Previous Rectors

1291 John de Ecclesia. 1299 John Augustin de London, John de Albini, 1315 Simon de Lausell, Hugh de Babington, 1323 William de Montesfunte, 1323 Nicholas de Ficton, 1324 Robert Belde, 1329 Walter Wheston de Stratford, 1338-9 John Fitz-Adam Cissoris, 1340 Peter – John Lorkin, 1381 Robert Tolthorpe, 1383 Thomas Thokes, 1394 Thomas Fort, 1400 Thomas Goche, 1400 John Preston, 1406 Henry Dyryk, Walter Euston alias Boydon, 1448-9 Robert Burton, 1459 John Andever, 1480-1 William London, 1482 Walter Newton, 1482 Robert Warying, 1484-5 Robert Warde, John Best, 1502 Richard Wyllys, 1523 John Fayrwall, 1537 Thomas Collys, 1537 Thomas Ippeswell, 1543 Richard Gele or Gyle, 1553-4 John Lewis or Ledwys, Alexander Inglish, 1571 John Baron, William Stanninought, 1581-2 John Ryder, William Stere, 1604-5 Edward Elton, 1624 Thomas Paske (see notes), Jeremiah Whitaker (from 1644? see notes), William Whitaker (see notes), 1654 Richard Parr (see notes),1682 Alexander Forbes, 1696 Stephen Heath, 1723 William Tasswell (see notes), 1741 John Paget (see notes), 1744-5 Peter Pinnel, 1777 Thomas Hambly, 1802 Henry Cox Mason, 1804 Charles Hughes, 1812 William Peyler, 1814 Andrew Kersteman, 1827 John Edgar Gibson, 1859 William Duncan Long, 1865 Lewin Tugwell, 1879 Charles d’Aguilar Lawrence, 1890 Gerrard Duke Wyatt, 1896 Henry Lewis, 1914 Frank Hay Gillingham, 1923 Arthur Sinker, 1937 Sidney John Delightm 1939 Leslie Gravatt Fisher, 1947 Albert James Adams, 1956 Geoffrey Thomas Gray, 1959 Frank Seymour Skelton – a former night fighter nagivator (DSO, DFC) in WWII (read his obituary here), 1969 Mervyn Raynold Alwyn Wilson, 1978 Timothy G A Wooderson, 1993 Jolyon A Bradshaw, 2002 Charles D Moore

Notes

William Tasswell (1723) may also be spelt William Taswell. According to Internet Archives ‘Old Southwark and it’s people’: “William Browning, a fellmonger, purchases a limited advowson of the Rectory, and presents William Taswell, D.D., who occupies, perhaps as (what is vulgarly called) a warming-pan, from 1723 to 1726-7, and then resigns. The son of the patron-purchaser, the Reverend W. Browning, M.A., is now presented, and continues to be the minister until his death, 1740. Mr. Browning appears to think that he has not as yet had money’s worth, and so he presents John Paget, M.A.; a lawsuit ensues, and as Mr. Browning has exceeded his time, his nominee, or clerk, as he is called, is in due course ejected.”  For more on William Browning see the memorials page.

Thomas Paske, the Whitakers and Richard Parr WikiSource says that Jeremiah Whitaker succeeded Thomas Paske in 1644; he served until his death on  1 June 1654, and was buried in the chancel.  The same source says that William Whitaker (son of Jeremiah Whitaker) succeeded his father as rector in 1654, which is at odds with Richard Parr (above). Possibly this confusion came about because 1654 was the year that Richard Parr became vicar of nearby Camberwell.

The same link says that: “The circumstances of the succeeding incumbency are not clear. We are told, on the one hand, that William Whitaker, the son of Jeremiah, was appointed to succeed his father in 1654 ; on the other, that the Rev. Dr. Parr, chaplain to Archbishop Usher, received the vacant benefice.  Mr. Phillips [see below], in his list of the Rectors of Bermondsey, does not include William Whitaker, but represents Dr. Parr as filling the office from 1654 till his resignation in 1682. He does, however, say elsewhere that William Whitaker was ejected at the Restoration”.

Dr. Rendle’s account of this divine is as follows: “William, called in 1654 to succeed his father as Rector of Bermondsey, was a minister indeed ; skilled in languages – Greek, Latin, and Oriental; fit to be a tutor at his college, i.e., Emmanuel, at Cambridge; a peacemaker, whose pride it was to settle disputes, and leave no rancour behind; just the man, making a conscience of his work, to be ejected. So in 1662 he was no longer Rector of Bermondsey.”

However, British History gives some interesting and conflicting details of Thomas Paske and his successors: “In 1624 the patronage was exercised by Samuel Paske, citizen and merchant tailor of London, probably for one turn. He appointed Thomas Paske, D.D., master of Clare College, Cambridge.  In 1642 the churchwardens and parishioners petitioned the House of Lords because this Thomas, their rector, had not preached even once a year and had otherwise done nothing to provide preaching or reading in the church or to supply a dwelling for a curate. The expense of such arrangements had fallen on the petitioners. They had lately bought the next presentation to the living and they prayed for a confirmation of their elect.  In the following year a draft order of the House directed the sequestration of Dr. Paske, a non-resident minister and a teacher of heretical doctrines, in order that the parishioners might maintain their own minister. Paske, whose Arminian opinions were as obnoxious as his negligence, was ejected accordingly in this year, and the parishioners appointed in his stead Jeremiah Whitaker, an eminent Orientalist, member of the Westminster Assembly, who held the benefice until his death in 1654 and was buried in the chancel of the church. He was succeeded by another distinguished theologian, Dr. Richard Parr, who resigned the living in 1682.”

This is a link to an on-line copy of “The history and antiquities of the parish of Bermondsey” By G. W. Phillips, 1841, referred to above.

It would seem that William Whitaker succeeded his father as rector in 1654 and remained in post until 1662, being then succeeded by Richard Parr. If you can confirm the exact situation here, or add details of any other rector of this parish, please contact the webmaster.