Hugh Oldham - Legacy

Legacy

Bishop Oldham is well remembered by Manchester Grammar School: on a Sunday at the end of June each year representatives from the school hold a commemorative service in Exeter Cathedral during which a wreath is laid on his tomb. Since 2005 the school has held an annual Hugh Oldham Lecture, with speakers that have included Astronomer Royal Martin Rees, historian Michael Wood and Lord Winston. And in 2001 the current Bishop of Exeter, Michael Langrish gave a speech to the London Section of the Old Mancunians' Association in which he emphasised two facets of Bishop Oldham's life, both of which he said have relevance today: the importance of learning and education that is broad-based, humane and directed to the well-being of society, and to be open to the future and critically appreciative of what it might be. A life-size bronze statue of the bishop, sculpted by William Macmillan in 1931, stands in the school grounds, and the school's badge still incorporates Oldham's owls.

Hugh Oldham Lads Club, one of the first Lads Clubs in Manchester and similar in its purpose to the later Salford Lads Club, was founded by the educator Alexander Devine in 1887 as a result of his concern for the welfare of children. It continued until 1958.