Joseph Diggle
Encyclopedia
The Reverend Joseph Robert Diggle JP
(May 12, 1849 – June 16, 1917) was a British
Anglican
clergyman, politician and public servant. He is notable for his campaign to change the law to allow clergymen to take seats in the House of Commons
(although he was unable to win a seat himself), and for his chairmanship of the London School Board
. His combative approach to political debate was the key to his career, helping him to run the Board for nine years but denying him any higher office.
, Lancashire
, the youngest son of William Diggle, a warehouseman and his wife Nancy Ann née Chadderton. His elder brother, John William Diggle
(1847–1920) was to become Bishop of Carlisle
.
Joseph was educated at Manchester Grammar School
and Wadham College, Oxford
where he read Modern History and obtained first class honours. Diggle then trained for the clergy and took holy orders
. He was ordained
in 1874, and was appointed curate
at St Mark's Liverpool
. Two years later he became curate of St Mary's Church, Bryanston Square
, where William Henry Fremantle
was rector
.
In 1878 he married Jane Wilkinson Macrae, from Aigburth
, Liverpool
. They had two sons and two daughters.
" candidate for the London School Board
, the elected body responsible for education in the capital. Board elections were largely run on a religious basis but Diggle was referred to as "a Churchman of Liberal views" who had campaigned to improve the condition of the masses on a social, moral and religious basis. With seven seats in the Marylebone Division, Diggle came second in the poll and was comfortably elected.
On the LSB, Diggle allied himself with those who resisted attempts to expand its work to new areas; he was in general opposition to the majority on the board. He specifically opposed the idea of 'higher elementary schools' which were proposed for older school age children, and called for economies in expenditure. From October 1883, despite still being in opposition, Diggle was chairman of the Finance Committee; he presented a scheme for superannuation of teachers' salaries in June 1884, which was eventually adopted. Despite his concern to reduce expenditure he was compelled to present estimates providing for increases in January 1885; he argued that there had been circumstances of an exceptional character. The Board ordered the estimates reduced by £60,000, but eventually adopted the budget.
Diggle decided to test the law which prohibited anyone in holy orders in the Church of England from election to the House of Commons
. He offered himself as an Independent
candidate for the Marylebone East
division, declaring that he would not be able to take his seat but urging electors to challenge such "antiquated and unjust restrictions". After a request locally he switched to Marylebone West
. His nomination was accepted but he won only 101 votes.
, led by Edward Lyulph Stanley
formed the opposition to the Moderate majority. The Progressives adopted the pejorative term "Diggleism" to describe the board's policy, which they saw as the deliberate underfunding of secular education in order to favour Anglican schools.
who claimed that the Board was much more efficient over the three years previous to Diggle's chairmanship. A firm of accountants
were engaged by Mundella in an attempt to prove the point; Diggle and Mundella agreed that they would arbitrate on who was telling the truth but fell out over the detailed questions to be submitted. Diggle quickly obtained an accountants' opinion substantiating his approach which was published on the morning of the election, in which Diggle maintained his majority.
Diggle had the pleasure in 1889 of seeing the Clerical Disabilities Act pass into law, which allowed clergyman who resigned their holy orders to stand for Parliament and take their seats. In 1891 there was a bad-tempered dispute between Diggle and the Charity Organisation Society over the provision of cheap or free meals to children in elementary schools. The School Board under Diggle had amalgamated several different societies to form the London Schools Dinner Association; the Charity Organisation Society investigated five unidentified schools and reported the Association's assistance was almost nonexistent. Diggle hit back and questioned the charity Organisation Society's founding principles. Diggle was condemned in a Leader column of The Times
(April 7, 1891) for his "methods of controversy".
, President of the Board of Education
in William Ewart Gladstone
's government, who had supported parents in Pimlico
who were petitioning the Board to build a new school; on this occasion The Times was with Diggle in regarding the Minister's attack as partisan. In his annual report that October, Diggle attacked the Board of Education for costly interference with the School Board's work, singling out Circular No. 391 which prescribed onerous standards for structural and sanitary conditions in schools.
to the post.
in Kent
, of which he was mayor in 1895–1896 and 1901–1902. In 1898 he was elected to Kent County Council
, and was appointed chairman of the county council's Elementary Schools Education Committee in 1908.
he was the Conservative
candidate for Camberwell North
, opposing Thomas Macnamara who had been a teacher in a Board School and later served on the Board together with Diggle; Diggle lost by 1,335 votes a seat where the Conservatives had won the previous election by 693.
with debts of £12,763 3s 7d; two years later his creditors had received 1s 3d in the pound.
