Coleshill's "saint" discovered

We may not have found the late elephant of Coleshill yet but a Gazette reader named Mike Walpole has sent me this fascinating tale of a resident of the town who was considered by his contemporaries as having the character and credentials of a saint. The good Lord truly does work in mysterious ways:

Coleshill’s part in religious and theological history has been dramatically revealed by the visit to the parish church of a near ancestor of the Rev John Kettlewell, instituted vicar in 1682.

Jeremy Kettlewell, pictured with wife Kathy, discovered a link with the Rev John Kettlewell while tracing the Kettlewell family history. Jeremy, like his ancestors, hails from Yorkshire, and is the great, great, great, great, great, great grandson of William Kettlewell, who some have believed to be a brother of John Kettlewell. As yet Jeremy has to verify the link with John, and feels the relationship with William possibly comes one or two generations further back and has some evidence to point to this.

Vicar John's writings show that he possessed great learning and solid judgement, and was animated by deep religious convictions. The strength of his importance to the Church is demonstrated by over 180 pages of biography on him held by Jeremy and Kathy.

Much later commentators reflecting on his work as a priest and writer describe him as saintly, beautiful and sweet, and “invaluable to the excellence of any cause which he espoused.

"He was born in 1653, educated at Northallerton Grammar School, and at the age of 16 was entered a student of St Edmund's Hall, Oxford.

He was successively Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College; and, after receiving Orders, became Chaplain to the Countess of Bedford.

When barely 30, he was instituted on December 10, 1682 after impressing Simon, Lord Digby.

But, refusing to take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to William III and Queen Mary, he was deprived of the living, and retired to London, to write and study.

An inscription under a window dedicated to him at his home church in Brompton, Yorkshire, calls him “a learned and saint-like man, born of humble parents in this parish, and having risen to a position of high eminence in the church, suffered for conscience sake, and leaving an example of unfaltering trust in the providence of God, he bequeathed the residue of his goods for the welfare of his native parish.

"From time to time he sent kindly messages to former parishioners. He died of consumption aged 42 in London.

The Kettlewell story is outlined on the Coleshill church website (http://www.coleshillparishchurch.org.uk/), as are details of the Christmas services and events.