Archbishop Vernon Harcourt

Abstract

On 5 November 1847, as the villagers of Bishopthorpe were burning Guy Fawkes in effigy, news came down from the Palace that their beloved archbishop had died. Only four days before, he had travelled into York, still hale and hearty, though in his ninety-first year, a patriarchal figure, majestic in physique and princely in appearance. No archbishop since Walter de Gray (1215-1255) had been Metropolitan of the Northern Province so long. His departure marked the end of an era. He was the last aristocratic archbishop of York. What a contrast to the archbishops who followed him! There was nothing aristocratic about Thomas Musgrave, whose father had been a Cambridge tailor, and who, before setting foot in Bishopthorpe as archbishop, had previously been there only to assist his father in measuring Vernon Harcourt for his clothes! Charles Thomas Longley came from an old family which lived on friendly terms with the Darnleys, but, though very dignified, he was no aristocrat. William Thomson, physically a magnificent figure, was the son of a tradesman, and never felt quite at home with the aristocracy, preferring the steel workers of Sheffield. With the death of Vernon Harcourt an era had, indeed, passed.