Religion | Great Packington One

Religion.

Religion was of central importance to the lives of ordinary people throughout much of history, including in the small parish of Great Packington, where the population were served by an Anglican church.

Whilst information about St. James Church can be found on this websites Topography -> Buildings page, here the focus is on the people of the church such as vicars, church wardens, overseers of the poor, parishioners and other interesting details.

Image credit: Flickr.

Timeline:

1291 - The vicarage was valued at £3 6s. 8d.

1450 - Rev. Richard Lache was vicar of Great Packington parish.
1451 - Rev. William Haddon was vicar of Great Packington parish.

1535 - The vicarage was valued at £7 10s. 1d.
1538 - Parish registers begin.
1558-1572 - Rev. William Ravys was vicar of Great Packington parish, until his death in 1572.
1570 - Landholder John Fisher and his wife Katherine Wheeler nee Digby and were buried and commemorated at Great Packington. Effigies of them now reside in St. James Church (images below).
1573 - Rev. William Bates was vicar of Great Packington parish and George Flyde was appointed rector of Great Packington.
1573-1616 - Rev. William Shuttleworth was vicar of Great Packington parish.
1578 - Rev. Richard Wenlocke, vicar of Meriden, bestowed upon the vicar of Great Packington his copy Augustine Marlorate’s commentary on the Gospel of St Matthew, his ‘little bible in verses’ and 2 other books.
1579 - Henry Shuttleworth was schoolmaster of Great Packington's parish school.

1538 Introduction in Parish Registers.jpg

Credit: Ancestry.

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Images credit: Flickr.

1616 - Rev. Humphrey Pringle was preacher of Great Packington parish.
1624 - Rev. Georgius Gearey was vicar of Great Packington parish, instituted by Thomas Lichfield. The area of Gearey's Heath in the parish is named after him.
1650s - Rev. Gaius White was vicar of Great Packington parish.
1679-1709 - Rev. Solomon Smyth was vicar of Great Packington parish.

1704 - Samuel Packwood was curate of Great Packington parish.
1709-1735 - Rev. Edward Badger was vicar of Great Packington parish.
1715 - Poor law records begin.
1741 - Rev. Richard Mudge M.A was vicar of Great Packington parish. He was also a composer, with his known compositions being 6 concertos for strings (1749) and a medley concerto with French horns (c. 1770).
1754 - Rev. Richard White was vicar of Great Packington parish.
1754-1764 - Rev. John Jacques M. A. was vicar of Great Packington parish.
1763 - A charity sermon was preached by Rev. John Jacques to raise funds for poor girls from Coventry who were educated at a school maintained by charitable donations and voluntary contributions.
1764-1765 - Rev. Richard Taylor was vicar of Great Packington parish.
1774 - On 7 April 1774, a marriage by license was solemnised in St. James Church, Great Packington, between Thomas Burbidge and Mary Shuttleworth, both from the parish. Strangely, the wedding was conducted by the vicar of Meriden, Warwickshire. Later in the year, marriages are being conducted at St. James by Rev. Jeremiah Speedwell, vicar of Great Packington parish or Ezekiel Watson, rector of Great Packington parish, so perhaps Meriden's vicar was helping the neighbouring parish before the arrival of the new clergymen.
1787 - The steeple and building of the Great Packington parish church were in such a bad condition that the church was demolished. This original parish church had been dedicated to St. John.
1789 - On the day of 'General Thanksgiving' for the recovery of King George III, the St. James Church foundation stone was laid by the Earl of Aylesford. Prayers were delivered 'suitable to the occasion,' a service took place at St. Bartholomew's Church, Little Packington and then tenants were entertained at Packington Hall. Work on St. James Church was completed in 1792 and whilst the Church was being constructed, baptisms and weddings took place at St. Bartholomew's Church, Little Packington. 10 weddings from this time are recorded in both the Little Packington and Great Packington parish registers.
1792 - Rev. John Howlette was vicar of Great Packington parish.
1792-1800 - Rev. John Jacques was vicar of Great Packington parish. [Research to be conducted into possible relationships between the two John Jacques].
1794 - The Great Packington account books record that Richard Dodwell was Overseer of the Poor for the year 1794.
1794 - A poem by a 'Mrs Pickering' to Rev. John Jacques was published (see copy below).
1795-1800 - The Great Packington account books record that William Burbidge was Overseer of the Poor for the years 1795, 1796 and 1800.
1797-1798 - The Great Packington account books record that John Dodwell was Overseer of the Poor for the years 1797-1798.
1798 - Gilbert Beresford became a stipendiary curate in Great Packington parish.
1799 - A charity sermon was preached by Rev. John Jacques to raise funds for Coventry's Blue Coat Charity.

