Rev E LANG
Priest-in-Charge 1906-1909

Ernest Lang was born in 1852 in Stockwell in the county of Surrey. After gaining a BA from Oxford University, by 1881 he had been ordained and was a curate at St Mary's Church in Kintbury, Berkshire. The 1881 Census shows that his residence was also shared with his younger sister, Florence, and that their  older brother, Alfred, an accountant, was a visitor on Census day.

By 1884, Ernest has move to the parish of St David's in Exeter, working under the parish Vicar, Rev Joseph Theophilus Toye (who had been born in Gibraltar in 1809). An announcement in a March 1889 issue of the St Peter Port (Channel Islands)  Guernsey Star reports that at St Stephen's Church "... the Vicar will be assisted by Rev E Lang, late curate of St David's Church, Exeter." This is a relatively short term position as, shown by the 1891 Census, Ernest has returned to the mainland and is senior curate  in Lympstone in Devon, about 10 miles south of his former parish at St David's.

Rev Lang maintains contact with the St David's congregation  - a newspaper account of a St David's Parish Outing in July 1892 notes that "Among those who made up the party were the Misses Toye, the Rev R Lang, ...". The Toye sisters are the daughters of the aforementioned St David's parish Vicar, Rev J T Toye. Four years later, Ernest married Louisa Mary, the elder of the two Toye sisters. Subsequently, as shown in the 1901 Census,  Ernest took up the position of priest in Colyton, near Axminster, This same Census also shows that Florence, Ernest's younger sister, was then a resident of Basingstoke, living in Rayleigh Road. Her occupation is reported as "Hospital trained nurse; nursing sick poor in their own homes". 

It was not too long before Rev Lang and his wife also became residents of Basingstoke. A report of the All Saints' Church Dedication Festival in the Hampshire Observer for 4th November 1905 (celebrating 3 years of the "temporary" church) stated "The Sunday services at All Saints' have recently been by the Rev E Lang, but he was unable to be present on Wednesday owing to the death of his sister, who was well-known in Basingstoke, having acted as parish nurse for some years."

After leaving Basingstoke in 1909, Rev Lang and his wife were residents of Croydon, where Ernest held the position of assistant curate.  In 1912, while on holiday with husband, Louisa Mary Lang dies in Exmouth.  Within a couple of years, Rev Ernest had taken up residence at Mentmore Vicarage, Leighton Buzzard where he remained until his death ion 1916.