John Huddleston

Father John Huddleston, after a portrait by Jacob Huysmans

John Huddleston (15 April 1608 – buried 13 September 1698) was an English priest and monk of the Catholic Order of St Benedict. He helped Charles II during his escape. Later, Huddleston was chaplain to Queen Catherine and present when Charles converted to Catholicism on his deathbed.

Early life and education

John Huddleston was born at Farington Hall, Lancashire, the second son of Joseph Huddleston from Hutton John, near Penrith in Cumberland. His uncle, Richard Huddleston, was a Benedictine priest. John was educated at the school at nearby Great Blencow until he was fifteen. When he was twenty he was sent to St Omer College, and on 17 October 1632, entered the English College, Rome. On 22 March 1637, Huddleston was ordained priest in St John Lateran, and left Rome for England on 28 March 1639.

Chaplain to Thomas Whitgrave

In 1651 he was staying at Moseley Old Hall, Staffordshire, as chaplain to Thomas Whitgrave's family, prominent local Catholics. After the defeat at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Charles II, made King of Scotland following his father's execution, was conducted by Colonel Gifford to White Ladies Priory on Gifford's Boscobel estate. At White Ladies, the young King was sheltered by the five Penderell brothers who lived there. John Penderell happened to meet Father Huddleston, who suggested that the young King should go to Moseley Old Hall on the night of 7 September. Huddleston cleaned and bandaged the King's sore feet. To guard against surprise Huddleston was constantly in attendance on the future King of England; his three pupils were stationed as sentinels at upper windows and Thomas Whitgrave patrolled the garden.

On 9 September, Parliamentary troops questioned Whitgrave, while the King and Huddleston were hiding in the priest-hole. The troops were persuaded that Whitgrave had not fought at Worcester (though he had fought and been captured at the Battle of Naseby in 1645). The troops left without searching the house.

Benedictines of the Spanish Congregation

Before the King left to meet Jane Lane at Bentley Hall, he promised to look after Huddleston when restored to his throne. Some time afterward, Huddleston joined the Benedictines of the Spanish Congregation. After the Restoration in 1660, Huddleston was invited to live at Somerset House, London, under the protection of Queen Henrietta Maria. After her death in 1669, he was appointed chaplain to Queen Catherine, with a salary of £100 a year. During the disturbances produced by Titus Oates's pretended revelations of the 'Popish Plot', the House of Lords voted on 7 December 1678 that Huddleston, Thomas Whitgrave, the brothers Penderell, and others involved in Charles II's escape should "for their said service live as freely as any of the King's Protestant subjects, without being liable to the penalties of any of the laws relating to Popish recusants".

When Charles II lay dying on the evening of 5 February 1685, his brother and heir the Duke of York brought Huddleston to his bedside, saying, "Sire, this good man once saved your life. He now comes to save your soul." Charles declared that he wished to die in the faith and communion of the Catholic Church. Huddleston then heard the King's confession, reconciled him to the Church and absolved him, afterwards administering Extreme Unction and the Viaticum. On the accession of James II, Huddleston continued to stay with the Queen Catherine at Somerset House.

Illness and death

Shortly before his death aged 90 his mind failed and he was placed in the charge of a trustee. He was buried in the churchyard of St Mary le Strand.

Legacy

Several portraits of Huddleston exist: Jacob Huysmans' done in 1685 is at Hutton John; another is at Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire.

His Roman Missal (1623) was bought at auction by the National Trust in 2023 and is on display at Moseley Old Hall.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Monk of the Order of St. Benedict; b. at Farington Hall, Lancashire, 15 April, 1608; exact date of death unknown; buried at London, 13 September, 1698. He was the second son of Joseph Huddleston of Farington Hall, Lancashire, and Hutton John, Cumberland. All that is known of his youth is contained in his statement made on applying for admission to the English College, Rome, in 1632. This document is given in full in Foley's "Records of the English Province S.J.", but Foley, following Dr. Oliver, confuses Dom John Huddleston alias Sandford, O.S.B., with Father John Stafford, S.J., and has accordingly largely reconstructed the Huddleston pedigree to fit in a "Fr. John Huddleston alias Sandford S.J." who never existed; for the true pedigree see Jackson, "Papers and Pedigrees relating to Cumberland and Westmoreland" (2 vols., Kendal, 1892). In his statement Father Huddleston mentions that he was educated at the school of Great Blencow, near Hutton John, until his fifteenth year. In his twentieth year he was sent to St. Omer's College, and on 17 October, 1632, entered the English College at Rome. It has been stated that he served for some time in the royalist army as a volunteer; in reality it was another John, his second cousin, the son of Ferdinando Huddleston of Millom Castle, Cumberland, who served under King Charles. On 22 March, 1637, Dom John was ordained priest in St. John Lateran's, and left Rome for England on 28 March, 1639. Dodd declares that he was educated and ordained priest at Douai College, Flanders; but his name does not appear in the "Douay Diaries".

