Victor Lorenzo Whitechurch (b. Norham, Northumberland 12 March 1868 – d. Buxton, Derbyshire 26 May 1933) was a
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 Britai ...
clergyman
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
and
author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
.
He wrote many novels on different themes. He is probably best known for his
detective stories
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...
featuring
Thorpe Hazell
Thorpe Hazell is a fictional detective created by the British author Victor Lorenzo Whitechurch. Hazell was a railway expert and a vegetarian, whom the author intended to be as far from Sherlock Holmes as possible. Short stories about Thorpe H ...
, which featured in the '' Strand Magazine'', ''Railway Magazine'', ''Pearson's'' and ''Harmsworth's'' Magazines. Hazell was a vegetarian railway detective, whom the author intended to be as far from Sherlock Holmes as possible. Another character was the spy Captain Ivan Koravitch. He also wrote religious books, novels set in the church and his autobiography – ''Concerning Himself, The story of an ordinary man'' (1909).
Whitechurch's stories were admired by
Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...
and
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages.
She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...
for their "immaculate plotting and factual accuracy: he was one of the first writers to submit his manuscripts to Scotland Yard for vetting as to police procedure."
The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
produced a series of five adaptations of short stories from ''Thrilling Stories of the Railway'' which were read by
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a British Academy Television Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence Oli ...
.
Career
Whitechurch was educated at Chichester Grammar School and
Chichester Theological College
Chichester Theological College (1838–1994) was an Anglican theological college for the Diocese of Chichester in Sussex, England. Its churchmanship was high church and Anglo-Catholic.
History
Chichester Theological College college was foun ...
. After various positions as curate he became vicar of St. Michael's,
Blewbury
Blewbury is a village and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs section of the North Wessex Downs about south of Didcot, south of Oxford and west of London. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it t ...
Bishop of Oxford
The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. The current bishop is Steven Croft, following the confirmation of his elect ...
, and an honorary
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 ca ...
Rural Dean
In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective ...
* ''The Chronicle of St George'' (1891, editor)
* ''The Course of Justice (a novel)'' (1903)
* ''The Canon in Residence'' (1904) – see summary below
* ''The Locum Tenens: a novel'' (1906)
* ''The Canon's Dilemma'' (1909)
* ''Concerning Himself, The story of an ordinary man'' (1909)
* ''Off the main road – A village comedy'' (1911)
* '' Thrilling Stories of the Railway'' (1912)
* ''Left in charge'' (1912)
* ''A Downland Corner'' (1912)
* ''Three Summers – A Romance'' (1915)
* ''Parochial Processions: their value and organisation'' (1917)
* ''The Templeton Case'' (1924)
* ''A Bishop out of Residence'' (1924)
* ''Downland Echoes'' (1924)
* ''The Adventures of Captain Ivan Koravitch'' (1925)
* ''Concerning Right and Wrong. A plain man's creed'' (1925)
* ''If riches increase'' (1923)
* ''The Dean and Jecinora'' (1926)
* ''The Truth in Christ Jesus'' (1927)
* ''The Crime at Diana's Pool'' (1927)
* ''Shot on the Downs'' (1927)
* ''Mixed Relations'' (1928)
* ''First and Last'' (1929)
* ''Murder at the Pageant'' (1930)
* ''Murder at the College'' (1932)
* ''Mute Witnesses: Being certain annals of a Downland Village'' (1933)
''The Canon in Residence'' (1904)
The Reverend John Smith is a conventional cleric, who learns on holiday he has been promoted to be Canon in Residence of Frattenbury Cathedral. While staying at a hotel he meets a fellow Englishman, who tells him the clergy are too divorced from reality. This stranger drugs Mr Smith and takes his clerical clothing, leaving in return his garish clothing, which Mr Smith is forced to wear for the rest of his holiday in St Moritz. However, because of this, he learns a great deal that the dog collar would have prevented. Meanwhile, the stranger adopts Smith's name and goes off gambling and quaffing vast quantities of champagne in Monte Carlo, to the horror of an Englishwoman there who writes to her friends in Frattenbury about him.
On returning to Frattenbury, Canon Smith champions the cause of reform, in particular improvements to slum housing to the anger of his church colleagues and the city magnates, who spread rumours of his supposed time in Monte Carlo.
He sends a £20 note he found in the stranger's jacket to someone threatened with bankruptcy. Unfortunately this turned out to be stolen in a bank robbery, and Canon Smith is embarrassed by having to admit in court how he came by the note to clear the accused.
All comes right when his friend Jane Rutland receives another letter about the "clergyman" and she is able to tip off the police to get him arrested. Canon Smith goes to the bank robber in the cells to thank him for opening his eyes to others' points of view, and shows his forgiveness. The novel ends with his engagement to Jane Rutland.
The book has been adapted for both the stage and radio.Times: Radio 4 listings 10 March 1982, page 31
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
Hugh Greene
Sir Hugh Carleton Greene (15 November 1910 – 19 February 1987) was a British television executive and journalist. He was director-general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969.
After working for newspapers in the 1930s, Greene spent most of his later ...
, ed. ''Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes'',
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1977, : Introduction by Bryan Morgan