A BISHOP’S ROMANCE.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 16 July 1901, Page 4

A BISHOP’S ROMANCE.

A London contemporary says : “ Ambition sated and love denied ” this in brief is the history of Winnington Ingram, King Edward’s new appointee to the See of London, the greatest Bishopric in the Anglican Church. A bishop at forty-two of the world’s metropolis in direct line of succession to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, the proudest ecclesiastical honor in Great Britain’s gift, with riches and world power at command, he has all that heart could desire save love. The bishop has buried his romance, but it has left its mark. The story of Arthur Foley Winnington Ingram would convert the most ardent sceptic to a belief in a law of compensation. His father’s modest living at Stamford inspired the studious boy with simple tastes, and when he obeyed a call to the priesthood he was satisfied to begin at the foot of the ladder. He filled the posi of curate at St Mary’s, Shrewsbury, sixteen years ago, at the opening of his car or. In 18U5 he was rector at Bethnal Green. Two years later he became canon of St. Paul’s and the Suffragan Bishop of Stepney. His preferment was literally the work of his own hands. He labored for his parish with a zeal that was almost unparalleled. No sacrifice was too great. He was one of his people, lived among them, and war idolised by them. They called him. “ the working bishop.” Hi used to say that he was the busiest man in Londo a" for he prepared his speeches on the top of omnibuses, composed his sermons in tramcars, and ate his lunch in the underground trains. Two years later the bishop’s romance came to a focus, when it was announced that Lady Ulrica Dun--combe, the youngest of the four famous beauties, daughters of the Earl of Feversham, was to become his bride. All London was startled. The bride-to-be, strikingly like her lovely sister the late Duchess of Leinster, was barely tweuty-four. Her delicate charm had been fostered in an environment of softest luxury. The man she had chosen dwelt among the masses in the most laborious diocese in England. It meant self-immolation, her friends said But the affair was evidently a love match. Lady Ulrica, always of a serious cast of thought, entered heart and soul into the bishop’s plans. For three months he lived in a fool’s paradise before the engagement

was broken. "Whether her courage faltered or whatever interfered, none dared ask. But with the wedding day already in view, the beauty, who had declined an earl for his sake, refused to marry her churchman lover. The bishop, stunned by the blow which crumbled Ids happiness, went abroad. He returned a changed man. He is still “ the working bishop,” with a life devotion to his work, which has spiritualised and ennobled his face and bearing. But the youthful buoyancy is gone. His romance cost him dear. Xing Edward’s appointment was in (he nature of a reward for his labors in his poorer diocese. Ingram is the youngest holder of the great Idstoric Sec of London.