Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Robert Hovenden

3425941Men of Kent and Kentishmen — Robert HovendenJohn Hutchinson


Robert Hovenden,

DIVINE,

Was, according to Wood, a "Kentish man born," his father being William Hoveden or Hovenden, of Canterbury, who possessed the site of the Black Friars Monastery in that city after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Robert was educated at Oxford, where he was elected Fellow of All Souls, and graduated M.A. in 1570. In the same year he became Chaplain to Archbishop Parker, and prebendary of Lincoln. In 1571 he was elected Warden of his College, and in 1582 filled the office of Vice-Chancellor. During his Wardenship he strenuously exerted himself in improving the College Estates, enlarging its buildings, cataloguing its archives, and in protecting its interests generally. In these matters he showed himself an able ruler and administrator. He married Catherine Powys, of Abingdon, and left one daughter. He died 25th March 1614, and was buried in the College Chapel. He had two brothers, both of them Kentishmen, Christopher, of the Middle Temple, and George, rector of Harrietsham, Kent, and prebend of Canterbury.

Hovenden wrote a Life of Archbishop Chichele, "a short thing," but which "served as an apparatus of a larger work written by Dr. (Sir) Arthur Duck." He also compiled a catalogue of the Wardens and Fellows of All Souls.

[See "Hasted's Kent," "Wood's Athenæ Oxon." by Bliss, and "Burrows's History of All Souls."]