List of Rectors and Vicars of Haynes

Advowson 

Volume III of The Victoria County History for Bedfordshire was published in 1912. It noted that the church of Haynes is first mentioned in 1150, when it was given by Pain and Rose de Beauchamp to the priory of Chicksands on the occasion of the foundation of the latter. The gift was confirmed by William, their grandson, in the thirteenth century, and the church remained the property of the priory until the Dissolution. The vicarage was constituted before 1235 and appropriated to Chicksands Priory; it was then worth 4 marks, and the whole church 12 marks (£8); the prior had to provide a toft for the vicar, and to sustain all the charges of the church, while the vicar had to pay the prior 15s. About 1291 the church was worth £6 13s. 4d. apart from the pension of the prior, which was £1 6s. 8d., while the 15s. from the vicarage was still paid. The total value of the church in 1535 was again £8, so that the value remained the same during the whole period of 300 years. After the dissolution of Chicksands Priory the advowson, with the rectorial tithes, was granted by the king to William Ardern, who had apparently had the lease of them in 1535, for in that year he interfered on behalf of Mr. Franklin, the parson of Haynes, who was cited by the bishop of Lincoln before his chancellor. William Ardern trusted the articles against Franklin would be found untrue 'for the parsonage is well and sufficiently reparelld, and in the same hospitality kept, and a priest to serve the cure.' In 1544 Henry Audeley and John Maynard received a grant of the vicarage and tithes, but by 1587 they were the property of Edward Snowe, who in that year alienated them to Peter Osborn and his heirs. The advowson of the vicarage since that date has remained the right of the Osborn family, and has followed the descent of Chicksands manor, being vested at the present day in Sir Algernon K. B. Osborn, bart. The value of the vicarage in 1605 had not increased since 1235, but was still £8. Thomas Brightman, the author of a thesis on the Book of Revelation, was then the vicar; his work attracted much attention in the reigns of Elizabeth and James. In 1641 Sir Peter Osborn brought an action against Thomas Joyce, the parson of Haynes, and the latter was ordered by the House of Lords to produce his presentation and induction to the rectory. He apparently was deprived of the living and compounded in December, 1646, under the Oxford Articles for delinquency, as he had gone to Oxford and joined the king. In March, 1647, he was subjected to the Decimation Tax and paid £28. In the meantime another rector, John Bird, who had been inducted, proved unsatisfactory, and the rectory was sequestered from him in 1645 on account of misdemeanours certified against him. His successor, Mr. Tutty, left the next year for want of maintenance. 

The Advowson of the vicarage has remained in the Osborn family since the death of Sir Danvers Osborn in 1984, his heir gave up the patronage, now vested in the Bishop.

