History

For whom the bell tolls: The tough life

Tragedy and hard times dogged the life of a much-loved village vicar. From the bankruptcy of his parents to a battle with malaria, life wasn’t easy. But his death, caused by a church bell in front of a party of schoolchildren, in St Andrew’s Church in Okeford Fitzpaine, was perhaps one of the most extraordinary tales of all. ROBERT WELLAN tells his story...

The Reverend William Russell Ware Mortimer, WRWM, was born in Bristol in 1889 to William Henry and Edith Mortimer, who were married in 1886 in Bedminster. The couple had four children, Gladys, WRWM, Dorothy and Sydney. It was during this time the family tanning business was in trouble. William was subject to a Receiving Order in 1897 and in 1898, a series of notices appeared regarding bankruptcy proceedings. By 1901, William was living in Bath, separated from his family, and is described as ‘living on own means’. He died in 1902. Our man, WRWM, had been taken in by the wider Mortimer family and at age 22, he was single and a Clerk in a Wholesale Stationers’ In 1912, WRWM began theological training at St Boniface Mission College in Warminster. A natural sportsman, WRWM represented the college in cricket and football. In 1916 WRWM was ordained a priest. In 1919 he married farmer’s daughter Stella Tansley and the couple travelled to British Guiana, modern day Guyana, for five years where WRWM was on missionary training and in 1924, their first child, Mary. The couple both suffered ill health abroad, and were reported to have succumbed to malaria. Later it was reported that “ill health compelled him [WRWM] to return to England”. A second child, a son, Roger was born in 1932. In 1944 WRWM became the Rector at Okeford Fitzpaine and former parishioners remember the couple fondly. Sunday School pupil Helen Sherwood said: “I remember my parents telling me that when my sister was born Rev Mortimer visited. He sat in the front room talking to mum, and was given a cup of tea and offered a biscuit, to which he replied ‘I won’t have one now, but I will take several for later’ and proceeded to fill his trouser pockets’. Greta Fudge and her late husband, Joe, were the last couple that WRWM married in May 1957. Greta lives in Marnhull and said: “WRWM was a lovely man, a bit scruffy and his wife was a nice lady, who taught me the piano.” On Sunday, July 21, 1957, tragedy struck when WRWM

TRAGEDY: A report on the death is featured in The Ringing World from August 1957 and, below, St Boniface Mission College in Worchester and, right, a note to the vestry

and tragic death of a Dorset clergyman

HAPPY COUPLE The Rev Mortimer and his wife Stella, his inquest featured in the Daily Mirror of Jully 23, 1957. Below: The couple’s headstone and, right, bellringer Ben Ridout

was killed by the bell in his own church as he was taking a party of children to the tower to show them the view. The Coroner’s Inquest report stated: “A verdict of accidental death was returned on the Rev. William Russell Ware Mortimer who was killed by a bell the previous Sunday afternoon when he was showing a party of school children round the ringing chamber of his church.” The Coroner said: “A clergyman being killed in this manner in his own church, after taking a service there, is quite beyond the understanding of the human mind.” Mr. Benjamin Ridout, captain of the bellringers said he did not think the accident could have occurred through some fault in the mechanism. He said: “I think, perhaps, he caught hold of something to pull himself out and pulled the bell over.” Helen Sherwood said: “I was five at the time the Rev Mortimer had his accident. I was in the church when the accident happened but not in the bell tower, we were ushered out and I went home.” Okeford Fitzpaine bell ringer Robert Corben, who was nine at the time of the tragedy, recalls that the true purpose of the visit was not to see the bells as such, but to show the children the view from the top of the tower. He remembers ‘running home and hiding in his bedroom’. At the first meeting of the PCC after the tragedy ‘grave concern was expressed at the condition of the staircase and entrance into the belfry.’ After considerable discussion ‘it was resolved that a suitable scheme for its improvement [be explored and] as a temporary safeguard that locks be fitted to the doors of the Ringing Chamber and the Belfry’. WRWM’s widow, Stella, died in 1976 and is buried in Bristol. Their son, Roger, said from a difficult start in life, WRWM led a ‘good life’. Supported by his wife, he touched and affected many others for good through his Christian ministry both at home and abroad. “His life deserves to be remembered and not just for the manner of its end.”

n Learn more at an online talk on Sunday, January 16, 2022 at 7.30pm. To register visit eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-lifeand-death-of-a-dorset-clerg yman-the-reverend-williammortimer-tickets-187531691 337