Mandell Creighton - Vicar of Embleton, 1875–1884

Vicar of Embleton, 1875–1884

The village of Embleton lies on the North Sea coast in Northumberland approximately mid-way between Edinburgh and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The vicarage—then owned by Merton College and consisting of a fortified pele tower built in the 14th century along with adjoining later additions—was a large establishment with many rooms for Creighton's growing family, their guests, and servants. The parish consisted of a handful of villages and approximately 1700 inhabitants, among whom were farmers, whinstone quarrymen, herring and haddock fishermen, women workers in fish curing yards, and railwaymen. Although the Creightons missed Oxford society and its stimulations, they gradually adapted to their new surroundings. With the help of a curate paid from his own funds, Creighton established a routine that enabled him to both carry out pastoral duty and write history. Each weekday morning, he spent four hours reading in the vicarage library. In the afternoons, Mandell, and whenever possible, Louise, visited the homes of their parishioners, listening to them, giving advice, offering prayers, conducting services for the housebound, and, on occasion, handing out home-made medical remedies. They found their parishioners to be reserved, proud, and independent, but could not help seeing them as lacking in morals. Their assessment of rampant alcoholism in Embleton, led the Creightons, no teetotallers themselves, to found the local chapter of the Church of England temperance society and, in the process, to displease some locals. Louise organised meetings of the Mothers' Union as well as The Girls' Friendly Society, which aimed to empower girls, encouraging them, for example, to stay in school until the age of fourteen.

"(A good teacher) brings knowledge and his pupil into a vital relationship; and the object of teaching is to establish that relationship on an intelligible basis. This can only be done ... by appealing to two qualities which are at the bottom of all knowledge, curiosity and observation. They are born with us, every child naturally develops them, and it is the duty of the teacher to direct them to proper ends."

Creighton's own family was growing: four more children were born during the Embleton years, and all were home schooled, mostly by Louise. Creighton, who took great interest in the parish schools, served as examiner for other schools in the region, and began to formulate some ideas on the education of children. He was elected to local government bodies such as the Board of Guardians, which enacted poor laws in the region, and to the local sanitary authority. In 1879, he accepted his first leadership position in the Church of England: he was appointed rural dean of the Deanery of Alnwick, responsible for supervision of the clergy in neighbouring parishes. Later, he was appointed examining chaplain for the Bishop of Newcastle, Ernest Roland Wilberforce, and tasked with examining candidates for holy orders.

During their ten years in Embleton, the Creightons—he in his 30s and she, for the most part, in her 20s—between them, wrote fifteen books. They both wrote history books for young people, Louise wrote an unsuccessful novel, and Mandell wrote the first two volumes of his magnum opus, The History of the Papacy in the Period of Reformation. In the Papacy volumes, Creighton proposed that the turbulence of the reformation became inevitable when the Popes obstructed the milder parliamentary reforms that had been advocated earlier. The books were well received and were commended for their even-handed approach. Lord Acton, who reviewed the books in the Academy and who was aware that the books were written over a few years in a northern vicarage far from the centres of scholarship, wrote:

The history of increasing depravity and declining faith, of reforms earnestly demanded, feebly attempted, and deferred too long, is told by Mr. Creighton with a fullness of accuracy unusual in works which are the occupation of a lifetime.

Creighton also wrote dozens of book-reviews and scholarly articles. Among them were his first forays into the role of the Church of England in the life of the nation. Throughout the 19th century, the Church had suffered erosion of membership. In the mid-century, many scholars such as the educator Thomas Arnold had asserted the identity of the church and the nation; however, as the century entered its last two decades, Creighton was among a small minority continuing to do the same.

In 1884, Creighton was asked to apply for the newly created professorship of ecclesiastical history, the Dixie chair, at the University of Cambridge and a concurrent fellowship at Emmanuel College. His application proved successful, and on 9 November 1884, Creighton preached his last sermon at Embleton church. Later, he was to write, "At Embleton I spent ten years, and I have no hesitation in saying that they were the ten happiest years of my life." His parishioners, for their part, found it difficult to express their feelings openly; one woman said, "Well, if you ain't done no good, you've done no harm."