Two Georgian Vicars Maureen Anderson & John Ayers July 2024
Maureen Anderson uncovered a startling revelation about Box’s history in her article about the Rev John Phillipps. Her research also tells us something of the life-style of middle-class residents in the years around 1700 and of the tradesmen and residents in Box at that time. Now we look at the lives of Georgian vicars through our knowledge of two prominent Box clergymen.
Life of Rev John Phillipps
Vicar of Box 1694-1707
Rev John Phillipps, vicar of Box, was clearly a well-to-do person, with the volume of his domestic possessions showing that he had a life of comfort at home.[1] His goods included a coach and two horses worth £64.10s, a substantial amount of silver items, including 2 tankards, 14 spoons, a cup, 6 salts, 2 dishes, 2 salvers, casters and tea spoons. Also amongst the silver were a tab stopper, a box, tongs and a snuff box; all items connected with tobacco. In jewellery he had 2 old watches, a gold watch, and a diamond ring and gold weights.
The rooms in his house (on the site of Box House) were very well-furnished for the time, especially considering that the vicarage in Box was just one of his houses and that his family home was at Bagpath, near Brimscombe, Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire. It may be that Phillipps owned the vicarage because he had a mortgage of £421 lent by Mr Lockwood of Badminton, who was a Justice of the Peace and gentleman of the bedchamber to the Duke of Beaufort. Perhaps Lockwood was the patron of Phillipps, as, in turn, Phillipps was to George Millard, his clerk with whom he shared the house. To help run the house, Phillipps and Millard had two servants, Isaac Clerk and Ann Deverell.
There are a few luxuries mention in John Phillipps’ assets. For leisure, he had snuff and 12lb of tobacco, probably bought in bulk. Unusually for an educated man, there was no mention of books although he did own a book press. At a time when drinking ground water could be dangerous, his household seems to have had a brewery with malt and hops for beer making, six barrels (presumably empty), four half barrels full of drink, and 34 dozen empty bottles. Perhaps because of the lack of refrigeration, there was little foodstuff mentioned in the estate accounts (probably because it had deteriorated by the time of the inventory). The accounts mention sugar crystals and syrup of vinegar for preserving fruit and Phillipps’ assets includes 5 lampreys and 4 dozen apricots (probably dried).
Vicar of Box 1694-1707
Rev John Phillipps, vicar of Box, was clearly a well-to-do person, with the volume of his domestic possessions showing that he had a life of comfort at home.[1] His goods included a coach and two horses worth £64.10s, a substantial amount of silver items, including 2 tankards, 14 spoons, a cup, 6 salts, 2 dishes, 2 salvers, casters and tea spoons. Also amongst the silver were a tab stopper, a box, tongs and a snuff box; all items connected with tobacco. In jewellery he had 2 old watches, a gold watch, and a diamond ring and gold weights.
The rooms in his house (on the site of Box House) were very well-furnished for the time, especially considering that the vicarage in Box was just one of his houses and that his family home was at Bagpath, near Brimscombe, Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire. It may be that Phillipps owned the vicarage because he had a mortgage of £421 lent by Mr Lockwood of Badminton, who was a Justice of the Peace and gentleman of the bedchamber to the Duke of Beaufort. Perhaps Lockwood was the patron of Phillipps, as, in turn, Phillipps was to George Millard, his clerk with whom he shared the house. To help run the house, Phillipps and Millard had two servants, Isaac Clerk and Ann Deverell.
There are a few luxuries mention in John Phillipps’ assets. For leisure, he had snuff and 12lb of tobacco, probably bought in bulk. Unusually for an educated man, there was no mention of books although he did own a book press. At a time when drinking ground water could be dangerous, his household seems to have had a brewery with malt and hops for beer making, six barrels (presumably empty), four half barrels full of drink, and 34 dozen empty bottles. Perhaps because of the lack of refrigeration, there was little foodstuff mentioned in the estate accounts (probably because it had deteriorated by the time of the inventory). The accounts mention sugar crystals and syrup of vinegar for preserving fruit and Phillipps’ assets includes 5 lampreys and 4 dozen apricots (probably dried).
