Robert Dolling

Robert William Radclyffe Dolling (1851–1902), often referred to as Father Dolling, was an English Anglo-Catholic priest.

The Reverend Robert Dolling
Born	Robert William Radclyffe Dolling 10 February 1851 Magheralin, Ireland
Died	15 May 1902 (aged 51) London, England
Nationality	English
Alma mater	Salisbury Theological College[1]
Religion	Christianity (Anglican)
Church	Church of England
Ordained	1883 (deacon)[2] 1885 (priest)[2]

Life

Dolling was born on 10 February 1851 in Magheralin, County Down, the son of Robert Dolling and Eliza (née Alexander).[3] His father was a land agent.[4] At the age of ten, he was sent to school at the Grange in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. In 1864, he went to Harrow School and then Trinity College, Cambridge, but left about a year later due to health problems. He lived abroad for a while, principally in Florence, but returned to Ireland upon the death of his mother in 1870, and assisted his father in the land agency work.[5]

From 1878 to 1882 he was warden of one of the houses of the Postmen's League,[6] started by Arthur Stanton of St Alban's, Holborn. He was ordained in 1883 to a curacy at Corscombe, Dorset, but resided in London as head of St Martin's Mission, Stepney.[7]

In 1885 a difficulty as to the relation of his mission to Holy Trinity Parish, Stepney, led to his resignation, and he next accepted the charge of St Agatha's, Landport, the Winchester College mission. The reforms he accomplished there were described in his Ten Years in a Portsmouth Slum (London 1896). In 1895 he again resigned owing to the refusal of Randall Davidson, the new Bishop of Winchester, to grant him a licence to officiate at the parish's new church on account of his intention specially to associate a third altar with masses for the dead.[8] During his time at the mission he spent a little over £50,000.[9] Despite extensive fundraising when he resigned there was still an outstanding debt of £3,090, for which Dolling was responsible.[9] He paid this off through sales of his book and further fundraising.[9]

In 1897 Dolling visited the United States, where his preaching made an impression. He returned to the UK in the following year as vicar of St Saviour's, Poplar, and retained the living until his death[5] in South Kensington, London, on 15 May 1902.[10]

Bibliography

• Ten Years in a Portsmouth Slum. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co. 1896.

See also

• Alexander Mackonochie

References

Footnotes

1. Kollar & Owen 2004; Owen 1912, p. 512.
2. Kollar & Owen 2004.
3. Osborne 1903, p. 1.
4. Kelley & Lunney 2009.
5. Osborne 1903, p. 335.
6. Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 499.
7. Chisholm 1910.
8. Bell 1935. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBell1935 (help)
9. Bryant 1995, pp. 58–59.
10. Kelley & Lunney 2009; Kollar & Owen 2004.

Works cited

• Bell, G. K. A. (1935). Randall Davidson: Archbishop of Canterbury. 1. London: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
• Bryant, Roger (1995). Don't Touch the Holy Joe: Father Dolling's Battle for Landport and St Agatha's Church. Hampshire, England: Ragged Right. ISBN 978-1-898269-05-2.
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1910). "Dolling, Robert William Radclyffe" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 8 (11th ed.). New York: Encyclopædia Britannica. p. 390.
  This article incorporates text from this public-domain publication.
• Cross, F. L.; Livingstone, E. A., eds. (2005). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
• Kelley, Tom; Lunney, Linde (2009). "Dolling, Robert William Radclyffe". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
• Kollar, Rene; Owen, W. B. (2004). "Dolling, Robert William Radclyffe (1851–1902)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32852.
• Osborne, Charles E. (1903). The Life of Father Dolling. London: Edward Arnold. OCLC 1048297733. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
• Owen, W. B. (1912). "Dolling, Robert William Radclyffe" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 512–513.

Further reading

• Bell, G. K. A. (1935). Randall Davidson: Archbishop of Canterbury. 2. London: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
• Clayton, Joseph (1902). Father Dolling: A Memoir. London: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. OCLC 5039403.
• Hascombe, Alan (1907). Robert Dolling, Mission Priest: A Biographical Sketch. Churchman's Penny Library. 6. London: A. R. Mowbray & Co. OCLC 44073584.
• Palmer, Bernard (1993). Reverend Rebels: Five Victorian Clerics and Their Fight Against Authority. London: Darton, Longman & Todd. ISBN 978-0-232-52037-8.
• Thomsen, Richard (1908). Robert Dolling: et blad af den engelske statskirkes historie i det 19. aarhundrede (in Danish). Copenhagen: Frimodt. OCLC 465163163.
• Yates, Nigel (1983). "The Anglican Revival in Victorian Portsmouth". The Portsmouth Papers. 38. Portsmouth, England: Portsmouth City Council. ISBN 978-0-901559-47-0.

External links

• Works by or about Robert Dolling at Internet Archive