Rectors and Vicars of Preston-by-Faversham

( 137 ) VICARS OE PRESTON-BY-EAVERSHAM. Before the Appropriation of the Ohurch and Great Tithes of Preston to the Abbot and Convent of Faversham, any vicar was paid by the Bector, according to agreement. After Faversham Abbey obtained the Great or Predial Tithes, of cereal crops, the vicars were endowed with the Small Tithes of wool, pigs, calves, milk, pasture, etc., etc. A.D. 1284. EICHARD DE TRENGE was presented as vicar by Walter de Plesiaco (the rector) and was instituted by Archbishop Peckham, on the 28th of April 1284. He had been ordained Deacon, at Croydon, in November 1283. Iu February 1288-9 he was instituted to the Eectory of Badlesmere, having been presented thereto by Sir Gocelin de Badlesmere. 1377. JOHN DE HIGHAM FERRERS, who held the Vicarage of Preston for 22 years, was collated by Archbishop Sudbury on the 30th of September 1377. Four years after his induction, took place that assault upon the dwelling house at Macknade, from which William de Makenade suffered, so that his life was in great peril, from the rebels who acted in the name of Wat Tyler. 1399. JOHN STURREY was collated by Archbishop Arundel on the 5th of November 1399. This vicar built a small private chapel in or adjacent to his vicarage house. Some of its walls and doorways can still be traced, within the vicarage, iu its north-eastern part. The east window of this private chapel contained stained glass representing Mr. Sturrey, kneeling in prayer, wearing a cope, and beseeching St. Katherine (to whom Preston Church was dedicated) to befriend sinners. The arms of his patron, Archbishop Arundel, were above his head, together with a shield bearing the Dryland arms. This suggests that some contemporary Dryland, of Cooksditch in Faversham, was also a benefactor of Mr. Sturrey. This vicar was one of the executors of William Makenade whose will was dated 1402. How long he remained vicar I cannot ascertain. VICARS OP PRESTON-BY-EAVERSHAM. A.D. 1 4 . . WILLIAM EAYCHDALE probably succeeded Mr. Sturrey, but I cannot find the record of his collation. The Eegister of Archbishop Chichele shews, however, that in 1438 he left Preston and went to High Halden, having made an exchange of benefices. 1438. Master WILLIAM LEE, an University Graduate, who had been Eector of High Halden, exchanged that benefice for this of Preston, to which he was collated by Archbishop Chichele ou the 9th of June 1438 (Eegister, folio 220b). I know nothing that is certain about his after life. It is possible, though not very probable, that he may be identical with that William Lee, Eector of Staplehurst, who died there in 1473. 1482. Master HENRY TAILLOUR was collated to Preston Vicarage by Archbishop Bourgchier, on the 10th of April 1482. His tenure of the benefice was not long; he died in 1491. 1492. Master EIOHARD EOBERD, Bachelor in Deeretis (that is, of Canon Law), waB collated by Archbishop Morton on the 23rd of January 1492 in succession to Henry Taillour. He died iu or before 1499. 1499. THOMAS HUNGEREORD was collated to Preston Vicarage by Cardinal Archbishop Morton, on the 28th of April 1499. He probably held the benefice about seven years. 1506. Master JOHN FORSTER, M.A., was collated by Archbishop Warham on the 27th of October 1506, and held the benefice more than eighteen years. Whether he was identical with John Forster who was Principal of St. Alban Hall at Oxford from 1503 until 1507 I cannot say for certain, but I think he was. While he was vicar here Archbishop Warham held a Visitation (in 1511) of the Abbey of Faversham and of other monasteries in his diocese. Mr. Forster died in 1525. 1525. Master WILLIAM BROK:E, Doctor of Canon Law, was vicar for a few months only. Archbishop Warham collated him on the 16th of May 1525, and his death followed so quickly that his will was proved before the legal year 1525 ended. Dr. Broke had been a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, for twelve years, 1503 to 1515. During ten years from 1511 to 1521 he was at the head of St. Mary's Hall in that University, as Principal or as Deputy VICARS OP PRESTON-BY-PAVERSHAM. 139 AD. Principal. He obtained the degree of a Doctor in Decretis in July 1522. 1526? EICHARD EOBERTS, bearing the same name as a previous vicar (who died before 1500), was vicar in 1535 when the Valor Fcclesiasticus was compiled. During his tenure of Preston Vicarage, John Cole, Warden of All Souls' College, Oxford, granted lands to the Abbot and Convent of Paversham in 1527 for the foundation of a Grammar School for the brethren and novices there, and for all other children of the district who were disposed to learn the science of Grammar. The school flourished for eleven years, and then the Dissolution of the Abbey stopped its progress. Not until 1576 was its work resumed. Then Queen Elizabeth rescued and restored to it much of John Cole's land. Eichard Eoberts probably saw Archbishop Warham pass, for the last time, along the highroad to St. Stephen's, Canterbury, iu August 1532, and may have heen present when that Primate was buried, in the tomb prepared by himself against the north wall of the " Martyrdom," in Canterbury Cathedral, on the 9th of September following. It is probable also that Vicar Eichard Eoberts may have " assisted" at the enthronement of Archbishop Cranmer, ou the 3rd of November 1533. He petitioned that Primate for permission to retire from the Vicarage of Preston, Cranmer granted his permission in December 1535, and assigned to the retiring vicar a Pension of £4 per annum, out of the proceeds of this benefice (Cranmer's Eegister, folio 30a to 31"). 