Transcript

of

John Manley Hawker [Obituary]

Trans. Devon. Assoc., 1884, Vol XVI, pp. 57-59.

by

Rev. W. Harpley

Prepared by Michael Steer

This fulsome obituary for Mr Treasurer Hawker, sometime President of the Devonshire Association and prolific contributor to its Transactions was presented at the June 1884 Association meeting at Newton Abbot. The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

John Manley Hawker, M.A., Prebendary and Treasurer of Exeter Cathedral, was the eldest son of the late Mr. William Hawker, of Plymouth, and was born at Plymouth, 5th May, 1820. He was educated first at Plymouth and Ottery Grammar Schools, and afterwards at Winchester, where Dr. Moberly, the present Bishop of Salisbury, was then head-master. He graduated at Balliol College, Oxford, taking his Bachelor's degree as a third class in Literae  Humaniores in 1842, and proceeding to M.A. in due course. He was ordained deacon in 1844 by Dr. Allen, Bishop of Ely, and admitted into priest's orders in the following year by Dr. Denison, Bishop of Salisbury. Between the years 1844 and 1856 he held successively the curacy of Brownstone, near Modbury, the incumbency of Tipton St. John, and the curacies of Horly and Arley. In 1856 he was instituted to the Rectory of Ideford, near Chudleigh, which he held till 1871, when he was appointed vicar of Ide, near Exeter. In the same year he became Prebendary and Treasurer of Exeter Cathedral; and since 1876 he held the rectory of Berrynarbor, to which he was presented by the Bishop of the diocese.

As might have been expected in one so genial and so versatile, Mr. Hawker formed at college many life-long friendships. Prominent among those whose acquaintance he made at Oxford, and who remained his valued friends up to the day of his death, were the present Bishop of Exeter, Lord Chief Justice Coleridge, and Mr. Matthew Arnold.

Treasurer Hawker took the deepest interest in all matters archaeological, and he was a keen lover and observer of Nature. He was one of the original members of the Teign Naturalists' Field Club, and until his removal to North Devon one of the most frequent attenders of its meetings. His sprightly conversation added greatly to the pleasures of the excursions of the club, and his more formal contributions read at the meetings were always sources of attraction. These latter comprised a paper descriptive of Lidwell and various localities near Dawlish (1861); a paper relating to Chudleigh (1862); a sketch of Bishopsteignton, describing the church and the ruins of the Episcopal Chapel at Radway (1867); and a paper tracing the progress of Newton Abbot and Newton Bushel (1873). He had always the interest of this club at heart, and to his aid and energy in its early days much of its success is to be attributed.

For upwards of ten years Mr. Hawker favoured the Torquay Natural History Society with an almost annual lecture, his subjects being as follow: "The Pleasantness of Social Life;" "Things convenient in Social Life;" "Things helpful in Social Life;" "What is Poetry?" " Peter Pindar;" "Cheerfulness;" "A Plea for Mediocrity;" "Early Associations;" "Surprises;" "English Manners and Customs during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth." The subjects help to show the character of his mind. He was elected an honorary member of the society on 30th May, 1877.

Mr. Hawker became a member of this Association in 1869; thenceforward till his decease he was never absent from its annual meetings, and perhaps at none of the many gatherings at which the Treasurer was an ever-welcome and prominent feature will his kindly presence be more missed, than at the annual meeting of this Association. He undertook the task of reading year by year the series of Reports prepared by the Committee on Devonshire Celebrities, and many pleasant memories will be recalled by his own contributions at successive meetings on "John Prideaux, Bishop of Manchester;" "Wolcot, otherwise known as Peter Pindar;" "Miles Coverdale;" "Bishop Jewel's Birthplace;" "The Manor House, Berry Narbor;" "Clotted Cream;" "The Devonshire Farm Labourer now and Eighty Years Ago;" and "Devonshire Cider." He was one of the Vice-Presidents of the Association in 1872, and again in the years 1874, 1877, and 1879. In 1876 he was President. As a member of the Council, he was a most regular attendant at the meetings, and he served on several of the committees for special purposes.

In Exeter, where he was well known, he was highly popular, and he had the sympathy of clergy and laymen of every religious denomination. He was not only an accomplished scholar, but an eloquent preacher, and a pleasing platform speaker. He took a deep interest in the promotion of science and art At Ilfracombe he addressed the students of the science and art classes on several occasions; at the Plymouth Mechanics' Institution, three years ago, he lectured most interestingly on "Painting;" and he frequently lectured to the artizans employed on the railway works at Newton Abbot.

Treasurer Hawker was a man whose sympathies embraced all classes, and he was popular in every rank of society. To sit near him at a dinner-table was to ensure enjoyment; for he possessed a rich store of anecdotes, and told them well. Alike in pulpit, on the platform, and in social life, he was honoured and beloved; a perfect type, in mind and presence, of an English gentleman. No one could know him long without loving him. As a testimony to his worth, the words of two of his life-long friends may be aptly quoted. Lord Chief Justice Coleridge says of him: "To me the loss is Irreparable - quite. At my age I cannot have a friendship again of forty-five years, and at no age is such a friend as he was easy to obtain. He deserved all the love I could give him, and I thank God that (I hope, at least) he knew how much that was. The Bishop of Exeter, in a sermon, preached in the Cathedral on the Sunday following the Treasurer's death, on purity of heart, said: "The deceased, at any rate, was one of those who had many of the marks of that purity of heart of which I am preaching. I do not know that I have ever been acquainted with a man who had in him so much of that perpetual kindness of heart and those other indications which show that the soul of man is bent on the service of the Lord. It seemed as if, beyond anything else, that which occupied his mind was how to do kindnesses to other people. It pleased God to visit him with a severe affliction. After living a happy life of sixty years and more, never having suffered much pain during that long period, it pleased God that at last he should suffer great agony. He suffered very severe agony for weeks and weeks, and those who were with him never heard him utter an impatient word, never heard him say a single unkind thing; and when I last saw him there was on his face a sorrowing smile of absolute peace, indicating that he had given himself to God with his whole heart He was a man not likely to be soon forgotten by those who knew him. 

He died 5th June, 1884.

Memorial in Berrynarbor Church