Revd Edward Henry Lisle Reeve

In Journal No. 41 (September 2011), I misquoted the dates when Rectors of Stondon Massey were incumbents.

The parish was served by only five clergymen during a two hundred year period:

Revd. Thomas Smith 1735-1791
Revd. John Oldham 1791-1841
Revd. Thomas Hubbard 1841-1849
Revd. Edward James Reeve 1849-1893
Revd. Edward Henry Lisle Reeve 1893-1935

Andrew Smith

When Kerry McCarthy gave a lecture recently to guests at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge she said that William Byrd (c1540 – 1623) set none of his music to the text of the King James Version of the Bible. The lecture was given in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Bible’s publication.

Kerry McCarthy is an influential authority on Stondon Massey’s great composer, an Associate Professor of Duke University in the United States, and prime mover and shaker of the Byrd Festival in Portland, Oregon.

Thinking somewhat laterally, it seems to almost state the obvious that William Byrd would disregard the ‘new’ Anglican Bible of 1611. Byrd was an ardent recusant Catholic living in semi-retirement at Stondon Place in the quiet village of Stondon Massey in Essex. Four hundred years ago he had just published an entire edition of two cycles of Gradualia: illegal settings of Masses for the complete liturgical year to be sung in secret by ‘papist sympathisers’ at such places as Ingatestone Hall, the home of the Petre family, Byrd’s patrons. The year 1611 also marked the final publication of the composer’s work. Here was a man of at least three score and ten years who probably could not be bothered with the new-fangled version of the Bible.

The origin of the King James Version of the Bible is admirably covered in Derek Wilson’s new book, ‘The People’s Bible’ (2010). He tells the story of how churchman of various persuasions, mainstream Anglicans and Puritans, in 1604 flattered King James I into the creation of a unifying work bearing his name. Over six years six teams of scholars in Westminster, Cambridge and Oxford toiled over existing English language translations to create, as a Committee, a definitive work for its time.

Derek Wilson devotes the first seventy pages of his two hundred page book to those Bibles which had already translated and printed in English during the sixteenth century. Among those was the illegally imported translation by Tyndale, which cost him his life in 1536. Ironically only three years later King Henry VIII decreed that another translation, the Great Bible, be made available in all churches up and down the land. The Geneva Bible was published abroad in 1560; the Bishops Bible of 1568 followed which omitted controversial margin notes of the Geneva Bible; and the Rheims Bible published in the Low Countries in 1582. The Douai-Rheims Bible was the fruit of an English College, founded by William Allen, an exiled Jesuit biblical scholar, completed by Gregory Martin.

Byrd’s religious sympathies must have been towards the Rheims Bible, a ‘Catholic translation’ probably used covertly during the services at Ingatestone Hall. We need only think too of Byrd’s reaction to the martyrdom of Edmund Campion in Byrd’s motet, ‘Why Do I Use My Paper Ink and Pen’, and known friendship with Father Henry Garnett who was later arrested and hung in connection with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 because he had heard, in a confessional, the plans of the conspirators. Garnett was a marked man. Throughout his trial was referred to as “Mr Garnett” because the authorities did not recognise his Jesuit priesthood.

1605 and 1607 were the years of publication of Byrd’s two books of Gradualia. This illustrates the dangerous path Byrd trod.

Byrd’s frequent naming before the Essex Archdeaconry Court by the parson and churchwardens of Stondon Massey for non-attendance at St Peter & St Paul Church, coupled with heavy fines, is further illustration of his refusal to embrace the established church. What is interesting is his wife, who died c1606, was consistently named Ellen and not Juliana. Byrd biographer John Harley (1997) suggests this was the same person. We can deduce that whilst Byrd was not known in his immediate local community he moved nonetheless in influential circles and avoided the penalties associated with blatant Catholicism, that of imprisonment, confiscation of property and death. Nowhere could the Catholic mass be legally celebrated.

