Year (from Church plaque)	Vicar	Notes (light blue box text directly taken from Leadman)
1349	Robert de Kernetby	Robert de Kernetby, capellanus, collated 21 October, 1349, by the Dean of York who always presented.
1356	Reginald de Senier	Reginald de Senier, capellanus, collated 17 April 1356 on the resignation of Kernetby. He resigned on being appointed to Chantry of Hamelton.
1364	Stephen de Bubwith	Stephen de Bubwith, capellanus, collated 22 April 1364 and resigned in six months for the vicarage of Bubwith.
1364	Adam de Esyngton	Adam de Esyngton, collated 31 October 1364. He resigned.
blank	John Stale	John Stale, collated ... He resigned for the vicarage of Burnby.
1382	Robert de Pokelington	Robert de Pokelington collated 27 June 1382. Resigned for vicarage of Addingham.
blank	Robert de Hewitt	Robert de Hewitt, collated ... He resigned . . .
1418	Richard de Cleuyng' (or Richard de Clenyng'), the vicar of the church of Pokelyngton', and John Lathome, chaplain	Reference in Feet of Fines: CP 25/1/280/154, number 4.
1451	Richard Yotton	Richard Yotton, presbyter, occurs in 1451—53.
		Footnote: Richard Yotton vicar de Poklington is an executor under the Will of Alicia Burgh, pr. Nov. 20, 1453. Test. Ebor. vol. ij. p. Ib7. Again William Felter, Dean of York in his Will pr. April 10.1451 —leaves "Domino hicardo Yotton cs." Ibid., vol. iij., pp. 115-17.
1524	Edmundo Salvan	Added by Phil Gilbank - April 2020 (See article below) Edmund Salvan, was a man of independent means as the tax returns of 1524 show he is the fourth highest taxpayer in Pocklington after John Sotheby, William Dolman and William Lee. The Salvans (or Salvain) were one of the North's leading gentry families and a junior branch lived in a moated manor house at Harswell.
1539	Robert Huyte	Added by Phil Gilbank - April 2020 (See article below)
1541	Johanne Hewitt	Added by Phil Gilbank - April 2020 (See article below)
...	Unknown	Footnote: " Item, I bequeith to the vicar of Poklington my gowne, ye lyeith at Thornton, and one snod of damaske."— Will of Thomas Forne, Sub-treasurer of York Minster, pr. 12 Nov. 1533 Ibid, vol. v. pp. 177-79).
1541	Franciscus Parkar	Franciscus Parkar, clericus, collated 27 May 1541. He resigned.
1549	Alexander Smith	Alexander Smith, collated . . . 1549. Died here and was buried 19 January 1603.
...	1553 Visitation record	invent [orie maide the] xx th daie of [August, 6 Edward VI, betwixt Th'erle of Shrowesburye Syr Rauffe Ellerker .Syr William Babthorpe John Ecclesfeld Syr Robert Constable Launcelott Alford  and Francis Pairker, theire vicar, Grreine and John Biche . . church [wardens] . . . . and Robert Sotheby, inhabitantes .......
1603	John Dobson	John Dobson, collated 19 January 1603. Buried 11 January 1619.
1619	Richard Elcock	Richard Elcock collated January 1619. He was both vicar and Master of Pocklington Grammar School, resigning in March 1622.
1622	Leonard Moyser	Leonard Moyser inducted 25 March 1622. Buried 29 February 1624.
1624	James Sotheby	James Sotheby collated March 1624. He also was vicar and schoolmaster. Buried 12 August 1630.
1630	Francis Bland	Francis Blande collated August 1630. He appears to have resigned.
1641	James Hudson	James Hudson inducted May 1641. Buried 2 August 1673.
