'Prisoner of Conscience'
As the Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bordesley, Birmingham in 1880, Fr Enraght came to National and International prominence, when he was jailed for “Conscience Sake” under the Disraeli Government's Public Worship Regulation Act.
“The Public Worship Regulation Act was avowedly passed with the intention of “stamping out” of the Church of England clergy and laity holding my principles - principles which we believe to be the most faithful embodiment of the Doctrine, Worship, and Discipline of the reformed Church of England”. (Revd R. W. Enraght., My Prosecution...., 1883)
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As the Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bordesley, Birmingham in 1880, Fr Enraght came to National and International prominence, when he was jailed for “Conscience Sake” under the Disraeli Government's Public Worship Regulation Act.
“The Public Worship Regulation Act was avowedly passed with the intention of “stamping out” of the Church of England clergy and laity holding my principles - principles which we believe to be the most faithful embodiment of the Doctrine, Worship, and Discipline of the reformed Church of England”. (Revd R. W. Enraght., My Prosecution...., 1883)
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Fr Enraght SSC, served seven years of his ministry in the Diocese of Chichester,
in the County of Sussex, from 1868 to 1872 as a Curate of St Paul's Brighton, from 1872 to 1874 as the Curate-in-Charge of St Andrew's Portslade, and back at St Paul's Brighton for one year in 1883.
in the County of Sussex, from 1868 to 1872 as a Curate of St Paul's Brighton, from 1872 to 1874 as the Curate-in-Charge of St Andrew's Portslade, and back at St Paul's Brighton for one year in 1883.
Fr Enraght returned to Sussex in 1883 after his release from prison and eviction from his Bordesley vicarage. The Enraght family lived in the Parish of St Michael & All Angels, Brighton, to recuperate for a year. Fr Enraght returned to St Paul's to assist his old friend, Fr Wagner while waiting for another Parish appointment. In November 1884, Fr Enraght left Brighton to take up a Curacy in Poplar, which was reported at the time, as 'the poorest Parish in the East End of London'.
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| Revd Richard Enraght B.A., SSC. This photograph was reproduced by kind permission of the Principal & Chapter of Pusey House, Oxford (Hall Collection 3/13, Pusey House Oxford) |
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The Revd Richard William Enraght B.A., SSC [1] was an Irish born Church of England priest
of the late nineteenth century who was heavily influenced by the Oxford
Movement and is amongst the number of priests commonly called “Second
Generation” Anglo-Catholics.
Fr. Enraght’s promotion of the Church of England's ancient Catholic Tradition, his use of ritualism in worship, and his writings on Catholic Worship and Church-State relationships, led him into conflict with the Disraeli Government's Public Worship Regulation Act, for which in 1880, he endured prosecution, imprisonment and in 1883, eviction with his young family from their Holy Trinity Vicarage in Bordesley, Birmingham, for conscience sake.
Early Ministry and Publications
Richard Enraght graduated with B.A., & Div. Test., at Trinity College, Dublin 1860. In 1861 he was ordained a Deacon and later a Priest in 1862 by the Bishop of Gloucester & Bristol, at Gloucester Cathedral.
Revd Enraght served as a Curate at Corsham in Wiltshire (1861-1864), Sheffield (1864-1866) and Wrawby in Lincolnshire (1866-1868).
While serving as a Curate in Corsham, Fr Enraght gave a Lecture in Rowde, Wiltshire on the English Reformation (1862)
As a Curate in Sheffield, he published the following pamphlets:
To the Poor the Gospel is Preached (1865) and Bible Ritualism (1866).
The 'Bible Ritualism' pamphlet did not please his 'Low-Church' Bishop, and resulted in Fr Enraght being moved on from Sheffield to a new parish in Wrawby, Lincolnshire from where he eventually moved in 1868 to the Anglo-Catholic Parish of St Paul's Brighton, Sussex.
Brighton and "the South Coast Religion"
The Anglican Church in Brighton was heavily influenced by the Oxford Movement to an extent unparalleled elsewhere in the country apart from London.[2]. In Anglo-Catholic circles Brighton would become known under the collective title of "London-Brighton and South Coast Religion", which was a play on an actual railway company’s name London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, this coincidentally or otherwise, linked all the large and growing centres of Anglo-Catholic worship spreading from London to Brighton and then east and west along coast of Sussex to the neighbouring counties of Kent and Hampshire.[3]
Revd Enraght served as a Curate at Corsham in Wiltshire (1861-1864), Sheffield (1864-1866) and Wrawby in Lincolnshire (1866-1868).
While serving as a Curate in Corsham, Fr Enraght gave a Lecture in Rowde, Wiltshire on the English Reformation (1862)
As a Curate in Sheffield, he published the following pamphlets:
To the Poor the Gospel is Preached (1865) and Bible Ritualism (1866).
