Rev Vere John ALSTON [4044]

  General Notes:

Vere was Rector of Odell 1829 - 1863

Cleric Detail
Surname Alston
Forename Vere
Title clerk
Type Licensing
Date18/10/1814
Office/Status Stipendiary Curate
Clerical Status Location Odell//Beds
Source: LA Curates Reg. 1813-31 (Register of Licences)
Ordinary / Jurisdiction: Pretyman (-Tomline), George/Lincoln 1787-1820
Description: Stipend £50 with surplice fees, eight acres of land and use of a house

Adm. pens. at ST JOHN'S, July 3, 1806. Of Beds. [S. of Thomas, Esq., of Odell, and of Harrold Hall, Beds. B. 1788.] Matric. Michs. 1806; Scholar; B.A. 1810. R. of Cowsby, Yorks., 1830-63. R. of Odell, Beds., 1833-63 (but according to Foster, Index Eccles., he was instituted R. of Cowsby, Sept. 17, 1816, and R. of Odell, Mar. 23, 1829). Married (1) Elizabeth Mary, dau. of the Rev. James Barnard, of Combe Flory, Somerset, Aug. 1813; (2) Maria, dau. of Benjamin Longuet, of Bath, and widow of Richard Orlebar, of Hinwick, Beds., Oct. 2, 1845 (see Burke, L.G., sub Orlebar). [His eldest son, Vere John Alston, died at Odell rectory, Apr. 27, 1851, aged 33.] Died May, 1863. Brother of Rowland (1800).
W. M. Harvey, Willey Hundred, 361; Stemmata Alstoniana, 76, 401; Crockford, 1860.
1814 Appt (Licensing) Alston, Vere Odell Stipendiary Curate
1829 Appt (Institution) Alston, Vere John Odell Rector

ALSTON - Vere John, Rector of Cowsby, diocese of York 1830, Rector of Odell, Bedfordshire, diocese of Ely 1833.
Crockfords Clergy Register of 1860

Rev Vere John ALSTON
Odell Rectory
The rectory was mortgaged for £400 in 1829 [X29/37]. In 1881 the Rector, William Hunt, noted that he had spent £175 of his own money on the Rectory since coming to the parish in 1863 [P115/2/1/2]. He noted that the previous incumbent, Vere John Alston, had been a bankrupt (he had, in fact, fled the country and the story goes that his wife took a carriage to London with all the family silver to keep it out of the hands of creditors). In 1874 the Rectory was again mortgaged, to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty so that alterations could be made to it and to farm buildings on the glebe land (Rectory Farm) - this mortgaged was paid off in 1929 [P115/2/4/1] when a new mortgage, for L600 was taken out - this was repaid in 1936 [P115/2/4/4] on the sale of the building.
Ref: http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/CommunityArchives/Odell/OdellRectories.aspx

Irish Tontines annuitants 1766-1789
Name(s) Vere Alston
Condition W
Occupation Clerk
Age Full
Residence Odell, Bedford
Father's nameThomas Alston
Marriage date 02 Oct 1845
By license or banns L
Spouse's name(s)Marian Orlebar
Spouse's age Full
Spouse's residence Grosvenor Street
Spouse's father's occupation Esquire
Fathers occupation Esquire
Spouse condition W
Spouse fathers name Benjamin Langnet
Witness 1 W A Orlebar
Witness 2 H F Alston
Witness 3 Fred W H Layton
Country Ireland
Archive The National Archives
Description 1789 Tontine - Marriages & Deaths & Nominees, 1839-1848 Archive reference NDO 2/50
Record set Irish Tontines Annuitants 1766-1789

Vere was aged 75 at his death, details Ref: Ancestry UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1627-1965

  Research Notes:

R Beighton-Dykes
Wall Paper History Soc.
2025
My research area is the context in which members of the Anglican Church purchased wallpaper during the nineteenth century .
I will be giving a presentation about this at the Bunyan Library, and am putting flesh on the bones of some wallpaper purchases for Odell Rectory in 1845 and 1846. It seems the Rev Vere Alston arranged for the house to be decorated prior to his marriage to Maria Orlebar.

I think that information relating to Vere Alston 'taking out a mortgage' when he took on the Odell incumbency probably relates to him accessing funding from Queen Anne's Bounty. There are records in the Lambeth Palace archives. If he did use QAB funds, there should be full details of the property - plans and elevations - and details of how the funding was agreed, with payments etc logged.

I attach the two purchases the Rev Vere Alston made in 1845 and 1846. These are from the Cowtan Order Books in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. I have adjusted the brightness, as they were rather dark originally due to the lighting conditions when I took them. Do please use them, but make sure to mention the V&A, though they are my images.

  Other Records

1. Wall paper ordered for Odell Rectory, 1845-1846, Odell Bedfordshire. Courtesy
Victoria Albert Museum LND
Rowena Beighton-Dykes
Wallpaper History Soc.

Also Lambeth Palace Ref for mortgage documents taken out from Queen Anne's Bounty, see Research Notes.

2. Vere John Alston: Will (Precis), 29 May 1856, Odell & Calais.
Precis.
The last Will and Testament of the Rev Vere John Alston late of Odell in the County of Bedford Clerk and now residing at Calais . . .
Appoints nephew Crewe Alston of Odell and Hugh Sanders of Harrold as Executors and vests his estate in Trust to them to invest . . . . .
To pay all expenses and debts.
To then pay the proceeds to his brother Frederick Alston during the time of his natural life by half yearly payments then following his decease to his wife Jane Alston
At the decease of Jane Alston then to their children Catherine Alston and Evelyn Alston in equal shares.
. . . . .

The Will of the Rev Vere John Alston Clerk formerly of Odell BDF but late of Calais who died 24 May 1863 in Calais was Proved by Hugh Saunders of Harrold grocer on the 30 Jun 1865 at under L1000
National Probate Calendar

Vere married Elizabeth Mary BERNARD [4137] [MRIN: 1427], daughter of Rev James BERNARD of Combe Flory Somerset. [4138] and Unknown, on 14 Aug 1813 in Combe Florey SOM.

Vere next married Maria ORLEBAR (NEE LONGUET) [6211] [MRIN: 2065], daughter of Benjamin LONGUET of Bath [8233] and Unknown, on 2 Oct 1845 in St George Hanover Sq.