Pusey House, Oxford: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 06:08, 20 May 2025

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File:St John the Baptist - Stained Glass Window by Ninian Comper.jpg

St John the Baptist shown in Ninian Comper's east window

Pusey House (Template:IPAc-en) is an Anglican religious institution and charitable incorporated organisation located on St Giles', Oxford, United Kingdom, immediately to the south of Pusey Street. It is firmly rooted in the Anglo-Catholic Prayer Book tradition of the Church of England and was founded in 1884 in memory of Edward Bouverie Pusey, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford University and one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.

The house was established as a "House of Piety of Learning" with a library and chapel, both of which remain open and in use today. One of the original intentions of Pusey House was to house Pusey's collection of books<ref name="Lepine">Template:Cite journal</ref> and, since its foundation, the house has come to possess many artifacts relating to Pusey and the Oxford Movement, with the house's library and Archive holding one of the country's most significant collections of material pertaining to Anglo-Catholicism.<ref name="Pusey House Library Website">Template:Cite web</ref> The house holds daily services in its chapel, as well as regular lectures and events.

Pusey House is closely associated with Oxford University, especially St Cross College which moved onto the Pusey House site in 1981, but is not itself a permanent private hall or constituent college.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Pusey Memorial House<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was opened on 9 October 1884<ref>Pall Mall Gazette, Thursday 18 September 1884, p.10</ref> as a memorial to Edward Bouverie Pusey, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford University, a canon of Christ Church Cathedral and for 40 years a leading figure in the Oxford Movement, a movement of the mid-19th century which sought to bring the Church of England to a deeper understanding of its witness as part of the universal ("Catholic") church.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was also intended to continue the work of Pusey in restoring the Church of England's Catholic life and witness.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was established with a fund of £50,000 to provide a building for Pusey's library, purchase it and create an endowment so that two or more clergy could take charge of it and promote religious life in the university.<ref>Alden's Oxford Guide, Oxford: Alden & Co., 1958; p. 101</ref><ref>Henry Parry Liddon described its purpose thus: "A home of sacred learning and rallying-point for Christian faith ... It will form a centre of moral and intellectual and spiritual enthusiasm, in which all that is solid in inquiry and learning, and all that is lofty and aspiring in moral effort shall find encouragement under the consecrating shadow of a great name."--quoted in Alden (1958)</ref> The first principal was Charles Gore, who founded the Community of the Resurrection at the house in 1892. The Community moved to Mirfield (where it remains) when Gore resigned as Principal in 1897.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>

The house flourished in the following years and came to experiment with forms of quasi-monastic life. Vincent Stuckey Stratton Coles, principal from 1897 to 1909, later recorded that "for a moment it seemed as if the Pusey House was trying to become a monastery. Silence was observed at dinner on Fridays. Great regularity of attendance at the chapel offices, and regulations as to the times of retirement and rising, began to be practised."<ref name="Coles Papers">Template:Cite book</ref> Coles had been the first priest librarian along with F. E. Brightman when Gore was principal. Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, famously quipped that "Brightman would dust the books, Gore would read them, and Coles would talk about them."<ref name="What is Pusey House?">Template:Cite web</ref>

During the principalship of Darwell Stone, a new building was commissioned which was eventually designed by Temple Moore, a leading Anglo-Catholic architect of his time.<ref name="Architecture of Temple Moore">Template:Cite book</ref> The house continued its work as the centre of Anglo-Catholicism in Oxford in the new buildings, attracting undergraduates including John Betjeman and Harold Macmillan.<ref name=":1"/>

Since 1981, a portion of the Pusey House site has been occupied by St Cross College<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> on a 999-year lease.Template:Citation needed

Buildings

From 1884 until 1912, Pusey House occupied two townhouses on St Giles' on the site of the current building. Following a 1903 benefaction of £70,000 from a Leeds solicitor, John Cudworth, and with a growing ministry to the university, Pusey House was able to consider rebuilding.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1910, the governors took advantage of the falling in of a lease at a neighbouring townhouse which was subsequently bought and demolished to make way for the new buildings.

