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William Pope (15 March 1825 – 5 November 1905) was an English, Anglican clergyman who as a young man seceded from Anglicanism to a priesthood in the Catholic Church as a follower of John Henry Newman, the Oxford Movement and Tractarianism..

After serving in two churches following his first ordination, Pope became troubled in his theological conscience, and went home to his father in York. Although he preached with success in that town, he remained severely disquieted about Anglicanism for about a year, until he suddenly made a decision and was received into the Church of Rome. After studying for four years in Rome, he was ordained as a Catholic priest there, performing his first mass in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica. He then served as a chaplain in Ilkley for twenty-two years, and as a rector in Harrogate for sixteen years. In both appointments, he worked with dedication, organising the building of a church in Ilkley, erecting schools in both towns, and serving the community and church in other ways.

When he died at the age of 80 years, he was remembered across the United Kingdom and Ireland as one of the last surviving followers of Newman. He was given an "impressive" funeral in Harrogate, and his hearse was followed by over fifty chanting priests, and many townspeople.

Background
Pope came from a family with clerical connections, and his father, grandfather and great grandfather were Anglicans. His great grandfather was William Pope the elder, owner of Hillingdon rectory estate. W. Pope the elder married Mabel Mills, daughter of Richard Mills, vicar of Hillingdon. Pope's paternal grandfather was barrister William Pope the younger, who worked in the Exchequer Office, Temple. On 15 May 1790 W. Pope the younger married Mary Heaton Pope, daughter of Sherlock Willis, vicar of Wormley, Hertfordshire.

Pope's father was the Evangelical preacher, Reverend Frederick Sherlock W. Pope, vicar of the Baxtergate Chapel of Ease, which later became St Ninian's Parish Church; it was located on Baxtergate, in Whitby. His mother was Eliza Jane Pope née Skinner. His parents married on 19 February 1824 in Stockton Parish, Durham. One of Pope's uncles was Richard Whately, Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, who married Pope's aunt, Elizabeth Pope, the sister of Rev. Frederick Sherlock W. Pope. Another uncle was Rev. Henry Bishop who married F.S.W. Pope's sister Louisa, and a third uncle was the mathematician Baden Powell, who married another of F.S.W. Pope's sisters, Charlotte. A fourth uncle of note was Reverend William Law Pope, brother of F.S.W. Pope.

Pope was born in Whitby on 16 March 1825. He was baptised on 11 April 1825 at Whitby. He was the eldest of at least eight siblings, the younger ones being: Sarah Margaret, Frederick Sherlock Willis, Louisa, Elizabeth S., Rev. John S., Mary Skinner,  and Charlotte S. John was a Jesuit priest. The 1841 census finds the family at Bagdale, Whitby, with Frederick describing himself as a clergyman. William Pope was not present in any of the census pages which included his father.

Pope attended St Peter's School, York, and was also educated by a private tutor. He was sent by his father to Christ's College, Cambridge. "[Pope] was entered for Oxford, but on account of the materialistic influence then prevailing at the university, and its probable effect on the young man, his father took him off the books, and he was sent to ... Cambridge". He received his Cambridge degree in 1848. On 12 October 1848 at Great St Andrew's Church, Cambridge, one Revd. William Pope, B.A., of Christ Church College, Cambridge, married Eliza D'Aguilar of Cambridge. However, in the 1851 census Pope is described as unmarried, and Eliza is not present..

Personality
Dr Bray described Pope as being "semi-guileless", with "transparent sincerity". He had "dignity", "gravity", "reserve", and "held respect". He had "the refinement of the cultured scholar, and the earnestness of the devoted priest. He won friends wherever he went. Though a scholar of brilliant attainments, and able to hold his own in any society. he yet prepared to live a retired life ... unknown to the world".

Anglicanism
In 1848 Pope was ordained as an Anglican deacon, and accepted the curacy of Bolton le Moors, Lancashire. On 18 September of the same year, Pope officiated in Stillorgan Church at the marriage of his cousin Henrietta, daughter of Richard Whately, the Archbishop of Dublin, to Charles Brent Wale, son of General Sir Charles Wale, K.C.B.