There is, perhaps, another reason why Byrd did not use the Authorised Version of the Bible. Derek Wilson points out that although the research was completed in 1610, the work itself was hurriedly proof-read; compiled for publication and printed the following year. The finished work was littered with errors and despite stringent efforts to ensure that the King James Version was the only Bible produced in England, copies of the Geneva Bible continued to be imported until the 1640s. In the early days the Authorised Version was hardly a roaring success, but its monopoly, and corrections, ensured its longevity.

The King James Bible was intended to be read out aloud during Divine Worship. Even today its seventeenth century text seems to work through being heard. The success of the King James Version was due to an accident of history. It became the vogue in seventeenth century worship for the pulpit to take more importance than the altar. Lengthy sermons were not uncommon. At Stondon Massey we find part of a triple-decker pulpit. Reverend Reeve, a former Rector, wrote:

“The pulpit in Stondon Church with the reading desk attached was erected during [Nathanial] Ward’s incumbency, and bears the date 1630. In all probability it was introduced into the Church in response to an order from Bishop Laud, but I think we may trace Ward’s handiwork also, and his personal superintendence. On the panels of the desk we find the words “Christ is All in All” the text of the famous discourse of his brother Samuel, “preacher of Ipswich”, which was published in 1627, while in the pulpit is carved “2 Tim. iv. 1-2”, the reference being to the words of St Paul, ‘Preach the word in season and out of season’, which no doubt was a favourite Apostolic injunction with the Puritan divine.”

It is to the Wards that we must look for the Stondon connection and the Authorised Version. Samuel Ward, the Ipswich preacher, became Master of Sidney Sussex College in 1610. But he was also a member of the Cambridge II team of translators responsible, with others, for the Apocrypha. His brother, Nathanial, became incumbent at Stondon Massey in 1628, and was one of the foremost Puritan preachers in Essex.

Nathaniel Ward’s nemesis was William Laud, the Bishop of London who on appointment in 1628 immediately forbade the printing of the Geneva Bible. Laud is described by Wilson as “the scourge of the Puritans” and Reeve as “determined to strengthen the traditional and Catholic position of the Church of England.”

Reeve takes up the story: “The Rector of Stondon was “presented” … “for not wearing a surplice in Church for the two last years past, and that prayers were not constantly read in Church on Wednesdaies, Fridaies and Holydaies”.

“A few years later, however, the end came. The Bishop’s books in the Registry of St Paul’s record that on 27th Sept. 1632 Nathaniel Ward was suspended; on 30th Oct. of the same year he was excommunicated for non-obedience to the Canons, and on 16th Dec. he was deprived.

“On his expulsion from his living, Ward determined to visit the New England about which he had heard so much, and in the following year (1634) he set sail.”

The book which these New England settlers took with them was the Authorised Version of the Bible. Over time wherever Britain colonised and created its Empire, wherever the atlas was coloured red, the Bible was present in the culture of each new society.

The influence of this Bible spread because of its association with the monarchy, with stability and of order in society. Melvyn Bragg, for example, lists the King James Bible in his set of essays, ’12 Books That Changed The World’ (2006). Shakespeare’s ‘The First Folio’, Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’, Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’ and ‘The Rule Book for Association Football’ are also listed in his hall of fame. Perhaps it is an overstatement to suggest that the AV played a part in the democratic influence of England on other nations, but it is no understatement that the book had no cultural affect worldwide. It is interesting to reflect that while Britain considers AV – alternative voting – in a referendum, elsewhere in the world there is unrest and uprising against leaders in Middle Eastern countries.

The King James Version became, certainly for over 300 years, a core work in the English language and the teaching of the English language both at home and abroad. It became part of England’s literary heritage. This was both its success and long term failure. Melvyn Bragg suggests that there are some Christians who believe that only a return to regular use of the King James Version will return the nation to “the true path”. Derek Wilson says that the study of the Christian faith adapts with each age and while the works of Shakespeare, a contemporary of the Bible, could not possibly be rewritten, likewise this was mistakenly felt with the King James Version.

