The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-12-31 00:00:00

A DISPUTE ABOUT THE COMMUNION
PLATE.

At the Asslzes held at Liverpool, the canto of " Wilkinson
and Another e. Verity' his been tried, and wax a most ex-
traordinary case, being an action dy churchwardens against
their incumbent for the communion plate of the church_

Mr. Dtvienn, Q C., alai Mr. Leresehe were for the plain-
tiff ; and the defendant conducted Ma own case in pencil.

The plaintiffs' case was that they were the church.
wardens of All Saints, Habergham Eaves, near
Burnley, and that the articles for which the action
was brought—viz., silver chalice. paten, and flagon—
were bought by t e trustees in 1815, when the church
was built, and had been used until the year 18.59, when
the defendant took them away, and substituted a brass
service.

It appears that Messrs. Dugdale Brotherr, who have
a large factory in the district, subscribed £3,500
to cards the building of the church, the total e ast
bring £5,000. For convenience sake the plate was
kept at their house until 1859, in which year the de-
fendant told the sexton to bring it to the incumbent's
house, and it has never been seen since. In 1868 Mr.
Shaw, M.P. for Barnsley, who had married a daughter
of the late Mr. James Dugdale, found that the service
was misring, and cent word to the defendant that it
must be brought back. Thereupon a silver service
very much like the old one, sad rather more costly,
appeared on the communion table.
One of the churchwardens, in answer to defcndant,
said that Mr. Shaw was indemnifying plaintiffs in the
pa sent action.
The defendant, who conducted Wham with great in.
genuity, and spoke of himself in the third person, and
of Mr. Davison, Q.C., as "my learned friend," denied
that the plaintiffs were churclawardene, and said that
the plate did not belong to the churchwardens, but to
the incumbent for the time being, as it had not been
bought with the funds collected for the church, but
had been given t, him and his successors, as a
body politic and corporate, by Mr. James Dug.
dale, in lieu of rent for sitting's in the school during
the time the church was building. That he re-
mained on god terms with the Dogdales until
1b37, when Mr. Dogdale used terms which were in-
sulting to his clergyman, and that he then removed
the plate to his own houw. From that time the Dug.
dales had ceased to attend the church, and had with-
drawn all their follower., except those who did not
care for the frowns of their employers. The reason
he had sold the old plate was that it was defaced and
that several cilversmiths to whom be had taken it to
have it repaired advised him that the dinges and
bulges could not be removed. He had sold it in 1859
for £l2 10e., and the reason he did not buy the new
set before 1868 was the Padiham strike and other
causes.

The defendant, after making his speech, wee sworn,
and said that the braes vessels were what he used when
chaplain in the Crimea. That as generals, colonels,
and brigadiers had reneived the elements out of them,
he thought they were good enough for the poor people
of his congregation, the two wealthy families having
left the church.
On cross-examination he said he had applied for a
warrant for the arrest of the whole firm of Dugdale
and of Mr. Handsler their attorney, whom he could
prove to have a guilty knowledge of the abstraction of
the second service of plate from the Vestry. He was
once a missionary elect, but was prevented from going
out, as Mr. Shaw sauced him to be arrested under the
Absconding Debtors Act for a debt of CIO to &grocer,
of whom Mr. Shaw was assignee. When he went to
the Crimea be left a curate, who had since been paid,
or at any rate had got a dividend of the money. The
defendant had since paid by sequestration cf the
living. He did not remember whether he took to the
Crimea £6 fix of the funds of the sick club, the total
funds being £7 Is. If he did he had paid it since his
return, lie collected eubscriptions for the building of
the church, and handed over to Mr. Dugcbtle a balance
of £2l 13a. Id. He did not remember whether he
deducted 00 for postage stamps, but knew he deducted
a large sum.
The defendant rimmed up his case, and appealed to
the jury to show the courage and manliness of English.
men when they saw innocence and piety trampled upon
by Mammon and Ambition.
Verdict for plaintiff for full value of plate.