Charles Isaac Stevens

  General Notes:

Census 1851 apprentice watch and clock maker.

Charles Isaac Stevens (1835\endash 1917) was the second patriarch of the Ancient British Church from 1889 to 1917 and also was primus of the Free Protestant Episcopal Church of England from 1900 to 1917.[1]

He was born on 28 November 1835 at Clerkenwell, London, to Isaac Thomas and Anna (née Morgan) Stevens and was baptised at the Parish Church of St Luke, London, on 5 June 1836. Stevens was a Reformed Episcopal Church of England presbyter until the year 1879.[1]

He was consecrated on 6 March 1879 by Richard Williams Morgan,[2] of the Ancient British Church. He took the religious name Mar Theophilus I.[1]

According to the Anglican Free Communion, Order of Corporate Reunion (OCR) bishops assisted Morgan at the 6 March 1879 consecration.[3] This is disputed, however, by Henry Brandreth who (writing in 1947) considered that "it is very unlikely, however, that any of the OCR bishops performed a consecration" of Stevens.[2]

On 4 May 1890, Stevens ordained Leon Chechemian (Mar Leon), bishop of the joint Free Protestant Church of England/United Armenian Catholic Church in the British Isles, as the Ancient British Church's archbishop of Selsey.[1] On 2 November 1897, Chechemian, Stevens, and other bishops, founded the Free Protestant Episcopal Church with Chechemian as primus. Chechemian resigned as primus in 1900 and Stevens succeeded him in that office. In 1881 Stevens married Eliza Elizabeth Galloway at Islington, London. She died in 1900 in the Hackney district of London, where the Stevens had lived for many years and where the pro-cathedral of the Ancient British Church/Free Protestant Episcopal Church was located. Stevens died on 2 February 1917 in London.

Stevens was an organist and the author of An Essay on the Theory of Music (Gottengen 1863). . He is mentioned in William Newman-Nortons book "Exiles from Eden" authored by Abba Seraphim

EXILES FROM EDEN:

The later history of the Western episcopal successions originating from the Syrian Orthodox triarchate of Antioch

Exiles from Eden (2019) is the sequel to Abba Seraphim's Flesh of Our Brethren which he first published in 2006. This is a later history of the Western episcopal successions originating from the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and deals specifically with the successions and jurisdictions originating from the 1866 mission of Mar Julius (Ferrette), Bishop of Iona, and the 1892 mission of Mar Timotheos (Vilatte). Using the anonymous 1922 article "A Chapter of Secret History" which was originally published in The Church Times, as a framework for the period 1867-1922, he attempts to verify and amplify the events it recounts in tracing the history of the Ferrette Succession. The later Vilatte Succession was more extensive in its outreach, not only in the United States, but also in ministering to Poles, Black Americans and Swedes, as well as establishing missions in Britain, France, Italy and the African Continent.

CHAPTER 5

A COURSE VERY DIFFERENT



Charles Isaac Stevens

According to the author of 'A Chapter of Secret History', Charles Isaac Stevens was consecrated for the Order of Corporate Reunion "by Dr. Lee, Bishop R.W. Morgan, and another prelate." It is stated that he,

"Acted as coadjutor to Bishop Morgan, and after his death assumed his title of Bishop of Caerleon. Later Bishop Stevens took a course very different from that designed for the Order of Corporate Reunion, and became associated with another prelate, Leon Chechemian."

Charles Isaac Stevens was born at 8 Ironmonger Street, Finsbury, in the Parish of St. Luke, Old Street, Middlesex, on 28 November 1835, the son of Isaac Thomas Stevens and Anna Stevens (née Morgan) and baptised at St. Luke's Church, on 5 June 1836. His father was a watchmaker. Although he was baptised as an Anglican his father appears to have originally come from dissenting stock, as Isaac Thomas Stevens (son of William and Mary Stevens) was baptised at Academy Independent Chapel, Hoxton on 27 September 1812 before receiving baptism at Saint Leonard's, Shoreditch, on 23 May 1813. However, the family appear to have moved to Lincolnshire sometime between 1843 when Isaac Stevens is listed in the London Commercial Directory as a watch escapement maker living at 34 Ironmonger Street, Finsbury, and the 1851 census, which shows the family was living at 61 Boston Road, Old Sleaford, Lincolnshire and Charles was an apprentice watch and clock maker. He mentions also living at Boston and the nearby Parish of Wyburton. They must have returned some time after the 1851 census as Isaac is shown in the 1851 Commercial Directory as living at 8 Elizabeth Place, Ball's Pond Road, Dalston.

