Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Stanton, Arthur Henry
STANTON, ARTHUR HENRY (1839–1913), divine, the third son and youngest of twelve children of Charles Stanton, fine cloth manufacturer, by his wife, Martha Holbrow, was born at ‘Upfield’, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 21 June 1839. He was educated at Rugby and Oxford, entering Trinity College in 1858. Neither at school nor at the university did he win any distinctions. He was not idle, but his ambitions and his gifts pointed another way, and books, throughout his life, were always a quite subordinate interest. Under the influence of Henry Parry Liddon [q.v.], then vice-principal of St. Edmund Hall, he went on to Cuddesdon theological college; and thence to London to take up work as curate in the newly-formed parish of St. Alban, Holborn, under Alexander Heriot Mackonochie [q.v.]. On 21 December 1862 he was ordained deacon at Whitehall by Bishop Tait, and went at once to reside in the clergy house adjoining St. Alban's church, where he lived, without break, for the fifty years of his ministry. The parish was for the most part a difficult one, uncared for, squalid, and lawless. This did not repel him; on the contrary it was the wild element in it which really attracted him, and he gave himself body and soul to work for the good of these neglected men and women. He succeeded in gaining a remarkable hold upon some of the very roughest amongst them, by the natural, unconventional way in which he identified himself with them in their homes and daily life. Before long it became widely known that a preacher of unusual type and eloquence was at work at St. Alban's, and crowds of young men flocked to hear him. He was in these early days and onwards a singularly attractive personality. The fervour of his personal devotion to Christ, his sympathy and humour, aided by a voice of great charm and a manner naturally dramatic, won for him a devoted following. Invitations to preach now came to him from all quarters. It was a time of great and fruitful activity; it was also a very happy time, for he had found himself, and a field ripe for his zeal.
But Stanton's career was abruptly checked by an experience which affected his whole later life. The first signs of coming trouble were certain letters in the newspapers which accused him of romanizing, and of disloyalty to the Church of England, and demanded that he should be silenced. This did not disturb him; but when bishops gave in to the clamour and denounced him, he was deeply hurt. For the moment, indeed, it paralysed him, because obedience to episcopal authority was to him an article of faith. One after another certain bishops, when he was announced to preach in their diocese, inhibited him, and even the chaplain-general of the forces forbade him to officiate again in any military chapel (1867). Stanton bowed to the storm; he obeyed and said very little, but it wounded him to the quick. To make matters harder, he had in time to share with his vicar, Mackonochie, the burden and worry of a series of ritual prosecutions which pursued him for nearly fifteen years. Throughout this time and to the end of his life, in spite of all, Stanton continued to work with undiminished earnestness within the limits of his own parish and diocese. As the years went on active opposition died away, leaving him in peace, until in 1906 the report of the royal commission on ecclesiastical discipline laid him open to new attacks. The effect of this was to call out at once the indignant protest of his many friends. Three thousand men, who publicly acknowledged their personal debt to his preaching and influence, signed an address assuring him of their affection and gratitude, and of their resentment at the treatment he had received. During the remaining years of his life he continued his apostolate among young men without molestation. Of official recognition of his work for half a century there was no sign, until in March 1913, the bishop of London, not knowing how seriously ill he was, offered him a prebendal stall in St. Paul's Cathedral. Stanton wrote in courteous terms declining the honour, but the offer, coming from his bishop, pleased him greatly. Within three weeks he died at Stroud (28 March). His funeral through the streets of London was a most striking public demonstration of the place which he had won in the hearts of the people. He was buried at Woking. A chapel, containing his recumbent effigy in bronze, perpetuates his memory in the church which he served.
Stanton was felt to be one of the most attractive and inspiring of the preachers of his day. To him and his quickening eloquence the Anglo-Catholic movement in the Church of England owes much. He printed nothing himself, but since his death two volumes of reports of his sermons have been published and often reprinted, and two volumes of his own sermon-notes. His life—Arthur Stanton, a Memoir—written by his friend, G. W. E. Russell, was published in 1917.
[Personal recollections of one who was his colleague for forty-five years. Portrait, Royal Academy Pictures, 1917.]