File:Pusey House Chapel - East end - geograph.org.uk - 2181808.jpg

The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament with Ninian Comper's baldacchino and stained glass

The principal at the time, Darwell Stone, requested that the new building should include a chapel "of good and simple architecture to hold about 200 and a side chapel to hold about thirty" alongside lecture rooms, domestic ranges, a library, and museum.<ref name=":2" /> Four architects were approached to submit designs: Harold Brakspear, Walter Tapper, Giles Gilbert Scott, and Temple Moore.<ref name="Lepine" />

After inspecting the four proposals the building committee chose Moore's designs, formally appointing him as architect in October 1911.<ref name=":2" />

Moore designed a large Gothic building around a quadrangle, its centrepiece being the two vaulted chapels separated by a stone pulpitum which he based on those found in 'medieval Franciscan priories'.<ref name=":2" /> The chapel and part of the library were complete by 1914, and most of the remaining portions of the building were finished in 1918.<ref name="Lepine" /> The south range of the quadrangle remained unexecuted at the time of Moore's death in 1920, and was only finished in 1925 to sympathetic designs by John Coleridge.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

The smaller Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament was reordered between 1935 and 1939 by Sir Ninian Comper.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Comper's work in the chapel included the construction of a gilded baldacchino surmounted by the resurrected Christ and attendant angels, and the stained glass in the east window. In the east window, Comper depicted a Tree of Jesse commemorating Pusey. The window contains figures of Old Testament prophets and Church Fathers surrounding Christ in Majesty and the Virgin and Child. The figure of Pusey can be seen, kneeling at the base of the second light from the right. Comper also designed vestments for Pusey House, and specially designed his "strawberry"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> pattern for the chapel.

Library

The library is a theological and historical collection of 75,000 volumes which includes Pusey's library and a large collection of other theological and historical volumes. Pusey's own books, bought after his death, originally formed the heart of Pusey House Library. Since then, by gift and purchase, the library has grown into a collection which has been recognised by the National Archives as a leading specialist library not only in Oxford but in the United Kingdom. In addition to its primary source material and books on the Anglo-Catholic Movement (Tractarian and Oxford movements), the library also has collections of material for the study of patristics, church history, liturgy, doctrine, monasticism and Anglican Catholic organisations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The archive contains extensive material on the Tractarians and the Oxford Movement: the records of a number of Anglo-Catholic societies; communities of monks and nuns; letters and papers of notable Anglicans, as well as the archive of Pusey himself.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The manuscripts include papers of many notable figures, organisations and societies connected with the Oxford Movement in the 19th and 20th centuries. The most significant holdings are those of E. B. Pusey, H. P. Liddon, and S. L. Ollard, but there are also papers relating to other notable people such as William Ewart Gladstone, John Henry Newman, Frederic Hood, F. L. Cross, and John Keble.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Worship

File:Pusey House High Mass.jpg

High Mass in the chapel

Worship in the Chapel of the Resurrection is in accordance with the Anglo-Catholic tradition in the Church of England and is open to all, especially to members of the university.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Alongside its reputation for dignified and traditional liturgy, Pusey House is also recognised for its musical tradition, most visible at the Solemn Mass on Sundays and solemnities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Services and observances

Compline each Tuesday evening during full term
Low Mass daily during full term, with a BCP celebration on Fridays
Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, daily during full term
Solemn High Mass every Sunday and on major festivals during full term with the Ordinary of the Mass sung by the choir

Music

The Choir of Pusey House is formed of eight choral scholars, largely students who are or recently have been members of college chapel choirs from across the University. The choir is responsible for singing at term-time Sundays (0-9th week), some weekday feasts, and other out of term services such as occasional evensongs, carol services and services through Holy Week.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Most Sundays, the choir will sing a polyphonic mass setting (which in Lent and Advent is normally replaced with plainsong) and an anthem, plainsong propers as well as support the hymns and congregationally sung Gloria and Creed. The choir's repertoire is made up of predominantly chant, Renaissance polyphony, such as that by Byrd, Tallis and Lassus, as well as later Romantic and Modern composers of English church music, Stanford, Bairstow, and Peter Tranchell.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Occasionally, the choir performs works by continental 19th and 20th century composers such as Vierne and Duruflé. Pusey House commissioned a new mass setting for its 125th anniversary celebrations from the composer Alexander Campkin. Another House commission is a setting of the Hæc Dies for Easter Day by Sydney Watson.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the past, the choir has recorded several CDs. Service music in the vacation is provided by a cantor or by musicians from the congregation often with support from members of the regular choir.

