The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-04-29 00:00:00

THE FUNERAL OF THE LATE LORD

LYTTELTON.

A s• d, mournful certmony brought many people to
fragley on Saturday last Often in the flirsh of summer
hive crowds flocked to the Park to j•iin in one of time
rural ft-t s for whic,li Lord Lyttelton s% as cv r ready to
grant cfss to its hills and glades; but on Saturday they
came without b'itheness. to Fee the reniaius of that good
-
heart. d, worthy nobleman in the rave.
The grave where Lord Lyttelton was to be hold was
se'.ecied in a position hard by that where his dauli t, ,
Miss Mary C. Lytt,lton. was buried in the March of last
year—in the open churchyard, not far from the tower ot
the picturesque I,ttlo church, which, as those who know
H will
very short r
h sta'rm" r
. cc:fromNtvhaf Tv
itpea rkst„
tie
dcraot a
ss
has been "'laced over Miss Lyttelton's grave, with the
ThouD i
02v1csstt rrc ,
11087: . Shee, askedcn f() r lei
vf r
inscription, " Mary Catherine Lyttelton. Born 25th
lif
lilies, primroses. and
of
1:alli-151;10:niade cross of roses,
AMTl:efer.e,
maidenhair ferns has been plac,.d on the grave; and
int de the church a fnrther reminder of the deceased
was to be seen in the stained Window just placed in the
navc. am the writ door are several nuithh. tabtrts
r lati g to the Lyttelton family which po, seas consider-
a'ile ir.terr st. A little of the early hititury of the family
wim embodied in the following (inn ;--
easrei to the memory of Meriel Lyttelton, wife of
John Lyttelton, Esq., and daughter of Sir Thomas
Bromley, Lord Chancellor of England. She departed
this life 80th April, 1630, and by her express direction in
het will was interred among her poor neighbours in this
churchyardo under a plain stone, wliereon not even her
name is ii.s.ribeJ. Her great great grandson, Charles,
Lord Bishop of Carlisle, dedicated by will this mafele
m .nurpent to her most respectable memory, Amino
Domini. 1769. May her posterity ever remember with
gratitude that by her sole interest and wire eonJuct she
procured from King James ye let for their hezeit, a
want of nil the family estate which Lad been forfeited
to the Crown in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; the un-
happy consequences of her husbar.d's
.engagements with
the earl of Essex, and likewise her restoration in blood
by Act of rarliament. She lived a widow twentyreight
years in the continual exercise GI piety, charity, and
hospitality, chiefly confining herself to a country retire-
ment that she might be the better enabled to pay her

The Bishop of Rochesfer.
The Body.
Bearers.
Messrs. Howes and Palmer.
Smith and Edwards.
Newnham and Bowen.
Hendry and James Bradley.
Daphine and 0. Bottom.
Shilvock and Brown.
Mounrinus.
Lady Lyttelton, Hon. aril Rev. A. V. Lyttelton.
Hon. Mrs. J. G. Talbott, Hon. S. G. Lyttelton.
Lady Fredk. Cavendi,h, Hon. A. T. Lyttelton.
Hon. Mrs. E. S. Taibot, Hon R. H. Lyttelton.
Hon. E. Lyttelton, Hon. A. Lyttelton.
Hon. Caroline Lyttelton, Hon. Spencer Lyttelton.
Mrs. Gladstone, Hon and Rev. W. H. Lyttelton
Hon. Mrs. J. C. Talbot, J. G. Talbot.
Hon. Mrs. W. H. Lyttelton, Lord Frederick Cavendish.
Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Rev. E. S. Talbot
Hon. Mrs. W. H. Lyttelton, Lord Frederick Cavendish.
Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Rev. E. S. Talbot.
Mrs. Clive, G. Clive.
Colonel Clive, Archer Clive.
Miss Gladstone. W. H. Gladstone.
Lord Spencer, W. H. Pole Carew.
Mrs. A. St. Mildmay, Lord Wenlock,
Lady Catherine Clive, Rev J. St. John 111ildmay.
M. Clive.
H. J. Gladstone, H. N. Gladstone.
Friends.
Domestics.
Estate Agents.
Gentry and Parishioners of Hagley.
Deputation from Saltley Training College.
Deputation from the Stourbridge lmproveme,t Com-
missioners.

Deputation from the Stourbridge Associated Institute.'
Deputation from the Stourbridge School of Att.
Members of the Stourbr dge Church of England Associa-
tion.