Wilson also cites why the KJV’s popularity fell into decline, pointing to the First World War, the break-up of the hierarchical society and increasing secularisation of the nation. Changes in education too meant that learning text by rote is considered out dated and that widespread use of the Bible in teaching in schools is now politically incorrect.

In the Church of England this year, strenuous efforts are being made to encourage greater personal Bible reading. Clergy say that the Bible provides moral compass for peoples’ lives and the King James Version is more than a piece of towering seventeenth century literature.

Regarding ‘Ongar’s First War Memorial’, it seems that the town was not alone in commemorating those of the Great War. At Stondon Massey, the Revd. Edward Reeve wrote in his ‘Notes for a Parish History’: 14 August 1918.
“A Roll of Honour, including all men who have joined from the Parish since 1914 has been framed and placed in the Church”.

Andrew Smith

Introduction

This is the story of a Victorian lady and of life around Stondon Massey told through her personal diary of 1888.

Anna Reeve (1856 – 1938) was the oldest child of Reverend Edward James Reeve (1821 – 1893), the Rector of nearly 40 years, and of his wife, Emma (1823 – 1912). Living in the family home at the Rectory (now Stondon Massey House) in the village in that year were her sisters Elizabeth Jane (1859 – 1946), referred to as ‘J’ in her diary, and Edith (1865 – 1954), referred to as ‘E’. Whenever the three sisters went out together Anna wrote in her diary, “we 3”. Also living at home was William Francis, referred to as ‘F’, her older half-brother. The family also kept servants: the maid, Alice, is referred to twice.

Anna’s only other brother was Edward Henry Lisle Reeve (1859 – 1936), known in the family as Lisle. In Anna’s diary he is referred to as ‘L’ or more affectionately as ‘Dear’. Lisle was to succeed his father as Rector in 1893 but during the time when the diary was written lived in Colchester as Curate to Revd. J R Corbett at St Botolph’s Church in the town.

The other sibling, Alice (1860 – 1893) lived with her Aunt in New Road, Brentwood (a century later demolished to build a multi storey car park and shopping precinct).

Anna’s life, like her other sisters, was spent supporting her father and later her brother in the ministry of the church among the parishioners. Her father descended from rich gentlemen and received the tithe as his income. It is said that Edward forbade his daughters to marry, perhaps on account of the fact that he had married Emma, his first cousin. Little is known or referred to about Alice, living at Brentwood, and perhaps, perhaps wrongly, it might be assumed that her shorter life may have been a consequence of some disability.

This was a personal diary, for 1888, covering Sunday 8 January 1888 to Sunday 12 January 1889. Anna used ‘Fulcher’s Ladie’s Book, Poetical Miscellany’ to record in pencil the events of each day. The diary is no larger than five inches by four inches and has a page per week. The writing is small but mainly clear.

The pattern of writing is pretty similar from day to day. She begins with the weather, and then mentions what each family member was doing that day, concluding with any special happening. Her mother is never mentioned. In later life she became housebound and had to be cared for by her three daughters.

A typical day’s work is on Friday 11 January 1889: “J[ane] & I to Green parishing.” Anna and her sisters visited parishioners at the cottages around the Green, what we would regard now as the centre of Stondon Massey around the Bricklayers Arms. The location is mentioned 53 times. Both ‘Papa’ (The Rector) and Jane did this activity on a more regular basis.

Unfortunately for us as local historians, Anna also spent time away from home. Recorded on the inside front cover is:

“To Foxholes L[isle] there. July 14th: & to Isle of Wight July 18 -20 lunched with the Paynes en route at Portsmouth.

“Sept 28th – Oct 8th. Acklam. Oct 8th – Nov 2nd At Holtby – Nov 2nd. To Sheffield with Wheal – Nov 7th.”