1535. EIOHARD MAUPAS was collated to the Vicarage of Preston by Archbishop Cranmer on the 18th of December 1535. He and the Vicar of Faversham, Clement Norton, entered upon their adjacent parishes during the same year. They remained incumbents thereof for 22 and 24 years respectively, throughout the troubled period which saw so many changes in the services of the Church of England. The same Archbishop of Canterbury who collated Mr. Maupas to Preston, remained Primate of all England, until after the Second English Book of Common Prayer had been introduced; and in the parishes of Faversham and Preston the people found one and the same vicar conducting the services in their 140 GRADUAL PROGRESS OE THE REPORMATION. A.D. 1535-38. respective parish churches, throughout that changeful period, until after Primate Cranmer had passed away and Cardinal Pole had succeeded him. When these vicars entered upon their adjacent parishes, they found in the parish of Davington (contiguous to both) an ancient Priory, without Prioress or Nun. All had died or departed; no successors came; and the deserted buildings had by the Common Law of England escheated to the Crown, in 1535, shortly before the month in which Eichard Maupas was collated to the Vicarage of Preston. On the other side of his parish he saw the deserted buildings of the Maison Dieu, in Ospringe. Two brethren who had been left sole survivors there, in 1479, had forsaken their ancient home, the " Hospital." It had by the usual law escheated to the Crown iu A.D. 1480-81. About eight months after he became Vicar of Preston, Mr. Maupas received au ordinance of Convocation (passed July 19, 1536) directing him to refrain from officially mentioning, and to cease to observe, any of the minor holy days which happened during harvest-time (July to September), or during the term-time of the Law Courts. He was also supplied with an English form of " Bidding- Prayer," to be used before each sermon preached in his parish church. We must remember that a sermon was not then a common or necessary item in the Sunday services of the Church. As to his preaching Mr. Maupas received, in the year 1536, injunctions to preach every Sunday, for three months, against the pretended power of the Pope. He was also enjoined to recite and expound the English form of the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, little by little, until all had been learned by his congregation. He was likewise especially enjoined to teach to the young of his parish all these formularies in English. There came to him, also in 1536, an order to provide for his church (before August 1, 1537*) a Bible in Latin, and in English. This was to be paid for by " every parson or proprietary of any Parish Church."f Again, in 1538,t a similar injunction was issued. The popular * R. W. Dixon's Sistory of the Church of JSngland, i., p. 448 n. t Ibid., i., 447. GRADUAL PROGRESS OP THE REPORMATION. 141 A.D. 1538. desire for obtaining Church Services in English caused the curates of Hadleigh (Suffolk) and Stratford (Essex) to say Mass in English, during the year 1538.* During this third year of his incumbency (1538) Faversham Abbey, "the parson or proprietary" of Preston Church, was dissolved. In that year, Eichard Maupas saw the holders of the great Tithes of his parish surrender them, and all other property, to the King. John Castlock, the last Abbot of Faversham, together with the eight surviving monksf in that Abbey, signed a Deed of Surrender on the 8th of July 1538. Thenceforward, each member of the dissolved Abbey dwelt where he pleased, receiving during his life a Pension, as large as or larger than that which was granted to the Vicar of Preston (Eichard Eoberts), who resigned this benefice in 1535. A few months later, Vicar Maupas saw Archbishop Thomas Beeket's " saintship " annulled by a proclamation on Church matters, issued by King Henry VIII. in November 1538. "Henceforth," it said, "Thomas Becket shall not be reputed nor called a saint, but ' Bishop Becket,' and his images and pictures shall be put down, and avoided out of all churches, and other places." The Vicar of Preston would at once notice one great result of this action. The highway from London to Canterbury which ran near his parish church had for centuries been frequented by crowds of pilgrims to the Shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury. Such pilgrimages could not continue after this proclamation was issued, in November 1538. Consequently the chapels, erected for the convenience of pilgrims upon the highway, would become useless. One dedicated to St. Nicholas stood within half a mile of Preston Church, at the boundary where this parish meets that of Ospringe. The site is now called " Chapel House." Another, more distant, stood within two miles east of Macknade. It would likewise now fall into decay. It was also dedicated * R. W. Dixon's Sistory of the Church of England, ii., 364 a. t Of these eight brethren, four were still living in 1555-6, and still receiving their pensions. One of them, Thomas Dene, or Deve, or Dove, became Vicar of Selling,, but he still " drew " his monastio pension of £5 per annum. Another " brother," Dunstan Goodhewe, married, and was Curate of the Parish of Hartey in 1554; but he still received his pension, whioh was £4 per annum. 