Hooker Statue

Richard Hooker was born in Heavitree in 1554 and educated at Exeter Grammar School. He went on to study at Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1667, sponsored by Bishop Jewell of Salisbury. He gained a fellowship in 1581.

Hooker had few social graces and is said to have asked his landlady to find him a wife. He married Joan Churchman in 1584, and after a short time in Buckinghamshire he moved to London as Master of the Temple until 1591. He moved as vicar to Drayton Beauchamp and then Boscombe, near Salisbury

His sermons were considered best avoided. However, as a religious thinker, he travelled the country, preaching and arguing his views. Some consider him the 'father of Anglicanism' for his Ecclesiastical Polity, published in 1594, a radical book on religion, which argued that the church should take a middle way, and not be too puritanical. He died in 1600, at Bishopbourne near Canterbury.

The statue is carved out of white 'pentilicon' marble*, by Alfred Drury RA (1856-1944), at a cost of a thousand guineas, paid for by Mr R Hooker of Weston Super Mare, a descendent of an uncle of Hooker's. The statue was unveiled on October 25th 1907. It depicts the 'Judicious Hooker' as he was known, seated with his book. The statue is situated on a plinth made from granite from Blackingstone Quarry, Moretonhampstead, and stands in the centre of the ancient Cathedral common burial ground.

Drury also created a bronze statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds, a Devonian, that stands in the courtyard of the Royal Academy.

*Pentilicon marble was used for building the Parthenon in Athens. The best is a pure white marble normally only quarried in Greece. Due to past exploitation, the marble that is now quarried tends to be greyer in colour.

Source: Flying Post and various websites.