Deputation from the *booth Staffordshire A.dult
Education Society

The clergy at the funeral were a host in themselves,
Some of them are mentioned in the lists of deputations,
and, amongst others, were the Dean of Worcester, Rev•
Canon Barry, Revds. W. J. J. Welch (Stourbridge) F. R.
Evans (Kidderminster), J. S. Bolder° (Amblecote), J. H.
Whitely (Pedmore), J. Williams (Stourbridge), A. Wright
(Stamber Mill), the Dean of Bristol, Rev. G. T. Treseey
(Redditch), Rev..— Marriott (Chaddealey), Rev. —HOC(g-
oon (Kinver), Rev. H. B. Bowlby (Birmingham), Rev. (.1.
Halls (dent), Rev. R. P. Turner (Churchill), Revds.
Maughn (Oldswinford), T. Leigh. Llewellyn, and
Others.
Amongst the magistrates present were the Rev. G. R
Grey, and Colorel Fletcher, Messrs. Avery (Birmingham)
H. E. Vernon (Hanbury Hall), .C. Harrison, M.P., Col
Barrows, Messrs. C. E. Swindell, J, Bolcroft, H.
Hawkes (Birmingham), J. Cartlaud (Birmingham),
Arthur Ryland (Birmingham), T. Elkington (Birmingham
R. L. Freer (Stourbridge), C. P. Noel, 11, S. Bartlett, E.
Holyoake, W. Smith (Redditeh.)
The deput ,n above named comprised the following:
Deputation from Stourbridge Improvement Commis-
sioners : Messrs H. Hughes, E. Stringer, J. Alisopp, W.
Edwards, J. W. Woolley, and J. Taylor.
Deputation from Stourbridge Associated Institute:
Rev. D. Maginnis ; Messrs. Thompson, Pagett, Muckley,
Braizer, Short, Barrett, Hicklin, Shearman, and Sneyd,
Deputation from Stourbridge Scheel of Art: Major
Walker; Messrs T. D. Themes, J. C. Collis, and R.
Broomhall.
Deputation from Stourbridge Church of England
Association : Messrs. A. Freer, Ridley. Clarke, Kitson,
Woodward, Mabury, Moody and H. D. Holloway.
Deputation from South Stafterdshire Adult Education
Society: Revda. H.e;herrard (.itourbridge). A. G. Girdle-
stone (Wordsley), J. If. Thompson (Cradley), J. M.
Guest (Handsworth), Messrs. F. Talbot (Smethwiek) and
Anson (Oldbury).
The following gentlemen connected with Saliley Co'.
lege were present :—ltev. Canon Clover (late pure:Tr:).
Rev. T. J. Haworth (late vice-principa ), Colonel ItaLcatt
(treaserer), Fey. Cauon Melville, Rev. Canon Boyle, Rev.
Canon Douglaes, Rev Canon Lea, Rev. Canon Evans.
Among other gentlemen present were the Marquis of
Hertford, Mr. 11. W. Foley, Mr. W. N. Marcy (clerk of
the peace for Wercesterslerp), Mes e•s. G. K. Harrison,
W. H. King (clerk to Maei,trates of Stourbridge division
J. Harwari (registrar of it turbr.dge County Court),
Captain and Adjutant Welrige,Mr. G, Taylor (secretary
Kidderminster Mechanies' Institute), Mr. Goddard Stour-
riaddgee) ,(
BC,
rotun
uncgi oirinC) . Miat:her.ev astte(Bnirtrßinirgmhianmg)h, Dr.
W. Birmingham).
0 necillor Greeves (li.i.idieerscovisn.sit,elar)t,t,RHevas.kWew.,Msscaen.n,i:cg.
ad Mr W Fievdi (de; u...itrou from Stourbridge
Con.gregfei m al C A hu ),
Fo• some time prior a) the hour fixed for the burial,
every] available se tin the church was occupied by a
highly-respectable congregatiou, who patiently and
sitentty awaited the arrival of the funeral cortege. Seats
for the mourners were reserved at the west end of the
churcn immediately to the left of the west aisle on en-
; r leg from the porch f wing the hall. Other seats in
tee Lave were set [mart for pers re• who formed part of
the] lOtsiUfl, the r. maining pa, es of the building being
titled by those who had been fir twee enough to geiz
a•lin twice before the cnrunene. ment of the ceremony.
ittny persons were al'owed to assemble within the
sour hyard but the gre..t in..jo :were obliged to remain
ou tilde around the entrance eat rs, and the walls and
atoneside the path leading from the Hall. As soon as
thetuneral procession was seen leaving the Mansion, a
surpliced enoir entered the church from the vestry,
headed by the Bish p of Oxford (the Rev. Dr. Meeker-
ness), who was Lord Lyttelton's private chaplaio ; the
Rev. E. S. Talbot, warden of Keble College, Oxford;
and the Rev. R. H. Suyed. curate of the church. The
Bishop of Oxford read the ope ling sentences of the Bur-
ial Set vice ; and the choir, io processional order, moved
s.owly down the central aisle and out of the church to
the churchyard entrance. w'rete they met the body. In
C'ie meantin • an approp i t voluntary was played by the
organ. The processiou then entere I the chit •ch, the
• ar taking their seats in the chancel, and the mourriet •
the places assigned to them, whi!e the coffin was place,'
in the central aiele. A largo number of persons crowthel
into tit° cl,u-cb. but ‘27,.1,.t n Able Ladol St s Th • se, -
vice was at 'once proceeded with. The 39th Psalm WAS
chanted, the music being Felton's chant in E fiat. The

