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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2015
In the choir of the chapel at St Mary’s College, Oscott, is a stained glass window dedicated to the memory of Fr John Wheble, a military chaplain who died in the Crimean War. Whereas the four upper lights of the window depict scenes from the life of St John the Apostle, Fr Wheble’s patron saint, the four lower ones show Wheble setting sail for the Crimea, giving absolution to soldiers, attending the wounded at the Battle of the Alma, and his death on board the hospital ship Arabia on November 3, 1854. St Edmund’s College, Ware, also has a Crimean window and again Fr Wheble, a benefactor of the college, is depicted along with two alumni of the college, Fr Michael Canty and Fr Denis Sheehan, who also died in the Crimea.
1 Ward, B., History of St. Edmund’s College (1893), pp. 274–276 Google Scholar.
2 Sweetman, J., The Crimean War (Oxford, 2001), pp. 7–16 Google Scholar; Kerr, P., The Crimean War (1997), pp. 9–15 Google Scholar.
3 Sweetman, J., War and Administration: The Significance of the Crimean War for the British Army, (Edinburgh, 1984), pp. 6–13 Google Scholar.
4 Bayley, C. C., Mercenaries For The Crimea (Montreal, 1977), p. 19 Google Scholar.
5 Spiers, E. M., ‘Army Organization and Society in the Nineteenth Century’, in Bartlett, T. and Jeffery, K. (eds.), A Military History Of Ireland (Cambridge, 1997), pp. 335–338 Google Scholar; Hanham, H. J., ‘Religion and Nationality in the Mid-Victorian Army’ in Foot, M. R. D. (ed., War and Society (1973), p. 176 Google Scholar.
6 Quoted in Griffin, B., ‘Irish Identity And The Crimean War’ In Taithe, B. and Thornton, T. (eds), War: Identities in Conflict 1300–2000 (Stroud, 1998), p. 119 Google Scholar.
7 See Edghill, K., ‘Dangerous Doctrines! The Battle For Anglican Supremacy In The British Army 1810–1865’, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, 80 (2002), pp. 36–57 Google Scholar.
8 L.D.A., Briggs, A Circular from the Catholic Institute enclosing a Petition to Parliament for the Removal of Certain Grievances, April 13, 1842.
9 Smyth, pp. 56–68; Hendrickson, pp. 51–57.
10 The Times, March 2, 1854.
11 The Times, March 3, 1854.
12 For general surveys of Grant’s life and work see Ramsay, G., Thomas Grant, First Bishop of Southwark (1874)Google Scholar and Hughes, P., ‘The Bishops of the Century’ in Beck, G. A. (ed.), The English Catholics 1850–1950 (1950), pp. 210–212.Google Scholar Clifton concentrates on Grant’s work with official agencies.
13 Clifton, pp. 54, 106.
14 Grant to Wiseman, April 18, 1854. Quoted in Norman, E., The English Catholic Church In The Nineteenth Century (Oxford, 1984), pp. 130, 185Google Scholar. See also Fothergill, B., Nicholas Wiseman (1963), p. 206 Google Scholar.
15 Gorman, W. G., Converts To Rome (1910), p. 177 Google Scholar.
16 Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates (1854), 3rd series, vol. 131, pp. 314–330.
17 Ibidem, pp. 994–995.
18 Quoted in Machin, G. I. T., Politics and the Churches 1832–1868 (Oxford, 1977), p. 270 Google Scholar.
19 The Tablet, March 25, 1854.
20 The Times, February 17 and 20, 1854.
21 The Times, February 28, 1854.
22 The Times, April 4, 1854.
23 The Times, April 5, 1854. For a general survey of the Irish reponse to the Crimean War see Murphy, D., Ireland and the Crimean War (Dublin, 2002)Google Scholar.
24 Archbishop Cullen to Grant, March 12, 1854, quoted in Clifton, p. 69.
25 L.D.A., Briggs, Grant to Briggs, April 14, 1854.
26 The Times, May 22, 1854.
27 L.D.A., Briggs, Lord Aberdeen to Briggs, May 2, 1854.
28 A.A.S., Grant, Sidney Herbert to Grant, February 28, 1854.
29 A.A.S., Grant, Sheehan to Grant, April 1, 1854. Grant had appealed through the Catholic newspapers and periodicals for financial and material assistance for the chaplains. Wheble was from a wealthy Berkshire family whose connections made him a suitable missioner for the upper class Catholics of Chelsea. Sheehan was a missioner at Our Lady of Victories in Clapham and a chaplain to St. Thomas’s and Guy’s hospitals. See, Ward, op. cit., and Catholic Directory (1854), pp. 44, 121.