List of Rectors and Vicars 

• Olavus - c.1150
• Henry
• William le Venur - 5 Dec 1274 [priest; on death of Henry; patron Prior & Convent of Chicksands]
• William de Axiholm
• Godemannus - 31 Jan 1278 [priest; on death of William de Axiholm]
• Simon de Bedeford - 20 Jan 1289 [capellanus; on death of Godemannus]
• John de Chikesaunden - 1 Apr 1314 [capellanus; on death of Simon]
• Edmund Cotenham - 8 Jun 1349 [priest; on death of D.John]
• Roger de Goldyngton - 6 Feb 1349 [priest; on resignation of D.Edmund]
• Robert de Scufton - 11 Jul 1352 [priest; on resignation of Roger de Goldyngton, exchanged to be Rector of Tingrith]
• Thomas Pymme of Cumpton atte Wynrath [Compton Wynyates [Warwickshire]?] - 11 Apr 1356 [priest; on resignation of Robert]
• William Taillour of Tourueye [Turvey] - 6 Nov 1375 [priest; on death of D.Thomas Cumpton]
• D.Richard Breton
• D.William Broune - 4 Sep 1435 [capellans; on resignation of D.Richard Breton]
• D.Hugh Gilibrond - 22 Apr 1469 [priest; on death of D.William Brown]
• D.Robert Wolaston - 20 Dec 1470 [priest; on resignation of D.Hugh Gelybrond]
• D.Henry Conquest - 15 Jun 1479 [on resignation of D.Richard Wullaston, last Vicar]
• D.Alexander Robynson - 16 Feb 1503 [priest; on death of D.Henry Conquest]
• D.Gilbert Holand - 1514 [capellanus; on resignation of D.Alexander Robynson]
• D.Thomas Burley - 6 Aug 1515 [capellanus; on death of D.Gilbert Holland]
• D.Thomas Baxter - 1526, 1534 [noted as being Vicar at these dates]
• D.Thomas Crosdale - 1 Jul 1544 [clerk; vacant; patron Sir John gascoigne, son, heir and executor of Sir William Gascoigne by grant to Sir William from late Prior & Convent of dissolved Priory of Chicksands]
• Henry Pike BA - 1568 [on death of Thomas Crasdaile; patron Daniel Snowe of Chicksands, esquire]
• Thomas Brightman BD - 1592 [patron Mr.Osborne; died 21 Aug 1607; BA from Queen's College, cambridge in 1580, MA in 1584, Bd in 1591; Biblical commentator with reference in Dictionary of National Biography]
• Christopher Wilson - 1607 [minister; buried 30 Sep 1624; will proved 1 Jan 1625]
• Walsingham Shirley MA - 1626 [buried 15 Jun 1637; will proved 6 Jul 1637; to be buried in chancel; married Constance Grubb at haynes on 5 Feb 1623]
• Thomas Joyce MA - 26 Sep 1637 [on death of Walsingham Shirley; married Beatrice Bigg of Shillington on 16 Apr 1640]
• John Bird - 19 Aug 1645 [sequestered at this date; also Rector of Bayleham [Suffolk]]
• William Tutty MA - 7 Feb 1645 [Rector of Totteridge [Hertfordshire] and Minister to the Assembly; intruded]
• Edward Gibson - 22 Apr 1690  [minister; died on this date, buried 25 Apr 1690 aged 73]
• Edward Gibson MA - 10 Dec 1690 [on death of Edward Gibson; patron Sir John Osborne, bart; died 11 May 1732, aged 71]
• Thomas Osborn LLD - 23 Oct 1732 [on death of Edward Gibson; patron Sir Danvers Osborn, bart]
• John Gay MA - 5 Apr 1739 [on cess. of Thomas Osborn; patron Sir Danvers Osborn; dispensation dated 1 Mar 1739 to hold Wilshamstead with Haynes]
• William Fuller Bedford - 4 Oct 1745 [clerk; on death of John Gay; patron Sir Danvers Osborn]
• Francis Sawyer Paris BD - 9 Mar 1746 [on cess. of William Fuller Bedford; patron Sir Danvers Osborn]
• John Lawson - 30 Sep 1747 [clerk; licenced curate])
• Robert Hagar MA - 7 Jun 1760 [on death of Francis Sawyer; patron Sir George Osborn, bart; died 15 Oct 1780 aged 53]
• Thomas Bedford MA - 5 Mar 1781 [on death of Robert Hagar; patron Sir George Osborn; died 29 May 1793, aged 53]
• Anthony Dauvert MA - 2 Aug 1793 [on death of Thomas Bedford; patron Sir George Osborn]
• William Pulley MA - 28 Apr 1815 [on death of Anthony Dauvert; patron Sir George Osborn]
• Brook Edward Bridges MA - 28 Jun 1843 [on death of William Pulley; patron Sir John Osborn, bart of Chicksands Priory]
• Henry Aldrich Cotton MA - 21 Dec 1869 [on death of Brook Edward Bridges; patron Sir George Robert Osborn]
• Robert Burton Carson - 21 Jun 1888 [instituted at this date]
• William Charles Browne - Jun 1895
• Eric Charles Whitworth - Jun 1923
• Francis Cecil Cox - Jan 1927
• Eric Arthur Quin - 1970
• Margaret J.Venables - 1997

NOTE: D = "Dominus" meaning Lord

Visitations

Volume 81 published by the Bedfordshire Historical Records Society (2002) is devoted to returns made during episcopal visitations to the county by the Bishop of Lincoln in the early 18th century, edited by former County Archivist Patricia Bell. It throws some interesting light on non-residency and the general state of the church in the parish. At this date it was common for a rector or vicar to not live in the parish he nominally served, often because he had more than one, and so employed a curate to undertake their parochial duties for him. The returns for Haynes are as follows:

• 1712: "The Vicar resides in the vicarege house. Divine service twice every Lord's day, except in the Winter Quarter, when the Vicar cannot come back time enough from Warden."
• 1717: "None who come to the Parish Church unbaptized. Publick service read in the Church twice every Lord's Day."
• 1720: "I catechize chiefly in Lent. We have but few Parsons qualified for this duty in so small a parish." 

Ecclesiastical Census

On Sunday 30th March 1851 a census of all churches, chapels and preaching-houses of every denomination was undertaken in England and Wales. The local results were published by Bedfordshire Historical Records Society in 1975 as Volume 54, edited by D. W. Bushby. The return for Haynes church noted the following pieces of information:

• Sittings: 400
• General congregation: 102 in the morning (only room for a limited number)
• The church has been under repair since August. In its former state it accommodated about 270, it will accommodate about 400. Meanwhile, the schoolroom has been used unstead.