Church officials

Rector from 1919 to 1942: Robert Usher M.A.
Reverend Usher studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 1st October 1886 and took his degree on 15th June 1889. He then requested and obtained a testimonial from Corpus Christi College on 28th November 1890 “to offer himself to the Bishop for the holy office of a Deacon”. Reverend Usher and his wife Alice (nee Edwards) moved to Fovant from service in several parishes in Dorset: East Lulworth, Oborne (Sherborne) and Netherbury (Beaminster). He died a year after retiring from Fovant and moving to Milford-on-Sea, Alice surviving him for another five years.

Of Reverend Robert and Mrs Alice Usher’s twelve children, they sadly lost three adult sons: Christopher Lancelot Usher who died in France in the First World War in April 1918 aged 20, Robert Howell Craster Usher who died in a flying accident at RAF Northolt in June 1924 aged 27, and William Gerald Usher who died in Italy as the result of a car accident in the Second World War in December 1944 aged 33. William and Christopher are both named on the war memorial outside the Village Hall in Fovant.

Christopher (known as Lance) is remembered in a brass plaque in the church and William (known as Gerald) along with his parents is commemorated in the stained glass window depicting St. George and the dragon at the east end of the north aisle. This window was presumably therefore installed by the family after Alice Usher’s death in 1948. The young Robert is buried in the churchyard as are his parents.

Alice was the daughter of the Rector of Caerleon and came from a very large family herself, including two siblings who are also buried in St. George’s churchyard. One is her sister Mary Elizabeth Edwards who was Alice’s senior by around 20 years and presumably never married but lived with the Ushers, probably helping to look after their large brood!

The other sibling buried at St. George’s is Alice’s brother Major General Sir William Rice Edwards who was 10 years older than her and had a long career in the Indian Medical Service, starting in 1886 and rising to become Director-General in 1918. He retired in 1923 and died only months later, of pneumonia, in London en route to a medical conference in Paris aged 61. His memorial service was held four days later in the Savoy Chapel, and since he had no children by either his first or second wife we can only assume that Alice arranged for him to be buried in Fovant as he had no other connections elsewhere in this country.

Three of Reverend Robert and Alice Usher’s daughters are also commemorated in the church grounds. These are Beatrice Mabel Usher who was born in 1895, was married to Lt. Col. L.C. King M.C. and died in 1971; Sylvia Ethel Usher who was born in 1897, was married to Air Vice Marshal Hugh Vivian Champion de Crespigny and died in 1969; and Esther Margaret Mowbray Usher who was born in 1912, never married but became a matron at Chafyn Grove and Godolphin Schools in Salisbury, and who died in 2004. She is still remembered by some Fovant villagers.

By chance, a photograph album containing pictures from Alice Usher’s wedding in 1926 to the then Squadron Leader Hugh de Crespigny came into the hands of one of our villagers owing to her interest in period dress and jewellery. Three hundred guests attended the reception at The Rectory in Church Lane, locals lined the approaches to the church and there were salutes from aeroplanes.

Rector from 1942 to 1951: Jesse Lees

Little is known about Reverend Lees, except that he was born in 1899, was deaconed in 1936 and priested in 1937, and arrived in Fovant five years later during the turmoil of the Second World War. We also know from his entry in Crockford’s Clerical Directory that he died only in 1995, well into his 90’s. Mary Lee, who still lives in the village and is now aged 92, remembers the Lees family well because her mother was the cleaner at The Rectory, where Mary used to play with Reverend and Mrs Lees’ daughter Paula. When the Lees family went away on holiday, Mary and her family would move into The Rectory to look after it. Mary also remembers that she used to play table tennis with Reverend Lees, and that he didn’t like it when, on the rare occasions it happened, she beat him!

Rector from 1951 to 1958: Homer Hill
Reverend Hill seems to have been very actively involved in village life. He was the main organiser of Fovant Football Club in the early 1950’s, even though training sessions were held on Sunday mornings, along with Mr Tom Burton who was chairman of the club and owned a haulage business based in Back Street (now Brook Street) and Mr Fred James who owned the shop.

Reverend Hill also actively supported the formation of the Scout troop in 1954 instigated by Tom Burton’s son Brian Burton who had been a member of the Wilton troop while at school, and also the Youth Club which had come about in the late 1940’s. The Youth Club used to meet in the British Legion Hut on Tisbury Road which was one of the First World War Army huts. It was used for many social events after its opening on 16^th December 1922 and was sold to a local farmer when the site it stood on was developed for housing – the four bungalows Nutwood, Hawks Edge, Little Cambers and Watersmeet – in 1964.

Mary and Bryan Lee should have been married by Reverend Hill, but on the day he had a migraine and so instead they were married by the Archdeacon of Sarum who had been invited to the wedding because Mary worked for the Finance department of the Diocese of Salisbury, in the house in Crane Street where the Archdeacon lived.

M.K.K. 2024