17. A Rector of Influence – but Outside Willingham

By any measure, the year 1679 must have been a good one for William Saywell. He was already Chancellor of Chichester when he was appointed Rector of Willingham that year, and within months he was appointed Archdeacon of Ely, and Master of Jesus College Cambridge. In 1685 he became Vice-Chancellor of the University. With all these responsibilities he must have been a man of considerable wealth and influence as well as being very busy. So busy that like his predecessor, Saywell was an absentee Rector of Willingham. During the 22 years of his appointment, the parish was served by three curates – Samuel Saywell (William’s brother), Richard Routh, and John Brookes.

Willingham may have been somewhat neglected by its Rector on a day-to-day basis, but William Saywell remembered the village in his Will.  He left £10 per annum in trust to the Schoolmaster of Willingham and his successors, and a further £10 to the poor of the village.  He left his widow £150 per annum for life, and the rest to his brother Samuel, the curate already mentioned. Samuel, in his turn, prompted perhaps by affection for the village, or by a strong sense of responsibility for it, left half the total rental income derived from Queenholme Droveway to the poor of Willingham when he died.
Meanwhile ownership of the Lord of the Manor had changed. The Holman family had become the sole owner of the Manor in 1664 and remained as such until 1689, when it passed to John Holman’s nephew, John Brownell. These changes must have had some effect on the village, but none appear to have been recorded.

National politics were in considerable turmoil at this time, with the ever-present friction between protestants and catholics persisting at the highest levels.  King Charles II had died in 1685, and been replaced by his brother, King James II. But James’ pro-Catholic policies and arrogance led to his abdication in 1688 and his subsequent escape to France. There followed an invitation to William of Orange and his wife Mary, in Holland, to become joint King and Queen of England as William II and Mary II. Both were protestants, and the invitation to them from Parliament to share the Crown jointly was aimed at saving the English constitution and the Church of England, together with further limitations to royal power.

While it is doubtful if Willingham itself was much affected by these matters, the Rector of Willingham was certainly making his protestant views known nationally. This was helped by his influential positions as a leading Cambridge academic and Vice-Chancellor of the University, Archdeacon of the powerful Diocese of Ely, and a close friend of the Bishop, who sat in the House of Lords. He published extensively, and the titles of his works, such as ‘What reformation is necessary to prevent Popery’ indicate an explanation of his strong views about the royal succession to the throne. Coming merely from the Rector of Willingham the impact of such writing would have been very limited, but coming from a leading Cambridge academic who had influence at the highest levels of ecclesiastical society and the House of Lords, the impact would have been very different. Did the Rector of Willingham actually influence Parliamentary policy on the subject of the Monarchy – or was he simply reflecting it?  Whichever way it was, the resulting Act of Settlement in 1701 confined succession to the Throne to a protestant King or Queen  It has remained so to this day.

Next: A SUMMARY OF THE CHANGES OVER 500 YEARS

INDEX