By 1858 they were living in Shoreditch and young Charles was making quite a name for himself as a musician and conductor. In his twenties, Charles Isaac Stevens had succeeded Henry Willis (1821-1901), the foremost organ builder of the Victorian era, as organist of Christ Church, Hoxton. Between 1858 and 1864 the Shoreditch Observer regularly reports him conducting the first branch of the Musical Union trained under him, as well as concerts in Myddleton Hall, Upper Street, Islington, which he is said to have "conducted with his usual discretion and ability."[i] The 1861 census describes him as a teacher of music. In 1863 Charles Isaac Stevens graduated with a doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Göttingen.[ii] He initially had presented successively three different treatises as doctoral work, but these were rejected by the expert Hermann Lotze (1817-1881) as insufficient. Only his physical and psychological work "Essay on the Theory of Music" was rated positively by the musicologist Edward Kruger, which is why the promotion could take place.[iii]

In addition to his musical career, he was also active in local affairs and served as Overseer of the Poor, Underwarden and in 1858 served as Upper Churchwarden and Chairman of the Vestry of St. Leonard, Shoreditch. On retiring from office, a Testimonial was presented on behalf of the parishioners as "a mark of respect for the honesty and integrity manifested by him in the discharge of the important duties of that office; the impartiality and consistency displayed by him under very trying circumstances, and for his general satisfactory demeanour on all occasions."[iv] A subscription raised over £20. The following year, when he retired from a further term of office, the Testimonial was even more fulsome. The Vicar chaired the meeting, which the editorial in the Shoreditch Observer considered was remarkable because it "was almost entirely devoted to extolling Mr. Stevens for the care and attention he had devoted to the Church and to his ecclesiastical duties, but not a word as to the mode in which he acted in reference to what we may term local politics." This time he was presented with a vote of thanks of the Vestry, engrossed on vellum and beautifully framed, a silver coffee and tea service and three handsome papier maché trays.[v] He continued to be elected as a vestryman and Guardian of the Poor for Wenlock and later Moorfields Wards. Even old Mr. Stevens was elected a vestryman of St. Leonard, Shoreditch in 1870[vi] and is listed in the electoral registers as a householder of 193 New North Road between 1862-1873.

Charles married on 21 March 1881 at Holy Trinity, Islington, describing himself as a 'clerk in holy orders' and rather imaginatively giving his father's quality, trade or profession as 'gentleman.' His wife was Eliza Elizabeth Galloway, daughter of Alexander Galloway, also described as 'gentleman', although at the time of Eliza's baptism at St. Mary's, Lambeth (29 December 1839) her father's trade was given as 'wax chandler.' The 1881 Census shows Charles & Eliza Stevens living at 36 Florence Street, Islington, with his occupation as a 'clerk in holy orders.[vii]

Brandreth asserts[viii] that Stevens was originally a member of the Reformed Episcopal Church but gives no evidence for this claim. However, his death certificate describes him as "Minister of the Reformed Episcopal Church (retired)."[ix] In its own publications the Free Protestant Episcopal Church of England asserted that the Ancient British Church was "re-organised in 1876-7" and that the Rt. Rev. C.I. Stevens was "the Chief Patriarch at the time of the formation of the F.P.E.C.E."[x]

There exists a rare undated four-page pamphlet entitled The Order of Divine Service (Shortened Form) published by the "Patriarchial Press, London" which describes him as "Mar Theophilus (The Most Revd. Dr. Stevens) of the United Patriarchate of Armenia; Archbishop of Caerleon, Caertroia, Verulam, &c.; and Patriarch ŒC in the Church of God." The Church is designated as "The Free Protestant Episcopal Church of England, otherwise the Ancient British Church: with which is affiliated the Nazarene Ecclesia" and Stevens elsewhere referred to as "Abp. Stevens, Pat. British Church" and "The Bard Raphael Asa."

On 22 August 1900 Stevens, as a 'clerk in holy orders, registered as a place of worship with the Registrar-General, 1 Colverstone Crescent, Dalston (South-West Hackney)[xi] of which he also described himself as the "occupier", under the auspices of the "Free Episcopal Church of England." He had been living here for at least a decade[xii] but moved from here a short while after, although the registration was not actually cancelled until 12 February 1913.[xiii]The 1901 census gives his occupation as 'Clergyman (Free Protestant Episcopal Church of England)'.