Vicar’s Entitlement to Tithe Income
John Phillipps was not a substantial landowner, and there is only one reference to rental income, that at Talwick, both freehold and leasehold, and cottages; the purchase money to be in total £780. It was John Phillipps’ entitlement to certain of the tithes of the parish which supported him in his lifestyle. The tithe book of 1726 compiled by Phillipps’ successor Rev George Millard showed what the vicar was due to receive. The book is the size of a mobile phone, recorded neatly in advance and in alphabetical order to show what he expected to receive, field-by-field, item-by-item, including gardens, hedgerows and farms. The record shows the amounts due and payments received and amended if the tenant changed or circumstances altered. The tithe books record the precise details of amounts owned and received by the vicar. In 1728 Anthony Drewett was due to pay on two pieces of oak 10 foot long and 2 foot square for flood gate.
John Phillipps was not a substantial landowner, and there is only one reference to rental income, that at Talwick, both freehold and leasehold, and cottages; the purchase money to be in total £780. It was John Phillipps’ entitlement to certain of the tithes of the parish which supported him in his lifestyle. The tithe book of 1726 compiled by Phillipps’ successor Rev George Millard showed what the vicar was due to receive. The book is the size of a mobile phone, recorded neatly in advance and in alphabetical order to show what he expected to receive, field-by-field, item-by-item, including gardens, hedgerows and farms. The record shows the amounts due and payments received and amended if the tenant changed or circumstances altered. The tithe books record the precise details of amounts owned and received by the vicar. In 1728 Anthony Drewett was due to pay on two pieces of oak 10 foot long and 2 foot square for flood gate.
Changes Introduced by SPCK
Before we look further at the lifestyles of Box’s vicars, we need to consider the changes occurring in ecclesiastical beliefs at this time. A new missionary movement was founded in 1698 as a Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge by the Rev Thomas Bray from Shropshire. Its aims were to counter gross ignorance of the principles of the Christian (Anglican) religion with an initial ambition to promote and encourage the erection of charity schools in all parts of England and Wales. The scope of the movement was enormous, encompassing the distribution of bibles in Britain and abroad, particularly the slave states in America and the Caribbean (Bray was an abolitionist), the establishment of libraries, adequate training for poorer clergy, and the worldwide distribution of ecclesiastical information to supporters. Its impact was instant, the third-oldest publishing house in England after the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Thomas Bray’s influence was recognised from the outset and the Bishop of London despatched him to Maryland, USA, in 1699, taking quantities of bibles and biblical texts to distribute to the clergy there to encourage literacy amongst the clergy and parishioners, including native Americans and slaves. He returned in 1701 and petitioned for the establishment of libraries in the colonies funded by merchants to the plantations. A man of great vision, Bray advocated prison reform late in his life with weekly beef and beer to encourage integration of inmates back into society.
Before we look further at the lifestyles of Box’s vicars, we need to consider the changes occurring in ecclesiastical beliefs at this time. A new missionary movement was founded in 1698 as a Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge by the Rev Thomas Bray from Shropshire. Its aims were to counter gross ignorance of the principles of the Christian (Anglican) religion with an initial ambition to promote and encourage the erection of charity schools in all parts of England and Wales. The scope of the movement was enormous, encompassing the distribution of bibles in Britain and abroad, particularly the slave states in America and the Caribbean (Bray was an abolitionist), the establishment of libraries, adequate training for poorer clergy, and the worldwide distribution of ecclesiastical information to supporters. Its impact was instant, the third-oldest publishing house in England after the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Thomas Bray’s influence was recognised from the outset and the Bishop of London despatched him to Maryland, USA, in 1699, taking quantities of bibles and biblical texts to distribute to the clergy there to encourage literacy amongst the clergy and parishioners, including native Americans and slaves. He returned in 1701 and petitioned for the establishment of libraries in the colonies funded by merchants to the plantations. A man of great vision, Bray advocated prison reform late in his life with weekly beef and beer to encourage integration of inmates back into society.
