866 where he also conducted two weddings on 16th June, 1866 and 19th December, 1867.
At the 1871 census he was recorded at 167, Wellington Road South, Stockport visiting with a medical doctor, Richard Bradley and his wife Agnes. He was described rather floridly as “without care of souls” He was, however, soon to be appointed Chaplain to the Withington Workhouse.
He was already working in this post when he married Caroline Frances Drakeford on 25th September 1871 at St. Clements church, Chorlton-cum-Hardy (1) Rev. Wightwick spent 23 years at the workhouse retiring in August, 1894. He passed away at his home at 57, Lansdowne Road, Didsbury in Christmas week, 1898.
Fr. Frederick Pozzi Holt.
Fr. Holt was the first parish priest of the newly created Roman Catholic parish of Chorlton-cum-Hardy (then called St. Augustine’s) in 1900. In 1916 he became the chaplain of Withington Hospital. He was born on 19th August 1865 at 146, Drake Street, Rochdale His father was George Holt, a wholesale grocer and his mother were Mary Ann, the daughter of Dominic Pozzi an Italian born master butcher. Frederick attended the Roman Catholic Grammar School on The Crescent, Salford and was ordained on 26th October 1890.
In 1939 he was living in retirement at 23, Elm Grove, Didsbury. He died on 9th July 1948. Following a requiem mass at St. Catherine’s, East Didsbury on Wednesday 14th July, which was attended by Dr, Henry Vincent Marshall, Roman Catholic Bishop of Salford and 40 priests, he was buried in the same grave (D 220A) as Canon McGuinness in Manchester’s, Southern Cemetery.
Rev.Octavius Frederick Pigot: -
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| Grave of Fr. Frederick Pozzi Holt, Southern Cemetery, 2019 |
Octavius was born on 26th August 1829 in St. Helens, Lancashire where his father Thomas was the parson. His mother was Mary Anne (née Kearsley)
The year1840 was a doubly tragic one for the Pigot family. Before Octavius’s 11th birthday his father passed away on 25th January, then on Christmas Eve Octavius’s, 23-year-old eldest brother (also a Thomas) was the victim of a skating accident near Greenock, Scotland: the ice breaking beneath him.
After concluding his Theological studies at University College, Durham, Rev. Pigot was created a deacon by the Bishop of Chester in that city’s cathedral on Sunday 25th September 1853, a year later he was likewise ordained a priest on Sunday, 24th 1854. His initial duties were in Ashton-in- Makerfield, near Wigan, Lancashire. On Tuesday 13th May 1856 The Bishop of Manchester appointed Octavius to the stipendiary curacy of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Later the same year, on the 29th October, Octavius married Margaret (née Frank) in the parish church of Keswick, Cumberland. The bride’s father, John, was the landlord of The Queen’s Head Hotel in that town.
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| Walton Goal, Liverpool, 1910 |
In January 1869 he became chaplain to Walton Gaol, Liverpool (2) where he remained until leaving in the March of 1892 to take up the same role at Wandsworth Prison, London. Whilst at Wandsworth he married his second wife Flora Charlotte Helena Lindesay (3) at St. Stephens Church, Wandsworth on 24th May 1893. After 5 years at Wandsworth Rev. Pigot retired to Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire where he died on Tuesday 17th March 1908.
Tony Goulding © 2019
Pictures; Withington Workhouse Chapel, T.M. Brook 1892, m 53435, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, grave of Fr. Frederick Pozzi Holt, Walton Gaol, Liverpool in 1910, from the collection of Tony Goulding
Notes:
1) Rev. Wightwick married quite late in life – aged 54 (his bride was just 26!)
The couple had one son, Alfred, born in 1873 who qualified as a doctor at the University of Manchester. He worked at the county hospital, Chesterfield, Derbyshire before settling in Torquay, Devon where he died on 13th March 1941 leaving the princely sum in his will of £36,214 gross.
2) Capital punishment was in use at this time and Liverpool Prison was one of the main “place(s) of execution”. It was part of the chaplain’s duties to minister to the condemned and would usually accompany them to the scaffold. Newspapers of the day quite often carried rather morbid accounts of Rev. Pigot’s ministrations on these occasions.
3) His new wife was a daughter of Frederick Lindesay who had been The High Sherriff and later Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Co. Tyrone, Ireland. After Octavius’s death she remarried on Thursday 17th June 1909 at St. Peter’s Church, Bedford to Rev, Walter Wolfenden Kenny a widower and the rector of a neighbouring parish of Carlton.
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