Reverend Hingston received his M.A. at Trinity College Dublin and was appointed curate to the Parish of Farnborough Kent. he was born 14 February 1842 and married 14 July 1864 Anne Wright.
For centuries the small church of Saint Giles the Abbot had served as a chapel within the Ancient Parish of Chelsfield. Chelsfield had a resident Vicar;Farnborough's spiritual needs were met by a curate or in entries in the parish registers an Officiating Minister. It is not unusual to encounter parish register entries for many surrounding clergymen conducting baptisms marriages or burials.
Some Farnborough Parish registers from 1866 onwards identify Hingston as the Officiating Minister or Curate. Whilst a Curate Hingston resided at Bromley Common at Rhodes Villa;another clergyman who was curate at Holy Trinity Bromley Common resided there too. The Hingston family appear there in in the 1871 census; their first child is listed as being born in Cudham and the Cudham parish register reflects Hingston's ministry there.
The Farnborough Baptismal Register reflects a tension between the Workhouse Chaplain responsible for baptisms of paupers and whichever clergy were responsible for the parish entries;Hingston appears to cope better than his predecessor although there are an unusually large number of blank entries relating to the Chaplain's intention to baptise not coming to fruition. Most workhouse entries relate to illegitimate children and single mothers.
The tradition of the smaller church (and parish revenue) of Farnborough within Chelsfield ended in 1876 when Reverend Hingston became the first Vicar of Farnborough. It is likely at this point he moved to reside in a house on the High Road near to Alma Villa and Wellbrook Villa in the northwest of the parish as he and his family appear there in the 1881 census. In Commercial directories for this period his residence is entered as Waldo Bank. In the Farnborough Baptismal register there is a marginal entry to explain some disorder in entries for the year 1883 which explains that he conducted a baptism on Easter Day which was not entered until December when a return for Bishop's Transcripts was required by Canterbury Diocese. A long and severe illness is recorded as the reason for this entry appearing late in entries for that year.
Reverend Hingston died on 30 July 1884 after leaving Farnborough and his ministry and the parish register reflects that Reverend C H Wilson provides relief until the Reverend Frederick Kelly is appointed Vicar in succession in 1885.
Reverend Hingston recognised the need to provide a chapel of ease within the North West of the parish to the growing community at Locksbottom. I have written about this temporary chapel here.
There is an online study of the Hingston family history see William Edward Hingston's Study,
© Henry Mantell Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2018-2019
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