THE
P RTAL
December 2012
Page 7
Robert Radcliffe Anglican
Dolling
Luminary
by Fr Keith Robinson
One of
the most colourful, if also least well-known of the famous “slum ritualists” must be Father
Robert Dolling. His origins gave no clue as to his later career, for he was born into a landed Ulster family of
Protestant Orangemen. His inherited religion was strongly rooted in the supremacy of Scripture, and this
provided a solid foundation for what was to follow.
Clearly possessed of a unique
charism, even as a child he
organised services for his siblings
and the many other children who
were drawn to him. The prayers
were matched by a profound
concern for the poor. Perhaps it was
Ireland’s material poverty which led
him to become an ardent Christian
socialist.
Salisbury Theological
College
Robert was sent to Harrow for his
education, and thence to Trinity
College Cambridge, but a bout of
poor health prevented him from
graduating. Indeed, he had little
inclination to study, but a consuming energy for
practical applications of his Faith.
in 1883 to a curacy at Corscombe
in Dorset, but since that parish
supported a mission at Holy Trinity,
Stepney, he spent most of his time
and energy in London’s East End,
returning only to give accounts to
the parish. He founded a Mission
Centre of St Martin in Stepney, and
was ordained priest in 1888 in St
Paul’s Cathedral by Bishop William
Temple. But Temple being unwilling
to make St Martin’s a new parish, he
withdrew in disappointment.
It was Bishop How who put
him in touch with the Winchester
College Mission, which sent him
to its new mission of St Agatha’s
in Portsmouth. This was an exceptionally deprived
area of dense slum housing, with many brothels and
alehouses, and every imaginable attendant vice. He
Unusually he then spent part of his time as a land worked with extraordinary energy improving the
agent in Ireland, and part of it doing voluntary work at outlook of the poor of the area. His lasting memorial
St Alban’s, Holborn, then the most notorious ritualistic is the St Agatha’s which he built, and which has now
church in Britain. Under the direction of the clergy come back to a new life in our own time. Nevertheless
there, he set up clubs and activities for postmen and he fell out with the Bishop of Winchester after ten
other poor workers aimed at keeping them occupied years of immensely fruitful labour there.
and out of trouble.
For a year or so he went to the States, preaching and
These were hugely successful. Here too he quickly conducting missions, but was persuaded to accept the
soaked up the ethos of Catholic teaching and worship. living of St Saviour’s, Poplar in 1898. Worn out and ill,
Although there were points against him, not least he died there on 15 May 1902, aged 51. He was loved
his own reluctance, Bishop Walsham How was so by all with whom he came in contact. His funeral
impressed by Dolling that he encouraged him to obsequies were extraordinary; attended by thousands,
consider ordination. He went to Salisbury Theological including huge numbers of the poor. Dolling foresaw
College, but spent little time in the College, throwing an impending crisis in the Church of England between
himself instead into the pastoral work of the city parish “historical and Catholic Christianity, on the one hand,
of St Martin, then as now one of the poorest parishes and… indifference to definite belief combined with a
vague residuum of Christian sentiment on the other”.
in Wiltshire.
London’s East End
Unconventional as he was, Robert Radcliffe Dolling
He was ordained Deacon in Salisbury Cathedral was a giant in the land.