Besides Herbert, the next brothers, Roger, Kenelm, and Joseph, were ready in their turn each to give up his contingent right. Courtfield consequently passed at once, in the lifetime of all of them, to the fifth son, Colonel Francis Baynham Vaughan.
Vaughan was appointed archbishop of Westminster in succession to Manning on 29 March 1892 on the unanimous recommendation of the English bishops. He himself protested that his lack of learning unfitted him for the high office. On leaving Lancashire a marble bust was placed by public subscription in Manchester town hall. He was enthroned very quietly in the Pro-Cathedral, Kensington, on 8 May, and received the pallium from the hands of the apostolic delegate, the Hon. and Rt. Rev. Mgr. Stonor, archbishop of Trebizond, on 16 August in the Church of the Oratory. On 19 Jan. 1893 he became cardinal, receiving the red hat from the hands of Leo XIII, with the title of SS. Andrea and Gregorio on the Cœhan. His long intimacy with Manning and frequent visits to Archbishop's House had made him quite familiar with the main problems which awaited him. But his efforts at solution often differed from those of his predecessor.
Vaughan embarked without delay on a large scheme of concentration in catholic ecclesiastical education throughout the country. He closed St. Thomas's Seminary at Hammersmith. On 15 July 1897 St. Mary's College, Oscott, was constituted de jure and de facto the common seminary for a group of dioceses, Westminster, Birmingham, Clifton, Newport, Portsmouth, Northampton, and what was then the vicariate of Wales. In the interest of concentration and efficiency the cardinal accepted a policy of complete self-effacement both for himself and his diocese. The supreme control of the central seminary was vested in a board of co-interested bishops. The cardinal provided as much money for the new endowment of the seminary as the other bishops together, and Westminster sent more students than any other diocese. But he claimed for himself and Westminster only one-seventh share in the government of the seminary, and no greater part in its management than was conceded to a bishop who had perhaps only a couple of students there. This policy was a mistake; and before his death he realised that in founding the Central Seminary on such lines he had largely parted with the power to control the training of his own students. The arrangement was brought to an end shortly after his death.
Although Vaughan had previously opposed, like Manning and Ward, the education of catholic youths at the national universities, he changed his mind on coming to London, and at a meeting of the bishops on 4 Jan. 1895 he induced a majority to join him in urging that the Holy See should be asked to withdraw on certain conditions its former admonition against catholic attendance at Oxford and Cambridge. A resident chaplain should be provided with courses of lectures on catholic philosophy and church history. The resolutions of the bishops were finally approved by Leo XIII on 2 April 1895, and before his death Vaughan reported the success of the new policy.
From the first Vaughan meant to build Westminster Cathedral. In July 1894 he issued a private circular on the subject, suggesting a church after the style of Constantine's Church of St. Peter. The scheme met at the outset with little encouragement, but appeal was made for funds, and 45,000l. was received when John Francis Bentley [q. v. Suppl. II] was selected as architect. In the final design the idea of a Roman basilica was combined with the constructive improvements introduced by the Byzantine architects. On 29 June 1895 the foundation stone was laid. The building fund then stood at 75,000l., and it rose in May 1897 to 100,848l. Some 64,000l. was added before the cardinal's death, and his funeral service on 25 June 1903 was the cathedral's opening; there was no other.
Between 1894 and 1897 Vaughan played an official part in the controversy over the validity of Anglican orders which was raised by Anglican advocates of corporate reunion. Vaughan held that corporate reunion could come only by a process of corporate submission. Even as providing a point of contact and an opportunity for an exchange of views he thought the question of the validity of Anglican orders was unfortunately chosen. It was mainly a question of fact. But he urged the appointment in March 1896 of the international commission to report upon the question in all its bearings. The result was a declaration from Rome that Anglican orders were null and void (16 July 1896) and the issue of the bull Apostolicæ Curæ (13 September).
In the cause of denominational schools Vaughan laboured with even greater persistency in London than in Manchester. He was anxious to work in harmony with the leaders of the Church of England. In
