Henry Michell Wagner

Since 1801, the parish of Brighton had been connected with that of nearby West Blatchington as part of the Hundred of Whalesbone.[55] Accordingly, Wagner also held the living of West Blatchington church, although by that time the medieval building had fallen into disrepair and was not used. The village had also declined and had a population of about 80, most of whom were associated with its single farm.[54] Wagner sent curates out to the village to hold services at one of the cottages, but in 1855 he asked the local landowner the Marquess of Abergavenny for permission to rebuild the church. Wagner offered to pay for this and commissioned George Frederick Bodley to design a new building, but the Marquess refused: the tenants of his land did not want to give it up and the residents were said to be happy to walk to St Helen's Church at Hangleton.[56][note 7]

Church rates were a common cause of dispute throughout the country in the 19th century as Roman Catholics and Nonconformists became more numerous: these religious communities worshipped outside the Church of England but were legally responsible for the upkeep of the Church's buildings as well as of their own. Because Nonconformism was so strong in Brighton by the time Wagner was ordained, he faced hostility straight away. One of the first branches of the Metropolitan Society for the Abolition of Church Rates outside London was formed in Brighton in 1836. Important public figures were involved: Thomas Read Kemp mp, Isaac Newton Wigney mp, Joseph Hume mp, Sir George Brooke-Pechell, 4th Baronet mp and several prominent Nonconformists.[60] A Church rate was first proposed at a public meeting at Brighton Town Hall in 1835 which was chaired by Wagner. The proposed 1% rate was voted out in a public poll after Nonconformist opponents tabled an amendment asking for funds to be raised privately by a committee. At meetings in 1836 and 1839, in response to the churchwardens' proposal of 11⁄2%, the majority of voters supported the opponents' demands to defer any discussion for six months and a year respectively.[61]

In 1840, money was urgently needed for a new burial ground near St Nicholas' Church. A poorly supported public vote supported the Vestry's proposal for a 3% rate; but Wagner's opponents set up a meeting to examine whether the decision was legal and to organise a petition to Parliament demanding the abolition of the Church rate as "unjust in principle ... a violation of the rights of conscience and a continual source of discord ... [in] this parish". Captain Pechell delivered this petition himself after another meeting in March 1841 when a 2% rate was sought for work at St Peter's Church.[62] Although this rate was voted in, events at the next meeting in October 1841 led to "the most notorious incident of Wagner's incumbency".[63] At this meeting, another 1% rate was voted out; but in response to a claim by one of Wagner's opponents that it was illegal to charge rates for "laying out a burial ground and embellishments to a church" (for which purposes the March 1841 rate was levied), the money raised was removed from the parish accounts and the money could not be spent.[64] Accordingly, when the clock on St Peter's Church stopped in November 1841, it was not re-wound because the allocated money was not available. The Vestry stated that as the clock benefited everybody, its maintenance should be met by public funds—the Church rate.[65] This was unpopular with the public, and Wagner began to face criticism and "petty persecution". On 15 January 1842, in response to mockery by a group of boys, he chased one into a house, reprimanded him and hit him with his riding crop. Although the boy's mother supported the vicar's actions, his father sought to prosecute Wagner for assault, and he was recommended to solicitor Sidney Bennett—one of Wagner's fiercest opponents. He insisted on a summons being issued, and Wagner appeared in front of the magistrates on 20 January 1842. The bench was made up of a mixture of his supporters and opponents, including Isaac Wigney who led proceedings.[66] Wagner was fined £2 (instead of the £5 sought by Bennett), and the incident affected Wagner's reputation in Brighton for the rest of his life.[67]

