Thomas Halliwell (27 January 1900 – 1 December 1982) was the principal of Trinity College Carmarthen (now the University of Wales Trinity St David) in the middle part of the 20th century.

Early life and education

Thomas Halliwell was born in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

in 1900, the only child of John Halliwell, a noted

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

cricketer, and his wife Annie (née Carter) whose father was company secretary to Pearson and Knowles. Educated at Wigan Wesleyan Methodist School and Wigan Grammar School, Halliwell left school at age 15 to work in the

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War service

In 1918, and before his call-up, he had joined the merchant marine as a Marconi

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aboard HMT ''Poleric'' (see RMS ''Albania''). He described his experiences during World War I in his 1918 journal ''A Memorable Year'', which is lodged in the Roderic Bowen Archive at the

University of Wales Trinity Saint David The University of Wales Trinity Saint David () is a public university with three main campuses in South West Wales, in Carmarthen, Lampeter and Swansea, a fourth campus in London, and learning centres in Cardiff, and Birmingham. The university ...

Academic and clerical career

Following service in the merchant marine during WWI, and after a period of voluntary teaching, he entered

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

in 1920, graduating in 1923 with honours in English. He also gained a first class teaching diploma in 1924. Later, in 1944, his thesis on the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

resulted in the award of a master's degree by Manchester University. In 1924, in order to study for the priesthood, he went to Ridley Hall in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. Halliwell was ordained

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 1925 by the

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, and then served in

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...

Parish, Birmingham, before becoming tutor and

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

Trinity College Carmarthen Trinity University College () was a Church University College in Carmarthen, Wales. The institution was founded in 1848 as the South Wales and Monmouthshire Training College, a teacher-training college. It changed its name in 1931 to Trinity ...

from 1927 until 1931 when he returned to

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work in Lancashire. He was first appointed

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of St George's Church, Wigan, where he raised the funds necessary to undertake the complete re-modelling of the Old Church of St George's. In 1936, he became vicar of St Peter's Church in

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

before returning to

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

in 1940 as principal of Trinity College. Trinity College became

Trinity University College Trinity University College () was a Church University College in Carmarthen, Wales. The institution was founded in 1848 as the South Wales and Monmouthshire Training College, a teacher-training college. It changed its name in 1931 to Trinity ...

in 2009 and is now part of the

. Lord Gordon Parry of

Neyland Neyland is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales, lying on the River Cleddau and the upstream end of the Milford Haven estuary. The Cleddau Bridge carrying the A477 links Pembroke Dock with Neyland. In 2011 it had a population of 3,46 ...

, writing in his memoirs of his time as a student at Trinity between 1943 and 1945, described Halliwell as: "kindly ... intellectually alert and still studying". Halliwell ran the college during the Second World War and its temporary union with King Alfred's College, Winchester. Through the fifties and early sixties he instigated the extensive expansion at Trinity College, and personally supervised the raising of half the cost of the building works for that growth. In 1957 Princess Margaret opened the new Women's Hostel Neuadd Non, and in her speech acknowledged the debt Trinity owed to his work. Further expansion followed and in July 1963, Lady Marion Philipps opened further new hostels and the Theatre Complex which is now known as the Halliwell Centre. Halliwell was appointed

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Llangan Llangan () is a small village and community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It is located approximately outside the market town of Cowbridge. As a community it contains the settlements of St Mary Hill, Treoes and Llangan itsel ...

of St David's Cathedral in 1946, and Canon of Llandysillio-gogo and canon treasurer of St Davids Cathedral from 1956.

Awards and honours

Following his retirement in 1965, he was honoured by the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

on 16 July 1966 with a Doctorate of Laws in recognition of his services to education in Wales. In 1966, Halliwell was also presented with a very fine portrait (above) by Patrick Edward Phillips, which was exhibited at the 73rd Annual Exhibition of the

Royal Society of Portrait Painters The Royal Society of Portrait Painters is a charity based at Carlton House Terrace, SW1, London that promotes the practice and appreciation of portraiture art. Its Annual Exhibition of portraiture is held at Mall Galleries, and it runs a commi ...

. The portrait may be seen in the Archbishop Childs' Hall at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David's Carmarthen campus. The Theatre and Arts complex at Trinity was re-named 'The Halliwell Centre', in Halliwell's honour, by former principal Clive Jones Davies. Halliwell's services to education in Wales, and to the wider community, were further recognized when, on Maundy Thursday 1982, he became a recipient of the

Maundy Money Royal Maundy () is a religious service in the Church of England held on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday. At the service, the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch or a royal official ceremonially distributes small silver co ...

, from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, at the Maundy Service held at St Davids Cathedral, the first time such a service was held in Wales.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halliwell, Thomas 1900 births 1982 deaths People from Wigan 20th-century Church of England clergy Academics of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David Place of death missing