High Clergy Images Never Before Seen On Net. By Uncle Monty.

High Clergy Images

Never Before Seen On Net.

From His Own Ecclesiastic Collection.

By Uncle Monty.
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Somewhere in my childhood, I must have come

to love The Church. Even now after more than
65 years as an avid and an affirming Anglican, I
have no intention whatsoever of becoming any
thing else other than standing next to Historic

Anglicanism.

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But aside from that, I’ve always loved fo years historical
photographs and especially of high-ranking clergy that

have fascinated me for reasons that I am attracted
to such images some where in my deep psyche and
thru my unwavering interest in all things

concerning The Living Church.
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In my life, I have perhaps met more important clergy
figures than most ordained clergy themselves. I have

taken pleasure to try to record many of those I have

encountered from the whole range of religious repre-

sentatives of many differing faiths and creeds. Although,

I am primarily partial to taking my own photos of present-

day Anglican archbishops and bishops, Catholic cardinals,
papal figures, and monsignori; and orthodox patriarchs

and metropolitans, I am always ready to record other

religious officials of any religion that I may encounter

during my life’s journey with my ready cameras.
By spiritual instinct, I am so strongly interfaith
and always openly ecumenical.

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Archbishop of Canterbury Randall Thomas

Davidson, circa 1909, with his wife.

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One of the rarest ecclesiastic images I have
in my growing collection is that of Archbishop

Randall Thomas Davidson with his wife (shown

above) in a rather faded old postcard photo of them

circa 1909. The image is also rather unusual for the

Edwardian Era in seeing the spouse of such an high-

ranking British Churchman being photographed

together. Such clergy wives were neither seen nor

heard nor photographed for the public record until

rather late in the closing years of the last half of the

20th century Anglican Church.
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As for Archbishop Davidson, he was Abp. of Canterbury

from 1903 until his resignation in 1928 and he died two

years later in 1930. Earlier, he had been appointed

Dean of Windsor (1883), then Bishop of Rochester

(1891) and Bishop of Winchester (1895).
He married the second daughter of Archbishop

Archibald Campbell Tait of Canterbury at the same time

he was then resident chaplain (1878) to the archbishop
at Lambeth Palace. And like Abp. Tait, Randall Davidson

was of Scottish Presbyterian parentage. While today’s

presiding archbishop Rowan Douglas Williams is of

Welsh Presbyterian parents. It seems many leaders

of the Anglican faith, both past and present, were

or are ex-Presbyterians of one sort or another.
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In 1905, Dr. Charles Gore (not shown) became

the first Anglican Bishop of Birmingham. An High
Churchman was he who was seen as a leader
of the Anglo-Catholic Movement in Britain
at the turn of the 20th century.
But years later he became quite critical of the

movement. He wrote a number of books on

Christianity and and his views on Catholic teachings

regarding the Episcopacy. “In his Body of Christ

(1901), a work on the Eucharist, he set out the

place of the Sacrament in The Christian life and

also sought to re-formulate The doctrine of the

Real Presence without Transubstantiation,” notes

Professor F. L. Cross in The Oxford Dictionary of

the Christian Church. I have relied much here on

the late Professor Cross’ superb ecclesiastical and

bishopic references of those like Davidson,

Tait, and Gore.

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Dr. Stubbs, Bishop of Truro, 1907.

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When I was last in Canterbury to attend the
Lambeth Conference 2oo8, which didn’t go
down well with me, I also took visits to some local
antiques shops. At one, the fellow who’s shop it was
casually showed me 13 old postcards dated 1900–1910
of British Anglican bishops. Some of those postcard
images I have used here, under my story title of
“High Clergy Images Never Before Seen On Net.”

He then asked me if I was interested in buying them
at a mere 35 pence each. I quickly grabbed them for
he never knew, of course, of my abiding interest in
such historical clergy images. If he did, he must have
read my mind pretty good. Or perhaps the Good Lord
must have prompted him to show such to me? Most
of those old clergy postcards here have never before
been seen elsewhere or on the Net.
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Bishop of Knaresborough, 1908.

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What I also discovered was that
years ago at Canterbury, visitors there
could buy modern postcards of then presiding
bishops of the English Church at the cathedral
itself and presumably at local newsagents and gift
shops. Today, very few people would even look
at postcards depicting bishops, let alone buy
such or send such by post to family members and
friends announcing they’d just visited Canterbury.
And, no longer, however, can you find such post-
cards for sale of bishops, anyway or anywhere …
Except, standard images of Rowan Douglas Williams,
our present Archbishop of Canterbury, who I
have met and photographed myself three
or four times in the past couple of years.
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The Bishop of Lichfield. 1903.
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My interest in the Diocese of Lichfield and her
bishops stems from my own C of E confirmation
there at the Episcopal hands of whoever was then

the diocesan bishop some 55 years ago when I was

just a wee lad. I remember how all dressed-up

I was with short pressed trousers and white
shirt with, I think, a small bowtie and very
polished shoes. The new Queen Elizabeth
II was said to attend, but she never did.
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Archbishop Robert Kennedy Runcie.

