Francis Wickham Swanton (1746-1823)

Proc. Hampshire Field Club Archaeol. Soc. 63, 2008, 58-75 (Hampshire Studies 2008) FRANCIS WICKHAM SWANTON (1746-1823) OF WORTHY, HAMPSHIRE, AND LONG STRATTON, NORFOLK: PLURAL CURATE, PLURAL AND ABSENTEE RECTOR, MAGISTRATE, LANDLORD, AND MAN OF HIS TIME By BARRY SHURLOCK ABSTRACT Accordingly, this paper employs a biographical approach to shed light not only on the life of This biographical study aims to illustrate the life of the the country clergyman in Hampshire, but also country clergyman in Hampshire, and more generally on the workings of the Georgian and Regency the workings of the Georgian and Regency church. It is church at a variety of levels. set mainly in the city of Winchester and its surrounds, All that can be gleaned from Swanton's obit- but also extends to Norfolk, in the vicinity of Norwich. uaries, published in 1823 (HC, 10 February; Francis Wickham Swanton was educated at Winches- GM, March), is that he was at one time a fellow ter College and New College Oxford. He lived all his of New College, Oxford, a rector of a parish life in Winchester or the nearby Worthys, and enjoyed in the diocese of Norwich, and a justice of the a clutch of absentee and resident livings as well as peace for Hampshire. His memorial, high on the income from tiuo small country estates and other the southwest wall of St Mary's church, Kings property. His Wykehamist credentials brought him Worthy, Hampshire, does not even mention little else but his Norfolk living, which did not prompt his church career, merely giving his dates and him to move from Hampshire. In order to live the life noting (in Latin) that he was descended from of a Hampshire country gentleman, he maintained good parents, had lived in the village a long himself and his family by acting as a locum curate time, and was gradually overcome by illness. in the lichen valley. Thus, he was able to pursue a But other sources show that the life of this solid, rounded, worldly life with a seat on the bench, occa- middle-class, yet unremarkable man (whose sional ivork as an arbitrator, clerkship of a turnpike adult life almost exacdy spanned the reign of trust and a game certificate. In short, Swanton, who George III) has left many traces. This paper seems to have discharged his duties diligently, was a is therefore a sketch of the life of an eight- middling sort of professional, one of those who formed eenth-century cleric who satisfies many of the the core of the community in southern England in the stereotypes, but also presents a more complex 18th and, early 19th centuries. picture of a man of his time. INTRODUCTION SOCIAL LANDSCAPE Men like the Reverend Francis Wickham The notion that a strong religious faith and Swanton (1746-1823) can be easy targets for the sound theological training, coupled with the often well-founded criticisms of the late-18th right personality and ordination to the church, and early-19th-century church - corruption, are sufficient qualifications to mount the career pluralism, nepotism and so on. Yet such men ladder of the Church of England, dates only provided the stability in the shires that saw from the last century. In Swanton's lifetime England through the French wars and into the such an idea was at best Utopian and at worst long Victorian peace, and as such they deserve revolutionary. A young man who had all the more scholarly attention than they usually get. right qualities and qualifications, yet lacked a 58 SHURLOCK: FRANCIS WICKHAM SWANTON (1746-1823) 59 patron (such as a family member, a close friend, THE SWANTONS OF SALISBURY, OVER or an Oxbridge College), was doomed to be a WALLOP AND WINCHESTER journeyman curate with little or no security of tenure and slim chances of preferment. Even In the 18th century, family connection and those with patronage were not guaranteed an patronage were of the utmost importance for agreeably-situated parish (i.e. geographically a young man looking to the future. Although convenient), which had the right attributes Swan ton's family background (Fig. 1) was solidly (e.g. proximity to a particular city, with good middle class, Tory and Jacobite, it offered him fishing and a local hunt), and which housed no obvious patron. Founded on the law, local 'people of quality' with whom to engage in a municipal administration and other profes- pleasant social round. sional sendees, his family had not garnered As the 18th century advanced, the transport great wealth or extensive estates. Moreover, improvements facilitated by turnpiking Swan ton's father seems to have eschewed the mitigated many geographical restraints, but family tradition and embraced somewhat the the lives of most parish priests had many dis- loucheness of early Georgian England. Yet advantages. The common practice of