Reverend Mourant Brock

A carte-de-visite portrait of the Reverend Mourant Brock (1802 - 1883), for many years the vicar of Christ Church, Clifton.

The third son of William Brock of Heavitree, Devon, Mourant Brock was born in Heavitree on 28 April 1802 and was baptised there on 3 June 1802.

He finished his education at St Mary Hall, Oxford (BA, 1825; MA, 1828).

On 4 January 1826 in Guernsey he married Catherine Tupper.

‘Guernsey, on the 4th inst. by the Very Reverend the Dean, the Rev. Mourant Brock, of St Mary Hall, Oxford, [married] Catherine, eldest daughter of the late Daniel Tupper, Esq., of Haute-Ville’ (Morning Herald, 10 January 1826).

Their marriage produced ten children.

Reverend Brock appears on the 1861 census living in Clifton with his wife, four unmarried daughters (aged 29 to 17) and two sons (Osmond, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy; and Jervis, a solicitors' articled clerk). The household also included three live-in servants (a housemaid, a parlour maid and a cook).

The Reverend Mourant Brock died on 30 June 1883 at 4 Gloucester Row, Clifton, in the city of Bristol.

‘The death is announced of the Rev. Mourant Brock, who will be remembered by many in Bath where he long ministered. His first appointment here was, we believe, the chaplaincy of the Bath Penitentiary, a post held by him for several years. Subsequently the rev. gentleman was appointed vicar of Widcombe, and later vicar of Christ Church, Clifton, which he resigned in 1872, after officiating there for 17 years. Deceased belonged to the Evangelical section of the Church, and was greatly esteemed for his earnestness and piety. He had been in delicate health and had reached an advanced age but was able to go out in a wheelchair until within a few days of his death’ (Bath Herald, 7 July 1883).

He left an estate valued at £1423.

Photographed by the Southwell Brothers of London.