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Home , Benjamin Hoadly, Dean of Winchester, Exeter Cathedral, George Morley, Jonathan Shipley, Prebendary

Proc. Field. Club Archaeol. Soc. 63, 2008, 37-57 (Hampshire Studies 2008)

A PRETTY EASY WAY OF DAWDLING AWAY ONE'S TIME: THE CANONS OF IN THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

By GRAHAM HENDY

ABSTRACT of that great diarist Parson Woodforde are borne out by his capitular contemporaries . We In the context of the 'long' eighteenth century shall examine them in the context of (1660—1840) the prebendaries or canons residen­ and within the wider Church of , noting tiary of Winchester are investigated. Their their attitudes to residence and non-residence, families, and their geographical and educational and reflecting on their pastoral, theological backgrounds are examined, along with their literary and academic contribution to the age in which achievements. Career paths, patronage and financial they lived. rewards of their various livings are reviewed. Then This study will examine the 'Georgian' period follows an analysis of their work, and the worship from 1660-1840. The 'long eighteenth century' and care of the building in which they serve, particu­ is well established and accepted in ecclesiastical larly with reference to the question of 'residence' which historiography, beginning with the Restoration is determined by a detailed report on their attendance of Church and Monarchy, and ending with the at chapter meetings and at daily worship. Finally the Act of 1840. The church of the late prebendaries are seen within their social milieu. This seventeenth century and of the eighteenth paper may be set in the context of the current, more century was a slow moving structure, and was favourable, analysis of the Georgian church, which the obvious fruit of its medieval and Refor­ recognises there were plenty of good men who were mation past. Henry VIII initiated a survey of quietly and conscientiously carrying out their duty. It benefices which resulted in the Valor Ecclesias- is also clear that in chapter there was generally a core ticus of 1535, known thereafter as the King's of some three or four prebendaries who were the key to Books and still consulted by Georgian clergy to carrying on the business of the cathedral. establish the (out-dated) value of livings, until the Parliamentary Commission made its report in 1835 (Virgin 1989, 1-2; Sykes 1934, 141). INTRODUCTION Peter Virgin asserts: The church of , of Warburton, of Gibson and of Hoadly The life of a prebendary is a pretty easy way of was pretty well continuous with the church dawdling away one's time; praying, walking, of Burnet, of Laud, of Andrewes and even of visiting; and as little study as your heart would Hooker... ' (Virgin 1989, 3) and 'the era of wish.' So wrote Edmund Pyle, prebendary reform, ushered in by the repeal of the Test and (1756-76) of (Hart- Corporations Acts in 1828 and completed by shorne 1905, 266). We will examine just how far the ecclesiastical reforms of the mid- and late- this apparent attitude of indolence is born out 1830s, was the decisive period: one when the in historical record by a study of the Winchester clergy, it will be claimed, reached the peak of prebendaries during the Georgian period. By- their affluence and power' (Virgin 1989, iii). examining their family background, education The material presented below derives from and career patterns, it will be possible to see comparative research done on the two southern whether the myths engendered by the writings cathedrals of Winchester and , and the

37 38 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY two northern collegiate churches of Manches­ Table 1 Social background of Winchester ter and Southwell, which includes reference to Canons other capitular bodies with published findings. Space does not allow for much detailed com­ No. parison, but it is to be found in my unpublished thesis (Hendy 2007). Here an attempt has been made to create a picture of the Winchester Nobles 4 2.8 prebendary over this period by looking at their Gentiy 37 26.4 background and their practices while in office. Clergy- 40 28.6 Winchester had a complement of a and 12 prebendaries who were residentiary canons, Professions 5 3.6 making a total of 13. At the Restoration seven Tradesmen and Artisans 7 5.0 residentiaries were re-instated, and in 1660 a dean and five residentiaries were appointed. Unknown 47 33.6 During the period there were 13 different TOTALS 140 100.0 deans and 133 residentiaries, though as six resi­ dentiaries became dean, the total of different Sources: Alphabetical Index of Hants Clerics (typescript men under review is 140 (W739C/6-10). 1910); J. Foster, Alumni Oxonienses. The Members of the University of Oxford 1500-1886. Their parentage, birthplace, and year of birth, with a record of their degrees (Oxford, 1888,1891);J. Guile, (ed.), A Millennium FAMILY AND EDUCATIONAL of Archdeacons: The Archdeacons of Winchester from BACKGROUND the 11"' to tlie 20'' Centuries (Winchester, 2003); J. Le Neve andJ.M. Horn (comp.), Fasti Ecclesiae An examination of parental background makes Anglicanae 1541-1857, III Canterbury, Rochester and it plain that many canons had fathers who were Winchester Dioceses (, 1974) ,'83-106; H.C.G themselves clergy or gentry, similar to other Matthew and B. Harrison (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography in association with the British cathedrals (Table 1). Academy (Oxford, 2004);J. andJ.A. Venn, (comp.), It is clear that clerical fathers form a sig­ Alumni Canlabriginenses. A biographical list of all nificant group in the overall parentage of the known students, graduates and holders of office at the prebendaries and that a hereditary clerical University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900 tradition had emerged, which became more (Cambridge, 1922, 1940); Winchester Cathedral pronounced as time passed. An analysis of Memorials (typescript) (1937), with additions A. W. the gentry, who form a close second, indicates Goodman (1938-9), revised A. D. Blake (1952) nearly 27% of these had 'urban addresses', town dwellers who had made their money from profession or industry rather than land. of Winchester gave his son John a Winchester Over the period the proportion of clerics to prebend and enabled his nephew, also John, to gentlemen increased significantly, suggesting become a prebendary of Salisbury. None can that the social background of these clergy was exceed of Winchester who, as more elitist than those of parochial incumbents, Cobbett so delightfully records, provided ten though some had more humble background. of his relatives with 24 livings, five prebends, Those with clerical fathers included six who one chancellorship, one archdeaconry, and had been members of the chapter them­ one mastership, worth more than 20 thousand selves. Those whose fathers or uncles were in pounds a year (Ingrains 2005, 216-7). positions of influence such as or dean The prebendaries were a generally well are relatively few, but Seth Ward of Salisbury educated group of men. We are uncertain appointed his nephew Seth as a prebendary where 66% (92 out of 140) of Winchester preb­ of Salisbury, and managed to acquire another endaries went to school, but we do know that 35 prebend at Winchester, while went to what became the great public schools HENDY: THE CANONS OF WINCHESTER IN THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 39

