John
England (23.9.1786 – 11.4.1842)
Facts known
There doesn’t seem to be a record of his baptism unlike all the other children.
John England was educated at Carlow College in 1803 and was ordained on 11-10-1808, aged twenty two, in North Chapel, Cork. He was in charge of St. Mary’s Seminary, Cork, from 1814-1816 and then was a curate in Bandon until 1820. [1]
He edited The Cork Mercantile Chronicle and associated with the Irish political leader, Daniel O’Connell, who strove for Catholic Emancipation.
In September 1816, in connection with this newspaper, there was an action for libel. Not only was John England the editor of the paper he was its proprietor. Thus the case of: The Rev. Freeman Wills Crofts v the Rev. John England.
The Rev. Crofts was a clergyman of the Established Church and he had brought this case to court because he considered that his character and conduct had been maligned.
A Mr Goold, acting for Crofts, commented, in his opening address, on the novelty of seeing –
The case itself concerned a tenant who, according to Goold, had been unwilling to pay his rent arrears of five pounds.
The newspaper alleged that everything of value that the tenant had was sold, in order to pay the debt “even to the last bushel of potatoes.” The tenant’s wife and their twelve children had been distressed. Crofts, on seeing this, was reported to have said, “upon his honour, it was a pity that one half of them were not shot and he departed.”
According to the paper the real reason behind all of this was not the recovery of the five pounds but that the landlord wanted to drive the occupant from the land. “We regret to say that the Landlord is a Clergyman.”
This, Goold argued, was a blatant attempt to make the landlord hated and detested in the country. He would be seen by the world as a, “monster, destitute of honour, morality, feeling or humanity.” England, the editor of the paper, had been asked to reveal the author of the article but he said he was unable to do so unless he consulted the writer.
A jury of twelve landowners found for the plaintiff and £230 was awarded.[2]
The Dictionary of American Biography maintained that Daniel O'Connell and friends donated the money to pay the costs.
In 1817 John England was, at thirty one, appointed parish priest at Bandon. Then, in 1820 Pope Pius V11 appointed England Bishop of Charleston, USA and he was consecrated on the 21-9-1820 at St Finbarr’s, Cork. He set sail from Belfast on 24-10-1820 for the USA accompanied by his sister, Joanna Monica. He arrived in Charleston on the 30-12-1820 and became its first Catholic Bishop. The states of Georgia and North and South Carolina came under his jurisdiction.
It didn’t take him long to ruffle a few feathers.
In a letter to Cardinal Consalvi, dated the eighth of September 1822, Archbishop Curtis of Armagh wrote,
In 1824 he addressed the Legislative Assembly of Carolina and obtained his certificate of naturalization on the 6-2-1826.
John England wrote extensively, travelled widely and on January the eighth, 1826, addressed the President, John Quincy Adams, and Congress in the senate house. In his speech John refuted some anti Catholic sentiments that the President had expressed some years earlier. He proclaimed that Catholic belief was not an enemy of democracy and stressed its compatibility with republican values.
The following year, The Cork Constitution reported that an Anti-Duelling Society had been formed in Charleston under the auspices of the Rev. Dr England.
He was appointed the apostolic delegate to Haiti in 1833 and visited that country twice. There he ordained a black seminarian, George Paddington, to the priesthood. He was the first American bishop to do so.
It was wrongly reported, in 1834, both in a May edition of the Dublin Observer and The Pilot that,
"the celebrated Bishop of Charleston, the Right Rev. Dr. England has been appointed a Cardinal by the Pope. He is the first Irishman that ever attained that dignity."
In 1835 he opened a school in Charleston for free negroes that caused an attack on church property. Initially he accepted slavery maintaining that slaves were better cared for than Irish peasants. Later, in The Miscellany of 1842 he said that he was opposed to the continuation of slavery but that the abolition of slavery was up to the legislature and not him.
Critics maintained that he meddled too much in other American dioceses, that his extended absences meant his own diocese suffered and that his essays were "marred by bitterness as well as an impatience with the American attitude towards his creed and by a touch of Celtic exaggeration."
He died on the 11th April 1842 from enteritis and was buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Charleston.
