William Cyril Mayne (14 April 1877 – 20 July 1962) was an English clergyman and classical scholar."Who was Who" 1897–1990 London, A & C Black, 1991 He was Dean of Carlisle from 1943 to 1959.Deans of Carlisle
Early life William Cyril Mayne was born in Gloucester, the son of the Revd Jonathan Mayne and his wife, Lydia Dorothea Hawksley.Birth registered in the Gloucester Registration District in the second quarter of 1877 He was educated at Westminster and Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in Classics in 1899. He was an assistant master at Eastbourne College and Malvern College before being made Deacon in the Church of England on 23 December 1906.The Times (Tuesday, 25 December 1906), p. 9 An assistant master at Rugby School from 1907 until 1912, he was ordained Priest by Bishop Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs of Worcester on 22 December 1907.The Times (Tuesday, 24 December 1907), p. 7
He became Assistant Curate at All Saints, Poplar in 1912. In July 1914 he was appointed Vice-Principal of Bishops' College, Cheshunt.
Military chaplain Mayne was commissioned as a temporary Chaplain to the Forces, 4th class, Army Chaplains Department on 30 October 1914.Supplement to The London Gazette (18 November 1914), p. 9499 He was posted on attachment to the 29th Division, and left England for the Dardanelles, via Egypt, on 29 April 1915.National Archives, piece reference WO 374/47085 He served on operations at Gallipoli and in France and Flanders, winning golden opinions: "I knew him when he was a chaplain in the famous 29th Division, and I recall his holding a confirmation class in a regimental aid post which was little more than a hole in the ground and a few sandbags. He was much loved and known to all of us as a front line padre" (Dr. J.F. Mayne [no relation]).The Times (Friday, 10 August 1962), p. 11 Mayne also met William Wand, a future bishop of London, in Gallipoli. Wand was an unattached chaplain awaiting a placement and Mayne took him temporarily under his wing. "Many years later", wrote Wand in his autobiography A Changeful Place, "when he was Dean of Carlisle, I had the pleasure of meeting him again and thanking him for the good deed done to an impotent man away back in 1915". He was promoted temporary Chaplain to the Forces, 3rd class, on 23 November 1916,Supplement to The London Gazette of 17 January 1917, p. 677 and was posted as Senior Chaplain to the Forces to the 33rd Division.
Later career He was finally released from the Army on 21 January 1919, and returned to Bishops' College, Cheshunt as acting Principal. His contract as Chaplain to the Forces expired, and he relinquished his commission on 28 April 1919, being appointed as an Honorary Chaplain to the Forces, 4th class.National Archives, piece reference WO 374/47085. Supplement to The London Gazette of 17 October 1919, p. 12853
In 1920 he was appointed to succeed the Rev. Canon Frederick Cyril Nugent Hicks as Principal of Bishop's College, Cheshunt, where he remained until 1925, when he was appointed Rector of All Saints’, Poplar, with St. Nicholas’, Blackwall.Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1961–62. London, OUP, 1962
He was Rural Dean of Poplar until 1930, in which year he became Vicar of Chiswick.Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1961–62 From 1934 to 1943 he was Professor of Greek and Classical Literature at Durham University and a Canon Residentiary at Durham Cathedral,Ecclesiastical News New Durham Professor And Canon The Times Monday, 13 Aug 1934; pg. 13; Issue 46831; col F when he was elevated to the Deanery of Carlisle.Ecclesiastical News New Dean Of Carlisle The Times Saturday, 21 Nov 1942; pg. 6; Issue 49399; col B. "Whitehall, December 4, 1942 The KING has been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm, bearing date the 2nd instant, to present the Reverend William Cynl Mayne, M.A., Canon of Durham Cathedral and Professor of Greek and Classical Literature in the University of Durham, to the Deanery of the Cathedral Church of Carlisle void by the death of the Very Reverend Frederick William Matheson, D.D., late Dean thereof" (The London Gazette (4 December 1942), p. 5295)
He served as Warden of the Order of St Elizabeth of Hungary (formerly known as the Confraternity of the Divine Love) from 1934 until 1956.Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1961–62
Death He retired in 1959 and died in Hayton outside Carlisle on Friday, 20 July 1962.Very Rev. Cyril Mayne The Times Monday, 23 Jul 1962; pg. 18; Issue 55450 col D. Death registered in the Border Registration District in the third quarter of 1962
Works He published The Olympian Odes of Pindar (a verse translation) in 1906,Reviewed in The Times Literary Supplement (12 April 1907), p. 114 The Heroes by Charles Kingsley in 1913,Edited with introduction and notes by Cyril Mayne. London, Oxford University PressHawthorne’s Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales in 1915,Edited with an introduction and notes by Cyril Mayne. Crown 8vo, with eight illustrations and The Holy Birth. A nativity play in four scenes in 1947.Words written and selected by the Very Rev. Cyril Mayne. Music composed and arranged by F.W. Wadely. Novello. 98 pages. Dr. F.W. Wadely was the organist of Carlisle Cathedral
Mayne "went to Carlisle with a reputation for scholarship and left after becoming the greatest builder for 100 years."The Times (Monday, 23 July 1962), p. 18
Personal life He was married by the Rev. J. Gordon Birch, assisted by Canon Down, in Diddlebury Church in Shropshire on 14 January 1930 to Miss Mary Onslow.Marriage registered in the Ludlow Registration District in the first quarter of 1930 The marriage was childless. Mrs Mayne died, aged 87 years, in Carlisle in 1990.Death registered in the Carlisle Registration District in June 1990
External links A portrait of Mayne has been published at the BBC's "Your Paintings" website; see William Cyril Mayne, Principal of Bishops' College, Cheshunt (1920–1925)
Notes