Table 2 Universities attended by Winchester Canons

Oxford Cambridge Oxford then Cambridge then Unknown Cambridge Oxford

77 (55.0%) 31 (22.1%) 18 (12.9%) 5 (3.6%) 9 (6.4%) Sources: As per Table 1

(eight to Merchant Taylors, seven to Winches­ the church rather than academic achievement. ter, six each to Westminster and Eton, four to Consideration of their publications suggests St Paul's, one each to Harrow, Charterhouse, many canons were both erudite and learned, Uppingham and Rugby). though by 1800 the proportion of divinity Most if not all were graduates, with more than degrees had decreased. It is likely that many twice as many going to Oxford as Cambridge, of these men enjoyed the comfortable life of though towards the end of the period numbers the academic environment until the attractions were balancing out. Well over half of these went of marriage forced them into the wider world on to receive higher degrees, and over one (Table 4). third were fellows of their colleges (Table 2). An examination of the colleges attended by Table 4 Winchester Canons who were College residentiaries revealed some important con­ Fellows nections. New College, Oxford, founded by was intended to replace missing clergy lost in the Black Death. Win­ Oxford. Cambridge Total chester College served as a feeder school, and while only five prebendaries from our sample 35 14 49 (35%) attended both, it explains the 23 Winchester prebendaries who were alumni of New College. Sources: As per Table 1 Christ Church, a cathedral and university college, educated 24 Winchester prebendaries. While many clergymen were schoolmasters, No less than 63% of Winchester canons only 12 of the canons in the sample (8.6%) had received degrees above that of MA and it is no that claim. It would not be surprising to find surprise that the vast majority of these were in prebendaries of the cathedral who were also the faculty of divinity. However there are a sig­ part of the foundation of Wykeham's college. nificant number of law degrees (Table 3). In all there were ten (7%), most of the Win­ chester educationalists. Several also had links with New College Oxford, so we note again the Table 3 Higher degrees received by close relationship with the two foundations. Winchester Canons Wykeham's College was, of course, not the only educational establishment in Winchester. BD DD BCL/LLB DCL/LLD Thomas Gamier, prebendary then dean of the cathedral (1831-72), was educated at Hyde 7 63 3 16 School, a celebrated private academy near Winchester, under 'Flogging Richards', Sources: As per Table 1 where he had as his schoolfellow George Canning (ONDB 21, 505-8). This Charles It is difficult to determine whether or not DD Richards was for fifty years master of the was awarded for dignity or connection within school and also prebendary (1827-33) briefly 40 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUll AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY overlapping with his younger pupil. One can CAREER PATTERNS AND PATRONAGE only imagine the dynamics of that situation in chapter. As Richards only missed one There is no reason to suppose that the preben­ meeting, that immediately before his death, daries differed radically from the life expectancy and as Gamier also attended every meeting of the average incumbent, among whom they in that period, they were brought face to face, were also numbered. However survival rates though it has to be said that when Richards increase over the period under review (Table was appointed he was already over seventy and 5). Young prebendaries were more likely to be Gamier when he joined the chapter was over installed before the age of 30 at Winchester fifty. The twelfth Winchester schoolmaster than they were at Salisbury (Table 6). Some men was prebendary William Wilson, headmaster remained in office for a very short time before, of St Bees Grammar School in Cumberland in a few cases, death, and, in more cases, career (Mannix & Whellan 1847). promotion moved them on. Unlike the few at Salisbury, nearly one third of Winchester canons kept their prebendal stall for no more than a GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND decade, and were more likely to resign than die (Table 7). When geographical background is considered Family background and education were signifi­ the process is a little imprecise because it is cant in the career of someone destined for the based on place of birth or baptism or noted prebendal ladder, but the other key factor was origin of the prebendary or his father, but patronage. WhoappointedWinchesterprebendar- the expected result is sufficiently accurate to ies and how did this compare with neighbouring be meaningful. The prebendaries of the two Salisbury? Both deans were appointed by the collegiate churches were much more 'local' in crown. At Winchester the appointment of canons origin than the two cathedrals; in the case of was transferred from the crown to the bishop by Manchester 67.4% and Southwell 46.8% were the Caroline statutes of 1638 (Stephens & Madge from immediate counties. By contrast only 1897, x, 33). At Salisbury, before the Cathedrals 25.2% of Salisbury residentiaries were local Act of 1840, all residentiary canonries except one in this sense, and just 16.4% of Winchester were in the gift of surviving members of the close canons. There was a significant draw from the chapter who called one of the other prebendar­ capital for men at the cathedrals; Salisbury ies into residence. The remaining one residential 12% and Winchester 18.6%. This suggests that place carried with it the house of Leadenhall in Winchester was not a backwater of the church, die close and was in die gift of the bishop, who though interestingly over the period the collated and then issued letters patent requiring chapter drew increasingly from Hampshire admission as residentiary (Jones 1879, and Surrey. However it never became 'local' 251). in the same order as the collegiate churches, Royal patronage would be expected when and kept a consistent 'London levy'. the appointment of the dean was in the gift of

Table 5 Lifespan of Winchester Canons

Age on death by decades =$30 ^>40 ^50 =$60 => 70 => 80 ^90 => 100

2 2 13 23 34 33 13 2 1.6% 1.6% 10.6% 18.8% 27.8% 27.0% 10.6% 1.6% Sources: As per Table 1. (There are 18 whose ages are not established, and they are not included) HENDY: THE CANONS OF WINCHESTER IN THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 41

Table 6 Age at installation

Age at. installation by decades 30 40 => 50 => 60 70 80

Salisbury 7 15 22 20 4 1 10.1% 21.7% 31.9% 28.9% 5.8% 1.4% Winchester 18 34 38 21 9 2 14.7% 27.8% 31.1% 17.2% 7.4% 1.6% Sources: As per Table 1. (There are 18 whose age at installation is not established, and they are not included)

Table 7 Years in Office

Years bydecades =>5 => 10 => 20 => 30 => 40 =>50 => 60

Salisbury 9 9 24 21 10 2 0 12.0% 12.0% 32.0% 28.0% 13.3% 2.6% 0% Winchester 16 22 44 33 15 9 1 11.4% 15.7% 31.4% 23.6% 10.7% 6.4% 0.7% Sources: As per Table 1 the monarch. This was particularly true in the Winchester in July 1759, and the next year seventeenth century. There were seven deans he gave up his connection with St John's and of Winchester who had royal favour though moved to Winchester, his cousin Sarah Drake these were spread through the seventeenth joining him to keep house. In September 1771 and eighteenth centuries. But royal patronage he was instituted vicar of Alton, Hampshire, is evident also for some of the residentiaries, on the presentation of the dean and chapter with 17 Winchester prebendaries who received of Winchester, whereupon he ceded his two royal favour, several of whom had been allied to benefices in Lincolnshire. But he held the the royalist cause during the Civil War. vicarage of Alton, the archdeaconry of Win­ chester, and the two prebends until his death in 1795. FINANCIAL REWARDS

A good example of a Winchester man who held RESIDENCE the 11th prebend was Thomas Balguy, fellow of St John's Cambridge (1741-48) and until 1760 From their foundation, members of cathedrals active in Cambridge. He said he owed all his had lived and worked together, and the notion clerical preferments to the favour and friend­ of 'residence' remained a fundamental foun­ ship of Bishop Hoadly, also his father's patron, dation characteristic. Canonical residence, and was, for a time Hoadly's chaplain (Table determined by statute, episcopal injunction, or 8). Hoadly appointed Balguy archdeacon of decree of chapter, ensured that one or more of 42 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Table 8 Preferments of the Rev Thomas Balguy, Prebendary of Winchester

Rector, North Stoke, Lincolnshire 1746-71 95 00 00 , Hagworthingham, Lincolnshire 1746-71 55 00 00 Prebendary, Lincoln 1748-95 14 10 05 Archdeacon, Winchester 1759-95 13 06 08 Vicar, Alton, Hampshire 1771-95 15 00 00

