#11328, Henry Luke PAGET

Henry Luke was the son of a surgeon, Sir James Paget.  He had a brother Sir John Rahere Paget, 2nd baronet and another, Francis who was Bishop of Oxford.  He married Elma Katie Hoare and they had a son, Paul Edward Paget.

He was ordained on 16th June 1877 and served firstly as assistant curate at St Andrew's, Wells St. in London's West End.  1879 saw him on the staff at Leeds Clergy School followed by a return to London, this time, the East End (reported as his happiest time.)  After a short spell at St. Ives in Cambridgeshire he was appointed Suffragan  Bishop of Ipswich in 1906, Stepney in 1909 and Chester in 1919.

His widow wrote his biography after his death from which we reproduce a small section:

He was not in the least eager for sweeping reforms except such as are personal and within the heart.  He was not an eminent confessor or director, neither was he a very zealous evangelist, indeed he had an incorrigible love of men and women as they are, nor did he seem to argue with or convince them so that they should be changed into something other than themselves.

He was not a profound theologian and was at all times ready to subordinate what appeared to be unessential for the sake of unity, and his eminence was due to personal charm inherited from remarkable parents which manifested itself in 'the power of drawing people together because he drew them nearer to God.

During the time he was Suffragan Bishop of Ipswich (1909) he wrote dedication in a subscription book given to churchwarden William Harvey Orvis of the Church of St Clement.