Extracts from

From the Fleet in the Fifties,

A History of the Crimean War,

with which is incorporated the Letters written 1854-5-6 by The Reverend S. Kelson Stothert, M.A., LL.D., Chaplain to the Naval Brigade.

By Mrs Tom Kelly (London, Hurst and Blackett, 1902)

The letters of the Reverend S. Kelson Stothert, Chaplain to the Naval Brigade, though mere private records, contain opinions, based on observation, for which his duties afforded no slight opportunity. From a distinctly naval point of view, he seriously recognised the timidity of the policy which hesitated to take immediate advantage of the forces at the command of the Allies ; but it must be borne in mind that the information supplied to the ships was often meagre, not always accurate, and frequently delayed through stress of weather.

Naturally even the barest statement of historic facts possesses attraction for the earnest student, but a sympathetic onlooker’s account of noble deeds and exciting scenes arouses a more human interest. This is materially increased if the narrator has been unable to hide, as in Kelson Stothert’s case, that he frequently outstepped duty to meet the needs of the hour.

Samuel Kelson Stothert was a descendant of the Stotherts of Cargen he was born on the 3Ist of March, 1827. Of a large family two only were sons, of whom Kelson was the elder. He went to Worcester College, Oxford, where he took his Bachelor’s degree in 1850, proceeded to his Masters’ in 1856, and two years after gained the LL.D. of Glasgow University. At Oxford he was the leader, on the Conservative side, of the Union Debating Club, and had for his chief opponent the young politician who, later, became Marquis of Salisbury.

Stothert receiving his LLD

Having chosen the Church as his profession, he was ordained deacon in 1851 and priest by the Bishop of Oxford twelve months after ; henceforward his life was consecrated to duty. The sphere of Naval Chaplain then appeared to offer more scope for his energies than that of an English parish. Stout-hearted and fearless he was eager for adventure, and in the early years of the fifties, when the equilibrium of Europe was oscillating between peace and war, it was probable that he foresaw a life of less monotony in the service of his Sovereign, than that which he then dreaded in the ordinary routine of his calling.

The union of two distinct individualities in his nature rendered him singularly strong and self-reliant. Although the priest was dominant, the spirit of the soldier never forsook him. The cassock has often concealed the warrior, and the tonsure appeared where a helmet might well have been worn ; but it is rare to find a son of the Church writing so freely of naval and military matters, while disclaiming any role but that of non-combatant.

His sympathies touched human effort at such varied points, it was well that he obtained the opportunity to mix with men of action which a Naval Chaplaincy, in 1853, presented. Although endowed with intellectual tastes, his lot for many years was not cast among kindred minds. The love of learning for its own sake is not a common attribute of officers of the naval service; though here and there we read of a meteor crossing his orbit and illuming his way; and the excitement of war made up to him, in some degree, for the lack of literary comradeship. He had occasional despondent moods, for his devotion to study increased as time went on, and he found great difficulty in procuring any kind of books in Constantinople. It was evident that he made the best even of deprivation, and hailed with gladness the occurrence of the few rare opportunities of intercourse with congenial men; his fine instinct of courtesy must have always prevented any appearance of dissatisfaction with his daily companions.

Home and University life comprised all he knew of the world when he sailed for the East, and those with whom be had hitherto come in contact had been invariably attracted by his intelligence and manliness, as well as by the ready kindness which was characteristic of him to the end of his life. His habitual temper of mind when he joined the Navy appears to have been an eagerness to be where there was most work to be done. He chafed at delay, and the patience he manifested was an acquired quality, for his inherent spirit was of a more alert and mettlesome nature.

Though reserved and often fearful of his own power, —lest he should fail in duty to God or man—he possessed no small degree of personal daring, and a grim courage he frequently disparaged in words, that was amply proved by his stalwart deeds. The involuntary repugnance he frequently expressed to the revolting scenes into which his duty led, and where he was invariably so ready to press, resulted from that delicate physical sensibility over which complete control is not always possible. While appreciating to the full that sympathy which is the outcome of kinship in dread and suffering, he was very intolerant of his own weakness if tempted to complain,

Strong convictions in early life often indicate mental power of that ruling and independent order exigency assails in vain, and to which the serviceableness of temporising does not appeal. Experience may bring wisdom and forbearance, but calm judgment is the fruit natural only to later years. Partisanship and zealous outcry against injustice are the wild, though fragrant weeds that flourish best in the garden of youth. If, in the following pages, Kelson Stothert’s opinions sometimes appear to be expressed in an arbitrary manner, it must not be forgotten that they were written for the home circle alone, and that the long war had terminated before he had attained the age of thirty.

