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© G. Osborne On the far left in the 1870s, No. 5 Station Road Portslade (originally named, Courtney Terrace), was the home of Fr Richard Enraght, Curate-in-Charge of Portslade by Sea. His daughter Grace Enraght, was born here in 1873. On the far right are the gates of the Level Crossing and out of view behind the Railway Inn was the original site of Portslade's Railway Station. (The Railway Station moved to its present location on the opposite side of Station Road in 1881) |
In
1872, after previously serving as a Curate to Fr Arthur Wagner the
Vicar of St Paul's Brighton, Revd Richard William Enraght continued his
ministry at Portslade by Sea and Hangleton in the County of Sussex. He was appointed Curate-in-Charge of the six years old, District Church of St Andrew’s Portslade by Sea with
St Helen's Hangleton by the Revd Frederick Holbrooke the Vicar of Portslade (St Nicolas) who at
that time held the patronage of St Andrews [10].
Coincidentally Richard’s father, the Revd Matthew Enraght, a Curate in the Church of Ireland, moved to England to serve in the Diocese of Chichester as Vicar of St Mary Magdalene, Lyminster from 1856 to 1873. Revd Matthew Enraght lived just over 20 miles from his son and grandchildren, with very good railway links to Portslade.
Coincidentally Richard’s father, the Revd Matthew Enraght, a Curate in the Church of Ireland, moved to England to serve in the Diocese of Chichester as Vicar of St Mary Magdalene, Lyminster from 1856 to 1873. Revd Matthew Enraght lived just over 20 miles from his son and grandchildren, with very good railway links to Portslade.
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© D. Sharp The former Portslade home of Fr Richard Enraght at 5 Station Road in 2025. At the beginning of the 20th century these terrace houses were converted into shops and their front gardens were paved over. |
Fr
Enraght’s appointment was not without controversy. There was an
unsuccessful appeal to the Bishop of Chichester by the Vicar of the
neighbouring Parish of Southwick who questioned the authority of the
Vicar of Portslade, the Revd Frederick Holbrooke to make the appointment of a priest to this new
District Church of St Andrew's, Portslade by Sea which did not have a permanent
priest [11]. The
Revd W. Hall the Vicar of Southwick had donated the land which St
Andrew's was built on and this new district of Portslade (Copperas Gap)
also included a part of his Parish of Southwick namely Fishersgate. The
Bishop eventually assigned the control of this new District of Portslade
to the Vicar of Portslade.
In 1873 The Rock (a hard line Protestant Church of England Newspaper), with the motto, 'Opposed to Rationalism, Ritualism & Romanism', published an article under the title of The Ritualistic
Conspiracy, which went on to list the names of every priest in England who
were members of 'ritualistic organisations'. Fr Enraght (St Andrew's, Portslade) was listed as a
member of the following organisations:- Society of the Holy Cross, a 'Priest Associate' of
the The Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament and the English
Church Union.
The Revd Frederick Holbrooke the Vicar of Portslade (St Nicolas) was listed in The Rock as a member of the English Church Union. In 1873 the English Church Union had a membership of 9,806, by 1894 this membership had grown to 35,034.
The Revd Frederick Holbrooke the Vicar of Portslade (St Nicolas) was listed in The Rock as a member of the English Church Union. In 1873 the English Church Union had a membership of 9,806, by 1894 this membership had grown to 35,034.
Portslade
is only 4 miles from Brighton with very good railway links, so therefore Fr
Enraght SSC was able to continue as an officer of the Brighton Branch of
the Society of the Holy Cross, the Branch was spoken of by its national
leadership, “as one of the most promising and was carrying on a vigorous campaign in Brighton” [12].
Fr Enraght was the former Travelling Secretary for the National Association for the Promotion of Freedom of Worship, and campaigned for the abolition of "pew-rents" [13]. St Andrew Church Portslade (built in 1864), where Fr Enraght served as its priest, was one of the earliest, if not the first church in Sussex never to have had "pew-rents" in its history [14].
Fr Enraght was the former Travelling Secretary for the National Association for the Promotion of Freedom of Worship, and campaigned for the abolition of "pew-rents" [13]. St Andrew Church Portslade (built in 1864), where Fr Enraght served as its priest, was one of the earliest, if not the first church in Sussex never to have had "pew-rents" in its history [14].
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© J. Middleton Fr Enraght served as Curate-in-Charge of St Andrew's Church, Portslade, from 1872 until 1874.
Edmund Evan Scott was the architect of St Andrew’s Church. In later
years, he became associated with nearly all of Wagner’s
church-building and church-enhancing schemes at Brighton, including
the Church of the Annunciation, St James’s Church, All Souls’
Church. But by far his most important work was St Bartholomew’s,
Brighton, claimed to be the tallest church in England.
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In Portslade, Fr Enraght continued to be very active in his defence of Ritualism in published pamphlets and letters to the Brighton Gazette promoting
adherence to the English Catholic Tradition within The Church of
England.
In May 1873 Fr Enraght was in London to attend the Synod of The Society of the Holy Cross at St Peter’s London Docks. On the agenda was a proposal by Brother Enraght of Portslade for a learned Statement of the Doctrine of the Church of England, on the subject of Sacramental Confession, to be drawn up and presented to the Bishops.