Life of Rev George Millard
Vicar of Box 1707-1740 George Millard was a disciple of the new movement and offered to become a corresponding member of the society as early as 1711.[2] He adopted many of the suggestions of the society and reported his successes back to them in a series of letters from 1699 to 1715. His driving enthusiasm in Box appears to be the promotion of the charity school that he had taken over from John Phillipps. In towns and cities (including Bath) subscriptions by local gentry became the basis for funding charity schools but there were too few in Box village to make this viable. Millard turned to other fund-raising ideas suggested by the society. The SPCK suggested various different projects for fundraising mostly from the wealthy. George Millard wrote flatteringly to Dame Rachel Speke the Excellent Lady of my Parish .. a great encourager of our school but this source of funds stopped after her death in 1711 and a bequest of £100 in her will. Other initiatives were needed. Rev Millard had two different qualities of coffin cloths (a black one for everyday use and another for the wealthiest who could afford more). His inventiveness was praised by SPCK: The minister hath provided two palls, the one of which is let out for 2s.6d and the other for 1s .. and the money arising bears a good part of the charge of teaching poor children there.[3] |
Suitable biblical texts were suggested to excite the alms of people resorting thither; people pay more than ordinary in teaching their own children. Payments to schoolteachers were amended from a salary basis to payment by the achievement of pupils in learning the alphabet, to recite the Catechism, and to cast account (arithmetic).
Rev George Millard was a man of great vision and ambition. His letters to SPCK give constant updates on the numbers of children being educated (often a stable number at 30 pupils) and details of the 5 or 6 who graduated each year, with the boys being put into trade or farming, and the girls taught knitting or spinning who returned to their families. One boy was taken on by Millard himself as a man servant by 1716.
By that date he had gone further with the rebuilding of Box Church and taking on 9 adults to be educated in the school. He started a choir in the school, which he described as an excellent way of promoting Christian knowledge through the singing of psalms. It was a great success especially with the younger sort, and had 160 applicants, practising three nights a week.[4] All of this was time-consuming and expensive, including the annual acquisition of leaflets from SPCK, the choirmaster’s wages of £20 a year, and the purchase of Bibles and the Book of Common Prayer donated to all children graduating from the school. Rev Millard allocated the communion offertory five times a year and his annual Easter dues to the school but he still had to write to the society in 1718 apologising for delays in paying their bill.[5]
Rev George Millard was a man of great vision and ambition. His letters to SPCK give constant updates on the numbers of children being educated (often a stable number at 30 pupils) and details of the 5 or 6 who graduated each year, with the boys being put into trade or farming, and the girls taught knitting or spinning who returned to their families. One boy was taken on by Millard himself as a man servant by 1716.
By that date he had gone further with the rebuilding of Box Church and taking on 9 adults to be educated in the school. He started a choir in the school, which he described as an excellent way of promoting Christian knowledge through the singing of psalms. It was a great success especially with the younger sort, and had 160 applicants, practising three nights a week.[4] All of this was time-consuming and expensive, including the annual acquisition of leaflets from SPCK, the choirmaster’s wages of £20 a year, and the purchase of Bibles and the Book of Common Prayer donated to all children graduating from the school. Rev Millard allocated the communion offertory five times a year and his annual Easter dues to the school but he still had to write to the society in 1718 apologising for delays in paying their bill.[5]
The Vicar’s Standing in the Community
The total receivable from tithes amounted to £150.11s.6d, plus the Easter offering of £1.2s.8d. In addition, the vicar sold his own corn amounting to £7.3s.6d. Altogether, it was a very considerable amount of money and this sort of income afforded clergymen the same social ranking as gentlemen. However, vicar had to estimate the tithe amounts due from the harvest each year and to actually collect the income from parishioners. This was easier from those who came to the parish church regularly but necessitated a personal visit to those who rarely or never attended. To make life easier, Rev George Millard kept a detailed and comprehensive list of amounts due and received each year, and made notes of tenancies which had changed hands.
One difference between gentlemen and the clergy was that the nobility usually owned the land that provided them with an income but most vicars simply had use of the income during their tenure. of the benefice. It encouraged vicars to seek the wealthiest churches and to hold onto the incumbency until great old age or death. This may have applied to John Phillipps. There is little to suggest that he was actively preaching in Box (no texts, bible or religious reading matter) and we might assume that he relied extensively on his curate George Millard to minister to the congregation.
