| Description | Daniel Rock (1799 - 1871) was one of the most important figures in the artistic life of the Catholic Church in the 19th century in England on account of his interest in archaeology and Church history, his publications in these areas and his collections.
He was born in Liverpool on 31 August 1799, into an old Catholic family from Lancashire. He was educated at Old Hall. He was ordained priest in Rome in 1825. Afterwards he ministered at St Mary Moorfields, London. In 1827, he was appointed chaplain to the Earl of Shrewsbury. He accordingly resided at Alton Towers, Staffordshire, till 1840, with the exception of two years during which Lord Shrewsbury's generosity enabled him to stay at Rome collecting materials for his great work, "Hierurgia or the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass", which was published in 1833. Whilst at Alton Towers he met Pugin, who had just entered the Catholic Church.
In 1840 he became chaplain to Sir Robert Throckmorton of Buckland (then in Berkshire nowadays in Oxfordshire), and while there wrote his greatest book, The Church of Our Fathers, in which he studies the Sarum Rite and other medieval liturgical observances.
After the restoration of the hierarchy, he was made a Canon of Southwark Cathedral. In 1857 he moved to Kensington and became part of the organising committee of the South Kensington Museum (now the V & A) for which he published a catalogue of textile fabrics. He died in Kensington on 28 November 1871.
Note: In 2022, artefacts from the Rock Collection were placed on long term loan at Stonyhurst Museum. |