Vestry meetings continued in the same vein for several years, with regular arguments, votes and polls about the levying of rates. Even a favourable High Court ruling in 1847, which should have helped Wagner's cause, did little to deter his opponents. Wagner stopped attending Vestry meetings for a time from 1843 "in protest against past bad behavior",[67] but soon returned.[68] Meanwhile, St Nicholas' Church was falling into disrepair and was grossly inadequate for the hundreds of poor people who tried to attend services, such that a church rate of several percent would have been needed for a full restoration. In 1852, though, Wagner took decisive action when the Duke of Wellington died: he suggested the church should be rebuilt as a memorial to the Duke, called a meeting to this effect at the Town Hall and pledged £1,000 himself. Eventually nearly £5,000 was raised, and in April 1853 the Bishop granted permission for the church to close for restoration. Richard Cromwell Carpenter, who had recently designed St Paul's Church for Wagner, undertook the restoration at a final cost of £5,769.18s.7d., and the church reopened in April 1854.[69] Church rates, which had severely affected the early part of his incumbency, accordingly ceased to be a problem in 1852; and Wagner's workload was reduced further in 1854 when Brighton was incorporated as a town. Administration passed from the Vestry and the Brighton Commissioners (of which Wagner was a member) to a mayor, 12 aldermen and six elected councillors in each of six wards.[70][71]

Wagner's reputation in Brighton was damaged again in 1853 when he was an involved in an incident with popular preacher Frederick William Robertson of Holy Trinity Church in Ship Street. In May 1853 Robertson had a mental breakdown which was blamed on overwork. Holy Trinity Church offered to pay for a curate to help ease the burden; but Wagner disapproved of Robertson's choice, Rev. Ernest Tower, and vetoed him. This was apparently due to an earlier disagreement between Tower and Wagner in which Wagner was affronted by Tower's behaviour in connection with a local society. Wagner spoke to Robertson after a service at Holy Trinity about the matter, apparently believing that he would nominate another curate; but Robertson was distressed by the incident and later wrote to Wagner criticising him for his "permanent unforgivingness" and stating that he could not nominate anybody else. Within three months Robertson had died. Wagner's opponents claimed that he had "forced himself upon Robertson, who wanted to go home to rest", and that his unreasonable attitude had contributed to Robertson's mental distress and early death at the age of 37.[72]

Although the Robertson incident "probably did Wagner's reputation more harm than any other single incident" during his time as Vicar of Brighton,[70] the dispute he had with Rev. John Purchas—formerly one of his own curates—was of greater national significance because of the controversial ritualist practices Purchas brought in when he took over the incumbency of St James's Chapel in Kemptown. Protests spread from Brighton itself to the Bishop of Chichester and then to the Church of England's ecclesiastical court; and the affair took up much of Wagner's time and energy during the last four years of his life.[73]

St James's Chapel was one of the three Anglican churches in Brighton at the time Wagner became Vicar of the town. It was owned by Nathaniel Kemp of Ovingdean House,[note 8] who appointed Rev. C.D. Maitland as Perpetual curate.[22] Under his ministry, "services were of the most evangelical tone imaginable".[75] When he died in 1865, Purchas bought the building and the right of presentation. He had been influenced by ritualist views while working as a curate at St Paul's Church under Wagner's son Arthur. After maintaining the chapel's evangelical style of services for several months, Purchas changed to a strongly ritualist style of worship from September 1866.[76] The clergy wore full vestments, Purchas himself wore a cope and biretta, and incense was used throughout the service. At a time when Roman Catholicism was still viewed with suspicion and animosity, such Catholic-style practices raised "an immediate outcry" among the clergy at other local churches. Wagner received letters claiming that Purchas was trying to "un-Protestantise our Protestant Church" and that the blame lay with his son, Arthur Wagner, whose introduction of ritualist services at St Paul's Church "introduced the seeds of division into the Church in Brighton".[77][78]

Purchas relented for a time, but after further complaints in 1868 he reacted by inviting 1,500 people to a special service at the chapel in September of that year, at which ultra-ritualist practices were given full rein. Amid negative publicity from The Times, Wagner tried to stop his former curate from continuing in this vein, but was rebuffed. He involved the Bishop of Chichester, but Purchas gave the same reply: because he owned the chapel, he could do as he wished—even when the Bishop banned him from ministering anywhere in the diocese. Riots ensued inside and outside the chapel, and the Bishop appealed to the Court of Arches, the Church of England's ecclesiastical court. The matter was not finally settled until after Wagner's death.[73] Wagner's actions throughout the controversy attempted to demonstrate "tolerance and restraint": he terminated Purchas's position as a curate at St Nicholas' Church, made it clear that he was unimpressed by deliberately ostentatious ritualist practices, and stated that he tried to ensure that "every phase of religious opinion within [the Church of England]" should be fairly represented in Brighton, so that every Anglican could worship according to their wishes.[77] Nevertheless, he found himself in the middle of a scandal in which "the press had a field day" and which had brought the Anglican Church in Brighton to national attention.[79]

