Reverend Thomas Sackville Curteis Rector and Vicar of Sevenoaks Kent

The Curteis lineage can be traced back to William Curteis Bailff of  Tenterden in 1521 from whom the dynasty of Curteis Vicars of Sevenoaks descend.
Thomas Sackvlle Curteis and his cousin the Reverend Thomas Curteis MA JP for Kent born  1780 at Tenterden (who married Sarah Anne Lipscomb at Wilbury in Yorkshire) were both descendants of William Curteis.
Thomas Sackville Curteis graduated from Jesus College Cambridge and on appointment at Sevenoaks on 20 December 1751 united the office of Rector and Vicar. He succeeded his father Thomas Curteis who had been installed in 1716.The same family held the position for 190 years!
In 1769 he fell foul of  a mob of people who believed him to be the author of new regulation about the militia. The mob chased him out of a meeting at The Crown Hotel to the old Rectory which was damaged. Curteis fled across fields to Knole but the mob pursued him there until charged on horseback by a Captain Smith. The ringleaders were caught and punished and the riot ended. (page 39 Notes on the Parish Church of Saint Nicholas Sevenoaks by John Rooker MA Vicar of Sevenoaks 1910).
Sevenoaks had through his efforts a new set of bells recast and rehung in 1769 but by the 1800's the fabric of the church was in a dangerous state despite various efforts to maintain the structure. The opening statement in an Act of Parliament reads "it is become dangerous for the inhabitants to attend Divine Service therein;and the Tower of the said church is also in a dangerous and ruinous state". Curteis had been notably absent from Vestry meetings organised by the Parish Clerk. During work on the building a collapse nearly claimed the life of one of the builders. The Act of Parliament succeeded in 1811 and enabled funding for a parish church reconstruction.  Curteis had allowed part of the Glebe land to form a much needed graveyard extension in 1810/1811.

The vestry minutes record an uneasy relationship between Curteis and the town's inhabitants perhaps his memory of events at the hands of the mob in 1769 and criticism of the state of the Church influenced his attitude.
Reverend Thomas Curteis MA  succeeded him as Vicar of Sevenoaks upon his death in 1831.
Thomas Sackville Curteis and his wife are both buried at Sevenoaks.

© Henry Mantell Downe and Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2013-2020