142 VICARS OP PRESTON-BY-PAYERSHAM. A..D. 1538-39. to St. Nicholas, and its site in Boughton Blean is still commemorated by the name " Holy Lane." These great changes were not violent, as they seem to us at this distance of time. They were the slow and gradual result of the spread of enlightenment and liberty. The leaven of Eeformation had been slowly working for a century and a half, ever since Wycliff had set forth his English translation of the Bible. The changes effected, during the period of Eichard Maupas's incumbency, were the outcome of national feelings and convictions. Consequently Vicar Maupas would not be surprised when Archbishop Cranmer, seeking the assistance of a Suffragan, to be called the first Bishop of Dover, selected for that office Eichard Tngworth, who had been the last Prior of King's Langley, in Hertfordshire. The Primate caused the Head of that dissolved monastery to be consecrated at St. Paul's Cathedral on the 9th of December 1537. Thenceforward, during 7 years, the clergy of this diocese were brought much into contact with the Suffragan Bishop. In some, it will excite surprise to find that Cranmer selected a monk, an ex-Prior, to be his first Suffragan. The fact is significant, assisting men of the nineteenth century to realize that the Church of England was reforming herself, from within. Vicar Maupas received during 1538 and 1539 two injunctions which by the King's desire were issued to all the beneficed clergy. One directed them to enter in a Eegister book every baptism, marriage, and burial performed in their parishes. This admirable custom, begun when Eichard Maupas was Vicar of Preston, has been continued ever since, and has proved of immense value. The other injunction directed in 1539 that in every parish church a large folio Bible in the English language should be set upon a desk, to be read by any person who chose. The Church owed this injunction, and the great English Bibles then set up in each church, to the care, wisdom, and influence of Archbishop Cranmer. He effected that which had been vainly essayed before. All the copies of the first edition of Cranmer's Great Bible were disposed of within two years, so that another edition had to be printed and issued in GRADUAL PROGRESS OE THJE REPORMATION. 143 A.n. 1540-43. May 1541. The Psalms in the subsequent Books of Common Prayer, from 1549 until now, have always been printed in the words of the translation thus issued hy Cranmer's influence, in " the great English Bible set forth and used (as we read in the prefatory portion of our Book of Common Prayer) in the time of King Senry the Eighth and Fdward the Sixth." The distribution of these great English Bibles throughout the whole country must have occupied time, and perhaps remote churches may not have obtained their Bibles until 1541. In Canterbury Cathedral, the identical desk on which a Bible was first set up may still be seen in the north aisle of the choir, just eastward of the north-east transept. On it is a Bible of the year 1572, placed there of late years. At St. Paul's Cathedral, six copies of Cranmer's Bible were set up, in 1539, for the use of the people, who gathered around them in large groups while one of their number read. The present selection of Epistles and Gospels for Sundays and Holidays was used in English by Vicar Maupas in 1539. The English version of them had been published in 1537 by Hilsey, Bishop of Eochester. Some of the portions were new selections, but most of the Epistles and Gospels were those which had been used for centuries, in the Church of England, but in the Latin tongue. At the end of March 1540, Vicar Maupas heard that the great Monastery of Clmst Church,* at Canterbury, had been surrendered to the King by its Prior and the brethren there. Two years later, the vicar received notice that Convocation had revised the Latin Services of the Church. When Convocation's new edition of the Sarum Breviary was issued, in 1542-3, it was accompanied by an order * Twenty-seven of its inmates remained still in the Precincts, as officials of the new Cathedral Poundation: twenty-five other inmates departed, receiving pensions for life, amounting in all to £291 6s. 8d. per annum. The Prior (Thomas Goldwell) received a pension of £80 per annum (equivalent to about £960 of modern money) and declined to remain as a Prebendary of the Cathedral. One of the monks who was Warden of its Manors, and who had for years been Warden of Canterbury Hall at Oxford, became the second Suffragan Bishop of Dover, upon the death of Bishop Yngworth in November 1544. His name was Riohard Thornden, and he remained Bishop of Dover under Cardinal Pole in Queen Mary's reign. 