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Patrick McLaughlin (churchman)
Encyclopedia
Patrick McLaughlin was an Anglican
priest
and Christian
thinker who resigned the priesthood of the Church of England
in 1962 and became a Roman Catholic. While he was a priest, he was known (in the Anglo-Catholic
manner) as Father Patrick McLaughlin. He later became a lay brother
of the Order of Saint Benedict
.
, Herefordshire
. His mother was the daughter of the Rev. John Bartholomew Vale (1823–96), Rector of Crostwight
, Norfolk
, and of his wife Clara (1836–1919). His father retired to Malvern
in 1913.
The only child of his parents' marriage, Patrick McLaughlin had two older half-sisters, Owyne Salwey McLaughlin (1885–1972) and Margaret Joy Crofton McLaughlin (1887–1972). Their sister, Cecil Urwick McLaughlin, born in 1880, had died in 1896.
McLaughlin's paternal grandparents were the Very Reverend Hubert McLaughlin (1805–1882) and Frederica Crofton (1816–1881), a daughter of Sir Edward Crofton, 3rd Baronet
, and of Lady Charlotte Stewart (1785–1842), the youngest of the five daughters of John Stewart, 7th Earl of Galloway
. Hubert McLaughlin was Rector of Burford, Shropshire
, a Rural Dean
, and Prebendary
of Hunderton in Hereford Cathedral
, and was the author of Biographical Sketches of Ancient Irish Saints, etc. (1874). Hubert and Frederica Crofton had no fewer than eight sons and four daughters. Of their sons, one became a major general
, one a judge
, one agent to the Earl of Feversham
, and two (including Patrick McLaughlin's father Alfred) clergy
men of the Church of England, while Patrick McLaughlin's aunts included the nurses Louisa Elisabeth McLaughlin and Sophia Charlotte McLaughlin.
One of McLaughlin's first cousins was a namesake who became Rear-Admiral Patrick McLaughlin CB
DSO
RN
. In 1945, as Vice-Admiral commanding the 4th Cruiser Squadron of the British Pacific Fleet
, he took the surrender of the Japanese
forces in Hong Kong
.
McLaughlin was educated at Bromsgrove School
and then at Worcester College, Oxford
. While at Oxford
, he was an active member of the Oxford University Dramatic Society
, and as a fresh-faced young man he was often cast in female roles. However, he resisted the possibility of becoming an actor, at a time when acting was not altogether seen as a respectable profession.
Deciding to follow his father and grandfather into the priesthood of the Church of England
, McLaughlin was ordained as a deacon
and a priest
and quickly took to elaborate Anglo-Catholic
ritual.
As Vicar of St Thomas's, Regent Street
, London
(a church now closed), he brought theatre into his church by staging plays by (among others) Christopher Fry
and Ronald Duncan
, until he was asked by the Lord Chamberlain's Office
to desist. He was also Warden of St Anne's House, Soho
, in a West End
sister parish of St Thomas's, a part of London famous for its night life and entertainments. At St Anne's, Soho, McLaughlin sponsored a Musicolour dance performance designed by Gordon Pask
.
In Soho, McLaughlin and the Vicar of St Anne's Father Gilbert Shaw
founded, and McLaughlin directed, the Society of St Anne's, which was active between 1942 and 1958 and which promoted links between the Church and the world of literature. The Society was begun late in 1942, when McLaughlin and Shaw asked the Bishop of London
(Geoffrey Fisher
, later Archbishop of Canterbury
) for permission to use the St Anne's clergy house as a kind of mission centre for thinking pagans. Fisher agreed, and Dorothy L. Sayers
was asked to give the new Society's first course of lectures, then T. S. Eliot
the second. The location of St Anne's, near to the theatres, colleges and restaurants around Bloomsbury
and also to the Inns of Court
, was ideal for such an intellectual outreach programme, and the Society soon included C. S. Lewis
, Agatha Christie
, Father Max Petitpierre
, Charles Williams
, Arnold Bennett
and Rose Macaulay
, as well as T. S. Eliot and Dorothy L. Sayers, among its members. Others who contributed to it from time to time included John Betjeman
, Iris Murdoch
, Lord David Cecil
, Rebecca West
and Christopher Dawson
.
When Sayers died in 1958, McLaughlin conducted the burial of her ashes under the tower of St Anne's church.