Prebendary- 11th prebend 1757-95 31 1108

Sources: 0DNB3, 549-50; Ecton 1763, 172-3, 415-6

the canons residentiary would live in the vicinity which each is responsible for the regular Duty of of the church, attend its sendees, preach pre­ the Church during that month, having, from the scribed sermons and carry on day to day business. Dispensation of some Members, and the Debility The relevant statutes at Winchester are those of of others, being insufficient for the purpose Charles I (1638), which required the dean to be intended; It is resolved at the Chapter to have recourse to the Statuta De Residentia Canonico- resident for 90 days of which 21 were to be con­ rum, and by dividing the year as there ordered tinuous during which he was to attend all services into four parts, to fill up the whole as near as daily on pain of forfeiture of emoluments. He was possible with the names of those who engage to allowed to be away for two months on the king's do their Duty in the respective Quarters of the service. Canons had the same requirements, and Year or by Exchange to see it done. normally three were to be in residence at any time and present at divine sendee. The vice-dean, But the pattern of monthly turns quickly treasurer, and receiver were to reside constandy emerges again as on 25 November 1831 for the in the close unless granted leave of absence by year 1832 (W39C/10,134). the dean and chapter for some urgent cause. That daily attendance at divine senice was Furthermore 'after the fulfilment of the term important is reinforced by the attendance of residence defined by these Statutes, the preb­ registers which were kept as evidence. Five of endary shall together with his household hasten these are extant from the period in question, forthwith to his benefices, or to one of them, or two from the eighteenth century and three at any rate to some other cure ... ' (Goodman & from the nineteenth (Table 9). Huttonl925, 20-3, 27-9). The examination of the months of February The principle of residence was upheld at Win­ and September in four distributed sample years chester but not as the statutes had determined. indicates a gradual decline in the number of Each year a residence list for 12 months was prebendaries attending daily morning and recorded in the chapter books, as on 23 June evening prayer as indicated above, though in 1756 (W39C/7, 123) with each one of the 12 each case the numbers on Sundays are slightly residentiaries (but not the dean) taking a single higher. In the following table the total attend­ month of residence per annum. However it was ances of each residentiary are recorded for recorded in November 1798 (W39C/8, 337): the same four years, taking the 12 months to Michaelmas in each year. It is based on attend­ The private Agreement amongst the Prebendar­ ance at divine service at least once per day. ies of each taking a particular month, during The dean and vice dean respectively were: in I-IENDY: THE CANONS OF WINCHESTER IN THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 43

Table 9 Prebendal Attendance at Divine Sendee at Winchester Cathedral 1

1747 1777 1817 1837

Feb Sept Feb Sept Feb Sept Feb Sept 4.5 4.3 4.0 2.4 3.0 2.7 1.5 2.5 Source: Winchester Cathedral Attendance Registers

Table 10 Prebendal Attendance at Divine Service at Winchester Cathedral 2

Year to 1747 Year to 1777 Year to 1817 Year to 1837

Mr Dean 148 Mr Dean 53 Mr Dean 40 Mr Dean 116 Mr Vice Dean 134 Mr Vice Dean 56 Mr Vice Dean 87 Mr Vice Dean 212 M Woodroffe 220 Dr Balguy 105 Mr Poulter 98 Dr Nott Mr Morgan 220 Mr Lowth 110 Mr Barnard 53 Mr Harrison 93 Mr Inett Mr Sturges 161 Mr WTilliams 91 Mr Pretyman 57 Mr Hoadly 94 Mr Pyle 106 M Iremonger 129 Mr James 105 Mr Whishaw 99 Mr Ashe 123 Mr Gamier 91 Dr Dealtry 97 Dr Maurice 28 Dr Butler Mr North 90 Mr Vaux 90 Dr Sykes 105 Mr Rivers G 200 Mr Hawtrey 42 Mr Gamier 98 Mr Nash 123 Mr Mulso 161 Mr de Grey 81 Mr Hoare 93 Mr Shipley 1 Mr Nott 83 Dr Jenkins 116 Dr Wilson 92 Mr Rolleston 93 Mr Rennell 21 Dr Nott 69 Mr Noel 106 Mr Ridding 149 Mr Hare 24 Mr C North 44 Mr Jacob 94

Source: Winchester Cathedral Attendance Registers

1747 and Thomas Cheney; in allowed by the King. On 29 April 1773 we read 1777 Newton Ogle and ; in 1817 of the King's dispensation to by and James Hook; and in 1837 reason of 'advanced age and frequent long fitts Thomas Rennell and David Williams. Bearing in of the gout' (W39C/7, 368). On 23 June 1777 mind the norm for residence was three months the chapter noted the royal instruction forjohn (ninety days), it is clear that in the middle years Butler, Bishop of Oxford, to hold in commendam half the clergy could afford to lose some emolu­ by licence and dispensation a prebend to 'supply ments (Table 10). the smallness of his said Bishoprick as for other However, individuals could be released good causes' because his 'necessary attendance from their obligations, and the chapter books in Parliament and Convocation and upon the provide us with a number of useful examples affairs of his said Bishoprick will not permit him of the excuses for non-residence which were to keep the statutory Residence upon his said 44 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOC1E1Y prebend' (W39C/8, 14-15). On 23 April 1785 to assembling quarterly. A quorum appears to there is the King's dispensation to Dr Thomas have been three, but the assent of the dean Balguy who 'kept constant residence of several or warden was required either before or after years' but now because of 'infirmities' might the meeting or by the receipt of a proxy to 'dispense residence and usual chapter (his time validate any business. For instance we find of preaching only excepted)' (W39C/8, 26). recorded on 23 June 1753 T Doe hereby give On 13 September 1786 the King gave dispensa­ my consent to the Sealing of all such leases as tion to Samuel Nott because 'on account of the Shall be agreed upon in my Absence @ this ill state of health of his Daughter, he wishes to Midsummer Chapter. Tho: Cheney Dean' accompany her abroad for the Reestablishment (W39C/7, 150). thereof, and this was for four years (W39C/8, 144). Rather later in 1830 we read (W39C/10, 119 seq.): THE BUSINESS OF CHAPTER

Most agendas were concerned with main­ ... whereas for divers good and sufficient reasons us thereunto moving we are graciously pleased to tenance of prebendal houses, leases for give leave to our trusty and well beloved William prebendal income, and other financial matters. Gamier Clerk, Master of Arts, one of the Preben­ There was patronage to be administered and daries of the Cathedral Church of Winchester to appointments to livings, curacies, minor be absent from our said Cathedral Church and we canonries, and chaplaincies. Residence rotas dispense with his keeping all or any part of that had to be organised, as well as issues of absence Residence which is required of him by the Statutes and proxy. The building needed repairs and of our said Cathedral Church for the remainder improvements, particularly in the decades after of the present year and we are further graciously the Restoration. Library affairs and provision pleased hereby to order and direct that not with­ of new books was discussed as was charitable standing such absence of him the said William giving. New prebendaries had to be installed. Gamier from our said Cathedral Church of Win­ Finally, there were occasional matters of disci­ chester he shall continue to have and enjoy all the pline, law or administration, and issues relating Power Profits Emoluments and Advantages ... to to the bishop, or crown. Debate him as a Prebendary of our said Cathedral Church in as ample and beneficial manner as if he were abotit worship was rare. Often minimum actually resident there. numbers were present and most chapters were routine. Two sample years have been examined in detail. In 1700 chapter had two meetings THE PATTERN OF MEETINGS AND THE and in 1800 there were six. The table below DEMANDS OF QUORUM summarises what was discussed in these two 12-month periods, but the business concluded Every chapter had its own pattern of meetings had little bearing on numbers present (Table which varied: some were statutory and some 11). as the need arose. Winchester largely kept to the two statutory meetings on the eve of St John the Baptist and in late November. Other ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS meetings were called 'private chapters'; in practice these were kept to a minimum. During The measure of attendance at chapter allows an the period 1660-1840, the total number of assessment of 'residence', this being the only recorded meetings of Winchester chapter was consistent evidence for all cathedrals. Although 634, an average of 3.52 per year. In the early there are a few gaps, the records of the chapter years they kept to the minimum, but from the are more or less complete, providing the names middle of the eighteenth century increased of those present on each occasion. Winchester HF.NDY: THE CANONS OF WINCHESTER IN THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 45