144 VICARS OP PRESTON-BY-EAVERSHAM. A.D. 1543-47. that at every service one entire chapter of Holy Scripture should be read in English, out of Cranmer's Great English Bible. When in any church the whole of the New Testament had been thus read through in English, then such lesson in English was to be read from the Old Testament. This great improvement in the Church Service was followed up by the use of the Litany in English. Vicar Maupas was required to adopt it, on and after the l l th of June 1544. Mr. Maupas and his parishioners had long been familiar with an English form of the Litany, which had been printed in authorized books of private devotion, called Primers, during nearly a hundred years preceding. About six months after the English Litany was introduced into the Ohurch Service, he saw Cardinal Kempe's collegiate foundation at Wye surrendered to tbe King; and late in the following year, 1545, he found that Parliament had passed an Act for the dissolution of all Chantries, Hospitals and Free Chapels. Under this and a subsequent Act, were dissolved, not only the two chapels of St. Nicholas already mentioned in Ospringe and Boughton, but all the endowments for " soul priests," or chantries wherein Masses were said for individual souls. The endowments for all such soul priests and their Masses were then taken completely away from the Church of England, and from its Parochial Clergy. Nor have they ever been restored ; not even by Queen Mary. Thus, endowments granted for one of Eome's greatest errors have not been received by the Church of England since, or later than, A.D. 1545. When Henry VIII. died, in January 1547, there was, in Preston Church, Cx'anmer's Great English Bible, chained to a desk, for the use of all comers. Lessons were read from it in English at Morning and Evening Prayer. The vicar was periodically teaching the young people to say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments in English. In the church he said the Litany in English always. Possibly, as at Heme, and in some London churches, the Te Deum may also have been sung in English. Monasteries were gone. Chantries and Free Chapels were closed; their priests had PROGRESS OT? THE REPORMATION. 145 A.D. 1547-53. been pensioned, and Masses for theNiead were no longer said in those chantries. The minor Holy Days were no longer observed. All Shrines of Saints had been destroyed. We should carefully realize the state of public services in the churches of England at this period. It is very important. We should also notice that Eichard Thornden, formerly one of the most active, monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, was at this time Suffragan Bishop of Dover. After Henry's death, and the accession of Edward VI., The Communion Office, in English, replaced the Latin Mass in 1548. The Book of Common Prayer in English was introduced into Preston Church in 1549. Many of the clergy, who had hitherto been celibates,* married wives, during King Edward's reign. Within the churches, altars were replaced by communion tables; the clergy were content to use surplices at all their public ministrations, instead of copes, chasubles, dalmatics, and tunicles of velvet or silk or other costly materials. From the majority of churches, Eoods (i.e. crucifixes between images of the Virgin Mary and St. John) and roodlofts were removed. On the walls of the nave and chancel of each parish church texts of Scripture were painted in English, with the Ten Commandments and the Creed. English Homilies, set forth and printed by authority, were preached on Sundays by Vicar Maupas, and other incumbents. The English version of Erasmus's Paraphrase of the Gospels was found in every church, during Edward's reign of six years. After the death of King Edward (on the 6th of July 1553) the authorities enforced no change in the services of the Church of England, until a few days before Christmas. Parliament repealed in 1553 King Edward VL's Acts of Uniformity of 1548 and 1552. No sort of ecclesiastical concurrence was sought or given, yet Vicar Maupas found that he must make changes. After the 20th of December 1553, no Form of Public Worship was to be used but what had been in use in the last year of the reign of King Henry VIIL, viz.: * During Saxon times the clergy of the Churoh of England were permitted to marry. Dunstan first, and then Anselm, Arohbishop of Canterbury from A.D. 1093 to 1109, forbade the marriage of the olergy. VOL. XXI. L 146 VICARS OP PRESTON-BY-PAVERSHAM. A.D. 1553-55. in 1546. The words of the Act are, " All such Divine service, and administration of Sacraments as were most commonly used in England in the last year of King Henry VIII. shall be used through the realm after the 20th of Dec1' 1553 and no others." For clergymen like Mr. Maupas, Vicar of Preston, and Mr. Norton, Vicar of Faversham, the crucial difficulty created by Queen Mary's accession did not arise. They had not married. For the married clergy, Mary's accession was fraught with misfortune and misery. On the 4th of March 1554 (1553 iu the old style) the Chancellor was ordered to purge the Church of ah married bishops and priests. Hundreds of incumbents were then deprived of their benefices simply because they had wives. The number so deprived has been greatly exaggerated, but Tanner told Bishop Burnet that the number of such incumbents was probably between 2000 and 