While not lacking a sense of humour, he took life altogether too seriously, was embarked on too grave an enterprise to be very ardently cheerful, and was so constituted, that while disease and death were round him on every side, he did not greatly concern himself to cultivate undue hopefulness of spirit, as some were wont to do at that time. The facts were so significant, the blundering so apparent, the end so out of reckoning, that he was often goaded to bitter invective against the tardiness which appeared to imply expression of weakness and irresolution to the enemy. His strongly worded verdicts upon certain momentous acts possess at least the ring of that absolute sincerity which has a tendency to inspire confidence.

In his records of local details and temporary conditions, we are constantly brought in touch with men who were, by turns, the victors and the vanquished, and can discern hints of that intuition which developed in later years, into a swift and sure power of reading men and motive alike.

As time went on Kelson Stothert’s intellectual outlook widened, and he formed many firm and lasting friendships with men of great ability and renown ; the late Bishop of Oxford and Lord Lytton among others.

His varied knowledge and high personal character won for him both esteem and affection. Russell Lowell quaintly says that “a letter which is not mainly about the writer loses its prime flavour,” hut the chief element of egotism in the following correspondence is only an occasional unconscious betrayal of a courage keen, and infectious enough, to create in the mind of the reader a sense of personal participation. Sympathy is a primitive and universal emotion, and it is well known the individual complaints were only echoes of the general invective of the period against the continual tardiness displayed by all the responsible departments, especially against those which ought to have expedited the removal of the Allied forces from cholera and fever-stricken Varna, where so many thousands of lives were so uselessly sacrificed. In the Fleet no excuse could be found for the avertible evils that were rife during the campaign and when the “pestilence that walketh at noonday” was rivalling the enemy in the number of victims it claimed, words were uttered, with a simple directness of meaning, which did not ill-become men who were looking Death hourly in the face. Those evils, which continued so long, may well perplex posterity as they did the sufferers themselves, who have been rightly named pieces of the big game that was played for European stakes; but, on the arena, the weakness of the moves could be more readily detected, and frequently the failure and disaster that ensued had there been foretold.

Stothert with members of the Naval Brigade

Kelson Stothert believed that he would find congenial work in the Navy, and doubtless hoped for unexpected developments, but he could not then foresee that, to the end of his life, the effects of the hardships and exposure during the war would make him liable at intervals to attacks of acute physical suffering. No one either in the Fleet or in the Army could have conjectured the vortex of misery to which they were all hastening; could it have been predicted, the stoutest courage might well have quailed.

When the long struggle had wearied our sailors and soldiers of Turks, Frenchmen, and of the wild alien horde of every nation, and of no nation—those human vultures the tocsin of battle brings from the foul and secret places of the earth—when his comrades were indifferent about everything except the voyage home and the promotions and rewards, which many, alas! never received, Kelson Stothert was strenuously labouring to realise a great purpose. He had long been devising how the first English church in Turkey could be built and endowed. It was at length erected at Ortaquoi, a suburb of Constantinople, through his sole instrumentality; and, considering how difficult an undertaking it was, under the adverse circumstances his letters describe, he might well rejoice in such a memorial of his hard campaign. Being a true member of the Church militant, he was proud of having seen service, and wore his Turkish, Crimean and Baltic medals, on all occasions of ceremony.

He was chaplain to the following ships of the Royal Navy: La Hogue, Galatea, Edinburgh, Liffey, Queen, Victoria, Diamond, Britannia, Revenge and St. Vincent, either in the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, or the Home stations.

He was also Chaplain to the Caledonia, Flag-ship of Lord Clarence Paget, and on retiring from the Navy in 1869, became Incumbent of Holy Trinity Church, Malta, and Chaplain to the Bishop of Gibraltar. He was chosen to accompany a Special Embassy to Egypt, of which Lord Clarence Paget was chief, the object being to invest the Viceroy with the Order of the Bath.

(pp. 11-16)

[Whilst serving as chaplain to the Admiral Stothert had laboured hard to raise the money and to build a small church in the village of Ortaquoi, outside what was then Constantinople. It was to serve the English community of about 80 many of whom were not members of the Church of England, and Armenian and other Christians in the area.]

When at length he [Kelson Stothert] had to leave the Bosphorus, he took with him the hearts of the Ortaquoi congregation. He was presented with a testimonial from the little flock he had, in addition to his naval duty, voluntarily shepherded. The silver cup was a beautiful bit of workmanship, and the address, which accompanied it, was unique in its simplicity and undoubted sincerity:

“We, the undersigned inhabitants of Ortaquoi, Constantinople, beg through this means to testify our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the Rev. Samuel Kelson Stothert, Chaplain to H.M.S. Queen, for his indefatigable exertions and unremitting attention in the successful erection of the first English church in Ortaquoi, by which means the inhabitants of the above village have been able to follow their devotions and thanksgivings to Almighty God. It is with deepest sorrow that the undersigned inhabitants learn that the Rev. S. K. Stothert is to leave them, for, during the short season he has been with them, he has, by his urbanity and kindliness of heart, his humility, his unswerving integrity of purpose, so won the affections of all, that his leaving is a source of the deepest regret to his fellow countrymen. As a last tribute of affection and regard, we, the undersigned, beg that the Rev. S.K. Stothert will accept a small token from us, which awaits him upon his arrival in England, as a presentation from his obliged and ever-faithful congregation. May he, on his arrival in England, find all his dear friends in the enjoyment of every blessing that can be bestowed. May he never know sorrow in its slightest form, and may he soon return to his friends in Ortaquoi.”

