Ship of Fools: Keeping it in the family

Thread: Keeping it in the family Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :

I happened to visit an ancient parish church in my home town at the weekend, and happened to take a squint at their board showing past rectors which went all the way back to 13-something-or-t'other (including an interesting stretch of asterisked 'ministers during the commonwealth').

I was surprised to see a certain family name appear in 1780, and five generations of this same family later, the last incumbent in this dynasty retired - in 1971, having taken up his post just after the war.

Was this common, and what brought it to a close? Idle non-conformist curiousity wants satisfying.

cheers
Mark

Posted by Roselyn (# 17859) on :

Here's a start for you

According to findings from Ancestry.co.uk, just seven per cent of children today end up in the same job as their mother or father.

Indeed, children are three times more likely to choose a different career from their parents than to do something similar.

This is a sharp deviation from the Victorian era, when nearly half of children - 46 per cent – followed in their parents’ footsteps.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2309138/Sorry-Mum-Dad-Children-longer-want-follow-career-path-parents.html#ixzz2mMQ16 IBp
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Posted by dj_ordinaire (# 4643) on :

The extent of it sounds remarkable I have to say!

However, to have two or three generations would be common enough back in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, yes, especially in rural areas.

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

The current Rector of Christ Church, Toms River, New Jersey, the Rev. Joan Pettit Mason, is the daughter of the (late) Bishop Vincent Pettit -- who was Rector of Christ Church before becoming Bishop. Bishop Pettit's father, the Rev. John Pettit, was also at one time the Rector of Christ Church.

Posted by otyetsfoma (# 12898) on :

If the squire owned the advowson he would likely name one of his family as vicar when a vacancy occured. As each generation inherited the living the vicarage would tend to be given to a son or nephew. The civil government and courts in England would never let spiritual or moral considerations interfere with what they considered to be the property rights of the patron.

Posted by Roselyn (# 17859) on :

In Leeds the city owned the advowson and their were mayors and Vicars and priests in the same families

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

Yes, it's probably to do with the advowson being in the same family. Unusual to find it running on into the mid C20, though, not least because of the number of estates that were sold up from the late C19. But even then, there'd be nothing to stop you selling the estate and keeping the advowson, which is IIRC a piece of real property in its own right.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

I know of a priest living now and active as such who, I have been told, is directly descended from a priest in the reign of Queen Anne (300 years ago) and of whom I have also been told that only one of the intervening generations was not ordained.

Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :

Advowson = legal right to name the priest in an Anglican parish?

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

Yes, that's it

Posted by Gottschalk (# 13175) on :

Or rather to present a priest with a living. The priest receives faculties/licence from the Bishop, if I am not mistaken.

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

That's it. To name or nominate, but not to licence.

Posted by Vulpior (# 12744) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Albertus:
Yes, it's probably to do with the advowson being in the same family. Unusual to find it running on into the mid C20, though, not least because of the number of estates that were sold up from the late C19. But even then, there'd be nothing to stop you selling the estate and keeping the advowson, which is IIRC a piece of real property in its own right.

I don't believe that you could, nowadays, sell the estate with the advowson. An advowson is real property in its own right, but can no longer be bought or sold; only bequeathed or gifted.

I learned about advowsons when I lived in Bath. I was told that evangelical organisations like the Simeon's Trustees went about buying up advowsons in the time of the Oxford Movement to keep the Ritualists out of parts of the country, and one of their areas of focus was the West Country in general and Bath in particular.

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

Yes, I'd forgotten that advowsons can't be sold nowadays, though I suppose you could give one away with an estate that you'd sold. There used to be a chap on the Ship who had an advowson, didn't there- now what was his name? Quite interseting when the topic came up. He was clearly very conscientious about his duties as patron.

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