The daily happenings over this month or so are probably of less interest. Nonetheless, the diary is a rare survivor, telling of the ordinary life of an individual. It came in to the author’s possession from a distant and elderly Reeve family member who offered a number of books and papers to him while writing a biography of Lisle.

A Typical Week

The following are the entries for a typical week in the life of Anna and her family. It seems that she took a Boys’ Sunday School regularly at St Peter & St Paul Church. Girls appear to have been taught at a midweek class in the Study at the Rectory. The numbers attending the Services, or taking communion, are sometimes recorded. The numbers are not huge, but Stondon Massey had a population of only about 200 at the time.

“Sunday 12 February

“Fine day. White frost. To Ch[urch] twice. 4 boys in vestry. May Ethel Cook christened.

“Monday 13 February

“Bright day mostly. I & E[dith] to Church putting up Lent sheet & banners. Papa to poor Mr Hoskins funeral in Bl[ac]kmore. Mr Prance to tea here. J[ane] to Fanes & they to tea here. We 3 & Mary to Ongar concert.

“Tuesday 14 February

“Snow. Bright morning. Papa & we 3 to Brentwood. Lunch at Aunties. L[isle] there.

“Wednesday 15 February

“Snow showers. I to Mr Perkins then School. Ash Wednesday. To Church. J[ane] to Webbs & Cooks. J[ane] & I to tea at Whites. Wrote to Snez.

“Thursday 16 February

“Very cold & dull. Indoors all day. I had 5 girls in Study. Wrote to Auntie. F[rancis] to Ongar. To Smiths to tea.

“Friday 17 February

“Very dull & cold. Papa to School & Webbs. J[ane] to Wren. I to Sch[ool] & Mrs Moss. Wrote to E Bayne.

“Saturday 18 February

“Snow & sunshine. Papa to Ongar. J started for Priors & caught in snow.”

Her father attended the funeral of Rev. Thomas Hoskin of Blackmore on Monday 13 February. He had been the incumbent at the time of his death, and was buried immediately next to the porch of the church in the parish he had served. There is no record of the induction of Rev. Walter Layton Petrie on 5 May that year. “Mr Petrie called & tea from Bla[c]kmore” on 6 June.

In 1888 Stondon Massey had a school directly supported by the Rector. This was a Church of England school for Anglican children. The Rector refused to admit non-conformists. The sisters were frequent visitors as assistants to the schoolmistress, Miss Progger, who had been at Stondon Massey School for 17 years. Her name is mentioned 24 times in Anna’s Diary (as “Miss P”). There are 109 entries referring to the school.

William Wrenn was the Parish Clerk.

‘Papa’ travelled often to Ongar on a Saturday. He was a J.P. as well as Rector and was sometimes recorded as going “to bench”.

Many names are mentioned throughout the diary. Those that regularly appear are the Whites, Lockwoods and Fanes who were friends of Anna and her circle.

The sisters were great friends with the Lockwoods whose name occurs on 38 occasions. A typical entry, on 28 February, “We 3 to tea at Lockwoods & played ‘Spoof’.” On Sunday 10 June the parents made one of many visits to the Rectory: “Mr & Mrs Lockwood to tea & garden.”

Events during 1888

Shelley Church dates from 1888, replacing one built earlier that century on the site of a medieval church. On Tuesday 5 June Anna records, “Fine day & cool. Papa F[rancis] & I to Stone laying of Shelley Ch[urch] & luncheon. E[dith] to School.” On Monday 10 December the Church was consecrated. “Lovely bright & white frost. Papa & I to Consecration of Shelley Ch[urch] & met B[isho]p of Colchester at Richards luncheon. Mrs Tanner & friend to tea here. J[ane] to Fanes.”

Another occasion was at Kelvedon Hatch Church. On Friday 29 June, “We 3 & Papa to reopening of Kelvedon Church. B[isho]p [of] Colchester preached.” This was the church which predated the present building which was constructed in the 1890s.

