Author: Hett, William
Biography:
HETT, William (1792-1838: ancestry.co.uk)
He was born on 15 Dec. 1792 at Sunny Bank, Leeds, Yorkshire, and baptised on 1 Mar. 1793, the second of six children of William Hett (1768-1810), woolstapler, dealer, and chapman, and his wife Elisabeth Henrietta Keir (1770-1851), who had married on 1 Dec. 1790 at St. Peter’s, Leeds. His father amassed considerable property in Albion Street and Boar Lane, Leeds, but was declared bankrupt in 1809 and most of his assets were sold off the following year. A final dividend was declared in 1820. Despite this, the family still owned extensive farming land in nearby Bawtry (from where William Hett signed the preface to The Death of Absalom [1824]) and there must have been sufficient funds for him to go to Jesus College, Cambridge (Pens. 1812, Matric. 1813, Scholar 1815, BA 1817, MA 1821). Ordained deacon at York on 3 Aug. 1817, he became curate at Stainton, then Rossington (both Yorks.) before taking up the post of Vicar of Elksley, Notts., 1825-38. He married Frances Smith (1795-1868) on 1 Jan. 1817 at Austerfield, Yorks. There appears to have been no issue. He died on 15 June 1838 aged 44 (sic) at Elksley. His widow retired to the family estate in Bawtry where she died in 1868. Apart from the work listed here, he published The York Musical Festival: a Diualogue (1825), a satire condemning the use of the Minster for musical events, and an ordination sermon (1827). He is sometimes confused with another Cambridge-educated clergyman and poet, William Hett (1751-1833) (q.v.). (ancestry.co.uk 7 May 2022, findmypast.co.uk 7 May 2022; Leeds Directory 1798, 1800; Leeds Intelligencer 18 Dec. 1809, 2 Apr. 1810, 24 Apr. 1820, 23 June 1838; GM Aug. 1838, 222; Yorkshire Post 30 May 1868) AA
Other Names:
- the Rev. William Hett