Table 11 Business of Chapter whole period (59%), with a range between 6.7 in two decades (1720-4) and 10.3 in the decade to 1680. The best attendance was at the 1700 1800 beginning of the period 1660-1700. Here, as in other capitular bodies, it would seem that Absence, proxies, etc. 2 the degree of attendance reflects more on Administration 4 the characters of the prebendaries themselves rather than special significance of any agenda Bishop or crown content. Salisbury had an average of 3.6 out of Charitable giving 1 1 7 (51%), but it increased to an average of 3.8 Election of officers 2 when extra non-residentiary prebendaries are included. The two cathedrals were thus similar, Fabric maintenance 1 in spite of Winchester chapter being double Foundation appointments 1 3 that of the close chapter of Salisbury. Size does make a difference with the two collegiate Foundation list 2 2 churches. Manchester had the best record of Leases sealed/renewed 1 6 attendance over the period with an average of Legal matters 5 3.7 out of 5 which was 74%, whereas Southwell, as one might expect, had the lowest attendance Library - books 1 over the whole period; 4.6 out of 16 (29%) Matters of discipline (Table 12). Minor canonries, etc. 1 1 These averages disguise the detailed practice of individual prebendaries, and it is clear that New members of chapter chapter meetings were maintained by a few Other financial matters 8 who kept the institution going. But 53% of Winchester men managed 60% or more of the Patronage - livings/curacies 4 meetings compared with only 37% at Salisbury. Prebendal houses Compare Manchester, where 79% were present Residence inc. rotas 1 for over 60% of meetings, and Southwell where the figure was only 19% (Table 13). Sources: W39C/6-10 passim On the whole, the deans were conscien­ tious in attending chapter meetings, though at Salisbury totals are more varied. At Winches­ had many meetings when double figures were ter and Thomas Gamier had reached, but these were not spread evenly, 100% record but with only 14 and five meetings though better figures emerge for November respectively, and other deans of Winchester than June. There were 68 such occasions up had a good percentage attendance though the to 1702, then none until three isolated ones actual numbers of chapters attended was not in the middle of the century. There were 12 huge. Newton Ogle had the lowest percent­ such occasions in the last dozen years of the age at 44% though he attended 73 meetings. eighteenth century, 16 in the first quarter of He was also a residentiary of Salisbury where the nineteenth century, and 11 in the 1830s. he attended 66 meetings (just 7% of the total). There were just two occasions when all 13 were The archdeacons of Winchester had a high present: on the first occasion, 11 October 1814, record of attendance in almost every case, and there was a keenly disputed election of the new one, Augustus George Legge was nearly 100%. chapter clerk, and the other occasion was on Archdeacons of Surrey also maintained a rea­ 23 June 1835, the time of the parliamentary sonable record, but the figure is not generally reforms. so good for those whose archdeaconries were Winchester averaged 7.7 out of 13 over the further afield. 46 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Table 12 Average Attendance at Chapter meetings by Decades

1670 1680 1690 1700 1710 7 720 1730 1740 1750

9.5 10.3 9.2 9.0 7.0 6.8 6.7 6.7 7.1

1760 1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840

7.6 7.4 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.3 7.7 7.6 8.2 Sources: W39C/6-10, /JOS.SOT

Table 13 Average Attendance at Chapter meetings of Individual Members

80 % and over 60 % and over 40 % and over 20 % and over Under 20 %

Salisbury 6 (8%) 22 (29%) 20 (27%) 22 (29%) 5 (7%) Winchester 45 (31%) 32 (22%) 32 (22%) 20 (14%) 17(11%) Sources: SCA, CAB 18-24, passim; W(inchester) C(athedral) A(rchives) W39C/5 C(hapter) B(ook) 1660- 96, /6 CB 1696-1739, /7 CB 1739-76, /8 CB 1776-1803, /9 CB 1804-24, /10 CB 1824-50, passim

HOUSING Deanery House over against South Door of In a letter from Chelsea of June 1756, Edmund Deanery Pyle wrote (Hartshorne 1905, 259 seq.): House next to the Dean's Stable House North of the Dean's Garden Tho' I have not been prebendary of Winchester New House behind the Cloister much above 3 weeks, yet I have a junior in the House over against West side of the church, by exchange of a stall there for a canonry Deanery on the Mount of Sarum. This, I believe, will let me into an House at North West Corner excellent house in the close, which, otherwise, I was not likely to get of some years. Tho', to say the House at S. West Corner of do. truth, all of 'em the houses are better than I have Middle House on West side of do. in Dome seen belonging to any church. Alley First on the Right Hand It is clear from the observations of residence First on the Left Hand that housing had to be provided near the Second on the Right Hand cathedral or if conditions were Second on the Left Hand to be met. Edmund Pyle certainly did well by comparison with some prebendaries elsewhere. At Winchester, the scholar is fortunate in A statute of Charles II issued in 1670 was having extant the 'Wainscott Book' (W49/1) concerned with the deanery and prebendal which gives details of all the repairs made to houses, allocation by seniority, and repairs from the chapter houses for most of the period of public stock. This was reinforced by chapter this study (1660-1812). It lists the 13 properties orders in 1672 (W39C/28). On 9 December as follows: 1735 at a general chapter Charles Naylor the HENDY: THE CANONS OF WINCHESTER IN THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 47

Bills Incista

The Dean £22 Is. 2d. £14 19s. 7d. £7 Is. 7d. Mr Nott £5 Os. Od. £46 15s. Od. due £41 15s. Od.

