early 1800s implicated
Subsequently the West Sussex Records Office advised that they had been examining old Solicitor's papers handed in by Messrs Rapers. Amongst the papers were memoranda by James Bennett Freeland, dated September 1845 referring to the arson of papers by the parish clerk in earlier days.
One of the memoranda reads as follows -
" Note. Mr Hay [presumably Alexander Hay] had collected materials for a particular history of Bosham, where the tenure of land and many other customs are peculiar but, he died, and where his papers are is not known and he and Mr Killick the Vicar had so many conferences on the subject and inspected the charters and parish documents so often as to exhaust the patience of the Parish Clerk, who, one evening after (possibly) a longer attendance than usual - burnt them all !!!! To save himself further trouble on that score"
J B Freeland has written underneath " the substance of this is correct J.B."
Thus, another story of the burning. Not quite the romantic story that Longcroft or MacDermott would have us believe, but not totally inconsistant with it. Killick became Vicar in 1800 and Alexander Hay died on 15 November 1806. Therefore pointing to a date in the early 1800s which was some considerable time before the birth of Henry Hammond Kearvell in 1829, the first son of the liaison between Jane Kervell and Henry Hammond.
What are we left with?
Tom Kervell appears to be well implicated in burning records in the early 1800s, no doubt exasperated by the conduct of Reverend Killick. But, if he did, he clearly did not burn as much as was alleged in Longcroft's book.
Maybe his daughter's 'boyfriend', Henry Hammond, also burnt some records at a later date to aid his evasion from the Navy. After all he probably had a precedent to follow! Interestingly the burial record of Jane at Bosham in February 1841 shows her surname as CARVER and that she was living at South Bersted, a parish to the east of Bosham. The Census of that year records her two surviving sons, George (9) and Henry (12), living at North Bersted (in the parish of South Bersted) with 35 year old Blacksmith, Henry Hammond. No marriage record between Jane and Henry has been found but it seems likely that she and Henry Hammond were living together. By the 1851 Census her only surviving son, George, is using the surname Hammond and by the 1861 Census George has reverted back to Kearvell, the surname of his mother.
Maybe we will never know the exact truth of the ‘records burning’ matter. However it is clear that Tom Kervell (and our Family) was maligned. Burning or not, the principal parish records of births, marriages and deaths are intact.
Subsequently the West Sussex Records Office advised that they had been examining old Solicitor's papers handed in by Messrs Rapers. Amongst the papers were memoranda by James Bennett Freeland, dated September 1845 referring to the arson of papers by the parish clerk in earlier days.
One of the memoranda reads as follows -
" Note. Mr Hay [presumably Alexander Hay] had collected materials for a particular history of Bosham, where the tenure of land and many other customs are peculiar but, he died, and where his papers are is not known and he and Mr Killick the Vicar had so many conferences on the subject and inspected the charters and parish documents so often as to exhaust the patience of the Parish Clerk, who, one evening after (possibly) a longer attendance than usual -
J B Freeland has written underneath " the substance of this is correct J.B."
Thus, another story of the burning. Not quite the romantic story that Longcroft or MacDermott would have us believe, but not totally inconsistant with it. Killick became Vicar in 1800 and Alexander Hay died on 15 November 1806. Therefore pointing to a date in the early 1800s which was some considerable time before the birth of Henry Hammond Kearvell in 1829, the first son of the liaison between Jane Kervell and Henry Hammond.
What are we left with?
Tom Kervell appears to be well implicated in burning records in the early 1800s, no doubt exasperated by the conduct of Reverend Killick. But, if he did, he clearly did not burn as much as was alleged in Longcroft's book.
Maybe his daughter's 'boyfriend', Henry Hammond, also burnt some records at a later date to aid his evasion from the Navy. After all he probably had a precedent to follow! Interestingly the burial record of Jane at Bosham in February 1841 shows her surname as CARVER and that she was living at South Bersted, a parish to the east of Bosham. The Census of that year records her two surviving sons, George (9) and Henry (12), living at North Bersted (in the parish of South Bersted) with 35 year old Blacksmith, Henry Hammond. No marriage record between Jane and Henry has been found but it seems likely that she and Henry Hammond were living together. By the 1851 Census her only surviving son, George, is using the surname Hammond and by the 1861 Census George has reverted back to Kearvell, the surname of his mother.
Maybe we will never know the exact truth of the ‘records burning’ matter. However it is clear that Tom Kervell (and our Family) was maligned. Burning or not, the principal parish records of births, marriages and deaths are intact.
Saxon Chancel Arch
