From Probus to Canterbury

From Probus to Canterbury

By John Denyer, with thanks to Paul Holden for the detailed research.

While at the county records office (Kresen Kernow) in Redruth researching something entirely different, I came across the Register of Baptisms for the Parish of Probus for the period 1743-1813. It's fascinating to look at these old registers and look at the family names recorded. It's not unusual to see familiar surnames and wonder if descendents of those recorded are still living in the village. You can easily lose hours of your time in Kresen Kernow!

I skimmed through the register, almost randomly until page 48 that related to the period 8th December 1822 to 9th March 1823. On this page, I saw handwritten notes made to the top, rightside and bottom margins of the page (see image right). This is unusual and immediately made me curious. Later, on the inside front cover of the register there were further hand-written notes and a newspaper cutting.

It turns out that on 8th December 1822, a baby was baptised at Probus Church, while at the time perhaps just an ordinary baby (if there is such a thing), this baby grew up to live a most interesting life, rubbing shoulders with the most significant churchmen and politicians of the day as well as royalty, finally reaching the highest office possible in the Church of England.

And this story started in Probus. Has this piqued your interest? Then read on...

The Carveth family

But first, we go back 76 years. The Carveth family were a long-established Cornish family (perhaps they still are?) based around St Enoder and Ladock. In c.1746 Richard Carveth became a tenant of the Hawkins family of Trewithen at Carvossa Farm, Bartliver. Richard had married Dorcas Germoe in Ladock church three years before (on 6th June 1743) and the pair had six children, the third of which, Richard, was born at Bartliver. On 23rd April 1769 Richard (junior) married Margaret Andrew at St Michael Penkivel. They had nine children, one of whom was Dorcas Carveth born in Probus on 6th July 1786 and baptised in Probus Church a few weeks later. The 1798 Land Redemption shows that the Carveths were still tenants of the Hawkins family but were also leasing land belonging to Lord Falmouth of Tregothnan.

Dorcas Carveth and Octavius Temple

In 1805, aged c.19, Dorcas married Cornishman Octavius Temple, the youngest son of Rev. William Johnston Temple and Anne Stow − the couple were introduced by Temple’s godfather Sir Christopher Hawkins. They had fifteen children, of which eight survived. They married in Probus, the register notes that at the time he was a Captain in the 38th regiment. By 4th June 1814, aged 30, Octavius was a Brevet Major in the 2nd Battalion and formed part of the force sent to Marseilles during the Waterloo campaign.

After Waterloo, Octavius followed a colonial path of service and, in 1819, moved to the Ionian Islands (west of mainland Greece) as subinspector of militia. The pattern of their marriage therefore became one of travel as witnessed by the birth records of some of their children − Probus (Anna Laura Temple, 1806); St Austell (Margaret Temple, 1808); Bradford (William Octavius Temple, 1809); Stowe, Buckinghamshire (Stowe Margaret Temple, 1811); Brit Salgid, Malta (Catherine Temple, 1812); Kea (Francis Temple, 1814); Canterbury, Kent (Jenetta Octavia Temple, 1819); Lefkada, Ionian Islands, Greece (Frederick Temple, 1821); Santa Mania, Ionian Islands,

Page 48 of the Register of Baptisms for Probus 1743-1813

Greece (John Temple, 1823). In 1828 Octavius was transferred to Corfu as Administrator of the Ecclesiastical and Municipal Revenues and in November 1833 he became Governor of Sierra Leone. Octavius died in 1834 aged c.50 and was buried in Sierra Leone. Note that Frederick’s parents travelled all the way from Greece to Cornwall for his baptism in 1822 before returning to Greece, where his younger brother John was born the following year. The family even returned to Probus for John’s baptism the following year. These must have been challenging journeys in the 1820s, no easyJet then!

The census returns shows that Dorcas Carveth was living with her son Frederick in Twickenham in 1851 and in Rugby 1861. She died in 1866 aged c.80. It's unclear where Dorcas was buried but both her parents are buried in Probus Church near the north door of the church.

Frederick Temple

Frederick studied at Blundell’s School, Tiverton, and before he was 17, he won a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford. In 1842 he was awarded a double first and elected fellow of Balliol, and lecturer in mathematics and logic. He was ordained in 1846 at the age of 32 and accepted the headship of Kneller Hall in 1855, before moving to teach at Rugby School in 1858, where he studied for another two degrees: Bachelor and then Doctor of Divinity.

Frederick Temple by James Tissot. Chromolithograph, published in Vanity Fair 6 November 1869 (National Portrait Gallery)

Temple's tremendous powers of work and rough manner at first intimidated the pupils, but he soon became popular, and raised the school's reputation. His school sermons made a deep impression on the boys, teaching loyalty, faith, and duty. In the meantime, he was already moving in esteemed circles having previously attracted the attention of Prince Albert, the Prince Consort and was appointed as one of the Chaplainin-Ordinary to Queen Victoria.

Eleven years later, in 1869, by then clearly well-known, and well-connected, Prime Minister Gladstone offered Frederick the deanery of Durham, but he declined because he wanted to stay at Rugby School. When later in the same year, the Bishop of Exeter died, the prime minister turned again to Temple, and he accepted the bishopric of the city he knew so well. At the time this appointment caused some controversy with one commentator stating, 'the choice was the most frightful enormity ever perpetuated by a prime minister'. Gladstone prevailed, and Temple was consecrated on 21st December 1869.

Frederick married Beatrice Blanche Lascelles in 1876, the youngest daughter of William Lascelles a Whig politician and Lady Caroline Georgiana Howard, daughter of another Whig politician. They had two sons, Frederick Charles (b.1879) and William (b. 1881).

In 1885, Frederick was appointed as Bishop of London. In 1896, though now 76 years of age, and with growing blindness he was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1901 Queen Victoria died after her long reign (where he would have actively been heavily involved in her state funeral) and on 9th August 1902, Archbishop Temple carried out his important duties at the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

Later than year, Archbishop Frederick was taken ill while giving a speech at the House of Lords and, though he revived sufficiently to finish his speech, he never fully recovered, and died on 23rd December 1902 and was interred in Canterbury Cathedral.

A painting by Sydney Prior Hall showing Archbishop Temple being taken ill while speaking in the House of Lords in 1902.

There are memorials to Archbishop Temple at St Paul's Cathedral as well as Rugby and Sherborne Schools.

The story doesn't stop there - Frederick and Beatrice's youngest son William also went on to great office in the Anglican church. He became Bishop of Manchester in 1921, Archbishop of York in 1929 and Archbishop of Canterbury in 1942 before he died in 1944.

Frederick Temple by Alexander Bassano. Half-plate glass negative, 1882 (National Portrait Gallery)

Frederick's brother John Temple followed his father into a military career eventually becoming a Lieutenant Colonel in the Madras Army but met an untimely death in a boating accident (that was the newspaper clipping in the Probus Baptism Register!)

Thanks for sticking with me on this long but fascinating story. If there are any descendants in the village (or nearby) of anyone mentioned, we’d love to hear from you.

Attributes: Wikipedia.org Encyclopaedia Britannica Eleventh Edition, National Portrait Gallery.

With special thanks to Paul Holden for his most detailed research into the Carveth family and Octavius Temple. Paul is a historian and heritage consultant. His latest publication has just been published: The Distinctiveness of Cornish Buildings. Conference Papers Marking the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Cornish Buildings Group Presented at St Austell in 2019 (Donington; Shaun Tyas, 2023). Hardback, ISBN 978-1-915774-05-7.