A. large congregation was present in Hagley Church
on Sunday mornieg, when a funeral sermon upon the
late Lord Lyttelton was preached by the Bishop of Ox-
ford, formerly his lordship's private chaplin. his lord-
ship preached from Tames 4th chapter, 14 v., " What is
you: life ?" He said he had ventured to separate this
question from the answer given in the sacred text, be-
cause he desired to ask the question in a somewhat
wider sense than that made for the apostle's immediate
purpose. He was speaking of this world's business with
its engagements and plans, and of the foolish confidence
with which they made those plans and depended upoe
their power to keep those eegagemeuts. The world went
on with its plans and engagements as if life would last
for ever, and it was needful to be reminded, as they we.re
reminded in the Scriptures, that life was but a vapour
that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away.
Whatever other answer they gave to this question that
answer at all events was sadly true. The vessel was
sailing on a summer's sea with all her sails'Yset, the lull
breeze blowing, a rich and noble freight on board, when
the pirate Death bore down upon her, robbed her of itel
her treasure, and sank her beneath the fathomless eel.
Great men, the stability.of their times leaders of thought
and action, brave pioneers of thelnation's progress; wise
men and scholars, with the accumulated store of a life's
study just matured ; sadder still, strong men labour-
ing for their little ones' bread, eu ideuly cut oil
from life. Who had not seen such things in his ex-
perience again and again? Who had not wondered at
the strange Providence of such things? Wit had not
longed to read ahem a little ? There was only one way
in which they could be rightly read. lie called to mind,
as he said tars, words written by the hand which was
cold in yonder gravq. "Providence," he wrote, " Pro-
vidence is stranger than revelation; the constitution of
wan, his life vale deals, would be far more inexplicable
to the thinking man without the light which the Gospel
sheds on them than they are with it." Surely this was
most true. If this frail life was not part of a larger ex
i,teuee of a much larger existence, what was it? What
was all this toil for ? Why was this perfecting of the
character ? Why this multdiarious energy of a great life
if it was ail to ha extinguished in a moment? Dr.
Mackarness went on to speak of existence as a fragment
on.y of man's life, and deprecated tae ascetic views
sometimes taken of this worid's duties. Those who held
these views had, he said, answered falsely the question
asked in the text. I have a proof, said he, that they
have answered falsely, and you have a pro if, in the life
to which the thoughts of so many of you go back to-day.
You all know what he was in the discharge of daily duty
—how careful and accurate, how particular to do the
things which belonged to his station in the world, aud
to the places and honours his held; how careful to do
this world's duties well—very well. Some know much
more than that. Some know, more or lass perfectly,
What he was in respect of that other hidden, inner life
which is with Christ. Some know—only very few—
what humble thoughts he had the while of the life he
tried to live. Let me quote again his own words—they
will help us to it. it is more than thirty years since he
wrote them. " Let us think," he said, "let us think of
it as it really is, not as the end of our Ids, but as an
event in our life." Are they not memorable words:
You know how often he said and wrote short, terse say-
ings; with little enlargment or embellishment, only that
whicn came out of a careful, close reflection, guided by
clear judgment and good sense, not a word beyond what
was necessary to express his thoughts. This is one of
such sayings. It seems to be a text in itself. What a
view it gives one of life and death. After speaking of
the influence which such a view must have had upon the
life of a Christian, bringing out the faithful discharge
of all duties, not only higher public functions, but dry
and common details as well, the bishop proceeded—Such
a life I thoroughly believe was the life of him by whose
grave we stood a few hours ago. Surely that life has not
passed away. It is precious in memory, abiding in in-
licence, imperishable in love. nook ,iack for more than
thirty years, and I feel that to me as to so many others
his presence in the public or private life to which we be.
longed was distinctly a power of good, a help against C.
worthy c_aiduct, a standing condemnation of all that was
dishonourable, narrow, or untrue. How fair and candid