30 A.A.S., Grant, Sheehan to Dr Cox, April 27, 1854.
31 The Tablet, August 19, 1854. See Mawson, Part 2, pp. 39–40), for details on the deployment of all Catholic chaplains.
32 The Tablet, August 19, 1854.
33 The Tablet, September 30, 1854.
34 Bolster, p. 181.
35 Quoted in Bolster, p. 180.
36 Quoted in Bolster, p. 182.
37 A.A.S., Grant, Wheble to Grant, October 17, 1854.
38 A.A.S., Grant, Sheehan to Grant, July 20, 1854.
39 A.A.S., Grant, Wheble to Butt, October 23, 1854. Obituary of Bishop Butt in The Tablet, November 4, 1899. See also Mawson, Part 2, p. 39.
40 The Tablet, October 28, 1854.
41 The Tablet, November 11, 1854.
42 The Tablet, October 21, 1854.
43 The Tablet, October 28, 1854.
44 Quoted in Lambert, A. and Badsey, S., The War Correspondents: The Crimean War (Stroud, 1994), pp. 83–84 Google Scholar.
45 The Times, October 21, 1854.
46 The Tablet, October 21 and December 9, 1854. In an Ad Clerum after the war Bishop Briggs asked his priests ‘whether there may be any cases in your town, in which justice has not been done to the Catholic widows and children by the Commissioners of the Patriotic Fund.’ L.D.A. Briggs, June 16, 1858.
47 The Tablet, November 11, 1854.
48 Murphy, J.J.W., ‘Three Irish Cavalry Regiments at Balaklava’, The Irish Sword, vol. 4, no. 16 (summer, 1960), pp. 182–190 Google Scholar; Viscount Dillon, ‘Notes on Irishmen in the Light Brigade, Balaklava 1854’, Ibidem, vol. 12, no. 48 (summer, 1976), pp. 254–256.
49 The Tablet, December 2, 1854. Mawson, Part 2, p. 40. For other details on Wheble see Hagerty, James M., ‘A Catholic Chaplain In The Crimean War’, in Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research,vol. 82, no. 329 (2004), pp. 21–31 Google Scholar.
50 The Times, March 25, 1854; Hanham, op. cit., p. 162, estimates that there were 55,000 Irishmen in the army ‘at their mid nineteenth century peak’.
51 Bolster, p. 183. Mawson, Part 2, pp. 38–39.
52 A.A.S., Grant, Sheehan to Grant, December 6, 1854.
53 Clifford, pp. 147, 159–160.
54 Clifford, pp. 55–56, 154. AEPSJ, OU/7, Butt to Lady Georgiana Fullerton, January 29, 1855.
55 Murphy, J.J. W., ‘A Crimean Chaplain’, The Irish Sword, vol. 3, no. 13 (summer, 1958), p. 233 Google Scholar. Mawson, Part 2, p. 30.
56 Bolster, p. 186. Mawson, Part 2, lists twenty-three Catholic chaplains but has to count Moloney twice due to confusion over the spelling of the surname. He does not include Joseph Mahé or John Vertue, although there is some doubt over Vertue’s service in the Crimea. He does include, however, Frs Le Bran and Morgan who do not appear in contemporary ecclesiastical records.
57 Letters And Notices, vol. 24, (1897–98), p. 419; Woollen, March 26, 1855; AEPSJ, Annual Letters, Account of Frs Woollett and Strickland in the Crimea; Mawson, Part 2, pp. 38–40.
58 Bolster, pp. 186–187; Catholic Directory (1856), pp. 132, 227; Mawson, Part 2, pp. 39–40.
59 L.D.A., Briggs, Synodical Letter, Second Provincial Council of Westminster, July 15, 1855; Bolster, pp. 188–191.
60 The Tablet, December 30, 1854.
61 A.A.S., Grant, O’Dwyer to Grant, March 23, 1855; Bagshawe to Grant, March 24, 1855; Cuffe to Grant, October 5, 1855; Woollett, April 24, April 26, April 30, 1855.
62 A.A.S., Grant, Bagshawe to Grant, August 20, 1855.
63 A.A.S., Grant, Bagshawe to Grant, October 15, 1855.
64 A.A.S., Grant, O’Dwyer to Grant, September 14, 1855; Bagshawe to Grant, September 27, 1855. After the war the publishers Burns and Lambert asked Grant to intercede in a dispute between themselves and Fr Unsworth who was editing a new edition of Poynter’s book. On War Office instructions the publishers had sent out during the war devotional books and scriptures which had been typeset at the publishers’ expense. Unsworth subsequently produced an enlarged and edited version of Poynter’s work. A.A.S., Grant, February 19, 1859.