As Curate-in-Charge of Portslade by Sea, Fr Enraght published the pamphlets:- "The Real Presence & Holy Scripture" (1872) of which the Church Times described as "A masterly exposition of the texts which more directly relate to the Blessed Eucharist" and "Catholic Worship" (1873), which promoted the importance and necessity of ritual in worshipThese writings put him on a collision course with the pro PWR Act local newspaper the Brighton Gazette who were sensitive to any hint of ritualism in worship. The Brighton Gazette’s
editorial 8th January 1874 was titled "Protestant Reaction" and sub
titled ‘a warning to polemics’ from which these quotes are taken; "True
Protestants can scarcely desire the loss of power and influence this
would involve and the great help it would be to the Papists to
re-establish their supremacy in Britain, through the Ritualists"
From
the pages of the same newspaper Fr Enraght was accused of Puseyism (used
here as a term of abuse) and of trying to turn the local St Nicolas
Church School in Portslade into a Puseyite school.
The letter column of the Brighton Gazette carried this personal attack on Fr Enraght made by a Mr Gossett of Carlton Terrace, a Portslade anti-ritualist and a member of the Brighton Protestant Defence Association (the forerunner of the Church Association) , "The Revd Mr. Enraght, whose doctrines, if they were not doctrines of the Church of Rome, he (Mr. Gossett) was ignorant to what Church they belonged".
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© J. Middleton St Nicolas Church School, of which Revd Enraght was accused of turning into a Puseyite School
The
inscription on the School's west wall reads:
'These Schools were erected by Hannah Brakenbury for the benefit of the Poor of the united parishes of Portslade and Hangleton A.D. 1872'. |
The letter column of the Brighton Gazette carried this personal attack on Fr Enraght made by a Mr Gossett of Carlton Terrace, a Portslade anti-ritualist and a member of the Brighton Protestant Defence Association (the forerunner of the Church Association) , "The Revd Mr. Enraght, whose doctrines, if they were not doctrines of the Church of Rome, he (Mr. Gossett) was ignorant to what Church they belonged".
In reply to this personal attack, Fr Enraght sent the following statement to the Brighton Gazette:- ' My attention has only just be drawn to an attack made upon me, in my absence, by Mr. Gossett, of Portslade. I only noticed Mr. Gossett’s slander for the sake of the people to whom I lately ministered. I beg to inform all who care to know that “my doctrines” are those of the “one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church”, in which Mr. Gossett has professed to, but does not, I suppose “believe”; whereas I do.
If Mr Gossett means that amongst “my doctrines” as – The Holy Trinity; the Incarnation; the Atonement; that “a child is by baptism regenerates” (Private Baptism of Children in Houses) or “the body and blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord’s Supper”, (Church Catechism); or that “Our Lord Jesus hath left power to his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him (Visitation of the Sick); or any such like doctrines common to all parts of the Catholic Church in all ages, and therefore now held by the Church of England in common with “the Church of Rome”- he utters a truism.
It is shameful that “Protestants (Church Association)” should persist in deceiving the people with the palpable fallacy that because we hold the old faith in Christ in common with Rome, therefore we also hold all that Rome has seen fit to add to that old faith ' [15]
Another example of the Brighton Gazettes bias reporting, for Thursday 21st May 1874:-
"The Revd R. W. Enraght of Portslade has given notice of his intentions to hold a “Retreat” - our readers will not have forgotten what sort of things these “retreats” are - at Lancing College in August next. The rev. gentleman’s name appears in the roll of The Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament for 1872, so that here we get another peep into the interior economy of those notorious “Woodard Schools”, of which Lancing College is the headquarters."
In 1874 the Government, under the leadership of Disraeli, with the backing of both Primates and many Bishops, decided to crush ritualism in the Church of England by passing the Public Worship Regulation Act. Fr Wagner, Fr Purchas, Fr Enraght and the many other Brighton Anglo-Catholic priests all carried out their ministries to large sympathetic congregations.
The local press spoke only for a minority in their campaign to use the Public Worship Regulation Act to rid ritualism from the churches of Brighton. From the Brighton Gazettes editorial for the 23rd April 1874 on the topic of the Public Worship Regulation Act, quote, "Let us have the law obeyed and let there be an easy mode of redress from offending clergyman".
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| St Andrew's Portslade and St Nicolas Portslade - congregation donations to the Free & Open Church Association in 1874. (£1 in 1874 is equivalent in purchasing power to £144 in 2020) |
In
the winter of 1874 Fr Enraght left Portslade to take on a new challenge
in the City of Birmingham as Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bordesley, an area
much like Brighton where the Church Association were very active.
Portslade was a good stepping stone in Fr Enraght's ministry as this was
his first Parish where he had sole responsibility for the parishioners
and being so close to Brighton he was able to maintain his links with
the Brighton Branch of The Society of the Holy Cross.
The City of Brighton & Hove, Tribute ?
In February 2006 The Brighton Newspaper, The Argus,
reported that Brighton & Hove City Council had accepted the name of
Fr Richard Enraght, whom they described as a “Priest, fighter for
religious freedom”, as a candidate for a Blue Plaque to be erected in
his memory on his former home at 5 Station Road, Portslade. The date of
its installation is yet to be announced, if ever ?
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© D. Sharp The Revd Richard Enraght 'Bus', 22 November 2013. In Boundary Road, Hove, the opposite side of this street is called, Station Road, Portslade, where Fr Enraght lived in 1872. (In 2023 this bus was taken out of operation, after 17 years of service throughout the City of Brighton & Hove.) |
In
September 2006, Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company honoured Revd
Richard Enraght’s memory by naming one of their new fleet buses after
this former Priest of St. Andrew Church Portslade and the Church of St
Paul, Brighton. His name joins the extensive list of locally and
nationally famous people who have contributed to the City's life in some
way over the past few hundred years with a Brighton and Hove Bus named
after them.
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In
the winter of 1874 Fr Enraght left Portslade to take on a new challenge
in the City of Birmingham as Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bordesley.
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Above Text & Page Design by dave-portslade