The Prodigal Father

St. Mark’s Church was built in the early 1870s in Sunderland’s Millfield section, a growing working-class area. The Rev. William Proctor Swaby came to the vicarage in 1881. Swaby’s story was interesting. He was raised by his mother, helping to support her by being a teacher in Tetney, their village in Lincolnshire. He went to university in Durham where he was a leading athlete and scholar and, finishing his studies, was ordained in 1871. His first parish was in the mining community of Ryhope. Since coming to Sunderland, Swaby was credited with establishing St. Mark’s as a “model parish.” He served on the Sunderland School Board and oversaw the Boys and Girls High Schools. He was a gifted preacher and much in demand. His sermons were published. His income amounted to about £800. So, why was his father on the dole?

In 1891, Rev. Swaby received a summons from the Shardlow Board of Guardians in Derbyshire asking why he should not contribute to the maintenance of his 70-year old father who was presently receiving outdoor relief in the village of Long Eaton. The vicar replied by mail declining the summons. He was, firstly, not satisfied the man called Joseph Swaby was his father. And, even if he was, why should he have to support a man who abandoned him as a child, leaving three boys and their mother? For more than 40 years, William had supported himself and his mother “without the least assistance” from his missing father.

This “remarkable and romantic story” received a good deal of attention. The Rev. Swaby, of course, would have to come to Derby County Hall to confront the guardians. He was the last of his family, as far as he knew. Both his brothers were dead. His mother was dead and she'd always told him that his father died of the cholera in 1846. Until this summons, Swaby had no reason to believe otherwise and had made no effort to find his pater. 

At the hearing, an elderly Tetney man swore to Joseph Swaby’s identity. Then, the prodigal father took the stand. He was born in Tetney, trained as a joiner. In 1846, he went to Grimsby to find work. He never returned. His wife, Rebecca, “preferred” another man, so he left her with him. For a while, he followed his son’s clerical career but had lost touch. Then, he saw a newspaper report about a sermon given by a Rev. Swaby in Tetney and he knew that had to be his son. When a guardian challenged him for not making any effort to contact his son or family for more than forty years, Swaby answered, “It doesn’t matter now.”

The elder Swaby, the guardians also learned, had re-married; his second wife was only in her 30s, and they had three children! While his step-mother et al were not the Rev. Swaby’s concern, his father was, the board decided. The clergyman would have to contribute 1 shilling, sixpence per week (less than £4 per year.) The guardians wanted to make clear that they did not hold the Rev. Swaby responsible in any way for his father’s plight. “There never was a prosecution in which the accused succeeded more effectually in clearing himself from unworthy aspersions.”

There was no happy family reunion. The Rev. Swaby returned to Sunderland, sending his weekly payments. In 1893, he left England, accepting the appointment as Colonial Bishop of British Guiana. In Derbyshire, the public was informed that “the Bishop will continue to contribute weekly towards his father’s support.” How long the payments continued cannot be known but Joseph Swaby lived another 15 years. The Rev. Swaby remained abroad; he died in 1916 soon after being appointed Archbishop of the West Indies. 

How the Vicar Came and Went is the new collection of Victorian Clerical Errors and is available exclusively from amazon.co.uk.  

Rev. Swaby's photo copyright The Bridgeman Collection.