Wagner's first recorded meeting with Elizabeth Harriott Douglas came on 13 November 1820,[10] and they became engaged in late 1821. She was the daughter of William Douglas (1768–1819), the Precentor of Salisbury Cathedral and Archdeacon of Wilts, and the granddaughter of John Douglas, whose ecclesiastical positions included Bishop of Salisbury between 1791 and 1807.[14] They were married on 20 March 1823 at St James's Church, Piccadilly, after which they travelled to Brighton to stay with Wagner's mother at her house, 49 Old Steine. After spending a week in Brighton, where they attended the Chapel Royal and met the Vicar of Brighton Dr Robert James Carr, they travelled to Herstmonceux to visit George Wagner. Henry Michell Wagner is said to have "read prayers at Herstmonceux church" on Easter Sunday. They moved into Wagner's house at Eton on 12 April 1823.[97] On 13 June 1824, their son Arthur Douglas Wagner was born at Park Hill in Windsor, a house belonging to Elizabeth Harriott Wagner's family.[98] He was named Arthur in honour of the Duke of Wellington.[99] During this period they made plans to move to nearby Winkfield. The vicar of its parish church was a relative of Elizabeth, and Henry Michell Wagner assisted there—effectively "act[ing] as an unpaid curate". This later caused controversy among his religious opponents in Brighton.[98]

Elizabeth (known as Zimmie) suffered health problems after Arthur's birth.[30] She was diagnosed with oedema, and despite regular fluid-letting and the pursuit of some questionable remedies ("she was electrified and [received] 64 strokes" according to one diary entry), by 1829 she could hardly stand or walk. On 27 November 1829, at the age of 32, she died at the old vicarage in Nile Street. Henry Michell Wagner's mother and unmarried sister moved in to help bring up Arthur.[100] They continued to live in the vicarage until their deaths in 1844 and 1868 respectively. His mother was buried at St Nicholas' Church in the Michell family vault, as was his first wife; his sister's grave is in Brighton Extra Mural Cemetery.[80]

In 1838 Wagner married Mary Sikes Watson, the 38-year-old daughter of Joshua Watson—a prominent High churchman and philanthropist. She was "a ... lady of too great Victorian piety for comfort": letters between her and Wagner during their courtship discussed administrative matters and philosophical principles rather than love and romance. The marriage produced two sons—Joshua Watson Wagner (b. 29 May 1839) and Henry Wagner (b. 16 July 1840)—but Mary died on 20 July 1840 because of complications with the latter birth. She was also buried in the family vault at St Nicholas' Church.[21]

Wagner was an "old style High churchman"[101] with "pre-Tractarian" rather than fully Tractarian views.[1] The influence of his second wife's father Joshua Watson—"a leader of the High Church movement" in the mid-19th century—may have been significant. He never had the ritualist zeal of his son Arthur Douglas Wagner, though,[102] and had concerns over his views and the way he ministered at St Paul's Church. Invited to preach there by Arthur, he chose as his text on one occasion "Lord, have mercy upon my son for he is lunatic and sore vexed". (Matthew 17:15)[103]

Wagner was a "zealous, devoted clergyman". His strength of character meant he would not compromise his principles for anybody. King William IV once visited Brighton on a Sunday. All church bells in the town were traditionally rung to herald a king's visit, but when asked what he would do Wagner replied "on a Sunday, the bells are rung only for the King of Kings". (The famously pious Queen Adelaide was delighted by this response.)[80][99] He was also very wealthy, which allowed him to act as "the best kind of benevolent despot": using his money both to help as many residents as he could and to wield great influence within Brighton. Under his guidance, the town effectively became "a bishopric within a bishopric" in the words of the Bishop of Chichester.[99] Throughout his life, the town was still covered by one large parish of which St Nicholas' was the parish church and the other Anglican churches merely chapels of ease. He was permitted by law to choose perpetual curates for each chapel of ease;[note 10] accordingly he had overall control of the whole parish and each church within it.[104]

