Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mackonochie, Alexander Heriot
MACKONOCHIE, ALEXANDER HERIOT (1825–1887), divine, born at Fareham, Hampshire, 11 Aug. 1825, was third son of George Mackonochie, a retired colonel in the army. He was educated at schools at Bath and Exeter, and attended lectures, at Edinburgh University for a short time. He matriculated from Wadham College, Oxford, 27 June 1844, graduated B.A. 1848, and proceeded M.A. 1851. At Oxford he was intimate with Charles Marriott [q. v.], but, though always strongly religious, does not seem to have developed very pronounced views. He was ordained in Lent 1849, and became curate at Westbury, Wiltshire, under Frederick Meyrick. In October 1852 he obtained a curacy at Wantage, Berkshire, where Henry Parry Liddon [q. v.] was for a time his colleague. Liddon became friendly with him, and in after years Mackonochie always dined with him at Amen Court, St. Paul's Churchyard, on Christmas day. In October 1858 he joined Charles Fuge Lowder [q. v.] at St. George's-in-the-East, London, and was with him through the riots which occurred in the church during the following year. Here he made some mark as a preacher. In 1862 he became curate-in-charge of St. Alban's, Holborn, which was then being built by John George Hubbard [q. v.] on a site given by Lord Leigh. The church was consecrated 21 Feb. 1863. Mackonochie had by this time adopted advanced views as to ritual, and from the first had difficulties at St. Alban's with Hubbard. Before he was appointed a strong protest was made by a neighbouring clergyman, and as he gradually added to the ceremonies he was subjected to a long series of lawsuits promoted by the Church Association. Lord Shaftesbury, who visited St. Alban's in 1866, made a note on the service in his diary, 'In outward form and ritual it is the worship of Jupiter or Juno;' others regarded Mackonochie as a Jesuit in disguise. In 1865 Mackonochie had become chaplain to the sisterhood of Haggerston. The former chaplain had become a Roman catholic, and shortly after Mackonochie assumed office the superior and several of the sisters went over also.
Throughout the prosecutions to which Mackonochie was subjected the plaintiff was Mr. Martin, a solicitor, who was technically a parishioner. The first trial took place on 15 June 1867, the disputed points being matters of ritual (mixed chalice, altar lights, &c), and in the judgment, given 28 March 1868, by Sir Robert Phillimore [q. v.], several points were decided in favour of Mackonochie, and others against him. No order was made as to costs. On appeal to the privy council, however, practically all the points were decided against Mackonochie, and he had to pay all costs. On 19 Jan. 1869 a monition was issued directing him to obey the judgment, and on 2 Dec. 1869 a further decision was given against him because he had not obeyed the first judgment, and on 25 Nov. 1870, for continued disobedience, he was suspended for three months. Meanwhile he was inhibited from preaching in the Ripon diocese by its bishop, and at the Liverpool Church Congress Dean Hugh McNeile [q. v.] refused to appear on the platform if Mackonochie's name were on the programme. In 1870, however, Lord Eliot, as a mark of sympathy, made him his domestic chaplain. A fresh suit was commenced in 1874, and on 12 June 1875 he was suspended for six weeks. A further prosecution followed in 1882, but on 1 Dec. 1882 he resigned his living, chiefly to please the dying Archbishop of Canterbury (Tait). In January 1888 he became vicar or St. Peter's, London Docks, but in face of threats of fresh litigation he resigned 23 Dec., and went back to St. Alban's, where he lived and worked unofficially for the rest of his life. In December 1887, being in weak health, he went on a visit to the Bishop of Argyll and the Isles at Ballachulish, and, going out for a walk over the hills, was found dead, 17 Dec. 1887, in the deer forest of Manore, twenty miles from Ballachulish. On 13 Feb. 1888 a memorial fund was inaugurated at St. Alban's, with which additions are being made to the church. Mackonochie was an excellent organiser, and practised the strictest self-denial. The points for which he strove have been generally allowed since. His litigation did much to settle church law, or at all events to show the necessity for settlement.
Mackonochie wrote 'First Principles v. Erastianism,' a number of sermons, London, 1876, 8vo.
[Life, by Mrs. Towle; Charles Lowder, a Biography; Belcher's Life of Robert Brett; Life of Tait, by Davidson and Benham; Guardian, 21 Dec., and Record, Rock, and Church Times, 23 Dec. 1887; Dale's Legal Ritual; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886.]