Aldershot he went to Dover for a couple of years, and then on to Gibraltar, where, in a shorter period, his prodigious application to work proved too much for his strength. A rest served the double purpose of restoring him to health and reviving the old love for Aldershot, and the fact that he preferred to return there in a minor capacity for a period of two years serves to bring out his lack of ambition for high office and increased emolument. The authorities, however, knew their Chaplain, and were not content to take him at his own estimate. Before long they had appointed him to Portsmouth in charge of the garrison church, and at Portsmouth the experiences at Nova Scotia were pretty much repeated. The people flocked to hear him as they had done at Halifax, and he became a force to be reckoned with in the Diocese. It is no secret that the good Bishop Harold Browne more than once expressed his desire for the eloquent Army Chaplain to accept patronage in his gift in the Diocese of Winchester.
In the interests of this particular branch of the service, at any rate, it will be agreed that Mr Edghill was well advised in resolving to continue his connection with the Army. He had barely been four years at Portsmouth when he was called upon by Lord Hartington, the Secretary of State for War, to succeed to the highest office which it was in his power, officially speaking, to confer upon him, viz., that of Chaplain-General, vacated
