Text: ERRINGTON, GEORGE (1804–1886), catholic archbishop, the second of the three sons of Thomas Errington, esq., by Katherine, daughter of Walter Dowdall of Dublin, was born on 14 Sept. 1804, on his father's property at Clintz, near Richmond in Yorkshire. He was entered at St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, near Durham, 16 Aug. 1814, where he remained until August 1821. In October he started for Rome, where on 21 Nov. 1821 he was enrolled as an ecclesiastical student at the English College. In 1824 he received a ‘proxime accessit’ in dogmatic, and the second prize in scholastic theology. On 17 Dec. 1825 he was ordained subdeacon, and on 23 Dec. 1826 deacon, having in that year obtained a ‘proxime accessit e schola locorum Theologicorum.’ In 1827 he took his degree as doctor of divinity, and on 22 Dec. he was ordained priest in St. John Lateran. On Dr. (afterwards Cardinal) Wiseman assuming the rectorship of the English College at Rome, Errington, on 29 May 1832, was appointed vice-rector. His health broke down and he travelled for eight years through France and Spain in company with his eldest brother, Michael, adding to his intimate knowledge of Italian a mastery of the French and Spanish languages. In 1840 he accompanied Mgr. Wiseman, then recently consecrated bishop of Melipotamus, to England. There they settled at St. Mary's College, Oscott, over which Errington presided from August 1843 to June 1847, Wiseman being then removed from the midland district to go as pro-vicar-apostolic to London. Errington went as a missionary priest in February 1848 to Liverpool, where he took charge of St. Nicholas's Chapel. Thence in July 1849 he was sent to St. John's Chapel in Salford, on the site of which he built the present St. John's Cathedral. On the establishment of the new catholic hierarchy in England, Errington, in September 1850, was nominated the first bishop of Plymouth. He received episcopal consecration in St. John's, Salford, on 25 July 1851 at the hands of Cardinal Wiseman. On 7 Aug. he took possession of his see in the chapel of St. Mary's, Plymouth. He left the diocese upon his nomination in March 1855 as coadjutor to Cardinal Wiseman, with the right of succession to the archdiocese of Westminster. In April 1855 Errington was translated to the archbishopric of Trebizond in partibus, and in June went to London to reside with Cardinal Wiseman. In October 1855 he was appointed administrator of the diocese of Clifton, and held the position for sixteen months. Prior Park was sold under Errington's direction, and the financial embarrassments of the diocese cleared up. On 5 Dec. 1856 he was made assistant at the pontifical throne, and in that capacity, on 15 Feb. 1857, was chosen by Pius IX to assist that pontiff in the consecration in the Sistine chapel of Dr. Clifford as bishop of Clifton. On 2 July 1862, in obedience to the decision of the sovereign pontiff, Errington was relieved from any further connection with the archdiocese of Westminster, it being deemed expedient that his association with Cardinal Wiseman in its governance should cease. Errington had long won to himself the title of the ‘Iron Archbishop,’ and Wiseman was made of less rigid materials. Twice after his removal from Westminster Errington was offered important sees by Pius IX, but he preferred to remain in retirement. In September 1865, however, he accepted, and held for more than three years, from Bishop Goss of Liverpool, charge of the missions in the Isle of Man. In 1868 he was elected by propaganda to be the apostolic delegate for the missions in Scotland, an appointment which he first accepted, but immediately afterwards resigned. From December 1869 to July 1870 he assisted as Archbishop of Trebizond at the Œcumenical Council of the Vatican. He returned home with Bishop Clifford, who had meanwhile repurchased Prior Park for the diocese of Clifton. Clifford induced him to undertake the tuition of the young theological students at St. Paul's College. He settled there in October 1870, and passed the happiest years of his life at Prior Park. He died at Prior Park on 19 Jan. 1886, and was buried on the 26th in the college church. He was a man of inflexible integrity and profound erudition. [See Bishop Clifford's Discourse at Archbishop Errington's Funeral, 8vo, pp. 23; Times, 20 Jan. 1886; Maziere Brady's Episcopal Succession in England, &c., pp. 376, 436, 437, 473; Shepherd's Reminiscences of Prior Park College, p. 20; Dr. Oliver's Collections illustrating the History of the Catholic Religion in Cornwall, &c., pp. 297–299.]
