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Essay for the Friends No. 21
Canon Woolmore Wigram, M.A.,
Belfry Reform, and Change-Ringing Disentangled
By John Eisel
Background
One of the most vocal of the supporters of belfry reform in the nineteenth century, he was the fifth son, and sixth child, of Money Wigram, Esq. His father's name was appropriate, as he was much involved in shipyards and evidently was very wealthy, and in the 1830s serving for a year as a director of the Bank of England. In Money Wigram bought the estate of Moor Place, Much Hadham, Herts., where he lived until he died in 1873. Five years later the estate was sold and passed out of the family. This Grade I-listed house, with many ancillary buildings with development potential and 166 acres, has recently been on the market, the guide price being £10,000,000, but is now sold. Woolmore Wigram, the subject of this essay, was bom on 29 October 1831, went to Rugby School in 1844, and then on to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1850. He gained his B.A. in 1854 and proceeded M.A. in 1858. Meanwhile, in 1855, he had taken Holy Orders, and served as a curate in Hampstead from until 1864: in the latter year he was preferred to the living of Brent Pelham with Pelham Fumeaux, where he ministered until 1876. He then became rector of St. Andrew's with St. Nicholas and St. Mary's, Hertford, and in 1886, during his incumbency, he became an honorary canon of St. Alban's Cathedral. He retired from Hertford in 1897 and the following year he moved to St. Alban's, where he lived until his death on 19 January 1907. He was buried in the churchyard at St. Stephen's, St. Albans.
Non-Parochial Activities
Evidently Woolmore Wigram was an active man, and during the period 1858 to 1868 he was a member of the Alpine Club, and he was distinguished in his climbing. How he managed to fit this in with his
parochial duties is not clear. He was also a keen change ringer, if not particularly skilled, and later evidence suggests that he may well have learnt while he was at Cambridge in the early 1850s. In 1871 he published a series of papers on how to learn the art, which appeared in
the periodical Church Bells over some 20 weeks, between 25 March
and 19 August 1871, although with three gaps where material was held over because of lack of space. Perhaps because of these articles, in 1871 Wigram was elected a member of the Ancient Society of College Youth. While the articles were appearing, C.A.W. Troyte published, in the issue of 5 August 1871, a letter raising a query about phraseology, with a correction the following week. Wigram responded on 19 August 1871 and the final letter in the series, from Troyte, appeared a week later. During the correspondence, Wigram acknowledged the help given
by Troyte's book, Change Ringing, which had been published in 1869.
(For a discussion of this text and its various editions, see Essay for the
Friends, No. 4 (February 1997), and Update (January 1998).)
At the end of the last of the series of papers, published on 19 August 1871, it was noted that 'The Author, having obtained the requisite permission, proposes to re-publish this series of papers immediately, of which further notice will appear.' The completed book, cost 2s., was
advertised in Church Bells on 21 October 1871, only two months later,
and further adverts appeared in the Cambridge Chronicle on 4 & 25
November 1871. The book was aimed at beginners in the art, and dealt with the practicalities of ringing on five and six bells. It was dedicated, not too surprisingly, to the Rev. H.T. Ellacombe. Methods which were discussed were Grandsire and Stedman Doubles, Plain Bob, Treble Bob, Oxford Bob and Court Bob Minor. How well the book sold is not easy to answer, but it was still being
advertised in Church Bells early in 1880. However, it had been
rendered out of date by the publication, late in 1879, of Jasper
Snowdon's Ropesight. Snowdon had been asked to recommend a
textbook for a band of learners, the only ones available being that
written by Troyte and Change-Ringing Disentangled. Snowdon realised
the shortcomings of both of these books, and quickly wrote and published his own. Received from the printers in November 1879, the print run of 500 was sold out by April 1880. This would have made the first edition of Wigram's book unsaleable, and it is not surprising that Wigram produced a second edition of his book later in 1880, again
it combines intellectual amusement with physical exercise, full but not laborious. To the future clergy, I say, that parish priest who understands change-ringing is able to take the control of the tower-a portion of the fabric whose sanctity is not always remembered; and besides, he possesses an element of much usefulness in his parochial work with young men. To the laity anxious for Church work, I say, if you ring you can take a part in the services, as well as that of the organist, although frequently and so strangely neglected. I venture to refer those interested to my letter in your paper of October 28th, and to the little book mentioned in your advertising columns. I will do my best to give any further information to those who may like to write to me.'