holding although the Swantons never hit the headlines, more than one living (sometimes many they had their own coat of arms and left a mark more!) was obviously beneficial; not only did in the record (Fig. 2). it increase income, but it gave the churchman Swanton's father, Francis (1717-1782) was geographical, social and leisure choices. born in Salisbury cathedral close (Kirby 1888, However, even this 'perk' was at risk as the 232). His father, William, a lawyer and land 18th century wore on, and clergymen had agent (HRO/44M69/F6/8/26), had built to be careful not to upset the enthusiasm of Myles Place, a still-extant lavishly decorated 'reformers'. Nonetheless, as cities suffered the four-storey house (RCHME 1993, 226-231; disadvantages of the Industrial Revolution, the Fig. 3). William's brother, another Francis lot of parish clergymen probably improved in (Swanton's great uncle), was deputy recorder relation their urban counterparts (many of of Salisbury and MP for New Sarum from whom were non-conformists). The quiet rural 1715-21. Yet Swanton's father never had a lives of people like Gilbert White of Selborne, formal occupation, instead busying himself and James Woodforde, have come down to us with public service. He probably owned a small as models of contentment. However they also estate at Denham, Buckinghamshire (BRO/D/ often suffered limited possibilities. For men of W58/17), and certainly owned and occupied action, careers in the Navy and Army, or at the another at Over Wallop, Hampshire. In 1744, he Bar, had many attractions (though for women married Susannah Wickham at St Katharine by of action, only eccentrics like Hannah Snell the Tower in the City of London (hup://www. could buck the trend!). familysearch.org), and two years later Francis Georgian England exhibited a level of Wickham Swanton was born in the parish of St moral laxity that must have made it difficult James's, Westminster (ORO, Oxford Diocesan for churchmen to be heard. Indeed, what was Papers, c.189). His mother's origins are the role of the church in the Age of Reason? uncertain, but she may have been the Susanna As scientists and industrialists demonstrated Wickam born in 1724 at High Halstow, Kent that disease was not God-given, that poverty (www.familysearch.org). What Swanton senior could be alleviated by industry, and travellers was doing in Westminster is unclear, though found that 'heathen' territories across the seas his uncle Francis had been an MP and family brought rich returns, how might the parish members probably visited London frequently. priest preach the church's traditional teaching? In the 1790s, the Court Circular makes several The answer is that he could often only 'do his references to 'Miss Swanton', 'Mrs Swanton' and duty' in church, filling the rest of his time with 'William Swanton', suggesting a branch of the what he fancied. family moved in the highest circles {The Times, 60 IIAMPSHIRK FIELD ('I I B AND AR( :i IAE( )I X)(IK Al. S()( ;IE TV 1714 William Swanton • Mary Francis Swanton MP = Elizabeth Town Clerk, Salisbury Thomas Brereton = Mary Francis Swanton • Susannah (nee Wickham) (1712-1782) (d.1760) 1783 Mary Elizabeth Revd FRANCIS WICKHAM SWANTON (1749-1841) (1750-1819) (1746-1823) I 1811 Susannah Mary Elizabeth = Revd William Milton Hurlock Francis Swanton = Mary (nee Brereton) (C.1784-1887) (C.1787-1867) (c.1790-) (c.1783-1840) (1791-1871) (C. 1790-1869) Fig. 1 Swanton\s family tree I May 1791-March 1804 passim). A foothold in this part of London is further indicated by the will of Swanton*s daughter Mary (cl 787-1867), which refers to property 'in or near St James's Street, Westminster' (HRO/Wills index, vol 9, 1868,496). After Swanton's mother's death at Over Wallop in 1760, his father moved to Winches- ter. Probably the reason was that Swanton was lliA.\(is( i s SWAN by then attending Winchester College as a V Mills 111(111(1 commoner, soon to be a scholar (Kirby 1888, not •(• l owl mi i< 256; Holgate 1904, passim). Swanton senior C oormti, SCH-II. Amici. quickly established himself in the city, almost Obiii immediately joining the W7eekly Committee )w fJccimo Scxlo McnR> Auo' of the County Hospital, and sometimes acting * ( , KlOllS (' • i - ) as its chairman (Carpenter Turner 1986, 40). (Salutis i~s »( In 1764 was appointed a justice of the peace (HRO/Q27/3/28), and in 1769 he became a freeman of the city of Winchester (HRO/W/ B8/1/1) and deputy lieutenant of Hampshire M M . SWANTON (HRO/Q21/6/1). That year he married a ' '>'','Ami! i comfortably-off, well-connected widow, Mary Marthalina Imber of the Winchester Imber family (lawyers, clerics and wine merchants). Her first husband was Captain Edmund Imber of the 3rd Regiment of Foot, who died in 1759 Fig.

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