Société Royale de Médecine Publique de Belgique from 1891. He served as President of Section V of the International Congress of Hygiene and Demography at London in 1892 and of Section VI at Budapest
in 1894.
He served as Chairman of the Council of the Royal Botanic Society
in 1907, and was Chairman of the Council of the Ragged School Union and Shaftesbury Society from 1906 to 1908.
, where he died aged 69 in January 1917.
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
(May 12, 1849 – June 16, 1917) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Anglican
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
clergyman, politician and public servant. He is notable for his campaign to change the law to allow clergymen to take seats in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
(although he was unable to win a seat himself), and for his chairmanship of the London School Board
London School Board
The School Board for London was an institution of local government and the first directly elected body covering the whole of London....
. His combative approach to political debate was the key to his career, helping him to run the Board for nine years but denying him any higher office.
Early life and family
Diggle was born in PendletonPendleton, Greater Manchester
Pendleton is an inner city area of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is about from Manchester city centre. The A6 dual carriageway skirts the east of the district....
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, the youngest son of William Diggle, a warehouseman and his wife Nancy Ann née Chadderton. His elder brother, John William Diggle
John William Diggle
The Rt Rev John William Diggle, DD was born on 2 March 1847. He was the son of William Diggle, a warehouseman of Pendleton, Lancashire and his wife Nancy Ann née Chadderton. His younger brother, Joseph Diggle was to become chairman of the London School Board.John was educated at Manchester Grammar...
(1847–1920) was to become Bishop of Carlisle
Bishop of Carlisle
The Bishop of Carlisle is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Carlisle in the Province of York.The diocese covers the County of Cumbria except for Alston Moor and the former Sedbergh Rural District...
.
Joseph was educated at Manchester Grammar School
Manchester Grammar School
The Manchester Grammar School is the largest independent day school for boys in the UK . It is based in Manchester, England...
and Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...
where he read Modern History and obtained first class honours. Diggle then trained for the clergy and took holy orders
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
. He was ordained
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
in 1874, and was appointed curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
at St Mark's Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. Two years later he became curate of St Mary's Church, Bryanston Square
St Mary's, Bryanston Square
St Mary's, Bryanston Square, is a Church of England church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Bryanston Square, London, just a five minute walk from any of Marylebone, Baker Street or Edgware Road tube stations...
, where William Henry Fremantle
William Henry Fremantle (Dean)
The Very Reverend William Henry Fremantle was an eminent Anglican priest in the last decades of the 19th century and the first two of the 20th....
was rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
.
In 1878 he married Jane Wilkinson Macrae, from Aigburth
Aigburth
Aigburth is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Dingle, Mossley Hill, and Garston.-History:...
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. They had two sons and two daughters.
Election to the London School Board
In 1879 he resigned his living "to devote himself to public work". On 1 July 1879 he sent a petition to Parliament to prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors on Sunday. In November of the same year he was stood as a "ModerateMunicipal Reform Party
The Municipal Reform Party was a local party allied to the parliamentary Conservative Party in the County of London. The party contested elections to both the London County Council and metropolitan borough councils of the county from 1906 to 1945.-Formation:...
" candidate for the London School Board
London School Board
The School Board for London was an institution of local government and the first directly elected body covering the whole of London....
, the elected body responsible for education in the capital. Board elections were largely run on a religious basis but Diggle was referred to as "a Churchman of Liberal views" who had campaigned to improve the condition of the masses on a social, moral and religious basis. With seven seats in the Marylebone Division, Diggle came second in the poll and was comfortably elected.
On the LSB, Diggle allied himself with those who resisted attempts to expand its work to new areas; he was in general opposition to the majority on the board. He specifically opposed the idea of 'higher elementary schools' which were proposed for older school age children, and called for economies in expenditure. From October 1883, despite still being in opposition, Diggle was chairman of the Finance Committee; he presented a scheme for superannuation of teachers' salaries in June 1884, which was eventually adopted. Despite his concern to reduce expenditure he was compelled to present estimates providing for increases in January 1885; he argued that there had been circumstances of an exceptional character. The Board ordered the estimates reduced by £60,000, but eventually adopted the budget.
