CRAZY VICAR!
DARTMOuTH’s MOsT COnTROVeRsIAl CleRIC - ReV JOHn pRIesTly FOsTeR
Dartmouth gives the impression of being a tranquil place - and indeed it is – but in the mid 1800s the town was in uproar because of the outrageous, litigious and downright nasty behavior of one man: the town’s vicar. Rev John priestly Foster was the cause of many arguments and a vindic- tive fighter of long and drawn-out battles in the press and elsewhere – in fact, he even started his own publica- tion to put across his point of view after criticism in the town’s paper. For seven long years he fought
with everyone – the newspaper, the Council, the church council and even his own verger. He only went after the town’s people burnt a number of effigies of him on bonfires on Guy Fawkes night. In 1872 Rev Foster announced his
arrival in the town by demanding the redesign of both st Clements and st saviours Churches. His reason was to allow the church to become more ‘High’ in the way its services were conducted. He introduced incense and other practices which, it was said, stank of ‘popery’. The parishioners resisted his efforts to change the design of the two churches at every turn – so he refused to do more than one service a week. The parishioners headed to st Thomas Church in Kingswear but complained to the diocese, who sent a curate to hold services - but took away the ability to have a ‘pew charge’ to pay him, so no services were held. The parish Warden was a Mr percy
Hockin. Mr Hockin, who was also Town
Clerk, would later earn notoriety (and gratitude) for saving the south em- bankment building project with a few dirty political tricks. His fight with Rev Foster was probably good training. Rev Foster wanted the borough council to pay for repairs to his two
churches and demanded the right to see legal documents held by the council, which he stated would prove their legal responsibility. Mr Hockin flatly refused – even when Rev Foster tried to take the Council to the High Court.
Mr Hockin’s best friend was a Mr Cranford – who also was the founder and owner of the Dartmouth Chronicle. Mr Cranford began to print stories criticising the Reverend and his ways. How did Rev Foster respond to this? By starting his own paper called the Dartmouth Advertiser with one of his supporters as editor – who he thought would print whatever he told them to.
Rarely will a man of the cloth be more hated in his parish
He saw one editor – a poor man
called smallborough, a churchwarden – resign, shocked at the scandalous lies he was asked to print. Foster simply put in another editor – John leyman. Mr leyman was a convicted felon (bizarrely he had been prosecuted for stealing feathers from hotels and selling them). Mr leyman was accused of being a
‘felon’ by the editor of the Western Mercury paper (the Reverend’s argu- ments had become big news across the south West). Despite the small detail that this was a demonstrable fact Rev Foster took the newspaper to court for libel, and lost, repeatedly. He also lost a few libel cases due to his declarations in the Advertiser and began to build up a major debt. Despite this, he continued his
vindictive campaigns against the council, his parishioners, and even his own Verger. The Verger’s name was Henry
Winsor. He was not particularly well liked by anyone –as he would spit on the floors in the church and make lots of noise during services. Rev Foster decided to get rid of him. He ordered Winsor not to hang his cloak up in the Vestry – which Winsor disobeyed. The cloak went missing and was later discovered in a coal shed. The lady who cleaned the chapel said she had seen Rev Foster throw it in there. He accused her of being a liar and a drunk – in his paper. Mr Winsor was later attacked in
church by a churchwarden, Fred Follet. Mr Follett was one of the few people in Dartmouth who supported the errant Reverend. Mr Winsor took Mr Follett to court and was successful in suing him for damages, which were paid by Rev Foster. In the meantime, Foster continued his campaign against the council by allowing st Clements and st saviours to fall into disrepair. He felled all the trees around st Clements, destroyed the fencing around the churchyard and allowed pigs to graze among the gravestones. He then refused to allow his
churchwardens to distribute prayer books to the parishioners during services – and only relented when threatened with legal action. Then, in October 1878, he wit- nessed a number of effigies of him burnt at town bonfires. The imagery seems to have hit home for this iras- cible man of the cloth. He announced his resignation at his next service. The announcement was wel- comed with the following words in the Chronicle: “The announcement has been received with the greatest satisfaction on all sides and comes like a gleam of sunshine through the dark clouds long overshadowing us…” Rarely will a man of the cloth be
more hated in his parish and rarely will more headlines be generated – or written – by one man.•
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CRAZY VICAR
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