St Anselm hall has a rich and colourful history, one that is reflected in the life stories of the men and, more recently, women who have made it their home from home.
When complete, this index will provide, for the first time, a public record of the men of St Anselm Hall 1907-1939 and their stories.
The index has been drawn together from a wide range of sources and reflects available information, however please be aware that some names and stories remain missing.
If you have further information or would like to contact us, please email Slemshistory19@outlook.com
'What I Owe to that young Irish Curate'
1907-1915
When the Rev. Allworthy opened St. Anselm's Hostel at Newton Heath in 1907, he intended it to be a place where working class boys were prepared for ordination. Of the 14 boys who are known to have passed through the hall over the next eight years, most were also connected to the University, either as matriculation (entrance exam) students or as undergraduates. In 1914, however, the outbreak of World War I changed everything. A number of Slemsman joined the conflict. One man- Thomas Robinson- never came home. Several others found their life paths dramatically altered. In 1915, the hall was forced into a temporary closure which would last until 1919.
St Anselm Hall c.1911
'An Old Soldier'
1919-1924
St Anselm Hall c.1925
The men who entered St Anselm Hall in 1919 were striking in that they were all ex-servicemen, mostly in their 20s and 30s, who had seen action in the First World War and were now seeking ordination in the Church of England. Most had entered the hall through the Knutsford Scheme, a Church of England initiative to prepare ex-servicemen for ordination. Having completed their Knutsford traing they were placed at St Anselm, under the care of the new Warden, the Rev. Frederick Chevassut, whilst they undertook their University education.
Nearby, meanwhile, Gartness (Brassey Memorial) Hostel had been opened to accommodate Army Service Candidates also looking to ordination. Like St Anselm, many of its students had come to the University from the Knutsford Scheme. As St Anselm’s small size, however, soon made it financially unviable the decision was made in 1921 to merge the two institutions as St Anselm (Brassey Memorial) Hall, under the care of the Principal of Gartness, Rev. Lindsay Dewar.
'The men of St Anselm'
1924-1927
Rev. Lindsay Dewar
After the merging of St. Anselm and Brassey memorial hall in 1921, the newly formed St Anselm Brassey memorial hall (quickly shortened again to St Anselm) was placed under the care of the Rev. Lindsay Dewar, a priest in his early 30s who had been ordained in 1914 and from 1916-1918 had been a chaplain to the Armed Forces. Before his move to Manchester, he had been Warden of Bishops College, an Anglican theological college in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. Under his Wardenship, the hall began to take its more modern form. Crucially, it was under Dewar’s influence that the hall moved from a hall for ordination candidates to a hall for all University students. As the hall expanded, however, space once again became an issue and one of the Rev. Dewar’s final acts before leaving hall in 1927 was to arrange the building of the ‘new wing’ (now called Dewar) to the left of the main building.
'Building a College Tradition'
1927-1934
Rev. Duncan Armytage
On the departure of the Rev. Dewar in, the hall came under the management of a new Warden, the Rev. Duncan Armytage. Notably stricter than his predecessor he was heavily influenced by his experiences as a student at St. Edmund’s Hall, Oxford. It was Armytage who formally introduced much of the hall’s traditional management structure, including the JCR and SCR. One of his most significant legacies has been the formal dinner, which he introduced as a part of hall life in the late 1920s.
Physically, however, the hall’s space problem continued, and, under Armytage’s tenure, the hall began to rent a succession of large Victorian Villas in the area, two of which, Manor and Summerfield, were later purchased. These would remain a part of the hall’s footprint until the late 1960s when, having succumbed to decades of student use and abuse, they were finally demolished and replaced by the two hall wings which now carry their names.
'Pipes, Boilers and Meal Schedules '
1934-1939
Rev. Thomas South
The Rev. South was once described by his two children as ‘a very modest man and deeply religious… desperately loving and caring.’ In his late 20s and relatively recently ordained (his only previous appointment was assistant curate at Banbury), South took charge in 1934 of a hall that had largely settled into its established shape and routine. Despite finding that his role consisted largely of ‘the workings of pipes and boilers and making out meal schedules’ South took a full part in hall life, encouraging the development of hall sports and acting as director in several hall plays. South ended his term as Warden in 1939, leaving the hall in the care of the Rev. Joe Inglis, whose foresight and ambition kept it going through the difficult years of the Second World War.
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