Churchwardens (16th - 20th Century)
The office of Churchwarden dates from the 13th Century.They tended to
come from the more substantial men of the parish. Churchwardens were first and
foremost lay officers of the Church, responsible to the bishop of the diocese
or his representative, the archdeacon. Their main ecclesisastical functions
were:
(a) maintenance of the church structure including the bells but
excluding the chancel which was the responsibility of the Rector or lay farmer;
(b) the provision of all things necessary for the services of the church,
from buying the communion wine, to making sure the church had the requisite
service books;
(c) attending the twice yearly visitations of the archdeacon
where they had to make returns on every failure under church law in the parish
from misbehaviour in church to sexual offences. In addition to these
essentially medieval duties, the state added a number of secular functions and
some new ecclesiastical functions:
(d) making collections for the poor, for
maimed soldiers, and for prisoners and the storing of that money in a chest or
box;
(e) maintaining a parish chest for the storing of the Parish Register
and other church documents;
(f) making an annual financial return to the
parish;
(g) enforcing a miscellaneous group of statutes from the
extermination of vermin to the wearing of cloth caps;
(h) reporting
incumbents who failed to follow state-enforced religious changes;
(i)
reporting non-attenders, particularly local recusants and dissenters.
In Angmering, like most other parishes, two churchwardens were elected at the Vestry meeting each Easter and appointed for one year. A list of Angmering churchwardens from the Parish Registers is shown below. There are gaps in the Registers and the names are written exactly as recorded.
From 1562 - 1687 Registers:
|
1593 Edward Young, William Strong |
1631 Thomas Longe, William Withier |
From 1688 - 1812 Registers:
|
1705 William Olliver, William Wells |
1775 James Penfold |
20th Century Churchwardens
| 1941 1944-46 1948 1951-52 1959-60 |
Arthur Luck; Dr FH Alexander D Donald; Dr FH Alexander CM Butcher; JH Cordle John B Knaggs; Leslie W Cunnington LJA Pearmain; Col. Sidney C Tomlin |
N A Rogers-Davis
(Thanks to Leslie Baker for providing details of the 20thC churchwardens)
( Page last updated: 20 November 2005 )