Editing Walsham How

{{Short description|English Anglican bishop (1823–1897)}}
{{use British English|date=October 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| name             = Walsham How
| title            = [[Bishop of Wakefield (diocese)|Bishop of Wakefield]]
| image            = William Walsham How.jpg
| image_size       = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = Photograph of How.
| diocese          = [[Diocese of Wakefield]]
| elected          = 
| term             = 1889{{snd}}1897 (d.)
| enthroned        = 
| quashed          = 
| term_end         = 
| predecessor      = 
| opposed          = 
| successor        = [[Rodney Eden]]
| other_post       = [[Bishop of Bedford]] {{nowrap|(1879–1888)}}
<!---------- Orders ---------->
| ordination       = 1846
| ordained_by      = 
| consecration     = 1879
| consecrated_by   = [[Archibald Campbell&nbsp;Tait]] (Canterbury)
<!---------- Personal details ---------->
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1823|12|13|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Shrewsbury]], [[Shropshire]], [[England]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1897|8|1|1823|12|13|df=y}}
| death_place      = Leenane, [[County Mayo]], [[Ireland]]
| buried           = [[Whittington, Shropshire]], England
| nationality      = British
| religion         = [[Anglicanism|Anglican]]
| residence        = 
| parents          = 
| spouse           = 
| children         = 
| occupation       = 
| profession       = 
| education        = 
| alma_mater       = [[Wadham College, Oxford]]
}}
'''William Walsham How'''<ref name=son>{{cite book|last=How|first=Frederick Douglas|title=Bishop Walsham How: a memoir|location=London|year=1898|ol = 13502997M}}</ref> (13 December 1823{{snd}}10 August 1897) was an English Anglican [[bishop]].

Known as '''Walsham How''', he was the son of a [[Shrewsbury]] [[solicitor]]; How was educated at [[Shrewsbury School]], [[Wadham College, Oxford]] and [[University College, Durham]].<ref>[https://archive.org/download/durhamuniversity00fowlrich/durhamuniversity00fowlrich.pdf Durham University, p. 169.]</ref> He was ordained in 1846, and after a curacy at [[Kidderminster]], began more than thirty years actively engaged in parish work in [[Shropshire]], as curate at the [[Shrewsbury Abbey|Abbey Church]] in Shrewsbury in 1848.<ref name=Dickins>{{cite book|last=Dickins|first=Gordon|title=An Illustrated Literary Guide to Shropshire|year=1987|location=Shrewsbury|publisher=Shropshire Libraries|pages=40–1|isbn=0-903802-37-6}}</ref> In 1851 he became Rector of [[Whittington, Shropshire|Whittington]] and was at one point [[Rural Dean]] of [[Oswestry]] in 1860, then Suffragan Bishop of Bedford (for [[East London]]) and in turn Bishop of Wakefield.

==Writings==
It was during his period at Whittington he wrote the bulk of his published works and founded the first public library in Oswestry.<ref name=Dickins/> In 1863–1868 he brought out a ''Commentary on the Four Gospels'' and he also wrote a manual for the Holy Communion.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=How, William Walsham|volume=13|page=829}}</ref> Published by the [[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]] during the 1890s under the title "Holy Communion, Preparation and Companion...together with the Collects, Epistles and Gospels" this book was widely distributed and many copies still survive today. In the movement for infusing new spiritual life into the church services, especially among the poor, How was a great force.<ref name="EB1911"/> He took a stand against what he regarded as immoral literature and [[Thomas Hardy]] claimed that he had [[book burning|burned]] a copy of his novel ''[[Jude the Obscure]]''.<ref>Slack, Robert C. ''[[Nineteenth-Century Fiction]]'' '''11'''(4) (March 1957) pp. 261–275.</ref> How was much helped in his earlier work by his wife, Frances A. Douglas (died 1887).

===Contributions to botany===
Walsham How "had an excellent knowledge of the British flora." In 1857 he was one of the founders of the Oswestry and Welshpool Naturalists' Field Club and Archaeological Society. He was at one time its president, and he contributed a paper on "The Botany of Great Orme's Head" (1865). He was also the botanical contributor to ''The Gossiping Guide for Wales.'' In 1890 he was president of the [[Yorkshire Naturalists' Union]]. His obituary in respect of his contribution to botany was published in the October 1897 issue of ''The Naturalist.''<ref>{{cite web |title=Yorkshire Naturalists' Union: YNU presidents |url=https://www.ynu.org.uk/YNU_Presidents |website=ynu.org.uk |publisher=YNU |access-date=2 January 2020 |date=2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Trimen |first1=Henry |title=Journal of Botany, British and Foreign |date=1898 |volume=v. 35 1897 |publisher=Robert Hardwicke |location=London |page=464 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8976604#page/496/mode/1up |access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref>

==Church work==
[[File:Whittington Church Screen.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial screen to William Walsham How in Whittington Church]]
He refused preferment on several occasions, but his energy and success made him well known, and in 1879 he was consecrated a bishop, by [[Archibald Campbell Tait]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], on 25 July at [[St&nbsp;Paul's Cathedral]];<ref>{{Church Times | title = Consecration of four bishops | archive = 1879_08_01_489 | issue = 862 | date = 1 August 1879 | page = 489 | accessed = 19 September 2019 }}</ref> he became the first modern [[suffragan bishop]] in London, under the title of [[Bishop of Bedford]], his province being the [[East End of London|East End]]. There he became the inspiring influence of a revival of church work. He founded the East London Church Fund, and enlisted a large band of enthusiastic helpers, his popularity among all classes being immense. He was particularly fond of children, and was commonly called "the children's bishop".<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name=":DNB:">{{cite ODNB|title=William Walsham How|id=13882|date=September 2013}}</ref>