The 'Little book' was, of course, Change-Ringing Disentangled! As a
P.S. he added the wish that any recruits would associate themselves with the existing society, saying that 'The Vicar of St. Mary's is a member, so also is Mr. Rockett, the Custos of the Tower.' A positive note was struck by the editor, who informed the 'Bell-ringing
Undergraduate' that a letter awaited him at the Chronicle office.
Unfortunately nothing came of this, and it was not until 1879 that a ringing association was formed, first as the Clare Association of Ringers and then renamed as the Cambridge University Guild. In 1876 Wigram had an opportunity to bring his views to a wider audience. At the last session of the Church Congress that took place at the Guildhall, Plymouth, on 6 October 1876, he read a paper in which he expressed his views. He was followed by C.A.W. Troyte, Esq, who spoke along similar lines and took the opportunity to bewail the fact that Exeter Cathedral bells were not in a fit state for change ringing (not remedied until 1902). We may suspect that Wigram got rather
carried away, as the report that appeared in The Times on 10 October
1876, in describing Troyte's talk, stated that he 'quietly read a paper', perhaps inferring that the previous paper was not so quiet! Wigram was keen to use change-ringing as the means of introducing belfry reform, which he did when he became rector of St. Andrew's in Hertford. At that time ringing in Hertford was at a low ebb, the Hertford College Youths, founded in 1767 and based at All Saints', Hertford, being effectively moribund, and had been so for a good many years — an attempt to revive it had been made in 1857, reported in the
Hertford Mercury on 16 & 23 May 1857, but this was unsuccessful. In
1875-6 the tower at St. Andrew's was rebuilt, and the ring of eight bells reinstalled. In 1876 a new society was formed there, called the Hertford
Change-Ringers, with Wigram as President, and in 1879 the bells were rehung by Mr. Gray, of Little Munden, Herts. At a meeting on 9 December 1879 the Hertford Change-Ringers were recognised as the ringing society for the whole town, and added the title 'Hertford College Youths' to their own name: in the second edition of Wigram's book their rules were used as an example of what such rules should be. Some progress was made in the art, and a quarter peal of Grandsire Triples was rung at St. Andrew's, Hertford, on 20 May 1881, by members of the society, with Wigram ringing the fourth bell. In the same year the rump of the old society — five in number, three of whom had joined the newer society and two who had given up ringing — dissolved the old society and its handbells were bought and held by trustees on behalf of the new society, and also the records and peal book were transferred to the trustees. Progress was evidently made by the newer society, and in February 1882 a peal of Grandsire Triples was rung at All Saints' church, conducted by H.J. Tucker, from Bishop's Stortford. Six members of the band were ringing their first peal, and the eighth had been a member of the former society. Wigram did not take part in this peal, and his first peal came a little later, for which see below. The date of the peal is
uncertain — the report in Bell News states that it took place on 20
February 1882, whereas the write-up in North and Stahlschmidt's
Church Bells of Hertfordshire gives the date as 21 February 1882.
Establishment of the Hertford County Association
At this period there was a move to create a diocesan association of bellringers, the diocese of St. Albans having been created in 1877. The diocese included the territory of the Essex Association, but that association would not transform into a diocesan association, leaving the way open for an association for Hertfordshire. This was formed at a meeting held in St. Albans on 29 October 1884, and it comes as no surprise that Wigram became secretary. The first peal for the new Hertford County Association was one of Grandsire Triples, rung at St. Andrew's, Hertford, on 28 February 1885. It is, perhaps, a little surprising that the rector did not take part in this special peal on the bells of his own church. Although an annual meeting of the Hertford
Wigram died in January 1907 and a short obituary appeared in the Hertford County Association annual report for that year, although it does not go into much detail on Wigram's ringing career. Nor did
anything other than a short note of his death appear in Bell News. His
memoirs were edited by his wife, and published in 1908, and a copy of this, together with a number of ringing books, was given to the library of the Hertford County Association.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Alan Glover, for abstracting much material from Church
Bells, and for sending scans of relevant material.
