By Neil Sayer, Archdiocesan Archivist

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Matthew Honan is fortunate. He at least has a gravestone. His body was found after he was killed in the final phase of the Battle of the Somme, and now rests in the cemetery at Grandcourt Road.

 

The nearby Thiepval Memorial commemorates over 72,000 servicemen from Britain and its Empire whose bodies were never found in the battlefields of the First World War’s Western Front. And the arches of that memorial are clearly replicated in the 1930s illustrations of the Metropolitan Cathedral, designed, like Thiepval, by Edwin Lutyens. Captain Honan was also an architect, which means that, as with Lutyens, his memorials can also be found in the buildings he created.

 

Matthew Honan was born in Liverpool on 27 January 1878, the last of nine children born to Robert Burke Honan and his wife Mary Anne (née Shine), who had moved from Dublin to the leafy boulevards of Toxteth Park. He was educated at Ampleforth, but was only 14 when his mother died (a double tragedy, as his older brother Robert had died only a few days earlier), and in 1895 he began working for the local architectural firm of Grayson and Ould in James Street. They supported him to train at Liverpool University’s School of Architects, and he qualified in 1899. Elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architecture soon after, he left his mentors to establish his own practice in 1903, initially in Castle Street and subsequently in Dale Street in the city centre.

 

He soon came to the notice of Bishop Whiteside and was favoured with several commissions during a period of expansion in Catholic school and church building in the wider Diocese of Liverpool. As well as designing schools and presbyteries, he was also responsible for St Vincent de Paul’s Church in St Helens (built 1904-1905) and St Joseph’s in Chorley (1909-1910). In Warrington, he designed a presbytery and school for the parish of St Benedict, and plans for his new church there were approved just before the start of the First World War. It was said to be “of conspicuous architectural beauty, a miniature Westminster Cathedral with a campanile at the west corner.” Its interior would exhibit “large arches, vaulting, and panelled ceilings, finished in white plaster.” Soon after the foundation stone was laid, Matthew Honan was in uniform, having enlisted in the Army around November 1914.

 

It might have been expected that an experienced architect would have served in the Royal Engineers, but instead he joined the South Lancashire Regiment, possibly because of its connection to Warrington, one of its primary recruitment areas. While Cardinal Bourne was performing the official opening ceremony at St Benedict’s in July 1915, Honan was in Gallipoli, where a battalion of his regiment had landed at Cape Helles.

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The Allied campaign was marked by indecision and missed chances. Appalling weather, dysentery, and other illnesses proved as challenging as fighting the Turks. An evacuation at the end of the year was the most successful part of the ill-fated venture, but by then Matthew was back in England. He had been wounded in the head a few weeks after the landing and was sent home. On recovery, he was posted as a captain to the 10th Battalion of the South Lancs, and went out to France in 1916.

 

Following his death, there were further memorials to Captain Honan. At St Clare’s, Sefton Park, one of the stained-glass windows in the Sacred Heart Chapel shows St Matthew: this window is dedicated to Captain Honan’s memory and is believed to have been funded by his surviving siblings. In his will, he left £12,000 to fund a new church in the diocese, provided it was built in the Byzantine style. After the war, this went towards a church in the emerging suburbs of the city: not coincidentally dedicated to St Matthew, this church in Clubmoor was opened in 1930, its campanile still a landmark in the area. A brass plaque above the west doors records his generous gift. His legacy established annual Masses in the church for the Honan family. And in a final gesture to assist those in his chosen profession, he left funds to establish a travel scholarship. The Honan International Travel Scholarship is an annual award that enables architecture students to undertake a study-based trip to broaden their knowledge. It still continues to this day, although additional sponsorship is needed.

 

Captain Matthew Honan was killed in action, aged 38, on 14 November 1916. His many memorials show a life foreshortened, a talent never completely fulfilled, a generation lost.