During correspondence which took place in 1909 in the columns of The Tablet on the subject of the Order of Corporate Reunion it was alleged that Stevens had served as an Anglican deacon, but this was repudiated by an anonymous correspondent designed as "Y" who wrote that Steevens (sic) was never an Anglican deacon but had been ordained and consecrated by Checkemian.[xiv] A subsequent letter from J.C. Whitebrook of 24 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, challenged the denial that Stevens held the priesthood, stating that he had "officiated on many occasions and during a long term of years at St. Augustine's Oratory."[xv] This statement can be verified from the 'Register of Baptisms performed in St. Austin's Chapel within the Parish of St. John's, Walworth 1876 to 1893.'[xvi] Nugée died on 5 October 1892 and on 23 October that year Stevens appears as officiant in the baptismal register, regularly performing baptisms until 16 April 1893, shortly before St. Austin's Priory became the Chapel of Ease of Saint Mary the Virgin attached to the Parish Church of St. John the Evangelist, Walworth. Whitebrook's assertion that Stevens had officiated "during a long term of years", obviously implies that he was working alongside Nugée and it is inconceivable that someone possessing orders derived from the decidedly Protestant Reformed Episcopal Church or adhering to their anti-Catholic theology would have found favour with advanced Ritualists, such as Nugée. Yet he seems to have taken over Checkemian's Free Protestant Episcopal Church of England in preference to his own earlier work, the Ancient British Church.

Mrs. Stevens died at the end of 1900 aged only 59 years and the 1901 census shows that her niece, 28 year-old, Eliza Galloway, moved in to act as housekeeper.

In 1906 Stevens was attacked in The Tribune for allegedly advertising ordinations in a weekly religious paper. Then living at 32b Morat Street, off Holland Street, Stockwell, a new street of small flats, he was visited without prior warning by an undercover reporter from The Tribune posing as an applicant for orders. He was received by

"A man in clerical garb very much the worse for wear, the cuffs of the coat being frayed at the edges. He wore a dirty collar, and had an air and appearance that by no means betokened affluence, or even moderate prosperity… The sitting-room was in many respects the same as the man. The windows were not clean, and there was an air of slovenliness about the whole place. On the walls were photographs of men dressed in bishop's robes …"

When the reporter returned a few days later, having made an appointment,

"The room had been thoroughly cleaned, the reverend gentleman no longer had on his old coat, but was resplendent with a clerical coat of irreproachable cut and texture."

It was then that the reporter discovered that he had met Dr. Stevens himself.

The substance of these attacks centred on the apparent willingness of Stevens to offer ordination to any candidate presenting himself in return for certain fees: five shillings for a candidate's licence, an annual subscription of half a crown followed by two pounds for the diaconate and three pounds for the priesthood. The candidate's theology and his educational standing appeared to be matters of complete indifference.[xvii]

According to a document issued by Stevens, which is quoted in The Tribune, he described himself as "having Universal jurisdiction, Consecrated by His Holiness Leon Checkemian, D.D. Archbishop of Malatia and Patriarch in Armenia … and four bishops … on the seventh day of December One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight …" although his seal bears the contradictory inscription "Elected 1897, Consecrated 1898." Claiming Checkemian as a consecrator makes little sense as he was still serving as an Armenian Catholic priest in the Ottoman Empire in 1878 and 'A Chapter of Secret History' asserts that it was Stevens who consecrated Checkemian to the episcopate, but it does approximate to the dates 1876-7 when the Ancient British Church was "reorganised."

The 1911 census shows the seventy-five-year-old Charles Stevens still living with Eliza, but now in three rooms at 17 Paulet Road, Camberwell. His occupation is given as Clerk in Holy Orders, but he has written against it, 'No appointment'; which suggests that he regarded himself as semi-retired.

Charles Isaac Stevens died of heart failure at Paulet Road, on 7 February 1917 with Eliza present at his side. He was buried at West Norwood Cemetery on 13 February 1917 in a public grave without any headstone.[xviii]

The author of "A Chapter of Secret History" states,

"Before his death in 1917 Bishop Stevens consecrated or assisted in consecrating two other bishops. One of these was the Rev. Andries Caarel Albertus MacLaglen, on November 2, 1897, the senior consecrator being Bishop Chechemian; and another, G.W.L. Maaers, who went to Spain to assist Senor Cabrera to found a Protestant Church in that country."

Apart from the incorrect spelling of Maeers, it is mistaken in attributing any direct involvement by Stevens in MacLaglen's consecration on 2 November 1897. We know from the "Order of Ceremonial" published before the event[xix] as well as a report published afterwards[xx], that Checkemian was the principal consecrator and was assisted only by Bishops Boucher, Maeers and Martin. Nevertheless if there was a general 'exchange' of successions in 1898, it is likely that Stevens laid hands on MacLaglen then.

