List of Curates and Rectors in Sharnbrook

Advowson

According to Volume III of Victoria County History, the church of Sharnbrook was granted to the abbey of St. Mary de Pré, Leicester, by Baldwin Triket in the reign of King John. Its value in 1291 was £13 6s. 8d., and at the Dissolution the vicarage was worth £7 9s. 8d. and the rectory £11. The advowson then passed to the Crown, with whom it remained until 1877, in which year Charles Magniac presented, having purchased the right under Lord Westmorland's Act of 1863. The present patron is Mr. Vernon Magniac. Edward Earl of Lincoln and others received a grant of Sharnbrook Rectory in 1577–8, which in 1586 had passed to Lord St. John of Bletsoe. Oliver Lord St. John died seised of the rectory and tithes in 1618. His son was still in possession in 1639, but between this date and 1669 alienated the rectory to Paul Cobbe, who held it at that date. In 1694 George Cobbe alienated to John Orlebar, whose family retained the rectory as late as 1734. By 1770 it had passed to William Gibbard, who died in 1800, when, with his other estates, it passed to John Gibbard his son, who was impropriator at the time of the inclosure of the parish, when the great tithes were commuted for 239 acres of land. 

At the dissolution of the chantries Sharnbrook Church had an endowment of 30d., due from rents in the parish, to supply an obit and lamp.