3000. As to the internal fittings of churches, it may be remarked that even at St. Paul's Cathedral, in London, the great rood was not set up again until August or September 1554. There it remained exactly five years, aud no longer. Not until January 1555 was enacted the repeal of those Acts which had been passed in and after 20 Henry VIII. against the Pope and his supremacy. The same Parliament (in January 1555) enacted that Bishoprics, Cathedrals, and Colleges were to remain unchanged in condition; that all institutions to benefices during the past years " of schism " are confirmed; and that the alienations of the lands of the Church are authorized, and their possessors shall be subject to no censures nor prosecutions. Not until December 1555 was an Act passed approving and confirming Queen Mary's resignation of the First Fruits and Tenths of Benefices which had been paid by their Incumbents to Henry VIII. and Edward VI. Eichard Maupas, Vicar of Preston, and Clement Norton, Vicar of Faversham, no doubt lamented the return in Public Worship to the Latin Service, but they had been familiar with it and had used it all their lives, except during four years of King Edward's reign. NeverVICARS OP PRESTON-BY-PAVERSHAM. 147 A.D. 1555-57. theless they would rejoice in the vast amount of progress which the Eeformation movement had secured and established, so • that Queen Mary's accession did not destroy it. Mr. Norton lived to see the English Services again set up in his church. Mr. Maupas only survived in this benefice to hear of the martyrdom of Archbishop Cranmer at Oxford on the 21st of March 1556, and the changes immediately subsequent. He died in the autumn of 1557. 1557. THOMAS SLANEY was collated to the Vicarage of Preston, by Cardinal Pole, on the 10th of December 1557. This gentleman had been the non-resident Eector of Cheriton near Folkestone, in 1550 aud 1551. He was Eector of Eastling from 1550 to 1555; but at Preston he remained only a few months. 1558. EDWARD PARATT was collated hy Cardinal Pole on the 20th of October 1558, being one of the last incumbents collated before Pole's death. Mr. Paratt or Perott seems not to have resided here at all. In 1560 not only the churchwardens of Preston, but those of Faversham also, represented to the Archdeacon of Canterbury tbat he was not resident. The churchwardens of Faversham alleged, in addition, that he had let his benefice to an unlearned man. Mr. Paratt seems to have been an Oxford graduate, who successively acquired the benefices of East Garston (1565), Heythorpe (1568), Wherwell (1569), and Kentisbury (1570). He was "deprived" of the Vicarage of Preston in 1562. 1562. WILLIAM EUSSELL. Archbishop Parker collated William Eussell to this benefice on the 21st of December 1562, and he retained it during ten years. Mr. Eussell resigned in 1572. 1572. WILLIAM ABSOLON, M.A., held Preston Vicarage for five years. He was collated by Archbishop Parker on the 17th of December 1572, and resigned it at the end of 1577. During his incumbency, the oldest of the three bells of this church was procured, in the year 1575. Mr, Absolon seems to have been a man of Kent, who studied at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, whereof he became a Fellow in 1556. When appointed to Preston he was already a Prebendary of Eochester, and he seems to have given up Preston when pro- L 2 148 VICARS OE PRESTON-BY-PAVERSHAM. A.D. 1572. moted to the Eectory of St. Olave, Southwark, in 1577. He is said to have been Sub-almoner to the Queen, and Master of the Savoy Hospital in London. The Eectory of Cranfield, Berks, and that of Dengie in Essex, were also held by him. He died in 1586. 1578. WILLIAM JESSOPPE was Absolon's successor. He was collated to Preston by Archbishop Grindal on tbe 28th of February 1577-8, but he held the benefice not quite two years. He was deprived in 1580. 1580. LAUBENCE HOLLENDEN was collated to this benefice on the 30th of April 1580 by Archbishop Grindal. He had held the Vicarage of Teynham since July 21, 1570, and was incumbent of both parishes when he died in 1595. His wife Mary HoUenden nie Willcox, whom he married, here, in 1588, survived him and took out " Letters of Administration " on the 21st of January 1596. 1596. PETEB JACKSON, who was collated to Preston by Archbishop Whitgift on the 12th of April 1596,* must have been resident in or near Preston during the latter years of his predecessor's life. The monumental tablet placed in his memory, by his widow Thomasine Jackson, states that he preached in Preston Church during 30 years. This would suggest that he acted as Mr. Hollenden's curate from the year 1587. It is believed, however, that he is identical with Peter Jackson who from 1585 to 1589 held the Eectory of Ashdon in Essex. That would well accord with the undoubted fact that he was instituted to the Eectory of Luddenham on the 15th of March 1590-91, and held that Crown living until 1604, when he resigned it. Mr. Jackson died on the 24th of January 1616-17. 1617. JOHN EIDLEY was Vicar of Preston during 27 years at least. He was collated to this benefice by Archbishop Abbot on the 6th of Pebruary 1616-17, and he signed his name in the Parish Eegister in the year 1644. How much later, than 1644, he remained here I cannot ascertain. NATHANIEL WILSON officiated in Preston at some time between 1645 and 1662. * Any mention of his being collated in April 1595 must be a lapsus, as his predeoessor was then alive. VICARS OP PRESTON-BY-PAVERSHAM. 