Edmund Larken

Edmund Roberts Larken (1809–1895) was an English cleric and Christian Socialist, a patron of radical causes and author on social matters. Along with other unconventional views, he was noted as possibly the first parish priest of his time to wear a beard.[1]

Life

Larken's father, Edmund Larken (1766–1831[2]), worked for the East India Company. His sister Eliza married William Monson, 6th Baron Monson;[3] his brother Arthur Staunton Larken (1816–1889), the third son, was known as an officer of arms, becoming Portcullis Pursuivant and then Richmond Herald.[4]

Larken graduated B.A. from Trinity College, Oxford, (M.A. 1836)[5] and was ordained deacon in 1833, and priest in 1834. At Oxford he considered himself a follower of Richard Whateley.[6][7] He became rector of Burton by Lincoln, remaining there from 1843 to 1895; he was presented to the living by his brother-in-law Lord Monson.[6] In an invasion scare in 1859, a Lincolnshire rifle corps was raised and Larken was chaplain in it.[8] An unsuccessful campaign was mounted for him to become Dean of Lincoln in 1860.[9]

Interests

Larken was interested in the socialist ideas of Charles Fourier, including an account of them with one of his sermons in 1842.[10] He collaborated with John Minter Morgan on schemes for village settlement.[11] In 1847 he became chairman of a building society, of which George Boole was a director.[12] Larken and Boole also worked together in the 1850s on a plan to reduce the impact of prostitution in Lincoln.[13] Other involvements were with the Leeds Redemption Society and a co-operative flour mill.[6]

Larken worked with Matilda Mary Hays and Elizabeth Ann Ashurst on a project to translate George Sand's works into English. It came to an end in 1847 due to lack of support.[1][14] He joined the Social Reform League in 1850 and the Association for the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge in 1851.[15] He associated with the radicals of his time, and backed The Leader financially. At his house Thomas Archer Hirst encountered George Holyoake.[16]

Works
  • Sermons on the Commandments (1837)[17]
  • A sermon preached at Horbling, Lincolnshire, in obedience to the Queen's letter in behalf of the distressed manufacturers, on Sunday, July 24, 1842. With an appendix containing a sketch of the industrial system of Fourier (1842)[18]
  • The necessity of toleration to the exercise of private judgment, a sermon (1847)[19]
  • The Miller of Angibault (1847), translated from George Sand, edited by Matilda Hays.[20]

Family

Larken's eldest son was a medical doctor in the Indian Army, dying at age 26.[21] The third son (born 1844) was Francis Roper,[22] who was the father of Vice-Admiral Sir Frank Larken[23] and Hubert Larken, the Archdeacon of Lincoln.[24] Other children included daughters Annie Frances[25] and Henrietta.[26]

References

Notes
  1. Rosemary Ashton, G. H. Lewes: An unconventional Victorian (2000), pp. 88–9.
  2. Archives, The National. "The Discovery Service". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
  3. Mosley, Charles (ed.) Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, volume 2. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. p. 2741
  4. "Richmond Herald | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk.
  5. Literary Gazette 4 June 1836; Google Books.
  6. Hill, pp. 149–50; Google Books.
  7. Persons: Larken, Edmund Roberts (1833–1835) in "CCEd, the Clergy of the Church of England database" (Accessed online, 6 October 2017)
  8. Hill, p. 76; Google Books.
  9. Hill, p. 260; Google Books.
  10. Hock Guan Tjoap, George Henry Lewes: a Victorian mind (1977), p. 22; Google Books.
  11. Francis Barrymore Smith, Radical Artisan: William James Linton, 1812-97 (1973), p. 94; Google Books.
  12. Hill, p. 130 and note; Google Books.
  13. Hill, p. 138 note 4; Google Books.
  14. "George Sand Association, Bibliography of Works in Translation". Archived from the original on February 8, 2012.
  15. Edward Royle, Victorian Infidels: the origins of the British secularist movement, 1791-1866 (1974), p. 149 and p. 146; Google Books.
  16. James A. Secord, Victorian Sensation: the extraordinary publication, reception, and secret authorship of Vestiges of the natural history of creation (2000), p. 483; Google Books.
  17. Burton-by-Lincoln.), Edmund Roberts Larken (M A. , Rector of (November 30, 1837). "Sermons on the Commandments" – via Google Books.
  18. "IISH catalogue entry".
  19. Larken, Edmund Roberts (November 30, 1847). "The necessity of toleration to the exercise of private judgment, a sermon" – via Google Books.
  20. Samuel Halkett, John Laing, A Dictionary of the Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain. Including the Works of Foreigners Written in, or Translated into the English Language vol. 2 (1883, 2006 reprint), cols. 1616–7; Google Books.
  21. "Roll of Honour - Lincolnshire - Burton by Lincoln, St Vincent's Church". www.roll-of-honour.com.
  22. Cuthbert Wilfrid Whitaker, A register of S. Nicholas College, Lancing, from its foundation at Shoreham in August, 1848 to the commencement of the month of November, 1900 (c. 1900), p. 58; archive.org.
  23. "Obituary: Admiral Sir Frank Larken – The War Against Turkey 1915–18". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 22 January 1853.
  24. Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial Families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour vol. 2 (1905), p. 1134; archive.org.
  25. Pine, L. G. (ed.) Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 17th edition. (London: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1952), p. 1940
  26. Townend, Peter. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 18th edition. volume 3. (London: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1965–1972) p. 617
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