John Vertue

John Vertue (or Virtue) (1826–1900) was an English prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first Bishop of Portsmouth in England from 1882 to 1900.

Life Born in London on 28 April 1826, Vertue attended King's College, London; and St. Edmund's College, Ware between 1845 and 1848. He then studied at the English College, Rome, where he was ordained on 20 December 1851 at Rome. He returned to England and was assigned to a parish in Poplar.

In 1853 he entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See, being offered the position of Secretary to the Papal Emissary to the United States. Upon returning to Rome he was named a monsignor, and in 1854 given charge of a mission in Hackney. first in Chatham, then in Aldershot. Established in 1854, at the time of the Crimean War, Aldershot Garrison was the first permanent training camp for the British Army. This led to a rapid expansion of Aldershot's population from 875 in 1851, to in excess of 16,000 by 1861 (including about 9,000 from the military). After six years, he was posted to Bermuda and ministered with care and courage to those suffering from an outbreak of Yellow Fever.

In 1865, Vertue was assigned to Colchester, and from 1871 to 1878 to Portsmouth. From Portsmouth he next went to Malta.

The cathedral was consecrated by Vertue, on 29 March 1887. He enlarged it and completed its interior decorations. He built an episcopal residence and a large hall adjoining, which, with the cathedral, form a group of buildings artistic in design, and architecturally, a most noteworthy structure, among the ecclesiastical buildings in the Borough of Portsmouth.

Bishop Vertue died in office on 23 May 1900, aged 74,