Canon John Neale Dalton, 1839-1931

The words of A. V. Baillie, Dean of Windsor from 1917 to 1945, provide a fitting introduction to an understanding of a sense of the awe and in some cases dread that the contemporaries of Canon Dalton felt when in the presence of a man who was in many ways unpredictable, enigmatic and contradictive. Baillie recalled in his autobiography, My First Eighty Years (1951), the warning given to him on his first day as Dean of Windsor that “his great difficulty will be Canon Dalton.” Later that day, the King’s Secretary himself, Lord Stamfordham, informed him that “It is not too much to say that Dalton has made your predecessor an unhappy man for a quarter of a century.” The aura of Canon Dalton felt throughout the Castle cannot be emphasised more strongly than the fact that no less than King George V himself summoned Baillie to discuss the matter of Canon Dalton. Baillie describes the King as “begging me to try and get on with his old tutor, to whom he was very much attached.” For all of Canon Dalton’s difficulties, the high esteem in which the King held his old teacher speaks volumes.

John Neale Dalton was born on the Isle of Thanet, Kent, on 24 September 1839, the eldest of five sons (among nine children) of John Neale Dalton (1808-1880), a Church of England clergyman, and his wife (and first cousin), Eliza Maria (1807-1895). After graduating from Clare College, Cambridge with a first in Theology, Dalton moved rapidly up the ecclesiastical ladder securing a curacy at Cambridge (1866-1869) and subsequently at Whippingham on the Isle of Wight, where he caught the attention of Queen Victoria. In 1871, Dalton was appointed as tutor to Queen Victoria’s grandsons Prince Albert Victor (Eddy), duke of Clarence and Avondale, and his younger brother Prince George, duke of York, later to become George V. His top priority was the moral education of the princes and as a result enforced a strict, authoritarian regime on them. It has been suggested that George V’s perfectionist character along with his eye to detail and precision are attributable to the influence of Canon Dalton. The forcefulness of Dalton is illustrated vividly by his securing the decision – despite opposition from the cabinet – to send the princes, then aged fourteen and fifteen, on a world cruise spanning three years (1879-1882). The princes were separated from their family and placed in the absolute charge of Dalton who accompanied them on HMS Bacchante as their chaplain and tutor. His difficult temper and his desire for constant control are evidenced on this expedition in which he put a swift end to the regular visits of the senior midshipman to the princes. After the voyage, as well as being made a CMG, Dalton became Eddy’s governor during his university years at Trinity College, Cambridge, until 1885. In 1884, Dalton was appointed to a Canonry at St George’s Chapel.

Canon Dalton caused a considerable amount of tension during his forty- seven years at the Castle. His role as Canon Steward, responsible for managing its finances and protecting its fabric, combined with his determination that he was always right made relations between himself and the other Canons not only tense but on occasions damaging to the morale of the College. At Chapter meetings, he shouted down colleagues who presented alternative points of view. In the words of the wife of Canon Deane, “If Canon Dalton did not like anyone he did not mind letting them know it.” In the words of Dean Baillie, “His effervescent temperament made it impossible for Dalton to confine his expressed contempt to our meetings; he broadcast his opinions to people in the Castle.” When the lay residents of the Castle were constantly hearing how unreasonable and “contemptible” the Canons were, this had the temporary but ultimately damaging effect of raising “an unfortunate and dangerous barrier ….. between the laity and the Chapter.” Nevertheless, his contemporaries recognised his untiring and unswerving dedication to the Chapel and he drew admiration for the impressive scholarly contribution he made to the College through his possession of an intellect to be envied. His greatest works that he produced were the three volumes of “Ordinale Exon”, and his revised prayer book. His poetical version of the Psalms was praised as an achievement of perfection by no better judge than Dr Nairne, the Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge. Dalton’s passion for history and literature extended far beyond St George’s as his intensive study of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” in which he identified every character in the play through unearthing all the historical records he possibly could illustrates profoundly. This pinpoints Dalton’s ultimate concern for the people who lived outside the Castle in the town of Windsor. He may have been disrespectful towards his fellow clergymen but, most importantly, he respected the people of Windsor whom he visited regularly and granted support to those in times of hardship and ill health. This support was not only in financial terms as demonstrated by the occasion in which on finding the wife of a lodge keeper ill in bed, he got on his knees and scrubbed the kitchen floor for her.

