HOLY TRINITY, SUTTON COLDFIELD - Key Persons
Andrew has written extensively about the church and wrote a useful summary chapter in Roger Lea's "Scenes of Sutton's Past" (Westwood Press, 1989) headed Holy Trinity Parish Church Sutton Coldfield - pages 55-66.
He also wrote a pamphlet in 1978 entitled "The Moat House and its owners" which is an extremely useful source on Sir William Wilson and others linked to this house (and the church!). It is on the Lichfield Road not far from Holy Trinity and was used in recent times by Birmingham City Council as a Teachers' Centre.
It is probably safe to describe John Harman, better known as Bishop Vesey, as Sutton Coldfield's most famous son. His long life spanned huge changes in both civic and religious matters, and his vision for Sutton Coldfield in both these spheres resulted in the establishment of the Town's first Corporation, a new school and significant additions to the church of Holy Trinity, where he is buried.
The late Roger Lea wrote an excellent summary of his achievements as follows:
"John Harman, alias Vesey, born in Sutton Coldfield c.1451, was inducted as Bishop of Exeter in 1519. He rose to great power and wealth under King Henry VIII, and was a renaissance scholar. He turned his attention to Sutton Coldfield in 1523, finding it an impoverished manor, and began to improve it, first building himself a fine mansion, Moor Hall, in 1527, where he lived in lavish style.
The Manor of Sutton received a Royal Charter in 1528, making it the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield governed by a Corporation, the Warden and Society, the Charter being granted thanks to the influence of Bishop Vesey. He then showered benefactions on the town, the two most enduring being Sutton Park and the Grammar School. His transformation of Sutton was a unique event in the history of the town, and is rightly commemorated in the Vesey Memorial in Vesey Gardens in front of the Church."
Based in Lichfield, Brownhill Hayward Brown is part of the BHB Architects group, an award winning RIBA chartered architectural practice. They have particular expertise in Heritage, Conservation and Ecclesiastical work.
Job Titles:
- Rector from 1984 - 1996 ) Initiated Discussions on Both the Re - Ordering of the Interior of the Church and the Construction of a New Church Hall
Canon Ted Longman (Rector from 1984-1996) initiated discussions on both the re-ordering of the interior of the church and the construction of a new church hall.
The latter came to fruition in the splendid Trinity Centre, completed in 1996, which we still enjoy today. The image was in the local paper when Ted was appointed (right). He is also pictured in 2016 (far right).
Ted was succeeded by the 50th Rector - the Revd Dan Connolly (1996-1998) who was the last Rector to live in the large house next to the church on Coleshill Street on the far side of Trinity Hill.
Canon William Lyon, the successor to William Barnard from 1926 to 1931, subsequently became Archdeacon of Loughborough. Nationally, his service saw the floods and the General Strike of 1926 and a solar eclipse in 1927.
In the parish he was innovative in bringing back the parish magazine which had ceased publication with the outbreak of World War One. Volume 1, number 1 was in July 1926 and the magazine continues to this day under the name "Trinity". The launch was hugely successful - 900 copies were sold of that first issue.
Lyon also oversaw the building of St Chad's in 1927. Holy Trinity itself underwent a total re-decoration and the formation of the Vesey Chapel in 1929, which is very much as we still see it today.
George Harvey followed Canon Lyon serving the church through the second world war.
This period included the Jubilee celebrations for George V of 1935 and the creation of the Vesey Gardens in 1939.
CE Bateman (1863 - 1947) was a Birmingham architect who built, amongst other local buildings, St Chad's Church in Hollyfield Road.
At Holy Trinity he was responsible for the major works begun in 1914 with the painting of the chancel ceiling and culminating in 1929 in the remainder of the painted ceilings, the formation of the Vesey Chapel with the screen at the front, and the re-decoration of the church at that period.
Charles Edward Chavasse was a churchwarden for several years and a wine merchant by trade. He was unusual in being the son of Dr Thomas Chavasse who did not follow the family tradition of becoming either a doctor or a Bishop!
Job Titles:
- Rector from 1662 - 1689 Who Immediately Preceded John Riland I, Was, Like Him Presented to the Living by the Then Patron, John Shilton ( II )
Watson was born in Evesham in 1613 and went to Lincoln College Oxford where he gained his MA. A descendant of this Rector called in to Holy Trinity in June 2018 and furnished further information as follows:
"My direct ancestor, always referred to as Doctor William Watson*, the Rector, was buried at Sutton Coldfield on 5th May 1689."
William Watson, the Rector from 1662 - 1689 who immediately preceded John Riland I, was, like him presented to the living by the then patron, John Shilton (II).
Job Titles:
- Architect to Holy Trinity and to St Peter 's Maney
"Donald was born in 1922 and grew up in Wylde Green, attending Bishop Vesey's Grammar School.