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Robert Runcie (shown above) as Archbishop Canterbury
fom 1980 to 1991, appears in the above photograph of

him in full vestment for, I believe, his first visit in 1989

to The Vatican at when such Anglican primates went
there by the back door and not the front one like they
do now since after Runcie’s archiepiscopate days.
The above image of him I found at Winchester Cath-

edral’s own charity shop for $1.50. My goodness

me. It is in a gold-leaf frame with the back of the

frame inscribed in Italian: "Passepartout Tutti

Tipi, Lab. Artigiano Cornici Mario, Via del Gesu

84 (Piazza delt Pigna), ROMA – Te. 68 71 25.”

No date on the back, but the photograph is
signed by the archbishop’s own hand and

fountain pen as “Robert Cantuar.”
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He earned the Military Cross for two acts of bravery as
a British tank commander in WWII. As noted in Wikipedia,
“He was unique among modern Archbishops of Canterbury
for having personally killed some of his fellow humanbeings.”
He officiated at the 1981 wedding of Charles and Diana.
Privately, Robert Runcie was of the opinion that the couple
were ill-suited and that their marriage wouldn’t last. He was
dead right on all accounts, wasn’t he? As head of the Church
of England, he will also be remembered for the hideous
kidnapping of his Anglican envoy Terry Waite. And, the
earlier strange and sad suicide of his one time friend the
Rev’d Canon Gareth Bennett.
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As archbishop, he also ordained, did Runcie, gay men
as priest contrary to official Church policy that such a

homosexual lifestyle was unacceptable for the clergy.
Robert Cantuar, who died in 2000 at age 78, was also the

last ABC before the rise of the present Internet Age.
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Henry Edward Manning
Cardinal –Archbishop of Westminster

(1808-1892).

Photo by Elliott & Fry, Albumen Carte-de-Visite,

1870. Acquired by The Harrison Collection, 1952.

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One of my three recent ecclesiastic book acquisitions

has been that of Cardinal Manning’s 1877 “Miscellanies.”
from the Bishop’s Library of The Diocese Of Menevia.
I also acquired at the same time Cardinal John Henry
Newman’s 1878 “Selection: Adapted to the Seasons of
the Ecclesiastical Year from the Parochial amd Plain
Sermons.” Published by Rivington’s at London’s Waterloo
Place, such a book was quite a rare and great find for me.

The book had originally been gifted to the House

Friars of the “Fratrvm B.V.M. de Monte Carmelo

Aylesfordiae.” Both cardinals were alive at the

dates of when their important books were published
in England. Both Newman and Manning, of course,

were coverts to Roman Catholicism after first being

ordained Anglican vicars. And, both of them

became Cardinals of considerable influence in

the Holy Roman Catholic Church during
the English 19th century.
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I’ve always felt that many religious converts tend

to then become say more Catholic than Catholic,

more Anglican than Anglican, more Muslim than

Muslim, and more Jewish than Jewish. One of my

American Episcopalian friends married a Jew and

she then became, as a new convert, more notably

rabbinical and orthodox in her ways and perhaps

even more than her Rabbi husband. It’s hard,
I think, to become more Rabbi than Rabbi for

someone like her who was born a female Gentile

and not a Jew. In any event, her marriage has

grown deeper and deeper over the years
from what I have seen and heard of her.
So, good for him and her. They now
have three lovely children, too.
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Plus the third book I acquired, with the two others

authored by Newman and Manning, was that of The

Hon. Edith Gell’s 1891 “The Cloud of Witness.” It

was published by Humphrey Milton of East London’s
Amen Corner. She notes in her book the death of Lord

Lytton. But makes no reference to the fact that he

himself was her dead friend and that she was now at

a loss. She betrayed no public affection for him has

was the prevailing social rule of properness and de-

corum of her Victorian days. The book's prefatory

note was written by His Grace, Edward White

Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, for her book

from his residence at Addington in November,

1891. Edith herself lived at Derbyshire's Hopton

Hall after her marriage and her father was

Viscount Midleton.
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The Papal or Cardinal Legate Leaving Melbourne, 1934.

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The greyish and sepia images of The Papal or Cardinal Legate,
(shown above), with the two rare photos at the above caption

and here at the end of my presenation, I recently came across

by chance after buying the official 1934 publication of The

National Eucharistic Congress held at Melbourne itself some

75 years ago and at where I bought the almost 300-page,

out of print, hardback publication, at a secondhand book-

shop there for A$15.00 while I was at Down Under.

Sorry, I must close for now.
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Sincerely, Uncle Monty.

+ First Sunday after The Epiphany, 2oo9.
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Baba Aladura Okeyemi.

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Preachers, Not Scam Artists,
of the Nigerian Kind.
By Uncle Monty.
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I plan to write an in-depth story about

the Nigerian Eternal Sacred Order of
Cheriubim and Seraphim (NESOCS)

and its self-styled leader - "His Most

Eminence Archbishop Baba Aladura

Dr. E. Olu Okeyemi, JP."
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The order is based near London’s
Elephant and Castle and at Harlesden.
NESOCS is a registered business with
Creditgate, but it is not listed as a charity

with the UK Charity Commission..
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Much of the order is shrouded in utter mystery.
It holds its annual Adoption Thanksgiving Service
each year at its immigrant-based Mount of Salvation
UK Provincial Headquarters at Chatham Street off
Old Kent Road that leads from Elephant and
Castle tube station. The order is exclusively
black and African and non-blacks are quickly
shooed away. Prying eyes and inquisitive
photographers are the least welcomed.
That, however, has not deterred me from
getting many needed photos of NESOCS.
I will then publish my factual findings for
the public domain as soon as I can or
sometime before Eastertide,
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