Extract from the Mudge family memoirs.

Credit: Internet Archive.

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Article in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1789.

Credit: Internet Archive.

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Poem by a 'Mrs Pickering' to Rev. John Jacques, published in 1794.

Note: niggard is a Middle English word meaning 'stingy' 'miserly' or and 'ungenerous.' It is not the racist slur.

Credit: Internet Archive.

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1800-1818 - Rev. John Dilke was vicar of Great Packington parish.
1801 - The Great Packington account books record that William Smith was Overseer of the Poor for the year 1801.
1802-1803 - The Great Packington account books record that Thomas Burbidge was Overseer of the Poor for the years 1802 and 1803.
1804 - The Great Packington account books record that Thomas Dodwell was Overseer of the Poor for the year 1804
1808 - William Bree became a stipendiary curate in Great Packington parish with a stipend of £20.
1819-1824 - Rev. Thomas Miles was vicar of Great Packington parish.
1824-1830 - The Hon. and Rev. Charles Finch M.A. was vicar of Great Packington parish. He was the younger brother of Heneage Finch, 4th Earl of Aylesford and had attended Merton College at the University of Oxford, successfully achieving a B.A. in 1822 and M.A. in 1824. After 1830, he was a vicar in nearby Meriden, Warwickshire, for 29 years.
1830 - The vicarage was valued at £7 10s 3d.
1830 - Great Packington's Vestry book records the parish officers for 1830 as: Joseph Dodwell, Joseph Keatley, Edward Mayou, Thomas Oldham, William Repton, John Shuttleworth (also Overseer of the Poor) and William Smith (also Overseer of the Poor),
1844 - Great Packington's Vestry book records the parish officers for 1844 as: Joseph Dodwell, James Mayou, Thomas Oldham, William Riley, John Shuttleworth and William Whelan,
1859-1860 - Rev. A. L. Willett was curate of Great Packington parish.
1860 - The church living was united with the living of Little Packington.
1860-1864 - The Hon. and Rev. George Barrington Legge was vicar of Great and Little Packington parishes. He was a son of William Legge, 4th Earl of Dartmouth and the Hon. Frances Barrington (daughter of Rev. George Barrington, 5th Viscount Barrington of Ardglass and Elizabeth Adair.). Before his church career, George attained the rank of Captain in the Rifle Brigade.
1861 - Great Packington's Vestry book records the parish officers for 1861 as: William Beaufoy, James Shuttleworth and Anne Smart.
1864-1906 - Rev. Canon. Ernest Alured Waller M.A., nephew of Thomas Wathen Waller, 2nd Baronet Waller, was vicar of Great and Little Packington parishes. Rev. Canon Waller has attended Trinity College, University of Oxford and became a priest in 1860. From 1879-1890 Ernest was elected vice-chair of the Meriden Union Board of Guardians, he was a supporter of charities including the Coventry Girls Friendly Society and the Coventry Archidiaconal Church Extension Society, and he sat on the board of the Coventry Savings Bank. He was also a member of the Woodsmen of the Ancient Forest of Arden and represented the archers at the Royal Toxophilite Society's National Competition in London during 1884. He was made an honorary Canon of Worcester in 1890 and was elected rural dean of Coventry then Kenilworth, Warwickshire, from 1902.
1867 - A confirmation service for the district was held at Great Packington by the Bishop of Worcester, attended by about 100 children.
1882 - Henry Thompson was elected Guardian of the Poor for Great Packington.
1883 - At the annual parish meeting William Henry Bates and Charles Ridley were elected Overseers of the Poor for Great Packington.
1885 - At the annual parish meeting William Henry Bates and Thomas Smith were elected Overseers of the Poor for Great Packington.
1887 - At the Coleshill Petty Sessions in 1886, William Henry Bates and Thomas Smith were reappointed as Overseers of the Poor for Great Packington for the year 1887.
1888 - At the Coleshill Petty Sessions Charles Gilbert and Thomas Smith were elected Overseers of the Poor for Great Packington.
1890 - At the Coventry Archidiaconal Church Extension Society annual service at Coventry's Holy Trinity Church, prizes were given to children from the district, including some from Great Packington. James Errington and Frances A. Sidwell won Bible prizes and Walter E. Sidwell won a special prize of £2 6d for his knowledge of Holy Scripture.
1891 - Schoolmaster Walter Thomas Sidwell of Little Packington was the assistant Overseer for both Great and Little Packington parishes for several years, currently know as 1891-1896.
1895 - Luke Hurst and John farmer were appointed Overseers of the Poor for Great Packington.
1897-1898 - At the annual parish meetings, Charles Gilbert (High Ash Farm) and William Adcock (Dairy Farm) were elected and re-elected Overseers of the Poor for Great Packington in 1897 and 1898.

