John George Snead-Cox

“ The work was suddenly cut short by a letter of recall from Manning. Vaughan reached England in the last week of July 1865, bringing with him 11,000l. in cash and holding promises for a considerably larger sum. Friends now came to his help, and a house and land were purchased at Mill Hill without his having to touch the money collected in the Americas. That was to be assigned to the maintenance of the students. The college, called St. Joseph's College, was opened in a very humble way on 1 March 1866. The most rigid economy was practised in all household arrangements. ”

“ The cardinal's uncle, William Vaughan (1814–1902) , was catholic bishop of Plymouth. His mother, a convert from Anglicanism, used to pray every day that all her children should become priests or nuns. Of her eight sons, six became priests — three of them bishops — and all her five daughters entered convents. The cardinal's next brother, Roger William Bede Vaughan, catholic archbishop of Sydney, is already noticed in the Dictionary. His third brother, Kenelm (1840–1909) , was for a time private secretary to Cardinal Manning and was a missionary in South America. ”

“ Later, after a year with the Benedictines at Downside, he passed to Rome in the autumn of 1851 to study for the priesthood. His school career was undistinguished. His natural tastes were those of an ordinary country gentleman, and he has left it on record that when, at the age of sixteen, he definitely made up his mind to give himself to the church he chiefly regretted dissociation from the gun and the saddle.
During his stay in Rome his work was constantly hindered by ill-health. ”

“ It was shown that eighty per cent, of the catholic children who left the workhouses of Manchester were lost to the catholic church. The bishop resolved on a crusade of rescue. Much money and many workers were needed. He gave at once l000l., together with the whole of the episcopal mensa, or official income, each year until he went to Westminster. ”