Beaconsfield, located on Topsail Road in St. John's, is the name of both an estate and a house. A large three storey house, Beaconsfield is built of wood in a variant on the gothic cottage style. The house features bay windows, and has a steep hip roof with several gable ends, crowned by finials, with two central chimneys which originally were used to heat the house. Sited on a large tract of land filled with mature trees, Beaconsfield estate is bounded by Road DeLuxe, Molloy's Lane, Beaconsfield High School, and the homes of Waterford Bridge Road. The property descends into the Waterford Valley and was originally the estate of Hugh Hoyles (Prime Minister of Newfoundland, 1861 to 1865). From 1917 until 1994, the house was the country residence of the Roman Catholic Archbishops of St. John's, who bi-located between the Palace in St. John's and Beaconsfield.⁽¹⁾ In 1996, the residence contained two bedrooms, two storage rooms, and a bathroom all on the third floor; two apartment suites, each with a bedroom, a den and a bathroom on the second floor, and a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen on the first floor. There is also a chapel in the house.

Beaconsfield is the second house built on this site. The first house was a country house built by Hoyles, but it was burned down by anti-Hoyles sectarian rioters on 14 May 1861, the day after a sectarian riot in St. John's.⁽²⁾ Edward P. Morris, the son of a prominent Waterford, Ireland--St. John's family, had articled in law until 1884 under Sir James Spearman Winter (later, Prime Minister of Newfoundland from 1897 to 1900). Morris acquired Hoyles' estate and according to one story, built the present residence as his own country house, retaining Tiverton Manor on Rennies' Mill Road as his town-house. An alternate version is that the present house may have been constructed as early as 1880. Further research is needed on the age of the house. According to local legend, the property was named Beaconsfield after British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield (1868, 1874 to 1880). As a reward from British Prime Minister David Lloyd George (1916 to 1922) for service to the Imperial War Cabinet during World War I, Morris was appointed as the first Baron Morris of St. John's and Waterford on 1 January 1918. Morris moved to England, and became the first and only native Newfoundlander to be elevated to a hereditary seat in the British House of Lords, a seat which his son Michael retains today.

Soon after Morris had vacated the house, Archbishop Edward Patrick Roche (Archbishop of St. John's 1915-1950) acquired Beaconsfield as a country house and occupied it as the result the ironic twist of another fire. Until Roche's time, the principal residence of the bishops and archbishops of St. John's had been the Old Palace next to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (the Basilica) at the corner of Bonaventure Avenue and Military Road. In 1919, the Old Palace burned down in a fire started in an upstairs room when a visiting cleric accidentally knocked over a candle.⁽³⁾ While it is difficult to pinpoint the date of Archbishop Roche's first occupancy of the house, it is likely that he took up residence in Beaconsfield soon after the fire. Of all of Beaconsfield's occupants, Archbishop Roche lived at Beaconsfield the longest, and he would be the resident to have the most impact on the social and political history of Newfoundland.⁽⁴⁾

Edward Patrick Roche was born in Placentia on 19 February 1874, the eldest son of Edward and Mary Roche.⁽⁵⁾ Mary was a staunch confederate in 1869, and saved Ambrose Shea from being stoned to death by anti-confederates.⁽⁶⁾ An orphan at age ten, Edward was sent to St. John's to study at St. Patrick's Hall, and later at St. Bonaventure's College.⁽⁷⁾ He was ordained on 24 June 1897, the Feast of St. John the Baptist and the four hundredth anniversary of the arrival of John Cabot in Newfoundland, and like many of the Newfoundland Catholic clergy of his day, he had studied at All Hallows' College, Dublin.⁽⁸⁾ On 29 June 1915 Roche was consecrated Archbishop of St. John's at age 41, making him the youngest Roman Catholic archbishop in the British Empire. Presiding over 100,000 lay Catholics, and 200 priests, nuns, and brothers, he was the successor to Bishops Fleming, Mullock, and Howley, all of whom were staunch "defenders of the faith" and prelates who were unafraid to take a public political stand when they believed it warranted.

