Piers Holt Wilson
Priest and Bishop
Piers Holt Wilson (known as Peter or P. H. Wilson) was born in Redgrave Hall, Redgrave, Suffolk in January 1883. Redgrave Hall, a large country house, was built in 1545 and the Hall, together with the surrounding Park, was bought by Sir John Holt, the Lord Chief Justice, in 1702. In the 1760s the Hall and Park were rebuilt with the help of the celebrated landscape designer 'Capability' Brown. In 1799 the Park and Hall passed by marriage to the Wilson family when Thomas Wilson (1725-1808) married Lucinda Holt. Several generations later, George Holt Wilson (1836-1924) married Lucinda James in 1865 and the couple moved into Redgrave Hall two years later. They had ten children, of which Piers Holt Wilson was the youngest and the seventh son.
Lucinda Wilson died in 1886 when her young son Piers was three years old. After this he was brought up by Evelyn, his eldest sister. The Estate had struggled financially for many years before this, principally due to the imports of cheap food from the New World which had caused an agricultural depression in England. Eventually the family were forced through increasing debt to move out of Redgrave Hall and they lived in Broom Hills house, Rickinghall, a farmhouse on the Estate.
Despite the financial difficulties of the Wilson family, Piers was sent to Sherborne School. The famous School had a long history, but the buildings in which he studied were built around 1550 on the grounds of a Benedictine Abbey. The Library and Chapel were even modifications of the original buildings of the Abbey. He probably concentrated more on cricket than on his academic studies, but he was able to continue his education after Sherborne at Oriel College, Oxford. Oriel was a friendly and attractive College in the centre of Oxford which was founded in 1326 by King Edward II. It is the fifth oldest of the Oxford Colleges. There again he pursued his cricketing interests more vigorously than his academic studies.
After studying at Oxford, he taught in a Prep School for boys. This he greatly enjoyed and was able to motivate his mathematics lessons by having his boys calculate cricket averages. It is unclear exactly what motivated his calling to the Church but it occurred while he was teaching at the Prep School. He had an uncle who was a vicar and Piers' mother had told this uncle, shortly before her death, that her greatest hope was that Piers would go into the Church. However, this did not affect his decision since his uncle only told him about his mother's wishes after he had been ordained. Piers was not the only member of the family to enter the Church, for his older brother Leonard was also ordained.
He entered Wells Theological College situated in Wells, a small cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, nestling in the Mendip Hills. In more recent times Wells Theological College has combined with Salisbury Theological College to become 'Salisbury and Wells Theological College' situated at Salisbury. After studying at the College, he was ordained in 1909.
He was a curate in Kettering, a town in the northern part of Northamptonshire. The vicar there was Patrick Smythe, and Wilson became one of his seven curates in this industrial town. Kettering's economy had been built on the boot and shoe industry but other industries grew up and, by the time he lived there, many inhabitants were involved in engineering and the clothing industry. Patrick Smythe proved a significant influence in his life for, when Patrick Smythe took up his appointment as Provost in the Cathedral in Perth, he brought Wilson with him. This eventually led to him becoming priest-in-charge at All Saints', St Andrews.
Patrick Smythe was born in Methven Castle, situated east of Methven, near Perth, at the time when the Castle was owned by the Smythe family. The Castle largely dates from 1680, and was one of the last large houses built in the style of a castle in Scotland. It is on the site (and probably incorporates elements of) an older castle. This was the building in which Margaret Tudor (1489-1541), queen of James IV, King of Scots, and daughter of Henry VII of England, died. Around 1911 Patrick Smythe returned from Kettering to Perth when he became Provost of St Ninian's cathedral in the city. This cathedral was the first to be built in Britain after the Reformation, and was consecrated in 1850. It stands on ground that originally formed part of the Blackfriars Monastery and is dedicated to St. Ninian, the first name we know in the Christian history of Scotland.
World War I began in August 1914 and Wilson soon enlisted. He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1914 to 1915, first as a stretcher-bearer then later as a Chaplain in the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. This operation against Turkey was intended to occupy Constantinople but failed as the result of poor leadership and planning. After serving with the R.A.M.C., Wilson was in the Royal Amy Service Corps then, from 1916 to 1919, he served as a chaplain in the R.A.F. He was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the military O.B.E. for his part in evacuating people from an airfield in France. He received a letter signed by Winston Churchill.