The 'Bible Ritualism' pamphlet did not please his 'Low-Church' Bishop, and resulted in Fr Enraght being moved on from Sheffield to a new parish in Wrawby, Lincolnshire from where he eventually moved in 1868 to the Anglo-Catholic Parish of St Paul's Brighton, Sussex.
Brighton and "the South Coast Religion"
The Anglican Church in Brighton was heavily influenced by the Oxford Movement to an extent unparalleled elsewhere in the country apart from London.[2]. In Anglo-Catholic circles Brighton would become known under the collective title of "London-Brighton and South Coast Religion", which was a play on an actual railway company’s name London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, this coincidentally or otherwise, linked all the large and growing centres of Anglo-Catholic worship spreading from London to Brighton and then east and west along coast of Sussex to the neighbouring counties of Kent and Hampshire.[3]
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|
copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton &
Hove |
Fr
Wagner whom Fr Enraght served under as curate at the Church of St.
Paul, Brighton, was a follower of Tractarianism since his time at Cambridge
University and was the leading light of the Catholic Revival in Brighton
with his prolific church and school building and generous charitable
works of building 400 houses for the poor, all at his own expense.
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| copyright ©
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brightonian Newspaper Revd Arthur Douglas Wagner (1824-1902) |
Fr Wagner was the subject of critical debates in the House of Commons for his ritualist practices. Legislation was proposed to halt the Catholic Revival in Brighton by taking away Fr Wagner’s authority to install Anglo Catholic priests as Vicars in the five churches that he had financed.[4]
The
atmosphere in Brighton, created by the local press and the Brighton
Protestant Defence Association (the forerunner of the Church
Association) was very hostile to ritualist priests. The Brighton Gazette
was highly vitriolic towards any clergy that adhered to the English
Catholic Tradition. The same newspaper in 1873 published a bias report
that Fr. Wagner had refused in court to answer questions that would
“involve him to breach the confessional”. As a result of this article,
Fr. Wagner was brutally assaulted on the streets of Brighton.
His assailants went to prison but Fr. Wagner characteristically supported their wives and families at his own expense [5]. Fr Wagner was not the only priest to suffer violence in Brighton.
His assailants went to prison but Fr. Wagner characteristically supported their wives and families at his own expense [5]. Fr Wagner was not the only priest to suffer violence in Brighton.
Fr
Thomas Perry of St
Michael & All Angels Church, stood alone at a Brighton public meeting and
defended Fr Wagner’s cause. He too was to suffer at the hands of the Protestant Defence mob
by being beaten-up for his courageous stance near his Brighton church.
In
another Parish in Brighton, the Curate of St James' Church, Fr John Purchas (1823-1872), the former editor of the Directorium Anglicanum, (the Anglo-Catholic 'Manuel of Ancient Church Rites') was
prosecuted, at the insistence of the Church Association, for using vestments and the eastward position in 1871. The case took
three years to conclude and resulted in the Church of England paying £7,661 in legal costs, to appreciate the scale of these legal costs, a small terraced house in Brighton could be rented for £16 per annum in 1871.
Fr Purchas had the foresight to place his property in his wife's name so was unable to pay the legal costs himself. [6]. Fr Purchas was removed from his Parish and some commentators believe his persecution led to his early death in October 1872.
Fr Purchas had the foresight to place his property in his wife's name so was unable to pay the legal costs himself. [6]. Fr Purchas was removed from his Parish and some commentators believe his persecution led to his early death in October 1872.
Fr Enraght knew Fr John Purchas from their days as curates at St Paul's, Brighton, and ten years later at a Lecture in Derby in 1882, he stated, “It was his solemn conviction that the Church Association 'killed' Mr. Purchas of Brighton”
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'The Chichester Extinguisher' from Punch, 24 October 1868
Caption:- Bishop of Chichester. "GO! GO! YOU INSOLENT, REBELLIOUS BOY. WHAT WITH YOUR NONSENSE AND INCENSE AND CANDLES YOU'LL BE SETTING THE CHURCH ON FIRE." Master P-cu-s. "JUST WHAT I'D LIKE TO DO. THERE!" (The Bishop of Chichester is holding a fire-beater with the words 'Thirty-Nine Articles' written on its side, Fr John Puchas is holding a thurible) |
While
serving under Fr Wagner at St Paul's Brighton and sharing his Anglo-Catholic views, Fr
Enraght wrote the pamphlet, which was published nationally on the
subject "Who are True Churchmen and Who are Conspirators ?" (his
exposition on The Last Settlement of English Reformation in 1662), he
stated in his conclusion he had proved that the English Church was both
Catholic and Reformed. Fr Enraght's pamphlet was clearly aimed at the
Church Association to counter their campaign of miss-information to the
general public:-
"I have now, then, I think, sufficiently demonstrated what I undertook to prove. I have proved that the last Revision and Settlement in 1662 of the Formularies of the English Church, by which the Bishops and Clergy are bound, both by their Ordination promises and by Act of Parliament, was distinctly Catholic.