14 9 A.D. 1662. FEANCIS WOEEALL became Vicar of Faversham and also of Preston in 1662. He was collated to Preston by Archbishop Juxon on the 3rd of December 1662, and held this benefice until his death in October 1671. He resigned Faversham iu 1665, but in 1667 he accepted the Vicarage of Graveney, which he held, with that of Preston, until his death. His wife Eachel bore him a son Thomas soon after they came to Preston. This son was taken into Sir George Choute's household at Bethersden, about 1676, and remained therein until 1701, when he died on the 29th of December, aged 36, and was buried at Bethersden. 1672. JOHN CBOCKEE was collated to Preston in April 1672. There he buried his wife, Martha Crocker, in 1675. He was himself buried at Preston on the 15th of December 1683. A clergyman of the same name was instituted to the Eectory of Stoke Fleming in Devonshire, on the 26th of June 1661. 1684. JOHN GAMLTN was collated to Preston in June 1684. He had been Vicar of Hernehill from 1676 to 1681. When Vicar of Hernehill, he also held the Incumbency of Boughton Blean as " sequestrator." He had been promoted from Hernehill and Boughton to the Vicarage of Faversham in 1682, and after 1684 he held the Incumbencies of that town and Preston together until his death in 1715. He was buried at Boughton ou the 17th of June 1715. 1715. GEOEGE SYKES, one of the greatest benefactors to the parish that ever held this benefice, was collated by Archbishop Thomas Tenison on the 13th of October 1715. He remained Vicar of Preston more than half a century. Previously he had been Curate of Eastchurch in Shepey from 1713 to 1714, and Vicar of Selling near Faversham for eighteen months, from May 1714 to October 1715. Soon after his collation to Preston, Dr. Thomas Green,* Archdeacon of Canterbury, personally visited the Parish Church. In his notebook, which still exists, in the Library of the present Archdeacon, Dr. Eden, Bishop Suffragan of Dover, Archdeacon Green states that Mr. Sykes, then about 28 years of age, was a man of good manners (vir moribus bonis). * Dr. Green became Bishop of Norwioh in 1721, and of Ely in 1723. 150 VICARS OP PRESTON-BY-PAVERSHAM. A.D. 1715-66. At that time (probably in 1715) he was residing within the parish of Ospringe, and had within his parish of Preston only sixteen families. Mr. Sykes had an income of £60 per annum from his benefice, at that time. Being himself a man of good means, he in 1721 presented to the Church of Preston a silver Paten for the Holy Communion which still remains in use. The largest bell in the tower of this church was procured in the year 1725. As it bears the name of Mr. Sykes, and of the churchwarden, we may suppose that it was obtained through him, even if he did not entirely pay for it. In 1736 Mr. Sykes was presented to the Eectory of Hawkswell near Eochford in Essex, which he held together with Preston. When he had been thirty-nine years Vicar of Preston he added a new building to the vicarage in April 1754. This addition, at the west end of the old chapel (built by Vicar Sturrey), consisted of four rooms. In the autumn of the following year, Archbishop Herring appointed Mr. Sykes to be one of the Six Preachers of Canterbury Cathedral. He was installed ou the 10th of September 1755. Preferments accumulated upon him. In 1757, the Eeetory of Eayleigh (only two miles from Hawkswell) was given to him. Probably as a thank-offering for these blessings, he presented to Preston Church a handsome silver Flagon for use at the Holy Communion. This Communion Vessel, together with Mr. Sykes's Paten, still remains the property of Preston Church. Dr. Sykes, brother of tbe Vicar of Preston, had died, and his widow Mrs. Elizabeth Sykes, taking interest in her brother-in-law's parish, bequeathed in 1762 the sum of £200 to secure an annual income to provide education for poor children of Preston. Mr. Sykes died on the 9th of June 1766, and his monumental tablet describes him as aged 81, " of Vardley Place, Herts, Eector of Eayleigh in Essex." Yardley is now called Ardeley ; it is a parish near Buntingford and Stevenage. By his will Vicar Sykes bequeathed £100 to provide a small annual income to be expended in bread for the poor of this parish. VICARS OF PRESTON-BY-PAVERSHAM. 