There is a tradition that on arriving in England he acted as chaplain at Grove House, Wensleydale, Yorkshire (Barker, "Three Days of Wensleydale", 96). In 1651 he was residing at Moseley, Staffordshire, as chaplain to the Whitgreave family. After the defeat at Worcester on 3 September, 1651, Charles II was conducted by Colonel Gyfford to Whiteladies, where he was sheltered by the Penderell family, and it was while seeking for some safer hiding place for the king that John Penderell happened to meet Father Huddleston. Accordingly Charles was disguised as a peasant and removed to Moseley during the night of Sunday, 7 September. To guard against surprise Huddleston was constantly in attendance on the king; his three pupils were stationed as sentinels at upper windows and Thomas Whitgreave patrolled the garden. On Tuesday, 9 September, Cromwell's soldiers came to search the house. The king and Huddleston were hurriedly shut away in the priest's hiding place, and the troops, after first seizing Whitgreave as a fugitive cavalier from Worcester, were eventually convinced that he had not left the house for some weeks and were persuaded to depart without searching the mansion. That night the king left for Bentley, after promising to befriend Huddleston when restored to his throne. Some time after this Huddleston joined the Benedictines of the Spanish Congregation, being professed while on the mission in England. This event took place before 1661, in which year he was elected to the titular dignity of cathedral prior of Worcester by the General Chapter of the English Benedictines held at Douai. In the next general chapter, held also at Douai, in 1666, he acted as secretary. At the Restoration in 1660, Huddleston was invited to live at Somerset House, London, under the protection of the Queen Dowager, Henrietta Maria, shortly after whose death in 1669 he was appointed chaplain to Queen Catherine, with a salary of 100 pounds a year besides a pension of like amount. In 1671, with Dom Vincent Sadler, O.S.B., he visited Oxford, where he made the acquaintance of the eminent antiquary Anthony a Wood. During the disturbances produced by Titus Oates's pretended revelations the House of Lords, by a vote on 7 December, 1678, ordered that Huddleston, Thomas Whitgreave, the brothers Penderell, and others instrumental in the preservation of his Majesty's person after the battle of Worcester, should for their said service live as freely as any of the king's Protestant subjects, without being liable to the penalties of any of the laws relating to Popish recusants. Barillon and Burnet state that Huddleston was exempted by name from all Acts of Parliament against priests, but this is a mistake, though such an exemption is found in a bill drafted at this period, which, however, never became law.

When Charles II lay dying "upon Thursday the fifth of February, 1684-5, between 7 and 8 o'clock in the evening" the Duke of York brought Huddleston to his bedside, saying, "Sire, this good man once saved your life. He now comes to save your soul." Charles received him gladly, declaring that he wished to die in the faith and communion of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Huddleston then heard the King's confession, reconciled him to the Church and absolved him, afterwards administering Extreme Unction and the Viaticum. On the accession of James II, Huddleston continued to reside with the Queen Dowager at Somerset House. Shortly before his death his mind failed and he was placed in the charge of "the Popish Lord Feversham", one of the few persons present at Charles II's reconciliation to the Church, who managed his affairs as trustee. To this arrangement is probably due the unusual circumstance that the probate of his will was obtained the day before his funeral. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary le Strand (Parish Register, MS.). Snow's "Necrology of the English Benedictines" gives 22 September as the date of his death, but this is obviously wrong. Numerous contemporary writers, including Anthony a Wood and Samuel Pepys, mention Huddleston with respect and there seems no reason for Macauley's statement that he was ignorant and illiterate. He published "A short and Plain Way to the Faith and Church" (London, 1688), a little treatise written by his uncle Richard Huddleston, O.S.B., and read by Charles II in manuscript while hiding at Moseley. The volume also contains the famous "Two papers written by the late King Charles II", found in his closet after his decease, and "A briefe account of Particulars occurring at the happy Death of our late Sovereign Lord King Charles II". At the end, under a separate title page, is "A summary of Occurrences Relating to the Miraculous Preservation of our Late Sovereign Lord King Charles II after the Defeat of his Army at Worcester in the Year 1651. Faithfully taken from the express testimony of those two worthy Roman Catholics, Thomas Whitgreave...Esq., and Mr. John Huddleston, Priest of the Order of St. Bennet". The whole work was reprinted by Dolman (London, 1844) as vol. II of the "English Catholic Library" edited by Canon Tiernay, and again later (London, 1850). The account of the death- bed of Charles II is also reprinted in the "State Tracts" (London, 1692-3); its truth in every detail is confirmed by the rare contemporary broadside "A true Relation of the late King's death, by P(ere) M(ansuete) A C(apuchin) F(riar), Chaplain to the Duke".

Several portraits of Huddleston exist; the best, by Houseman, 1685, "aetatis suae anno 78", is still preserved at Hutton John; another at Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire, was engraved for the "Laity's Directory" of 1816. Father Huddleston seems to have spelled his name with a single or double "d" indiscriminately, and at times to have used the name "Denys" (Dionysius) after John, having presumably adopted it on receiving the Benedictine habit.

BRITISH MUSEUM, MSS. Additional, 5871, f. 27b; HUDDLESTON, Short and Plain Way (London, 1688); BLOUNT, Boscobel (London, 1660); re- edited with valuable notes by THOMAS (London, 1894); Account of the Preservation of King Charles II after Worcester (London, 1666), dictated by himself to S. Pepys, with notes by the latter, obtained at personal interviews with Father Huddleston and others, reprinted in THOMAS'S ed. of BLOUNT, Boscobel; DOLAN, Weldon's Chronological Notes of the English Benedictine Congregation (privately printed, Stanbrook, 1881); OLIVER, Collections Illustrating the...Catholic Religion in Cornwall, etc. (London, 1857), 518; HEARNE, Thomae Caii Vindiciae (Oxford, 1730), II, 598; FOLEY, Records of the English Province S. J. (London, 1879), V; A WOOD, Autobiography, ed. BLISS (Oxford, 1848), I, 176; SNOW, Necrology of the English Benedictines (London, 1883), 78; Catholic Magazine and Review, V, 385-394; Laity's Directory for 1816 (London, 1815); BARKER, The Three Days of Wensleydale; HARLEIAN SOCIETY, Visitation of Cumberland (London, 1872); JACKSON, Papers and Pedigrees Relating to Cumberland and Westmoreland (Kendal, 1892); HUGHES, Boscobel Tracts (Edinburgh, 1857); FEA, The Flight of the King (London, 1897); Catholic Record Society: Proceedings (London, 1905), I; see also the standard histories for this time.

Bibliography

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