With Father Gilbert Shaw, McLaughlin is thought to be part of the inspiration for the character of Father Hugh Chantry-Pigg in Rose Macaulay's novel The Towers of Trebizond
(1956). Macaulay described McLaughlin as a "many-sided kind of priest, whom I like".
McLaughlin introduced into England the 'Basilican mode', in which the priest, while at the altar
, faces the congregation with his back to the altar, instead of facing the altar with his back to the congregation. This liturgical innovation was widely adopted in the Church of England some twenty years later. However, he found the Church of England (and the then Bishop of London, Robert Stopford
) increasingly hard to live with, and in 1962 McLaughlin resigned his Anglican orders. He subsequently went to live in Rome
, taking a job as a translator for the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations
. While in Rome, he joined the Roman Catholic Church
, became a lay brother of the Order of St Benedict, and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
appointed him a knight of its Patriarchal Order of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem.
Returning in his last years to London, McLaughlin became a Brother of Charterhouse at Sutton's Hospital when he was not travelling the world. When he died in 1988, he was buried with his wife in a graveyard belonging to Charterhouse at St Mary's, Little Hallingbury
, Essex
.
and music teacher. His wife was herself an Associate of the Royal College of Music
who played the piano
, the oboe
and the viola
. Together, they had three sons and two daughters. These were:
and of Dundonald
, from the first Earl of Dunmore
, the first Marquess of Atholl
, the Earls of Derby
and the second Earl of Cumberland
and his wife Lady Eleanor Brandon
. Lady Eleanor was the daughter of the first Duke of Suffolk
and of Mary Tudor, Queen Dowager of France, who was a daughter of King Henry VII
. McLaughlin's ancestors thus included many medieval kings and queens of England and of other European countries.
decades before ecumenism became fashionable. He also published The Death of God (1949).
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
and Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
thinker who resigned the priesthood of the Church of England
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...
in 1962 and became a Roman Catholic. While he was a priest, he was known (in the Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism
The terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism describe people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm the Catholic, rather than Protestant, heritage and identity of the Anglican churches....
manner) as Father Patrick McLaughlin. He later became a lay brother
Lay brother
In the most common usage, lay brothers are those members of Catholic religious orders, particularly of monastic orders, occupied primarily with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary, in contrast to the choir monks of the same monastery who are devoted mainly to the...
of the Order of Saint Benedict
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...
.
Early life and background
The son of the Reverend Alfred Harry McLaughlin (1852–1935) and his second wife, Jessie Mabel Vale (called May), McLauglin was born in 1909 while his father was Vicar of Much BirchMuch Birch
Much Birch is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, between Hereford and Ross-on-Wye. The parish includes the settlements of Kings Thorn, Much Birch and parts of Wormelow....
, Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
. His mother was the daughter of the Rev. John Bartholomew Vale (1823–96), Rector of Crostwight
Crostwight
Crostwight is a small village and former civil parish in the north-east of the county of Norfolk, England. In the past, it was sometimes called Crostwick, but this should be avoided, for fear of confusion with the different village of Crostwick, also in Norfolk.Apart from the church, the village...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, and of his wife Clara (1836–1919). His father retired to Malvern
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
in 1913.
The only child of his parents' marriage, Patrick McLaughlin had two older half-sisters, Owyne Salwey McLaughlin (1885–1972) and Margaret Joy Crofton McLaughlin (1887–1972). Their sister, Cecil Urwick McLaughlin, born in 1880, had died in 1896.
McLaughlin's paternal grandparents were the Very Reverend Hubert McLaughlin (1805–1882) and Frederica Crofton (1816–1881), a daughter of Sir Edward Crofton, 3rd Baronet
Crofton Baronets
There have been four Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Crofton, two in the Baronetage of Ireland and two in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom....
, and of Lady Charlotte Stewart (1785–1842), the youngest of the five daughters of John Stewart, 7th Earl of Galloway
Earl of Galloway
Earl of Galloway is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1623 for Alexander Stewart, 1st Lord Garlies, with remainder to his heirs male bearing the name and arms of Stewart. He had already been created Lord Garlies in the Peerage of Scotland in 1607, with remainder to the heirs...
