Douglas
Horsfall R.I.P.
The
death of our founder, Douglas Horsfall, in February, 1910, was marked
by a respectful obituary in 'The Times' newspaper, then as now the
country's principal journal of record.
Not long afterwards, Sir Frederick Radcliffe wrote to the same paper,
wishing to put the record straight with regard to that part
of the obituary which referred to the funding of the East Window of
Liverpool Cathedral.
The text of this letter can be found by following this
link; the text of the obituary itself is reproduced below.
A photo by Bacon and Sons,
Liverpool, reproduced from The Church Times of January 18, 1935.
The
Times, Monday February 10th, 1936
Mr H.D.Horsfall
A builder of
churches in Liverpool
Mr Howard Douglas Horsfall, who died on Saturday at Mere Bank,
Liverpool, at the age of 79, was for many years head of one of the
leading firms of stockbrokers in Liverpool. He was best known in the
city, however, as a generous benefactor of the Church.
He was the second son of Mr Robert Horsfall, of Grassendale Priory, and
a nephew of Mr Thomas Barry Horsfall, an African merchant of Liverpool,
who was Mayor in 1847-48, and M.P. for Liverpool from 1853 -
1868. Mr Horsfall was at Eton in 1870-71, boarding at Mr Vidal's dame's
house, and 'Ionica' Johnson was his tutor. He then entered the
stockbroking office of his father, whose benefactions to the church had
included the building of St Margaret's, Princes Road, Liverpool. Like
his father, Mr Horsfall was deeply attached to the Anglo-Catholic
movement, and so convinced was he of the need for the training of
clergy in that school of thought that he founded St Chad's Hall at
Durham University in 1904, and at one time was bearing the cost of the
training of upwards of 40 men for the ministry. In recognition of this
the University gave him the honorary degree of M.A.
Mr Horsfall was a generous contributor to the fund for the building of
Liverpool Cathedral, and if he could have had his way he would have
paid for the East window. He wanted the subject of the window to be the
Crucifixion. Dr. Chavasse, the then Bishop, did not agree, and an offer
from another quarter to provide a window depicting the Ascension was
accepted. Mr Horsfall's chief gift to the diocese was St. Agnes'
Church, Ullet Road, Liverpool. This cost £25,000 to build, and
his
family spent much in adding to its beauty in the years that followed.
It is acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful modern churches in
the country, and last year was its jubilee year. From the time of its
opening till 1932 Mr Horsfall was one of its wardens. He gave up his
office because of friction that had arisen, and eventually went to
worship elsewhere. But his interest in St Agnes' never wavered, and in
1935 he presented it with more stained-glass windows as an act of
thankfulness for having been spared to see the church reach its
jubilee. He was also one of the founders of St Pancras Church, and
towards the close of the Episcopate of Dr. Ryle, the first Bishop of
Liverpool, he built St. Faith's Church, Great Crosby. Mr Horsfall was a
patron of St Catherine's, Abercromby Square, and of St Paul's, St
Paul's Square, Liverpool. The latter was eventually bought by the
L.M.S. Railway Company, and a new church of St Paul was erected in one
of the suburbs.
Mr Horsfall married in 1887 Mabel, eldest daughter of Mr Egerton Parks
Smith, formerly of the Royal Artillery. She died in 1921. He had two
sons and two daughters. One of the sons, Mr Robert Elcum Horsfall, fell
in the War. The surviving son is Major Ewart Douglas Horsfall, M.C.,
who was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, and rowed in the
Oxford boat in 1912 and 1913 (stroke) in 1914.
A visitor
returning to St Faith's in the 1990s recalls seeing Mr Horsfall,
wearing his trademark headgear, sitting in the choirstalls at St
Faith's - almost certainly during the period referred to above when
he 'worshipped elsewhere'.
Two other
points of interest: the obituary does not mention Mr Horsfalls'
presence at the jubilee celebrations of St Agnes' Ullet Road: follow
the index page link below to read about it and a little about other
churches. And the present writer (a lover of railways!) believes that
it would have been the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, not the London Midland and Scottish,
which bought up St Paul's.....
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