Clement Alexander McCormick

Clement Alexander McCormick: Vicar, King Charles the Martyr 1930 to 1940

The Bootle connection between King Charles and its incumbents continued after the retirement of Canon Arthur Oliver, with the appointment of his successor, Clement Alexander McCormick, who also proceeded to Tunbridge Wells from St Matthew’s, Bootle. His time in Tunbridge Wells was limited to ten years and he was the only incumbent to die in the King Charles Vicarage at 5d Frant Road.

An Irishman by birth and upbringing, Clement McCormick’s father was Canon Dr James McCormick, Rector of Roundstone, County Galway for 43 years. Clement graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 1906 and moved to the Bishop’s Hostel in Liverpool to train for the ministry, being appointed deacon in 1907 and priest the following year. He took his MA from Trinity College in 1913. A series of curacies followed in the Liverpool area: St Chad’s, Kirkby, 1907 to 1910; St Paul’s, Princes Park, 1910 to 1913; and at Woolton, having charge of St Hilda’s, Hunt Cross between 1913 and 1918. He achieved his first incumbency in 1918 at St Matthew’s, Bootle, a post he held until arriving in Tunbridge Wells in 1930. Not only was he a personal friend of Canon Arthur Oliver who had previously held the living of St Matthew’s between 1891 and 1902, but was also known in Liverpool by the new Bishop of Rochester, Dr Martin Linton Smith, who had spent some years up to 1920 in the Liverpool diocese, the last two as Suffragan Bishop of Warrington.

In 1913 he married the 30 year old Sibella, daughter of Dr W J Fleetwood of Aintree in the West Derby district of Liverpool. Daughters Sibyl and Frances followed in 1914 and 1915. After Clement’s death in 1940, Sibella retired to Wadhurst, dying in January 1963.

Events of note in parish life during the 1930s include the visit of Queen Mary in 1932; centenary celebrations of the Oxford Movement in 1933; the publication of a new parish history in 1936; and an overhaul and updating of the church organ in 1938.

Queen Mary paid an informal visit to Tunbridge Wells on 11 July 1932, chiefly to visit a former Lady-in-Waiting, the Dowager Lady Hillingdon, at Chancellor House. The day was very hot and over a thousand people gathered in the Pantiles. The Queen, so well known for her lateness that the King kept the palace clocks an hour forward, had been delayed on her journey by thundery storms and, after visiting Chancellor House at 4.00 pm, emerged in the Pantiles at 5.20 pm. The Courier report of 15 July noted the Queen’s visit to two antique shops (Colin Rich and Messrs Kyrie and Co) and the items she examined and purchased, including collections of Tunbridge Ware. The royal party included the Dowager Lady Hillingdon, her son Lord Hillingdon, Viscount Hardinge of Penshurst (a former Viceroy of India) and Lord Richard Nevill. Her Majesty walked the length of the Pantiles, observed the Chalybeate Spring and entered King Charles church where, according to the Courier “she expressed pleasure with all she saw in the church and was particularly interested in noting the tablet which marks the place which Queen Victoria occupied”.

Only eight days later, Tunbridge Wells received an official visit from another royal, Elizabeth, Duchess of York (subsequently Queen Consort and Queen Mother), who laid the foundation stone for the new Kent and Sussex Hospital at a dedication ceremony conducted by the Bishop of Rochester. The Duchess was subsequently entertained to luncheon at Bayham Abbey, home of the Lord Lieutenant of Kent, Marquess Camden; in the afternoon a visit was made to the Tunbridge Wells Agricultural Show.

One year later the country was noting the centenary of the Oxford Movement. In Tunbridge Wells this included sending representatives of the rural deaneries to a pilgrimage to Rochester on 8 July 1933 where a thanksgiving service took place in the cathedral. Five days later the Tunbridge Wells community gathered in Rusthall church at 11.30 am for a service of Holy Eucharist where the Bishop of Rochester preached; in the afternoon a meeting was held in the Pump Room with the Bishop of Rochester and Caroline, Viscountess Bridgeman DBE (a granddaughter of Archbishop Charles Longley of Canterbury) both speaking.

By the end of 1936 the parish noted the publication of “The Story of King Charles the Martyr, Tunbridge Wells, by churchwarden Lt. Col. Henry Waring DSO. One thousand copies of the one shilling publication had been printed, the parish magazine noting – in February 1938 – that 350 copies had been sold so far.
Waring was churchwarden between 1936 and 1940 but his counterpart, Ernest Weeks JP (co-owner of Weekes department store) served as churchwarden for 40 years from 1909. A local councillor, he was Mayor of Tunbridge Wells for two years from 1934. Unlike today, the mayoralty changed hands each November and the annual civic service took place in the civic parish church of Holy Trinity, now the Trinity Theatre and Arts Centre.

In May 1938, the church organ was overhauled and updated to become a “state of the art” instrument, using much of the existing pipework from the 1867 organ. The work was undertaken by the same organ firm (Messrs J W Walker & Sons) that had built the 1867 organ. Mr George Dorrington Cunningham (city organist of Birmingham 1924 to 1949) gave the opening recital on the new organ on 7 September 1938. The cost of the organ works had been donated by Miss Lilian Henwood in memory of her parents.

With the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, KCM issued instructions about evacuating the church during an air raid and had been “blacked out”. It was also decided that the East Window was too expensive and too difficult to move so it was left in situ, protected by felt and timber.

It was very early in the war that KCM lost its vicar. Clement, who had been suffering ill health since 1937,died on 13 February, 1940. His funeral was held in KCM on 17 February and he was buried in Hawkenbury cemetery. The Tunbridge Wells Courier, in its 16 February 1940 edition, reports the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Linton Smith, describing Clement McCormick as “a man of much wisdom and understanding” while the local newspaper further describes McCormick as “having a quiet and unostentatious manner which won him the affection and esteem of a host of friends”. The news report also indicated that he was renowned for his vigorous sermons, often punctuated with apt and telling quotations, and was “a man full of life and humour, a typical lovable Irishman”.

The Courier also noted that Clement McCormick had been a freemason even before arriving in Tunbridge Wells, where he joined the Wells Lodge and was its chaplain. He was also a rotary club member, secretary of the Tunbridge Wells Ruridecanal Conferences and was a great friend of both the King Charles and Murray House schools.

The report of his death also tells us of his siblings, of which he had six, three also clerics. Sadly three of the brothers all died within an eighteen month period between 1933 and 1934: (a) Ven. Archdeacon G F M McCormick, Rector of Collooney, County Sligo; (b) Revd T E McCormick, Rector of Broad Clyst, Devon; and (c) Mr Howard McCormick, a solicitor in County Sligo. Their mother was also lost to them in February 1938. The three remaining siblings at Clement’s death were: (a) Revd F J McCormick, Rector of Ardcarne, Ireland; (b) Mr H C McCormick of Tanraga, County Sligo; and (c) a sister, Mrs Jackson of County Sligo. The Courier also reported that these surviving siblings were unable to be present at the funeral “owing to war conditions”.

David Bushell