HOOLEY’S GOLDPLATE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 152, 30 June 1932, Page 3

HOOLEY’S GOLDPLATE

ORNAMENTS IN CATHEDRAL. The goldplate, valued at £lO,OOO, rhich was presented to St. Paul’s Cathedral by Mr. Ernest Terah Hooley, the financier, has just been melted down by order of the Dean and Chapter. For more than twenty years these handsome ornaments have been stored in the strongroom of the cathedral; only tw’nce have they been used at services.

The communion plate was among the finest ever made, and its total weight was 300 ounces. There were eight pieces—four chalices and four flagrons They will be replaced by another set now being designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, the famous architect.

It was in the diamond jubilee year that Ernest Terah Hooley amazed the country’ by his sudden rise to wraith and his presentation of the gold communion service to the cathedral. Now, at the age of 73. he is living in retirerent at Risely Hall, in the Midlands.

Canon A. S. Alexander said recently: “It was found impossible to use the old plate. It was not big enough, and it was the wrong shape. That is the reason why it has been melted down.”