*1871
Charles Tindal Gatty, RSA, was born in 1871, the son of an Anglican cleric, the Vicar of Ecclesfield. He was educated at Charterhouse and worked in various public offices until his career took an unexpected turn. This was brought about by his conversion to Catholicism and his taking up residence in Yeovil in 1887, where there was neither priest nor church. Charles Gatty then engaged the Rev. M. Badger, OCD, to celebrate Mass in his own house, to which he invited, by means of a notice in the local press, any who wished to attend. 16 people came to this first Mass, but the congregation grew so rapidly in the following months that Mr. Gatty found it necessary to rent a small, disused chapel in the locality as a Mass centre for Yeovil. Charles Gatty’s horizons expanded dramatically when he became the collaborator in the production of a hymn-book, his partner in this enterprise being Henry XV, Duke of Norfolk. How this came about is something of a mystery, but Arundel Hymns was published in 1905 (by Boosey & Hawkes) with the blessing of Pope Leo XIII.