John Selwin Calverley

John Selwin Calverley, seated in the centre, with the crew of his racing yacht Brynhild which was built in 1899.

FUNERAL OF THE LATE MR. J. S. CALVERLEY. Yorkshire Evening Post. Friday 4 January, 1901.

Mr. John Selwin Calverley, of Oulton Hall, near Leeds, was buried at noon today amid many manifestations of regret. The village of Oulton, where the dead squire was universally beloved, has been in mourning since Monday, and today nearly everyone attended at the St. John’s Church to hear the last rites read over one who in life had taken such kindly interest in their welfare.

The Bishop of Richmond, who was assisted by the Rev. E. H. Dykes (incumbent of Oulton), the Rev. R. Garrad (curate of Oulton), and seven other clergymen of the district, conducted the service. 

The principal mourners were: Mrs. J. S. Calverley (widow), Miss Calverley (daughter), Mr. A. E. Brooke Hunt and Mrs. Brooke Hunt (sister), Mr. Coningsby Disraeli, M.P. (brother-in-law), Mrs. Leveson Calverley’ (sister-in-law), Lord and Lady Rookwood (uncle and aunt), Mr. Godfrey Brooke Hunt (nephew), Miss Evelyn Brooke Hunt (niece), Mr. Whitelaw (brother-in-law), Mr. H. Olivier (cousin), Mr. Charles Calverley (cousin), and Miss Cross.

There were also present Mr. John Farrar (agent), Miss Bailey, Dr. James, Mr. Cecil Atkinson (solicitor), Mr. and Mrs. D’Arcy Wyvill, Mr. W. H. Maude (chairman of the magistrates for the Skyrack Division of the West Riding), and Mr. H. G. Teale (clerk to the West Riding magistrates).

A number of gentlemen representing families in the neighbourhood, public institutions in the district, and tenants on the Oulton estates, attended.

All the mourners walked in procession from the Hall to the Church, and when the coffin – the name-plate which briefly recorded that Mr. Calverley was born July 14, 1855, and died December 30, 1900 – was lowered into the family vault, a cordon of 60 children, drawn from the National Schools in the village, surrounded the principals in the sad scene.

It was an impressive funeral, and was additional testimony – if testimony were needed – to the place the late Mr. Calverley had in the hearts of his neighbours.

Edmund Calverley’s children on the steps of Oulton Hall: Horace Walter, Gertrude Mabel, Edmund Leveson and John Selwin. (Photograph copyright Tim Bradley-Williams).
John Selwin Calverley.