		Footnote: Vicar Hudson must have been a pronounced Royalist. It was in his day where the entry occurs in the Registers 1644 " Bellum." In 1649, Sept. 26, Recognisances for the appearance at the azzizes of Marmaduke Richardson of Pocklington, clerk, for " praying publickly before his sermon in the parish church of Pocklington for Charles II., Kinge of Scotland and heire apparent to this realme." Depositions from York Castle, p. 24. Surtees Soc Mr. Richardson had to find sureties for his good behaviour. Humphrey Sydenham is said to have held this vicarage for a few years during the Commonwealth along with the rectory of Ashbrittle in Somerset, but was ejected from both as he was a staunch Royalist. He died 1650 and was buried at Dulverton, also in Somerset. He was succeeded by a Puritan Minister, named Mayne, a man of inferior talents.
		Note from Phil Gilbank: 'Silver Tongued Sydenham' was wrongly attributed to Pocklington he was in fact vicar to St Andrew, Puckington not All Saints Pocklington. (Sydenham, Humphrey: B.A. from Exeter Coll. 24 Jan., 1610-11; fellow Wadham Coll. 1613-28, M.A. 3 Dec., 1613; incorporated at Cambridge 1625 (s. Humphrey, of Dulverton), vicar of Ashbrittle 1627, and of Puckington, Somerset, 1629, chaplain to Edward, lord Howard, of Escrick, rector of Odcombe, Somerset, 1644, canon of Wells, deprived of his benefices, and died about 1650.) On 26th September 1649, Marmaduke Richardson of Pocklington was hanged in York Castle for praying publicly before his sermon for the Prince of Wales, Charles II, King of Scotland and heir apparent.
1673	John Moor	John Moor B.A. clericus. collated August 1673. Buried 14 July 1707.
1707	Joseph Lowe	Joseph Lowe. M.A. inducted 18 October 1707. He resigned.
1722	Thomas Lovett	Thomas Lovett M.A. of Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge, inducted 2 January 1722, by Dr. Henry Finch, then Dean of York. He died 2 December 1776. It was during his vicariat that the Enclosure Act (1 March 1776) was obtained for Pocklington.
1779	Anthony Fountayne	Anthony Fountayne collated December 1776. He resigned.
1779	A F Eyre	A. F. Eyre occurs as vicar in 1779, with T. Wilcock as his curate.
1794	John Coultred	John Coultred collated 11 May 1794. He resigned.
1796	Charles Wolf	Charles Wolf collated 27 March 1796 and afterwards assumed the name of Eyre in addition. He resigned.
1832	Charles Hawkins	Charles Hawkins B.C.L. inducted 30 March 1832. He resigned 1834.
1834	George Alexander Cockburn	George Alexander Cockburn M.A. inducted 9 October 1834. Resigned 1843.
1840	James Francis Ellis	James Frybcis Ellis . . . 1840. Died 1876.
1876	John Henry Wicksteed	John Henry Wicksteed M.A. Oxon inducted May 1876, resigned 24 September 1893 for vicarage of Bexley, diocese of Canterbury.
1893	John Mason	John Mason M.A Cantab., collated November 1883 instituted 9 January 1894 by the Archbishop of York in person. Inducted 13, and read himself in on 14 January.
1898	George Herbert Stock
1908	Arthur Thomas Fisher
1921	Jan McNaughton Smith
1933	Ernest Albert Page
1941	Ernest Aldington Hunt Buried in Western Cape South Africa
1943	Frederick Richardson
1960	Graham Christie
1982	James Woodhouse
1990	R.Hugh Keble Prosser
2002	Christopher J. Simmons
Nov. 2009 to April 2018	Geoffrey Hollingsworth
Sept. 2020 to current	Dr. Jake Belder

