Higgins and Hacket, rebuilders of the cathedral

Summary. Two priests were instrumental in rebuilding the cathedral after the devastation of the Civil War. Precentor William Higgins stayed with the cathedral through the three sieges and almost alone set out to rebuild the cathedral after the Restoration of the Monarchy, 1660. By 1662 he was helped by Bishop John Hacket who arranged funding for the restoration.

          After the three sieges of the Close in the Civil War, 1643-6, the cathedral was wrecked and Cromwell’s parliament wanted it demolished. Two priests, both Royalists, resisted attempts to complete the demolition and with the restoration of the monarchy supervised a rebuild. They were Precentor William Higgins and Bishop John Hacket.

William Higgins, born in London, was educated at Christ Church, Oxford and held livings at Henstridge, Almondbury, Cheselbourne and was rector of Stoke on Tern, Shropshire, before becoming a canon of Lichfield Cathedral in 1633, and precentor in 1636.[1] In 1642, he fought for the Royalists at Edgehill and was taken prisoner and imprisoned at Coventry for three months. His release came with paying a sum of money.[2] At some point he removed St Chad’s gospels and arranged for its safe keeping. He admitted to having the gospels on 15 August 1658.

 He stayed within the Close during the third siege and was taken prisoner when the Close surrendered in 1646. The priests by now had scattered and the cathedral was without any leadership. On his release Higgins became a teacher in Shropshire, but this reduced him to penury.[3] 

At the Restoration of the Monarchy, 1660, the rebuilding of the cathedral began under the supervision of Higgins and later in February 1661 with dean William Paul. In September 1660, Higgins became president of the chapter and reformed it with much disagreement on who should be appointed. Services restarted in the chapterhouse and vestry, 1660. Savage wrote, ‘practically alone (Higgins) preserved a continuity of the cathedral’.[4] In 1664, he had to administer under a new dean who was disliked by all. Higgins died in 1666, aged 66.

 

John Hacket (Halket), 1592–1670 was Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, 1661–1670. He has been labelled ‘another founder of the cathedral’.[5]  He was born in St Martin-in-the-Fields, London and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. His father was a prosperous tailor in London.

Statue of John Hacket from the west front. He is holding the Book of Common Prayer which he used all his life.

 

He was ordained in London in 1618, aged 26 and gained a D.D. in 1628. He preached to James I in 1623 and again in 1624;[6] being made a Prebend of Lincoln Cathedral in 1623. Between 1631 and 1661, he was archdeacon of Bedford. In 1641, Hacket was asked to speak to parliament against a bill forwarded by Puritans to abolish bishops, deans and cathedral chapters. He gave reasons for the existence of cathedrals, their clergy and all who work in them causing the bill to be delayed for a month. A year later he was made a residentiary canon of St Pauls. In 1642, he was imprisoned for failing to pay money to Parliament and a year later the Parliamentarians accused him of ‘superstition, covetousness, sending money to the king and aversion to the Covenant’. Whereupon he retired to his rectory at Cheam having no more to do with the Civil War.[7] After the Civil War and the Commonwealth he became chaplain to Charles II. In 1660 he frequently preached before Charles II, sometimes occupying the pulpit at St. Paul’s. That year he was offered the bishopric of Gloucester and refused it, but then on the recommendation of Charles II accepted the see at Lichfield with all the difficulty of rebuilding “that most ruined cathedral, city and diocese to his prudent circumspection and government.” He was consecrated Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry on 22 December 1661, aged 69.

Bishop Hacket painting in Trinity College, Cambridge. Wikipedia, Public Domain.

 

Near life-size effigy of Hacket on a marble table monument located in the South Choir aisle. The bishop is holding the Book of Common Prayer and a crozier. His eldest son, Andrew, erected the effigy to his father’s memory.

Hacket gained a reputation for learning, perseverance and determination and was widely known for his Royalist sympathies, but he came to Lichfield in mental turmoil.[8] The Civil War had caused him much anguish and sorrow and had retired to rural Cheam claiming he would never again enter London after the execution of the king. William Harvey, a fellow Royalist who had been physician to James I, described Hacket as wanting to depart the world after the execution of Charles and other clergy. His time was spent in prayer and study and the isolation made him a ‘sickly old man.’ Harvey told him to take exercises and gave him curatives for his despondency. Leaving his rectory sanctuary and restoring the cathedral after its Civil War desecration was never going to be easy.