George Walter Lewis Maeers[xxi], Bishop of Silchester, lived at Westcott, Dorking and was a regular contributor to Prophetic News.[xxii] His association with the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church (Iglesia Espanola Reformada Episcopal) is of particular interest as the apostolic succession derived from Archbishop Plunket, who had supported Checkemian in his endeavours to establish a rival to the local Roman Catholic hierarchy.

Frederick Boucher[xxiii], Bishop of Essex (1867-1898) was a Professor of Music, but had earlier been described as a music-seller and piano-tuner, who entered the theological candidates' class at King's College, but failed to pass the entrance examination in 1892. He was subsequently ordained by Bishop A.S. Richardson, serving a curacy in the Reformed Episcopal Church parish at Manor Park; presiding over a mission hall in Culvert Road, South Tottenham, before becoming Superintendent of the Seamen's & Waterside Mission at 112 Rotherhithe Wall.[xxiv] On 24 August 1897 he registered a building on the corner of Strone and Shrewsbury Road, East Ham, as 'St. Stephen's Protestant Church of England' under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855.[xxv]

Also associated with Stevens as clergy were: The Very Rev. Thomas Jones as Archdeacon and The Very Rev. Henry James Veryman Trimming of 11 York Road, Battersea, London, SW., (born at Southampton 1855, died at Whitechapel 1900). Trimming served as Registrar of the Church, but also described his occupation as 'journalist' which included being associate editor of the Light of Day, the official organ of the Metropolitan Medico-Botanic College situated at Percy Villa, 432 Fulham Road, West Kensington.

Ernest Albert Asquith was born around 1884 in Bethnal Green, the second son of James G. Asquith, pianoforte maker of 154 Grove Road, Bethnal Green. In 1901 he was a 'government messenger' and by 1917 he had been awarded a Ph.D., doubtless from Martin's Nazarene College, and served as Martin's Archdeacon for the Free Protestant Episcopal Church.

Another cleric was William Hall. Born in 1890, he was ordained deacon by Stevens and priest on 25 July 1915 by Martin. In his youth he had been a footman to Lady Brassey.[xxvi] Having become friendly with the chaplain of Abney Park Cemetery, who had been ordained by an independent bishop, he determined to take orders himself so that he might become a cemetery chaplain. Lady Brassey donated funds for him to become a student in the Nazarene College and to open a small chapel in Retreat Place, Hackney. He subsequently became paid chaplain to Abney Park Cemetery.[xxvii] He was rather aggressively Protestant in his churchmanship and was vociferously hostile to the account offered in "A Chapter of Secret History.[xxviii]

James Martin & the Nazarene Ecclesia

When Mar Theophilus Stevens died in 1917 his primacy passed to James Martin, who had previously served as Bishop of Caerlirion.[xxix] He now assumed the title of Archbishop of Caerleon-upon-Usk and Patriarch.

[i] Shoreditch Observer, 17 September 1859, 28 January 1860, 5 April 1862 & 13 September 1862.

[ii] University of Göttingen, Dean's record 147, 115.

[iii] Universitätsarchiv Göttingen, Phil. Fak. Dekanatsakten 147, pag. 115-155.

[iv] Shoreditch Observer, 14 August 1858.

[v] Shoreditch Observer, 23 April 1859.

[vi] East London Observer, 14 May 1870.

[vii] Public Record Office, RG 11/0255/34, page 8.

[viii] H.R.T. Brandreth, Episcopi Vagantes and the Anglican Church (Second edition, 1961), p. 79.

[ix] This information was supplied by his neice, who was present at his death.

[x] Ernest A. Asquith, op.cit., p. 1.

[xi] The 1900 Post Office London Directory lists him as "Stevens, Rev. Charles, Ph.D."

[xii] Public Record Office, RG 12/187, page 48. The 1891 Census shows him as "living on his own means" with his wife, Eliza E. Stevens, a ninety year old Alice Stevens and her daughter Elizabeth Stevens.

[xiii] Public Record Office, RG 70/76, Registration No. 37880. The 1901 Census (Public Record Office, RG 13/222, page 10) lists him as "Clergyman (Free Protestant Episcopal Church of England). Residing with him at 1 Colverstone Crescent, was his 28 year-old unmarried niece, Eliza Galloway, who was born in Lambeth whose occupation is described as "Living on Relatives."

[xiv] The Tablet, 13 February 1909.

[xv] The Tablet, 20 February 1909.

[xvi] London Metropolitan Archives, P92/JN/011.

[xvii] The Tribune, 27 March, 28 March, 29 March & 30 March 1906.

[xviii] Grave No. 34338-Sq. 46

[xix] The Star, 21 December 1897.

[xx] The African Review, 13 November 1897.

