Robert Stephen Hawker (3 December 1803–15 August 1875), was an English poet, antiquarian of Cornwall, Anglican clergyman and reputed eccentric. He is best known as the writer of Cornwall's "national anthem" "The Song of the Western Men", better known for its chorus line "And shall Trelawney die?". His name became known after Charles Dickens acknowledged his authorship of "The Song of the Western Men" in the serial magazine Household Words.

He was born in Stoke Damerell Plymouth, and educated at Liskeard Grammar School, Cheltenham Grammar School and Pembroke College, Oxford. He married his godmother in 1823 while an undergraduate, changing college and graduating in 1827. He won the 1827 Newdigate Prize for poetry.

He took Anglican orders in 1831, became curate at North Tamerton and then vicar of Morwenstow, where he remained. When Hawker arrived at Morwenstow there had not been a vicar in residence for over a century. Smugglers and wreckers were apparently numerous in the area. A contemporary report says the Morwenstow wreckers "allowed a fainting brother to perish in the sea without extending a hand of safety." He converted to the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed, in Plymouth. He is buried in Ford Park Cemetery, Plymouth, England.

The Harvest Festival that we know today was introduced in the small village of Morwenstow in 1843 by the Reverend Stephen Hawker. He invited his parishioners to a Harvest service. He wanted to give thanks to God for providing such plenty in a more fitting way. This service took place on the first of October and bread made from the first cut of corn was taken at communion.

Parson "Hawker", as he was known to his parishioners, was something of an eccentric, both in his clothes and his habits. He loved bright colours and it seems the only black things he wore were his socks. He built a small hut from driftwood on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, where he spent many hours writing his poems, smoking opium. This driftwood hut is now the smallest property in the National Trust portfolio.

He is known to have dressed up as a mermaid and excommunicated his cat for mousing on Sundays. He dressed in claret-coloured coat, blue fisherman's jersey, long sea-boots, a pink brimless hat and a poncho made from a yellow horse blanket, which he claimed was the ancient habit of St Pardarn. He talked to birds, invited his nine cats into church. He kept a huge pig as a pet.

He built himself a remarkable vicarage, with chimneys modeled on the towers of the churches in his life: Tamerton, where he had been curate; Morwenstow, his other living of Wellcombe; plus that of Magdalen College, Oxford. The old kitchen chimney is a replica of Hawker's Mother's tomb.

Works

• Tendrils (1821),
• Records of the Western Shore Oxford (1832)
• Ecclesia: A Volume of Poems Oxford (1840)
• Reeds Shaken with the Wind (1843)
• Echoes from Old Cornwall (1846)
• The Quest of the Sangraal: Chant the First Exeter (1864) from an unfinished Arthurian poem
• Cornish Ballads & Other Poems, Introduction by C.E. Byles (1908)
• Selected Poems: Robert Stephen Hawker. Ed. Cecil Woolf (1975)

References

• The Vicar of Morwenstow (1875) by Sabine Baring-Gould
• The Life and Letters of R. S. Hawker (sometime Vicar of Morwenstow)(1906) by C. E. Byles,
• Hawker of Morwenstow (2002) by Piers Brendon, Random House

External links

• Four Cornish Songs by R.S. Hawker
• The Daily Telegraph article on Hawker and the Harvest Festival

1803 births | 1875 deaths | English antiquarians | English clergy | English poets | Cornish poets | Plymothians | Former students of Pembroke College, Oxford | Anglican priests