15 1 A.D. 1766. FEANCIS FEEDEEICK GIEAUD was collated to Preston in 1766. Mr. Giraud was one of a Waldensian family which had settled at Pinache in Wurtemberg. There, in 1699, the reigning Duke of Wurtemberg permitted a colony of the Waldensian Protestants of the Piedmont Valleys to settle. His bachelor uncle the Vicar of Graveney, the Eev. William Henry Giraud (who was born at La Tour in the Valley of Lucerne in 1694, but had been brought to England under the patronage of his godfather, Lord Gal way), adopted Francis Frederick when he was a lad of only twelve years. The Vicar of Graveney, going to Pinache to visit his brother, George Martin Giraud, in or about the year 1738, took a liking for Frauds Frederick, and brought him to Graveney. In 1744, he was entered at All Souls' College, Oxford. In 1749 he was ordained. His first appointment iu Faversham was that of Deputy- Master in the Grammar School iu 1752, when also he took the Curacy of Ospringe. These posts he held during seven years, 1752—59. Meanwhile he became Perpetual Curate of the parish of Oare aud Curate of Davington in 1755. Two years later, he was instituted to the Vicarage of Westwell, where he resided from 1759 to 1763. In 1762 he obtained the Head Mastership of Faversham Grammar School, which he filled during forty-six years. When Mr. Sykes died, Mr. Giraud was collated to the Vicarage of Preston, and he then resigned the Vicarage of Westwell. He served as Curate of Leaveland, 1752—55 ; of Davington, 1755 —59, and 1781—94; of Ospringe, 1763—65; aud of Luddenham, 1765—66. During forty-two years, Mr. Giraud acted as Vicar of Preston, Perpetual Curate of Oare, and head of the Paversham Grammar School. Three years before his death, he resigned his position in the School (in 1808), but he was Incumbent of the two parishes of Preston and Oare when he died on the 19th of August 1811, aged 85. His wife, Jane EUzabeth Herve, was the only daughter of the Eev. Thomas Heree" (once a Capuchin Friar), who figures in one of Hogarth's engravings, called Noon, standing at the door of his chapel in Hog Lane. By Miss Herve, whom the Vicar 152 VICARS OP PHESTON-BY-PAVERSHAM. A.D. 1766. of Preston married in October 1759, he had five sons and two daughters. His second son John Thomas Giraud practised as a surgeon in Faversham from 1788 to 1836. That gentleman's son Frederick Francis was also a surgeon at Faversham from 1825 to 1866, and his eldest son Francis Frederick Giraud, a solicitor, (greatgrandson of the Vicar of Preston,) became Town Clerk of Faversham in 1870, and still occupies, with much credit and respect, that responsible position. The Vicar's son, Eichard Giraud, erected on the east side of Preston Street two houses, of red brick, which still stand at the southern corner of the Station Eoad. 1811. FEEDEEICK MANNEES-SUTTON was collated to Preston on the 18th of November 1811, by Archbishop Manners- Sutton (his uncle). Three days before, he had been collated to the Vicarage of Marden. This gentleman was highly favoured. Within less than a year he was collated to the Eectory of Tunstall ou the 23rd of July 1812, and then he vacated the Preston benefice. As a relation of his succeeded him at Preston, he returned thither once or twice to officiate for his kinsman. Nine years after he had gone to Tunstall, he married a daughter of the seventh Earl of Scarborough (who was in Holy Orders and a Prebendary of York). The Lady Henrietta Barbara Lumley-Saville who married Mr. Manners-Sutton in 1821 outlived him. He died on the 20th of August 1826, and she married, in 1837, John Lodge Ellerton, Esq. This Vicar of Preston, Mr. Frederick Manners-Sutton, was a grandson of Lord George Manners-Sutton; he was also a nephew of the first Lord Manners, and a great-grandson of the third Duke of Eutland. 1812. EVELYN LEVETT SUTTON, who was chaplain to Lord Manners (uncle of the previous vicar, Frederick Manners-Sutton), was collated to Preston Vicarage on the 19th of September 1812, by Archbishop Manners-Sutton. He then vacated the Eectory of St. Alphage in Canterbury which he had held since July 10th, 1806. When he came to Preston he was one of the Six Preachers of Canterbury Cathedral, having received that appointment in December 1811 from the same Archbishop, his kinsman. A VICARS OP PRESTON-BY-PAVERSHAM. 15 3 A.D. 1812. nobleman's chaplain had then the privilege of holding two benefices. Mr. Sutton was, in 1806. chaplain to Henry Edward Gould-Yelverton, Lord Grey de Ruthin, and was in that year permitted to become Eector of High Halden as well as of St. Alphage, Canterbury. After Lord Grey de Euthin's death in 1810, Mr. Sutton again obtained the privilege of a peer's chaplain on being nominated to that position by Lord Manners. Before his collation to Preston, he resigned the Eectory of High Halden, but he was reappointed thereto aud officially reinstated on the 13th of November 1812. He seems to have resided at Preston from 1812 to 1817, when he probably took up his residence at High Halden. The incumbency of that parish he probably held until his death in February 1835, but he relinquished the Vicarage of Preston in 1820, when he was collated on the 8th of April to a London benefice, the Vicarage of St. Peter le Poer. After his death, on the 8th of February 1835, his widow Mrs. Amy Sutton bequeathed money to erect schools at High Halden, and to restore the church of that parish. Mr. Evelyn Sutton was born about 1779, so that he must have been about 56 years of age at his death. He was a graduate of Cambridge University, as a member of Trinity College. Bishop Manners-Sutton ordained him at Norwich on the 14th of March 1802. 