Totals Bills allowed £208 13s. VAd.

due £145 12s. 7'/2d. bills paid £63 0s. 6d. incista Dec 8 '86 £147 6s. 8!4d. due & incremt '86 £210 7s. 2!4d.

dean and all the prebendaries agreed unani­ 7d.; carpenter £6 3s. 6d.; plumber £1 9s. 0d.' mously to new rules: making a total of £24 8s. Id. Deanery expenses were only £1 9s. 3d. * repairs of our houses out of common bank or There is a later account book for repair of such as provided for that purpose; houses in the Close (1802-1884), prefixed with * at next November chapter and following the copy of the chapter act concerning payment for Treasurer to allocate £70 for repair of Deanery repairs of houses 7january 1735/6 (W39/4/11). and 12 prebendal houses together with stables Half a century later we take another sample and outhouses (deanery £10, prebendal houses £5 each) - any residue banked; bills of workmen from 1786 (see above) signed and produced to be paid by Treasurer One example from the Wainscott Book will suffice: Signed by Charles Naylor (dean) Christopher Eyre (vice-dean), Jo Cook, John Sturges, House on the North Side of the Dean's Garden (W49/1, Clark, J. Soley, Benjamin Woodroffe (receiver), J. 77): Morgan, R. Bourne (treasurer) January 10th 1772 Allowed to Mr Nott for work done by ) This was countersigned by the bishop on 7 Mr Smith Carpenter, but not entered ) £4 5s. ll!4d. January 1736. before as by Bill produced ) There is an account book for repairs of Close January 13th 1772 Allowed to Mr Nott for work done by ) houses (1736-1801), prefixed by a recital of Cave painter by Bill then produced ) £3 4s. 9d. the royal repeal in 1670 of clauses in statutes but not before entered ) relating to repairs of dean's and prebendaries' These two bills were produced to me by Mr Nott houses, and chapter agreement of new rules November Chapter 1789 (W39C/28). As an example of work done we John Ridding, Chapter Clerk. may take an early entry dated November 1736 with the total sum spent that year as £56 lis. The next relevant document included the lid., leaving a surplus of £13 8s. id. from the 'Rules concerning the Repairs of the Deanery £70 allowance. Two houses give an indica­ and the Prebendal Houses made at the tion: 'Mr Morgan's bills: painter £2 17s. Id.; Midsummer Chapter 1798'. This took place carpenter £1 3s. 9d.; smith 16s. 2d.; mason 8s. on 23 June 1798 (W39C/8, 330-3). New rules Id.', making a total £5 5s. Id. but he received were laid down based on statutes from Ely, as £5 only and ' Mr Eyre: bricklayer £16 15s. follows: 48 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

1. Materials from public stock, workmanship while 'it is tempting to see eighteenth-century paid by owners but reimbursed as wanted Canterbury as a precursor of that cosy world or as far as funds allow. so tellingly portrayed in Trollope's nostalgic 2. Repairs approved by Dean (or Vice-Dean) Barchester novels ... a clerical citadel set and Treasurer. In cases of neglect Chapter within an unholy world', this was definitely or these officers were empowered to order not the case (Gregory 2000, 207). Repairs be done. In this review of the cathedral and collegiate 3. Alterations or improvements were not church buildings, and the liturgy associated repairs. with them we find a very varied picture, but one 4. 'Wainscott Book' would be ended. which again seems to depend more on individ­ 5. Boundary repairs would be paid for by the ual people than on the age or the institution. In Church. reviewing the cathedral and its liturgy it is appro­ 6. Old materials would be used where priate to include contemporary comments, with possible. the proviso that these writers often had a political 7. Decorations internally were the responsi­ or social axe to grind. Their assessment must, bility of the owners. accordingly, be taken with caution. For instance 8. Sash windows repairs were divided between it is true that, in general, weekday congregations materials and workmanship as above. were often small. In that eccentric preben­ 9. Marble chimney pieces - old repairs/new dary, Laurence Sterne, author of The Life and improvements. Opinions of Tristram Shandy, recorded that he 10. Outside decoration was to be divided as had preached on All ' Day 1756, to 'one above. bellows blower, three singing men, one vicar and 11. The house formerly of Mr Mulso long one residentiary' (Owen 1994, 262). An observer empty and neglected was to be repaired at in the 1820s noticed that even Sunday attendance in the quire was not large, though under the old rules. there were many people in the nave, listening to part of the service or doing other things, some It was approved by the bishop on 17 July 1798. before going to their own parish churches. It is probable that lay people had never attended ordinary cathedral services in great numbers, WORSHIP AND MAINTENANCE OF THE but 'visited' in this way, with greater or lesser FABRIC devotion (Thurmer 1991, 212). Jeremy Gregory has noted the importance of described the eighteenth- continuity with the past which was so much century prebendaries as 'a body of dutiful and a part of cathedral life. He compares the conscientious men, trying to do their work situation in England with a study of cathe­ according to the standards of their day' (Sykes drals in France during a similar period, 1934,141). The piety of one Winchester preben­ which condemned them for being 'citadelles dary speaks to us from his memorial in Buriton du passe', irrelevant to the Enlightenment church: William Lowth '... being dead, desires as today they might be in the face of Post- to speak to his beloved parishioners and sweetly Modernism (Plongeron 1974, 113). Gregory exhorts them constantly to attend public worship asserts that this link with the pre-Civil War of God, frequently to receive Holy Communion past marked the salvation of cathedrals and and diligently to observe the good institutions of collegiate churches, for the Restoration had this place ... ' (Gibson 2003,108) been about re-establishing that lost world, so Contemporary evidence and reflections 'there is no doubt that the activities of the suggest there was plenty which was good. A cathedrals goes some way to accounting for young ordinand, seeing William Mason the the relative stability of eighteenth-century leave York in 1769 'in his provincial life.' This required effort, but surplice, cap, hood and scarf ... thought what HENDY: THE CANONS OF WINCHESTER IN THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 49 a happy man he was to have such a dignified but the Winchester boys, and a few wanderers station in such a cathedral, where he might being present; the belief after the communion gratify his taste for music in the enjoyment service was chaunted to a tune like God Save of such a heavenly mode of worship' (Aylmer the King' (Andrews 1934-8, I 80). This was a & Cant 1977, 241). Evensong at Exeter theme re-echoed by William Cobbett more remained at three o'clock, though in the than 30 years later. eighteenth century it was sometimes a little Cobbett reflected some early-nineteenth- earlier or a little later, perhaps to accom­ centtiry opinion about cathedrals, suggesting modate the canons' dining arrangements there was little to commend about them and a (Thurmer 1991, 212). At Gloucester apart great deal to criticise. These views, and others like from the controversy over what should be them, would lead to the reforms of the 1830s. He said or sung in services, the discipline and expressed anger at their wealth, regret at the small standard of singing of the rose steadily congregations often found in these vast buildings, in the second part of the period under but recognised the artistic merit of their architec­ review. The repertoire of the choir expanded ture. When he visited Winchester Cathedral on as new choral settings of the canticles were Sunday 30 October 1825 for morning prayer, he being written and new anthems published recalled (Cobbett 1967,1 279): (Welander 1991, 435). There were some less savoury moments, such as at Wells, when, in The 'service' was now begun. There is a dean and 1778, a prebendary, Robert Wilson, was 'sued God knows how many prebends belonging to this and prosecuted' by the chapter for 'his often immensely rich bishopric and chapter; and there brawling in the said cathedral church at the were at this 'service' two or three men. and five or six time of divine service and disturbing the boys in white surplices, with a congregation of 15 same' (Colchester 1982, 175). women and four men! Gracious God! ... it beggars one's feelings to attempt to find words whereby to There is evidence of the liturgical use of express them upon such a subject and such an incense at Ely continuing well into the eight­ occasion. eenth century. The antiquary William Cole who was at Ely from 1737 to 1751 wrote (Mather 1985,260): However, an examination of the attendance registers indicates that there were present the 1 have often heard Mr Soame Jenyns, who lived dean, three prebendaries and four lay vicars. at Ely when he was young, say ... that it was the The number of choristers was not recorded constant practice on the greater festivals at Ely, but there were only six boys at the time to burn incense at the altar in the Cathedral, till (T5/1/1/3). Dr Tho: Green, one of the prebendaries, & now With Byng and Cobbett it is difficult to dis­ 1779, a finical man, tho' a very entangle their opinion of the services they took worthy one, 8c who is always taking snuff up his part in from their censure of cathedral chapters nose, objected to it, under pretence, that it made his head to ach[e]. and idle clerics generally. In fact Barrett notes of Winchester (Barrett 1993, 3): But there was some fading of ideals. The best guide to the England of the and 1790s The spiritual condition of the cathedrals in the is John Byng (later Fifth Viscount Torrington). early nineteenth century also varied. Matins and 'Usually deploring change, he had opinions evensong were sung daily throughout the year, generally at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and in addition on most things including cathedrals, their there was an early said service. Holy Communion, clerics and sendees.'(Atherton el al. 1996, 602) however, was rarely celebrated... Sermons, Byng, visiting Winchester Cathedral in 1782, however, were much appreciated. Thomas noted that 'the service 'was more irregularly Rennell, who was from perform'd, than I ever remember to have heard 1805 to 1840, was highly regarded as a preacher it; and to a most shabby congregation, none by William Pitt the Younger, who called him the 50 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

