Neville Stuart Talbot
Encyclopedia
Keble College, Oxford
Keble College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to the south by Museum Road, and to the west by Blackhall...
on 21 August 1879 and died on 3 April 1943. He was a bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
.
Family
He was the third child and second son of his parents. His father, Edward Stuart TalbotEdward Stuart Talbot
Edward Stuart Talbot was an Anglican bishop in the Church of England and the first Warden of Keble College, Oxford.-Education:...
, a younger son of a younger son of the house of Shrewsbury
Earl of Shrewsbury
Earl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation, 1074:The first creation occurred in 1074 for Roger de Montgomerie, one of William the Conqueror's principal counselors...
was the first Warden of Keble College, Oxford
Keble College, Oxford
Keble College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to the south by Museum Road, and to the west by Blackhall...
, and later Vicar of Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, and thereafter successively Bishop of Rochester
Bishop of Rochester
The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the west of the county of Kent and is centred in the city of Rochester where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin...
, Southwark and Winchester. His mother was the third daughter of Lord Lyttelton and a member therefore of the large family which laid its characteristic mark on various departments of English life.
Neville had two brothers, the elder of whom, Edward
Edward Keble Talbot
Edward Keble Talbot MC was an English Anglican priest, who was the Superior of the Community of the Resurrection, a religious community for men in Mirfield, West Yorkshire....
, was to join the Community of the Resurrection
Community of the Resurrection
The Community of the Resurrection is an Anglican religious community for men. It was founded in 1892 by Charles Gore with Walter Howard Frere and four others....
, and the younger, Gilbert, was to be killed in action in the Ypres
Ypres
Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...
Salient in 1915. Of his sisters, May married Lionel Ford
Lionel Ford
Lionel George Bridges Justice Ford was an Anglican priest who served as Dean of York after two headmasterships at eminent English public schools....
, the Headmaster of Repton and Harrow and later Dean of York, while Lavinia was after his wife's death to keep house for him and bring up his children.
Education
When Neville was nine his father moved to LeedsLeeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
. Neville attended the Grammar School, and then was at Haileybury
Haileybury and Imperial Service College
Haileybury and Imperial Service College, , is a prestigious British independent school founded in 1862. The school is located at Hertford Heath, near Hertford, from central London, on of parkland occupied until 1858 by the East India College...
from 1892 to 1899. He joined the Army in 1899, just in time for the Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
. Military life had an attraction for certain sides of Neville's character. It appealed to a certain simplicity in him and the need for courage. Neville was inclined to go straight at things, without weighing the risk. He blurted out untimely truths. The discipline of the Army did not affect him much. The Boer War was not a very good school for that. Much of it was like a shooting party, and the hazardous self-exposure in the clear air of the veldt remained his first taste of danger.
Neville went up to Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
in October 1903. In the winter of 1907 he went to Cuddesdon
Cuddesdon
Cuddesdon is an east Oxfordshire village about east of Oxford. It is notable as the location of Ripon College Cuddesdon....
for his ordination training and was ordained Deacon at Ripon Cathedral
Ripon Cathedral
Ripon Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and the mother church of the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, situated in the small North Yorkshire city of Ripon, England.-Background:...
on 14 June 1908. He was an assistant curate at St. Bartholomew's Church, Armley
St. Bartholomew's Church, Armley
St Bartholomew’s Church, Armley is a parish church in the Church of England located in Armley, West Yorkshire-History:The first chapel at Armley was built in 1630 but not consecrated by Richard Sterne the Archbishop of York until 1674...
from 1908 to 1909. He was priested in Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
1909 and went to be Chaplain of Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
in October. During the First World War he was Assistant Chaplain-General to the Fifth Army.
In April 1918 he was married to Cecil Mary Eastwood by his father at West Stoke Church, near Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
.
Pretoria
On 12 April 1920 he was elected Bishop of Pretoria, in succession to Bishop Furse, and was consecrated in St. Paul's Cathedral on St. John Baptist's Day. Among the Bishops who took part in the consecration were his own father, then Bishop of WinchesterBishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
, The Archbishop of Cape Town
Archbishop of Cape Town
The Archbishop of Cape Town is the Primate / Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.The current Archbishop is the Most Reverend Thabo MakgobaRobert Gray was the first Anglican Bishop of Cape Town.-List of Bishops and Archbishops:...
