Thomas Hennant (1600-1665)

Hennant was the vicar of St. Mary’s throughout the Civil War. An Oxford graduate, with puritan sympathies, he was related through marriage to leading parliamentarians John Hampden and Oliver Cromwell.

Soldiers from both sides were billeted with him, along with pupils attending Lord Williams’s School, including 14-year-old Anthony Wood.

In July and August 1643, Hennant recorded the death of 128 people from plague (most likely typhus). About 10 % of the population died.

Hennant’s religious and political outlook protected the Church from the worst strictures imposed by the Parliamentarians, and he remained as vicar until his death, even after the Civil War had ended.