Francis Richard Wegg-Prosser (19 June 1824 – 16 August 1911), born Francis Richard Haggitt, was a wealthy

Englishman The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture. The English identity is of Anglo-Saxon origin, when they were known in ...

and Roman Catholic convert who established the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

community which became Belmont Abbey and so played a significant role in the English Catholic Revival.

Early life

Wegg-Prosser was born Francis Richard Haggitt, the only son of Rev. Prebendary Francis Haggitt,

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

Nuneham Courtenay Nuneham Courtenay is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford. It occupies a pronounced section of the left bank of the River Thames. Geography The parish is bounded to the west by the River Thames and on other sides by field bound ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

from where he graduated with a

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

in 1845.

Public service

He served as

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

from 1847 to 1852. In 1849, he inherited the very substantial estates (estimated at over £250,000 - equivalent to around £10 million in 2005) of his great-uncle, the Reverend Dr Richard Prosser,

Archdeacon of Durham The Archdeacon of Durham is a senior ecclesiastical officer of the diocese of Durham (Church of England). They have, within the geographical area the ''archdeaconry of Durham'', pastoral oversight of clergy and care of church buildings (among other ...

. At the time of this inheritance he changed his name by royal licence to Wegg-Prosser.

Conversion

In 1852 he converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and was received into the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

by Bishop Grant of

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

Catholic revival

After providing facilities for Catholic worship in his neighbourhood, he built a church on his estate, which, by agreement with the Bishop of Newport and the superiors of the English Benedictine Congregation, became the pro-cathedral of the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

. On the adjoining land given by him, a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

was built, to serve as the novitiate and house of studies of the congregation. This became Belmont Abbey. Wegg-Prosser was also identified with several Catholic interests. For many years he was a zealous member of the Superior Council of the Society of

St Vincent de Paul Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. After ...

, a member of the Catholic Union, and a representative of the Diocese of Newport on the Catholic Education Council. In his

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

life he was devoted to

mathematical science The mathematical sciences are a group of areas of study that includes, in addition to mathematics, those academic disciplines that are primarily mathematical in nature but may not be universally considered subfields of mathematics proper. Statisti ...

, and particularly to

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

. He wrote a book, ''Galileo and his Judges'' (London, 1889), on the question of Galileo, and translated, under the title ''Rome and her captors'' (London, 1875), the letters collected by Count Henri d'Ideville upon the Roman question of 1867–70. He married Lady Harriet Catherine, daughter of the second Earl Somers; she died in 1893, leaving two sons and two daughters. He died near

Hereford, England Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population of ...

, in 1911, aged 87.

References

* * ;Attribution

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wegg-Prosser, Francis 1824 births 1911 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1847–1852 English Roman Catholics Burials at Belmont Abbey, Herefordshire