James Spencer Northcote Papers 1850-1876 MS.2004.048 http://hdl.handle.net/2345/1036 Archives and Manuscripts Department John J. Burns Library Boston College 140 Commonwealth Avenue Chestnut Hill 02467 library.bc.edu/burns/contact URL: http://www.bc.edu/burns
Table of Contents Summary Information... 3 Administrative Information... 4 Related Materials... 4 Biographical Note: James Spencer Northcote... 5 Historical Note: The Rambler... 6 Scope and Contents... 6 Arrangement... 6 Collection Inventory... 7 I: Correspondence... 7 II: Notebook of Sermon Notes... 7 - Page 2 -
Summary Information Creator: Title: Collection Identifier: Northcote, J. Spencer (James Spencer) James Spencer Northcote Papers MS.2004.048 Date [inclusive]: 1850-1876 Physical Description Language of the Material: Abstract: Preferred Citation 1 Linear feet (2 boxes) English Composed of correspondence of Northcote with John Henry Newman, Richard Simpson, James Burns, and Father Ambrose Rose St. John. The letters discuss The Rambler and religious matters. There is also a notebook that includes Northcote's notes on and the text of sermons delivered by him and other individuals. Identification of item, Box number, Folder number, James Spencer Northcote papers, MS.2004.048, John J. Burns Library, Boston College. - Page 3 -
Administrative Information Publication Information Processed by Helen Brady, March 2005; Edward Copenhagen, May 2005; Rachael Young in 2018. This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace. Restrictions on access Collection is open for research. Provenance Because the current accessioning system was not used until January 1986, it is not possible to know exactly the dates of acquisition of materials received before that time. Restrictions on use These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials. Related Materials Related Materials John Henry Cardinal Newman collection, MS.1986.039, John J. Burns Library, Boston College. - Page 4 -
Biographical Note: James Spencer Northcote James Spencer Northcote (1821-1907) was born at Feniton Court, Devon, on 26 May, 1821. He was the second son of two sons and four daughters of George Barons Northcote (1796-1875) landowner of Feniton Court and his wife Maria. Northcote was educated at Ilmington Grammer School (1830-1837). He entered Corpus Christi College in Oxford in 1837. He graduated with a BA from the classical school (1841). While in Oxford he was influenced by John Henry Newman and E.B. Pusey of the Oxford Movement. In 1842 he married his cousin Susannah Spencer Poole (d. 1853). Having been ordained an Anglican deacon in 1844, he served as a curate at Ilfracombe but entertained many doubts about the Anglican position. In 1845 Northcote's wife and three of her sisters converted to Catholicism. After resigning his position in the Church of England Northcote followed suit. He set out his reasons for converting in The Fourfold Difficulty (1846). From 1847 to 1850 he lived in Rome and became close friends with G. B. De Rossi, an historian of the catacombs. Henceforth the catacombs were an area of lifelong study for Northcote and he published a number of archeological works and guides relating to them. Northcote spent 1850-53 at Clifton, where he edited the Clifton Tracts. In addition, from June 1852 to September 1854 he edited the Catholic journal The Rabmler. Following the death of his wife in 1853 he began studying for the priesthood, at the Birmingham Oratory and later at the Collegio Pio in Rome (1854-5) and was ordained in 1855. In January 1860 he was appointed vice-president of St Mary's College, Oscott, an important Catholic public school and seminary. The following July Northcote was made president of the school. During his seventeen yearperiod at St Mary's he modernized the studies and raised the profile of the school to be the leading Catholic public school of the day. In 1877 Northcote retired due to ill health. He spent ten more years as a parish priest, initially at Stone and then at Stoke-on-Trent. In 1887 he was forced to retire from active work for health reasons. He died at the presbytery in Stoke on 3 March 1907. All of his three sons and three daughters predeceased him. Sources: "James Spencer Northcote." Dictionary of National Biography (online version), downloaded March 21, 2005. "James Spencer Northcote." Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, Vol. III. London; Smith, Elder and Co, 1912. Obituary, The Tablet, Saturday March 9 th, 1907; page 381-382. "Oxford Movement." New Catholic Encyclopedia (Vol. X), The Catholic University of America: Washington D.C., 1967. - Page 5 -
Historical Note: The Rambler The Rambler was founded by J.M. Capes, a convert to Catholicism. In the 1850s editorial control was assumed by Richard Simpson and Sir John Dalberg Acton. Simpson delighted in chronicling the historical misdeeds and scandals of the Roman Church. This shocked English Catholics and made life difficult for the bishops, who were trying to run a small church in a hostile country. The hierarchy, headed by Cardinal Wiseman, held that no Catholic paper should publish material that would be damaging to the Church. John Henry Newman was an avid supporter of The Rambler and took over co-editorship from Simpson in March 1859 but was forced to resign by the hierarchy within a few months. The bishops displeasure with Newman's editorship was compounded when he wrote an article titled "On Consulting the Laity in Matters of Doctrine"and published it in The Rambler. The Rambler changed its name to the quarterly Home and Foreign Review. In 1864 the journal was discontinued. James Spencer Northcote co-edited the journal from June 1852 to September 1854. Sources: New Catholic Encyclopedia (Vol.III), Catholic University of America; Washington, D.C., 1967. Meriol, Trevor. Newman: Light in Winter. Doubleday: Garden City, NY. 1963. Scope and Contents The James Spencer Northcote Papers contain materials concerning discreet parts of Northcote's life after his conversion to Catholicism. The collection primarily consists of correspondence between Northcote and John Henry Cardinal Newman, Richard Simpson, James Burns, and Father Ambrose Rose St. John, during the years that Northcote served as acting editor of The Rambler. The correspondence mainly relates to articles published in The Rambler. Of particular note are letters written by John Henry Newman to Northcote including letters written from Italy recounting Newman's experiences viewing the relics of Saints whose blood liquefied and expressing his unhappiness with how the Church in Rome views English converts. Other correspondence from Newman relates to Northcote's directorship of The Rambler. The remainder of the collection consists of a notebook kept by Northcote between the years of 1852 and about 1876, in which Northcote documents sermons (his own and those of others) and retreats and sermons given at St. Mary's School, Oscott. Arrangement The collection is divided into two series. Series I. Correspondence. Series II. Notebook. - Page 6 -
Collection Inventory Series I: Correspondence, 1850-1861 John Henry Newman, 1850-1860 Box 1 Folder 1-2, 4, 6-7 Father Ambrose St. John, circa 1850 Box 1 Folder 3 Richard Simpson, circa 1853 June Box 1 Folder 5 James Burns, 1861 Box 1 Folder 8-11 Explanatory Note Box 1 Folder 12 Series II: Notebook of Sermon Notes, 1852- circa 1876 Box 2 - Page 7 -