READERS OF THE TEMPLE
MASTER MARK HATCHER
Readers of the Temple:
From the 16th to the 19th Century Master Mark Hatcher was Called to the Bar in 1978, after a short period in practice, he joined the Law Commission in 1980. He then worked at the House of Lords and was Assistant Secretary of the Law Reform. In 1988 he set up the public affairs consulting practice of Coopers & Lybrand before joining the Global Regulatory and Professional Affairs Board of PWC. He became the Bar Council’s Director of Representation and Policy in 2006 and was Ordained in 2012. He was Director of the Bar Council and until recently Special Advisor to the Chair of the Bar. He is Reader of Temple Church.
Ever since they were appointed to assist the Masters at the Temple Church, the Readers of the Temple (not to be confused with the Inn’s Readers) have attracted generally less interest than their more illustrious clerical colleagues, who rejoice in the title ‘Reverend and Valiant’ (unique in the Church of England). Since the Reformation in the 16th Century there have been 31 Masters of the Temple (not including four ‘Ministers’ during the Interregnum) and 40 Readers of the Temple not including at least 14 ‘Lecturers’ or ‘Preachers’ and seven assistant Preachers. Having been a member of this supporting cast for the past five years and, as far as I am aware, the only member of the Middle (or Inner) Temple to have been elected a Bencher before being appointed as Reader of the Temple, I was curious to know more about the Readership.
The Readers have their origins in the pre-Reformation period. When the Knights Templar were suppressed in 1307, the Order of the Temple supported a Master as well as six chaplains and four clerks. After they had gained possession of the Temple, the Order of St John of Jerusalem paid £37 6s 8d to the Master (or Custos) as well as four priests and a clerk. With the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1539, legislation provided that the Master and two chaplains should retain their accommodation and income. Two of the four priests prior to the dissolution, Walter Lymsey and John Wynter, continued. By 1560 one priest supported the Master, who was given sole authority to appoint the priest, a right which subsequently passed to the Middle and Inner Temple.
Alfred Ainger (‘Men of the Day. No. 532.’) by Sir Leslie Ward chromolithograph, published in Vanity Fair 13 February 1892 Ex Coll: National Portrait Gallery (NPG D44581)
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2020 Middle Templar
In the 16th Century life in the Inn continued much as it had in the previous century: collegiate discipline, predominantly celibate living, a common hall, chambers, moots, readings, lectures and compulsory attendance at church services. The pattern of worship varied to accommodate the liturgical changes brought about by the Reformation. The ornate services and gorgeous ritual under Henry VII and Mary Tudor disappeared under Elizabeth I giving way to daily prayers and Holy Communion four times a year. Divine service was held daily at 18:30 in term time. The issue of vestments became a contest about whether the Reader should wear a cloak or a gown. During this period three Readers of the Temple stand out. Laurence Chadderton, appointed in 1579, may have represented the Puritans at the Hampton Court Conference which was convened in 1603 by James I to consider attempts at further Church reform. Chadderton was one of the translators of the Bible into English, the Authorised or King James Version, published in 1611. He lived to be over 100. It is said that in old age, preaching in his native Lancashire, he paused after two hours, telling his congregation,’ I will no longer trespass on your patience’. ‘For God’s sake, go on, go on’ they called in reply. So he went on much longer, ‘to their great satisfaction and delight’. His successor, Walter Travers, was appointed in 1581. Travers had been ordained in Antwerp and was the preferred choice of the Master, Dr Richard Alvey, to succeed him but Archbishop Whitgift required Travers to be ‘re-ordained’, which Travers refused. Queen Elizabeth was persuaded that his strong Calvinist leanings made him unsuitable and Richard Hooker was appointed instead in 1585. Although Hooker and Travers were friendly (they were also cousins), they clashed in the pulpit. Travers was a natural orator who relished disputation. Izaak