. Hubert McLaughlin was Rector of Burford, Shropshire
Burford, Shropshire
Burford is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England.- Location :The parish is situated to the north of the River Teme, on the other side of the Teme is the Worcestershire town of Tenbury Wells. To the west, the A456 road bridges the Ledwyche Brook, leading to the Herefordshire village of...
, a Rural Dean
Rural Dean
In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church, a Rural Dean presides over a Rural Deanery .-Origins and usage:...
, and Prebendary
Prebendary
A prebendary is a post connected to an Anglican or Catholic cathedral or collegiate church and is a type of canon. Prebendaries have a role in the administration of the cathedral...
of Hunderton in Hereford Cathedral
Hereford Cathedral
The current Hereford Cathedral, located at Hereford in England, dates from 1079. Its most famous treasure is Mappa Mundi, a mediæval map of the world dating from the 13th century. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building.-Origins:...
, and was the author of Biographical Sketches of Ancient Irish Saints, etc. (1874). Hubert and Frederica Crofton had no fewer than eight sons and four daughters. Of their sons, one became a major general
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
, one a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, one agent to the Earl of Feversham
William Duncombe, 1st Earl of Feversham
William Ernest Duncombe, 1st Earl of Feversham , known as The Lord Feversham between 1867 and 1868, was a British Conservative politician....
, and two (including Patrick McLaughlin's father Alfred) clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
men of the Church of England, while Patrick McLaughlin's aunts included the nurses Louisa Elisabeth McLaughlin and Sophia Charlotte McLaughlin.
One of McLaughlin's first cousins was a namesake who became Rear-Admiral Patrick McLaughlin CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
RN
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. In 1945, as Vice-Admiral commanding the 4th Cruiser Squadron of the British Pacific Fleet
British Pacific Fleet
The British Pacific Fleet was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944...
, he took the surrender of the Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
forces in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
McLaughlin was educated at Bromsgrove School
Bromsgrove School
Bromsgrove School, founded in 1553, is a co-educational independent school in the Worcestershire town of Bromsgrove, England. The school has a long history and many notable former pupils.-History:...
and then at Worcester College, Oxford
Worcester College, Oxford
Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in the eighteenth century, but its predecessor on the same site had been an institution of learning since the late thirteenth century...
. While at Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, he was an active member of the Oxford University Dramatic Society
Oxford University Dramatic Society
The Oxford University Dramatic Society is the principal funding body and provider of theatrical services to the many independent student productions put on by students in Oxford, England...
, and as a fresh-faced young man he was often cast in female roles. However, he resisted the possibility of becoming an actor, at a time when acting was not altogether seen as a respectable profession.
Career
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...
, McLaughlin was ordained as a deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
and a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
and quickly took to elaborate Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism
The terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism describe people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm the Catholic, rather than Protestant, heritage and identity of the Anglican churches....
ritual.
As Vicar of St Thomas's, Regent Street
Regent Street
Regent Street is one of the major shopping streets in London's West End, well known to tourists and Londoners alike, and famous for its Christmas illuminations...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(a church now closed), he brought theatre into his church by staging plays by (among others) Christopher Fry
Christopher Fry
Christopher Fry was an English playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, notably The Lady's Not for Burning, which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:...
and Ronald Duncan
Ronald Duncan
Ronald Duncan was a writer, poet and playwright, now best known for preparing the libretto for Benjamin Britten's opera The Rape of Lucretia, first performed in 1946....
, until he was asked by the Lord Chamberlain's Office
Lord Chamberlain's Office
The Lord Chamberlain's Office is a department within the British Royal Household. It is presently concerned with matters such as protocol, state visits, investitures, garden parties, the State Opening of Parliament, royal weddings and funerals. For example, in April 2005 it organised the wedding of...
to desist. He was also Warden of St Anne's House, Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
, in a West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
sister parish of St Thomas's, a part of London famous for its night life and entertainments. At St Anne's, Soho, McLaughlin sponsored a Musicolour dance performance designed by Gordon Pask
Gordon Pask
Andrew Gordon Speedie Pask was an English cybernetician and psychologist who made significant contributions to cybernetics, instructional psychology, experimental epistemology and educational technology....
.
