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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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John Hatchard was born on May 26th 1793, the eldest son of Mr John Hatchard, bookseller, and his wife Elizabeth, formerly Miss Lambert. They had married on July 11th 1790. Mr Hatchard senior founded the publishing and bookselling business that carried his name. Young John was educated at Magdalene College, Oxford, from which he graduated as a BA in 1816. In that same year he was ordained as a deacon and became a priest the following year. In 1822 he gained his Master's degree. His father must already have been a wealthy man for he purchased from Plymouth Corporation the advowson to St Andrew's Church and when the vicar died in August 1824, he presented the living to the young John. Thus began an association that lasted for a remarkable 45 years. St Andrew's Church was at that time in a deplorable state, with unsightly pews of all shapes and sizes and the galleries were said to have been 'hideous to behold'. He swept all this away and with the help of the noted local architect, Mr John Foulston, and the support of his churchwardens, Messrs Bewes, Bone, Hingston, Francis Hicks and J W Matthews, he carried out a whole series of improvements. As was common at the time, the Church was full to bursting on Sundays and the Reverend Hatchard soon realised that he needed to provide extra accommodation. He could not expand the existing Church so he did the next best thing -- he built some new ones. First came Holy Trinity in Southside Street, which soon developed in to its own parish. Next he formed a district around North Road, in which he built Christ Church. This he followed by purchasing the old Eldad Chapel and converting that into the Church of St Peter. And as if that was not enough, he then formed a district near the Hoe and Millbay, which became the Church of St James the Less. But Plymouth was not big enough for the Reverend Hatchard and he soon turned his attention to the adjoining township of East Stonehouse. There he added St Paul's Church. His final effort seems to have been directed at the expanding area to the north of the Town around North Hill and Mutley. There he planned to erect the Church of St Philip's but that either failed to happen or it was renamed Emmanuel Church instead. The Reverend Hatchard was also responsible for the creation of the St Andrew's National School. The parish of St Andrew's actually included Pennycross, which had not yet been made an ecclesiastical parish of its own, and St Budeaux, which was formed from the parish of St Andrew's in the first place and the advowson of which was still held by the vicar of St Andrew's. With the help of the Reverend B W Vallack, the incumbent of St Budeaux since 1832, the Reverend Hatchard built a chapel-of-ease at Knackersknowle (Crownhill). In between all this activity he continued to take an interest in all local matters and undertook many visits to London totake part in religious meetings and conferences. He was a very popular preacher and used to take his sermons out in to the open-air at King Street and upon the Hoe. However, he was not fond of visiting the poor and used to leave that side of parish work to his curates and district visitors. The Reverend Hatchard married Miss Ann Alton, after whom Alton Terrace was named when it was erected on land that he owned. She had been born on May 29th 1788. They had four sons and two daughters: the Reverend John Alton Hatchard; Doctor Thomas Hatchard, who served with the United States Navy; Mr Samuel Hatchard, barrister; Commander Josiah Hatchard, Royal Navy; Mrs Coulthard, wife of the vicar of Plymstock; and Mrs Bazeley, wife of Mr William Bazeley, surgeon, of Devonport. In 1856 the Reverend Hatchard began to suffer from the palsy, brought on, it was thought, by his tendency to preach sermons in the open-air in all weathers, and later with epilepsy. In about 1867 his declining health forced him to take to his bed. Shortly afterwards, on February 1st 1868, his wife, Ann, died. The Reverend John Hatchard passed peacefully away at just after 3pm on Wednesday December 1st 1869 at the age of 76 years. In August 1872 a monument was erected in St Andrew's Church in memory of both the Reverend Hatchard and his wife.
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