In 1843, The Dublin Weekly Nation announced that,"a subscription list has been opened for a monument to John England, Bishop of Charleston.”[4]
The following year a donation of £10 was given by Carlow College,"to the monument which is to be erected in the memory of the illustrious and deeply lamented Doctor England." [5]
The monument never materialised but there is a bust of John England in Cork Cathedral.
There is an oil painting of the Bishop at Carlow College done by Haverty. [6] A family member has an oil painting too.
The Bandon Parish Bulletin summed John England up as, "a profound scholar, an eloquent preacher and a powerful writer."
In an article concerning Bishop Doyle and Bishop England, the Cork Examiner stated that:
John England was educated at Carlow College in 1803 and was ordained on 11-10-1808, aged twenty two, in North Chapel, Cork. He was in charge of St. Mary’s Seminary, Cork, from 1814-1816 and then was a curate in Bandon until 1820. [1]
He edited The Cork Mercantile Chronicle and associated with the Irish political leader, Daniel O’Connell, who strove for Catholic Emancipation.
In September 1816, in connection with this newspaper, there was an action for libel. Not only was John England the editor of the paper he was its proprietor. Thus the case of: The Rev. Freeman Wills Crofts v the Rev. John England.
The Rev. Crofts was a clergyman of the Established Church and he had brought this case to court because he considered that his character and conduct had been maligned.
A Mr Goold, acting for Crofts, commented, in his opening address, on the novelty of seeing –
a clergyman of the Established Church compelled to appeal to the Laws of his Country to obtain redress against a Clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church for a wanton and cruel aspersion of his character.More than this though, Goold argued that it was unprecedented to find a Catholic priest as a proprietor of a political newspaper and that surely Fr England had more spiritual duties to perform rather than, “engage in political controversy, and to become the slanderer of private character.”
The case itself concerned a tenant who, according to Goold, had been unwilling to pay his rent arrears of five pounds.
The newspaper alleged that everything of value that the tenant had was sold, in order to pay the debt “even to the last bushel of potatoes.” The tenant’s wife and their twelve children had been distressed. Crofts, on seeing this, was reported to have said, “upon his honour, it was a pity that one half of them were not shot and he departed.”
According to the paper the real reason behind all of this was not the recovery of the five pounds but that the landlord wanted to drive the occupant from the land. “We regret to say that the Landlord is a Clergyman.”
This, Goold argued, was a blatant attempt to make the landlord hated and detested in the country. He would be seen by the world as a, “monster, destitute of honour, morality, feeling or humanity.” England, the editor of the paper, had been asked to reveal the author of the article but he said he was unable to do so unless he consulted the writer.
A jury of twelve landowners found for the plaintiff and £230 was awarded.[2]
The Dictionary of American Biography maintained that Daniel O'Connell and friends donated the money to pay the costs.
 |
| Main St, Bandon Photo: Robert French [Public Domain] |
It didn’t take him long to ruffle a few feathers.
In a letter to Cardinal Consalvi, dated the eighth of September 1822, Archbishop Curtis of Armagh wrote,
In the same year John founded the United States Catholic Miscellany, the first Catholic Journal to be published in America. He also preached in New York and met President Monroe.I have often heard that Dr. England is a man of the keenest intellect and piety and a man of great zeal, but that he lacks sacerdotal meekness and prudence, and that in political matters he does not act with equanimity and sufficient caution.... I have before me his letters recently printed in which he criticizes us Irish Bishops (without even a shadow of reason), and submits us to the ridicule of our people. It is your Eminence’s duty to restrain these and similar acts of his impetuous temper, and to teach him at the same time not to be more wise than it behooveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety. [3]
In 1824 he addressed the Legislative Assembly of Carolina and obtained his certificate of naturalization on the 6-2-1826.
John England wrote extensively, travelled widely and on January the eighth, 1826, addressed the President, John Quincy Adams, and Congress in the senate house. In his speech John refuted some anti Catholic sentiments that the President had expressed some years earlier. He proclaimed that Catholic belief was not an enemy of democracy and stressed its compatibility with republican values.
The following year, The Cork Constitution reported that an Anti-Duelling Society had been formed in Charleston under the auspices of the Rev. Dr England.
He was appointed the apostolic delegate to Haiti in 1833 and visited that country twice. There he ordained a black seminarian, George Paddington, to the priesthood. He was the first American bishop to do so.