1885 general election
At the 1885 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1885
-Seats summary:-See also:*List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885*Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918*Representation of the People Act 1884*Redistribution of Seats Act 1885-References:...
Diggle decided to test the law which prohibited anyone in holy orders in the Church of England from election to the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
. He offered himself as an Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
candidate for the Marylebone East
Marylebone East (UK Parliament constituency)
Marylebone East was a borough constituency located in the Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone, in London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system....
division, declaring that he would not be able to take his seat but urging electors to challenge such "antiquated and unjust restrictions". After a request locally he switched to Marylebone West
Marylebone West (UK Parliament constituency)
Marylebone West was a borough constituency located in the Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone, in London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system....
. His nomination was accepted but he won only 101 votes.
Chairman of the School Board
The London School Board elections of November 1885 saw Diggle running in a group of four clergymen; he finished fifth. However the results in the rest of London elected many more clergymen and when the new board met he was elected as its chairman and became leader of the governing Moderate Party. He again had to stand up to pressure from other members to slash spending, but by 1887 he was able to report progress in reducing the charge on the rates while educating more children. Diggle was also noted for his chairmanship skills through which he successfully prevented disorder despite the presence of several members predisposed to it. The Progressive PartyProgressive Party (London)
The Progressive Party was a political party based around the Liberal Party that contested municipal elections in the County of London.It was founded in 1888 by a group of Liberals and leaders of the labour movement. It was also supported by the Fabian Society, and Sidney Webb was one of its...
, led by Edward Lyulph Stanley
Edward Stanley, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley
Edward Lyulph Stanley, 4th Baron Sheffield, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley and 3rd Baron Eddisbury PC was an English peer.He was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford....
formed the opposition to the Moderate majority. The Progressives adopted the pejorative term "Diggleism" to describe the board's policy, which they saw as the deliberate underfunding of secular education in order to favour Anglican schools.
Disputatiousness
During the 1888 elections, Diggle was involved in a spat with Liberal politician A.J. MundellaAnthony John Mundella
Anthony John Mundella PC , known as A. J. Mundella, was an English manufacturer, reformer and Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1897...
who claimed that the Board was much more efficient over the three years previous to Diggle's chairmanship. A firm of accountants
Accountancy
Accountancy is the process of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. The communication is generally in the form of financial statements that show in money terms the economic resources under the control of management; the art lies in...
were engaged by Mundella in an attempt to prove the point; Diggle and Mundella agreed that they would arbitrate on who was telling the truth but fell out over the detailed questions to be submitted. Diggle quickly obtained an accountants' opinion substantiating his approach which was published on the morning of the election, in which Diggle maintained his majority.
Diggle had the pleasure in 1889 of seeing the Clerical Disabilities Act pass into law, which allowed clergyman who resigned their holy orders to stand for Parliament and take their seats. In 1891 there was a bad-tempered dispute between Diggle and the Charity Organisation Society over the provision of cheap or free meals to children in elementary schools. The School Board under Diggle had amalgamated several different societies to form the London Schools Dinner Association; the Charity Organisation Society investigated five unidentified schools and reported the Association's assistance was almost nonexistent. Diggle hit back and questioned the charity Organisation Society's founding principles. Diggle was condemned in a Leader column of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
(April 7, 1891) for his "methods of controversy".
Conflict with the Board of Education
This denunciation did not seem to affect Diggle's popularity for he was re-elected along with his administration, in the election of November 1891. In 1893 he publicly confronted Arthur Dyke AclandArthur Dyke Acland
Sir Arthur Herbert Dyke Acland, 13th Baronet PC was a Liberal politician and political author. He is best remembered for his involvement with educational issues and served as Vice President of the Council of Education under William Ewart Gladstone and the Earl of Rosebery between 1892 and...
, President of the Board of Education
Secretary of State for Education and Skills
The Secretary of State for Education is the chief minister of the Department for Education in the United Kingdom government. The position was re-established on 12 May 2010, held by Michael Gove....
in William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
's government, who had supported parents in Pimlico
Pimlico
Pimlico is a small area of central London in the City of Westminster. Like Belgravia, to which it was built as a southern extension, Pimlico is known for its grand garden squares and impressive Regency architecture....
who were petitioning the Board to build a new school; on this occasion The Times was with Diggle in regarding the Minister's attack as partisan. In his annual report that October, Diggle attacked the Board of Education for costly interference with the School Board's work, singling out Circular No. 391 which prescribed onerous standards for structural and sanitary conditions in schools.