'Demosthenes of the pulpit'. But Sydney Smith contributed little for their stipends, especially described him in the Edinburgh Review in 1802 at Southwell. But in all four institutions, and in as 'a ponderous limner'. many of the other cathedrals, we see through­ out the period a small group of clergymen who However this is a modern judgment, and succeeded one another in living in the locality about communion it was not even true, for and making a real contribution to the life of celebrations across the cathedrals were held the cathedral or collegiate church. generally at least monthly and often much Examination of the fabric of Winchester more frequently. Cathedral shows that chapter made a consider­ Barrett's conclusion (Barrett 1993, 4-5) is able contribution to the maintenance, though, that: with hindsight and in certain cases with con­ temporary criticism, some of the decisions were Cathedrals in the early nineteenth century were unfortunate. therefore not quite so moribund as William Cobbett believed - outstanding rather than In a letter from Chelsea in June 1756, typical .... Nevertheless, there were many individ­ Edmund Pyle wrote first of the houses and then uals of cathedral chapters who brought nothing of Winchester Cathedral itself: 'the church itself but notoriety to the close. The chief abuses in the excels the other fabricks of that sort, - being cathedral system were non-residence, pluralism, the finest thing within-side I ever saw', but his nepotism and general worldliness. editor comments (Hartshome 1905, 259-61):

Nigel Yates has been much kinder to cathedral Pyle's patronising remarks about the august worship in the seventeenth and eighteenth fane, Winchester Cathedral, indicate the lack of centuries, though even he admits there was a intelligent interest on the part of the clergy with problem in the early nineteenth century (Yates regard to church architecture. It was the universal 1996, 148): condition among the Anglican clerics a century and a half ago, when religious fervour, together In modern times cathedrals have tended to reflect, with appreciation for the masterpieces of the great and indeed to set the pattern for, the norms in science, were at their lowest point. But it is acci­ Anglican worship. This, however, is a comparatively dentally to the credit of the eighteenth-century recent development. As the survey of worship in clergy that, not comprehending the architectural the cathedral at Rochester has shown, there was a history of their churches, having no wish to spend substantial gulf between cathedral and parochial money on them, and regarding them, in fact, worship in earlier years. In the seventeenth and merely as convenient halls in which to preach eighteenth centuries the standards of worship in political sermons, to be afterwards printed with a cathedrals tended to be considerably in advance view to advancement - they were content to leave of those in parish churches, and Rochester was them alone; besides, popular modes ran in quite no exception to this general rule. By the nine­ different directions. teenth century cathedrals had become bastions of entrenched conservatism, and were well behind These are extremely loaded comments and parish churches in adapting to the new liturgical ideas that had begun to be introduced by both reflect pre-revisionist understanding, still Evangelicals and the radical high churchman who prevalent at the beginning of the early twentieth allied themselves, to a greater or lesser extent, century. with the leaders of the Oxford Movement. On a return visit to Winchester Cathedral in 1789, Byng noted 'a scene of generall devasta­ Thus we see a very mixed picture across tion' (Cobb 1980, 126). It was, perhaps, the lull the period and across the selected institu­ before the storm because Frederick Bussby's tions. Manchester and Southwell remain very monumental history of Winchester Cathedral different at either end of the spectrum with the describes the period from 1775 to 1825 as 'fifty two cathedrals somewhere in between. There years of feverish building, repairs and altera­ were plenty of prebendaries who appear to have tions'. Although that is an exaggeration, there HENDY: THE CANONS OF WINCHESTER IN THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 51 was certainly great concern about the building dean and chapter at mid summer 1824 and in those years, and the dean and chapter made said that 'the general opinion of the Public is considerable progress in repairing and embel­ decidedly hostile to the measure of restoring lishing it (Bussby 1979, 194). the organ to its late position in the choir'. The architect E. W. Garbett, referring to Win­ The dean secured the support of the bishop chester, wrote in 1809 that and although the canons complained that this was 'an undisguised attempt to make the ... the was in great dilapidation, some opinion of the dean prevail over that of an of the northern part being used as a common unanimous chapter through the instrumen­ workshop and depot for the coarsest materials; the tality of your Lordship', the views of Rennell windows were unglazed; many of the staircases and and the architect prevailed in galleries choaked [sic] up with the accumulation of spite of the chapter's appeal (Crook 1993, rubbish of ever}'description (Barrett 1993, 2). 317-8). Dean Thomas Rennell undertook the resto­ For a final word on the subject, we turn to ration of Winchester Cathedral between 1815 , History and Survey of the Antiquities and 1820, shifting monuments, and repairing of Winchester, 1798 to 1801, who asserted that this and strengthening the nave piers and the extensive work in English cathedrals 'proved a presbytery roof, not without some opposition cat among the dovecotes ... This utter indif­ (Hole ODNB, 46, 478-9). The work of resto­ ference to the worth of our medieval heritage ration was particularly encouraged by one and its subsequent neglect led to a great deal of the prebendaries, George Frederick Nott, of interesting and valuable remains - architec­ who was appointed to the chapter in 1810 ture, painting, sculpture, , and so at the age of 43. The leading role taken by on - being destroyed or covered up' (Milner Nott was recognised at the time, for a paper 1798-9,11). found in the roof of the presbytery said that It would appear from these contemporary he 'had done more for the repair of the and more recent comments, and from archi­ church than had been done by his predeces­ tectural evidence, that generally the cathedral sors in the course of two or three centuries'. was carefully maintained and, for the period, Although injured by a fall from a ladder in the worship was of a reasonable standard. 1816 he continued to take a close interest Clearly it is necessary to scrape away the in all that was being done in the cathedral, opinions and accretions of the Victorian age, though, according to Nott's own memorial in and it is still possible to confirm that contem­ the north transept, the injuries he sustained porary comments were often exaggerated, but in his fall obliged him 'to spend some years it is also the case that revisionist historians, in in Italy in pursuit of health.' This meant that their efforts to correct these imbalances, have he was largely absent from Winchester while sometimes chosen to ignore the evidence that two protracted matters were being discussed does not support the case they are trying to - the repairs to the nave piers and the make. position of the organ. Nott wrote to the dean EC. Mather believes eighteenth-century and chapter from Rome on 6 March 1824, cathedrals varied a good deal in their attain­ protesting against the change of policy about ments, according to their past experiences the organ. If the organ were replaced in its and the energy and inclinations of their deans original position, the choir would be unable and chapters. As displayed by external observ­ 'to perform the service with that precision and ances, therefore, 'English churchmanship of effect, which they would otherwise be able to the Georgian epoch was 'higher' in a spiritual do' ... The 'security and mutual confidence' sense than is commonly supposed. It cannot which ought to exist between the members simply be described as Ladtudinarian' (Mather of the chapter was at risk. Another preben­ 1985, 262, 282). Mather has concluded that dary, James Hook, sent a formal protest to the liturgy across the in the 52 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY eighteenth century was very varied, but not at elling expenses, & my maintenance here), have the universal low point which former historians cost me 50 pounds; and were I not excused from have suggested. two months residence out of 3, as the Bishop's Chaplain, it would cost me above 100 pounds more before 1 could eat or sleep in my own house. (Here I am now at Dr. Hoadly's.) And 1 will affirm SOCIAL HABITS AND LIFESTYLE that a pound at Lynn (at all times) will procure more things of the same kind & quality than 30 Prebendaries enjoyed hospitality and lavish shillings will do here. Indeed our houses are formal meals on special occasions, and a repaired, & taxes paid, by the church. social round in the close with music and enter­ tainment. Official hospitality was exercised A great event in the Winchester chapter at collations, annual audits, coming into calendar was the annual audit dinner which residence, and episcopal visitations. Appropri­ took place over three consecutive days in ately for this subject, formal documents are November when the prebendaries set the supplemented by some more personal sources. price of wheat on capitular estates. One of the Those will necessarily be more subjective, and canons, the receiver, entertained sumptuously not always reliable. 'the gentlemen of the close', the minor canons In a letter from Chelsea dated July 1756, and the farmers. Menus have survived which Edmund Pyle wrote (Hartshorne 1905, 263 give a considerable insight into the diet of the seq.): nineteenth-century chapter. The whole thing began at noon on a Thursday when a hot leg My Scheme of abode, if I outlive my patron, is May, of mutton was sent to the servants, while at 6.00 June July, August at York & my livings; Thence to pm there was a grand dinner for the canons the end of January at Winton, the other 3 months with a whole sirloin of beef and calfs head, etc in London. My months of residence at Winches­ (Barrett 1993, 9). ter are September & the two following. And I am obliged to attend that Chapter that is nearest to those months, i.e. the Xmas Chapter. Whilst I live with the Bishop he can dispense with me for two months out of these 3, & for my Chapter attend­ LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS ance. The emoluments of our church are good. And so they had need; for, I assure you, it is nearly The eighteenth century saw a huge growth as dear living at Winchester as in London. All sorts in publishing once state censorship was of poultry pigs rabbits &c. are very high-priced. abandoned. William Gibson has estimated that Coals as dear as in London & what is sold in the the single largest body of published work in the shambles is a penny in the pound weight above eighteenth century was religious, making up the price. 50,000 titles. Over 8,800 sermons were published between 1660 and 1751, an average of over Having arrived at the city, Pyle wrote this ninety a year. From 1700 to 1790 something like from the 'Close at Winton' in September 1756 230 religious books were published every year, (Hartshorne 1905,266): and in the first eight years of the century 1,152 religious books left the presses. The market was The life of a prebendary is a pretty easy way of dominated by Anglican authors, and in 1700 dawdling away one's time; praying, walking, some 2,500 Anglican sermons were in print visiting; - & as little study as your heart would (Gibson 2001, 159). wish. A stall in this church is called a charming thing. And so it is. But one circumstance of it, At Winchester there were prebendaries of spoken of, usually, with a mighty recommenda­ quite mixed views. Latitudinarian tion, viz. that one comes into it without expense, (1723-34) and Benjamin is a jest. The income of my house, 8c charges of Hoadly (1734-61) tried to draw dissenters into collation instalment &c. (without reckoning trav­ Church and 'comprehend' them, by using their HENDY: THE CANONS OF WINCHESTER IN THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 53