His best friend while living in Suffolk had been Richard Lee. Ella Steensen came from Denmark to learn English and stayed with the Lee family. Ella and Richard fell in love and married in 1910; they had one son Teddy. Richard Lee, like P. H. Wilson, enlisted at the start of World War I but he was killed in action towards the end of 1915. Wilson married Ella Lee in 1920 and the two came to live in St Andrews in that year since Wilson had been appointed by the Bishop of St Andrews Dunkeld and Dunblane as priest-in-charge of All Saints', St Andrews. They lived at 120 North Street when he first became priest-in-charge. It was there that their first child, Anne, was born in May 1921. Mrs Younger, who was responsible for the completion of All Saints' Church in the 1920s, purchased Kirnan, on The Scores (built in around 1866), for the Wilson family. It was in Kirnan that the Wilsons' second daughter Marie-Louise was born in 1925. Between the birth of their two daughters, a son had been born but sadly had died at the age of six weeks.
Kirnan was only intended as a temporary home since Mrs Younger planned the building of the All Saints' Rectory. However the family were still there in 1930 when he became Rector of All Saints. Mrs Younger consulted Ella Wilson about the facilities that the rectory should contain and was told that a study was necessary as was one maids' bedroom. However, Mrs Younger's plans were much more grand and the Rectory, which was completed in the late 1930s, was twice the size envisaged by Ella Wilson. It contained two bedrooms for maids, a servants' hall and a large laundry in addition to the accommodation for the Rector and his family. He was much loved by his congregation, who referred to him as PH.
His hobbies were golf, fishing and shooting. He always took Tuesday as his day off, except in the shooting season when it was Saturday.
In 1940 PH was appointed as Dean of the Diocese of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, a position he held in addition to that of Rector of All Saints' St Andrews. In 1943 he left St Andrews on being elected Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness. The Scotsman reported his appointment on Friday 9 April 1943:
NEW BISHOP OF MORAY, ROSS AND CAITHNESS
The Very Rev. Piers Holt Wilson, Dean of the Diocese of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, was yesterday unanimously elected Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness in succession to the late Dr Arthur John Maclean. The new Bishop, who served in the R.A.M.C . from 1914 to 1915 and in the R.A.F. from 1916 to 1919, was educated at Oxford; and ordained in 1909. In 1920 he was appointed priest-in-charge, All Saints', St Andrews, and rector in 1930. He was made Dean of the diocese in 1940. It was also moved that the Rev. Eric Hugh Brereton, rector of St Margaret's, Newlands, Glasgow, be elected, but as he had not a majority of votes, it was agreed to make the election of Dean Wilson a unanimous one.
His enthronement took place on Tuesday 29 June 1943 and was reported in The Scotsman on the following day:
CEREMONIES AT INVERNESS
The enthronement of the Right Rev. Piers Holt Wilson, Dean of the Diocese of St Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane, as Bishop-Elect of the Diocese of Moray, Ross, and Caithness took place in Inverness yesterday. The ceremonies were witnessed by large congregations that filled St Andrew's Cathedral. The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Dr E. D. Logie Danson, Bishop of Edinburgh, and other Scottish Bishops were present, as well as clergy from many dioceses. The Rev. Dr Alan C. Don, Sub Dean and Canon of Westminster, preached the sermon. The enthronement of the Bishop was carried out with great ceremony. A trumpeter announced the approach of the Bishops' procession, and, on arriving at the door, the Bishop knocked three times with the pastoral staff, crying "Open, open, open," and thereafter the Very Rev. A. A. D. Mackenzie, Provost of St Andrew's Cathedral, installed and enthroned the new Bishop, after which he received the blessing of the Primus.
In Inverness, Bishop Wilson and his family lived in Eden Court, a very large Victorian house near the Cathedral. He retired in 1953 and Duncan Macinnes was appointed to succeed him. PH's sight was failing badly when he returned to St Andrews, a town he knew so well and one where he could manage despite his problem. Every Sunday he would take part in the 10 o'clock service in All Saints', seated in the chair next to the choir on the organ side. At the end of the service he would always give the blessing. Bishop Wilson died in 1956 and his wife died about five years later.
Article by: Edmund Robertson, after talking with Marie Louise Moffat and Anne Rose.