1905 - At the annual parish meeting Thomas William Booth and Lawrence James Arnold were elected Overseers of the Poor for Great Packington.
1907-1911 - Rev. Louis Walter William Beaufort B. A. was vicar of Great and Little Packington parishes. He was born in Kildoon, Cork, Ireland and attended the University of Oxford.
1912-1915 - Rev. W. J. Locke was vicar of Great and Little Packington parishes, appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury as neither the Earl of Aylesford or the Bishop of Worcester had been able to fill the vacancy for over 6 months. Rev. Locke supported the Beauchamp Chapel Restoration Fund and was appointed a Diocesan Chaplain by the Bishop of Worcester in 1915.

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Article in the Leamington Spa Courier, August 1911.

Credit: FindMyPast.

1914 - Great Packington parishioners contributed £6 2s 9d to the County war relief fund.

1914 - Sydney Arnold (son of Lawrence James Arnold) was elected by parishioners as representative of Great Packington to the local Ruridecanal Conference.
1914 - A man who was buried in Little Packington parish was found after his internment to have died in Great Packington parish. This caused a debate about which parish were responsible for the burial fees and how much should be charged.
1916 - At the annual parish meeting Thomas William Booth was re-elected Overseer of the Poor for Great Packington.
1919 - Frederick Comber was assistant Overseer of the Poor for both Great and Little Packington.
1925 - St. James Church was closed for a month due to renovation works and repairs. When reopened, special preachers delivered sermons in the Church including the Bishop of Coventry.
1929-1935 - Rev. Sydney Clement Aston was vicar of Great and Little Packington parishes. He was a local man, born in 1881 at Saltley, Warwickshire, and baptised on 23 January 1884 at St Matthew’s Church, Duddleston, Warwickshire. After being vicar in the two Packington's for 6 years, he moved on to Coughton, became an Honorary Canon of Coventry Cathedral in 1949 and became curate at Bedworth, Warwickshire. He was a member of the Diocesan Welfare Council, holding the respective offices of Secretary, Treasurer and Chairman over the years. He retired in 1952 to Ramsey Hall, Worthing, Sussex, living with his wife in this home for retired clergymen..
1936 - Rev. Cannon. Bell was vicar of Great and Little Packington parishes. The Birmingham Daily Gazette reported that following a celebration of Holy Communion in May 1936 he collapsed on his way back to the Vicarage and was unable to conduct the Sunday service. An Uncle of the Reverend's wife, Rev. A. Dewick, a retired vicar of 83 years of age, was staying at the Vicarage with his niece and nephew. He stepped into to temporarily lead the Great Packington congregation.
1936 - Electricity was installed at the Vicarage.