[xxi] George Walter Lewis Maeers was the son of Daniel Bramblefield Maeers and was born at Faversham, Kent, in 1855. At the time of his marriage to Mary Langford Bullen at St. Matthias, Upper Clapton (20 May 1879) he described his occupation as 'amanuensis'. In 1900 his wife petitioned for maintenance and a separation order, he having formed an intimacy with a woman named Florrie Ashby. In consequence of this he was dismissed from his position as a private secretary in Bournemouth. He subsequently became minister of the English Free Church at Westcott, near Dorking, and left his wife. At the time of her petition he was believed to be living with the woman Ashby at Rosamond, Leigh-on-Sea. Vide: Dorking & Leatherhead Advertiser, 15 December 1900.

[xxii] Maeers was a regular contributor to Baxter's Prophetic News, where in 1900 he was thought to be earning about £150 per annum, sometimes lecturing and at other times reporting; vide June 1897, page 127; November 1897, pp. 233-254; May 1989, pp. 119-120; June 1898, p. 143 and September 1899, pp.215-216.

[xxiii] Frederick Boucher was born at St. Peter Port,Guernsey, the son of Captain William Coombs Boucher, a master mariner, who eventually retired to London and became a grocer. He Married Emily Jane Ward, a dressmaker, at St. Stephen's Church, Bow, on 6 December 1887, He died on 11 June 1898.

[xxiv] The Star, 21 December 1897.

[xxv] Registration No. 36155, ref. RG70/73, which was cancelled on 16 October 1909 and recertified as No. 43925. In 1898 Bourcher was living at 5 Kensington Villas, White Post Lane, East Ham, Essex.

[xxvi] Lady Brassey was born Lady Sybil de Vere Capell, the youngest daughter of Viscount Maldon, eldest son of the 6th Earl of Essex. In 1890 she married the first Baron Brassey of Bulkeley, who was created Viscount Hythe and Earl Brassey in 1911. She died in 1934.

[xxvii] Mar Georgius, Building the East-West Bridge, unpublished typescript, p. 5.

[xxviii] In a letter to Father K.J. Smethurst, dated 20 September 1952, Hall wrote:"I cannot accept the story of the 1866 Bishops "Church Times 1922" as having anything at all to do with Stevens and Checkemian. The latter came to London 1885 …. The history of the above Church does not give any record of an 'Ancient British Ch' in connection with orders of 1866. As we know it, the A.B.C. is of the Druids to whom Stevens was Chaplain in 1874. The older order of Druids I mean, for there are 2 orders. The older being Christian, are converts of Caradoc, Linus, Bran & Pudens, A Noble Arch Druid of this order \endash which Stevens was \endash is the rank of Archbishop although the Episcopal term is not used. They ordain their Vice Arch Druids fully into the Ancient Priesthood. Stevens has the sign of Druidism on his ArchEpiscopal Seal, which I have here. I also possess the seals of Dr. Checkemian & Letters of Orders of some of the first ordained of 1898. Stevens never became an Episcopal Bishop until 1897: consecrated by Checkemian with Martin & MacLaglen. The story of a man named Richardson is absurd. He was one time Bishop in the Protestant Sect of the Reformed Episcopal Church of America & through stealing money, he was deposed. It isn't likely that this Protestant re-consecrated a Roman Catholic, Greek & Armenian Bishop. But Stevens & others were ordained by Lord Leon Checkemian, 1897. What happened was that the Armenian bishop was elected 1st Archbishop 1898. Stevens a Druid \endash Martin a Spurgeonite & MacLaglen the freelance "bible puncher" never had orders until 1897. The writer of the Church Times article was a Deacon of the C of E named Coles whom I knew very well indeed. He was in disgrace & was never priested in the C of E. My wife & I were friends as young children & all her relatives & myself went to Checkemian's Sunday School in Mare Street Hackney which was their Chief Church & Stevens wife financed it £200 of her annuity which unfortunately died with her leaving Stevens poor. I have had 55 years with the F.P.E.C. of which 40 I have been priest & bishop. I was fully 20 years when priested by both Stevens & Martin."

[xxix] Caer Lerion is one of the twenty-eight cities named by Nennius (Historia Brittonum, 66a De Civitatibus Brittanniae) and appears to be associated with Leicester, said to have been founded by Leir.

Charles married Eliza Elizabeth Galloway, daughter of Living and Living, on 21 Mar 1881 in Islington, Middlesex, England. (Eliza Elizabeth Galloway was born in 1839 in Lambeth, Surrey, England, christened on 29 Dec 1839 in Lambeth, Surrey, England and died in 1900 in Hackney, London, England.)