John Arthur Albert Ralph
c.1920-1923
Economics (2nd Class honours)
John Arthur Albert Ralph was born in September 1893 in Southwark, South London, and grew up at Naylor Road, Southwark, with his parents, John Ralph and Elizabeth Pegg, and his four younger siblings. John attended Peckham Park School and later Aske Hatcham’s School, for which he was granted a commercial intermediate county scholarship in 1910.
By May 1915, when he joined the British Army, John was working as a clerk. John served in France throughout the First World War, first with the 2nd/3rd London Yeoman and then, from August 1917, with the 16th (St Pancras) Battalion Rifle Brigade. After the end of the war, John studied economics at the University of Manchester and was a resident of St Anselm Hall in this period.
John graduated with 2nd class honours in Economics in 1923 and, following graduation, completed his ordination studies at Ely Theological College. He was ordained deacon at Chester Cathedral in 1925 and made curate of St. Columba in Egremont, Cheshire. Made assistant curate of St Andrew’s, Romford, in 1927, he thereafter spent a significant part of his ministry in the London area, including in Paddington and Lambeth. He later described himself in a letter to the hall as ‘a successful semi-slum priest.’ John married Marie Nunn in 1940 and the couple had four children together.
By the early 1950s, when he made contact with the hall again, John was perpetual curate (a curate supported by a cash stipend rather than an ancient right of tithe or glebe) of the benefice of Witney, Oxfordshire, which includes the parishes of Witney and Curbridge. He wrote of his daily life ‘I find much to enjoy… I spend much time… cycling from church to church and village to village… I have learned to swing a scythe without cutting my limbs shorter than Nature intended. During the 20 months since I arrived here I have removed about two million weeds…’
John lived the remainder of his life in the Berkshire area, until his death in July 1965 and is buried with Marie in Lambourne Churchyard.
Thomas Charles Ralph
1919-c.1922
‘He was a real Londoner. He had all the Londoner’s sense of humour. Many clergy from all over the county used to seek his advice because of his great parish experience.’ Mr. E. G. H. Saunders, speaking of the Rev. Thomas Charles Ralph. 1957.
Thomas Charles Ralph was born in Hoxton, London, in February 1894, and was the fourth of the five surviving children of Thomas Ralph and Jane Kerr. His father worked in the hospitality industry and, at the time of Thomas’ birth, was employed as a Cook. After Thomas’ father, Thomas senior, died in 1898, he and his siblings were raised in Essex by their mother. The 1911 census records 17-year-old Thomas living in the family home and working as Wine Merchants Clerk.
During the 1st World War Thomas served in the 93rd Field Ambulance, a part of the R.A.M.C. He matriculated in 1919 and, during his studies at the University of Manchester was a resident of St. Anselm Hall. In the 1950s he wrote to the Warden in response to an invitation to the annual reunion dinner ‘The number of students in my short stay was very small… However, had the circumstances been favourable I would have returned to the old place [for the Reunion]..’
After graduation, Thomas completed his ordination training at the London College of Divinity and, on been made deacon in 1923, was appointed curate of All Saints Camberwell. This was followed by a further curacy at St. Mary’s, Islington, from 1926 to 1927. On his departure from St. Marys, Thomas spoke of how ‘Looking back, [he] could rejoice to think how well the days had gone and what a happy time [he] had spent in their midst’
In 1927, around the time of his marriage to his wife Winifred May, Thomas received his first appointment as Vicar of St. Anne’s, Poole Park, in Islington. He remained there for around two years before being given the living of St. Anne’s in Toronto, Canada. Migration records show that Thomas and Winifred travelled on the Caronia in April 1929. They returned to London on the Aurania in September 1931, when Thomas was made Vicar of St. Mary Magdalene, Islington. He held the post through the 1930s and through the Second World War. For a period of the war he was also Rural Dean of Islington, meaning that he had oversight of a group of local parishes on behalf of the bishop.
Ill health led Thomas to resign from his role at St. Mary Magdalen in 1945 and in 1946 he was appointed vicar of Christchurch, Spitalfields. He remained there until 1952 when he was given his final appointment as assistant secretary of the Church Pastoral Aid Society. Thomas died at his home in Wanstead in 1957 and was survived by Winifred.