J. Spencer Northcote

James Spencer Northcote (26 May 1821 - 3 March 1907) was an English Catholic priest and writer. He served as president of St Mary's College, Oscott for seventeen years.

Life

He was the second son of George Barons Northcote. Educated first at Ilmington Grammar School, he won in 1837 a scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he came under John Henry Newman's influence. In 1841 he became B.A., and in the following year married his cousin, Susannah Spencer Ruscombe Poole. They had three sons and three daughters.

Taking Anglican Orders in 1844 he accepted a curacy at Ilfracombe; but when his wife was received into the Catholic Church in 1845, he resigned his office. In 1846, he himself was converted, being received at Prior Park College, where he continued as a master for some time.

From 1847 to 1850, Northcote was in Italy, where he became acquainted with archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi, and developed an intense interest in the archaeology of Christian Rome. He then settled in Clifton for a time, pursuing literary activities. In 1851, he undertook jointly with Edward Healy Thompson the editorship of the series of controversial pamphlets known as "The Clifton Tracts".

From June 1852 until September, 1854, he acted as editor of The Rambler, founded by his friend John Moore Capes. After his wife's death in 1853 he devoted himself to preparation for the priesthood, first under Newman at the Birmingham Oratory in Edgbaston, then at the Collegio Pio, Rome. On 29 July 1855, he was ordained priest at Stone, where his daughter had entered the novitiate.