Arthur Sutton Valpy

Arthur Sutton Valpy was a canon of Winchester Cathedral. He was a descendant of Richard Valpy and his wife Emily Anne Sutton. He was born 28 March 1849[1] and died 15 June 1909.

Contents

Education

Valpy was educated at Eton (left Eton in 1864) and at Gonville and Caius College Cambridge where he was awarded a Master of Arts degree in 1876 and was made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.[2]

Ordination

Valpy was ordained deacon at York in 1873, and priest the following year, serving curacies at Middlesbrough, 1873-5, and at Kensington, 1875-8.[3]

Appointments

Valpy was Rector of Farnborough from 1878-1882.[4]

He served as warden to the Church of England Soldiers' Institute and acting chaplain to the forces as Aldershot and as Rector of Holy Trinity, Guildford.[5]

He was appointed Canon Residentiary of Winchester in 1895.[6]

In 1902 Valpy was in South Africa where he acted as Rector of St Cyprian's Church in Kimberley.

Valpy as artist and his influence on English style

Canon Valpy has been credited with having injected “new life and a lightness of touch” in English style, as documented in interiors he painted in water-colours now preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. “This inspired churchman,” comments Carolyn McDowell, “put together a collection of 18c furniture, decorated his plain walls with clusters of low hung watercolors and prints, used a pretty chintz loose cover on the chairs, replaced indiscriminate clutter with a few well chosen ornaments and placed piles of books lying around for reading, rather than for show.” Over the mantel in his Drawing Room is a pre-raphaelite portrait by Rossetti, revealing that he was “a very astute purchaser.”[7]

Valpy's name appears in an address book belonging to James McNeill Whistler in the 1870s.[8]

Valpy inherited The Champneys Estate at Wigginton, selling it to Lady Rothschild in 1902.

In memoriam

The beautifully carved wooden altar from St Edward’s Church, Kenilworth, in Kimberley, South Africa, now at St Cyprian’s Cathedral, Kimberley, bears an inscription in memory of “Arthur Sutton Valpy, Canon of Winchester, England, who fell asleep 15 June 1909. While in charge of S. Cyprian’s Kimberley, he assisted S. Edward’s in every way. R.I.P.”

References

  1. ^ Biolgraphical History of Gonville and Caius College 1349-1897, p 25
  2. ^ Chance, J.F. ECAL book comprising a list of the pupils of Mr Edward Compton Austin Leigh and an Epitome of his House Records, Eton, 1862-1903 p 3; Biolgraphical History of Gonville and Caius College 1349-1897, p 25
  3. ^ Biolgraphical History of Gonville and Caius College 1349-1897, p 25
  4. ^ Chance, J.F. ECAL book comprising a list of the pupils of Mr Edward Compton Austin Leigh and an Epitome of his House Records, Eton, 1862-1903 p 3; Biolgraphical History of Gonville and Caius College 1349-1897 p 25
  5. ^ Chance, J.F. ECAL book comprising a list of the pupils of Mr Edward Compton Austin Leigh and an Epitome of his House Records, Eton, 1862-1903 p 3; Biolgraphical History of Gonville and Caius College 1349-1897, p 25
  6. ^ Biolgraphical History of Gonville and Caius College 1349-1897, p 25
  7. ^ McDowall, Carolyn. 2009. Creating the English style thecultureconcept circle
  8. ^ The correspondence of James McNeill Whistler