William Walsham How (13 December 1823 - 10 August 1897) was an English bishop.
The son of a Shrewsbury solicitor, How was educated at Shrewsbury School, Wadham College, Oxford and University College, Durham[1]. He was ordained in 1846, and for upwards of thirty years was actively engaged in parish work at Whittington in Shropshire and Oswestry (rural dean, 1860). He refused preferment on several occasions, but his energy and success made him well known, and in 1879 he became a suffragan bishop in London, under the title of bishop of Bedford, his province being the East End.
There he became the inspiring influence of a revival of church work. He founded the East London Church Fund, and enlisted a large band of enthusiastic helpers, his popularity among all classes being immense. He was particularly fond of children, and was commonly called the children's bishop.
In 1888 he was made bishop of Wakefield, and in the north of England he continued to do valuable work. His sermons were straightforward, earnest and attractive; and besides publishing several volumes of these, he wrote a good deal of verse, including such well-known hymns as Who is this so weak and helpless, Lord, Thy children guide and keep and For All the Saints.
In 1863-1868 he brought out a Commentary on the Four Gospels and he also wrote a manual for the Holy Communion. Published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge during the 1890s under the title "Holy Communion, Preparation and Companion...together with the Collects, Epistles and Gospels" this book was widely distributed and many copies still survive today. In the movement for infusing new spiritual life into the church services, especially among the poor, How was a great force. He was much helped in his earlier work by his wife, Frances A Douglas (d. 1887).
For end of paragraph 2. When he came to East London in 1879 "he found great need of women's help for the poor in the huge parishes of his diocese". He then planned to establish a Deaconess Community and applied to the (West) London Diocesan Deaconess Institution. LDDI sent its Sr Louisa in autumn 1880 and the East London Diocesan Deaconess Institution was founded at Sutton Place, Hackney. Deaconess Sisters worked in various East London parishes and eventually the Institution became the All Saints Deaconess Home at Meynell Crescent (1894/5-1924). A few of the remaining Sisters joined the London Diocesan Deaconess Institution which continued work in the East End for a few years. [Source: Archives of the (Deaconess) Community of St Andrew which had developed from the LDDI.]
How is represented in The Church Hymn book 1872[2] with three hymns:
and in Hymns Ancient and Modern, Revised[3] with a several others
See his Life by his son, FD How (1898).
Bishop How burnt a copy of Thomas Hardy's novel Jude the Obscure. The burning took place during the summer and Hardy, noted for his thrift, was said to have been outraged that the bishop wasted the firewood rather than waiting until the winter when the fire would be needed anyway. However, as "the Bishop of Wakefield announced that he had thrown "such garbage" onto his fire", and this is recorded as happening in May (when it might have been cold in Wakefield), the firewood may not have been needed for burning the book only, but for warming his house.
How appears as a significant character in Bernard Pomerance's 1979 Broadway play The Elephant Man. In a 1982 TV adaptation he was played by William Hutt.
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| Preceded by diocese created |
Bishop of Wakefield 1889–1897 |
Succeeded by George Rodney Eden |
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