powers of appointment. Indeed W.R. Ward has as a latitudinarian by defending Hoadly's views written that ... the honey pot of Winchester on the in A Proper Answer to a Late patronage was so large that the new Hanoverian Abusive Pamphlet Entitled 'The Winchester Converts' government had no option but to get hold of (1735). 'Politically inconvenient to the former it, which they did in the persons of Willis and allies of Prince Frederick, and too latitudinarian Hoadly' (W7ard 1995, xxvii). For example Willis for most of the clergy, Ayscough did not receive appointed Alured Clarke to a prebend in 1723; further appointment until Benjamin Hoadly while Hoadly appointed Arthur Ashley Sykes whom he had once defended, appointed him in 1740. One contemporary clergyman said of a canon at Winchester in 1756' (St John Parker Sykes that 'if heretics as well as blasphemers ODNB, 3, 51-2). Thomas Balguy also owed his are to stand in the pillory I shall be afraid for clerical preferments to the favour of Hoadly, Dr Sykes' (Gibson 2003, 109). Alured Clarke and was for a time his chaplain. Balguy took was a great admirer of , though a very orthodox view of the need for subscrip­ perhaps not his Arian views, and opposed to tion to the Thirty-Nine Articles, claiming in a the polemic of Daniel Waterland. In a sermon sermon On church authority, preached at the of 1731 he preached against the politics of consecration of as bishop of ambitious divines and the supposed collusion Llandaff in 1769, that 'a religion founded on of infidelity and Roman Catholicism. Clarke's Reason willingly submits to human authority in letters revealed great compassion, and all his all points not essential to the cause of Piety and surplus income was spent either on charity Virtue' (Rivers ODNB, 3, 549-50. or hospitality. He regretted the party faction, Ward concluded that 'in 1788 Hampshire and lamented the rise of irreligion and licen­ Christianity was still overwhelmingly that of the tiousness (Young, ODNB 11, 842-3). Arthur Church of England' (Ward 1995, xxxviii). By­ Ashley Sykes, a prolific controversialist, wrote line beginning of the nineteenth century politics some eighty pamphlets. He defended Samuel were becoming more various at Winches­ Clarke's Arian views of the in A Modest ter and new labels were beginning to appear. Appeal for the Baptismal and Scriptural Notion of William Dealtry was a supporter of the Church the Trinity (1719). In 1721 Daniel Waterland Missionary Society, and revered by evangelicals took issue with Sykes, arguing for scriptural for his pamphlets in defence of the British and authority interpreted in the light of the early Foreign Bible Society against the criticisms of fathers, which led to an exchange of many influential High-churchmen, and he also was pamphlets. 'Overall Sykes's writings, especially active in the anti-slavery movement. In 1813, on his letters, show a wry wit, a detached interest in Simeon's recommendation, he became rector ecclesiastical politics and a bemused tolerance of Clapham in succession to John Venn. His of his contemporaries' (Stephens ODNB 53, sermons published in 1827, were more practical 547-8). Edmund Pyle wrote from the 'Close at than theological or spiritual. Increasingly he Winton' in September 1756 that 'Old Sykes is became aligned with more orthodox Anglican here. Brewing a pamphlet to prove historically churchmen, becoming linked with SPCK and that the Resurrection (of the body) was never SPG. In 1830 Dealtry was appointed chancel­ part of any Xtian creed, for the first 350 years' lor of the by the bishop (Hartshorne 1905, 267). By contrast the dean, with a canonry which he kept Zachary Pearce, became more interested in along with his Clapham living (Curthoys ODNB, the defence of traditional Christian doctrine 15,624-5). rather than support for Whig orthodoxy, joining in the Middletonian controversy in Gibson concludes (Gibson 2003, 100): support of Daniel Waterland (Hole ODNB 43, 289-91). In these inauspicious circumstances, the Church of England in the diocese of Winchester thrived Two other Winchester prebendaries may be and reached its highest point since the Reforma­ compared. Francis Ayscough identified himself tion. The principal measure of the success of the 54 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Church was its triumph over Catholic and Protes­ Bampton lecturers included Robert Holmes tant nonconformity, an ascendancy which lasted (1782) and George Frederick Nott (1803). throughout the eighteenth century. The measure Important scientific authors included Robert of this success lay principally in the level of the Sharrock, a great botanist, and William Dealtry, professional duty achieved by the clergy and the who wrote on fluxions, a branch of mathemat­ strongly contrasting policies of successive Latitudi- ics which led to calculus. narian bishops and clergy to defend the Church and advance its cause. Among notable theologians was William Lowth, a skilled expositor whose work appealed Manchester wardens and fellows had the to both clergy and laity, as seen in the successful greatest proportion of writers (28%), with series of commentaries on the prophetic books the two cathedrals producing more or less of the Old Testament, published between 1714 the same proportions (Salisbury 21% and and 1726. These were frequently reprinted as Winchester 20%), and Southwell prebendar­ a companion to Simon Patrick's commentaries ies (9%) appearing to be the least published. on the historical books of the Old Testament. In all 17% of prebendaries in these four Lowth provided effective summaries of the most chapters are known to have published at least advanced orthodox ideas of the late Caroline one book but several, like and early Georgian divines in these books, of Salisbury, nearly 50 works, Clement Ellis which treated Israelite prophecy as foreshad­ of Southwell, nearly 30, and the polemical owing the teaching of Christ and the history Arthur Ashley Sykes of Winchester over 20 of the church. He was not, however, very keen (mainly pamphlets), wrote considerably more. on controversy and did not publish this sort An examination of the writings of the 29 Win­ of material, though he was a highly regarded chester canons who published indicates the critic by contemporaries (Mandelbrote ODNB, usual crop of published sermons, but there 34,617). is other material as well, and a brief summary Among the scientists, two illustrate the richness will give some indication of the range (Table of their thought and learning. At Oxford, Robert 14). Sharrock was one of those involved in the uni­ versity's botanic garden and part of the circle of scientifically-minded people who met in the Table 14 Published Works of 29 Winchester Oxford lodgings of Robert Boyle, which laid Canons the foundation for the foundation of the Royal Society in 1662. At the same time, Sharrock had been writing his own book, The history of the propa­ Controversy and Politics 10 gation & improvement of vegetables by the concurrence Education 0 of art and nature. It was first published in Oxford, probably with Boyle's financial assistance, in History and Biography 4 1660, and was intended as a practical text for Novels 1 husbandmen and gardeners. Sharrock mused Pastoral 1 on the similarity of some plant forms and on the mathematical symmetry in the arrangement Poetry 7 of bud and leaf, and the possibility of finding Science 2 some natural law which controlled their growth. It is one of the few competent studies of plant Sermons 17 anatomy before Nehemiah Grew; and 'its chief Social 0 interest lies in the fact that Robert Sharrock was Theology 7 one of the earliest writers to be interested in the scientific study of plant cultivation, and was Travel 1 referred to by both Grew and Ray' (McConnell Sources: As per Table 1 ODNB, 50, 64). HENDY: THE CANONS OF WINCHESTER IN THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 55

