Slemsman Index: A-C
Leslie Rowland Brasher
c.1911
Matriculation
Born in Cheltenham in 1894, Leslie Rowland Brasher was the eldest son of William Brasher and Jessie Folley and had two younger siblings, a sister and brother. His father- who had been educated at Nottingham University College- ran a Stationer’s and booksellers in Cheltenham High Street. In 1901, Leslie was living with his parents, his siblings and his spinster aunt, Alice Folley, a schoolmistress, at Langton Grove Road in Charlton Kings, a village just outside of Cheltenham. By 1911, Leslie now aged 16, was a matriculation student residing at St. Anselm’s Hostel, Rusholme. It is, however, unclear whether Leslie went on to take a degree. Leslie served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the in the Royal Berkshire (Princes Charlotte of Wales) Regiment and at the end of the war, in 1919, married Olive Spencer. The couple settled in Cheltenham & had two children. Leslie worked as an Insurance Broker. He died in Kent in 1956.
Stanley Graham Brade Birks
1912-1913
BA Arts
Born in Burnage, Lancashire, in 1888, Stanley (Graham) Birks was the eldest child of Brooklyn Birks, a grey cloth merchant, and his wife Annie. One younger sister, Marianne, was born in 1896. Graham grew up with his parents and sister in Burnage, attending Hulme grammar school and later the University of Manchester. He was a resident of St Anselm Hall 1912-1913, prior to being awarded a Masters of Science degree from the University of Manchester, along with his future wife Hilda Brade. Ordained as a deacon in 1914, Birks was appointed to Holy Trinity, Darwen and later to a lectureship at the South East Agricultural College (Wye College), Kent, where he served until 1948. In addition to his lectureship, he was made vicar of Godmersham, Kent, in 1930 and later given the additional appointments of Crundale and Rural Dean of Westbridge Cantebury. On his marriage in 1917, Graham joined his name with that of his wife to become Brade Birks and the pair together published twenty-three papers on myriapoda, with a further twelve papers published by Graham alone. This was in addition to Graham’s variety of other interests, which included history and archaeology. In 1972, at the age of 84, he presided over the Second International Congress of Myriapodology at the University of Manchester, welcoming members in three languages. Graham died in 1982, just a few months before Hilda.
You can find out more about Graham’s story here.
Albert Henry Candler
1910-1914
BA Arts
Albert Herny Candler was born in Chelmsford, Essex, in 1890, the middle of three surviving sons born to James Candler, an army sergeant, and his wife Annie. Albert is thought to have entered the University of Manchester, and St Anselm’s Hostel, around 1910. Whilst at University he was awarded a number of prizes including the Junior Bishop Lee Greek Testament Prize in 1910 and the Senior Bishop Lee Greek Testament prize in 1913. Albert was also noted for his poetry and in May 1911 was jointly awarded the English Poem Prize with T. Weymss Reid.
During his time at St. Anselm’s Hostel, Albert received ordination training through parochial work at St. Wilfred’s (Newton Heath), St James’s Birch (Rusholme) and Holy Innocents (Fallowfield) and in 1912 was accepted for missionary work. Leaving St. Anselm’s in 1914, he completed his missionary training at St. Augustine’s College, Canterbury, during which time he was awarded the Ernest Hawkins Reading Prize.
In 1916, Albert became a missionary priest in Kumasi, Ghana, being master of The Government Training Collage in Accra from 1922 to 1926 and first Superintendent of the Schools for the Northern Territories from 1926 to 1932, when he returned to England. Having had a brief furlough to Fleetwood, Lancashire, in 1921, Albert, on his return to England, took the position of vicar of Nelson, Lancashire. With him, was his wife, Dorice Worsick, a fellow Manchester graduate whom he had married in 1922. In 1941, Albert left Nelson for the position of vicar of nearby Kirkham, which he would hold until his death in 1947, at the age of 55.
Maurice Caiger
1912-c.1914
BA French (2nd class)
Born in Hulme in 1893, Maurice Caiger was the fifth of six children born to William Stephen Caiger and Katherine Langrish. He was born and raised in Hulme, where his father was the rector of St. Mark’s Church up until his death in 1914. Maurice is thought to entered St. Anselm’s Hostel in about 1912, achieving 1st class latin in the summer 1914 intermediate BA examinations and 2nd class modern history in the autumn 1914 intermediate BA examinations. Maurice eventually graduated from the University with a 2nd class honours degree in French and by 1916 was teaching at the East Anglican School in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Little else in known about his teaching career except that in 1927 he was made a teacher at Macclesfield Grammar School. At some point, Maurice also underwent theological training at Ripon College, near Oxford, however further details of this are currently unknown.
Maurice was ordained as a deacon by the Bishop of Rochester, in the latter’s private chapel, in October 1932 and licenced to Strood, Kent. In 1935 he was appointed as curate of Beccles, Suffolk, and by the outbreak of the Second World War he had been appointed to North Wotton, Norfolk. Maurice Cagier died in February 1945, at the age of 46.
George Carr
Pre-WW1.
Subject Unknown
Born near Kelloe, County Durham, in December 1896, George Carr was the third child and eldest son of Jonathan and Mary Jane Carr. As a young boy, he served as a choirboy in the local church and decided to take Holy Orders through the influence of the Rev. Samuel Taylor. Having attended Henry Smith Grammar School, Hartlepool, George was then sent to Manchester Grammar School and went someway to achieving his ambitions when he entered St. Anselm’s Hostel in the years prior to the First World War. The outbreak of the war, however, closed the hall and in 1915 George joined the army, becoming a Chaplain to the Kings Royal Rifles. For his actions, George was awarded the military cross, however severe physical and mental wounds prevented him from pursuing ordination and he instead found work as a teacher.
George took a teaching job at Coxhoe Church of England School, leaving in 1919 to attend York training College and in 1920 entering Clare College, Cambridge, where he obtained at B.A. in history. It was probably whilst at Coxhoe Church of England School that George met Ethel Greenwood, an assistant teacher there, and the pair were married on 1 April 1923. The marriage ceremony was performed by George’s fellow Slemsman Spencer Wade, by then vicar of Roker, Sunderland.
At the time of his marriage George was working at New Kyo School in Kyo, Durham. In the following October he was granted an appointment at Birtley George Street School. In 1928, George became a teacher of history at Houghton-le-Spring Grammar School, a post he held through the 1930s and the Second World War, a period in which he took additional responsibilities as a major in the 14th Battalion Durham Home Guards.
In 1946, George left Houghton-le-spring to take the position of headmaster at Wingate A.J. Dawson Grammar School (now Wellfield School) in Wingate, Durham, a role he would hold until 1959 when he left to pursue his ambition of ordination. He was made deacon in the 1959 Michaelmas ordinations at Durham Cathedral and appointed to St. John’s, Darlington, Durham, before being appointed to the perpetual curacy of Evenwood St Paul, Durham, in 1961. George died at Middle Herrington, Durham, in 1970.