HEREDITARY CLERKS AND SEXTONS.
There are many instances in Worcestershire of the offices of sexton and clerk having been held as hereditary ones for very lengthened periods. At Feckenham, the late Mr. David Clarkson (literally, the clerk's son), who died in March, 1854, after having been a model clerk for many years, could boast of his ancestors having occupied the same office for two centuries. He served in his youth as drum-major in the artillery, and when he succeeded his father in the clerkship, became the tutor of choir after choir, and was the founder of that celebrity which has long attached to the Feckenham singers. He was also leader of the ringers. His death took place in his 79th year, and he was greatly respected.—The late clerk of Wolverley, Thomas Worrall (whose father had been thirty years clerk, and to whose memory some curious verses are inscribed on a stone in the churchyard), was himself clerk forty-eight years, schoolmaster for thirty-three, and registrar for a long period, besides being leader of the choir and ringers. He was never absent from his duties at church but twice!—The Field family have been connected with the clerkship and beadledom of Kingsnorton for upwards of two centuries. Two of them alone held it for one hundred and two years! The last of the race, I think, died in 1818. The Fields were an ancient family in that parish, for there is an indenture in existence between William Wyllington and John Field of Kingsnorton, dated the 30th year of Henry VIII.—The family of the Roses has provided the church of Bromsgrove with clerks and sextons time out of mind; and at Belbroughton the Osbornes have done the same thing. One of this family was clerk till a very recent period. It appears, also, that the Osbornes had been tailors from very remote time, and the late clerk had several brothers who followed that very useful avocation. From a letter of Mr. Tristram (then the patron of Belbroughton) to Bishop Lyttelton, the Osbornes were tailors in the reign of Henry VIII, but they can trace their descent much higher, having been lineally descended from William Fitz-Osborne, who about seven centuries ago unjustly deprived Ralf Fitz-Herbert of his right to the manor of Bellem, in the above parish.—At Oldswinford, on December 28th, 1855, died Charles Orford, aged seventy-three; he had been parish sexton from his youth, having succeeded his father in that capacity, and leaving a son to follow.—The office of clerk at St. Michael's, Worcester, has been in the family of Bond for nearly a century.—John Tustin, the present clerk and sexton of Broadway church, has held those offices fifty-two years, and his father and grandfather also held them.
THE REV. DR. LEE.
The mansion of Glasshampton, in the parish of Astley, was some years ago totally destroyed by fire. The Rev. D. J. J. Cookes, on coming into possession of the property, enlarged, repaired, and beautified the family seat. When the work was nearly completed, a dinner was given to the workmen in the mansion; but one tipsy fellow among them let fall the contents of his pipe upon some shavings, and the place was soon in a blaze. The entire edifice was destroyed, but among the furniture saved was an organ built by Green, the favourite artist of George III; it was afterwards sold to the parish of St. Nicholas, Worcester, and may be still heard in the church of that parish. Disastrous as was the Glasshampton fire, it nevertheless was an auspicious event for genius and literature, by bringing into notice that remarkable man, the Rev. Dr. Lee, late Professor of Arabic and then of Hebrew in the University of Cambridge. At the time of the fire he was employed as a carpenter in the mansion. The loss of his chest of tools and most of his books in the fire compelled him to solicit pecuniary help towards the purchase of another set. This circumstance led to such a development of his character and attainments, as resulted in his acquaintance with the late Archdeacon Corbett, and his matriculation and career at Cambridge.
THE MARTYR RIDLEY.
In Redmarley church is an inscription to one George Shipside, as follows:
"All flesh is grasse worme's meat and clay, and here it hath short time to live,
For proofe whereof both night and day all mortall wights ensamples give.
Beneath this stone fast closde in clay doth sleepe the corpes of George Shipside,
Wch. Christ shal rayse on ye last day and then with him be glorifide.
Whose sovle now lives assvredly in heaven with Christ ovr Saviovr
In perfect peace most ioyfvlly with Gods elect for evermore.
Obit die De'bris An. D'ni 1609, Ac An. Ætatis svæ 84. Ecce quid eris."
This is believed to be the George Shipside whose wife was sister to the martyr, Bishop Ridley. The bishop had the free warren of Bury Court, in this parish, and a George Shipside was his sister's second husband; he was the bishop's park-keeper at Bushley, was incarcerated at Oxford, and attended the martyr to the stake. Ridley's affectionate farewell on that occasion to George Shipside and his wife will not be forgotten. Ridley was led to the stake in 1555, at which time the above George Shipside was just thirty years of age.