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 Lorenzo Grainger’s early years in Winteringham, where he arrived aged about 30 in 1799, are inevitably interwoven with his tutoring of the young
Nottingham poet Henry Kirke White. Being a curate for the Hon. J L Savile, he supplemented his income by taking in scholars, some of whom were
boarders in the Rectory, and it is the young poet who gives an intriguing insight into Lorenzo Grainger himself, his family - Mary his wife and Lavinia his sister - and the ambiance of the Rectory in Grainger’s time:
“Winteringham October 20th 1804
The family is very agreeable and the style in which we live is very superior.
Our tutor is not only a learned man, but the best pastor and most pleasing man that I have ever met with.”
In another letter, this time to John Charlesworth, Henry Kirke White tells us
more of Rev Grainger:
“Our tutor, named Grainger, had not a college education, for all that he is a
man of no inconsiderable learning and pre-eminent for piety. He was an assistant master in the school of that learned and much respected man Joseph Milner, who loved and honoured him. His manners are pleasing and
affable, agreeably tempered with courtesy and grace, though at times his face wears a look of forbidding stern-ness. Gentle towards the good, to the bad he
behaves rather hadly. He is in almost an equal degree a careful pastor, an excellent man, and a good tutor. With him we read in Greek Homer,
Demosthenes and the Holy Scriptures, in Latin Virgil, Cicero, and occasionally in school, Terence. We also write Latin for the sake of both syntax and style.”
In “The History of Winterton and the Surrounding Villages”
W Andrew tells us the following about Lorenzo Grainger, as well as the words spoken of him by Henry Newmarch as reported by Mr Westoby of Scarborough ...
“Lorenzo Grainger was born at Howden; he was assistant to the Rev. Joseph
Milner of Hull, and in 1799 became the zealous, laborious, and charitable curate of Winteringham,
He was also eminent as a teacher of youth; many now in high stations can
bear testimony to his great worth, learning, and piety. He was the well known tutor of Henry Kirke White; and also of his friend, Henry White Almond.
In noticing the life of Mr. Grainger, our friend Mr. Westoby of Scarborough,
directs the reader's attention to the following extract from the biography of the Winteringham clergymen, taken from an address to the inhabitants of this village, by the Rev. Henry Newmarch, the present curate.
“And when he [the previous incumbent Mr Knight] was removed from you, his
place was supplied by your late respected curate, Mr. Grainger, who for more than thirty years, earnestly besought you 'in Christ's stead to be reconciled to
God,' pointing out to you the way of salvation, not only by the arguments of scripture, but also by the force of a holy and christian example."
Lorenzo Grainger left Winteringham to become Vicar of Barnetby in 1833,
dying just six years later aged 70 on March 19th 1839. A tablet to his memory was placed in Winteringham Church (see left), and a stained glass window created in his memory (see left, and close-up below.)
The words on the tablet to the left are as follows:
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF THE
REVD LORENZO GRAINGER
LATE VICAR OF BARNETBY LE WOLD AND
FORMERLY CURATE OF THIS PARISH 33 YEARS
FAITHFUL AND AFFECTIONATE IN THE
DISCHARGE OF HIS MINISTERIAL DUTIES
HE FED THE FLOCK OF CHRIST OF WHICH
THE HOLY GHOST HAD MADE HIM OVERSEER
AND IN THE FULL ASSURANCE OF A BLESSED
IMMORTALITY THROUGH THE ATONING BLOOD
OF HIS DIVINE REDEEMER HE FELL ASLEEP
IN JESUS MARCH 19TH 1839 AGED 70 YEARS
HIS REMAINS ARE DEPOSITED NEAR THE DOOR
OF THIS CHURCH
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