St Peter's Magazine, April 1901

St Peter's Square, Nottingham in 1901This month looks at the celebrations for Easter in 1901 and also the vibrant life of the St Peter's Sunday schools in 1901/02.

Remember that rubric!

Easter Day was on 7th April and in Holy Week there were daily services of Ante-Communion at 11am, the only time in the year when this service was reported. The magazine emphasised the importance of Easter, saying "it is to be noted the Church appoints that all should receive Holy Communion on this day." It went on to quote the rubric that "every parishioner shall communicate at least three times in the year of which Easter shall be one." The Magazine hoped "therefore, that the Lord's Table will be well furnished with guests". At the main Easter Day service - Morning Service with Holy Communion - the choir were advertised as singing a proper anthem instead of the Venite. This was "Christ is Risen" by William Turner (1651-1740). The Te Deum was a setting by Jackson. For the evening service the choir sang Cantate Ad Deus by Bunnett.

Assurances

Not surprisingly the motto for the month ("This corruptible must put on incorruption" - 1 Cor. 15, 53) and the homily written by Rev. Geo. Edgcome focused on resurrection. As he explained, "had He not risen we should have had no certainty that Jehovah had accepted the offering which Jesus made upon the cross, but now we learn that death has been vanquished; we are privileged to look forward to the time when Christ's 'dead men shall arise'. The thought brings its comfort when we stand by a dear one's grave If we make [Jesus] our guide and portion in this life, the more we shall enjoy His presence when we meet Him by and by. In the teaching of this month, Easter speaks to us, and we grasp by faith, the assurance that being in Christ we shall live."

Clerical Poverty in perspective

The offertories for Easter Day were an "Easter Offering to the Rector". This "has now been the custom at St Peter's during the past four years, [due to] the diminution of the pew rents, and lessening of the endowment, has made it necessary to appeal to the congregation to help keep up the Rector's stipend" (SPM 04/1901). The Rector received £18-6s-5d at a time when Joseph Rowntree estimated in his Survey of the Poor in York a living wage to be £1-1s-0d a week. The size of other collections, including the regular monthly collections at St Peter's (Sick Poor; Church Expenses), are shown in Table One.

Total Collections taken at St Peter's Church, March/April 1901

Sick Poor

(3 collections)

£1-13s-3d

Church expenses

(5 collections)

£7-9-0d

Day Schools

(2 collections)

£4-18s-11d

Church Missionary society

£0-9s-6d

Girls Friendly Society

£0-9s-4d

British and Foreign Bible Society

(2 collections)

£3-13s-11d

These collections were supplemented by fund-raising events during the year. For example, in April 1901 a concert was held in St Peter's Girls' School to raise funds for the Girls Friendly Society and the Girls Evening Home. "Members of both societies will take part in the programme" (SPM 04/1901). Mr and Mrs Dunstan, Mr and Mrs Robert Evans, Mr Crewdson and Miss Cartwright also performed (SPM 05/1901). Admission cost one shilling, or sixpence for second seats. The concert was apparently well attended and the profits were said to be "a great help to both funds" (idem).

The Sunday Schools

St Peter's had three Sunday schools: Boys', Girls' and Infants'. They met each Sunday at 9.45am and 2.30pm but for how long is not clear. The teachers in the Sunday schools are listed below in Table Two. It is noticeable that while only men taught in the Boys' school, women taught the girls and infants.

SUNDAY SCHOOLS

Superintendents

Teachers

Boys'

Mr. James Lee
20 Baker Street (replaced in Jan 1902 by Mr. E.C. Smith)

Messrs. E.C.Smith, Geo. O'Rourke, S. Windley, T. Hind, Arthur Stenson, E. Denman, R.W. Edwards

Girls'

Miss Skerritt
8, Elgin Street

Miss Flewitt+ Miss G. Johnson* Miss Bown Miss Lee Miss Sutton Miss Keen Miss M. Edgcome#

Infants'