He trained at Birmingham School of Architecture, became an articled pupil to the Birmingham architect Owen Parsons in 1938 (who amongst other work designed a number of Arts and Crafts houses in Four Oaks and Wylde Green) and an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1944.
He worked with the War Damage Commission before graduating in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at New College, Oxford in 1952, making several lifelong friends along the way.
In 1953 he founded with a partner the architectural practice Harborne and Grove, working in Witton, then Coleshill Street, Sutton Coldfield until his retirement in 2002. He designed buildings throughout the country and restored historic and listed buildings as well as being architect to the Sutton Coldfield Municipal Charities for many years.
In January 1980 Donald became architect to Holy Trinity and to St Peter's Maney. The Trinity Centre, which he designed, became one of his favourite projects despite the lengthy time and many obstacles in its creation, and the building to which he became most attached.
Donald's happy relationship with Canon Ted Longman and all those at Holy Trinity involved in the project contributed greatly to this affection, together with the enjoyable problem-solving aspect and the opportunity to give Sutton a useful building for the future. Its design was inspired by the Arts and Crafts houses with which he was familiar from his training and which helped it fit in so well with its setting. He enjoyed overlooking the churchyard and observing progress on the Trinity Centre from his offices in Coleshill Street, and felt very much a part of the ongoing work.
He married Margaret at Holy Trinity in 1956 and they drove to Venice in a Morris Minor for their honeymoon, Donald having motored around France and Spain in his twenties. They lived in Four Oaks thereafter with their daughter, Angela, in a house of his own design, filled with Margaret's embroideries and furnishings. After Margaret's death in 1995, Angela returned to live there with him, sharing many interests from architecture and conservation to walks and crosswords. In his spare time Donald loved to visit his house at Great Witley to enjoy the countryside and his Ferguson tractor.
Making a contribution to community life in Sutton was important to him, and amongst other roles he was founder Secretary of Sutton Coldfield Civic Society, Member of Sutton Coldfield Borough Council 1960-66, founder member of Aston Rotary Club and, following his retirement, a trustee of Sutton Coldfield Municipal Charities. After retirement he enjoyed learning to use a computer at classes in Boldmere and took up watercolour painting and cookery. Donald had an early heart operation 40 years ago, a subsequent pacemaker, and survived a heart attack 5 years ago. Although these events slowed him down, he continued to pursue his various activities with great energy and delight until shortly before his death in March 2010."
Edward Hall Speight was a schoolmaster who set up a photography business which gradually took precedence over his teaching, and he ran a successful business in Rugby for more than 50 years over the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries.
Eleanor Louisa Speight was brought up by a childless aunt and uncle in the Lake District, from the age of 18 months. The rest of the family visited fairly frequently and in much later life, after the death of her own husband, Eleanor lived for a while with her single brother, Clare.
George Sacheverell of New Hall had a vault constructed at the west end of the south aisle in 1706 for his family. Sadly, he died without issue as did his nephew who was required to add the name Sacheverell to his own (becoming Charles Sacheverell Chadwick), but he too died childless. Five lead coffins were discovered during essential repairs in 1969 bearing the names of these two and other relatives. One unnamed coffin is presumed to contain George's widow, Mary. A memorial with Latin inscription is on the wall above the vault.
George William Clare Speight (known by his family and professionally just as "Clare Speight") had a studio in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. His young brother James is known to have helped out here quite regularly in his youth. Clare took a number of pictures of the places associated with the writer George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) who came from the Nuneaton area.
Harry Harrison Speight worked at the Rugby studio before taking on his own premises in Leamington Spa. However, he only stayed there a short while and then settled at a studio in Redditch, Worcestershire. He was not as successful as the other siblings, and tried other work such as poultry farming. The view from those brothers who tried to help him was that he did not have a business head.
Henry Hill was educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School and became Inspector General of Forests to the Indian Government. In 1892 he gave the church a misericord made from wood of Indian or Burmese origin. The history of this piece of furniture, which is no longer in the church, can be found in the page relating to woodwork.
His own memorial in brass is on the south wall of the south aisle in the angle under the stairs leading to the south gallery.
James Speight was a well-known photographer in Sutton Coldfield with premises on The Parade. He lived to the age of 97, in 1977, and is therefore still remembered clearly by many current residents.
John Boggon became Rector in 1945. During his tenure the organ of 1901 was replaced by the 1950 organ built into the tower and a window dedicated to Bishop Barnes was installed in the South Chapel in 1956.
He also gave a window in memory of his wife Mary Boggon in 1965, which is also in the South Chapel.
Revd Canon W. John Routh became Rector in 2006. For his first four years he also remained priest-in-charge of St Chad's Church, Sutton Coldfield, where he had previously been Vicar for six years. John had oversight of the process and completion of the re-ordering of Holy Trinity Church, the planning for which began during James Langstaff's time. John was installed as a Canon of Birmingham Cathedral in July 2021 and retired at the end of February 2023.