The total receivable from tithes amounted to £150.11s.6d, plus the Easter offering of £1.2s.8d. In addition, the vicar sold his own corn amounting to £7.3s.6d. Altogether, it was a very considerable amount of money and this sort of income afforded clergymen the same social ranking as gentlemen. However, vicar had to estimate the tithe amounts due from the harvest each year and to actually collect the income from parishioners. This was easier from those who came to the parish church regularly but necessitated a personal visit to those who rarely or never attended. To make life easier, Rev George Millard kept a detailed and comprehensive list of amounts due and received each year, and made notes of tenancies which had changed hands.
One difference between gentlemen and the clergy was that the nobility usually owned the land that provided them with an income but most vicars simply had use of the income during their tenure. of the benefice. It encouraged vicars to seek the wealthiest churches and to hold onto the incumbency until great old age or death. This may have applied to John Phillipps. There is little to suggest that he was actively preaching in Box (no texts, bible or religious reading matter) and we might assume that he relied extensively on his curate George Millard to minister to the congregation.
Lives of Charity School Students
A number of papers have been found under the floorboards of Springfield House written by the scholars. They mostly date from the end of the Georgian period in the early 1800s and are the only contemporary record by children of the work at the charity school.
Some were extracts from biblical works such as The Collects in the Book of Common Prayer; others were lists of spelling tests with words such as quotient, quintuple, and quiescent. Other pages appear to be a handwritten thesaurus with passages such as SASH a silk belt; or a window that lets up and down by pullies and Flue of a chimney. Some appear to be random meanderings: Sir, I heard Master Redman say that if he were to fling a stone then he might fetch a Oak Apple, then I did. Some of the work was to identify different spellings: Beer a malt liquor and Bier a frame for the dead.
A number of papers have been found under the floorboards of Springfield House written by the scholars. They mostly date from the end of the Georgian period in the early 1800s and are the only contemporary record by children of the work at the charity school.
Some were extracts from biblical works such as The Collects in the Book of Common Prayer; others were lists of spelling tests with words such as quotient, quintuple, and quiescent. Other pages appear to be a handwritten thesaurus with passages such as SASH a silk belt; or a window that lets up and down by pullies and Flue of a chimney. Some appear to be random meanderings: Sir, I heard Master Redman say that if he were to fling a stone then he might fetch a Oak Apple, then I did. Some of the work was to identify different spellings: Beer a malt liquor and Bier a frame for the dead.
Other texts were words needed in industry, including titles such as PROMISSORY NOTES a promissory note is a writing promising to pay a sum of money at a time mentioned. Many of these children were later indentured into a trade and they needed to have some understanding of business matters.
Some of the papers were drafts by children to fee-paying parents or guardians, used to help fund the charity children. One was by William Henry Kidd to his aunt in 1821: Dear Aunt, I have the pleasure of informing you that our midsummer vacation will commence on the 22nd of June when I hope to find you and Uncle in good health. Please to give my duty and love to my Uncle and accept the same yourself. Mr and Mrs Mullins (schoolteachers) present their compliments. Please to send me a new pair of shoes as soon as convenient. Dear Aunt from your affectionate nephew, WH Kidd. Poor William had three attempts to get the letter correct and ended up completely mixing up whether the letter was addressed to his uncle or aunt. It was eventually decided that the uncle should receive the letter as presumably he was the fee-payer.
Some of the papers were drafts by children to fee-paying parents or guardians, used to help fund the charity children. One was by William Henry Kidd to his aunt in 1821: Dear Aunt, I have the pleasure of informing you that our midsummer vacation will commence on the 22nd of June when I hope to find you and Uncle in good health. Please to give my duty and love to my Uncle and accept the same yourself. Mr and Mrs Mullins (schoolteachers) present their compliments. Please to send me a new pair of shoes as soon as convenient. Dear Aunt from your affectionate nephew, WH Kidd. Poor William had three attempts to get the letter correct and ended up completely mixing up whether the letter was addressed to his uncle or aunt. It was eventually decided that the uncle should receive the letter as presumably he was the fee-payer.
