Life of a Georgian/Victorian Priest

 Life of a Georgian/Victorian Priest

There are many stories passed down through families, they are not always true but can contain grains of truth, to lead you to a true story, for me this was about the French side of my family and a small book that contained the names of 2 priests of high repute. One of these priests was Monsignor Joseph Bans.

My research started when I remembered the small book, given to my father on his first communion, aged 7, by his Grandparents and passed down to me. It is called a Golden Manual and is a guide to Catholic devotion used by a priest. It was inscribed by Joseph himself, amongst others, so I started to look into his life. About ten years ago I found details of his death and a few other items but in the last 2 years I have managed to piece the rest of his life together.

His Grandparents were Peter Joseph BANS and Antoinette BIGAY; they came from France and were married in London in 1779. I have found 8 children to date and their 5th child was Jacques, commonly known as James. He married Mary Ann COLLINGRIDGE in 1825 and they had 2 sons, Peter Joseph born 1826, my great great Granddad and Joseph Ambrose born in 1828

Joseph’s Baptism entry at St Mary Moorfields in the City, reads (in Latin):

22nd day of February 1828, born and 9th day of March 1828, baptized Josephus Ambrosius (Joseph Ambrose) son of Jacobus (Jacques or James) and Maria (Mary) BANS nee COLLINGRIDGE, his godfathers were Josephus COLLINGRIDGE (a maternal uncle) and Josephus BANS (a paternal uncle)his Godmother was Joanna BANS (Jane-a paternal aunt).

St Edmund’s College, Ware, Hertfordshire

By 1836 he was boarding at St Edmund’s College, Ware in Hertfordshire (a school for boys and a seminary) where he was confirmed on 23rd October 1836, he was listed as a student on the 6th June 1841, census day, tonsured (when the head is shaved on the crown) in 1847 and having received a lectorate in 1848 and the position of Exorcist and Acolyte in 1849, he became a sub-deacon in 1850, but was still listed as a student on the 1851 census at St Edmunds. A lot of the above dates were supplied by the Venerable English College in Rome and the Collegium Pium also in Rome (later the Pontifical Beda College), which was very helpful for filling in some dates between censuses.

The inscription in his Golden Manual was very confusing to begin with, hindered by additional notes that had been added to the book over time, so I had to decipher the truth.

The original inscription was “to his dear mother from her dutiful son before departing for Rome 28th August 1851”

The “Canon E BANS” ½ way down on the right has been entered later and is referring to Emanuel BANS  a nephew of Joseph Ambrose, who was a priest in the late 1800s and early quarter of the 1900s, born in 1865, he inherited the book from his uncle.

The entries “Great Grand Mamma and Grand Papa Bans” along with the entry at the base of the page, were entered by the pair who gave the book to my father in 1933, and were actually his grandparents who both died 4 years later in 1937. In 1855 Joseph was ordained a priest in the St John Lateran Basilica in Rome. In 2006 my husband and I spent our silver wedding in Rome, we went to the Basilica, found the Archives and managed with a mixture of Spanish and sign language to make myself understood and the archivist copied the Ordination register for me.(10th name down the list on the right.)

Ceiling & interior of St John Lateran Basilica	Page from Ordination register

                            
By the 1861 census Joseph Ambrose was back in England and was listed as a Roman Catholic Priest at St. James Church, Marylebone. It was called the Spanish Embassy Church, as it was a place of Sanctuary in the reign of Elizabeth 1st until the reign of Charles 1st, under the charge of the Spanish Ambassador. The association with the Embassy of Spain still continues today.   

                                     The Spanish Embassy Church   

By 1866 Joseph was back at St Edmund’s, Ware as a teacher and I managed to find accounts from 1866-1868 at the Westminster Diocese Catholic Archives, situated behind the Church of Our Lady of Victories in Kensington.

By 1871 Joseph was the second in charge at the St Thomas’ College (Seminary), King Street, Hammersmith, listed as a Roman Catholic Priest – Doctor of Divinity and Professor of Scripture. Reverend William WEATHERS (proclaimed Bishop in 1872, was Head of St Thomas’ College at the time. In the Post Office Directory for Middlesex 1874, page 679, St Thomas’ College is listed with Rev. William WEATHERS as Principal and Doctor of Divinity.

Joseph (transcribed as BOORS) is still in the same position at St Thomas’s College in 1881, with Rev. WEATHERS still in charge. In 1891 Joseph (transcribed this time as BARNES) is a visitor with the strongly Catholic family of Henry FERRERS CROXON in Upminster, Essex – Beatrice Mary CROXON (his wife) née PETRE, was the granddaughter of William Earl of Wicklow.

Joseph died in the March quarter of 1893, while staying at The Nazareth House, Hammersmith. After a service (conducted by his friend Rev. Bishop WEATHERS) at the PRO Cathedral, Our Lady of Victories Kensington (where the archives are), Joseph was buried in the cemetery of St Thomas of Canterbury, Fulham.

Nazareth House, Hammersmith        Our Lady of Victories, Kensington

From the following article I gained the details I needed, to send for his will and found his executors who proved to be cousins and gave me another line of the family.

St Thomas of Canterbury, Fulham – where Canon Joseph was buried:

Obituary from “The Tablet” (A Catholic Magazine) on Saturday April 1st 1893:

The snippet from the “History of the Foundation”, a private account kept by the community of Nazareth House, records a small amount about Canon BANS, it was provided by the Archivist at Nazareth House, Hammersmith, London

The Last Will & Testament

Journal Article: 

life-of-a-georgian-victorian-priest-72.pdf