Miss Gowthorpe
10, Baker Street

Miss Evans Miss D. Evans Miss Burch Miss Clara Smith Miss Denman Miss Torr

St Peter's Parish Magazine, January 1901
*replaced by Miss D. Evans during mid-1901
+replaced by Miss Mills & Miss Wilson by Dec. 1901
# not listed after Oct. 1901

The Old Order Changeth

The main item of news in April 1901 was the 1900 Annual Prize Distribution for the St Peter's Boys' and Girls' Sunday Schools, held on 6th March 1901 with the Rector presiding and "also several parents and friends of the scholars were present". Mr. Jas. Lee, the Superintendent of the Boys' school was absent due to ill health. The Rector expressed regret at the absence of this "well-known and familiar face [who] had attended that gathering for so many years". Mr. E.C. Smith (see Table Three below) was temporarily filling the vacant post. Jas. Lee never returned and in Jan 1902 Mr. Smith became Superintendent of the Boys' school.

Handing out the medals

Cards of Honour, described as Bishop's Certificates in 1902 (SPM 07/1902), were given as prizes for scholars attaining 50 consecutive full Sunday attendances. Braithwaite Bibles were given to senior scholars. In 1901 ten scholars had full attendance, some not just for one year, and in 1902 eight. Some prizewinners such as A. E. Collinson also received a medal, in his case for five consecutive years of full attendance.

Table Three speculates which of those prizewinners might be related to adults active in St Peter's at the time. Naming conventions follow those in the Parish magazine in 1901.

Girls' Prize Scholars

Boys' Prizewinners

Adults / Families active in St Peter's

Alice Stenson

Mr. L.F. Stenson - sidesman, 1901; Arthur Stenson - Sunday School teacher

Daisy, Ada, Flora and Lucy Freestone

Freestone family

Harriet & Emily Gibson

Gibson family including William Gibson who had donated the chancel screen and choir stalls in 1897 in memory of his parents. See inscription to the right of the screen.

Ethel & Connie Salsbury

J. E. Salsbury, O. Salsbury

Mr Arthur Salsbury - Clerk to the Parish and Penny Bank Superintendent Manager

Ethel Snow

W.R. Snow, E.F. Snow, J.E. Snow

Mr W.R. Snow - Sunday school teacher

Daisy & Hilda Cooper

Mrs. Cooper - Headmistress of the Day Infants' school

A.E. Collinson, H.J. Collinson, G.E. Collinson

Mr. Collinson - Penny Bank Manager

B. Baldock

Mr. Baldock - Penny Bank Manager

J.W. Bishop, H. Bishop

Bishop family

C.V. Riley

Mr. Riley - Penny Bank Manager

E.C. Smith

Mr. E.C. Smith - Penny Bank Manager, Sunday school teacher, editor of Parish Magazine

J.W. Burch

Miss Burch - Sunday school teacher (Infants)

St Peter's Magazine, April 1901

Pretty Pinafores

The Infants' school prize distribution and Christmas tree took place each January. In 1902 the tree was described as "laden with pretty pinafores, scarves, dolls, etc." Attendance was said to be good in 1901 and even better in 1902. Each child participant received a bun, orange and packet of sweets. Prizes were chiefly articles of clothing. Prayer books "were given to each of the children old enough to be removed to the Girls and Boys' departments" (SPM 02/1901). In 1902 this was six boys and twelve girls.

Not hitting the targets: old news

The Sunday school year ended with Anniversary services. In 1901 there seem to have been three services. The afternoon sermon was preached by the Rev. A.W. Bell, MA, the newly appointed curate of St Peter's, who was praised for his performance (SPM 12/1901). The offertories that day only amounted to £11-15s-1d, "unfortunately below the average" Contributions from those unable to attend will be most thankfully received by the Rector as the amount "will leave a large deficit to be made up to meet the expenses of the year's [Sunday Schools] working" (idem).

Hugh Busher, assisted by Keith Charter

Next month (May) we aim to look a little more closely at the Penny Bank and at the Births, Marriages and Deaths during 1901/1902.

Links


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Last revised 2nd June 2001