Joy Woodall
19 Mar 2018
Charles Evans was born in Coventry in 1824 and educated at King Edward’s School, Birmingham. The School had been rebuilt, to a design by Barry & Pugin who had designed the Houses of Parliament, in 1837 in New Street. It also had a new Headmaster, the Rev. Dr James Lee, who had served under Dr Arnold of Rugby. Charles had some distinguished contemporaries, including Edward Benson (who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1883), Joseph Lightfoot (Bishop of Durham 1879), and Brooke Westcott with whom Charles started the School Magazine and who later was also Bishop of Durham from 1890. In mathematics, only arithmetic was taught in the school, and it is thought that Charles was tutored outside in algebra, geometry and trigonometry.
In 1843 Charles went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, on a scholarship. He was Craven Scholar in 1846 and obtained his BA as Senior Optime in 1847. He was advanced to MA in 1850 and later became a Fellow of his College. Charles was appointed Asst. Master at Rugby in 1848, serving under Dr Tait (who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1868), the same year that Dr Lee became the first Bishop of Manchester. Charles married the latter’s daughter that year and was ordained a Deacon.
He was appointed Headmaster of Clifton College in 1861, but was then offered the headship of his own school, which he preferred. He was very successful there, adding science to the curriculum, expanding numbers and inaugurating Speech Day. His memory of people and facts was amazing. His first son, Charles, had been born in 1854 and by the time of the 1871 Census he had five sons; his household included 10 servants.
In 1863 Charles bought land in Lode Lane, Solihull, on which he engaged J.A.Chatwin (architect to the King Edward Foundation and an old boy of the School) to design him a house which he called The Hermitage. He moved in by 1868, but probably only for brief stays as the 1871 Census recorded the family still living in the Headmaster’s house in New Street. In the field behind The Hermitage Charles had a circular observatory built in which to house his telescope.
The Rev. Patrick Smythe, Rector of Solihull, died in 1872. The advowson of the parish had been sold to Thomas Walker of Berkswell two years previously, and he appointed Charles as the new Rector. Charles and his family left The Hermitage to live in the Rectory. The parish was large, covering some 12,300 acres, with a population of 4,000. It was divided into seven ‘Ends’ (later 10), chiefly for the maintenance of highways, each with a surveyor (since 1623), which survived until 1886. After the dissolution of the Chantry of St Alphege, the funds that had been devoted to its upkeep were vested in 10 Feoffees who, headed by the Parish Bailiff, regulated the parish finances. The Feoffees established the Grammar School for boys in 1560 at Malvern House, and in 1812 applied Miss Palmer’s bequest to a new school for girls and infants in Old School Lane. An 1834 Act had created a Board of Guardians to oversee the welfare of the poor. This body in collaboration with 10 other parishes had built the Union Workhouse in 1838. In 1872 it became the Solihull Rural Sanitary Authority, adding drainage and sewerage to its responsibilities.
Charles found St Alphege Church in poor condition; ivy covered its walls and the stonework had been adversely affected. He closed the nave for 15 months whilst it was reroofed, the ivy removed, the organ transferred to the south transept so that the gallery at the west end of the church could be dismantled and the window seen. New pews were installed. The whole project cost less than £3,000. With the coming of the railway and the opening of Solihull Station in 1852, the population began to grow and a mission church, with school, was opened in Bentley Heath in 1870. There was a chapel of ease at Balsall Common, and in 1879 Charles persuaded Mr Gillot of New Berry Hall to pay for the building of Catherine-de-Barnes chapel/school.
Charles was much more considerate of his parishioners than his predecessors, and was particularly keen on education. The 1870 Act had introduced education for children from 5 to 13 years old, but they were often taken away to work by their parents – especially in the summer – so the 1880 Act made school compulsory. In 1872 Mr Gillot was persuaded to buy land for a boys school in Mill Lane: the total cost, including building, was £2,198. It was designed for 100 boys divided into three classes aged 5-9, 9-11, and 11-14. The Master taught Monitors who in turn taught the other boys. The charge was 1d a day. The 1892 Act made education free. There had been a number of private schools in Solihull for at least a century but by 1890 only one, run by Mrs Edwards, was left. Solihull Grammar School was given its own Board of Governors by the Feoffees in 1879 and Charles became a Governor. He was the Board’s Chairman in 180 until his retirement as Rector. The School moved into its new building in Warwick Road (cost £4,022) in June 1882.
In 1880 he started the Parish Magazine which contained not only details of church services, but reports on events and local societies, social announcements, and articles on local history. Its price was 2d and it circulated widely. Charles became President in 1883 of the newly formed Solihull Literary Society which arranged lectures by prominent men and had discussions. The same year he opened the Working Men’s Reading Room in the Maltshovel (now Missoula), where books were supplied, readings and even singing were on offer. The Town Hall in St Alphege Churchyard on The Square was demolished in 1879 (for £12) and replaced by a new Public Hall (now Wetherspoons) built in 1876 for £2,500 in Poplar Road. Charles was prominent in getting Church House built in Drury Lane next to Touchwood Hall in 185: Mrs Brown was its caretaker for many years. The large garden attached to the Rectory was regularly used for functions.
There were many local groups doing good works, many of which Charles encouraged. The Ladies Charity raised money for the deserving poor; The Nursery Fund helped infants, and the Sewing Group (with 50 members) made garments for the poor. Money was raised for Mrs Evans’ Convalescent Home for Children which opened in 1881 (at a cost of £1,200) in Widney Manor Road (now occupied by Nos 50 & 51A). There were also a number of Friendly Societies for men, including the Oddfellows, and the Caledonian Corks which met at the Royal Oak.
In 1894 Charles, having been made a Canon, retired to Poole in Dorset. He died in 1904 aged 80.