Transcript

of

Wives of the Revd. John Coleridge

Devon & Cornwall Notes and Queries vol. IX, (January 1916 to January 1917), p. 217.

by

A.J.P. Skinner

Prepared by Michael Steer

In September 1749 John Coleridge was ordained deacon and in December 1750 was ordained priest with a lectureship at Molland, together with his Mastership of Hugh Squier's Latin School at South Molton . In 1751 his first wife died. Two years later, still in South Molton, he remarried, this time to Anne Bowden. Their marriage was solemnised at St. Mary Arches in Exeter. The note’s author provides information on a third marriage of which there is scant record. In 1760 the Rev Coleridge and his family moved to Ottery St. Mary where he was appointed Master of the King's School and became Vicar of the Parish. There he died in October 1781. 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.

Note 181. WIVES OF THE REVD. JOHN COLERIDGE. - Marriage Licences, Exeter:

1752, Oct. 10 - John Coleridge of South Molton, clerk, and Hannah Laskey of Barum, spinster, at South Molton.

1753, Dec. 18 - John Coleridge of South Molton, clerk, and Ann Bowden of the same, spinster.

From these entries it would appear that the reverend gentleman was married three times, and that Ann Bowden was his third and not second wife. But the Vicar of South Molton (the Rev. S. P. Scott) has kindly searched his Register and informs me that it does not contain any record of Coleridge's marriage to Hannah Lasksy, nor the burial of a Hannah Coleridge. Did this marriage take place elsewhere or did the parties alter their minds ? His first wife was Mary Lendon.

                   A. J. P. S.