Wagner was opposed to pew rents, though not so strongly as his son. When St Paul's Church opened, Arthur wanted all 1,200 seats to be free, but Henry held the more old-fashioned view that there should be a mix. Accordingly, 460 pews were for rent and the rest were free; Arthur Wagner abolished all rented pews in 1873 after his father's death.[46] The controversial subject caused Henry Wagner problems at other times. In 1858, his nephew Rev. Thomas Coombe—Perpetual curate of All Saints Church—got into a disagreement with him after altering the interior to add extra pews for rent, and tried to prevent Wagner entering the church. Wagner had to appeal to the Bishop of Chichester Ashurst Gilbert to deal with the situation.[46] The events of 1824 and St Margaret's Chapel also left Wagner with "an enduring dislike of proprietary chapels". In his 46 years as Vicar of Brighton, during an era when their construction was commonplace, he allowed no others to be built after St Margaret's, St George's, Holy Trinity and St Mary's were completed[25] (the last of these opened in 1827.)[27] When the rector of St Christopher's Church, Lympsham offered in 1858 to pay for a new proprietary chapel in Brighton with 100 free pews and 200 for rent, both Wagner and his sister wrote to him "kindly but firmly" describing his "insuperable objection" to such chapels.[105] As Vicar of Brighton, he gained the right of presentation after each proprietary chapel had been open for 40 years; but in 1856 the Marquess of Blandford tried to abolish this right by raising a bill before Parliament. Wagner, who "clung firmly to the rights of presentation" he expected to receive, tried to persuade the Marquess to exclude Brighton's four proprietary chapels from the bill—first by going through his solicitor friend Somers Clarke, then by asking Brighton MPs Lord Alfred Hervey (1816–1875) and Sir George Brooke-Pechell, 4th Baronet for their support. The bill did not pass into law, and the right of presentation did eventually pass to Wagner in each case.[105]

Always a strong and assertive character, Wagner was not afraid to challenge behaviour and people he disapproved of. In 1822, when the then 15-year-old Marquess of Douro was behaving arrogantly towards the household's servants, Wagner hit him and wrote a strongly worded letter to the Duchess of Wellington criticising the boy as "haughty in the extreme" and the Duchess's own attitude: "There is a veil before your eyes. You overlook Douro's faults".[106] Likewise, when conducting evensong at St Peter's Church one evening in 1834, he saw two military officers talking and misbehaving. "He strode down the aisle ... and stationed himself between them for the rest of the service", and when they asked for an apology for the embarrassment caused to them he instead demanded that they apologise for their conduct, otherwise he would write to his friend the Duke of Wellington and inform him about his officers' behaviour.[83]

An incident in January 1824, in which the house at Eton was broken into and money stolen from Wagner's pupils, also "throws a good deal of light on his character". He initially set out to find the thief—by engaging the police, using his own efforts and enlisting the help of one of a gang of beggars who often loitered around the house. Wagner captured the offender himself; he was a man whom Wagner had employed for several years despite incidents of improper conduct, because the man's father had persuaded him to give him another chance. As soon as he captured the man, "Wagner's reaction to the crime completely changed, and compassion became his dominant consideration". The death penalty was applied to crimes of burglary in which more than five shillings was stolen; Wagner attempted to get the charge changed to one of felony, and stated that only three shillings was stolen when in fact the man took £2.3s. Wagner later signed a petition for clemency which was presented to King George IV, and the man was spared the death sentence.[107] A sense of fairness and personal responsibility was also demonstrated in his reaction to the Marquess of Abergavenny's refusal to allow the rebuilding and reopening of St Peter's Church, West Blatchington. Wagner had asked George Frederick Bodley to produce a plan; when the project was cancelled, he decided to pay Bodley £10.10s. as partial compensation for the fee he would have received, as it was "the proper and liberal thing to do".[56]

One of Wagner's main strengths was his speaking—both as a preacher (the Brighton Gazette's obituary praised his "short ... clear, pointed and vigorous" sermons) and when making appeals for political or financial purposes. His great financial generosity helped his appeals be so successful.[83] Overall, he gave £3,327 to the various churchbuilding and restoration projects he was involved in during his time as Vicar of Brighton—a large sum for the time.[89]

