Edward Noble Courtney : Short Biography

A NOBLE SON OF ERIN IN THE HOME OF ENGLAND'S POET

BY THE REV. JAMES MONAHAN.

ALL the interest of the ancient town of Stratford-on-Avon does not terminate in Shakespeare.  If

From the lowest place whence virtuous things proceed

The place is dignified by th' doer's deed,'

then the name of Edward Noble Courtney, a veteran Wesleyan Methodist Local-preacher, who passed to his reward at the age of seventy-eight years, deserves a tribute.  His name links the poet's birthplace with the Emerald Isle and Irish Methodism; for he was born at Armagh, and came over to England in youth, an earnest Methodist.  His connexion with Stratford Methodism dates over half a century, during the whole of which period he bore a blameless character, and did noble service in the cause of his Divine Master.  Although only a working-man, he cultivated literary tastes, and was quite a genius in his way.  He sometimes lectured, and his sturdy Protestantism evinced itself in his choice of subjects, such as Luther, Cranmer, and The Spanish Armada.

He was an enthusiastic Shakespearean.  His humble home for the greater part of his life was directly opposite the house in which the poet was born.  He seemed to revel in the Works and memories of England's bard.  He possessed exceptional skill in cabinet work.  He cut with his own penknife and framed together perfect models of Shakespeare's house, using twelve different kinds of wood -- walnut, rosewood, ebony, mulberry, sycamore, acacia, etc. -- in order to give the various shades and colours which the artist would produce with his pencil or brush.  All were inlaid with veneer, and polished with charming effect.  His masterpiece was a table with twelve angles, measuring four feet two inches in diameter, which contained seven views of Stratford-on-Avon: the poet's house; Ann Hathaway's cottage, the birthplace of Shakespeare's wife; the Guild Chapel and Grammar School, where the poet was taught 'small Latin and less Greek'; Charlecote Hall, whence, tradition says, he stole the deer; New Place, where he spent the last years of his life; and the old church, the place of his grave.  This table was exhibited at the Metropolitan and Provincial Exhibition in London in 1866, and a silver medal was awarded to the maker.  It was ultimately sold for £65, and subsequently the maker had to pay sixpence to see it.

Edward was a loyal Methodist for more than half a century.  Forty-eight years he served his Church as a Local-preacher, frequently occupying the pulpit in our Stratford chapel, which is built on ground once the property of the poet's father.  He preached nearly every Sabbath, with the fervency of youth and the mellowness of a ripe age, until within four years of his death.  A total abstainer for fifty-two years, he took the keenest interest in the temperance movement in all its phases, and promoted it to the utmost of his power.  He was held in great esteem by all who knew him, and had all the kindness, geniality, and dry humour characteristic of his countrymen.  His record is on high, but his name deserves to be added to the great roll of Irish Local-preachers whose 'virtuous things' have linked the Methodism of the world with the Emerald Isle.