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A Man of ‘Unquiet Spirit’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2016
Extract
In a recent work on English Catholic recusants the author describes ‘a small wave of conversions to Catholicism’ drawn from a wide spectrum of English Protestantism that began late in the reign of Charles II and increased in size after the accession of James II. One of the groups mentioned was a number of High Church Anglicans. My intention is to study one member of this group, the clergyman Mordaunt Webster whose career was centered primarily in the ‘enthusiastically Protestant region of East Anglia.’ Born in the village of Aldwinckle St. Peter, Northants, in 1637, he was the son of John Webster, rector of the local church, who during the Civil War served with the Royalist army and was ejected by Parliament from his Northamptonshire living and from another in Rutland.
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- Copyright © Catholic Record Society 1984
References
Notes
I wish to thank Rev. W. G. Bridge, Vicar of All Saints, King's Lynn for his kindness in providing me with much information from the records of All Saints Church and with other valuable material pertaining to this article. I am also grateful to Mr. Terence O'Rourke of Wroxham, Norfolk who did extensive research for me at the Norfolk Record Office.
1 Aveling, J. C. H., The Handle and the Axe, The Catholic Recusants in England from the Reformation to Emancipation (1976), p. 230.Google Scholar
2 John, Bossy, The English Catholic Community, 1570–1850 (1976), p. 101.Google Scholar The author of the most recent work on Catholicism under Charles II and James II has found ten Anglican clergyman who became converts to Catholicism in the reign of James II. Miller, p. 240.
3 Venn, Part I, IV, 356; see also Matthews, A. G. ed., Walker Revised (1956), pp. 286.Google Scholar
4 G. L. London, Bishop’s Register MS 9531/13 f. 106, Venn, Part I, IV, 356.
5 The Register Book of the Parish of St. Nicholas Acon’S, 1539–1812. Transcribed by William Briggs, B.A. (1890), p. 33.
6 G.L. MS 9583/2 part 1, Bill of presentment by the churchwardens of the parish church of St. Nicholas Aeon’s at the primary visitation of Humphrey Bishop of London, 4 May 1665.
7 G.L. MS 9583/2 part 1, Bills of presentment for the churches of St. Martin Orgar, St. Anne Blackfriars and St. Mary Le Bow. By Act of Parliament in 1529 clergymen, with numerous exceptions, were required to live on their benefices at least ten months a year. 21 Henry VIII c.13.
8 P.R.O. S.P. 29/193, f. 11.
9 P.R.O. S.P. 44/19, p. 57.
10 N.R.O. Dean and Cathedral Chapter Book iii, f. 75.
11 N.R.O. S.M.C, parish register, A.S. C. parish register
12 Tanner 44, f. 11.
13 A.S.C, parish register. A description of the dispute between the Corporation of King’s Lynn and the parish of South Lynn is given in Hillen, H. J., History of King’s Lynn (1978), i., 409–10, 421–2.Google Scholar
14 This information concerning the parish of St. Margaret’s King’s Lynn is given by the Dean and Chapter of Norwich, Tanner 134, ff. 219, 133. The Corporation of King’s Lynn, in their subsequent controversy with Webster and the Dean and Chapter of Norwich, do not dispute the Chapter on the points given above. See the Corporation’s petition to Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury, Tanner 134, f. 146.
15 That Webster’s later discontent with the Corporation was partly based on financial considerations is shown by the fact that he claimed that the Corporation had originally offered £60 a year for his service as a preacher. L.P.L. Court of Arches, Commissions in partibus Bbb. 237.
16 See Robinson’s letter in defence of Webster’s conduct as Curate of St. Margaret’s. Tanner 134, f. 212; Freemen of Lynn, p. 180.
17 Blomefield (1775 edition), iv, 628. The silver plate and flagons still remain in All Saints Church.
18 The earliest record of this dispute occurs on 9 December 1670. There are further references to the case and the proceedings for Webster’s dismissal in the Court of Arches down to 29 August 1671: N.R.O., Borough Hall Book, King’s Lynn.
19 Undated petition of the Corporation of King’s Lynn, Tanner 134, f, 146.
20 Tanner 134, ff. 182, 97.
21 Tanner 134, f. 99.
22 On 5 August 1671 the Corporation asked the Chapter 40 leave Mr. Webster to his vicarage at South Lynn and to assign us two curates (according to the ancient usage of the Chapter) who may discharge the duties of both churches’ [St. Margaret’s and Nicholas]: Tanner 134 f. 182. The Churchwardens of St. Nicholas Chapel on 5 August 1671 also charged that Webster had failed to perform divine service in their church for the past year. Tanner 133, f. 119.
23 The Chapter offered their services to the Corporation as intermediaries in the dispute and warned them that they might find a settlement in the Court of Arches ‘troublesome and chargeable.’ Tanner 134, f. 146.
24 The other three signatories were Percival Harwick, a woollen draper, William Basset, a physician, and Henry Chennery, a mercer who became Mayor of King’s Lynn in 1682. Freemen of Lynn, pp. 161, 172, 179, 193, 199.
25 Tanner 134, f. 212.
26 L.P.L. Court of Arches, Commissions in partibus Bbb 237/3.
27 Tanner 134, f. 129.
28 Tanner 134, f. 235.
29 L.P.L. Court of Arches, Commissions in partibus Bbb/237/3.
30 Freemen of Lynn, p. 171.
31 L.P.L. Court of Arches, Commissions in partibus Bbb/237/3.
32 The views of the Chapter of these points are stated in two undated letters written probably in November 1671 by the Dean and Chapter of Norwich, one to the Corporation of King’s Lynn and the other to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Tanner 134, ff. 132, 133.