Departure from office
It was the subject of religious education which provoked one of the fiercest controversies within the Board during Diggle's chairmanship. When the Progressive group put down amendments to a board circular, Diggle quickly accepted a motion to close all debate on the subject. Going into the 1894 elections, the opposition pointedly opposed the motion that the chairman's annual address be printed and distributed, which had previously gone through without opposition. At the last meeting of the old board, the Progressives also divided against a vote of thanks to the Chairman. The 1894 school board election saw the Progressive Party make large gains at the expense of the Moderates who however retained a narrow majority of 3. Diggle retained his seat in the seven-member Marylebone division, but slipped from first to fourth place, with the Progressive leader, Lyulph Stanley topping the poll. The election had been a bitter and hard fought, even sectarian campaign. It was clear that Diggle, who had been a highly partisan chairman and campaigner, was too divisive a figure to head the finely balanced board. Accordingly he stood aside at the new board's first meeting on 4 December, instead nominating the less controversial Lord George HamiltonLord George Hamilton
Lord George Francis Hamilton GCSI, PC, JP was a British Conservative Party politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.-Background:...
to the post.
Moderate split and departure form the school board
Using his experience of administering the Board, Diggle wrote a manifesto suggesting ways of reducing expenditure. He opposed the Moderate Group leadership's support for voluntary schools set up by nonconformists and formed a faction within the Moderate group in equal opposition to the administration of Lord George Hamilton and to the Progressive group. In the 1897 election, Diggle was the leading personality, leading his own group into the elections. He was largely blamed for the Moderate split and saw his vote drop by nearly two-thirds from over 31,000 to less than 10,500, losing his own seat by 4,000 votes. He was nominated as a candidate in the 1900 elections but withdrew before the poll.Kent
Diggle had moved to St Michael's Grange, TenterdenTenterden
Tenterden is a Cinque Port town in the Ashford District of Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother....
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, of which he was mayor in 1895–1896 and 1901–1902. In 1898 he was elected to Kent County Council
Kent County Council
Kent County Council is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Kent in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council has 84 elected councillors...
, and was appointed chairman of the county council's Elementary Schools Education Committee in 1908.
1900 general election
At the 1900 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1900
-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1900*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...
he was the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
candidate for Camberwell North
Camberwell North (UK Parliament constituency)
Camberwell North was a borough constituency located in the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell, in South London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
, opposing Thomas Macnamara who had been a teacher in a Board School and later served on the Board together with Diggle; Diggle lost by 1,335 votes a seat where the Conservatives had won the previous election by 693.
Financial difficulties
Diggle had lived largely on his wife's earnings since 1878, and lived beyond his means including spending considerable sums on repairing his homes in Regents Park and Kent. After 1904 he was forced to go to moneylenders to borrow money at high rates of interest. In October 1905 he was given a certificate for 1,000 Metropolitan Three per Cent. Consolidated stock in order that he might trace the owner; instead, Diggle gave it to his banker as a security for his overdraft. On November 23, 1909 he was adjudicated bankruptBankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
with debts of £12,763 3s 7d; two years later his creditors had received 1s 3d in the pound.
Public health
In addition to his educational interests Diggle became an honorary Fellow of the British Institute of Public Health. He had attended many international conferences on public health while at the School Board and was a corresponding member of the BelgianBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
Société Royale de Médecine Publique de Belgique from 1891. He served as President of Section V of the International Congress of Hygiene and Demography at London in 1892 and of Section VI at Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
in 1894.
He served as Chairman of the Council of the Royal Botanic Society
Royal Botanic Society
The Royal Botanic Society was a learned society founded in 1839. Its purpose was to promote "botany in all its branches, and its applications." Soon after it was established, it leased the grounds within the Inner Circle in Regent's Park, London for use as an experimental garden...
in 1907, and was Chairman of the Council of the Ragged School Union and Shaftesbury Society from 1906 to 1908.
Retirement and death
In 1910 Diggle moved to OxfordOxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, where he died aged 69 in January 1917.