, and his predecessor in the Diocese of Pretoria, Bishop Michael Furse.
Nottingham
He was appointed to St. Mary's Church, NottinghamSt. Mary's Church, Nottingham
The Church of St Mary the Virgin is the oldest religious foundation in the City of Nottingham, England, the largest church after the Roman Catholic Cathedral and the largest mediæval building in Nottingham....
in 1933. Neville used to refer to St. Mary's as St. Pelican in the Wilderness. This is explained by the comment of a priest in the diocese:
He arrived snuffing like a great war-horse, longing for the battle; determined to bring Nottingham to the feet of Christ. He was not a little handicapped by the fact that he came just when the migration from the city began, with the result that the old-fashioned kind of worshippers had largely moved into the country. This handicap was late accentuated during the war by the difficulties of transport. His congregation did not increase as he had hoped.
The parish was largely non-residential, and the church was surrounded by factories and offices which Neville used to visit carrying handbills announcing the special dinner-hour service.
Neville was in excellent relations with the non-Anglican religious bodies in Nottingham. In co-operation with Dr McNulty, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Nottingham
Bishop of Nottingham (Roman Catholic)
The Bishop of Nottingham is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nottingham in the Province of Westminster.The diocese covers an area of and spans the counties of Derbyshire , Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and North Lincolnshire...
, and Mr James, the Free Church leader, he helped to create the Nottinghamshire Christian Council, which owed much to the combination in Neville of an outspoken loyalty to his convictions with a warm spirit of fraternity.
In May 1941, Neville wrote from Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
:
"We had a visitation - nothing compared with some places, but still a very real taste. Began about twelve. We had gone to bed, and tried to believe that the explosions were our guns, but soon one and then another were unmistakable - one was not far off down Friar's Lane. Peering out of the top window, I soon realised that big fires had been started, so, there being a lull, I went down. I found a fire going in the South Transept of the Church. It took a long time really to put it out."
Neville was often restless within the conditions of his restriction in his parish at Nottingham - restrictions greatly increased by the war. He likened himself to "an old hulk stranded on a lee-shore". His fearless honesty made him accuse himself of ambition, but, if it was there, it did not lurk in any secret corner. In March 1939 he was offered the position of Bishop of Croydon
Bishop of Croydon
The Bishop of Croydon is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Southwark, in the Province of Canterbury, England....
. He would have been Suffragan and Archdeacon as well as Vicar. His first feeling was that he must accept. He felt that nine years in Nottingham were enough, and that "the call came from the Church and not from Downing Street." However, after inspecting conditions on the spot, he decided against.
With the coming of the war, there seemed to open out at last the chance for work that suited his gifts. It arose out of his interest in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. In January 1941, he took a four days' Mission for them at Cranwell, and in 1942 he took a Mission in the Royal Air Force depot at Donnington
Donnington
Donnington may refer to:*Donnington, Berkshire**Donnington Castle*Donnington, Gloucestershire*Donnington, Herefordshire*Donnington, Oxfordshire**Donnington Bridge*Donnington, Shropshire, in the parish of Wroxeter and Uppington...
. Such experiences convinced him that far more was needed on the spiritual side in the Chaplains' department, and he began a long and unwearied bombardment of the authorities (military and ecclesiastical). In November 1942, the two Archbishops wrote to inform him that he had been appointed as one of the seven men that were to give the greater part of the time to visiting Air Force centres. On December 9 he wrote that he was to start on 12 January 1943. However, just when the direction of his life was moving in a direction that would more suitable employ his talents, came the tragic collapse. On 12 December 1942 he had a severe heart-attack, from which he never recovered.
He retired to Sussex for convalescence where he died. He was buried at All Hallows Barking
All Hallows-by-the-Tower
All Hallows-by-the-Tower, also previously dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, is an ancient Anglican church located in Byward Street in the City of London, overlooking the Tower of London.-History:...
, the religious headquarters of Toc H
Toc H
Toc H is an international Christian movement. The name is an abbreviation for Talbot House, 'Toc' signifying the letter T in the signals spelling alphabet used by the British Army in World War I. A soldiers' rest and recreation centre named Talbot House was founded in December 1915 at Poperinghe,...
.