33 Tanner 134, f. 216. Edward Reynolds, Bishop of Norwich, 1660–1676 was a former Presbyterian who conformed to the Church of England at the Restoration. As Bishop, he was noted for his leniency towards Dissenters and would probably have been inclined to sympathize with the Corporation of King’s Lynn in their conflict with Webster D.N.B., 16, p. 927.
34 Freemen of Lynn, p. 168.
35 Tanner 134, f. 217.
36 Tanner 134, f. 40.
37 Webster was probably suspended by the Court of Arches in 1672 because the church records show that he was replaced by Richard Salter as Vicar in 1672. But the records also indicate that he was not permanently removed until 1675, when Samuel Kendall became Vicar N.R.O. S.M.C. Parish register.
38 Tanner 285, f. 169.
39 Venn, iv, 31. A.S.C. Parish register.
40 Tanner 306, f. 396.
41 Hubert, Chadwick, St. Omer’S to Stonyhurst (1961), pp. 186–7.Google Scholar
42 Tanner 306, f. 396.
43 Tanner 137, f. 58.
44 Tanner 134, f. 58.
45 Tanner 134, f. 58.
46 Tanner 134, f. 25.
47 Tanner 134, ff. 26, 92.
48 Scott continued to serve as Vicar of All Saints until 1688. A.S.C. Baptism and burial register.
49 Tanner 138, f. 32 Tanner 29, f. 66.
50 Tanner 138, f. 65.
51 D.N.B. 14, pp. 1,269–1,271; 13, pp 713–717.
52 Tanner 138, f. 65.
53 Tanner 138, f. 52.
54 Tanner 138, f. 52. In the seventeenth century there appears to have been a partition made of boards shutting the chancel and east end of the church from the view of the congregation. William, Taylor, Antiquities of King’s Lynn (1844), p. 105.Google Scholar
55 Tanner 138, f. 52.
56 P.R.O. S.P. 44/37, ff. 205–7. On the same day Clement Scott and several other fellows and scholars of colleges at the University of Cambridge were granted dispensations to enjoy their preferments without taking the Oath of Allegience and Supremacy. P.R.O. S.P. 44/337, ff. 210–16.
57 The establishment of these schools is described in Beales, A.C.F.. Education under Penalty. English Catholic Education from the Reformation to the Fall of James II (1963), pp. 232–71.Google Scholar See also Miller, pp. 248–9.
58 Prideaux, p. 24. The author of this work was probably Thomas Birch who based it upon information supplied by Prideaux’s son, Edmund: D.N.B. 16, p. 354. There is a pamphlet written by an anonymous author (probably Humphrey Prideaux, prebendary of Norwich Cathedral) entitled A Short Defence of the Orders of the Church of England by a Presbyter of the Diocese of Norwich Against some Scattered Objections of Mr. Webster of Lynn. London, 1688.
59 N.R.O. Norwich Assembly Book of Proceedings 9 May 1687, ff. 132–133, 134. The Catholic Chapel was opened on 11 December 1687. Blomefield, 3, p. 423; John, Evans, Seventeenth Century Norwich (1979), p. 311.Google Scholar On 6 February 1687, two months prior to the Declaration of Indulgence, Lloyd informed Sancroft that Catholics were holding frequent meetings in Norwich and were refusing to submit to the Penal Laws. Tanner 29, f. 133.
60 Tanner 29, ff. 73, 66.
61 Tanner 29, f. 55; Prideaux, p. 24.
62 According to John Sharp, Webster claimed that Lloyd had agreed to let him speak since Lloyd had consented to allow him to bring a notary to write down his words. Tanner 29, f. 68. Lloyd and his supporters, however, allege that Webster deliberately broke his agreement and seized the opportunity to turn the meeting into a verbal confrontation. There is no way of determining with certainty whether this charge is true. It may be that there was a genuine misunderstanding concerning the agreement between Webster and Lloyd prior to the meeting.
63 The accounts of this conference by Prideaux and Sharp were sent to Sancroft by Lloyd on 2 September 1687. Tanner 29, ff. 55, 68, 73.
64 Tanner 29, f. 73.
65 Tanner 28, f. 304.
66 Jones, J. R., The Revolution of 1688 in England (1973), p. 301.Google Scholar Even before the Revolution, in October 1688, the Duke of Norfolk reported disorders at the Catholic chapel in Norwich by a mob which he estimated to be 1,000 in number. P.R.O. S.P. 31/4, f. 35.
67 Robert, Masters, History of the College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Cambridge (1753), p. 166.Google Scholar Venn, Part 1, iv. 31.
68 Prideaux, p. 24.
69 Tanner 285, f. 169.
70 L.P.L, Court of Arches, Eee 33 ff. 708–9. This case occurred in May 1671. In the same year Webster sued Chrisopher Reeves in the Court of Arches over the will of Thomas Reeves his father. L.P.L. Court of Arches. All. Possibly the case involved a bequest to one of the churches of which Webster was minister.
71 Tanner 285, f. 169.
72 Throughout most of his tenure at All Saints Webster called the annual vestry meeting regularly and kept well-written orderly minutes of the meetings. At the last one over which he presided on 6 April 1686, provision was made for the education of poor children, pensions were given to seven poor people and a rate levied for repair of the Church. A.S.C. Parish Register. It is also worth noting that in the Visitation General Books at the N.R.O. for the Lynn Deaneries there is no comment concerning him either as Vicar of All Saints or Curate of St. Margaret’s, other than ‘omnia bene.’
73 Gaius, Glen Atkins, Life of Cardinal Newman (1931), p. 125.Google Scholar