Wagner wrote a diary for many years. This was more a factual list of events than an expression of his feelings, and when any emotion was demonstrated it was always "in a very restrained way" and was usually written in Latin, Italian or French. For example, after an evening spent with his future wife Elizabeth, his diary entry for the day read "O qual gioja!" (Oh what joy!).[10] On another occasion, though, after two evenings in her company he commented "Quem deus vult perdere, prius dementat" (Those whom God would destroy, He first makes mad).[14]

Wagner was fond of entertainment and socialising. He regularly played cards until late at night—although he admonished himself in his diary for doing so—and was a keen tennis and billiards player. He also attended horse races and theatre productions both before and after his ordination.[14] Earlier in his life he played a lot of cricket and enjoyed horseriding.[89] He was comfortable in the presence of royalty, with whom he regularly mixed because of his association with the Duke and Duchess of Wellington. He was invited to see both the Duke of Kent and King George III lying in state, attended King George III's funeral, attended the coronation of King George IV as the guest of the Duke and Duchess, and visited the new king's cottage at Windsor Park—about which he wrote in his diary "little interesting is to be seen".[108] King William IV often invited him to parties and events at the Royal Pavilion, and Queen Adelaide and the late King George III's daughter Princess Augusta Sophia were also on friendly terms with him.[80]

"So common during the 46 years of Wagner's ministry" in Brighton was the scenario of Wagner being at odds with people in the town: colleagues within the Church of England, religious and political opponents, members of the public and others.[17] A man of strong views, he disliked opposition "and was unforgiving to those who had opposed him in the past".[59] He mellowed later in life, though, and was always much more forgiving and tolerant of the rare ecclesiastical disagreements he was involved in[70] than of the three types of dispute which characterised his time in Brighton. These were political disagreements, clashes of personality and financial disputes.[58]

His greatest difficulties occurred in Vestry meetings when battles were fought over Church rates. Although on one occasion Wagner was formally "censure[d] ... for his improper conduct in the chair",[62] and often acted in a "high-handed" fashion as chairman, he always treated his opponents courteously—even when meetings became so heated that they reputedly threatened to throw him down the Town Hall's stairs.[63][note 11] Influential opponents included John Colbatch (owner of the Albion Hotel), Presbyterian minister Rev. James Edwards, local Quaker Isaac Bass, and Lt-Col. Thomas Trusty Trickey. These men often abused Wagner and disrupted meetings by filibustering;[64] Trickey has been called the main antagonist.[109] In contrast, the minister of Union Chapel Rev. John Nelson Goulty maintained good relations with Wagner despite their regular debates and disagreements. Goulty served the Nonconformist community for the same length of time as Wagner served the Anglican church, and their influence over their respective communities was similar.[22] Wagner's confident and forthright manner of defending compulsory rates and supporting the Vestry led one of his main opponents to remark in 1852 "although you have many faults, I am proud of you ... if you had gone into the army, you would, with your indomitable energy and your great ability, have made a second Wellington".[110]

Politically, Wagner was a High Tory: this made him "very unpopular in zealous Whig circles"[111] during a time when there was great hostility between the parties—especially in Brighton, which was dominated by radical Whig views.[112]

Wagner's experiences with Barnard Gregory and St Margaret's Chapel showed that he could sometimes compromise in the spirit of conciliation,[113] but the reasons for his opposition to Edward Everard's appointment as Perpetual curate are unknown. Although Everard gave up the position in 1828, he was still active locally as rector of St Michael and All Angels Church, Southwick, founder and first incumbent of St Andrew's Church, Brunswick Town, and chaplain of the King's private chapel.[25] His motivation for founding St Andrew's Church, a chapel of ease to Hove's parish church, may have been "to remove himself from Wagner's jurisdiction" in neighbouring Brighton.[25] During his 11-year incumbency (1828–1839) there, Everard "played a very prominent part in the ecclesiastical life" of the Diocese of Chichester and for a time was more influential locally than Wagner himself.[114]