Rev J F FuLLER
Priest-in-Charge 1915-1924
James Francis Fuller was born in Bromley, Kent in 1887. He was educated and Dulwich College, for whom he shot at Bisley in 1904/5/6. He then went to Downing College Cambridge where he rowed, winning the Birkbeck Sculls in 1908. He gained a B.A. in Mechanical Sciences in 1909, the year that he was also commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 5th Battalion , East Surrey Regiment. He was a master at Oakfield Park Preparatory School in Rugby when he started reading for Holy Orders, and relinquished his military role when he was ordained as a Deacon in 1912.
Rev Fuller's first clerical position was as Curate at St Mary the Virgin , Nuneaton (where he played rugby, which he had also done for Rugby Town). Electoral Registers for 1914 show James F Fuller renting "one sitting room, ground floor, one bedroom, first floor, both furnished" in Manor Park Road. This changed in September of that year when Rev Fuller married Maude Mary Catherine Saxby (daughter of Rev G F Saxby) in Rugby, and was subsequently appointed as a Curate in the Parish of Basingstoke. The following year (1915) he assumed responsibility for All Saints' Basingstoke, taking over from the existing priest-in-charge (Rev A P Le Maistre) who had to step down due to ill health. Rev Fuller remained in Basingstoke until 1924. Initially he was priest-in-charge of the "temporary" All Saints' Church, but following the construction of the "permanent" church between 1915 and 1917, he took on responsibility for the new pace of worship.
The Friday February 2nd edition of the Daily Mirror included a letter from a Mr Richard George under the title "Will the War Wake Up the Church?", with sub-heading "A Candid Impression of our Sunday Service". The writer describes the Church of England as "somnolently conservative" determined to remain and unchanging despite the impact of much social change arising from the effects of the War, citing the lack of interest and attendance by many as something the Church is not addressing. Three days later, in the Monday edition, a response to this correspondence appears, credited to James F Fuller (Priest-in-Charge, All Saints, Basingstoke). Rev Fuller agrees that services of music and hymns "...attached to a sermon bereft of any definite teaching..." may not encourage attendance. Rev Fuller does suggest that Mr George "...seek out a church where the Holy Eucharist is the chief act of worship" and go "...i the spirit of giving worship". (Would a parish curate be allowed to voice their opinions in public a century later?)
Rev Fuller's comments did not hamper his position. He remained as the priest-in-charge at All Saints; for ten years, living at a property in Beaconsfield Road with his wife and their ward, Madge Dorothy Ashwin (born 1916) and their staff: a housekeeper and a servant. Although for his last two years in Basingstoke, the family occupied a house named 'Caldecotts' in Church Square.
In 1924 Rev Fuller moved to become Vicar of St Augustine at Northam, Southampton following the resignation of its previous incumbent. Four years later he was appointed as Vicar of Broad Chalke in Wiltshire. By 1939, when Rev Fuller's role expands to include the parish of Burr Chalke (Bowerchalke), his Vicarage in North Street, Broad Chalke is a very busy residence. The 1939 Register lists a total of 20 residents. In addition to Rev James and his wife and their ward, Madge (recorded in the Register as a "Student R. Academy of..." (the handwritten entry is unclear as to what the discipline was)), the building is home to a Domestic Servant, a Registered Foster Mother, 2 Children's Nurses, a Pupil Nurse and a dozen children "Under school age". By 1942, Rev Fuller was Rural Dean of Chalk, where he remained until his death in 1951.