To the whilom much-loved Chaplain to the Naval Brigade, the fact of having founded the first Christian Church in Turkey was perhaps a truer source of satisfaction than the possession of the Baltic, Turkish, and Crimean medals, for when he wore these decorations at levees and ceremonials, it was with an almost half apologetic concealment, under his gown.

For a time he was Incumbent at Holy Trinity, Malta, and Chaplain to the Bishop of Gibraltar, and was chosen to accompany a special Embassy under Lord Clarence Paget to Egypt. It is related in his family that his absences from England were of such long duration, that, on the occasion of a gathering at home after his father’s death, one of his young sisters coming to meet him, he asked her: “Who are you, dear? I really can’t tell which!”

He was regularly initiated at the Zetland Lodge of Freemasons (No. 518), La Valetta, Malta, on the 11th April, 1864, and was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason two months after that date. He served in many of Her Majesty’s ships, and went on the retired list in 1870.

His friendship with the late Bishop of Oxford had no interruption till the much-lamented death of Samuel Wilberforce. It was the Bishop who appointed him to fill a vacancy at St. Giles, Camberwell, during a period of friction and unsettlement in that parish, where his tact, and fine preaching, did much to bring opposing factions together.

In 1871 he became Vicar of Northam, but in the following year, when a rector was required for Ordsall, Notts, the gift was offered by Lord Wharncliffe to Dr. Stothert, and it was accepted. His health was the stumbling-block to further preferment.

He married first, Eliza Margaret, daughter of Mr. Henry Kendall, of Mortlake ; his second wife was Anastasia Caroline Alexandrina, daughter of Mr. Henry Baker, Treasurer-General of the lonian Islands, and she, and his family of sons and daughters, survived him. His scholarly taste for literature increased as the physical effects of the Crimean hardships became more pronounced.

His aptitude for writing reviews, and critical essays, was a source of much interest, and occupied the hours which he was compelled, through ill-health, to spend in his study. The following paragraphs from the columns of the Retford Times, which, with many similar appreciations, appeared after his death in June, 1892 [sic - 1897], will best tell of the love and admiration Kelson Stothert inspired in the hearts of the people among whom his last years were spent :—

“With unfeigned regret we record this morning the decease of the Rev. Samuel Kelson Stothert, M.A., LL.D., the Rector of Ordsall, who died at the Rectory on Sunday morning, aged sixty-nine years. As many of the parishioners were aware, he had been in failing health for some years, but, in spite of bodily infirmity, he struggled on manfully, and almost died in harness. With a great deal more courage and fortitude than is possessed by most men, he officiated at the morning service on the very Sunday before he passed from work to rest. He suffered acutely from rheumatic gout. During the week his strength rapidly declined, and the various members of his family were summoned. He was conscious almost to the last. It was evident to all that he was greatly concerned for the welfare and prosperity of the parish in which so large a part of his life had been spent. . . . At his desire he was so placed as to be able to see the church from the window of his room, in order to take a last look of the place wherein he had so loved to minister. Some time after midnight he seemed to lapse into unconsciousness, and at twenty minutes past four quietly passed home to God.

At Ordsall the extensive work of church building and restoration, which Dr. Stothert at various times had been instrumental in conceiving and carrying out, was still continued. As most of us are aware, the parish church of All Hallows, Ordsall, was thoroughly restored in 1877 at a cost of something like £3,000. It was a truly great work. Only those who remember the moth-eaten rafters, the misshapen and decrepit pews, the walls crumbling to ruins, can fitly contrast the appearance of the church then with what it is to-day. The undertaking was beset with difficulties, all of which, happily, gave way before Dr. Stothert’s dauntless energy and unwearied zeal, and it was yet another proof of his devotion to the church he so strongly loved.

He reformed the service. He neither could nor would tolerate in it anything approaching slovenliness, and he made it strangely beautiful, solemn, and impressive. As a reader, he probably had no equal in the district. As literary productions, his sermons were little gems; not lengthy, seldom more than a quarter of an hour’s duration, but couched in the purest, and the most severely accurate, language, illumined at times by exquisite gleams of poetry—-poems in prose, with occasional illustrations, never humorous, but always refined, well chosen, reverent, and appropriate. Prevented by continuous physical weakness from fully discharging the active and arduous duties necessary in a parish of 3,852 souls, and having an area of nearly 2,000 acres, it was a loss to the parishioners and an ever-present cause of regret to himself, yet he did great service both for God and the Church.”

(pp.436–439)

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