Reviews: “Faithful Servant”. Rev. John Hallett Hotham, Vicar of Sutton-at-Hone 1836-1881

“Faithful Servant”. Rev. John Hallett Hotham Vicar of Sutton-at-Hone 1836-1881. By Stephen de Winton. 40 pp. Illustrations and map.

Anglican clergymen invariably leave a paper trail: clergy lists (pre-1835 on- line), Crockfords, correspondence, sometimes a printed sermon or two, visitation records, and dutiful service in parish and community affairs. John Hallett Hotham was incumbent of a single Kent parish for 44 years during which time he founded a school, restored the church building, created a village library, and oversaw outlying areas of the parish hived off as the new Swanley benefice. Mr. de Winton’s brief, well-illustrated booklet has little to say about Hotham’s life and ministry, his theology, churchmanship, political and social presence in village, diocese, and west Kent; his text tells us more about his antecedents and descendants.