NOTES on those names marked with an * asterisk

Roger de Northwold seems to have been a resident Rector, which was not always the case in the mid 14th century. His Will was written in Flordon in1371/2 and was signed by local people: the Rectors of Tasburgh and Newton Flotman, and his parochial chaplain and successor as Rector, Richard de Fouldon. He left £100 (a princely sum in those days)  for alterations to the church and 60 shillings (£3) for his funeral, with the instructions that he be buried in the porch. This is unusual - Rectors were normally buried in the chancel - and strongly suggests it is Roger who was responsible for for reducing the size of the church by removing aisles or chapels added on the north and south sides of the nave and re-using the stones to build the imposing porch. Writing about 1730, the historian Blomefield reported an old gravestone in the porch floor that has since disappeared - no doubt a memorial to Roger.

Edward Rous, who became Rector in 1607, is mentioned as 'a beloved relative' by Dorothy Kemp of Flordon Hall who held Puritan views. The oldest part of the Rectory was probably built (or rebuilt) for him.

Two entries from the 18th century indicate that Flordon was united with Gissing around 1730 - not an easy journey by horse, or pony and trap, between the two! It is likely they were united when James Soley Jr resigned.
He was followed in 1731 by 
'Rev Mr Thomas Kemp, the present Rector, who holds it united to Gissing, and was presented by Sir Robert Kemp of Ubbeston, Bart, his Father; and now Sir Robert Kemp of Ubbeston, Bart., his eldest Brother, is Lord and Patron.' And some time later comes another Kemp....

Rev Sir William Robert Kemp - the following appears in Oxford University & City Herald, 13 April 1816:
ECCLESIASTICAL PROMOTIONS
Rev. Sir William Robert Kemp, Bart. M.A. has been Instituted to the rectories of Flordon and Gissing, in Norfolk, on his own petition.
As an ordained Lord of the Manor he could appoint himself!

Gascoigne Frederick Whitaker oversaw the Victorian restoration of the church, which must have made it a much lighter building. The solid brick west wall was rebuilt, with a window of plain and coloured glass and the rather fine cupola where a tower had once been was removed and and replaced with the present bell cote. The chancel floor was repaved and new pews added to the nave. It is likely a small vestry was built on the north side at the same time. Work on the church seems to have been completed by 1873, and a plaque high on the west wall commemorates this.

He also spent £700 of his own money renovating and enlarging the Rectory - a project he did not live to see completed, although he certainly seems to have filled it. When he died, his effects were sold at an auction held in the Rectory:

Wed 29th & 30th January 1884, 2-day sale of effects of Rev G F Whittaker, deceased, held at Flordon Rectory, including 'Brilliant Cottage Piano.... Library of books.... Roan Harness Mare, useful and strong.... A London built Stanhope Phaeton, nearly new, 2 sledges.... 2 useful cart horses, Sow and Pigs..... Stacks of Hay and Straw.... More details on the Rectory page....

Isaac Easton undertook a major restoration programme in 1908 when the chancel roof was repaired, the south wall underpinned and a buttress renewed and enlarged. Inside, the stairs to the rood loft were unblocked, the chancel arch constructed and new ceilings hid the old timbers in the roof. At least one window in the church was replaced, and two small windows on either side of the porch were blocked up. 

After he left in 1923 there was another grand sale of the contents of the Rectory as he was going to America. At the age of 67, he and Mary Isabel Easton (his unmarried daughter, aged 37) left England on 8th June 1923 travelling First Class in the ship 'Dinteldyk' (Holland-America Line) bound for California.

Rev M L Foyn: EDP Report (date unknown but 1941-2)
'PRESENTATION - At a concert and social held in the Rectory Room a presentation was made to the Rector (the Rev. M L Foyn) and Mrs Lee on their departure from the parish. Mr J E Cadman spoke of the sincere regret of the whole parish at the Rector's departure. Mr Harbour then presented the Rector with a case of pipes, and Mrs English presented Mrs Lee with a clock.'

(Above) Baptismal certificate of 1945 signed by Rev R W Whitehouse, Rector of Flordon, during and after WW2.