One musical highlight of the year is the choral Communion on the feast of Charles, King and Martyr according to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. This service normally features Tudor and Jacobean and Early English Baroque music works, and choral responses to the Commandments.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The choir takes part in the "Pusey Goes to London" trips that take place every few years, often in All Saints, Margaret Street. This normally involves both current and former choir members.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The House owns an Edwardian organ originally built by J.W. Walker for St. Paul's, Slough in 1908. It was moved to the House in 2014 by Peter Collins.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The House previously had an instrument by Rest Cartwright & Son of two manuals and pedals that has since been removed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The current Master of Music is Ed Gaut.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Pusey House regularly hosts concerts and rehearsals for several Oxford-based and student ensembles and choirs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Principals

1884–1893: Charles Gore
1893–1897: Robert Lawrence Ottley
1897–1909: Vincent Stuckey Stratton Coles
1909–1934: Darwell Stone
1934–1951: Archibald Frederic Hood
1951–1970: Francis Hugh Maycock<ref>"A Field Guide to the English Clergy' Butler-Gallie, F pp56-59: London, Oneworld Publications, 2018 Template:ISBN</ref>
1970: Barry Marshall (died before installation)
1970–1981: Cheslyn Peter Montague Jones
1982–2002: Philip Ursell
2003–2013: Jonathan Baker
2013–present: George Westhaver<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Priest Librarians

The office of priest librarian dates from the foundation of the house in 1884; the following is a complete list of those who have served in the role, taken from a 140th Anniversary publication, printed by Pusey House:

File:Pusey House Library.jpg

Upper Library, Pusey House

1884–1897 Vincent Stuckey Stratton Coles
1895–1903 F. E. Brightman*
1895-1908 Ernest Brownlow Layward
1895–1908 Henry Falconer Barclay Mackay
1897-1921 John Carter
1903–1909 Darwell Stone*
1908-1919 George Lewis Albert Way
1908-1917 Walter Julius Carey
1910-1922 George Harold Fendick
1919-1921 Leonard Whitcombe
1920-1922 Ralph Shakespeare Eves
1921–1924 Mark Carpenter-Garnier
1922-1934 Frederic Hood
1922–1923 Maurice Child
1922-1933 Miles Pearl Sargant
1927–1944 F. L. Cross*
1929–1937 Humphry Beevor
1935-1952 Thomas Maynard Parker*
1937-1941 Harold Kent White
1941–1946 Eric Kemp*
1944-1945 Henry St John Tomlinson Evans
1946-1952 Francis John Michael Dean
1946-1952 Rees William Hippsley Phillips
1952–1956 Cheslyn Jones*
1952-1955 Philip Curtis
1954-1960 John Macdonald
1957–1961 Robert Mason Catling*
1956-1959 Gilbert Denham Bayley-Jones
1960–1969 Donald Allchin
1961–1965 Rodney Hunter<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1965-1968 David Meeson Morris
1967-1972 James Dugard Makepeace
1968–1971 & 1976-1978 Peter Cobb<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1971-1976 Kenneth William Noakes
1978-1980 David Charles Gay
1980-1982 Wayne Hankey
1980-1982 Robert Brian MacCarthy
1980-1985 William John Muir Oddie
1983–1994 Harry Reynold Smythe<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1" />
1987-1989 David Vernon Williams
1987-1989 Donald Stuart Dunnan
1987-1991 John Stuart Bauerschmidt
1991-1994 Michael Richard Knight
1993-1998 Kenneth Edward McNab
1994–2011 William Ernest Peter Davage
1998-1998 Lawrence Nelson Crub
1999-2001 Peter John Groves
2001–2014 Barry Orford

Those marked with an asterisk acted as library custodian.

Notable people

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Gallery

Pusey House from St Giles'

Pusey House from St Giles'
Pusey House in the 1920s

Pusey House in the 1920s
A view of the rood from the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament

A view of the rood from the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament

The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
The east range and Chapel from the Quad

The east range and Chapel from the Quad
The Quad

The Quad

References

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External links

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