The Rectors of St Ouen - Part 4

The noticeboard at St Ouen's Church gives a bare bones list of past rectors of the church, but behind each is a story. Buried in a 1916 Bulletin, in French, are details which add flesh to the bar bones of that list. Francis Le Cornu has very kindly provided me with a new translation of that article.

The Rectors of St Ouen - Part 4

1651-1652 Jean Le Vavasseur dit Durell, MA

Mr. Jean Le Vavasseur, also known as Durell, M.A., Morton College, Oxon. He was the son of Jean Le Vavasseur, also known as Durell, (son of Michel) of St. Hélier, and of Susanne, his wife, daughter of Mr. Nicolas Effard, Rector of St. Saiviour. Born in 1626, he had started his studies at the University of Oxford, from which he was expelled due to the political upheavals of 1643.

He then went to France, to the Academy of Saumur, where he continued his theological studies. He had "embraced the cause of La Cloche at the time (imprisoned) at the Castle." Mr. Fauvel, Minister of St. Brelade, officiated in St. Ouen.

Upon his return to Jersey, he became—so to speak—the Chaplain of Sir George de Carteret. Sent by him on a mission to Paris in 1650, he stayed there for some time, receiving orders at the same time as Mr. Daniel Brevint, from the Bishop of Galloway, in the Chapel of the English Embassy.

He became the Rector of St. Ouen in the spring of 1651, and he sat for the first time at the States, in this capacity, on March 25, 1651. He preached in St. Ouen from April 1651, "having promised to do so because the position was vacant" since Mr. La Cloche had been imprisoned and then exiled by order of Sir George de Carteret.

Upon the arrival of the Parliamentarians at the end of October 1651, Mr. Durell took refuge, along with some other ministers, at Elizabeth Castle, near Sir George. Therefore, he could not keep his promise to serve the Church of St. Ouen for an entire year.

After the capitulation of Elizabeth Castle, he withdrew to France, performed pastoral duties in Caen in 1652, and later became the Chaplain of Armand de Caumont, Duke of La Force.

An Act of the Royal Court on April 30, 1664, informs us that Mr. Josué Bonhomme (Rector of St. John) had served the Parish of St. Ouen " when, after the invasion of the island by the Parliamentarians, it was without a pastor, and before the arrival of Mr. Pierre de la Place."

At the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, a letter from the Governor, the Earl of St. Albans, to the authorities of Jersey, gave Mr. Durell the choice between the benefices of St. Mary and St. Helier as a reward for his loyalty to the royalist cause. However, he chose neither, preferring to follow the King to England, where he had the privilege of inaugurating, in 1661, the French Church of Savoy, of which he became the first Pastor, with the title of Ordinary Chaplain to His Majesty.

It was he who translated the English Liturgy into French. He was appointed Dean of Windsor in 1677 and died there in 1683. Through his marriage, which took place on September 21, 1664, in the Temple of Quevilly, Rouen, with Marie de Dingle, one of the daughters of Jean Maximilien de Langle, a pastor in Rouen, Mr. Durel became the brother-in-law of Venerable Man Philippe Le Couteur, Dean of Jersey, who had married Geneviève de Langle two years earlier.

1653-1664 Pierre de la Place (great grandson of Pierre, above )

1653-64. Mr. Pierre de la Place. Installed on January 6, 1652-3, by Mr. Josué de la Place, his brother, "present at this Mr. Dassigny and Mr. Bonhomme, pastors, who also gave him the hand of association. Thus, he remained placed in the Parish of St. Ouen by order of Colonel James Hanes, English Governor of the Isle of Jersey at that time." (Registers of St. Ouen).

Mr. Pierre de la Place was one of the sons of Mr. Samuel de la Place, formerly Rector of St. Mary. It is noteworthy that three sons of Mr. Samuel de la Place were Rectors in Jersey at the same time: Mr. Josué at Trinity, Mr. Jean at St. Mary, and finally, Mr. Pierre at St. Ouen.

Being a Presbyterian, Mr. Pierre de la Place remained in office throughout the entire period of the Parliament. However, after the Restoration, he was required to conform to the Anglican Church. Upon his refusal, Dean Ph. Le Couteur suspended him from his duties and gave him 40 days to decide whether or not he would take the oath of allegiance to the Bishop of Winchester. He persisted in his refusal and was soon replaced as Rector of St. Ouen.

Nevertheless, he continued to reside in the parish, where he died on June 26, 1681, at the age of 53, and was buried in the cemetery of St. Ouen on the 28th of the same month. His gravestone, located in the church, bears an inscription that can still be deciphered. (See Article by Col. R. G. Warton on the Church of St. Ouen, Bulletin of 1914).

On November 5, 1656, Mr. Pierre de la Place married Susanne, in the Church of St. Ouen, daughter of Thomas Hacquoil of Portinfer, and, we believe, Jeanne Le Cornu, his wife, "with a sermon conducted by Mr. Josué de la Place, his brother" (St. Ouen).

Sue Hardy has passed on this extra snippet:

The gravestone of Rev Pierre de la Place is now outside the church, leaning against the east wall…. The inscription can still be read. It bears a small carved face, presumably a ‘likeness’ - but hard to say of whom!