Archbishop Roche played a central role in the social and political history of Newfoundland, and under his episcopacy Beaconsfield was the locus for many important meetings. Many Newfoundland politicians regardless of creed, were aware of the advantages conferred by Roche's support. Prior to 1933, when Newfoundland gave up self-government, political hopefuls, cabinet ministers like Peter Cashin, and even seasoned politicians like Prime Minister Sir Richard Squires visited Beaconsfield and sought the archbishop's approval and advice for their candidates at election time. In exchange, Roche had their ear and they had his advice throughout their terms of office.⁽⁹⁾ When a riot ransacked the House of Assembly in 1932, Roche's clergy were instrumental in saving Squires from a mob bent on lynching him. Monsignor McDermott was sent from the Cathedral to try and quiet the mob, while Fathers Pippy and St. John spirited Squires out of the Colonial Building to safety.⁽¹⁰⁾ Even the Commission of Government took heed of the archbishop, and were careful not to make changes to the denominational system of eduction without his approval. Roche personally approved the designs for many schools around Newfoundland which were run by the Church, and was very active in large social projects for Newfoundland, including the establishment of St. Clare's Mercy Hospital in 1922 and the St. John's Housing Corporation in 1941.

Contrary to popular belief, Archbishop Roche did not personally take a public stand against confederation, but he did quietly compare notes with certain anti-confederate leaders at Beaconsfield, and he made sure that the Church's newspaper, The Monitor, opposed confederation. Roche's private opposition to it was based upon his fear that the systems of education found in Canada would be different and would challange Newfoundland denominations' rights in education which had existed from the 1830s, and he articulated and maintained this same position from 1916 onwards.⁽¹¹⁾ Nevertheless, The Monitor's editorials prompted some confederates to claim that the Church had attempted to influence voters in the confederation referenda of 3 June and 22 July 1948. During the negotiations of the Terms of Union between Canada and Newfoundland, J.R. Smallwood took care to preserve denominational rights in education, particularly assuring the churches that their customary and leagal rights would not be tampered with.⁽¹²⁾ Smallwood and Roche each disliked each other, but unlike the eventual premier, Roche did not describe his adversary as the "True Father of Confederation".

After Roche's death, Beaconsfield became the country residence of his successor Archbishop Patrick James Skinner (1951-1979). Skinner also attended St. Bonaventure's College, but he became a priest of the Eudist Order and rector of St. Mary's seminary in Halifax. Skinner remained Archbishop of St. John's until 1979, and during his episcopacy was responsible for building a number of regional high schools in Newfoundland, among them, Holy Heart of Mary, Brother Rice, and Gonzaga in St. John's. In 1979 Skinner was succeeded as Archbishop of St. John's by Alphonsus Ligouri Penney. On 12 September 1984, Pope John Paul II stayed in the guest suite of Beaconsfield during his vitie to Newfoundland. During the time of Archbishop Penney, the Beaconsfield land was further divided in its westernmost end to allow for the construction of a retirement home for elderly Roman Catholic priests. Archbishop Penney lived at Beaconsfield until his resignation in 1991. That year, James Hector MacDonald of Whycocomagh, Nova Scotia became the fifth Archbishop of St. John's and briefly lived in Beaconsfield until the Roman Catholic Episcopal corporation sold the property in 1994 to the developer Garland Clarke.

Beaconsfield is the last remaining house in Newfoundland associated with a number of leaders of church and state. The occupants of the house have been significant figures in Newfoundland history, and Beaconsfield was the scene of several crucial meetings during a debate leading up to what many Newfoundlanders see as the most important moment in their history, confederation. Beaconsfield is in good and very stable architectural condition, and deserves to be preserved as one of the last remaining houses and estates so closely linked with the history of Newfoundland church and state leaders before confederation with Canada.

John Edward FitzGerald

12. On denominational education and confederation see the author's MA thesis, and Ki Su Kim, "J.R. Smallwood and the Negotiation of a School System for Newfoundland", Newfoundland Studies, Vol 11, No. 1 (Spring 1995): 53-74.