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Fr Hugh died on 21st June, the “longest day” of the year, appropriately for one who took part in the Normandy Landings on that day over 60 years ago. He was born on 27th June 1917, so he only just failed to make his 90th birthday. His mortal remains were buried in the Oratory plot at Gunnersbury in the presence of a large number of parishioners and ex-parishioners, on 3rd July. Some of those who knew Fr Hugh well may find it difficult to believe that there is no connection between this event and the subsequent problems of this plot, which will necessitate extensive work involving re-erection of the stone crosses and raising of the level due to subsidence.
Fr Hugh’s immediate family was a legal one, and his childhood home was in the chambers of Lincoln’s Inn. He was educated at Cott Hill preparatory school, of which he retained the fondest memories, and at Radley and then he himself had a short spell as a teacher. He became a Catholic about this time, from a background of rather “high” Anglo-Catholicism and he always retained an interest in and affection for his experience of the Church of England. He was always a man for whom the Church Times was far more required reading than any Catholic newsheet. He was just about to join the Oratory when the 2nd World War broke out. He served in the 2nd Battalion of the Essex Regiment and achieved the rank of Captain. He was appointed Battalion Intelligence Officer and sometimes conducted reconnaissances far behind the enemy lines after the D Day invasion of Europe. His war experiencies were vividly recalled in a fund of entertaining stories of the war years and he delighted in the reunions and anniversaries to which they subsequently gave rise. While on leave he had kept up his connection with the Oratory. Thus, although he may be thought of as a part of that significant movement of soldiers towards the service of God which followed the war, yet in reality he pre-dated it, since he was already decided on an Oratorian vocation before the war. At the end of the war he established a school for soldiers in Berlin to prepare for demobilisation and return to civilian life and immediately after his own demobilisation he joined the Oratory noviciate. After philosophical and theological studies here and at the old Beda College in Rome, he was ordained Deacon on 30th October 1949 and Priest at the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome on 4th March 1950. Among the various pastoral roles which he fulfilled was school chaplain, both in our school and also at St Thomas More School in Chelsea and as Confessor Extraordinary to the Oratory public school near Reading and parish district priest for Sutton Buildings. He was also involved with the Cadet Corps at the school and did a spell as chaplain to Wormwood Scrubs prison and also at Pentonville. His prison ministry was remarkably effective and there in a way he was more in his element and had more scope for his particular style of pastoral care than anywhere else. He made great friends and clients in all these locations, since he was rightly described by someone as a perfect specimen of Homo Sociabilis, par excellence. In the early 1950s he established the habit of making an annual visit to the Isle of Eigg in the Inner Hebrides, accompanied by boys from his various activities. For some time he was the only priest the few Catholic inhabitants saw and whatever the season, normally the summer, he would make up for the lack of the Holy Week ceremonies which they usually experienced. In liturgical matters his ars celebrandi was sui generis. When the 2nd Vatican Council took place he had no problem with adapting himself to the liturgical changes. Perhaps his most important pastoral charge was begun when he was appointed Prefect of the Little Oratory in 1974, thus finding himself in charge of the Brothers, then a dwindling band of lay men attached to the Oratory. He breathed new life into it and attracted many new members. The notable developments were in hymn-singing in the religious exercises and an expansive social life with pilgrimages and adventures. He ensured that the Brothers welcomed outsiders into their midst. He also was chaplain to St Christopher’s Cycling Club and started the Christmas celebration known as “the Happening.” He was Prefect for 17 years and it was a grief to him when he had to relinquish it. In the community and indeed outside it he was celebrated for his narration of extraordinary events in his career, governed by his acute appreciation of the humorous quality of some of the bizarre contretemps that can occur in military life as in that of organised religion. In 1977 the 5th Baronet died and Fr Hugh to his great surprise became a Sir. As such he found opportunity to visit the quite numerous Barrett-Lennard clan in Western Australia. In the new millennium his health deteriorated and among other complications he had Parkinson’s Disease and so it was necessary for him to spend his last years in St George’s Nursing Home in Pimlico. He never quite accepted this and was always hopeful of “getting back to work,” but he was able to say Mass and exercise a certain ministry. It would be invidious in this memoir to select names from the numerous examples of loyal and old friends, staff of the Oratory and of the Nursing Home, who cared for his quite demanding needs in his latter years. He was well cared for and indeed greatly appreciated by those who run the Nursing Home in St George’s Square. Requiescat in Pace. |
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THE REV’D SIR HUGH BARRETT-LENNARD, Bt |