Sean Manchester

“Seán Manchester, descendant of Lord Byron, scourge of the undead and Britain’s number one vampire hunter.” - Michael Magenis, freelance journalist and researcher, London, UK
"more especially as the youngest is pregnant and I cannot have the girl on the parish." - Byron speaking of Lucy
"Her name was Lucy; she was a great favorite with Lord Byron, and had been much noticed by him, and began to have high notions. She had her fortune told by a man who squinted, to whom she gave two-and-sixpence. He told her to hold up her head and look high, for she would come to great things. Upon this, the poor thing dreamt of nothing less than becoming a lady, and mistress of the Abbey; and promised me, if such luck should happen to her, she would be a good friend to me. Ah well-a-day! Lucy never had the fine fortune she dreamt of; but she had better than I thought for; she is now married, and keeps a public house at Warwick." - Told to Washington Irving by Nanny Smith, Lord Byrons Housekeeper

The traditionalist Right Reverend Seán Manchester, Bishop of Glastonbury (bishop in the Old Catholic Church, not the Roman Catholic or Anglican Church) is an author, exorcist and demonologist. Bishop Manchester gained fame when he headed up the investigation into a string of bizarre happenings which plagued Highgate Cemetery beginning in 1967 and ending in 1982.

In appearance he seems a Byronic character, and fittingly so if he is as some Byron scholars claim, the poet's great, great, great grandson by his favorite maid, Lucy. Lord Byron provided for both Lucy and his child by her, a total of £100 a year in his will.

Born near Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, England, Bishop Seán Manchester prepared for holy orders, having entered the minor order of exorcist in 1973, which led to his entry into the diaconate and priesthood in 1990. He was episcopally consecrated on 4th October 1991. A bishop alone may authorise solemn exorcisms, as Bishop Manchester explained on the James Whale Show, 20.02.2002, adding that demand has put immense pressure on those who carry out exorcisms. This was confirmed four days later in a front-page headline story in the Roman Catholic newspaper “The Universe” where the Pope warned of the serious growth of occult practices and satanic sects that has led to an unprecedented rise in demand for exorcists. Bishop Manchester has specialised in the ministry of exorcism for three decades and is acknowledged by many as one of Britain's foremost authorities on demonology (including vampirology) and exorcism. He has been warning of a satanic revival and the existence of supernatural evil since the late Sixties, and is the author of over half a dozen books, mostly concerned with this topic, having contributed to countless television documentaries and studio debates.

Born towards the end of a nightmare that reduced much of Europe to a wasteland, Seán Manchester, an only child, played in the avenues of sombre forest trees in Lord Byron’s gloomy abode, Newstead Abbey Park, where the fading twilight coupled with the moan in leafy woods to herald the last tangible breath of the Romantic Movement. His beloved mother was born at the end of the Great War and it is via this side of the family that the Byron connection is inherited. The sanctuary of Newstead was forsaken for the New World when he was still an infant, but the family soon returned to the familiar landscape and trees through which could be glimpsed a mist-laden semi-ruin of a rich and rare mixed Gothic. London also beckoned and here he would arrive to conclude his studies and live for much of his life. Author, lecturer and researcher, Seán Manchester also inherited his parents’ love of music and from early on in his life performed on reed and keyboard instruments. Later he turned to composing. He also paints portraits in oils. In 1973 he entered the minor order of exorcist, having been tonsured, and already holding the orders of porter and reader. Later in 1973, he entered the highest of the minor orders, that of the acolyte. This was also the year when he inaugurated the founding of Ordo Sancti Graal on Good Friday 13th April. Seventeen years later he took holy orders and inherited ecumenical lines of apostolic succession in the Old Catholic, Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, plus other mainstream denominations. The following year he was elevated to the episcopate on the feast of St Francis of Assisi, 4 October 1991, whereupon he assumed the primacy of the autocephalous jurisdiction Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi. On the feast of the Precious Blood, 1 July 1993, he was enthroned as the Bishop of Glastonbury, and on the same feast day nine years later he founded the Sacerdotal Society of the Precious Blood, having been elected presiding bishop for the British Old Catholic Church, an umbrella movement for traditional Old Catholic groups based in the United Kingdom.

A selection of his oil on canvas portraiture can be found at this online Art Gallery.

In 2004 he appeared on an episode of the documentary series True Horror, hosted by Anthony Head.

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