65 Bolster, p. 190.
66 A.A.S. Grant, Clarke to Grant, March 21, 1855.
67 A.A.S., Grant, Butt to Grant, November 20, 1854.
68 A.A.S., Grant, Butt to Fr Wenham, January 24, 1855; AEPSJ, OU/7, Butt to Lady Georgiana Fullerton, January 8, 1855.
69 A.A.S., Grant, Bagshawe to Grant, December 15, 1854.
70 A.A.S., Grant, O’Dwyer to Grant, March 23, 1855.
71 A.A.S., Grant, Bagshawe to Grant, August 30, 1855; Smyth, p. 86; The English College at Valladolid: Registers 1589–1862, C.R.S., vol. 30 (1930), p. 233; Catholic Directory (1856), pp. 226–227. AEPSJ, Annual Letters, Account of Frs Woollett and Strickland in the Crimea. See also Mawson, Part 2, pp. 39–40.
72 A.A.S., Grant, Cuffe to Grant, November 12, 1854; Bagshawe to Grant, August 20, 1855; McSweeney to Grant, August 20, 1855.
73 A.A.S., Grant, Butt to Fr Wenham, January 24, 1855; AEPSJ, OU/7, Butt to Lady Georgiana Fullerton, January 29, 1855.
74 A.A.S., Grant, Sheehan to Grant, January 18 and 25, 1855.
75 A.A.S., Grant, Butt to Grant, November 12, 1854; Clarke to Grant, March 21, 1855.
76 A.A.S., Grant, Paulet to Grant, May 23, 1855.
77 A.A.S., Grant, Bagshawe to Grant, December 15, 1854; Sheehan to Grant, December 1, 1854.
78 A.A.S., Grant, Cuffe to Grant, March 18, 1855; Mawson, Part 2, p. 38.
79 A.A.S., Grant, Bagshawe to Grant, May 15, 1855.
80 A.A.S., Grant, Cuffe to Grant, May 21, 1855.
81 A.A.S., Grant, Clarke to Grant, May 22, 1855; Cuffe to Grant, May 25, 1855; Mawson, Part 2, pp. 38–40.
82 A.A.S., Grant, Sheehan to Grant, December 6, 1854.
83 A.A.S., Grant, Sheehan to Moloney, January 22, 1855; Sheehan to Grant, January 25, 1855.
84 A.A.S., Grant, Cuffe to Grant, August 14, 1855.
85 A.A.S., Grant, Cuffe to Grant, March 18, May 24, September 14, 1855; Mawson, Part 2, p. 38.
86 Woollett, March 26, 1855.
87 A.A.S., Grant, Bagshawe to Grant, March 25, 1855.
88 A.A.S., Grant, Bagshawe to Grant, November 12, 1854.
89 A.A.S., Grant, Bagshawe to Grant, May 15, 1855. A.A.S., Grant, Bagshawe to Grant, February 15, March 9, 1856; AEPSJ, Annual Letters, Account of Frs Woollett and Strickland in the Crimea. Families who wished to send out money for relatives asked Grant who was the ‘senior chaplain’ in order to ensure safe delivery.
90 AEPSJ, Annual Letters, Account of Frs Woollett and Strickland in the Crimea.
91 Smyth, p. 70.
92 Carver, M., Letters of a Victorian Army Officer: Edward Wellesley, Major, 73rd Regiment of Foot, 1840–1854 (Stroud, 1995), pp. 165–167 Google Scholar. Mawson, Part 1, pp. 30–36, and Part 2, pp. 34–38 lists seventy-two Anglican clergymen who served as chaplains.
93 Smyth, pp. 78, 80–81.
94 Morning Post, October 25. 1854; C. Woodham-Smith, Florence Nightingale 1820–1910 (1952), p. 131.
95 Smyth, pp. 80, 86. Mawson, Part 1, p. 34 and 36, Part 2, p. 37.
96 Bolster, pp. 188–189.
97 The differences in fees and allowances were published in The Times on October 7, 1854. In all cases there was an enormous positive discrimination in favour of Anglican clergymen. Hansard, vol. 137 (March, 1855), p. 9; AEPSJ, Annual Letters, Account of Frs Woollett and Strickland in the Crimea.
98 A.A.S., Grant, Mahé to Grant, June 17, 1857; Bolster, p. 189.
99 Bolster, pp. 185–187. There were nine Presbyterian chaplains and one Wesleyan chaplain. See Mawson, Part 2, pp. 40–41.
100 Bolster, p. 187. For a full account of the disputes between the Jesuits, the Irish nuns and Florence Nightingale see Fr Thomas Morrissey’s William Ronan SJ, 1825–1907 (Dublin, 2003).
