Easter Sunday at
Manchester Cathedral
For Easter Sunday
yesterday, I attended the sung Eucharist at Manchester Cathedral,
presided over by the Dean,
with the Bishop
of Manchester as preacher. According to the service pamphlet, the Bishop
now holds the additional title of Professor.
After the service,
whilst the organist played out the proceedings, I spoke with some visitors to
the church: a man and his daughter from South Carolina. Later, I met another
visitor, of whom I made no intrusive enquiry, but shared a few nuggets about
the cathedral's history and peculiarities.
Hidden Histories in
Plain Sight
As I queued for a cup
of tea, I looked up and noticed a plaque I had never seen before. This is one
of the remarkable features of this religious building, which has been situated,
renovated, and rebuilt over the span of a millennium: it has become a reliquary
of history, people, and events too numerous to see or notice, even if you have
attended the cathedral for over a decade.
Moreover, I do not
recall my attention ever being drawn to the two things I saw yesterday. These
included a colourful set of paintings depicting the Beatitudes, which, in my
fascination at the discovery (shared with other long-term congregants who were
equally oblivious to them), I forgot to photograph. Perhaps the experience
alone is more worthwhile than the need to capture it on imperfect devices.
The Samuel Ogden
Connection
The plaque commemorated a name that labels a street close to my accommodation: Samuel Ogden. It has caused intrigue, though not enough curiosity, much like Sir Joseph Whitworth, the 19th-century engineer, entrepreneur, inventor, and philanthropist.
Whitworth lends his name to a major street from which Samuel Ogden Street
branches, as well as to a gallery, a hall, and a park, all in Manchester. He
also gave his name to a British
Standard for screw threads and left a huge bequest to the Christie Hospital.
The plaque
commemorates father and son, written in Latin inscription. With no classics
scholar friend about to translate it for our understanding, I took a picture
and asked AI to transcribe and translate.
Samuel Ogden was a
Cambridge-educated priest who held the chair in geography at the university,
even though he was not qualified in the discipline. The plaque suggests he was
not equal in merit to his father; yet the documented history of the son suggests
a man of great achievement and considerable fortune at his demise.
The plaque is
primarily about Thomas Ogden, the father, who, according to his son's Wikipedia
entry, was a dyer. I can find no other biographical information about Thomas
apart from what appears on the plaque itself. It should be read in the context
of 18th-century funerary plaques.
The Ogden plaque - Manchester Cathedral
The Latin transcription
M · S ·
THOMÆ OGDEN
Mancuniensis,
Indole generosâ,
Moribus suavissimis,
Sermonis comitate, lepore, modestia,
cæterisque humanioribus virtutibus adornati:
eminente inter alias Pietate;
primum erga Parentes,
quos ætate confectos,
e pluribus natis minimus,
ad se recepit, observavit, extulit:
deinde erga Filium unicum,
SAMUELEM OGDEN,
quem tractavit educavitque liberalissimè:
qui vicissim illi,
non meritis parem,
lubenti certè animo,
gratiam referebat.
Ob: Anno { Dom: 1766.
Ætat: 75.
The English translation
Sacred to the memory of
Thomas Ogden,
a native of Manchester,
Of noble character,
most gentle in manners,
adorned with courtesy in speech, wit, modesty,
and the other refined virtues;
distinguished above all for his devotion:
First toward his parents,
whom, worn out by age,
though himself the youngest of many children,
he received into his care, attended, and supported;
Then toward his only son,
Samuel Ogden,
whom he treated and educated most generously;
And he in return,
though not equal to his father in merit,
yet with willing heart
gratefully repaid him.
He died in the Year of our Lord 1766,
aged 75.
