Author: Hett, William
Biography:
HETT, William (1751-1833: ancestry.co.uk)
He was probably born in Washingborough, Lincolnshire, in 1751, the eldest of eight children of Michael Hett (1732-1816) and his wife Martha (1727-1817) (whose maiden name is not known). Baptism records exist for later siblings. His father was possibly a schoolmaster at Heighington and was described in the Brasenose Register as “of Potter Hanworth, gentleman.” All three villages are within five miles of each other. William Hett initially went to Brasenose College, Oxford (Matric. 11 May 1769, BA 1773) before moving to Sidney Sussex, Cambridge (BA 1777). Ordained priest in Norwich on 21 Dec. 1777, he was Senior Vicar (1782-1787) and Prebendary (1786-1833) at Lincoln Cathedral, holding these posts in conjunction with various other livings: Mavis Enderby, Bedford Minor, Dunholme, Greetwell, Thorpe on the Hill. He also led the prayers and directed services at the Lincoln workhouse from 1798 to 1809 but was unpopular with the Board of Governors and was eventually let go. He married Mary Hamilton (1755-92) on 27 Sept. 1787 at St. Margaret’s, [King’s] Lynn, Norfolk. They had three children, two of whom predeceased him. He then married Catherine Crowder (1764-1843), daughter of Stanley Crowder, a Paternoster Row bookseller, on 23 July 1794 at St. Augustine, Watling Street, London. They had five children, one of whom died in childhood. His eldest child from his first marriage, Mary, and four children from the second are all mentioned in his will. He died on 21 Nov. 1833 at Vicar’s Court, Lincoln Cathedral, where there is a memorial wall tablet. Apart from the work listed here, he published Miscellanies (1794) “to suppress the attempts of Republicans and Levellers” (Advt.) and a different Miscellanies on Various Subjects (1823) which also contained his Anti-Jacobin essay “Liberty and Equality” and a small amount of verse. He collected many of his sermons, preached at various churches, in Discourses (1818). He is sometimes confused with another Cambridge-educated clergyman and poet, William Hett (1792-1838) (q.v.). (ancestry.co.uk 7 May 2022; findmypast.co.uk 7 May 2022; Stamford Mercury 5 Oct. 1787, 17 Aug. 1792, 25 July 1794, 13 Dec. 1816, 24 Jan. 1817, 29 Nov. 1833, 22 Dec. 1843; Peter Higginbotham, workhouses.org.uk) AA