Obituary

Mgr. F. Gonne
It is with the deepest regret that we record the death of Mgr. F. Gonne, Rector of St. Bede's College, Manchester, which occurred as the result of a bathing accident which is reported on earlier pages in this issue.
Mgr. Gonne was born in Manchester and as a boy attended St. Augustine's Schools, Granby Row. From there he went to St. Bede's, and later proceeded to Ushaw College, Durham, and Cambridge University, where he graduated. He completed his studies with periods at St. Sulpice, Paris, and Oscott College, Birmingham, and was ordained at Victoria Park Convent, Manchester, in 1908.
From his ordination until his death he was at St. Bede's, first as a Professor of Classics (1908-13), and then as Prefect of Studies (1913-16). In the latter year he succeeded Fr. Cartin as Rector and during his 22 years' charge of the college many hundreds of students passed through his bands, a great number to the priesthood.
Not only a fine teacher, he was also a brilliant administrator, and during his years as Rector the college went from strength to strength. In 1914 he had the pleasure of seeing the magnificent new wing opened at a cost of £25,000, and only recently he inaugurated improvements to cost about £2,000 and including, amongst other things, the erection of a finely equipped gymnasium.
Mgr. Gonne was well known in this country and in many countries abroad as a powerful preacher, and his services in this respect were often in demand. In 1925 he preached a course of sermons in the Church of St. Sylvester, Rome, and last year. after a similar course in a New York church during Lent, he undertook a lecture tour which took him to many parts of the United States.
As an author, too, Mgr. Gonne was well known. He wrote two books, The Fringe of the Eternal, and Twelve Tales of the West,' and three plays, Unto Us a Son is Given (Passion Play), In the City of David (Nativity Play) and St. Patrick, written round the life of Ireland's patron.
For many years, also, he was the editor of The Sower, an educational publication, and he frequently contributed to periodicals.
An authority on education, he was twice president of the Conference of Catholic Colleges and Association of Convent Schools (1918-19 and 1927-28) and from 1928 until his death he was hon. secretary of that body. He was also a member of the Executive of the Catholic Education Council.
Mgr. Gonne's work received recognition from the Pope in 1923, when he was made a Privy Chamberlain to His Holiness.
Mgr. Gonne was last seen publicly in Manchester on the evening preceding his accident when he accompanied Mgr. Henshaw to a performance of the Manchester Historical Pageant. He was the chairman of the committee of Episode Two —that taken by the Catholics in the pageant.
Remarkable evidence of the esteem in which Mgr. Gonne was held was shown at St. John's Cathedral, Salford, on Tuesday last, when solemn requiem Mass, presided over by Mgr. Thomas Henshaw, Bishop of Salford, and attended by Mgr. John F. McNulty, Bishop of Nottingham, was sung by Mgr. Gonne's life-long friend, the Very Rev. G. Maspero, R.D., of St. Patrick's, Manchester.
More than 200 priests, including clergy from at least two other dioceses, a mitred abbot (Abbot A. G. Toner, C.R.P.), twelve canons, two from Shrewsbury, and representatives of many orders and religious communities attended.
In a church which was packed with over 2,000 people, were representatives of the Manchester Education Committee, the City Council, City Justices, the Catholic Education Council, National Union of Teachers, Catholic Teachers' Guild, St. Bede's Old Boys' Association, and many Catholic societies and organisations.
Mgr. McNulty preached the panegyric and said that as they looked back on the life of Mgr. Gonne they might well apply to him the words which were cut in stone over the entrance to St. Bede's. His whole life was given to study, to writing, to teaching, and to prayer.
Mrs. Rathbone
The Catholic Prisoners' Aid Society is one of a number of social works which have lost a helper by the death of Mrs. William Rathbone, senior, whose sympathetic interest in all manner of good causes was consistent over a long period of years. In particular she might well be regarded, in memory, as the apostle of the suffering child.
Mrs. Rathbone was born in America. She settled in this country as a young woman, and thereafter gave herself unremittingly to works of benevolence. The Invalid Children's Aid Association is now in its jubilee year. Mrs. Rathbone was prominent in the group of original members half a century ago, and until her death she kept the post of hon. secretary of the association's Chelsea branch, which she founded in 1908. ShOrtly afterwards, also in Chelsea, she started a school for physically defective children, an institution since taken over by the London County Council.
Work in the interest of prisoners, of pupil-teachers, of Austrians impoverished by the Great War : all this was part of Mrs. Rathbone's activity. Above all, however, it was for the sick or crippled child that she laboured. By the hundreds whom her visits and aid consoled this greatly-loved woman will he deeply mourned.
Miss May Bateman
Miss May Bateman, known by her writings to thousands of readers on both sides of the Atlantic, died on June 30 at 6, Argyll Mansions, Chelsea. Her death removes a woman of great charm, whose interests and gifts were many.
May Geraldine Frances Bateman was the youngest daughterof the late Henry Bateman, F.R.C.S. The literary craft attracted her at an early age, and her output in articles, stories, etc., was considerable. Much of it is now lost sight of in magazines and other ephemera.
Nearly forty years ago Miss Bateman acted as a Special Correspondent during the South African War. Subsequently, she contributed numerous articles to leading reviews in Great Britain and the United States: her work appeared in the Dublin Review, Fortnightly Review. Nineteenth Century, Catholic World, Harper's, Blackfriars, and other periodicals. She was also the author of several novels: The Altar of Life; The Glow-worm; Farquharson of Glune; and of Sonnets and Songs.
The interment took place last Monday in Highgate Cemetery, after a requiem at the Brompton Oratory.
Lieut.-Col. F. A. Tighe
Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Alfred Tighe, of the Royal Field Artillery (retired), died on the 2nd inst., at The Mount, Portchester, Hants, aged sixty-nine. He was the son of the late Captain Francis Tighe, and himself attained Captain's rank. in the Artillery, in 1898. From 1895 until 1900 he was Adjutant to the 3rd Lanes Volunteer Artillery. Major in 1906, he became in 1912 Lieutenant-Colonel of the West Riding Brigade, R.F.A.
Major Edmund G. F. L. Gould The death took place on Sunday last of Major Edmund George Francis Langdon Gould, late The Buffs, of Ciboure, France, and Roland Gardens, S.W. The son of John Gould and grandson of the late John Gould, of Loughgarc, Co. Cork, Major Gould was born in 1881. After education at Beaumont and at the Oratory School, he entered the Army and served both in the South African War and in the Great War of 1914-18. He retired from military service fourteen years ago.
The requiem Mass was offered, on Wednesday, at St. Mary's Priory, Fulham.
Flight-Lieut. Pharazyn
A Requiem Mass, preceding the interment at Hascombe, was offered last Saturday at Godalming for Flight-Lieut. William Forster Pharazyn, who met his death in the flying accident, on June 29, near Fenton, Yorkshire.
Flight-Lieut. Pharazyn was the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey Pharazyn, of Dannevirke, New Zealand. He was in his thirty-sixth year.
Salisbury's New Church
A fete was held last week to reduce the heavy debt on Salisbury's second church that of St. Gregory and the English Mars tyrs.
The church was opened by the Bishop of Clifton the previous week. It is a fine building which has cost some £7,000, and of this sum approximately half has been raised.