The Revd Robert French Laurence
The Revd Robert French Laurence was a distinguished member of the clergy. Born in 1807, he was educated at Christ Church, and was Vicar of St Mary's, Chalgrove, Oxford and St Helen's, Berrick, Salome, for fifty-three years until he died in 1885.
He opened a school for the villagers and taught there himself, but he is best remembered for campaigning for better cottage accommodation for agricultural labourers.
The small, thatched cottages he built remain
to the present day. His campaigning on behalf of farm workers who were living in poverty
brought him into conflict with the landowners, including some of the
Oxford Colleges, and he became secretary of the local agricultural
labourers' trade union.
He is mentioned in Bishop Anthony Russell's The Clerical Profession.
George William Woodforde (born 15 December 1844), a son of George Augustus Woodforde of Castle Cary, Somerset, married Harriet, the daughter of Revd Robert French Laurence. George William died on 27 March 1892 leaving five children, Oswald William Randolph, George Augustus (obviously named after his grandfather), Harriet May Mabel, Helen Gwendoline Neville, and Alice Evelyn French.