Conversion to the Catholic Church
Pope was "one of Cardinal Newman's converts", and a "follower of the Tractarian Movement". The Halifax Evening Courier described him as: "a disciple of Newman and survivor of that band of men who were led by Newman's influence into communion with the Church of Rome". The Wharfedale & Airedale Observer stated that:

"Canon Pope was always a great admirer of Cardinal Newman, in whose writings he was thoroughly well versed. He frequently recalled an interesting incident illustrating the influence of Dr Newman. When going up to Cambridge for his first term, some young men got into the train, and one of them remarked, Newman has become a Catholic, whereupon another immediately replied, Then so shall I."

Following his curacy at Bolton le Moors, Pope took up a curacy at the tiny, 13th-century St Edward's Church in Teffont Magna, Wiltshire, which was a chapel of ease for Dinton. The 1851 census finds him unmarried, living alone with a servant in Teffont Magna, and describing himself as curate of Dinton. However, being "very unsettled" there, he left that position and returned to his father's home in York in 1852.There he preached at All Saints' Church, Pavement, and was accepted as a "very popular preacher", however he refused an offer by the Anglican diocese of a living in the city. He then experienced "a period of some doubt and anxiety on religious questions. This was "the crisis of his life", and he was called to "arise and leave his father's house and kindred, and go into a strange country". He suffered doubs about the position of the Anglican Church, and about his own theological position. In this "time of bitter suffering", he retired from his Anglican priesthood, and gave himself up to prayer and study, finding it very difficult to give up his old life and to begin a new one. He suffered this "torture" for "eighteen terrible months". He then suddenly decided that he knew what to do.

In September 1853, Pope was received into the Church of Rome by Rev. Father Tracey Clark, S.J. To put his conversion into the context of Newman-inspired secessions of men of the cloth in the United Kingdom: in 1851 thirty-eight clergymen converted to the Roman Church, in 1852 it was seven, and in 1853 Pope was one of three. For four years he studied theology in Rome, and was ordained in September 1857 at St John Lateran. He performed his initial mass in St Peter's crypt. He returned to England until 1857, having spent 5 years in Italy. On his arrival in England he took up mission work. In 1857 he was made priest of the Roman Catholic chapel in Egton Bridge. He was appointed to Yarm in Teeside (which was then in Beverley), then worked for a year in Hunslet, Leeds. According to the 1861 census, Pope was living and working in High Worsall in that year, living alone with two servants, describing himself as a Catholic priest. At that time the village had an 18th-century chapel dedicated to St John.

Chaplaincy in Ilkley
Pope was chaplain to the Middelton family at Middelton Lodge, Ilkley, from around 1867, and he remained there for twenty-two years, until 1889. Because there was no Roman Catholic church in Ilkley when he arrived, "he practically started the mission in Ilkley". Its congregation had been worshipping at a chapel at Middelton (now known as Middleton-on-Wharfe) since 1825. Therefore, besides being a private chaplain, Pope also had to act as a parish priest to the local Catholic congregation in Nesfield, Addingham, Ilkley and Middelton. The building of the Church of the Sacred Heart, founded in 1878 on Stockeld Road in Ilkley, owed much to his leadership and organisation of its building committee. Pope also worked to build St Mary's School for Catholic pupils alongside the church, and he served on the Ilkley School Board between 1878 and 1889. Pope persuaded William Middelton to donate the land on Stockeld Road, and £1,300 was raised for the building. In 1881 he was living in the Priest's House with one servant, in Middleton in Wharfedale, describing himself as a Roman Catholic priest. When he left Ilkley, he was presented with an illuminated address and a purse of gold.

St Robert's Church, Harrogate
The Tablet said that Pope had "lived and laboured" in Harrogate, and "wore himself out ... He loved his church, and he strove to make it more worthy as a dwelling place for the Divine guest; [the congregation] had only to look round and see the beauty and order of the beautiful church". For 16 years from 1889 until his death in 1905, Pope served in ministerial duties at St Robert's Church, Harrogate, at the same time serving as a canon of Leeds Cathedral. He was instrumental in organising the building of the schools attached to the church, in Robert Street, founded in 1895, and in arranging the installation of the Italianate bas relief panels of the Stations of the Cross in the church's nave. Pope did not take part in public life in Harrogate, but dedicated himself to pastoral work with his congregation. The last census of his lifetime finds him at the presbytery of St Robert's, living with a lodger Philip Bethell who was a Roman Catholic priest born in France, and three domestic servants.

