CHAPTER V. THE CLERGY. THE VICARS BEFORE THE REFORMATION AND SUBSEQUENT TO IT COMMONWEALTH: COMMONWEALTH:-CURATES SINCE THE RESTORATION. WILLIAM BROWN appears to have been the first vicar of the parish. He was presented by the Prior and Convent of S. Valerie, in Picardy, on November 12th, 1332. Robert de Swacliffe, on the presentation of King Edward III. Many years before his vicariate here, he had been constituted one of the chamberlains of the King's exchequer in the place of John de Langston. Hugh de Newbald, on the presentation of King Edward III.; Swacliffe having resigned on June 5th, 1350. Michael de Shires, on the presentation of King Edward III. Robert Fille, November 24th, 1386, on the resignation of Shires. He was presented by King Richard II., in whose hands were the temporalities of the Priory of Takely in Essex, on account of the war with France. Fille was also Rector of Twinsted in Essex, 1389, on the presentation of the prior and convent of Moreton in Surrey, a monastery founded by Henry I., A.D. 1121, for the canons of S. Augustine. William de Glastonbury, October 1st, 1387, on Fille's resignation. Hugh Lambard, January 29th, 1389, on Glastonbury's resignation. William de Glastonbury, March 14th, 1389, on Lambard's resignation. John Smith, September 24th, 1390, on Glastonbury's resignation. Thomas Heydon, March 27th, 1396, on Smith's resignation. The five preceding were also presented by King Richard II. Reginald Body. Also Vicar of Northall in Hertfordshire. Philip Pentecost, January 21st, 1426, on the death of Body. Presented by the warden, fellows, and scholars of the College of S. Mary, Winchester. Walter Byseleigh, November 25th, 1433, on Pentecost's resignation. William English, July 5th, 1451, on Byseleigh's resignation. John White, A. M., May 11th, 1468, on the death of English. He was also Vicar of S. Leonard, Shoreditch. Robert Oliver, December 22nd, 1468, on White's resignation. He is supposed to have been one of the founders of Uxbridge Chapel in the year 1447. Richard Woodhouse, June 10th, 1474, on Oliver's resignation. Also Rector of Allhallows in the Wall, London; of Staines in Middlesex; and of William Bradshaw, December 12th, 1478, on Woodhouse's resignation. Also Rector of Sheering in Essex, 1496. John Clavering, A.M., July 29th, 1491, on Bradshaw's resignation. Also Rector of Bishop's Wickham, 1482 of Witham, 1485, and of Fairsted, all in Essex; of Staines, in Middlesex, 1492; of S. Christopher's, in London, 1494, and fellow of Eton College. John Goodwyn, June 10th, 1494, on Clavering's resig nation. Thomas Hare, LL D. Robert Dikar, LL.B., March 7th, 1514, on Hare's resignation. Also Rector of S. Clement's Danes, in London, 1516. Vicar of S. Sepulchre's, 1524, in which position he had a contest with the prior and Convent of S. Bartholomew. Thomas Stonard, or Stannard, June 3rd, 1522, on Dikar's resignation. The above twelve Vicars were all presented by Winchester College. By whom Reginald Body was presented is not certain. John Thornton, December 18th, 1549, presented by King Edward VI. on the death of Stannard. Thomas Wood, May 18th, 1562, presented by Queen Elizabeth on the deprivation of Thornton. Also Rector of Harlington, in Middlesex, 1558; Vicar of Isleworth, in the same county; Vicar of Bradwell juxta-mare, High Ongar, and South Weld, all in Essex. All the following vicars were presented by the Dean and Canons of Windsor, with the exception of Dr. Costard, the successor of Dr. Terrick who was elevated to the episcopal bench. Thomas Buckmaster, October 24th, 1562, on the deprivation of the last vicar. Also Rector of Allhallows in the Wall, in London, and of S. Mary Woolnoth. James Norris, June 11th, 1563, on the deprivation of Buckmaster. He took possession, as a memorandum in the Registers mentions, on S. Peter's day. John Heyton, September 5th, 1572, on the death of the last vicar. Also rector of S. Leonard's East cheap, 1563. John After, February 6th, 1580, on Heyton's resignation. Also vicar of Sunbury in Middlesex, 1569. Richard Levett, M.A., September 16th, 1584. John Vaughan, M.A., January 31st, 1589, on Levett's resignation. William Tompkins, M.A., November 7th, 1590, on Vaughan's resignation. Thomas Goole, 1635, (?) Mentioned in the Isleworth survey, as vicar, and in the Bishop of London's register, in the record of the institution of his successor. Thomas Soame, S.T.P., April 18th, 1640, on the death of Goole. He was fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and was made Canon of Windsor in the room of the Archbishop of Spalatro who resigned. He was appointed Prebendary of Caddington Major in the Cathedral Church of S. Paul by King James I., jure prerogativa, February 17th, 1616. He was also prebendary of Caddington Minor. The same king presented him to the vicarage of Staines in Middlesex, August 9th, 1616. Being one of those, who, in the last rebellious times, had been compelled to leave their ecclesiastical preferments for their loyalty, he was, August 12th, 1645, incorporated in the degree of D.D. in the University of Oxford having previously taken the same degree at Cambridge." He was also rector of Hasely, in the County of Oxford. He died at Staines in the early part of the year 1649, and was buried there.* The next vicar mentioned by Ironside is William Hobson, S.T.P., instituted in 1661, "on the deprivation of Soame," but Soame died in 1649, and 1661 is the date which Lysons gives for the deprivation of Thomas Willis, (vid. Environs of London, vol. ii. part ii. p. 791). Willis was not a vicar, but only one of the "Ministers appointed by parliament during the Commonwealth. He was succeeded by William Hobson, S.T.P., June 29th, 1661, (a note in the register of the church says, June 30th), on the deprivation of the last Incumbent. (Vid. Bishop of London's Register.) * Ironside's account of this vicar is curiously incorrect, his dates cannot possibly be reconciled. He has mixed up with the appointments held by this Thomas Soame, those held by Dr. Robert Soame, Master of Peterhouse, and several times Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, an able divine and controversial writer. |