1936-1951 - Rev. Claude Douglas Banks Gale was vicar of Great and Little Packington parishes. He had served during World War 1 in the British Army’s Royal Army Chaplains Department as a Captain and was the chaplain to United States Army personal who were stationed at Packington Hall during World War 2. He served as a member of Meriden Rural District Council representing the Coleshill division for 13 years, was Chair of the County Ambulance Committee and was involved in 35 other local committees. He was a member of the Woodsmen of the Ancient Forest of Arden. In 1939, he conducted a special service to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the laying of the first stone of St. James Church and in 1951 he even found time to judge a public speaking competition in Coleshill, Warwickshire, before retiring to Devon.
1937 - A Sunday School was opened at St. James Church and a Children's festival was established by Rev. C. D. B. Gale.
1942 - Great Packington parishioners contributed £4 15s to the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospitals fund.
1943 - Right Rev. Richard Stanley Herywood, Assistant Bishop of Coventry, visited St. James Church in Great Packington and preached alongside the Rev. C. D. B. Gale.
1945 - The Bishop of Coventry visited St. James Church in Great Packington and confirmed 8 candidates from the parish. This was the first visit by a Bishop of the Diocese for 20 years.

Image printed in the Coventry Evening Telegraph, 1938.

Credit: FindMyPast.

1951-1954 - Rev. Richard Clement White M.A. was vicar of Great and Little Packington parishes, resigning on 30 November 1954.
1959 - Rev. Leonard John Stanford became vicar of Great and Little Packington parishes, moving to the small parish to conduct his duties alongside those of serving as Archdeacon of Coventry.
1951 - The Bishop of Coventry preached during a service in Great Packington.
1960-1966- Rev. John David McKie B.A. was vicar of Great and Little Packington parishes and an assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Coventry. He was an Australian man who had attended the University of Melbourne, then New College, University of Oxford, gaining a first class theology degree. Before being invited by the Bishop of Coventry to England for the roles in Coventry and the two Packingtons, he had served as a chaplain to the Australian Imperial Forces during the Second World War and had been appointed Bishop of Geelong in his native Australia. He retired after his roles in Warwickshire and moved back to Australia.
1967 - The last church service was held on Palm Sunday at St. Bartholomew's Church, Little Packington. It has since been converted to a private residence.

Credit: Flickr.

Sources:

Ancestry Collections: Church of England Overseers Accounts 1794-1836; Church of England Vestry Books 1830-1882; Warwickshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1910.
British History Online.
Burges, Joseph Tom. (1876) Historic Warwickshire: its legendary lore, traditionary stories, and romantic episodes. London: Simpkin and Marshall.
The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835 (CCEd).
Crockford's Clerical Directory.
Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield. (2008) The register of William Bothe, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, 1447-1452. Woodbridge: Boydell Press.
FindMyPast Collection: British Newspapers, 1710-1965.
Flickr.
Foster, Joseph ed. (1890) Index ecclesiasticus or, Alphabetical lists of all ecclesiastical dignitaries in England and Wales since the reformation (1800-1840). Containing 150,000 hitherto unpublished entries from the bishops' certificates of institutions to livings, etc., now deposited in the Public Record Office, and including those names which appear in Le Neve's 'Fasti'. Oxford: Park & Co.
Foster, Joseph. (1891) Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886. Oxford: Parker.
Foster, Richard. (1982). Discovering English Churches, A Beginner's Guide to the Story of the Parish Church from Before the Conquest to the Gothic Revival. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gale Primary Sources: British Library Newspapers Collection.
Haigh, Christopher. (1987) The English Reformation Revised. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harvey, Kristeen and Watkins, Andrew. (2019) John Fenton: a sixteenth-century vicar of Coleshill In: Midland History, 44(1), pp. 3–20.
Historic England.
Isaacs, Allan and Martin, Elizabeth eds. (1990) The Hamlyn illustrated encyclopedia of music. London: Hamlyn.
Jeavons, Sidney Aston. (1963) Church plate of Warwickshire, diocese of Coventry. Cheltenham: James Wilson for the Birmingham Archaeological Society
The Peerage.
Pickering, Mrs. (1794) Poems by Mrs. Pickering. To which are added Poetical sketches by the author, and translator of Philotoxi Ardenæ. Birmingham: E. Piercy.