Finally among the many poets, one example years but increasingly clerical, with an ongoing will suffice. During his time in Oxford, Samuel proportion of aristocratic and parliamentary Woodford played the viol with a group which influence. Financial gain was an important part included Thomas Ken, and his earliest poems of the lifestyle of the many pluralists under were published. A profligate debtor, he left review, but whereas Winchester residentiaries Oxford in 1658 to become a student at the Inner had equal shares, those of Salisbury had varying Temple, but continued a dissolute life, until amounts according to their prebends. reformed by Charles and Mary Beale and in their Residence was demanded by statute but home he met a number of divines of puritan exemptions were granted. Pluralism and absen­ and latitudinarian persuasion. Woodford estab­ teeism did not necessarily reflect idleness, lished his reputation as a religious poet with and men moved from one preferment to the publication of his Paraphrase upon the Psalms another and, through colleagues and , of David (1667), dedicated to , providing as much cover as was expected by , inspired by Psalm 114, the average lay person, at least until the nine­ written during Woodford's residence with teenth century. A study of meetings in the the Beales and completed in Hampshire. He period shows Winchester having far less than justified poetry as 'the Stile, and Language of Salisbury, but the business seems to have been Heaven', arguing that a 'man of an Harmoni­ consistent. In cathedrals generally there was a ous soul (such as all true Poets are) will surpass local group which reconstituted itself during scholars in communicating biblical truth'. The the decades and provided the few regulars Paraphrasewas popular, and in 1678 it went into who in practice kept the 'show on the road'. a revised second edition. In 1669 Woodford In the end it was the conscientiousness of was ordained by bishop Morley, and became a individuals who made the difference rather prebendary of Winchester 'by the favour of his than any other factor. Eighteenth-century great patron' in November 1680. His Paraphrase English cathedral clergy have had a bad name upon the canticles and some select hymns of the Neiufo r torpor, slackness, resistance to change, and Old Testaments, with other occasional com­ worldliness, non-residence and pluralism, positions in English verse appeared in 1679. but the customs of canonical residence were Woodford continued his poetical output until inherited and practically no change was made his death at Winchester in January 1700, and a to them. Pluralism had been well established complete edition of his works was published in for centuries; most of the prebendaries held at 1713 (Keeble ODNB, 60, 178-9). least one benefice with cure of souls outside the cathedral and prebends at other cathedrals. This was no more than their predecessors had done in the preceding three hundred years, CONCLUSION and in some ways the eighteenth-century close was a lively place. The residentiary canons of Winchester emerged from families whose fathers might be described The lifestyle of the prebendary was clearly as gentry or clergy, and clergy dynasties were desirable and increasingly reflected that increasing during the period. Patronage and of the gentry as they became more assimi­ marriage play an important part of these devel­ lated into that social status. Hospitality was opments, paving the way for a clergy profession important and there is indication of much by the end of the period of study. More went social interaction with music, cards, coffee to Oxford than Cambridge, but a good propor­ houses and dinners providing key notes to tion earned higher degrees and were college the lives recorded. There is evidence of a 'set' fellows. They tended to live rather longer being established in and around the close, than their fellow incumbents, were installed in with families creating their own social setting. middle age, and usually ceased by death or pre­ The clergy reviewed were certainly affected by ferment. Patronage was largely royal in the early the Restoration, the and 56 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY the Whig and Tory factions of the eighteenth but what is of great interest is that, apart from century. They were also embroiled in theologi­ the obvious collections of sermons which were cal controversy, but their huge loyalty to the published, they included authors who both Church of England was paramount. A signifi­ had the time and energy to write on a whole cant number of canons were literary figures, range of divergent subjects.

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Author. Graham Hendy, 74 Bath Road, Wells, Somerset, BA5 3LJ

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