Leadman has a footnote which says, "The list of Vicars is incomplete. Torre only gives ten, Peculiars, p. 683 et seq. From 1549 a complete list is given in the registers"

There was a Chantry in the Church of Pocklington, at the Altar of St. Mary the Virgin, founded 1302. Only two chantry priests are recorded, Sir William Brown, who died, and 27 November 1545 Sir William Mudy or Moodie who was the last, as chantry priests were abolished in 1547. He died 2 January 1548. (See Testamentary Burials.)

A Guild was founded in this church 1514 by Archdeacon Dowman.

The case of the missing vicar(s) by Phil Gilbank

The list of Pocklington Vicars in All Saints Church

Looking at the names and dates of Pocklington’s vicars in the frame next to the main door of All Saints has always caused me a problem. It's a comprehensive list stretching right back to 1349, however, it throws up one obvious conundrum in the 15th and 16th centuries –what happened between Richard Yotton, vicar from 1451, and the next clergyman on the list, Franciscus Parkar, who was collated vicar of Pocklington on 27 May 1541? Clearly Rev. Yotton had not been the incumbent for the whole 90 years, but when the inventory of vicars of All Saints was put together in Victorian times they found nothing from 1453, when "Richard Yotton vicar de Poklington" was an executor in the will of parishioner, Alicia Burgh, right up to the appointment of Parkar well into the next century.

And from All Saints being a Catholic edifice up to 1529 it became progressively Anglicanised thereafter. Pocklington citizens played leading roles in the 1536 rebellion against Henry VIIIs social, religious and political policies, and after the revolt was put down Henry took back the manor of Pocklington from the Percy family.

The Pocklington vicars list was the result of many hours of research in the York Minster archives by some noted Pocklington antiquarians of the late 19th century. And despite pouring over countless church documents, ecclesiastical court judgments and wills pertaining to Pocklington they had obviously been unable to identify any name for the 1453-1541 period (the All Saints parish registers did not start until a few years laterin 1559).

So it was with some surprise that I came across a volume of theYorkshire Archaeological Society Journal in Beverley Library that contained a survey of all the clergymen in the York Diocese in 1525 - well into the period of the 'missing vicar', and detailed not only the vicar of Pocklington but also four assistant clergy at All Saints.

The list 'East Riding Clergy in 1525-6' identifies "Mr Edmundo Salvan, vic de poklington". It goes onto name "Williamus Browne cant [cantarist = curate] apud Poklington, Williamus Shalicys capellanus [Chaplain] de Poklington, Ricardus Wrightt capellanus gilde nostris Jesu, Thomas Barsworth capellanus and Ricardus Stikeney capellanus.

To find four deacons listed as 'capellanus' at Pocklington is hardly surprising as chantries and gilds were still in vogue in 1525 and each would have had its own chantry priest (they were abolished by Edward VII in 1547). The present Lady Chapel was built circa 1300 to accommodate a chantry to Remigius de Pokelyngton, and there are references in the 14th and 15th centuries at All Saints to the Apostles, Holy Cross and St Mary's gilds, while Pocklington School's foundation in 1514 was as part of a 'Fraternity or Guild of the name of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of St Nicholas'.

Pocklington vicars are invariably difficult to track as few went on to bigger and better things. Because the valuable church estates in and around Pocklington were owned almost entirely by the Dean of York, the vicar of Pocklington was a relatively poorly paid post and usually attracted ‘minor’ clergy. The 1525 list of East Riding clergy also gives the value of all the livings, and in Pocklington's case the stipend was worth £12 per annum (possibly around £7,000 in today's values - around the same time a farm labourer could earn around £5 pa). Up the road at Low Catton the stipend was £25 pa, at Holme-on-Spalding Moor £24 pa).

Nevertheless, the 1525 vicar, Edmund Salvan, was a man of independent means as the tax returns of 1524 show he is the fourth highest taxpayer in Pocklington after John Sotheby, William Dolman and William Lee. The Salvans (or Salvain) were one of the North's leading gentry families and a junior branch lived in a moated manor house at Harswell.

For good measure I double checked the CCEd (the Clergy of the Church of England Database) which is a gazetteer oftens of thousands of clergy from 1540 onwards,and it listed a John Hewett as resigning at Pocklington in May 1541, with Parkar being appointed on the same day – a ‘Missing vicar No 3.’. Therefore, the current list in church states:

Richard Yotton 1451
Franciscus Parkar 1541

but this new research means it should read:

Richard Yotton 1451
Edmundo Salvan 1524
Robert Huyte 1539
Johanne Hewett 1541
Franciscus Parkar 1541

As the current list only has space for one more Pocklington incumbent we will soon need to decide what to do with the board and whether to create a new one, but I wonder how many more 'missing vicars' there are out there?

Phil Gilbank