The story of the Essex vicar who hunted werewolves and inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula
Back in the 19th century, an Anglican priest would serve in Essex for ten years. Now, this vicar is one of the most famous in English history, known for inspiring the story of Bram Stoker's Dracula and writing the "definitive" book on werewolves.
The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould was vicar at Mersea Island for ten years from 1871. During his career serving the church, Baring-Gould would go on to become a top ten best-selling novelist.
According to The Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society, the vicar's life is a story in itself. He had an "unconventional" childhood, his marriage to a mill-girl half his age and his dedication to antiquarian pursuits alongside his life as squire and parson of a small Devonshire village, eventually fathering 15 children.
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He was regarded as one of the top ten novelists of his time, but wrote prolifically on his travels, religious matters, historical figures and on many other topics. Over 1,200 publications have been attributed to him. At his death in 1924 he largely dropped out of the public’s memory and if he was remembered it would have been for his best known hymns such as "Onward, Christian soldiers" and "Now the day is over".
Now, Devon-based musicians John Palmer, Jim Causley and Miranda Sykes will be marking the centenary of the vicar's death in a show that's coming to Colchester Arts Centre on October 21. They will be singing some songs he collected, and maybe new ones, interweaving highlights of Sabine’s own astonishing life with anecdotes and stories from his impressive array of best-selling-books.
It is the centenary of the death of the Revd Sabine Baring-Gould, Squarson of Lew Trenchard, folklorist, archaeologist, hymnodist, biographer of Parson Hawker of Morwenstow, writer of Onward Christian soldiers, godfather of Sherlock Holmes, and ancestor of Josh Widdecombe. pic.twitter.com/vcLegQy1rn
— Richard Coles (@RevRichardColes) January 2, 2024
The Essex marshes also gave Baring-Gould the inspiration for his best-selling book Mehalah, which turned him into a revered author alongside Dickens and Hardy, with 35 novels to his name. In 1865 he published The Book of Werewolves, the first serious academic study of the shape-shifters of mythological lore. He also inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Sherlock Holme’s Hound and Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.
But he always said the most important thing he did in his life was to collect songs from the countryfolk of Devon and Cornwall. A pioneer collector, starting a decade before Sharp and Vaughan Williams, he amassed more than 2,000 songs.
Baring-Gould was born in Exeter on 28 January 1834 and died in January 1924, the son of the Lord of the Manor of Lew Trenchard near Okehampton. He was at school in Warwick and a schoolteacher in Sussex. He then became a vicar in Yorkshire, Mersea Island in Essex and Devon and devoted his time to his love of folk music, country traditions and the macabre.
You can buy tickets for the anniversary musical event by clicking here.