| Information for individual 1544 |
Spouse/Children
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| *William HEUDEBOURCK (M) | Parents/Siblings
| | Others called Heudebourck |
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| | | Date | Place | | BaptismRecord
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24/2/1784 |
Staines, Middx |
| | | BurialRecord
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16/3/1812 |
Taunton |
| | | YoungPictures
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| | | Life&Work
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| | | Will/Admon
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| Independent minister of Bishop's Hull, Somerset from 1805 to 1812
His death was reported in the Taunton Courier on 19th March 1812 and oreceded the birth of his youngest daughter Phebe, leaving his wife to bring up 5 children under the age of 9
From David Ballance . . . .
Of William's short life we know a great deal, for extracts from his youthful diary were published, introduced by his father and the Reverend James Small. The copy I have seen has no publisher or date, but is bound up with the Memoir of his grandfather, and is in the possession of Paul's Meeting, together with sermons on his death preached by Small at Bishop's Hull and by the Reverend T. Golding at the interment. Small said of him:
"At a very early period he manifested an attachment to private and public devotion. He was often in his younger days a monitor in the family to remind them of the time of prayer meetings or of public worship."
The 46 published diary entries range from 24 February 1800, when he went to study under Small at Axminster, to 15 October 1811, six months before his death. They begin, therefore, on his sixteenth birthday. They show a sincere but, to our taste, an ostentatiously pious young man, as some extracts will show:
August 31st, 1800
I and my fellow students have seen that we are too much addicted to levity, and we are convinced that it deprives us of much comfort; therefore we are resolved, by divine assistance. we will resist it; and adopt some methods for the increase of vital religion in our souls. Lord! direct us to those means which shall have this tendency, and by which we may be qualified for the important work of the ministry."
March 15th, 1801
This sabbath, as well as most of my sabbaths, I have with great indifference, attended on the means of grace. My mind has been very much occupied with trifles, while hearing of matters of eternal moment. I have often prayed for the Divine presence and influences in his house and ordinances; but seldom, if ever, do I experience them. This evening I have heard a striking sermon, from these words: "Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss." The reasons why prayer was not answered, were represented to be these.---Allowed Sin---After inattention--Spiritual pride--Unbelief--Carelessness--and Impatience.--Lord, show me which of these, or whether all of these, are the causes of my complaint, Make me more watchful, and enable me to resist and overcome these evils, and hear the voice of my supplications, for unto thee do I pray."
May 31st, id.
Lately my mind has been in an uncomfortable state, neither so happy as I desire, if I am proceeding in the way of holiness, nor so miserably as I desire, if I indulge in anything displeasing to God. This day, I felt some pleasure in attending the ordinances of religion. Lord! make them more effectual to conviction, edification, or comfort as my case requires. I have lately written in a serious strain to my brother and sister: from my sister, I have received a pleasing letter, and I trust some serious impressions have been made on her mind. Lord! confirm them by the power of thy Spirit. From my brother, I have also received a letter, but nothing of a serious nature is contained in it. O that he were awakened to a concern for his soul! If it be the divine pleasure, may I be made useful to promote religion in the minds of my dear brothers and sisters."
In 1802, he began preaching at Whitford and Beer:
"The two past sabbaths I preached at Beer, I have great cause for thankfulness, that I have experienced much liberty in the services in which I engaged. Many appeared impressed with what was delivered. O that the impressions may not wear off! O that I could hear of one who was savingly converted by my instrumentality!--This would abundantly repay all my endeavours--This would cause inexpressible delight. Fulfil my desires, O Lord!"
Then Providence seemed to "point to Teignmouth", where he went in the New Year of 1804. Here he fell in love with Mary Harvey of Shaldon, whom he married on 2 July. Shaldon was a chapelry. It is on the south side of the river from Teignmouth, and the graveyard contains many memorials of the Harveys and other families to which they were connected in a tight maritime and farming community, there and in the neighbouring inland parish of Coffinswell. This is a land of high hedges and deep-twisting lanes sloping down to the broad estuary of the Teign.
Her brothers, John and Malachi, were both still in business as merchants in the 1840s; it was her brother Stephen who signed the Marriage Register reproduced opposite, since their father was illiterate, as appears from his Will of 1822. He left houses at Shaldon to his wife and to John and Malachi, but his estate came to less than 1,000 within Exeter Diocese. Mary received only 300, plus 200 owed to her on a promissory note of 1 March 1822. This was a week before the Will was made, and he died the next year. Perhaps she had agreed to lend him some cash if he made a Will including its guaranteed repayment!
About September 1805, the couple moved to Bishop's Hull, just west of Taunton, to take charge of the odd little Gothick chapel that still stands there, with its attached house, not now a residence, and front-garden-cum-graveyard. In fact, they may still have lived in Taunton. In 1807 William was travelling a good deal. He went to London and attended the meeting of the Somerset Association at Somerton, on his return from which he was providentially saved from injury in a fall from his horse. He also made visits to Ottery and Teignmouth. On 10 March 1808 he was ordained, and on 24 May that year the journal mentions the birth of his third child, Mary Eliza:
"I feel of late more and more the responsibility of the parental station, and the difficulties attached to the right performance of its duties."
On Sunday 9 February 1812 he preached sermons on Genesis XXVIII: 12 (Jacob's Ladder) and on Joshua IV: 10 (the passing of the Ark over Jordan). He then apparently caught a fever from visiting a poor woman in Taunton, and swiftly declined, until "after a severe struggle with death, for one hour, in the night of March 16th, he calmly slept in Jesus: departing without a sigh or groan the following morning..."
As he died, far away in the Peninsula Wellington's army broke ground to begin the siege of Badajoz. Three poems of his are printed: one is a hymn; the other two are addressed to his sister Elizabeth. The second of these was written for her wedding day:
Jesus, our condescending Lord,
(A most engaging guest)
Was pleased to grace the nuptial board,
Of Cana's wedding feast.
May Christ, adorn'd with boundless love.
Eliza's nuptials bless:
And make this day an earnest prove,
Of lasting happiness. 23rd July 1806.
He had five children. Although only the last two have Pollard/Ballance connections, the others deserve some mention.
James Small (d. 1834) wrote " The master's joy: the servant's reward: a sermon occasioned by the death of the Rev. William Heudebourck ...:" |
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