John Skelton was a church warden from 1893 to 1919, overseeing a number of changes and events in the church. Following his death in 1827 in his 83rd year, a memorial was designed to him by Charles Bateman as part of the 1929 decoration of the church. This was a painted metal screen in gold and black erected in the upper portion of the Eastern arch between the chancel and what is now the choir vestry (south chapel). It is still in place there.
Former Parish Archivist, Margaret Gardner, reflected on the period of the Black Death and how it might have affected Sutton Coldfield. She notes that for the period 1345 to 1361 there were five Rectors in post. The Black Death itself is dated as arriving in 1348. Combined with the effects of famine following ruined harvests, the plague claimed huge numbers of lives and the clergy were overstretched looking after parishioners and administering Last Rites. At this point some dioceses had lost half of their monks and clergy. It is difficult to establish how Sutton was affected, and it seems to have been quite sparsely populated at that time.
Margaret was a parishioner from the 1960s until shortly before her death in 2014. Her husband, Clive, was churchwarden for many years, and she was designated Parish Archivist for some twenty years from the 1980s, doing a good deal of her own research to extend knowledge about the church history as well as writing the church guide book of 1987, basing it on Norman Evans' Investigation and working with him prior to publication to ensure details were correct.
She contributed articles about different aspects of the church's history regularly to the monthly parish magazine and in 2000 a booklet bringing some of these together was produced for the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of the church. The booklet is entitled "Around the church" and a few hard copies are still available in church.
Norman Evans wrote the most extensive history of the church to date which he completed in 1987. He was a member of the Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group and wrote on an number of local history topics.
His guide was never published, but the typescript was copied and bound so that a number of copies were available and remain extant to this day. His work which includes numerous drawings and plans of his own remains the major source on the church history to date.
1843 - William died suddenly and his son was too young to succeed to the living. He was succeeded by his cousin, Dr Richard Williamson (son of Phoebe nee Riland and also a grandson of Richard Bisse Riland).
1850 - Richard Williamson, who had also been headmaster of Westminster School, took the living at Pershore in Worcestershire. He was followed by The Revd William Kirkpatrick Riland Bedford, son of William Riland Bedford, who was now old enough to succeed to the living.
Roger Elyot was a seventeenth century Rector of Holy Trinity. His wife died tragically young and he gave silverware to the church in her memory.
Roger deserves an entry in his own right as the major writer in Sutton Coldfield of the moment. He is Chairman of the Local History Group and to date has written nearly 500 "History spot" articles in the Sutton Coldfield Observer, offering fascinating insights on a wide range of aspects of the Town's history. He was an adviser on historical matters to the "Heritage at the heart" project at Holy Trinity Church (2017-19) and has written the foreword to the new church history (to be published summer 2020).
Sarah Holbeche was born in 1803 at Ivy House, now no. 20 High Street, Sutton Coldfield. Then, Sarah recalled, in 1804 ‘My father and mother with their one child moved to what is now Mrs. Sadler's House (now 36 High Street) where Mary, Vincent, Thomas, Elizabeth, Francis, Jane, Aemilian, Martin and John were born.' Her father, Thomas Holbeche rented 36 High Street from Mr. Guest; Mr. Guest sold the house ‘over my father's head' in 1817, leaving the Holbeches homeless. The Rector of Sutton came to the rescue, offering to sell the house he owned in Sutton - now 1,3 and 5 Coleshill Street - ‘My father bought it in 1817, it was the property of our old Rector Rev John Riland who offered it to my father, sympathising with him. £1700 the purchase money.' "
Simon Luttrell was a noteworthy and notorious member of the congregation who bought Four Oaks Hall in 1746 following the death of Elizabeth Ffolliott (qv). He had a balcony constructed in a central position in the west arch (the opening of the tower area) as part of the 1760 pewing work and other alterations. It was named the Four Oaks Gallery (the previous smaller one was pulled down) and he, his wife and family of 8 children would regularly arrive late to Sunday worship, holding up the proceedings until they were settled.
His reputation as an MP was not high, and two of his daughters went on to achieve notoriety in different ways. Roger Lea has written about this in a History Spot (no. 157) of 2011 entitled "Bad Lady Betty / Luttrell Family."
Bidlake (1861-1938) was a leading figure of the Arts and Crafts movement in Birmingham and Director of the School of Architecture at Birmingham School of Art from 1919 until 1924.
His father, George, had designed Sutton Coldfield Town Hall in 1959.
He designed a number of churches across the city, notably Emmanuel, Wylde Green. He also designed a number of arts and crafts houses in the city, five of which were on the Four Oaks estate - including Woodgate, which he designed for himself in 1896, and 17 Barker Road
Grundy was the first to photograph Holy Trinity in the middle of the nineteenth century. We are still hoping to reproduce examples of his work on these pages. All that we have so far is a drawing of the chancel and nave by Norman G Evans based on one of Grundy's photographs of 1852.