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Comments, complaints, broken links, disappointed hopes - please contact the caretaker. 31/07/2009 |
Notes on the History of Ordsall Parish - 4 R.F. Wilkinson, Rector of Ordsall 1925-1941. From the pages of Ordsall Parish magazine. [History index] [Wilkinson index] [Previous] [Next] 4) Parish Clerks 1687 William Hemsworth 1717 Stephen Hemsworth 1757 Stephen Hemsworth 1758 John Bellamy 1776 Stephen Hemsworth 1826 Stephen Hemsworth 1865 Robert Steads 1870 Robert Hemsworth 1909 Joseph White 1929 George Brett It is interesting to note that the ancient office of Parish Clerk remained so long in one family. Many stories are told about the clerks in old days. The appointment was formerly made for life, and the parish clerk was just as secure in his rights as the parson. In the Vestry Minute Book we find that when Rev. Thomas King held his first Easter Vestry in 1842, “It was resolved that the salary paid to Stephen Hemsworth be £7 a year, for ringing the bell £2, and for washing the surplice 10/- extra.” There was no choir in those days, and only one surplice. The Clerk had his pew close to the clergy-desk, and led the responses for the people. After the Restoration in 1877 he sat at the back of the Church, with a long wand, which he used on any offending boy in Church. In former days a clerk had “had to be known of honest conversation, and sufficient for his reading, writing and also for his competent skill in singing, if it may be.” The Clerks very often kept the registers or put down names in a book, which were entered in the proper registers later on.
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