Editing Robert Hawker (poet) (section)

==Accomplishments==

===Shipwrecks===
[[File:Hawker's Hut, Vicarage Cliff, Morwenstow - geograph.org.uk - 1369016.jpg|thumb|[[Hawker's Hut]]]]
Hawker was regarded as a deeply compassionate person giving Christian burials to shipwrecked seamen washed up on the shores of the parish, and was often the first to reach the cliffs when there was a shipwreck. Formerly, the bodies of shipwrecked sailors were often either buried on the beach where they were found or left in the sea. The figurehead of the ship ''Caledonia'', which foundered in September 1842, marks the grave in Morwenstow churchyard of five of the nine-man crew. Hawker described the wrecking in his book ''Footprints of Former Men in Far Cornwall''. Nearby stands a granite cross marked "Unknown Yet Well Known", close to the graves of 30 or more seafarers, including the captain of the ''Alonzo'', wrecked in 1843.

Another notable rescue effort was occasioned by the ''Martha Quayle'' of Liverpool on 4 December 1863. This vessel was seen dismasted off Hennacliff with the crew making the best of their situation; two boats were lowered from the side of which one was driven northward by the heavy seas while the other came ashore unmanned. The first boat was seen by Hawker being rowed by five men but did not make a landing until [[Clovelly]]. An attempt to launch the Bude lifeboat or bring her along the land failed but by riding along the coast as far as Clovelly Hawker found the mate and four crewmen safe. He failed to persuade the men of Clovelly to launch a skiff but a customs officer from Bideford happened to be there and was able to send a message to the Appledore lifeboatmen to assist if they could. The ''Martha Quayle'' was unlighted by Saturday nightfall. On the Sunday he sent a man towards Clovelly and sometime later that man brought thanks for their deliverance from the captain and crew back to Hawker. A rowing boat crewed by 19 men went north and jointly with the Appledore lifeboatmen who had brought their boat by land got the ''Martha Quayle'' on shore ready to be sold by auction the next day.<ref>Hawker, R. S. (1879) "Prefatory notice" by J. G. Godwin, in: Hawker's ''The Poetical Works of Robert Stephen Hawker''; [ed.] by J. G. Godwin. London: C. Kegan Paul; pp.vii-viii (included in this is a letter Hawker addressed to Godwin about this wreck, pp. xiv-xvi</ref>

===Ritual innovation, eccentricity; hut and vicarage===
[[File:Morwenstow Old Vicarage - geograph.org.uk - 42957.jpg|thumb|Morwenstow Vicarage]]
The [[Harvest festival|Harvest Festival]] that we know today was introduced in the parish of Morwenstow in 1843 by Hawker. He invited his parishioners to a Harvest service as he wanted to give thanks to God for providing such plenty. This service took place on 1 October and bread made from the first cut of corn was taken at [[Eucharist|communion]].

"Parson Hawker", as he was known to his parishioners, was something of an eccentric, both in his clothes and his habits. He loved bright colours and it seems the only black things he wore were his socks. He built a small hut, that became known as [[Hawker's Hut]], from driftwood on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. He spent many hours there writing his poems and letters. This driftwood hut is now the smallest property in the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]] portfolio. Many of the more fantastic stories told about Hawker are based on an unreliable biography published by the Reverend [[Sabine Baring-Gould]] in 1876, only a few months after Hawker's death. Other eccentricities attributed to him include dressing up as a [[mermaid]] and [[excommunication|excommunicating]] his cat for mousing on Sundays. He dressed in a claret-coloured coat, blue fisherman's jersey, long sea boots, a pink brimless hat and a [[poncho]] made from a yellow horse blanket, which he claimed was the ancient habit of St [[Padarn]]. He talked to birds, invited his nine cats into the church and kept a pig as a pet.<ref>Fergus Butler-Gallie, "The Reverend Robert Hawker, Vicar of Morwenstow (1803–75" in ''A Field Guide to the English Clergy'' (London: Oneworld Publications, 2018), pp. 3–6</ref>

He built himself a remarkable vicarage, with chimneys modelled on the towers of the churches in his life: Tamerton, where he had been curate; Morwenstow and Welcombe; plus that of [[Magdalen College, Oxford]]. The old kitchen chimney is a replica of Hawker's mother's tomb.

Of his interesting life, Hawker himself wrote: "What a life mine would be if it were all written and published in a book."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brendon|first1=Piers|title=Hawker of Morwenstow: portrait of a Victorian eccentric|date=2002|publisher=Pimlico|location=London [u.a.]|isbn=9780712667722}}</ref>

The American poet [[Joyce Kilmer]] described him as "a coast life-guard in a cassock" and was to some extent influenced by Hawker's poetry.<ref>Hillis, John. ''Joyce Kilmer: A Bio-Bibliography''. Master of Science (Library Science) thesis. Catholic University of America, Washington, DC; 1962; p. 19</ref>