Among the boys who entered Ampleforth College in 1901 was Raymond Hesketh, succeeding his brother Frank, who had just left. He was the youngest son of Mr John Hesketh, a Liverpool lawyer.
From the very beginning of his school life he was the naturally accepted leader of his class. He was a handsome boy, of strong physique, an outstanding all-round gamester, and always first or second in his form. Such gifts are an undoubted asset in School life, but they are insufficient of themselves to place a schoolboy above his fellows; and what won for him the admiration of his companions were his strong adherence to right principles, his solid goodness, his cheerful kindliness and his unassuming modesty. This last quality, perhaps, was the real secret of his schoolboy popularity and of his charm throughout his life; and the most inquisitorial devil's advocate would be hard put to it to find evidence at any period of his life of conceit or self-importance. So it is not surprising to find him establishing a record in his last two years at School. In those days, before the monitorial system was introduced, the Captain (the equivalent of the Head Monitor of today) was elected each term by the votes of the whole School. Raymond Hesketh was elected five times in his last six terms and was Captain of Football - they were the days of 'soccer' - for two successive seasons, and of cricket in his last year. Few, if any, Old Amplefordians have ever won so much distinction in their School life, and none certainly ever wore his laurels less pretentiously than he. Indeed, this self-effacing quality of his, which was to become the natural basis of his supernatural humility, was at this time a real handicap to him in his leadership of the School. No need, for those who knew him then and later, to stress the obvious truth that there was nothing weak or effeminate in his self-effacement. He was virile even to bluntness, a 'man' to his large finger tips; and where principle was concerned, if one had looked for a door mat, one would have bumped up against a stone wall.
In July 1907 he left the School and in the following September he joined the common Novitiate of the English Benedictines at St Michael's Priory, now Belmont Abbey, taking the traditional family name of Clement. It was here that his true life started. He had never had any other ambition than to become a priest and a monk; and he entered on his Novitiate with the same sturdy piety and methodical regularity which had characterized his School days, which were only deepened and intensified as life went on. He was the model novice, cheerful and natural in his piety and obedience, without any sign of that strain and artificiality which often mark and mar the early gropings after holiness. The foundations of those Novitiate days were deeply laid and of rocklike quality, so that all through his life there was something of the atmosphere of the Novitiate in the regularity of his religious observance. One remembers him retiring from the thrills of a Past and Present cricket match and from the gaiety of a pre-war Exhibition in order to make sure of getting in his daily spiritual reading in the privacy of his cell.
On his return to Ampleforth he followed the usual course of an Ampleforth monk, taking the Mathematical School at Oxford, and later doing his theological studies here at Ampleforth. He was ordained priest in 1917, and there followed his years as a schoolmaster - teaching mathematics, running the cricket, looking after the playing fields, and finally taking charge of the newly-founded House of St Wilfrid's. In all these duties, although his capacity for work was limited to some extent by the beginnings of uncertain health, he was always most thorough and painstaking and completely reliable. He was popular as a teacher - 'may I go into Fr Clement's set?' was not an infrequent request at that period - not so much because he inspired his class with a love for mathematics, as because they realized that he would get across to them, in a simple and lucid way, all that they needed for passing examinations. As Master in charge of cricket, he upheld the best traditions, although as the years went by he left more and more of the technical training to Mr Cecil Ponsonby, his colleague, and devoted himself to pitch and outfield and to the amenities of the cricket grounds. He was admired and respected by his House, and this was not incompatible with affectionate amusement at his personal foibles, the mapped out regularity of his day, the tidiness of his desk with its symmetrical row of pipes, and his downright manner of address.
In 1937 came the first big change in his monastic life, when he was sent to St Peter's, Seel Street, Liverpool to act as curate to our present Fr Abbot. The wrench was a big one, as for so many Ampleforth monks, but it did not take Fr Clement long to adapt himself to parochial work, and a year later he took charge of the parish of Workington, with its previous Rector, Fr Clement Standish, his old cousin, still in residence as an invalid. He was only a few years there, but it would be true to say that in spite of difficult circumstances, in spite of the war, in spite of his new and heavy responsibilities, in spite of growing ill health and the anxiety that attended it, Fr Clement was, in a curious way, happier there than at any other time of his life. He had had more easeful and less exacting years, but none that pulled so tightly at his heart strings. He was never a man of natural enthusiasms: in his earlier years, perhaps, the handling of a bat or the feel of a ball would bring an unwonted light to his eye, and as he grew older the call of the garden grew more and more insistent; but the great enthusiasm of his life was Workington and its people. Few Rectors can have become so devoted to their parishes in so short a time; and perhaps the biggest cross he ever had to bear was not so much his last illness in itself, but the implied renunciation of his labours there.
During his last two years he was a sick man, but the kindly care of his cousins, Mr and Mrs Standish, nursed him back to some semblance of convalescence, so that he was able to come back to Ampleforth, which was his great longing. In the few weeks that he spent here, he was a most touching and inspiring figure; cheerful and kindly, with an engaging sweetness of manner that was felt by all. Just now and then sadness caught hold of him for a few moments and he would murmur to some friend that he felt that he was becoming a burden to his brethren. And so, for one so well prepared for death, the end came quietly and even suddenly. He was found dead in his bed on the morning of July 5th with his Rosary (as someone said 'typically') clasped in his hand.
Thus passed away a great monk of Ampleforth. His greatness was the true greatness that we find in the spiritual text books. He had nothing of the showman in his make-up; he was incapable of window dressing; he was not the type that caught the public eye; where one Rector would be dreaming of a new Church, he would be seeing that the boiler worked in his old one; his whole emphasis, both materially and spiritually was on fundamentals. He had the heirloom limitations of temperament, common to us all in one shape or another: a rugged conservatism, a distrust of innovation, a certain angularity of mind and imagination; yet enduring through it all, transfiguring the human outlines, the highest and lowest of the virtues - humility: the sure foundation, on which were built his life of prayer and obedience. The opening words of St Benedict's chapter on Obedience are the true summary of his life. 'The highest degree of humility is obedience without delay.'
RAYMUND CLEMENT HESKETH 5 July 1948
1888 20 Nov Born Liverpool
1901- Educ Ampleforth
1907 5 Oct Habit
1908 6 Oct Simple Profession Belmont Prior Fowler
1909 29 Aug Minor Orders Belmont Bishop Hedley
1912 6 Jan Solemn Vows Ampleforth Abbot Smith
8 Sep Subdeacon Bishop Lacy
1915 29 Aug Deacon Bishop Vaughan
1917 15 Jul Priest " "
1912-16 Read Mathematics at Oxford
1930 Sep Housemaster of St Wilfrid's Ampleforth
1937 Sep Assistant at St Peter's Liverpool
1938 19 Nov In charge at Workington
1946 29 Dec Retired as invalid
1947 19 Aug St Joseph's Horsforth
1948 May Returned to Ampleforth
5 Jul Died suddenly
7 Jul Buried at Ampleforth