Conclusion
Perhaps John Phillipps had more in common with his contemporaries than he does with us. His outlook appears to be limited, perhaps by age as well as by circumstances in a world without electricity, limited in domestic heating and no internal plumbing. Reading by candle light is difficult and we might imagine that his evening pastime was sitting around the wood fire, in earnest conversation with friends and sharing a pipe of tobacco. More difficult was the absence of running water, needing a servant to collect drinking water every day and to dispose of night soil in the garden. It was a world where news was passed largely by word of mouth to the countryside and the vicar’s sermons from the pulpit became the main source of information. What held the society together was patronage, the chance of self-advancement through the support of another. John Phillipps’ father was a Gloucestershire wool merchant, comfortably-off but without social status. We might imagine that it was the Speke family who offered advancement to John, in the same way that he rewarded his successor, George Millard.
We get some insight into George Millard’s religious beliefs. Clearly, he introduced a new vigour into Box Church and he appears to have made church services more relaxed and enjoyable. Notwithstanding that the church had been expanded with a new aisle built about 1713, he reported that the congregation filled the church. The service comprised several discourses from my pulpit setting forth the necessity, unselfishness and advantage of Duty etc, the congregation were to sit down for the performance of the choir who for the most part stood.[6] One of his rare comments was his provision of butts (kneeler cushions) for the congregation to genuflect for prayer which is what he could never prevail upon his people to do before.[7]
It appears that John Phillipps operated a charity school in Box, but it was his successor George Millard who expanded the school with the ideas and initiative of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and, in so doing, advanced the significance of Box Church in the village.
Perhaps John Phillipps had more in common with his contemporaries than he does with us. His outlook appears to be limited, perhaps by age as well as by circumstances in a world without electricity, limited in domestic heating and no internal plumbing. Reading by candle light is difficult and we might imagine that his evening pastime was sitting around the wood fire, in earnest conversation with friends and sharing a pipe of tobacco. More difficult was the absence of running water, needing a servant to collect drinking water every day and to dispose of night soil in the garden. It was a world where news was passed largely by word of mouth to the countryside and the vicar’s sermons from the pulpit became the main source of information. What held the society together was patronage, the chance of self-advancement through the support of another. John Phillipps’ father was a Gloucestershire wool merchant, comfortably-off but without social status. We might imagine that it was the Speke family who offered advancement to John, in the same way that he rewarded his successor, George Millard.
We get some insight into George Millard’s religious beliefs. Clearly, he introduced a new vigour into Box Church and he appears to have made church services more relaxed and enjoyable. Notwithstanding that the church had been expanded with a new aisle built about 1713, he reported that the congregation filled the church. The service comprised several discourses from my pulpit setting forth the necessity, unselfishness and advantage of Duty etc, the congregation were to sit down for the performance of the choir who for the most part stood.[6] One of his rare comments was his provision of butts (kneeler cushions) for the congregation to genuflect for prayer which is what he could never prevail upon his people to do before.[7]
It appears that John Phillipps operated a charity school in Box, but it was his successor George Millard who expanded the school with the ideas and initiative of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and, in so doing, advanced the significance of Box Church in the village.
References
[1] See John Phillipps article
[2] John Ayers, A Christian and Useful Education, B Ed thesis, p.8
[3] Abstract of Correspondence of SPCK 1711, entry number 2589 quoted in John Ayers, A Christian and Useful Education, B Ed thesis, p.8-10
[4] John Ayers, A Christian and Useful Education, B Ed thesis, p.12
[5] Letter to SPCK, 30 May 1718
[6] Letter to SPCK, Mayday 1717, quoted by John Ayers, A Christian and Useful Education
[7] Abstract of Correspondence, SPCK, 17 April 1714
[1] See John Phillipps article
[2] John Ayers, A Christian and Useful Education, B Ed thesis, p.8
[3] Abstract of Correspondence of SPCK 1711, entry number 2589 quoted in John Ayers, A Christian and Useful Education, B Ed thesis, p.8-10
[4] John Ayers, A Christian and Useful Education, B Ed thesis, p.12
[5] Letter to SPCK, 30 May 1718
[6] Letter to SPCK, Mayday 1717, quoted by John Ayers, A Christian and Useful Education
[7] Abstract of Correspondence, SPCK, 17 April 1714