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Thread: Clerical pay

  1. #16
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Seems to have been a very mixed world.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  2. #17
    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    It looks like even curates were generally paid over £100 a year, which was more than most the working class. Most beneficed clergy, that is clergy given a living, i.e. a parish, earned somewhat more. Not many earned more than £400 a year, which I think was the magic mark. I suppose a lot earned about £250 a year. It seems there was a big divide between the country and the city. Towards the end of the 19th century many newly ordained clergymen preferred urban parishes, because there was more to do (but what exactly?). In the country you could get shelved, forgotten about, and have little to do.

    I read Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey, which won the Booker Prize. In it was a Church of England vicar and his wife. They were very poor, in contrast to Anthony Trollope's clergy, who appear relatively comfy. I don't see how Peter Carey's could have been quite so poor as he was. recognising most people were poor in the 19th century.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

  3. #18
    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    Now I read about £300 was around the mark that was considered necessary for a beneficed clergyman. A beneficed clergyman was one given a living, or I suppose a parish to be in charge of. I read that compared to other professions, a clergyman's pay was considered to be worth 20% less, because he was obliged to subscribe to charities and help out the very needy. He was also expected to be a family man. OTOH, clergymen often had private sources of income, so £500 a year might be common. Something I was not aware of was the length of time a clergyman might remain a curate. In the early 18th century a clergyman might remain a curate all his career. Mid century I think the average was about five years, but lengthened to fifteen years later in the century. Curates did not get paid as much as vicars or rectors.

    My book referenced The Framley Parsonage and The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire, both in Anthony Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire series. They fairly realistically describe the economic difficulties of the clergy, if I understood rightly.

    I sometimes wonder about Angel Clare's family. His father is a clergyman. He was able to put two of his sons through university. He was able to fund Angel through his farm training. Presumably he was going to buy some land for Angel. Angel had money to go to Brazil and back, after giving Tess £50 for her keep. He was not entirely skint when he came back because he paid the sexton for John Durbeyfield's burial, and could offer Joan Durbeyfield some money. I wondered just how much money Angel Clare's father had.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

  4. #19
    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    I am reading The Red and the Black by Stendhal now. This is a French book. Our young anti-hero, Julien Sorel, is studying to become a Roman Catholic priest at a seminary in Besacon, somewhere near Dijon. It seems like there were good livings and bad livings in France too. I get the impression French priests were not such gentlemen as Anglican clergy. Sorel himself regards them as little more than farmers' sons, who do not understand the Latin they recite.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

  5. #20
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Another book I read long ago. Today I only remember that I didn“t like Julian Sorel and that I was puzzled about the title.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  6. #21
    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    Yes, I still have not found an explanation for the title. Maybe I will in the second volume.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

  7. #22
    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    Last edited by kev67; 09-18-2021 at 07:20 PM.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

  8. #23
    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Danik 2016 View Post
    Another book I read long ago. Today I only remember that I didn“t like Julian Sorel and that I was puzzled about the title.
    I don't think you were supposed to like him. The Red and the Black seems to be one of those psychological studies. I don't know how well Julien Sorel is portrayed. I am a bit more intrigued about Mlle Mathilde de la Sole.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

  9. #24
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    I agree with you. I don't remember any more who Mathilde was.
    Last edited by Danik 2016; 09-19-2021 at 06:20 AM.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  10. #25
    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    I have started reading Framley Parsonage, which is the fourth in Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire series. Young Mark Robarts was lucky enough to make friends with Lord Lufton as a boy. Therefore, his mother, Lady Lufton, was able to gift him a plum living at Framley Parsonage, which brought in £900 a year. Mark Robarts did not have to serve much time as a curate neither, because the previous incumbent was in his 70s and conveniently died. A typical church living was worth about £350 a year, but a curate may have to wait ten to fifteen years to get one. I know this is fiction, but I wonder if reading this sort of thing hurt the Church of England's reputation.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

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