Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol II (1901).djvu/94

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Creighton
82
Creighton

which appeared in 1892 under the editorship of his brother, Major-general John North Crealock (1837–1895). The book,which is profusely illustrated from Crealock's drawings, may be considered the most ample and authoritative work on this subject. He was himself an enthusiastic follower of the sport and possessed a thorough knowledge of every detail in regard to it. He died in London, before the book was entirely completed, on 31 May 1891, at his residence, 20 Victoria Square.

[Times, 4 June, 1891; Elgin's Letters and Papers, pp. 326, 358, 381; Kugby School Register; Ashe and Edgell's Story of the Zulu Campaign, 1880, pp. 194, 196, 198-9, 266-7, 354-6; Illustrated London News, 13 June 1891 (with portrait).]

E. I. C.

CREIGHTON, MANDELL (1843–1901), scholar, historian, and bishop successively of Peterborough and London, was the eldest son of Robert Creighton of Carlisle, and Sarah, daughter of Thomas Mandell of Bolton, Cumberland. He was born in Carlisle on 5 July 1843, and was educated first at the cathedral school in that town, afterwards as a scholar at the grammar school, Durham, at the time under the control of Dr. Holden. In 1862 he gained a postmastership at Merton College, Oxford, and commenced residence at the university in the autumn of the same year. As an undergraduate he threw himself vigorously into the social life of the college, rowed in the college boat, and made many friends. He had no taste for sport, but took long walks, played whist, and conversed freely with all sorts and conditions of men. His religious opinions were those of a high churchman, his political views those of a moderate liberal. While enjoying to the full the varied interests of university life, he read hard and steadily, and his diligence was rewarded by a first class in 'moderations,' a first in the final school of literæ humaniores, and a second in law and history—the last gained on six months' reading. In December 1866 he was elected a fellow of Merton, and in 1867 he was admitted to the B.A. degree. Shortly afterwards he became a tutor of his college, and settled down to academic life as a 'don.'

He soon became the leading spirit of the college common-room, and one of the most influential of the younger tutors in the university. Among his pupils were the Duke of Albany, with whom he became intimate, and Lord Randolph Churchill, in whom he early discerned the promise of political success. After lecturing for a short time for 'greats,' he devoted himself to historical work, and lectured chiefly on ecclesiastical, Italian, and Byzantine history. It was largely due to his initiative, in combination with Mr. Laing (of Corpus) and Mr. Shadwell (of Oriel), that the Intercollegiate system of lectures in history was established at Oxford. In 1870 Creighton was ordained; he took priest's orders in 1873. In 1872 he married Louise von Glehn, youngest daughter of Robert von Glehn, a London merchant, who came from Reval in the Russian Baltic provinces. In order to retain him as fellow and tutor, Merton passed a special statute enabling four of their fellows who held office to marry. He was therefore under no pressure to withdraw from college life; and, had he remained at Oxford, success and distinction were within his reach. But he desired to gain experience of clerical and especially parochial work, and he wished for leisure and quiet in order to carry on his historical studies. He accordingly accepted the college living of Embleton, on the coast of Northumberland, and in March 1875 left the academic stir of Oxford for what many of his friends regarded as the banishment of a remote country village.

The parish of Embleton is large in area and contains a scattered population of about sixteen hundred; there are four schools and many small villages in it. It was therefore no light task which he had undertaken; but he threw himself into it with great energy, and discharged his parochial duties with devotion and success. He made a point of knowing every one in the parish, and won the confidence of his Northumbrian parishioners, who consulted him on all sorts of occasions. He instituted services in two of the more distant villages. He preached twice a Sunday simple ethical discourses, dealing little with dogma, but stimulating and suggestive, salted with a shrewdness which appealed forcibly to his north-country audience. In fact, whether in private or in the pulpit, he spoke to his people not only as a clergyman but as a man of affairs. He soon became intimate with the leading families of the neighbourhood, especially with the Greys of Howick and Fallodon. As guardian of the poor, and chairman of the board for his union, he regularly attended the conferences of the poor-law unions of the four northern counties, and read several papers on educational questions. He was also (from 1877) chairman of the school attendance committee, and (from 1879) rural dean of Alnwick, in which town he frequently gave lectures on historical or literary subjects. When the diocese of Newcastle was founded (in 1881) he took a prominent part in its organisation,