Little Saint Mary’s Church, Cambridge

Incumbents since 1066

Hereditary Rectors of Saint Peter's Church without Trumpington Gate

1066   Langline
1067   Segar
1147   Henry

Cambridge was in the diocese of Dorchester from 958 until 1073 when the Normans moved the see to Lincoln. Its jurisdiction covered a vast area of eastern England stretching from the Humber to the Thames, out of which the present diocese of Ely was created in 1109. From 1207 Saint Peter's was served by the chaplains of the Hospital of Saint John the Baptist, and from 1284 by the chaplains of the newly-founded college (Peterhouse). A separate chaplain was appointed from 1402 to minister to the townsfolk in the new church of Saint Mary of Grace which had been consecrated in 1352.

Parochial Chaplains of Little Saint Mary's

Brass of a Doctor

1402   John Oterynton perhaps from Otterington, North Riding of Yorkshire?
1414   John Fayr or Fairy
1418   Simon
1425   John Fayr reinstated
1430   John Wolpit perhaps from Woolpit in Suffolk?

The will of John Petit or Petyt, Rector of "Wolpit", was proved in the Consistory Court of Norwich (in whose diocese Woolpit then lay) in 1442. It is tempting to conjecture that he may have been the same person who had earlier ministered at LSM. Surnames in the modern sense were scarcely used in the 15th century, so it is natural that in Cambridge John could have been identified by his native village, but on returning home would be distinguished from other Johns by reference to his presumably slight ("petit") stature. Both Latin and French were still commonly used alongside or even in preference to English in registers and documents of the time.

1438   John Bayle
1445   Nicholas Gaye
1455   John Smith
1461   John Yottyn
1464   Robert Fenton
1472   John Horspole
1491   Alexander Palmer
1522   Thomas Nycholas
1548   Oliver Ashe or Asshe
1558   Robert Kent

Ministers of Little Saint Mary's

1559   Richard Francklin
1601   Samuel Mayne
1605   Thomas Turner
1609   Timothy Rivett Richard Crashaw
1614   Richard Blake
1617   Robert Pearson or Peirson
1620   John Thorpe
1627   Thomas Eales
1629   Robert Proctor
1631   James Leeke
1638   Richard Crashaw the noted Metaphysical poet
1643   Thomas Disainton
1660   John Standish
1663   Gabriel Clarke
1672   John Spurling
1677   Giles Thornburgh
1683   Alexander Bickerton
1702   Andrew Pern
1705   Godfrey Washington great-uncle of George Washington, founding President of the USA
1729   George Birkett
George Borlase 1740   Bernard Swallow
1750   Peter Nourse
1757   Francis Nicholson
1759   Michael Smith
1760   Edward Osborne
1761   William Oldham
1773   George Borlase
1790   Thomas Veasey
1805   Joseph Gibson Whaley
1807   John Banks Hollingworth

Barnard Smith

  

Perpetual Curates of LSM

1813   Joseph Gibson Whaley reinstated
1822   Charles Smith
1833   William Potter
1835   George Ray
1844   Barnard Smith
1846   John George Howes

 
 

Vicars of LSM

1869   William Henry Guillemard
1887   John Wade Hicks later Bishop of Bloemfontein
1892   Andrew James Campbell Allen
1917   Geoffrey Hare Clayton later Archbishop of Cape Town
1924   Cyril Patrick Hankey (Fr Patrick) later Dean of Ely
1938   Geoffrey Philip Henry Pawson
1944   Francis Hugh Maycock (Fr Hugh) later Principal of Pusey House, Oxford
1952   Reginald Edward Cant later Canon Chancellor of York Minster
1957   Edward Arthur Maycock  brother of Fr Hugh
1966   Anthony John Morcom later Canon Residentiary of Ely
1974   James Owen
1994   Richard Andrew Hugh Greany (Fr Andrew)
2012   Robert Michael Mackley

We have very little information on most of the earlier clergy. If you can fill us in on any of their biographical details or provide a photograph, the Webmaster would be glad to hear from you.

Fr William Guillemard Edward Maycock Fr Andrew

Back to top