It was wrongly reported, in 1834, both in a May edition of the Dublin Observer and The Pilot that,
"the celebrated Bishop of Charleston, the Right Rev. Dr. England has been appointed a Cardinal by the Pope. He is the first Irishman that ever attained that dignity."
In 1835 he opened a school in Charleston for free negroes that caused an attack on church property. Initially he accepted slavery maintaining that slaves were better cared for than Irish peasants. Later, in The Miscellany of 1842 he said that he was opposed to the continuation of slavery but that the abolition of slavery was up to the legislature and not him.
Critics maintained that he meddled too much in other American dioceses, that his extended absences meant his own diocese suffered and that his essays were "marred by bitterness as well as an impatience with the American attitude towards his creed and by a touch of Celtic exaggeration."
He died on the 11th April 1842 from enteritis and was buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Charleston.
In 1843, The Dublin Weekly Nation announced that,"a subscription list has been opened for a monument to John England, Bishop of Charleston.”[4]
The following year a donation of £10 was given by Carlow College,"to the monument which is to be erected in the memory of the illustrious and deeply lamented Doctor England." [5]
The monument never materialised but there is a bust of John England in Cork Cathedral.
There is an oil painting of the Bishop at Carlow College done by Haverty. [6] A family member has an oil painting too.
The Bandon Parish Bulletin summed John England up as, "a profound scholar, an eloquent preacher and a powerful writer."
In an article concerning Bishop Doyle and Bishop England, the Cork Examiner stated that:
"Dr England by his masterly writings and his matchless sermons, not only in the South but throughout the Union overthrew Protestant prejudice which was a spiritual emancipation."
He preached in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York where, “his eloquent voice was so often heard.”[7]
John Augustus Shea, writer and friend of Edgar Allan Poe, wrote a poem celebrating the Bishop’s life. [8]
Historical Context
The Cork Mercantile Chronicle was, according to the Cork Ancestral Archive and Genealogical Research, "the written mouthpiece for the Liberator O'Connell and his emancipation efforts."The author maintained that John England was, "exiled for his political views and agitations by Bishop John Murphy."
Daniel O’Connell: (1775-1847) was an Irish political leader. He campaigned for Catholic Emancipation including the right for Catholics to sit in Westminster, the home of the British Parliament. He also wanted the repeal of The Act of Union which combined Great Britain and Ireland. He was a barrister and despite his opposition to the use of violence he was willing to defend those accused of political crimes.
Footnotes
[1] There were a number of books written about Bishop John England, many now out of print, which detailed his education, ministry in Ireland and his time in Charleston. Examples being:
- O’Brien Joseph L., John England A Man of God [The author was the Rector and Founder of Bishop England High School, Charleston which is still thriving.]
- The Encyclopedia Of American Catholic History edited by Michael Glazier and Thomas J. Shellax. The Liturgical Press, Minnesota.
- The Dictionary of American Biography Vol 111 edited by Alex Johnson and Dumas Malone. Published by Charles Soribner's sons, New York, 1958
- Don’t forget the official biographer, Guilday, see below, who got a few things wrong!
- The Bishop wrote extensively himself and there is even a DVD video about him called Fire Tried Gold by Fr. John Geaney, CSP.
[3] Guilday Peter: Life and Times of John England, Volume 1, 1927, pages 322-323.
[4] Dublin Weekly Nation, 2-9-1843. Cork Examiner, 19-1-1844.
[5] Cork Examiner, 19-1-1844.
[6] Joseph Patrick Haverty (1794-1864) was an Irish painter born in Galway City. He painted landscapes and portraits including one of Daniel O’Connell
[7] Cork Examiner, 28-4-1863.
[8] Cork Examiner, 15-3-1843
This narrative of the ‘First Child’ ignores huge chunks of his life. For example, he met the Pope, the Austrian Emperor and returned to Ireland.
Place names
Carlow: the county town of County Carlow. It is situated in the south east of Ireland, fifty miles from Dublin and one hundred and fifteen miles from Cork. The college opened in 1793 and was notable for educating many Catholic priests. There is a lecture hall there called the John England room.
Bandon: a town nineteen miles south west from Cork City.
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