Author: Hawksley, John Webster
Biography:
HAWKSLEY, John Webster (1786-1856: ancestry.com)
He was baptised at Sheffield Cathedral on 12 Feb. 1768, the only son of Mary (Webster) and John Hawksley, an apothecary. By the time he was admitted to St. John’s College, Cambridge, in 1785 both parents had died. He completed his course of study (matric 1785, BA 1789, MA 1804) and was ordained deacon in 1790 and priest in 1792. On 27 Apr. 1792 he married Rebecca (not Ann) Downes at Harworth, Notts.; they had at least one son, born at Sheffield in 1799. His primary role in the church was as Rector of Knotting with Souldrop, Bedfordshire, from 1792 until his death, but he held other livings and served as private chaplain to Lord Southampton (from 1804) and Baroness St. John (from 1827). His son and grandson, both of the same name, also became clergymen. He and his wife were still living in Souldrop at the time of the 1841 Census but by 1851 he was living as a widower at Redruth, Cornwall, in the home of his grandson, who was Rector of Redruth. He died there on 27 Apr. 1856 and was buried in St. Euny churchyard. His only known separate publications are The Antidote and a funeral sermon but he contributed a long poem to the Poetical Register (1805) and shorter pieces such as hymns to newspapers. He left a “commonplace book” containing other materials of 1805-35 in ms, which is now at St. John’s College. (ancestry.com 20 Mar. 2022; ACAD; CCEd 20 Mar. 2022; joh.cam.ac.uk/library) HJ