Author: Garden, Charles
Biography:
GARDEN, Charles (fl 1796)
His is not a common name yet Charles Garden has proven difficult to trace. The title page of his Improved Version of the Book of Job; a Poem identifies him as “Minister of the parish of Harwell in Berkshire, and late a Tutor at Eton College.” These seem promising clues to his identity but they lead only to a marriage record from 26 Nov. 1792 when Garden married a widow, Maria Watford, in Harwell. CCEd includes a record for Charles Garden but it states only that in 1784 he graduated from the University of St. Andrews, was ordained, and became a curate at Sutton Courtenay (then part of Berkshire but now in Oxfordshire). Separately, CCEd has a record for Garden, with no first name. That man is identified as a curate at three Berkshire villages in 1789: Harwell, Didcot, and Aston Tirrold. No other records have been found. Reviews of his book were not encouraging. Although CR published a quite lengthy review, it described the book as no more than a well-meant endeavour. (ancestry.co.uk 26 Aug. 2024; findmypast.co.uk 26 Aug. 2024; CCEd 26 Aug. 2024; CR 21 [1797], 171-75) SR