Rev. Edward Wood

(Vicar of Ringmer 1604 - 1610)

Edward Wood was born about 1570. According to William Berry, who shows his coat of arms, he was the son of John Wood of Sandwich, Kent. Alumni Cantabrigiensis names his father when he matriculated in 1587 as John WOOD of Sussex. He was educated at Cambridge, at Clare College according to Alumni Cantabrigiensis or Clare Hall according to Renshaw. He graduated in 1591 and was awarded his MA in 1594. He remained at Cambridge as a college fellow and was also awarded a BD degree – in 1602 according to Alumni Cantabrigiensis but this degree was given as his qualification when he was ordained in 1597. He was ordained deacon on 13 September 1597 by the Bishop of Colchester, and then ordained priest by the same bishop on the following day.

In December 1602 Edward Wood was licensed as a preacher by the Bishop of Chichester and in October 1604 he was presented by King James I as vicar of Ringmer during a vacancy of the see of Canterbury. A year later he was also presented by Sir Edward Lewkenor as rector of Hamsey, and given a dispensation to hold both posts simultaneously. Rev Samuel Norden, the previous rector of Hamsey who had held the post since 1582, was one of about 10 preaching ministers deprived of their positions in 1605 by Archbishop Bancroft at a Metropolitan Visitation held at East Grinstead. Archbishop Bancroft was a high churchman who oversaw the translation of the King James bible and a passionate opponent of Puritanism. According to a family historian, confirmed by the 1616 will of Samuel Norden’s widow, Edward Wood was (or perhaps was to become, as the date of the marriage has not been ascertained) Samuel Norden’s son-in-law. In 1616 Anne Norden made her ‘daughter WOOD’ her sole executor and residuary heir.

From 1606 to 1610 Edward Wood is recorded in the liber cleri as appearing at visitations as both vicar of Ringmer and rector of Hamsey. However from 1608-1610 he was accompanied at these visitations by Marmaduke Browne, the first recorded curate of Ringmer, so it appears that he chose to live at Hamsey. In early 1611 a replacement vicar was appointed at Ringmer, following his resignation. Edward Wood remained rector of Hamsey and resident there until his death. He was buried at Hamsey in December 1641.

Edward Wood and his wife Anne had several children. In the 1616 will of Anne’s mother they had four children, Samuel, John, Edward & Anne. Edward WOOD’s will was proved in February 1642 by his widow Anne and his eldest [surviving] son John. Beneficiaries include another son Anthony (who was serving an apprenticeship), a daughter Elizabeth, and a son-in-law John Hinde (a London haberdasher) who had married his daughter Anne at Hamsey in 1637 and through whom he had grandchildren. William Berry identifies two other sons and two other daughters. Alumni Cantabrigiensis identifies his son Edward Wood as admitted to Sidney Sussex College in 1626 at the age of 14, graduating BA in 1630 and MA in 1633, but dying early in 1635 when chaplain to the Lord Deputy in Ireland. In 1631 Rev Edward Wood and John Wood had presented the Rev Samuel Wood to the vicarage of Piddinghoe, an advowson previously held by the Earl of Dorset. Samuel WOOD, BA, had been ordained deacon in July 1626 and then priest in February 1627 by the Bishop of Chichester, licensed as curate of Denton in February 1627 but had died by January 1634, when his successor was appointed. Anthony Wood, the youngest son, married the daughter of a Puritan clergyman who was a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines during the civil war, and became a Baptist sugar refiner and sugar merchant, operating in the City of London and Bristol and engaged in trade with Barbados and Nevis.

Principal Sources used:

Walter C. Renshaw, ‘The clergy of the Archdeaconry of Lewes and South Malling Deanery’, Sussex Archaeological Collections, vol.55, pp.220-277 (1912)

William Berry, ‘County Genealogies, Pedigrees of the Families in the County of Sussex’, p.311 (1830)

Rev George Hennessy, ‘Chichester Diocese Clergy Lists’ (1900)

E.H.W. Dunkin, ‘Ecclesiastical History of the Deanery of South Malling’, Sussex Archaeological Collections, vol.26, pp.9-96

John Venn, ‘Alumni Cantabrigiensis’

Clergy of the Church of England online database: http://db.theclergydatabase.org.uk/

Ron Tibble: unpublished research

Family historian on www.genealogistsforum.co.uk

Will of Edward Wood, Minister or Rector of Hamsey: NA PROB/11/188/100

Hamsey wills online: www.bandhpast.co.uk/downloads/HamseyWills.doc