At his own church on Tuesday 15 May, “Papa in Vestry meet[ing]s in re[gard to the] Spire.” This is reference to the belfry which was repaired in 1888.

On Monday 11 June, Anna visited the Garrison town of Colchester, which was also the home of her brother Lisle: “Mabel R & I to Colchester to see ‘March Past’ & new colours presented by Duke of Camb[ridge].”

A Flower Show was held at Stanford Rivers on Wednesday 26 September: “J[ane] & I to Flower Show at Stanford Rivers.” Then on Wednesday 21 November, “We 3 to Chrysanthemum Show at Ongar.”

On Friday 28 December Anna was “Getting ready for dance at Budworth Hall“, which had opened only two years previously.

National sporting events are also recorded. Cambridge won the Boat Race on Saturday 24 March. Ayrshell won the Derby on Wednesday 30 May. Two days later: “‘The Oaks’. Sea Breeze won.”

Point to Point races were held at Thaxted on 9 March, although it is not clear who, if any, of the Reeves attended.

Local sporting events were part of the social round. Cricket is mentioned eleven times between May and August. “E[dith] & I to Cricket Concert with Tyn[dale] Whites” on Thursday 17 May. The Stondon Massey team played on Tuesday 29 May: “Cricket match here v. ‘Blake Hall’. Stondon won in 1 inn[in]gs.” Three weeks’ later: “Cricket match v. Blackmore. J[ane] & I to see it.”, and on Thursday 21 June “J[ane] & I in hired trap to Blackmore to see Brace’s cricket.” A boys’ cricket match was held at Navestock on 22 August.

Francis, her half-brother was a keen cricket supporter travelling, presumably by train from Ongar, to Leyton: “F[rancis] to Leyton with Mr Barnes to see ‘Australians v. Oxford [University Past and Present]’.” It was the first of a three-day match, in which Australia won the toss and decided to bat. They eventually won by 74 runs.

From May to September the sisters played tennis, sometimes twice a week, and often at the Fanes. The activity is mentioned 22 times of which once, while on holiday, and twice when there was “no tennis”. Tennis parties were very common for example on Thursday 6 September, Anna’s birthday (she was 32 years old): “Very lovely bright after[noon]. We 3 to tennis party at Banks. Very nice.” On Tuesday 10 July in the Rectory Garden it was their turn to host: “Fine day. Our garden party. 19 came. Very pleasant tennis. Papa’s birthday presents etc.”

Wimbledon tennis winners are not mentioned in Anna’s diary. The championship was just over a decade old in 1888.

At the Lockwoods croquet was played. Games are mentioned on three occasions.

The Countryside

Birdnesting, the hunt for and stealing of eggs from a bird’s nest, is now illegal but was in 1888 a legitimate pursuit. Anna’s diary records on 20 April: “J[ane] & Bessie D birdnesting.”

Fox hunting, a recent thing of past, is mentioned also in the diary. The sisters were frequent spectators, as shown in the following examples: on Monday 23 January “Lovely bright & mild. We 3 to ‘meet’ at Blackmore. G[rea]t fun.”, and Saturday 11 February,”Dull day. J[ane] & I to Meet at Myless, long walk & didn’t see much.” On Saturday 7 April “We 3 drove to ‘meet’ at Bentley.” As an aside, the sisters took themselves to Bentley by horse and a cart of some variety. (The motor car had not been invented, and there are no references at all to bicycles because penny farthing was used for sport by men rather than a mode of transport.)

There are, though, many timeless occurrences:

Saturday 14 April: “Saw brimstone butterfly & planted primroses.”
Saturday 28 April: “J[ane] & I to Church Wood. Heard 3 nightingales.”
Saturday 5 May: “Sowed flower seeds.”
Wednesday 16 May: “Sowed more flower seeds.”
Friday 13 July (also 21 & 24 July): “Picking raspberries.”
Thursday 26 July (also 4 & 10 August): ”Picked currants.”