The tremendous respect that George V held for Canon Dalton was illustrated by his decision to appoint Dalton as the domestic chaplain for the Royal Family at Windsor. He was created CVO in 1901 and promoted KCVO in 1911. Having read a lesson at evensong on 28^th July 1931, he died suddenly of a stomach haemorrhage a few hours later that evening at his house in the Cloisters in Windsor Castle. After cremation at Woking on 30 July, his ashes were interred in the south aisle of St George’s Chapel on 31 July. Canon Dalton is a character in the history of the College who will never be forgotten. His son, Hugh Dalton, became an influential Labour politician and served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1945 to 1947, playing a fundamental role in Clement Attlee’s experimental and reformist post-war Labour administration. Inevitably, as the years have gone by, Dalton has increasingly been recognised for his positive characteristics and his substantial achievements as well as the profound legacy he left at St George’s. He was one of those rare and unique characters. In the words of the Dean of Willesden from December 1952, who was a chorister at St George’s during the tenure of Canon Dalton “Shall we ever see anything like Canon Dalton again? One wonders if the present or the future can produce “characters” as the past has produced them.” There is no denying that Canon Dalton could be very difficult, ill-tempered and at times rude. Nonetheless, these characteristics were attributable to his determination to preserve for the good of posterity the history and tradition of St George’s from what he regarded as proposed changes that were unnecessary and could undermine centuries of tradition and continuity. In 1953, Canon S.G.B. Exham praised Dalton’s “irresistible determination” and concluded that “his first consideration was the good of St George’s and all that it stood and still stands for, and whatever he did his actions were governed by that aim.” It is significant that continuity and the preservation of the past is an integral element of the magnetic ethos of St George’s that to this day attracts tourists from throughout the world and will continue to do so well into the future.

Andrew Munro (Archives volunteer)

Robert Johnson was a Canon of Windsor from 30 July 1572 to 23 July 1625. During this time, he founded two grammar schools and two hospitals in Oakham and Uppingham, Rutland, the two schools later becoming distinguished public  schools,  and from 1574 served as Rector of North Luffenham, also in Rutland, where he is buried. He served as Archdeacon of Leicester from 1591 to his death on 23 July 1625 and was one of the eight founding fellows of Jesus College, Oxford. He also held canonries at Peterborough, Norwich and Rochester. In 1591 he obtained letters patent from Elizabeth I granting dispensation to be non-resident at Windsor and at his other three canonries without forfeiting the profits of the prebends. This led to a dispute with the Dean and Canons of Windsor involving the College Visitor.

Documents in the St George’s Chapel Archives illuminate the nature of the disagreement. They include two petitions from Robert Johnson, who described himself as ‘Prebendary of her Majesty’s Free Chapel of Windsor’, to the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Egerton , Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, Visitor of the College of St George at Windsor [SGC XI.D.32/4-5]. The first of these petitions, undated but almost certainly written in 1598, outlines Johnson’s grievance.

“Whereas at his humble suit to her highness, and for the better enabling of your said orator to perform the building, endowing, ordering  and overseeing of two free schools and two hospitals in Okeham [Oakham] and Uppingham in the County of Rutland upon special considerations it pleased her highness by her letters patents …. to grant him liberty to be absent from his said prebend and to remain at his benefice in the County of Rutland reserving unto him all the profits of his said prebend as fully as if your said orator were continually resident upon the same  …which notwithstanding the Dean and Canons of Windsor do refuse to allow pressing him to be resident there as if he had no such dispensation whereby he should greatly neglect the cure of his benefice being more than sixty miles off, and whereby his estate also in performance of his said enterprises to the furtherance of learning and maintenance of the poor should be greatly weakened his said prebend being a chief part of his living”.

He prays that the Lord Keeper will “take the hearing of the said cause into your hands and to deal in it as visitor of the said free Chapel and to command the Dean and Canons to attend your Lordship in the premises and to show cause why your Lord’s suppliant should not take the benefit of her Majesty’s said letters patents.”

The Dean and Canons had previously, in 1593, agreed in Chapter to allow Johnson to receive an annual fee of £51 22d in lieu of profits from his prebend despite his non-residence, at the request of the previous Lord Keeper, Sir John Puckering [SGC IV.B.4 p79]. However, significantly, the grant was only for five years.  In November 1597, aware that the term was due to expire, Johnson obtained letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Whitgift, to the Dean and Canons in his favour [SGC XI.C.23]. However, on 27 April 1598, Chapter refused his request for an annual stipend of £50 during his continuing absence [SGC VI.B.2 4v]. It seems that Johnson had no intention of returning to Windsor. Why, therefore, should he continue to receive an income from the Dean and Canons?  After several communications with the Lord Keeper, including a letter from the Dean and Canons appealing against Johnson’s case, Sir Thomas Egerton, as College Visitor, ordered the Windsor Chapter to take “such good order” that Johnson may have “no more just cause to make further complaint” in a letter dated 2 June 1598 [SGC XI.C.23*].   The Treasurer’s accounts from 1598 to 1625 [SGC XV.59.18-38] show that, from that date, the Dean and Canons did indeed allocate a stipend to Robert Johnson, amounting to £40 year, until his death in 1625 – the final quarterly payment of £10 being made at the Feast of the Annunciation that year – after a record fifty-three  years as Canon of Windsor.

Clare Rider (Archivist and Chapter Librarian)

Arthur Stafford Crawley (1876-1948) was Canon of Windsor from 1934 until his death in 1948.

Amongst the extensive Crawley correspondence held in St George’s Chapel Archives, are more than two hundred letters from his mother, Inez Pringle (following her first husband’s death in 1879 she married Rear-Admiral JE Pringle who seems to have been well-liked by the Crawley family).

