Nat Gould

Henry Longden 1746-1824

Henry Longden was the son of Henry Longden of Fairfield near Buxton in Derbyshire and his wife Elizabeth nee Heathcote, the daughter of John Heathcote of Salford and Eaves Knoll in Glossop. He was baptised on 10 November 1746 at Fairfield.

He entered Merton College in Oxford as a scholar, where he matriculated on 23 October 1765 aged 18 years, and graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1769.

Henry Longdon was ordained deacon on 21 May 1769 at Oxford, and priest on 21 December 1770 at Winchester. He was appointed Rector of Compton Abbas in Dorset on 31 December 1772 in succession to his uncle Anthony Heathcote 1725-1772. He remained there until 6 December 1777, having become Rector of Rockbourne in Hampshire and Vicar of Whitsbury then in Wiltshire (1) on 13 August 1777 where he remained until he died on 10 March 1824. He also became Rector of Breamore in Hampshire on 15 July 1788 (2).

The Reverend Henry Longden died on 2 February 1824 at Lyndhurst in Hampshire (3).

His Will was made on 20 July 1822 and was proved on 26 February 1824.

(1) Whitsbury was transferred from Wiltshire to Hampshire in 1893. Whitsbury, Rockbourne and Breamore are all small villages at the edge of Cranbourne Chase on the Wiltshire-Hampshire-Dorset border.

(2) Church of England Database CCED and Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1866 volune 3 page 870.

(3) "Clergy Recently Deceased ... Feb. 2 At Shrub's Hill, Lyndhurst, in his 78th year. deeply lamented by all who knew him, the Rev. Henry Longden, Rector of Rockbourne, Hants, and of Whitsbury, Wilts, and one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the said counties. He was presented to the Rectory of Whitsbury in 1777, and to that of Rockbourne, by the Duke of Manchester." The Gentleman's Magazine volume 135 (1824) page 643.