101 Goldie, S. M., Florence Nightingale: Letters from The Crimea 1854–1856 (Manchester, 1997), pp. 178, 231, 246–247Google Scholar. See also AEPSJ, Annual Letters, Account of Frs Woollett and Strickland in the Crimea, where there is reference to Ronan and the nuns labouring ‘under trying circumstances’ and the Irish nuns choosing to return home rather than ‘be placed at the disposal of Miss Nightingale’.
102 Goldie, Florence Nightingale, pp. 56, 247; Russell, W.H., The War: From the Death of Lord Raglan to the Evacuation of the Crimea (1856), p. 437 Google Scholar. It is unclear why Wiseman interfered in this situation.
103 Woodham-Smith, Florence Nightingale, p. 151.
104 Woollett, April 9, 1855.
105 Murphy, J. J. W., ‘An Irish Sister of Mercy in The Crimean War’, The Irish Sword, vol. 5, no. 21 (winter, 1962), pp. 251–261 Google Scholar.
106 Goldie, Florence Nightingale, p. 90.
107 Woollett, April 15, 1855.
108 AEPSJ Annual Letters, Account of Frs Woollen and Strickland in the Crimea. Morrissey, William Ronan, p. 52.
109 Woollett, April 11, 1855. See Gorman, Converts To Rome, pp. 43, 79, 136, 257, 267. Frances Magdalen Taylor became foundress and Mother General of the Institute of the Poor Servants of God and of the Poor. She was very much influenced in the Crimea by the example of the Catholic nuns, the simple devotion of the Catholic soldiers, and in particular by Fr Woollett. See F. C. Devas, Mother Magdalen Taylor, Foundress of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God (1927), chapters 3 and 4. See also Morrissey, William Ronan, p. 52.
110 AEPSJ, Annual Letters, Account of Frs Woollett and Strickland in the Crimea.
111 Clifford, p. 154.
112 Quoted in Holmes, R., Redcoat: The British Soldier In The Age Of Horse And Musket (2001), p. 119 Google Scholar.
113 A.A.S., Grant, Butt to Fr. Wenham, January 24, 1855. Woollett, April 19, 1855.
114 Smyth, p. 85.
115 Quoted in Bolster, p. 185.
116 The Rambler, February 1856, pp. 81–97.
117 L.D.A., Briggs, An Address from the Archbishops and Bishops, to the Clergy and Faithful of England, April 3, 1856.
118 Hansard, vol. 141, April 1856, pp. 878–882. According to Mawson’s analysis of Crimean War Medal Rolls, sixteen Catholic chaplains received medals. Of these, seven were eligible for clasps but did not receive them. Six were ineligible for medals as they did not actually serve in the Crimea. Chaplains of all denominations were treated in the same way. Frs Canty, Doyle, Sheehan, Sheil, Strickland and Wheble were posthumously awarded the Crimean Medal, some with clasps.
119 Hendrickson, p. 63.
120 LD.A., Briggs, Memorial sent by the Irish Hierarchy, April 27, 1857.
121 Johnstone and Hagerty, p. 7.
122 Hendrickson, pp. 62–62. Grant was aware of the complications that could arise in both the military and ecclesiastical context of a chaplain’s appointment, service, and termination of duties. See Clifton, pp. 99–105; Ramsay, Thomas Grant, pp. 178–180.
123 A.A.S., Grant, War Office to Grant, January 29 and March 28, 1859; Cardinal Prefect to Grant, Military Chaplains and Fees, June 21, 1859.
124 LD.A., Briggs, Synodical Letter, Third Provincial Council of Westminster, 1859.
125 Clifton, pp. 105–110.
126 A.A.S., Grant, War Office to Grant, March 28, 1859; Catholic Directory, 1859, 1860, 1867; Bolster, p. 192; Bolton, C.A., Salford Diocese and its Catholic Past (Manchester, 1950), p. 190 Google Scholar.
127 See Plumb, B., Arundel to Zabi: A Biographical Dictionary of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales 1623–1987 (Warrington, 1987)Google Scholar.
128 The transfer of responsibility for Service chaplains from Southwark to Westminster, it has been argued, had long-lasting detrimental effects. See Johnstone and Hagerty, pp. 33–45.
129 Quoted in P. Hughes, ‘The Bishops of the Century’, in Beck (ed.), The English Catholics, p. 211; see also ‘In Piam Memoriam’, in Letters And Notices, vol. 11 (1870), p. 30.
130 L.D.A., Briggs, Grant to Briggs, January 9, 1858; Gray, R., Cardinal Manning: A Biography (1985), pp. 157–158 Google Scholar.
131 See Skelley, A.R., The Victorian Army At Home, (Montreal, 1977), p. 168 Google Scholar.
132 A.A.S., Grant, Grant to Wiseman, July 23, 1858.