Horace Newton (1844–1920) was a priest within the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

, and country landowner.

Life

He lived at the

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

of Holmwood,

Redditch Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...

, Worcestershire, which he had built for him in 1892–3 by

Temple Lushington Moore Temple Lushington Moore (7 June 1856 – 30 June 1920) was an English architect who practised in London. He is famed for a series of fine Gothic Revival churches built between about 1890 and 1917 and also restored many churches and designed c ...

(the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

was his nephew by marriage). He bought the land from the

Earl of Plymouth Earl of Plymouth is a title that has been created three times: twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The first creation was in 1675 for Charles FitzCharles, one of the dozens of illegitimate ...

. A deeply religious man, he inherited upon the death of his father William Newton II of

Barrells Hall Barrells Hall is a large house in the Warwickshire countryside near Henley-in-Arden. The nearest village is Ullenhall, which for many years was the estate village, large parts of it having been built by the owners of Barrells Hall, the Newtons, on ...

and Whateley Hall (both in Warwickshire), with his brothers T.H.

Goodwin Newton Thomas Henry Goodwin Newton (1835–1907) was the chairman of Imperial Continental Gas Association (now known as Calor Gas), one of the United Kingdom's largest energy businesses. He used "Goodwin" as his main christian name, which became a family ...

and Rev. William Newton III, what was described at the time as "an absurdly large fortune". The family owned large amounts of prime

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

land (such as part of New Street, including the site of the current

Birmingham New Street station Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from , and vi ...

) plus

Welsh slate The existence of a slate industry in Wales is attested since the Roman period, when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then expanded rapidly until the l ...

quarries and

Bryn Bras Castle Bryn Bras Castle is a Grade II* listed country house located on the old road between Llanrug and Llanberis. Known locally as the Clegir road, in Caernarfon, Gwynedd. It was built in a neo-Romanesque style between 1829 and 1835 on the site of a ...

, Gwynedd. Ethel Street and Newton Street in Birmingham are named after the family. The family had a strong

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

upbringing, and despite their vast wealth devoted their life to helping others, giving away large sums of money, building churches (notably in

Ullenhall Ullenhall is a village and civil parish in Stratford upon Avon, England, situated about west of Henley in Arden and west of the county town of Warwick. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 census was 717. History The na ...

, the estate village of Barrells Hall) and donating to hospitals and various charities. He also built the impressive Beechwood Vicarage near

Driffield Driffield, also known as Great Driffield, is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The civil parish is formed by the town of Driffield and the village of Little Driffield. By road, it is north-east of Leeds ...

, Yorkshire, when he was vicar there. They firmly believed that "with wealth and property come responsibility" and were generous and kind employers at all of their estates. For relaxation the family spent three months every summer at their Scottish holiday home, the 26,000 acre

Glencripesdale Estate The Glencripesdale Estate is a country estate situated along the south side of Loch Sunart, a sea loch in the west highlands of Scotland. Today, the Isle of Càrna is the last remaining part of a once huge acre deer forest, river and grousemo ...

, in the 50-room (28 bedroom) Glencripesdale Castle he designed with Goodwin Newton.

Religious work

Having been educated at St John's College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, where he was a Foundation Scholar, and graduating with Mathematical Honours in 1864, he turned to the Church for his career and life's work. He was ordained Deacon in 1865, and Priest in 1866, by Bishop Jackson of Lincoln, and was

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

of St Mary's in Nottingham. In 1869 he was appointed first vicar of Heworth, near York, and in 1878 he was appointed by Archbishop Thomson to the vicarage of Great-With-Little-Driffield. He became a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbis ...

in 1885, having been presented to the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

for a canonry, based on his services as Vicar of Driffield. While incumbent there he was noted for his generosity and kindness, giving away many millions of pounds including circa £500,000 (in 2009 money) for the rebuilding of Driffield Church from his own wealth. He employed many church people, having three curates and two

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...

readers in his personal employ. He was vicar of

1892–1905, and thereafter lived at

Holmwood, Redditch Holmwood House in Redditch, Worcestershire, is a country by the famed Victorian architect Temple Lushington Moore, who was a vague relative of the Newton family. Rev Canon Newton was brother of Goodwin Newton of Barrells Hall, where Canon Newto ...

(which he had built for him by the architect

, who was also a relative), having been offered the post by Lord Windsor.

Legacy

In the 1970s, when the Kingfisher Shopping Centre was opened in Redditch an office block was named after him within the centre: Canon Newton House. Part of the centre, known as Milward Square, is also named after the family of one of his daughters, Elsie, who married Harry Milward of

Milward's Needles Henry Milward & Sons is an English manufacturer of sewing needles based in Redditch. Henry Milward and Sons and its employees boast over a quarter of a millennium making needles. History The earliest reference to the Milward family in connect ...

Family

Canon Newton married twice: Firstly to Frances (Fanny) Storrs in 1866, the younger daughter of Dr Robert Storrs of

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, the first Doctor to note the connection with cleanliness and infection during child birth, years before the more famous

Ignaz Semmelweis Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (; hu, Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp ; 1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician and scientist, who was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the "saviour of mothers", he discovered that t ...

.Microbiologist Journal September 2005 http://www.sfam.org.uk/pdf/features/childbed.pdf Secondly he married in 1905 Katharine Constance Macrell (died 1921) following the death of Fanny Storrs. Canon Newton and his first wife, Fanny Storrs, had seven children: *Ethel – married Bishop

Edmund Arbuthnott Knox Edmund Arbuthnott Knox (6 December 1847 – 16 January 1937) was the fourth Bishop of Manchester, from 1903 to 1921. He was described as a prominent evangelical. Born in Bangalore, the second son of the Reverend George Knox and Frances Mary Anne ...

, the evangelical

Bishop of Manchester The Bishop of Manchester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Manchester in the Province of York.'' Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition)'', Church House Publishing (). The current bishop is David Walker who ...

and

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...

book reformer *Madeleine *Elsie – married Harry Milward, one of the heirs to the

dynasty *Margaret *Dorathea *Marjorie *Horace – died in 1917, having drowned in the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

(then called

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

) with the 13th Hussars. He was buried in

Ezra's Tomb , native_name_lang = ara , image = Ezer Mosque.jpg , image_upright = 1.4 , alt = , caption = Ezra's Tomb main building , map_type = Iraq , map_size = 240 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Horace 19th-century English Anglican priests English philanthropists 1844 births 1920 deaths