The diary does not mention the harvest or gleaning, probably on account that this was not lady’s work, or the harvest festival service or supper, because Anna was away from Stondon on holiday during the latter part of September.

The weather

The diary provides a snapshot of the weather each day suggesting that 1888 was considerably colder on average than the weather now. There were 20 days, from January until 9 April, when it snowed, with one such event in October while on holiday. There are 15 references to frost. There are 13 references to ‘skating’, from 1 to 3 February, 27 February to 5 March 1888 and 4 and 7 January 1889. Adults skated at Priors or the Fanes. The entry for Friday 2 March reads “Lovely bright & thawing. Wrote to L[isle]. Papa to School. J[ane] to Fanes skating. I to School. E[dith] & J[ane] to Gilberts & Fanes. Mrs Fane & F Bloom here for skating.”

Thunder or thunderstorms are mentioned on 11 occasions. On Wednesday 1 August, a “very wet day” there was a “Thunderstorm from 8 to 12P.M. [midnight]” which resulted in floods the following day: “I to School in morn through Lockwoods garden because of flood. Papa to Nichols at [Hallsford?] B[ri]dge. Floods tremendous!” Presumably the road, which has a dip between the Rectory and the School, was impassable. The entry indicates that the Lockwoods were near neighbours.

The word ‘hot’ appears on 14 occasions, once in connection with thunder. There were only three days during the summer of 1888 when words such as lovely bright and sunny coincided in the diary. Perhaps summers of old are not as good as ours now?

Christmas in 1888

Diary entries for the week up to and around Christmas are interesting.

The first reference to the season is on Thursday 20 December: “Fine day. Papa to Miss P[rogger] at Assers. I to School. E[dith] to Green. Miss P[rogger] to tea here. Wrote to L[isle] & sent off Xmas cards. Practice. All went. Presentation to Miss P[rogger].” This was also the day which marked the end of Miss Progger’s employment as schoolmistress and, it seems, pianist to the choir. Anna records the following day, “Presentation to Miss P[rogger] by school children & Goodbye! to her after 18 years.”

On Saturday 22 December: “Fine day. Doing decorations. Papa to Green & dined at Whites. Sent off cards” with the Sunday before Christmas, much as usual, “Fine day. To Ch[urch] twice. Sch[ool] once. F[rancis] to Doddinghurst 6P.M.”

The preparations for the big day began on Christmas Eve: “Fine day. Putting up decorations. Papa to Ongar. Sent off Xmas cards.”

The entry for Christmas Day, Tuesday, reads “Christmas Day. To Ch[urch] twice. Bright morn[ing]. Rain after[noon]. Lots of cards by both posts.” There is an absence of references to presents – which we assume were given, much like on birthdays – but strikingly the cards received by both posts that day, from the Post Office at Kelvedon Hatch.

Anna visited the School on Wednesday 26 December: “Fine, shower of rain. Fine. E[dith] & I called on ‘Elise’. I to the Scho[ol]. E[dith] to Howes. Major & Mrs Gilbert to tea.” The only other reference to the season is “Herbert Gibson to turkey dinner with us” on Saturday 29 December.”

Conclusion

Anna’s life is told through her diary. It tells on the one hand of her support to her father in caring for her neighbours and of a Christian ministry: a Sunday School teacher, as support to the schoolmistress. On the other hand it also refers to the social circle in which she revolved. These were the expectations of a Victorian lady, and spinster: expectations which were to continue after the death of her father and throughout the 42-year ministry (until 1935) of her brother, Lisle, as Rector.

The diary also opens a field of further research. Each entry is only a glimpse on life in and around Stondon Massey in 1888. Pursuing each topic, such as the Cricket match at Leyton, and each name, through census research, would enlighten further these life and times. Having transcribed the diary and written these notes, there is much more that could be done – if time allows!