When money was bequeathed by a donor for stained glass windows in the church, Pope organised the design and execution of two windows. These were the Virgin Mary and St Robert window on the right of the main altar, and the St Michael and St Theresa window on the left of the altar. These were designed by architects Goldie & Child, and executed by Edward Reginald Frampton or his father Edward Frampton. He had had the sanctuary decorated with murals by Goldie and Child, in 1893, and a new organ by William Hill & Son installed in 1899. Towards the end of Pope's life, his curate was Rev. William Joseph Bickerdike. The church building, along with the Stations of the Cross in the nave, was consecrated on 10 May 1930, by Bishop Joseph Cowgill of Leeds.

Death
Pope remained active until a few months before his death. In May 1905, Pope gave a guinea to Yorkshire's Pickering Mission, for the adaptation of cottages and a barn for church use. One of his sisters was Rev. Mother Mary Frances Pope, Mother Superior of St Mary's Convent, York. In July 1905, Pope attended the week-long celebration of her golden jubilee, which began with the ceremony of crowning. The event took place at the Bar Convent in York. He attended alongside Dr William Giles, titular bishop of Philadelphia in Lydia, the rector of the English College, Rome, and the bishop of Leeds, besides local clergy from Leeds and Middlesborough. At the ceremony, Pope presented a portrait of his sister to the convent.

Pope enjoyed "robust health" for most of his life, but a few months before his death, he began to lose his "robust constitution" and became weaker, and less active in the church. By October 1905, Pope was reported by the Yorkshire Evening Press to be seriously ill, at home. Pope died "peacefully" in his 81st year on 5 November 1905, at the presbytery of St Robert's Church., Harrogate, having served as a Roman Catholic priest for 48 years. He was survived by three sisters including the Mother Superior of St Mary's Convent, York, and his brother John, who was a Jesuit priest.

The "impressive" funeral service took place on 18 November 1905. It was attended by "large numbers of priests from various parts of the country", and the church was full with mourners. Every seat was taken, and there were people outside who were unable to get in. The chief mourner was William Gordon, Roman Catholic Bishop of Leeds, who was accompanied by more than fifty priests. In the sermon by Dr Bray of St Joseph's Seminary, Leeds, it was made clear that Pope was remembered as a "loved friend ... a faithful shepherd and a true and devoted priest ... a true Christian gentleman". After the funeral sermon, fifty chanting priests preceded the coffin bearers to the hearse. The funeral cortège then made its way from St Robert's Church to Grove Road Cemetery for the graveside service, which took place "in the presence of an exceptionally large gathering of Catholic clergy, members of the Catholic Church, and townspeople". There was sung music at the cemetery and graveside. Rev. Father Bickerdike conducted the graveside service.

Charles Newsham's unaccompanied four-part mass, a "solemn high mass of requiem", was sung for Pope on 2 December 1905 at St Robert's. Father A.J. Saxton, Pope's successor, was the celebrant, and Father Bickerdike was subdeacon at the mass. This was the same four-part mass by Newsham that was sung at Pope's funeral.

Pope's death was noted in the United Kingdom and in Ireland, as one of the last surviving converts of Newman. He was remembered across England, for example iin Whitby, Staffordshire, Newcastle, Sheffield, Manchester, West of England, Northampton, and Formby. He was remembered in Edinburgh, and also in Jersey where his name was misspelled as Revd Canon Pope Stroberts, Various newspapers in Ireland noted his passing. The Protestant Belfast News Letter noted his death in the accustomed polite manner, but used the headline, "A Newman Pervert". Pope was memorialised in The Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiner, The Dundalk Examiner and Louth Advertiser, The Derry Journal, The Drogheda Argus and Leinster Journal, The Irish Independent, and The Irish Times.

Successor
Pope's successor from November 1905 at St Robert's was Augustine Joseph Saxton, known as Rev. Austin J. Saxton, who had previously served at Our Lady and All Saints Church in Otley for fifteen years.