 Hacket seated at the bench planning the restoration of the cathedral. Note the figure at the front of the bench holding the working drawings.

 

He arrived at the cathedral two years into its restoration. By then precentor Higgins, a reinstituted Chapter, a new Dean and other local notables had initiated much of the early planning and clearance of the site from 1660–1.[9] Hacket arrived in August 1662 and was immediately preoccupied with building a house in the Close, spending £1000 of his own money.[10] He returned again in October. He gave a silver-gilt communion service, two chalices, two flagons and a paten, for facilitating Eucharist.

 

Communion service given to the cathedral by Hacket, 1662. Made by Daniel Rutty and engraved with the cathedral arms, with one piece made by an unknown silversmith.

 

From 1663, Hacket and the Chapter had a quarrelsome relationship with the Dean, who he described as siding with ‘Puritans’ (Nonconformists) in the town.[11] He visited Lichfield in August 1668 to see the work being done. The restored cathedral, after eight years of considerable work, was rededicated by Hacket on Christmas Eve 1669, followed by a feast for three days.[12] Hacket paid for a statue of Charles II to be placed high on the west front.[13] For some, he was the builder of a new cathedral,[14] but evidence for his involvement in its material reconstruction is lacking. Instead, Hacket’s great contribution was the raising of finance and before he died, he claimed to have raised £15,000 (equivalent to £1.5 million).[15] In his last year he preached again to the king. When close to death he heard a new bell chiming in the south-west tower; described by one writer as his passing bell. He died in October 1670. Hacket’s sermons for which he was most noted were published in 1675.[16]

Hacket grave marker at the end of the south aisle.

 

Hacket’s cathedra, the middle stall. It was adapted for use by judges in the Consistory Court, 1814. The Court from late 17th-century to 1830 was mostly concerned with arbitration for intractable disputes of a predominantly rural nature.[17]

 

Chairs believed to be from Hacket’s restoration of the interior of the cathedral.

[1] J. Foster (ed), Hieron-Horridge', in Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, (Oxford, 1891), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp706-747 .

[2] H. E. Savage, ‘Reconstruction after the Commonwealth. Unpub. article in Lichfield Cathedral library (1918).

[3] M W Greenslade and R B Pugh (ed), 'House of secular canons - Lichfield cathedral: From the Reformation to the 20th century', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3. (London, 1970), 166-199. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol3/pp166-199  .

[4] H, Savage, (1918), 18. See note 2.

[5] T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of Lichfield. (London: 1806), 155.

[6] Hacket in his study time composed the Latin comedy called Loyola, which was twice performed before James I. It satirised church groups outside of mainstream Church of England.

[7] There is a story of Hacket preaching from the unauthorised Book of Common Prayer when a soldier entered his church and presented a pistol at his breast and ordered him to stop. Hacket replied that he would do what became a divine, let the other do what became a soldier; and continued with his service. It has not been possible to find the origin of this story, or which church it occurred in; there are variations.

[8] T. Plume, An account of the life and death of the Right Reverend Father in God, John Hacket, late Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, foreword to A century of Sermons, (London: 1675)

[9] H. E. Savage, (1918). See note 2.

[10] T. Harwood, (1806), 66. See note 5.

[11] The bishop was driven to excommunicate the Dean openly in the church.

[12] M. W. Greenslade, ‘Lichfield: From the Reformation to c.1800', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, Lichfield, (London, 1990), 14-24. 

[13] T. Harwood (1806), 72. See note 5.

[14] M. W. Greenslade and R. B. Pugh, (London, 1970), 166-199. See note 3.

[15] Ibid. £3,500 was said to have come directly from Hacket.

[16] See https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A43515.0001.001?view=toc for a list of the sermons.

[17] A. Tarver, The Consistory Court of the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry and its work, 1680-1830. Unpub. thesis, University of Warwick. (1998)