zimmer frame and rails to go round the toilet. Please telephone Saxon Lodge (831737) if
you would like to book any of them! A.R.
BEKESBOURNE CHURCH
August Cleaning and Flower Rota
5th, Mrs Rees
12th & 19th, Mrs Jenny Skinner
26th, Mrs Watson
BEKESBOURNE HISTORICAL SNIPPET
David Millyard fills us in on the interesting life and career of the Honourable and
nlerend William Eden, a I 9th century Vicar of Bekesbourne.
On the nave wall opposite the entrance door of St. Peter's Church, Bekesbourne are two
expensive looking stone tablets one above the other. The upper one commemorates the
Honourable and Reverend William Eden and his wife; the lower one four of their children
who died young.
The Edens were a family of considerable distinction in the late 18th/early 19th
century. In particular two sons of Sir Robert Eden, third baronet, of West Auckland,
County Durhmam, made names for themselves in diplomatic and govemment circles.
The older, William, statesman and diplomat was bom in 1744. He became member of
Parliament from 1774 to 1793, held several senior govemment and diplomatic posts, and
was made Baron Auckland. On his death in 1814 he was succeeded by his son George,
2nd Baron Auckland, a staunch Whig at the centre of the political scene, who was
Govemor General of India from 1835 to 1841 and was made Earl of Auckland in 1839.
The second son of Sir Robert Eden, Bart. was the Frederick Morton Eden of our
memorial tablet. He was born in 1752 and like his brother was educated at Eton and
Oxford. He became a diplomat representing his country in many European capital cities.
He retired in 1799 on a pension of £2000 a year and was made Baron Henley of
Chardstock. Other honours heaped upon him included Privy Councillor in 1794 and GCB
"1 1815. He married in 1783 Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Northington. He died in
.830 and was succeeded as Lord Henley by his oldest surviving son Robert, who was a
chancery lawyer and married the daughter of the first Sir Robert Peel, mill owner and
philanthropist and father of Sir Robert Peel, founder of the police and later Prime
Minister.
William Eden was born on 9th November 1792 into this distinguished family.
Like his father and uncle he was educated at Eton and Oxford and like so many younger
sons of the aristocracy of his day was destined for a career in the church. ln 1820 he
married Anna Maria, the young widow of the 19th Baron Grey dc Ruthyn, the same age
15