1820. CHAELES CHISHOLM, son of the Eev. George Chisholm, of Blandford, Dorset, succeeded Mr. Sutton here. He matriculated at Worcester College, Oxford, in October 1802, when 19 years of age. Probably he won a scholarship which entitled him to proceed direct to a Fellowship in Worcester College; at all events he obtained a Fellowship after taking his B.A. degree iu 1806. Although Mr. Chisholm was Vicar of Preston during seventeen years, he never resided upon this benefice. In Preston Vicarage resided his curate, who from July 1820 to September 1824 was the Eev. H. S. Mortimer. After September 1824, Mr. Mortimer went into Dorset, and the Vicar of Throwley (the Eev. J. W. Dugdell) was licensed to the Curacy of Preston, with a stipend therefrom of £50 per annum and the use of Preston Vicarage house. Mr. Dugdell resided in Preston and 1 5 4 VICARS OP PRESTON-BY-PAVERSHAM. A.D. 1820. officiated as curate there, until October 1829, when he exchanged his Throwley benefice and this curacy with the Eev. Hans Sanders Mortimer, who returned from Kington Magna, Dorset, to Preston Vicarage. Mr. Mortimer continued to reside in Preston Vicarage until after the promotion of Mr. Chisholm in 1836. This benefice of Preston was vacated by the Eev. C. Chisholm when he became Eector of Southchurch in Essex, where he was appointed Eural Dean. He died at Southchurch in 1854. Preston parish contained sixty-six houses in the year after Mr. Chisholm's collation here, that is in 1821, when a return to that effect was made to the Government. 1837. JAMES PETO was collated to Preston by Archbishop Howley in succession to Mr. Chisholm during the spring of 1837. He was a Bachelor of Laws of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1814. Mr. Peto commenced clerical life iu the diocese of Ely, where he received Deacon's Orders in 1814 aud was ordained Priest in 1815. Becoming Eector of Charlton by Dover he was appointed Eural Dean of Dover. His wife, Mrs. Mary Neville Peto, died on the 11th of August 1849, aged 58, and was buried at Preston. Their daughter Mary was the first wife of Eichard Jones Hilton, Esq., of Preston House, and had an only child Miss Florence Mary Hilton who, iu 1876, married Captain John Eamsay, E.E., third son of Sir Alexander Eamsay, Bart., of Balmain. The vicar lived to see his granddaughter thus happily married. During the sixteen last years of his life, Mr. Peto had as Curate of Preston the Eev. John Eussell Cooke, who entered upon that curacy in 1862, and continued there until Mr. Peto's death in 1878, when he succeeded to the benefice. In the year 1853 the smallest of the three bells in this church-tower was cast by J. Warner and Sons. During Mr. Peto's incumbency the Parish Church of Faversham underwent some repaire, and the people of that parish were accommodated greatly by services at Preston Church. In acknowledgment of the services rendered to them, at that time, the parishioners of VICARS OP PRESTON-BY-PAVERSHAM. 155 A.D. Paversham presented, in 1854, a Communion Paten, of silver, to Preston Church. 1878. JOHN EUSSELL COOKE was collated to Preston in May 1878. The Vicarage house was then greatly in need of reparation. During 1879 and 1880 the sum of £1300 was expended upon it. The representatives of the late vicar (Mr. Peto) were called upon to provide £600 in respect of dilapidations. From Queen Auue's Bounty the sum of £300 was borrowed upon mortgage of the benefice. The remaining £400 was borrowed by the new vicar on his own responsibility. Mr. Eussell Cooke was an Oxford graduate, a member of Magdalen Hall, where he matriculated ou the 14th of May 1853, at the age of 19. He was the fifth son of Mr. Phihp Boulter Cooke, of St. John's, Gloucester. Ordained in 1859 to the Curacy of Wyburnbury, by the Bishop of Chester, he remained there until 1861, aud after short service in the diocese of Norwich came to Preston in 1862. Probably owing to a fall, while a student at Oxford, spinal troubles gradually developed bodily infirmity which necessitated his seeking the aid of a curate throughout the whole period of his incumbency. Nevertheless he was himself able to assist both in his church and his parish until his death, which occurred ou the uight of his Annual Harvest Thanksgiving Services. Paralysis seized him as he was about to leave his house for evening service on the 18th of October 1894, and he died before the next day dawned. Mr. Cooke married, in 1879, his first-cousin Miss Mary Morse Cooke (who survived him) and by her had two daughters. 1894. WILLIAM CAEUS-WILSON was collated to be Vicar of Preston, by Archbishop Benson, on the 12th of December 1894, after serving the parish as curate for three years. Born at Castertou in Westmoreland in 1845, he was the eldest sou of William Wilson, Esq. When 19 years of age he proceeded to Wadham College, Oxford, and thence graduated B.A. in 1867. During twelve years he was Vicar of Mayland, near Maldon in Essex, from 1874 to 1886. Promoted to the Eectory of Lyndon, near Oakham, his wife's health compelled him to resign that benefice and to come south in 1888, A^fter serving at Kiludown, near Cranbrook, and at 156 VICARS OP PRESTON-BY-EAVERSHAM. A.D. 1894. Folkestone, he came in 1891 to Preston, where he assisted Mr. Eussell Cooke, and so won the warm regard of the parishioners, that upon Mr. Cooke's death Mr. Cams Wilson was promoted by the Archbishop to the Incumbency of Preston. His first wife had passed away in the previous year and was interred in Preston Churchyard. She lived to see both her sons preparing for Holy Orders, one at Oxford and the other at Chichester.