he was in discussion, how just in estimating other-';
actions, how kind in making allowance for what he
deemed to be wrong, how fearless when he felt public
feeling was to be resisted or exposed. We remember
him well. What good or useful enterprise did he ever
fail to help ? What public duty did he ever refuse to
do? Ido not speak here of that rich culture whose
fruits so many of us loved to taste, of that wide sympathy
with learners and teachers in English education, or that
deep interest in distant homes, the creed of another
England in a coming age. These were but the fringes
of his life, rich;and pleasant as they were to see. Deeper
than al this lay the firm faith of a Christian man, the
generous love which followed each dear child along the
treacherous path of life, that wise and thoughtful care
which they will never forget, that counting no member
of his household unworthy of his help, the Sunday
school—you know what I mean—not too simple a sphere
of labour through many years of his active life; sod yet,
in the midst of cares and affections and dotes, we
seemed to hear the inner voice saying from time to time,
" Let us often think upon death." Dear brethren, I
know that has a dreary sound—a sound of monuments
and vaults, and dull, cold, dark resting places of buried
eirpses. "Let as think often of death., ' Who we bow
tne nead, and hush the voice, and tune our rueditations
to sad memories, it will not have that dreary sound if
you say it, as he said it, "Let us think often of death; '
if you go on and say as he said, " Let us think of it not
as the end of our the, but as an event in our life," the
dreariness is gone. We forget the graveyard and tomb
except for the memories they have, and we think of a
great event, a solemn event, for which all men lift up
their hearts to Gol vrlio has ordered a noble life, so that
!it may go on for ever. No, these words I have asked
you to remember when you leave the church must never
have a dreary sound here. Fresh blades of grass will
grow on that grave, the summer sun will shine upon it
soon, and thou, by and by, falling red leaves will make a
carpet all in ound it in the bright autumn day. The
memory of a brave, true-hearted Christian man will
spring out of taat i.raie also, and the warmth of heart,
which, long kindled tunny a tune by his acts of affection
and benevolence while he lived, will be set glowing
again as the thought of that comes back to grateful re-
collection. He has departed in God's faith and fear.
May he rest in peace, aid may we have our perfect con-
summation of bliss with Lim in God's eternal glory
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
'the hymn brief life is here our portion "was sung
and the congregation was dismissed with the benedic
tion.

The Bi.hop of Rochester preached at Hagley Church,
on Sunday evening, from Ist Corinth!ens, xv., 42, 43
"It is sown in corruption, it is rii,3ed in incorrup i
&e. He spoke with deep earnestness of the subject
brought out by the text. But for their faith that these
poor weak bodies, dishonoured as regards the uses of
this world, deprived of all strength, should be raised in-
o-ruptible, glorious, endued with new powers, adapted
to a new and more glorious existence—but for this faith.
how could they bear the unutterable anguish of theie
partings with men so widely esteemed and bonen' ed
so deArly loved, under circumstances most strange ad ru
teirihle ? In concluding his sermon, his lordship said :
B loved, there are other words I might have spoken, but
I cannot It would scarcely be just to the memory ol
one whom I deplore in common with you all, whom
I loved in common with you all, to say one single word
even of respect and love, more than he would have per-
mitted had he been with us still, as be was in his unpre-
tending kindness, manliness, virtue thinking always of
others, last and least of himself, shrinking from no
labour for those whose welfare he sought to promote.
I may not speak of him thus to-day; far less would I at-
tempt to intrude into those hours of thick darkness,
when the light by which he had walked all his life long
was quite obscured, when he failed to see the tokens to
which he had ever taught others to look for their guide-
ance. Even as the rays of light are all confused and dis-
turbed to one who is coloured-blind, so to him were the
laws of right and wrong, of truih and love by which he
had ever lived and thought and spoken. He /eaves be
hind those whose lives while they live, and whose deaths
s
when they come to die, will reflect his teaching, his
seizedu m an
noble example, all that he said and did era that unrest
nednutoldreahunimtn„whhe passed when,
out of our ight,
, in an agony which so
out of our sight, brethren, until—thank God there is an
heart r at
until—until that dty when, as it is written, Christ, who
is our life, shall appear, and we shall appear with Him
in glory—fathers. children, brothers, sisters, husbands,
wives—albeit in the resurrection. They neither marry,
nor are given in marriage ; yet, after a heavenly spiritual
manner, may the love which knit together in one the
whole Christian family be renewed. Both the heavens
and the earth that now are shall be no more remembered,
nor come into mind, with their unutterable sadnesses,
with their terrible agony. No, for it is written: "There
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away."
The new Lord Lyttelton, came home on Thursday
night.