Publication: Bristol Times and Mirror Citation Details: 28 Jan 1886 P6 Text: FUNERAL OF ARCHBISHOP ERRINGTON.-- The funeral of the late Archbishop Errington took place at Prior park Tuesday, the Requiem Mass being sung by Canon Woollett, of Plymouth. The Bishop of Clifton preached the sermon, in the course of which he sketched the life and labours of the late Archbishop, and spoke in the highest terms of his work in the Midlands, then at Liverpool and Salford, then at Plymouth (where he was the first Roman Catholic Bishop), and next at Westminster, where he was coadjutor of Cardinal Wiseman. For the past fourteen years the Archbishop had been engaged in teaching theology to the students at Prior park. He was an upright, conscientious man, of firm will, but not the less kind and considerate to those about him. The mourners were Sir George Errington, the Rev. John Errington, Mr. James Errington (nephews), and Mr Cashel Howell. Among the clergy were Bishop Vaughan (Plymouth), Bishop Weathers (Westminster), Monsignors Searle, English, Clarke (Clifton), and Williams (Prior park); Canons Crook (Salisbury), Graham (Plymouth), Coxon (Bristol, and Loughman (Bath); Father Clarke (Bath), the Hon. and Rev. Father Arundel (Shepton Mallett), and Father Clifford.
Text: George Errington (1804–1886), the second son of Thomas Errington and Katherine (Dowdall) of Clints Hall, Richmond, Yorkshire, was a Roman Catholic churchman. Life
He was a boyhood friend of Nicholas Wiseman, the future Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster in 1850.[1] Although two years behind Wiseman, they were both students at Ushaw and then at the English College, Rome. He was ordained priest in Rome on 22 December 1827.[2]
In 1828 he was appointed Vice-Rector of the English College, where Wiseman had been appointed Rector.[3] Wiseman became a bishop in England in 1840, in 1843 he got Errington appointed as Director of Studies at St Mary's College, Oscott, of which Wiseman was President, and which both left in 1847. He was consecrated first Bishop of Plymouth on 25 July 1851,[2] having previously been rector of the church of St. John the Evangelist in Salford. In February 1854 he held a synod at Ugbrooke Park, and among his synodal acts, established a clerical conference with its dean for each county.[4]
In 1855 when Wiseman applied for a coadjutor, Errington was appointed, with the title of Archbishop of Trebizond in partibus. He accepted the appointment with some reservations, having reminded Wiseman of their previous differences. Errington was a methodical and strict canonist; while Wiseman tended to follow a more sympathetic approach. "In private life Archbishop Errington was gentle and affectionate, and his friends were warmly attached to him; but in his official relations he was stern and inflexible."[1] In October 1855, Errington was sent as temporary administrator to the Diocese of Clifton, where Prior Park Seminary was in financial default. He was not able to do anything to preserve the college. A Court Order was enforced against the college for non-payment of rent, and the contents of the college were sold by auction, and the premises vacated.[5]
Two years later, Henry Edward Manning was appointed Provost of Westminster and he established in Bayswater his community of the Oblates of St Charles. Errington was dubious of what he regarded as Manning's plan to create a clergy independent of the ordinary. His reservations were shared by the Cathedral Chapter and the Vicar General Canon Maguire. Wiseman did not appreciate such opposition. The estrangement was largely a matter of temperament. However it was grave enough for Errington to be deprived by Pope Pius IX of his coadjutorship with right of succession in July 1860.[6]
In 1860, and again in 1863, the Vatican offered him the archbishopric of Port of Spain, Trinidad, which he declined. When Wiseman died in 1865, the Chapter of Westminster proposed him as the first on the list of three candidates they sent to Rome, but Manning was appointed. Meanwhile he had been helping both Bishop Goss of Liverpool and Archbishop Cullen of Dublin with various administrative matters and ordinations. Goss asked him to take charge of the mission to the Isle of Man, and from 1865 to 1868 he was Parish Priest in Douglas.[2] Manning recommended that the Vatican ask Errington to take on the task of preparing for the restoration of the hierarchy in Scotland,[7] but after considerable hesitation he declined. He took part in the First Vatican Council, where he opposed the Neo-ultramontanism of Manning. After that he was asked by Bishop Clifford of Clifton to teach at Prior Park, near Bath, where he died of severe bronchitis, still teaching on his deathbed, on 19 January 1886.[6]
In August 1856, Dr Errington founded St Boniface's Catholic College, Plymouth. In 1995, the school named one of their houses after him.
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