When he came to East London in 1879 "he found great need of women's help for the poor in the huge parishes of his diocese". He then planned to establish a Deaconess Community and applied to the (West) London Diocesan Deaconess Institution (LDDI). The LDDI sent its Sister Louisa in autumn 1880 and the East London Diocesan Deaconess Institution was founded at Sutton Place, [[Hackney, London|Hackney]]. Deaconess Sisters worked in various East London parishes and eventually the Institution became the All Saints Deaconess Home at Meynell Crescent (1894/5-1924). A few of the remaining Sisters joined the LDDI which continued work in the East End for a few years.<ref>Archives of the (Deaconess) Community of St Andrew (which had developed from the LDDI).</ref>{{full citation needed|date=June 2019}}

==Bishopric==
After being offered, but declined, the [[Bishop of Manchester|Bishopric of Manchester]] in 1885 and after his wife's death, he was in 1888 made the first [[Bishop of Wakefield (diocese)|Bishop of Wakefield]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Elderwick|first=David|title=50 Shropshire Celebrities, Past and Present|year=1989|publisher=IMPRINT, Newtown, Wales|page=56}}</ref> and in the north of England he continued to do valuable work. His sermons were straightforward, earnest and attractive; and besides publishing several volumes of these, he wrote a good deal of verse, including such well-known hymns as ''Who is this so weak and helpless'', ''Lord, Thy children guide and keep''<ref name="EB1911"/> and ''[[For All the Saints]]''. As bishop he consecrated many churches, including the [[Church of St&nbsp;John the Divine, Calder Grove]] in 1892.<ref name="Wainwright 1996">Keith Wainwright, ''Crigglestone Backtrack 4: past reflections of a rural parish'' (c. 1996) pp. 54–47, in [http://www.experiencewakefield.co.uk/thedms.aspx?dms=3&venue=2190342 Wakefield local studies library] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20140420093111/http://www.experiencewakefield.co.uk/thedms.aspx?dms=3&venue=2190342 |date=20 April 2014 }}</ref><ref name="LT 27 May 1893" >[http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/searchbna/viewrecord/bl/0000336/18930527/025/0004?confirmed=1 ''Leeds Times'' Saturday 27 May 1893: "Chat in the porch"], genesreunited.co.uk; retrieved 21 April 2014.</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Monument at Whittington to Walsham How, 1st Bishop of Wakefield.jpg|thumb|Monument to Walsham How and his wife, in the Memorial Garden near St John The Baptist's Church at [[Whittington, Shropshire]].]]
He died while on holiday in Ireland, on 10 August 1897 in Leenane, [[County Mayo]]. Although there is a marble memorial to him in [[Wakefield Cathedral]], he was buried in Whittington, Shropshire, where he had been rector for 28 years.<ref name=Cyberhymnal>{{cite web|title=William Walsham How|url=http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/h/o/w/how_ww.htm|work=Cyberhymnal|access-date=2013-11-08}}</ref> There is also a memorial plaque to him inside the London city church of St Helen's, [[Bishopsgate]], bearing the line "Sweet is the calm of Paradise the blest" from his hymn, "[[For all the saints]]".<ref name=":DNB:" />

==Hymns==
[[File:William Walsham How Hymns List.jpg|thumb|right|Table listing of William Walsham How located in various hymn books]]
A careful search of hymn books gives at least 36 of his hymns published for wider circulation.  ''The Church Hymnal for the Christian Year'' (1917 revised 1920) has the greatest number, 26 in total plus another 2 which were amended by How.  The Baptist Hymn Book of 1964 has  11 hymns.

''The Church Hymnal'' gives dates for hymns.  From these, the most prolific year for How's hymn writing was 1871, the date given for 10 of his hymns.  This was during his time at Whittington.

How is represented in ''The Church Hymn Book'' (1872)<ref>Hatfield, Edwin F. (ed.) (1872). ''The Church Hymn Book''. New York; Chicago.</ref> with three hymns:
*''Jesus! name of wondrous love'' (n. 794), 1854,
*''Soldiers of the cross, arise'' (n. 1212), 1854,
*''We give thee but thine own'' (n. 1264),  1854;

and in ''[[Hymns Ancient and Modern]]'', Revised edition<ref>Knight, G. H.; Dykes, J. (ed.) (1950). ''Hymns Ancient and Modern'', Revised ed. Suffolk.</ref> with several others

*''Lord Jesus, when we stand afar'' (n. 109),
*''O Jesu, thou art standing'' (n. 355),
*''O my Saviour, lifted from the earth for me'' (n. 360),
*''It is a thing most wonderful'' (n. 435),
*''For all the Saints, who from their labours rest'' (n. 527),
*''"Thou art the Christ, O Lord"'' (n. 555),
*''To Thee, Our God, we fly'' (n. 606).

==Depictions==
How appears as a significant character in [[Bernard Pomerance]]'s 1979 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] play [[The Elephant Man (play)|''The Elephant Man'']]. In a 1982 television adaptation he was played by [[William Hutt (actor)|William Hutt]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|William Walsham How}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=38613}}
* {{FadedPage|id=How, Bishop Walsham|name=Walsham How|author=yes}}
*[http://anglicanhistory.org/england/wwhow/ Bibliographic directory] from [[Project Canterbury]]

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{{succession box | before=diocese created| title=[[Bishop of Wakefield (diocese)|Bishop of Wakefield]] | after=[[Rodney Eden]] | years=1889–1897}}
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{{Bishops of Bedford}}
{{Bishops of Wakefield (diocese)}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:How, Walsham}}
[[Category:1823 births]]
[[Category:1897 deaths]]
[[Category:Clergy from Shrewsbury]]
[[Category:People educated at Shrewsbury School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College, Durham]]
[[Category:Bishops of Wakefield (diocese)]]