List of Rectors and Curates 

• Richard de Trippelawe - 1227 [subdeacon; patron Abbot & Convent of Leicester]
• William
• William - 1263 [priest; on death of William]
• John
• Bartholomew de Erpingham - 26 Jun 1274 [priest on death of John]
• Henry de Barisworth - 21 Dec 1275 [priest; on resignation of Bartholomew]
• Roger de Belgrave - 6 Nov 1282 [capellanus; on death of Henry]
• John de Dunstaple - 23 Jan 1304 [son of Roger de Ivingho; capellanus; on death of Roger]
• Roger de Excildesham - 21 Dec 1331 [priest; on profession of D.John in order of Friars Minors at Bedford]
• Thomas Alsey - 23 Oct 1346 [priest; on resignation of Roger de Hextildesham]
• William de Crouland - 4 Jul 1349 [priest; on death of D.Roger]
• John Byker - 22 Feb 1357 [Vicar of Stanstead Abbots [Hertfordshire], on exchange with William Croyland]
• D.William Fyschere
• John Spaldewyk - 13 Aug 1408 [capellanus; on resignation of D.William Fyschere, exchanged to St.Benedict's Rectory, Huntingdon]
• D.John Waterson
• John Beauchamp - 26 Mar 1421 [priest; on resignation of D.John Waterson]
• D.William Fetell - 13 May 1440 [priest; on resignation of D.John Beauchamp]
• William Harvy - 8 Feb 1441 [priest; on resignation of D.William Fetell]
• Thomas Rye - 14 Feb 1442 [priest; on resignation of D.William Harvy, exchanged to Vicarage of Little Houghton [Northamptonshire]
• William Lowkyn - 18 Jan 1452 [priest; on resignation of Thomas Rye]
• D.Thomas Freston - 28 Aug 1453 [capellanus; on resignation of D.William Lowkyn]
• D.Robert Richardson - 8 Nov 1469 [priest; on resignation of D.Thomas Fryston]
• D.Robert Hochekyns - 12 Nov 1472 [on resignation of D.Robert Richardson]
• D.William Hawman - 1476
• D.John Browne - 26 Jan 1479 [on death of William Hauman]
• D.William Cowper;- M.Edward Exmew - 8 Jun 1483 [on death of D.William Cowper]
• D.Richard Skevyngton
• D.William Galfeld - 8 Oct 1486 [on resignation of D.Richard Skevyngton]
• D.William Lenton - 22 Apr 1494 [capellanus; on death of D.William Galbold]
• M.William Dawes - 31 Aug 1526 "Maguster Grammaticus"; on death of M.William Lenton]
• D.William Maudar - 6 Jul 1528 [capellanus; on death of D.William Dawis]
• D.William Baily - 21 Feb 1531 [capellanus; on death of last incumbent; patron Henry Parker, one of the gentlemen of the King's Chamber, by grant from Abbot & Convent of Leicester]
• D.John Wodewarde - 17 Oct 1537 [capellanus; on death of D.William Baylye]
• D.Robert White - 8 Apr 1546 [clerk; on resignation of D.John Wodewarde; patron Henry VIII]
• William Harrison - 4 May 1552
• Robert Hensonne - 10 Mar 1569 [clerk; on death of last Vicar; patron Elizabeth I]
• Cuthbert Sheperde - 19 Feb 1572 [clerk; prsented on death of last incumbent on petition of Mr.Deringe; value 8]
• Richard Cosyn - 4 Feb 1577 [clerk; prsented on resignation of last incumbent; presented on petition of Sir James Croftes]
• Richard Clough - 1596
• Thomas Whitby MA - 16 Apr 1601 [of Magdalene College, Oxford; on resignation of Richard Clough; patron Elizabeth I]
• Hugh Bradley MA - 15 Jul 1608 [on resignation of last incumbent; presented by Keeper of the Great Seal]
• Thomas Kay AM - 16 Oct 1612; presented by Keeper of the Great Seal on recommendation of Lord Evers, president of wales; value 8]
• John Cheney - 1613 [witness to will of Sybil St.John at this date]
• Thomas Moore - 23 Jul 1613 [on resignation of last incumbent; patron James I]
• William Herret BA - 22 Oct 1618 [buried 26 Mar 1638]
• Alexander Bolton - 1633 [clerk; buried 18 Jul 1677]
• William Tiffin MA - 8 Nov 1677 [ordained priest on 23 Sep 1677 by Joseph Henshaw, Bishop of Peterborough; patron Charles II; buried 11 Apr 1706]
• John Bolton Ab - 25 Apr 1706 [on death of last incumbent; patron Queen Anne; value 8; buried 19 Jan 1738]
• Arthur Bedford BA - 1 Feb 1739 [Christs College, Cambridge; on death of John Bolton; patron George II; married Temperance [died 1742 aged 26], only child of Rev. Vere John Alston, Rector of Odell by whom he had 2 daughters, Temperance, wife of Rev. Daniel Shipton, Rector of Wavendon [Buckinghamshire] and Anne, wife of John Kent; died 1 Apr 1766 and buried at Sharnbrook]
• John Gibberd MA - 22 Apr 1766 [on death of Arthur Bedford; patron George III; died 23 Oct 1796, aged 68]
• William Peirse Nethersole - 8 Dec 1796 [clerk; on death of John Gibberd]
• John Whitehouse - 31 Jul 1799 [clerk; on cess. of William Peirse Nethersole; of St.John's College, Cambridge; native of Bedford; resigned the living for Orlingbury [Northamptonshire]; also rector of Armthorpe [Yorkshire]; chaplain to Duke of York; died 1 Oct 1824 at Ramsgate [Kent] where he was buried; married Elizabeth Susanna Frederica, Countess of Wartensleben, widow of Joseph Ewart, esquire; she died at Orlingbury in 1817 aged 54]
• Thomas Watson Ward - 9 May 1801 [clerk; on cess. of John Whitehouse; died 30 May 1825, aged 63]
• John Balfour Magennis MA - 7 Dec 1825 [St.John's College, Cambridge; on death of Thomas Watson Ward; resigned 29 May 1844]
• George Thornton MA - 19 Jul 1844 [Trinity College, Cambridge; on resignation of John Balfour Magennis; patron Queen Victoria]
• Henry Bliss Wilkinson - 1877 [patron Charles Magniac]
• Bickerton Cross Edwards - Jul 1909
• Nixon Chetwode Ram - Jul 1913
• George Goodenough Elton - Oct 1917
• Harry Coate - Jul 1919
• Leonard Wilcher Wright - Dec 1927
• Charles Edgar Howlett - Oct 1932
• Roger Lewis Roberts - Oct 1949
• Harry Legg Clothier - 1955
• Stanley Peart Hutton - 1969
• Harold Desmond Jones - 1980
• Roy Oswald Hubbard - 1990
• Ian W.Arthur - 1996

NOTE: D = "Dominus" meaning Lord and M = "Magister" meaning Master

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 Sharnbrook Church  was made by the incumbent who noted the following pieces of information:

• 60 free seats, 124 other seats and 45 children's sittings 
• General congregation: 64 in the morning and 140 in the afternoon. 
• Sunday scholars: 102 in the morning and 103 in the afternoon.