Robert Hawker
Encyclopedia
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
ian vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
of the Anglican Church and the most prominent of the vicars of Charles Church, Plymouth, Devon
Charles Church, Plymouth, Devon
Charles Church is the second most ancient Parish Church in Plymouth, Devon in England. The senior church is St Andrew's Church, the Mother Church of Plymouth....
. His grandson was Cornish poet Robert Stephen Hawker
Robert Stephen Hawker
Robert Stephen Hawker was an Anglican priest, poet, antiquarian of Cornwall and reputed eccentric. He is best known as the writer of The Song of the Western Men with its chorus line of And shall Trelawny die? / Here's twenty thousand Cornish men / will know the reason why!, which he published...
.
Hawker, deemed “Star of the West” for his superlative preaching that drew thousands to Charles to hear him speak for over an hour at a time, was known as a bold evangelical, caring father, active in education and compassionate for the poor and needy of the parish, a scholar and author of many books and deeply beloved of his parishioners.
Early life
Hawker was born in ExeterExeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
in 1753 to John Hawker, a surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
and Mayor of Exeter. He was an unlikely candidate for the ministry. A fun loving teenager he lacked a serious outlook on life - he once threw a squib into a somewhat staid congregation and ran off hooting merrily. He married aged nineteen to Anna Reins, who was only eighteen herself. They had eight children altogether.
Hawker went in for medicine and studied in Plymouth under Samuel White of Bretonside (a stone's throw from Charles Church). Finding this not his vocation he joined the Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
as assistant surgeon. However the savage discipline and brutalities of war led him out of the service and to fulfil a long time ambition to enter the ministry. He entered Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
in 1778.
Ministry in Plymouth
He was a few months at LooeLooe
Looe is a small coastal town, fishing port and civil parish in the former Caradon district of south-east Cornwall, England, with a population of 5,280 . Looe is divided in two by the River Looe, East Looe and West Looe being connected by a bridge...
as a curate and then appointed as assistant curate to Charles Church (still in 1778) under John Bedford. He was ordained in 1779. He succeeded Bedford on his death in 1784 and held the living until his own death in 1827.
He was a man of great frame, burly, strong and with blue eyes that sparkled and a fresh complexion. His humour was deep and razor sharp and his wit popular although he had a solemn exterior and in conversation would resort to silence while contemplating a difficult retort. He played the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
well and was an excellent scholar. Almost as soon as he arrived as curate he started writing and poured out over the year a long list of books, volumes of sermons, a theological treatise, a popular commentary, a guide to communion and also books of lessons in reading and writing for the schools. For a work of his on the divinity of Christ (combating the rise of Unitarianism
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
) the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
conferred upon him a degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1792. He also produced the “Poor Man’s Morning and Evening Portions” that were used long after his death.
Sermons
It was in the pulpit that “the Doctor” was best known and loved. Thousands flocked to hear the “Star of the West” preach when he was in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. An Evangelical he preached the Bible and proclaimed the love of God. He was said to have great Biblical knowledge and could preach a good sermon on any passage at a moments notice. If his grandson Robert Steven can be trusted his preaching won the admiration of King George III who used to hand him a text just before he went to the pulpit. His preaching was with power, passion, animation, scholarship and yet with a human touch. He was an extempore preacher who began, despite clergy or the Bishop’s protest, with an extempore prayer. He held vast audiences for 70 or 80 minutes (the north and south galleries built to add capacity during his time). On a spring or autumn evening he would be lost in the evening shadow before finishing, his voice and the majesty of the theme holding people to the end.
Pastoral work
He was not a man simply of books and sermons. “The Doctor” took his responsibilities seriously. He regularly visited his parishioners and was diligent in his responsibilities to the poor. When food was scarce after the long wars with FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1817 he started a scheme of selling sixpenny loaves for three pence supported by donations from his congregation and distributed 1,000 loaves. He was a little eccentric and one day marched onto a baker’s shop and after buying an eight pound loaf he placed it under his arm. The baker offered to send it to his home but Hawker said “No I am going to take it to a starving family nearby, a man and his eight children. But if you give me another loaf I will carry that as well”. The baker complied without a word.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
several ships put in to Plymouth and he helped bring ashore hundreds of men suffering diverse fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
s. They were housed in a nearby barn and hundreds of them died in the next week. Over 300 townspeople also fell victim to the fevers. Hawker and his wife visited the sick each week and scorned their personal risk. In 1813 Dr Hawker began the Corpus Christi Society to search out and seek the distressed members of Christ’s body. It was not limited by parish boundaries or denomination but the needs of Christians were met where they were found.
