Old Times at OtterbourneYonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
History
Old Times at Otterbourne
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Hampshire (England) -- History; Otterbourne (England) -- History
Daily Service had been commenced when the new Church was opened, and the
children of the schools attended it. There was also a much larger
congregation of old men than have ever come in later years. At one time
there were nine constantly there. One of these, named Passingham, who
used to ring the bell for matins and evensong, was said to have been the
strongest man in the parish, and to have carried two sacks of corn over
the common on the top of the hill in his youth. He was still a hearty
old man at eighty-six, when after ringing the bell one morning as usual,
he dropped down on the hill in a fit and died in a few seconds.
There was not much change for a good many years. In 1846, the Parsonage
House was built and given to the living by Mr. Keble. The stained glass
of the south window of the Church was given by the Reverend John Yonge,
of Puslinch, Rector of Newton Ferrers, in Devonshire, in memory of his
youngest son, Edmund Charles, who died at Otterbourne House in 1847.
Thirteen years previously, in 1834, the eldest son, James Yonge, had
likewise died at Otterbourne House. Both the brothers lie buried here,
one in the old churchyard, one in the new. They are commemorated in
their own church at Newton by a tablet with the inscription--"What I do
thou knowest not now, but thou shall know hereafter."
In 1834 their father gave what made, as it were the second foundation of
the Lending Library, for there were about four-and-twenty very serious
books, given in Archdeacon Heathcote's time, kept in the vestry at the
old Church. They looked as if they had been read but only by the elder
people who liked a grave book, and there was nothing there meant for the
young people. So there were a good many new books bought, and weekly
given out at the Penny Club, with more or less vigour, for the next
thirty years or so.
The next public matter that greatly affected this place was the Crimean
War. It was a large proportion of our young men who were more or less
concerned in it. Captain Denzill Chamberlayne in the Cavalry, Lieut.
Julian B. Yonge, John Hawkins, Joseph Knight, James and William Mason,
and it was in the midst of the hurry and confusion of the departure that
the death of Mr. W. C. Yonge took place, February 26th, 1854. Three of
those above mentioned lived to return home. Captain Chamberlayne shared
in the famous charge of the Light Brigade, at Balaclava, when
Into the jaws of death
Rode the six hundred:
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Volleyed and thundered.
His horse, Pimento, was killed under him, but he escaped without a wound,
and on his return home was drawn up to the house by the people, and had a
reception which made such an impression on the children that when one was
asked in school what a hero was, she answered, "Captain Chamberlayne."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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