Henry Langley (bishop)

Born in Dungarvan, on 15 October 1840, Henry Archdall Langley was the third son of Henry Langley (1802-1882), and Isabella Edwards Langley, née Archdall (1800-1874),[5][6] of Ballyduff, Co. Waterford, Ireland.

He had two brothers and three sisters:

• Rev. Dr. John Douse Langley (1836-1930), who became the second Bishop of Bendigo.[7]
• Henry Archdall Langley who predeceased Langley's birth, dying of croup aged 16 months.
• Frances Elizabeth Uzzell (1842-1920),[8] née Langley, who married William Frederick Boulton Uzzell (1834-1885), the incumbent at St. Paul's Church, Carcoar, New South Wales, in October 1867.[9]
• Aphra Maria Isabella Glasson (1843-1925),[10] née Hill, née Langley , who married Frederick Mellin Hill (-1870), JP in September 1864.[11]
  Then, following Hill's death in 1870,[12] and the death of their daughter, Catherine Isabella Hill, aged 6, in August 1871,[13] Aphra married Richard Glasson (1837-1895) in July 1872.[14]
• Catherine Isabella Pearse (1845-1927), née Langley, who married William Pearse (1841-1927) in March 1866.[15]

Henry Langley had six sons and six daughters with his Australian born wife, Elizabeth Mary Langley (1842-1923), née Strachan:[16]

• Frederick Archdall Langley (1868-1952), a banker.[17]
• Isabella Charlotte Alice Carrington, née Langley (1869-1941).[18]
• Aylmer John Langley (1872-1943), a banker.[19][20]
• Hilda Sarah Langley (1874-1951), principal of St Catherine's School, Toorak.[21]
• William Leslie Langley (1875-1952), Archdeacon of St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney.[22]
• Henry Thomas Langley (1877-1968), Dean of Melbourne.[23]
• Minnie Ruth Langley (1878-1933), principal of St Catherine's School, Toorak.[24]
• Aphra Victoria Pearce, née Langley (1879-1967).[25]
• Nona Bertha Archdall-Pearce, née Langley (1881-1964).[26]
• Francis Ernest Langley (1882-1946): a medical practitioner who also played Australian rules football for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1900 to 1906.[27]
• Doris Elizabeth Langley (1884-1958).[28]
• Arthur Theodore Langley (1886-1947), a medical practitioner.[29]

In 1901, the Anglican ecclesiastical province of Victoria, already divided into the dioceses of Melbourne (established 1847) and Ballarat (established 1875), was further divided into three more sub-divisions — viz., that of Bendigo, Gippsland, and Wangaratta — and Langley was appointed as the first Bishop of Bendigo, serving for four and a half years from 5 March 1902 until his death on 5 August 1906.[36]

Not only was Langley the very first Bishop of Bendigo, but he was also the very first graduate from Moore Theological College to be appointed as Bishop.[37]

• 
  Canon Langley (1901)
• 
  Bishop-Elect (c.1902)
• 
  Bishop Langley (1902)

The "See House", situated at the corner of Napier Street and Lyons Street, White Hills, and designed by the Bendigo architects William Charles Vahland (1828–1915) and John Beebe (1866–1936), was expressly built for Langley.[38] Generally known at the time as "Bishopscourt" — now known as "Langley Hall" — its Dedication Stone was laid in September 1904,[39] and the Bishop and his family moved in in mid-March 1905.[40]

• 
  Bishopscourt (1904)
• 
  Bishopscourt (1904)
• 
  Bishopscourt (1904)
• 
  Bishopscourt (1904)

Following the resignation of Langley's brother in 1919, the bishop's residence moved from White Hills to Forest Street, beside All Saints' Cathedral,[41] and the former Bishopscourt building was leased to the Red Cross.[42] A convalescent home for returned soldiers suffering shell shock and other "physical" injuries was opened in the building on 3 December 1919 by Lady Helen Munro Ferguson, the wife of the Governor General, and the President (and founder) of the Australian branch of the Red Cross.[43] It continued to function as a convalescent home until 1926. For a time Langley Hall was used for the Bendigo Theological College, associated with the Australian College of Theology,[44] under the direction of Rev. Frederick Alfred Philbey (1887-1947).[45]

In 1932, Langley Hall was converted into St. Luke's Toddlers' Home,[46] run by the Mission of St James and St John, which continued to operate until 1979, when it moved to a different location, and became St. Luke's Family Care. The building, unused for a time, was completely refurbished, and has operated as bed and breakfast accommodation, as "Langley Hall", since 2000.

• 
  "Langley Hall" (2017)
• 
  "Langley Hall" (2017)

On his death in 1906 he was succeeded as Bishop of Bendigo by his older brother Rev. Dr. John Douse Langley.[51]

Langley's brother had not been the first choice: the diocese's intended replacement, who had been unanimously elected to the vacant see (entirely without his knowledge or permission), was the (then) Bishop of Gippsland, Arthur Wellesley Pain (1841-1920). Pain refused to leave Gippsland, and continued to serve as Bishop of Gippsland until his retirement in 1917.[52] Langley's brother was one of four candidates: the others were Dr. William Charles Sadlier (1867-1935), later Bishop of Nelson, Canon George M'Murray, formerly of Ballarat, of St. Mary's, Auckland, and William Tucker (1856-1934), later the Dean of Ballarat.[53]