Reverend J.C. Mansel-Playdell

Portrait photograph, Rev. J.C.Mansel-Pleydell, Bengeo, Hertford, Hertfordshire. Reverend John Mansel-Pleydell, came from a prominent county family in Dorset. His father, John Clavell Mansel (who took the additional surname of Pleydell in 1871 for inheritance purposes) was a notable natural historian and antiquary. John junior was born at Kimmeridge in 1851, and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1876 and from 1874-81 served as Curate in Nottingham, Bengeo and Kensington. It was during his time at Bengeo between 1876-79 that he met Beatrice Smith; they were married in October 1879. Born in 1860, Beatrice was the daughter of Robert and Isabel Smith of Goldings, Waterford. They returned to Bengeo in 1881 when John was appointed Rector of Holy Trinity, the patron of the living being Beatrice’s uncle, Abel Smith of Woodhall Park, Watton-at-Stone. They had six children – Dorothy (1881), Cicely (1882), John and Evan (1884), Harry (1891) and Ralph (1895). They left Bengeo in 1895 when John was appointed Vicar of Sturminster-Newton in Dorset. He served in that capacity until 1915. He also held the office of Canon of Salisbury Cathedral from 1911 until his death in 1938. Beatrice died in 1940.