I have proved, therefore, that the Catholic-minded clergy of the English Church alone are in the right, that the charge of “Romanizing” and unfaithfulness to their Church, so persistently brought against them because of their faithful adherence to Catholic truth and practice, is a grievous slander, and that the only consistent course for their opponents to adopt—in order, if they can, to put themselves in the right—is to endeavour to get the Formularies of the Church altered in a “Protestant” direction, and so to alter the basis on which we now stand".
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| copyright © D. Sharp The former Brighton home of Fr Richard & Dorothea Enraght at 36 Russell Square (originally numbered 42) from 1869 until 1872, where their children, Ellen and Hawtrey were born. Their eldest son, William was born at their previous Brighton address, of 5 Queens Square in 1868. |
"I have now, then, I think, sufficiently demonstrated what I undertook to prove. I have proved that the last Revision and Settlement in 1662 of the Formularies of the English Church, by which the Bishops and Clergy are bound, both by their Ordination promises and by Act of Parliament, was distinctly Catholic.
I have proved, therefore, that the Catholic-minded clergy of the English Church alone are in the right, that the charge of “Romanizing” and unfaithfulness to their Church, so persistently brought against them because of their faithful adherence to Catholic truth and practice, is a grievous slander, and that the only consistent course for their opponents to adopt—in order, if they can, to put themselves in the right—is to endeavour to get the Formularies of the Church altered in a “Protestant” direction, and so to alter the basis on which we now stand".
"Puritans ever since the first dawn of “the Reformation,” have been in
the Church of England only on sufferance. If any are to be restrained,
it must not be those clergy who loyally carry out the principles of the
Church which the Revisers of 1662 so strenuously maintained against all
attacks, but any who (although many of them holding position and
preferment within the Church) use their position and influence, contrary
to their Ordination promises, to carry out the work of the
Nonconformists of 1662, and undermine the Reformation principles for
which the Revisers of 1662 contended, and which they have preserved in
the Formularies of the Church." [8]
Fr Enraght's fearless writings of confronting the architects of the forthcoming Public Worship Regulation Act by using the Book of Common Prayer to prove that the Church of England has an unbroken Catholic Tradition no doubt marked him out as a future target for the attentions of the Church Association and its lawyers.
The Brighton Gazette reported that Fr Enraght, formerly the 'Travelling Secretary' of the National Association for Freedom of Worship, gave a 50 minute lecture on the subject of 'The Freedom of Worship' at Brighton’s Town Hall in December 1871.
Fr Enraght's fearless writings of confronting the architects of the forthcoming Public Worship Regulation Act by using the Book of Common Prayer to prove that the Church of England has an unbroken Catholic Tradition no doubt marked him out as a future target for the attentions of the Church Association and its lawyers.
The Brighton Gazette reported that Fr Enraght, formerly the 'Travelling Secretary' of the National Association for Freedom of Worship, gave a 50 minute lecture on the subject of 'The Freedom of Worship' at Brighton’s Town Hall in December 1871.
Fr
Enraght SSC served as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Brighton Chapter of
the Society of the Holy Cross, the Chapter was spoken of by its national
leadership, “as one of the most promising and was carrying on a vigorous campaign in Brighton” [12].
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In
the winter of 1874 Fr Enraght left St Paul's Brighton to take on a new challenge at the six years old District Church of St Andrew's, 4 miles along the coast in the Parish of St Nicolas Portslade, where he would have sole control as Curate-in-Charge.
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***Notes Concerning the Timeline of the above Revd Richard Enraght text appearing on the Internet.
The above article on the Revd Richard W Enraght was first written in 2001 and uploaded to the Parish of St Nicolas & St Andrews Portslade’s Btinternet website. (See Internet Archive's Wayback Machine for confirmation)
In
2007, six years after the article appeared on the 'St Nicolas & St Andrew’s Portslade’s
website' a brief section of the above
text was uploaded to Wikipedia to create a new Richard W Enraght
Wikipedia page, by
the author of this above text. Over the years, the Wikipedia page for
Richard Enraght has been greatly edited (with some errors) and now differs substantially
with the above Enraght text.
Unfortunately in 2010, BT shut down all free of costs
websites for
Churches, therefore
this Enraght page moved to a new St Nicolas & St Andrew Blogspot
Parish website, again this website was shut down in 2013 and a small section of the above Enraght page moved to the present website of the Parish of Portslade & Mile Oak
in 2016.
In 2025 the Biography article was greatly expanded from the original 2001 with separate 'Biography pages' charting Fr Enraght's life, writings and lectures.
In 2025 the Biography article was greatly expanded from the original 2001 with separate 'Biography pages' charting Fr Enraght's life, writings and lectures.
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