In Soho, McLaughlin and the Vicar of St Anne's Father Gilbert Shaw
Gilbert Shaw
Gilbert Shuldham Shaw was an Anglo-Irish Church of England priest, from 1940 vicar of St Anne's Soho. His maternal grandfather was Sir Philip Crampton Smyly, honorary physician to Queen Victoria, and he was baptised by his mother's uncle, William Conyngham Plunket, archbishop of Dublin...
founded, and McLaughlin directed, the Society of St Anne's, which was active between 1942 and 1958 and which promoted links between the Church and the world of literature. The Society was begun late in 1942, when McLaughlin and Shaw asked the Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
(Geoffrey Fisher
Geoffrey Fisher
Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, GCVO, PC was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1945 to 1961.-Background:...
, later Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
) for permission to use the St Anne's clergy house as a kind of mission centre for thinking pagans. Fisher agreed, and Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages...
was asked to give the new Society's first course of lectures, then T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
the second. The location of St Anne's, near to the theatres, colleges and restaurants around Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
and also to the Inns of Court
Inns of Court
The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. All such barristers must belong to one such association. They have supervisory and disciplinary functions over their members. The Inns also provide libraries, dining facilities and professional...
, was ideal for such an intellectual outreach programme, and the Society soon included C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
, Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
, Father Max Petitpierre
Max Petitpierre
Max Petitpierre was a Swiss politician, jurist and member of the Swiss Federal Council, heading the Political Department ....
, Charles Williams
Charles Williams (UK writer)
Charles Walter Stansby Williams was a British poet, novelist, theologian, literary critic, and member of the Inklings.- Biography :...
, Arnold Bennett
Arnold Bennett
- Early life :Bennett was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Hanley is one of a conurbation of six towns which joined together at the beginning of the twentieth century as Stoke-on-Trent. Enoch Bennett, his father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the...
and Rose Macaulay
Rose Macaulay
Dame Emilie Rose Macaulay, DBE was an English writer. She published thirty-five books, mostly novels but also biographies and travel writing....
, as well as T. S. Eliot and Dorothy L. Sayers, among its members. Others who contributed to it from time to time included John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...
, Iris Murdoch
Iris Murdoch
Dame Iris Murdoch DBE was an Irish-born British author and philosopher, best known for her novels about political and social questions of good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious...
, Lord David Cecil
Lord David Cecil
Edward Christian David Gascoyne-Cecil, CH , was a British biographer, historian and academic. He held the style of 'Lord' by courtesy, as a younger son of a marquess.-Early life and studies:...
, Rebecca West
Rebecca West
Cicely Isabel Fairfield , known by her pen name Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, DBE was an English author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. A prolific, protean author who wrote in many genres, West was committed to feminist and liberal principles and was one of the foremost public...
and Christopher Dawson
Christopher Dawson
Christopher Henry Dawson was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Christopher H. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century".-Life:...
.
When Sayers died in 1958, McLaughlin conducted the burial of her ashes under the tower of St Anne's church.
With Father Gilbert Shaw, McLaughlin is thought to be part of the inspiration for the character of Father Hugh Chantry-Pigg in Rose Macaulay's novel The Towers of Trebizond
The Towers of Trebizond
The Towers of Trebizond is a novel by Rose Macaulay . Published in 1956, it was the last of her novels, and the most successful. It was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in the year of its publication.-Plot:...
(1956). Macaulay described McLaughlin as a "many-sided kind of priest, whom I like".
McLaughlin introduced into England the 'Basilican mode', in which the priest, while at the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
, faces the congregation with his back to the altar, instead of facing the altar with his back to the congregation. This liturgical innovation was widely adopted in the Church of England some twenty years later. However, he found the Church of England (and the then Bishop of London, Robert Stopford
Robert Stopford
Robert Wright Stopford KCVO CBE PC was a British clergyman.-Early life and career:He was born in Garston, Liverpool and educated at Coatham School in Redcar and Liverpool College, where he was Head of House . He continued his education at Hertford College, Oxford, where he graduated with a Master...
) increasingly hard to live with, and in 1962 McLaughlin resigned his Anglican orders. He subsequently went to live in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, taking a job as a translator for the Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. While in Rome, he joined the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, became a lay brother of the Order of St Benedict, and the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Melkites, Byzantine Rite Catholics of mixed Eastern Mediterranean and Greek origin, trace their history to the early Christians of Antioch, Syria, of...
appointed him a knight of its Patriarchal Order of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem.