Sunday school
One of his earliest passions, whilst still a curate, was to start a Sunday schoolSunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
. The Sunday School movement may have been started when in 1780 Robert Raikes
Robert Raikes
Robert Raikes was an English philanthropist and Anglican layman, noted for his promotion of Sunday schools...
in Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
opened the first Sunday School. Children at that time had to work six days a week, leaving little time to study after work in the week. To counter the effects of ignorance and illiteracy the Sunday school movement started. Literacy was taught from the Bible. On 21 January 1787 the “Household of Faith” Sunday school was opened in Plymouth with twenty poor children gathered from the streets. Before long the popularity of the school together with the addition of a weekday “School of Industry” required moving to larger premises. In 1798 with numbers at 341 a permanent building was built. It is likely this was the second Sunday school started in the country and one of the first to have a permanent building. The funds for this building were not easily forthcoming but the trustees went ahead anyway thus bestowing its name.
John Hawker
Of his eight children, his eldest, John Hawker is worthy of mention. He became curate of the ancient local church of Stoke Damerel. A passionate Evangelical like his father he drew criticism from the Bishop and he was removed from the living. The uproar was great and his parishioners went with him and built him another church, St Peter’s. One of Hawker’s grandsons was Robert Stephen HawkerRobert Stephen Hawker
Robert Stephen Hawker was an Anglican priest, poet, antiquarian of Cornwall and reputed eccentric. He is best known as the writer of The Song of the Western Men with its chorus line of And shall Trelawny die? / Here's twenty thousand Cornish men / will know the reason why!, which he published...
, vicar of Morwenstow
Morwenstow
thumb|Parish Church of St Morwenna and St John the Baptist, MorwenstowMorwenstow is a civil parish and hamlet in north Cornwall, United Kingdom. The hamlet is situated near the coast approximately six miles north of Bude....
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
(son of Jacob Stephen Hawker). He gained fame as an eccentric Cornish poet. Born in the vicarage of Charles Church and brought up by the Doctor he was remarked on by Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
as “beaten at my own game”.
Death
At his death in 1827 Hawker had been curate for six years and forty-three years its minister. It is said that the whole town mourned for him.
Not every region of our heaven-blessed isle
Has so illuminated been by the bright beams
Of Gospel-light and glory, as the town
Of Plymouth. And with all the storied pomp
Distinguishing the destiny of this
Fair daughter of the gently flowing Plym,
Not one of the proud honours that have been
By Providence so prodigally heaped
Upon her, has surpassed in solid worth
And excellence, the presence in her midst,
and faithful ministry in holy things,—
Through the long space of half a century,—
Of the renowned and venerated Hawker.
It well becomes, then, her enlightened sons
To look back and to ponder well and oft,
The moral radiance shed upon the name
Of Plymouth, by the sacred services
Of this illustrious champion of the cross…
[p. 1, The Vicar of Charles, A Poem..., W. Cann]
Further reading
- Comb, George (1827) A Tribute of Respect to Departed Greatness: being the substance of a sermon, delivered on occasion of the decease of the Rev. Robert Hawker, D.D. Vicar of Charles, Plymouth, at Soho Chapel, Oxford Street, London, Lord's day evening, April 15, 1827. London: Ebenezer Palmer
- Mutter, George (1827) Zion's Faithful Priest: a sermon, occasioned by the death of the late Rev. Robert Hawker, D.D. Vicar of Charles, Plymouth: delivered on Sunday evening, April 22, 1827, at the Broadway Church, St. Margaret's, Westminster / by the Rev. George Mutter, A.M. minister of Broadway Church. London: Ebenezer Palmer
- Palmer, Ebenezer (1826) Prospectus of a handsome, uniform edition of the works of the Rev. Robert Hawker ... London: printed for E. Palmer
- Williams, John, minister of Stroud (1831) Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Robert Hawker, D.D., late Vicar of Charles, Plymouth. London: E. Justins & Son, printers