Stafford Crawley’s mother strongly supported his decision to take Holy Orders and frequently wrote letters of encouragement and sometimes enclosed passages from books which she hoped would inspire and support his studies. However, Inez Pringle’s letters also reveal a timeless maternal concern for her son’s physical well being. On 11^th November 1900 she asked:

“Have you bought yourself some really warm vests and drawers?? – if not do so at once…”

By the 3^rd December 1900 she had spoken with Inez (Arthur Stafford Crawley’s elder sister) who reported that he looked pale and run down. To protect her “precious Sonnie” Inez Pringle decided to take action and wrote:

“I shall send you 2 bottles of good Burgundy you must have a glass in your room at 11 –  & and 4 – like medicine with one biscuit, if not your sight, head and nerves will suffer and then comes depression.  So please dear carry out my orders strictly.”

Kelda Roe (Archives Assistant)

Canon and Mrs Crawley

Arthur Stafford Crawley (1876-1948), or rather “Staffy” as he was affectionately known by his friends and family, was appointed Canon of Windsor in 1934. He had led a fascinating life before coming to St George’s Chapel. He had visited India to teach, held various assistant curacy posts all over the country and even volunteered in 1915 to join the British forces as a chaplain during which he was awarded the Military Cross for rescuing, under fire, injured soldiers. Throughout his life he kept the letters he received giving us a wonderful insight into the world of ‘Staffy’ and his very well connected and influential family. These letters, amounting to over a thousand, are now held in St George’s Chapel Archives and Chapter Library and make very interesting reading.

His friends and family took full advantage of “the penny post” to send him letters full of news and gossip, lists of ailments and a recital of the forthcoming week’s events, support if Stafford was sounding particularly down in his last letter and, always, love wherever he was in the world, be it India or Windsor: a piece of home keeping him up-to-date and in the know. “My own darling Staffy…” begins Beatrice, Stafford’s younger sister, “Molly Balford is engaged to be married to Ralph Donaldson Hudson, her first cousin (cousins are always a pity to marry) otherwise it is a very good match for her. He has a lovely place Cheswardine in Shropshire.” (SGC M.126/A/10)

Even Stafford’s male family members and friends liked to keep him updated on events and news, from accounts of rowing or polo to criticising a mutual acquaintance. In one letter a friend from Magdalen College, Oxford, also attended by Stafford, writes “I dare say you heard what a fool Cottenham made of himself. He ran off with Lady Rose Leigh and of course had to resign the mastership. The divorce case is still on at present.” (SGC M.126/A/26) Almost everything they did was recounted in letters to Stafford and, as an outsider reading them, you soon get drawn into the social circle of the Crawley’s, their extended family and friends. These letters give a glimpse into upper middle class preoccupations in the early 20th century and leave you wanting to know the next piece of gossip, snippet of news from India or account of family life in the town or country.

Leanne Workman (Archives volunteer)

The Edict of Nantes of 1598 had allowed freedom of religion to the Huguenots, a French Protestant minority in a predominately Roman Catholic France. When Louis XIV renounced the Edict in 1685 and declared Protestantism illegal in France, many Huguenots fled to England. Among these refugees was a Huguenot minister, André Majendie, whose son and grandson would become Canons of Windsor.

André’s son, John James Majendie, came to Windsor as English language instructor to Queen Charlotte, shortly after she had emigrated from Germany in 1761 to marry George III. She remained his patron and friend, appointing him her domestic chaplain and tutor to her two eldest sons, George, Prince of Wales, the future George IV, and Frederick, Duke of York. Ordained in the Anglican Church after a brief spell as Huguenot pastor to the French Church of the Savoy, Majendie became Prebend of Netherarvon in Salisbury (1752-1783), Prebend in the Diocese of Worcester (1769-1774) and Canon of Windsor (1774-1783). Here he resided in 3 Canons’ Cloister, occupying the fifth stall in St George’s Chapel until his death in 1783.

John James’ son, Henry William Majendie, followed his father’s career in two respects: from 1776 he served as tutor to one of the King’s sons – the future William IV- and in 1785 was appointed Canon of Windsor. Henry had the unusual experience of travelling much of the world with his royal charge, accompanying the Prince William on HMS Prince George, during the American War of Independence, visiting New York in November 1782. According to the DNB -”it was as a direct reward for this service that Majendie was appointed a canon of Windsor in 1785 and he deferred marriage until he received that appointment”. Occupying the third stall in the Chapel, he was allocated 2 Canons’ Cloister in 1785, but moved to 10 Canons’ Cloister in 1792, probably to accommodate his growing family. He and his wife had thirteen children in all, nine of whom were baptised in the Chapel between 1786 and 1797. The following year, he resigned his Windsor canonry on his appointment as Prebend of St Paul’s Cathedral and as Vicar of New Windsor, thus maintaining his local connection. He became Bishop of Chester in 1800, and served as Bishop of Bangor from 1809 until his death in 1830.

Clare (Archivist and Chapter Librarian)