Returning in his last years to London, McLaughlin became a Brother of Charterhouse at Sutton's Hospital when he was not travelling the world. When he died in 1988, he was buried with his wife in a graveyard belonging to Charterhouse at St Mary's, Little Hallingbury
Little Hallingbury
Little Hallingbury is a village located in Essex, UK. It is between river and forest, on a high rise of ground, near the main railway at Bishop's Stortford and the M11 motorway.It is located in the Uttlesford district of North West Essex....
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
.
Marriage and descendants
In 1932, McLaughlin married Olive Marion McConnell (1906–73), a daughter of William Haydn McConnell, organistOrganist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
and music teacher. His wife was herself an Associate of the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
who played the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, the oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
and the viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
. Together, they had three sons and two daughters. These were:
- Julian Aubyn Crofton McLaughlin (born 1933, a time and motionTime and motion studyA time and motion study is a business efficiency technique combining the Time Study work of Frederick Winslow Taylor with the Motion Study work of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth . It is a major part of scientific management...
consultantConsultantA consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
, who married Sheila Guilford in 1958, had four children, Anthony, David, Gillian and Nicholas, and died in 1968). - Brigid Joy McLaughlin (born 1935, married Peter Crosby Smith in 1965, was divorced in 1974, and married secondly Dr Howard Reeve, 1981)
- Diarmid Patrick Vale McLaughlin (born 1937, a director of the European CommissionEuropean CommissionThe European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
, married Monica Voisin in 1964, was divorced in 2002, and has one child, Guillaume McLaughlin, born 1968) - Roger O'Brien McLaughlin (born 1939, a financial advisorFinancial servicesFinancial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...
, who married Leigh Bateson in 1965, had three children, Crofton, Shauna, and Patrick, and died in 1994) - Juliet Marie-Therese McLaughlin (born 1940, married David Oswald in 1961, died 26 July 2008, and had four children, Zandra, Peter, James and Duncan)
Royal blood
Through his grandmother Frederica Crofton, McLaughlin was descended from the Earls of GallowayEarl of Galloway
Earl of Galloway is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1623 for Alexander Stewart, 1st Lord Garlies, with remainder to his heirs male bearing the name and arms of Stewart. He had already been created Lord Garlies in the Peerage of Scotland in 1607, with remainder to the heirs...
and of Dundonald
Earl of Dundonald
Earl of Dundonald is a title in the Peerage of Scotland.The Earldom was created in 1669 for the Scottish soldier and politician William Cochrane, 1st Earl of Dundonald, along with the subsidiary title of Lord Cochrane of Paisley and Ochiltree, with remainder to his heirs male, failing which to his...
, from the first Earl of Dunmore
Charles Murray, 1st Earl of Dunmore
Charles Murray, 1st Earl of Dunmore was a British peer, previously Lord Charles Murray.The second son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl, he rose to become a general in the British Army and was created Earl of Dunmore, Lord Murray of Blair, Moulin and Tillimet and Viscount of Fincastle, all...
, the first Marquess of Atholl
John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl
John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl, KT was a leading Scottish royalist and defender of the Stuarts during the English Civil War of the 1640s, until after the rise to power of William and Mary in 1689...
, the Earls of Derby
Earl of Derby
Earl of Derby is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the end of the reign of Henry III and died in 1279...
and the second Earl of Cumberland
Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland
Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland was a member of the Clifford family which held the seat of Skipton from 1310 to 1676. He was married to Lady Eleanor Brandon, a niece of Henry VIII of England.-Family:...
and his wife Lady Eleanor Brandon
Lady Eleanor Brandon
Lady Eleanor Brandon was the third child and second daughter of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Princess Mary Tudor, the Dowager Queen consort of France. She was a younger sister of Lady Frances Brandon and an elder sister of Henry Brandon, 1st Earl of Lincoln...
. Lady Eleanor was the daughter of the first Duke of Suffolk
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and was slain by Richard III in person at...
and of Mary Tudor, Queen Dowager of France, who was a daughter of King Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
. McLaughlin's ancestors thus included many medieval kings and queens of England and of other European countries.
Author
McLaughlin's book The Necessity of Worship (1940) shows him as an ecumenistEcumenism
Ecumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice...
decades before ecumenism became fashionable. He also published The Death of God (1949).