Rev Robert Whaites, Rector 1950-1955 was a much-travelled man. Born in Settle, Yorkshire, in 1889, one of 10 children of James Whaites who had come from Ringland, west of Norwich. In 1911, Robert was an iron plater in Saltaire, living with his widowed mother, but the following year left for Australia on board the 'Orphir', giving his occupation as 'Evangelist'. By the end of 1913 he was appointed to the Anglican church in Sarina, south of Mackay, Queensland, and after the outbreak of WWI took a temporary appointment as an army chaplain. He resigned in 1916 and we have no further information about any war service until he was demobilised in England in 1919. At the end of that year he married Annie Maud Segger in Settle. They went to minister in the West Indies - possibly in Honduras and certainly in Jamaica, making several journeys from and to the UK on banana boats of the Elders & Fyffes line. Although in Great Yarmouth when civil registration took place in September 1939, they seem to have returned to Jamaica the following month. They were back in England in 1947, visiting one of their two son James in Edinburgh when he completed his medical studies - when the photo below was taken. James emigrated to Australia, and in 1949 Robert visited him there, telling a reporter that he, too, would like to emigrate, but this did not happen - yet....

In 1950, at the age of 60, Robert Whaites became Rector of Flordon. He is remembered today as the man who replaced the old foot-operated harmonium with a small pipe organ that was electrically operated. His wife, Annie, was organist and was very involved in village life with her husband, as the report of Coronation festivities show (see Fun & Games). Sadly, Mrs Whaites died suddenly at the end of 1953 and is buried in the churchyard. A plaque was added to the organ with a touching inscription comparing her life with the Spikenard perfume poured over Jesus (Mark 14 verses 3-6). Her successor as organist, Pam (who was playing for services until 2020!) has a bracelet that once belonged to Annie, given to her by the Rector when he left Flordon.  After her death, Robert looked again at emigrating 'down under' and after leaving Flordon went to New Zealand, settling in at St Paul's Anglican church in Papanui, now a suburb of Christchurch. There he married again, to Joan C Barker. Robert died in Christchurch in 1972, but his second wife lived until 2020 and died there in her 100th year.

Rev W P J Fair was the last resident Rector of Flordon. He appeared in John Betjeman's BBC documentary 'A Passion for Churches' (1974) reading Morning Prayer, as he had faithfully done every day of his ministry, but to an empty church. Thus Flordon came to epitomise the dying village church. After his retirement in 1979 it was amalgamated with other parishes but has grown to new life as the village community centre as well as the heart of its spiritual life. ['A Passion for Churches' can be viewed here.]

Curates

Oxford University & City Herald, 30 July 1814
CLERGYMAN DECEASED
At Long Stratton, in the 69th year of his age, the Rev. William D'Oyly, more than twenty years curate of Stratton St. Michael and Flordon with Hapton.

The sorry tale of Rev Carter W Moore:

Norfolk News, 20 Oct 1849
INTERRUPTION OF DIVINE WORSIP - On Sunday morning last, during the hours of divine service, the parish church of Flordon was the scene of much confusion, in consequence of some suspicious and disorderly persons, not resident in the neighbourhood, interrupting the service. The clerk was compelled to leave his desk, in order to pursue the fugitives, but lost all trace of them at the line of railroad. This is the second similar occurrence, as we are informed, within the last three months. The Rev. C. W. Moore, the curate, has offered FIVE POUNDS REWARD, on conviction of the offenders before a magistrate.

This same Curate was to come to grief himself a few years later: Rev Carter W Moore was a vicar's son who took his degree at St John's Cambridge and was ordained in Lincolnshire in 1841. After curacies in Lincolnshire and East London (then Essex) he became Curate-in-charge of Flordon 1848-52. But he was 'deprived of his licence by the Bishop of Norwich for having, in full canonicals [i.e. clergy robes], cursed a magistrate of Norfolk as he was getting into his carriage at Flordon station.' 

'Upon the arrival of the five o'clock train at the Flordon Station, on evening of Saturday 13th March last, the Rev. Mr. Moore, the late curate of Flordon, was observed at the station house, dressed in his Canonicals; and upon a neighbouring magistrate leaving the train the Rev. Gentleman cursed him and his family and all belonging to his, in the most vehement manner..... ever since Mr. Moore has been at Fordon, now about four years, he has been almost constantly at variance with some one or other of his neighbours... ' He was committed to Norwich Castle on 21 March 1852.  

Animosity seems to have arisen from an accusation by Mr Moore that the local postman had assaulted him, leading to an appeal to the magistrate by Mr Moore's father but the magistrate 'advised him to remove his son from Flordon as... sooner or later he would get himself into serious scraps.' Father sent the letter to his son for comment - and son attacked the writer.... William Gwyn of Tasburgh Lodge. 

Later Rev C W Moore moved back to Essex to become a chaplain and then a curate in Chelmsford. He died in 1884. 

Other Reports