Edward Garrard Marsh

Who was Edward Garrard Marsh?

Edward Garrard Marsh was an English poet and Anglican clergyman.

He was son of the composer John Marsh. He was a good friend of William Hayley, and associated with him and William Blake.

He studied at Wadham College, Oxford, and on graduating became a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. He was a curate at Nuneham, and then bought a chapel in Hampstead. He became Residentiary Canon at Southwell. He was vicar of Sandon, Hertfordshire and then Aylesford, Kent. He was Bampton Lecturer in 1848.

At 7 July 1813 he married Lydia Williams at Southwell, England. She was a sister of Henry Williams and William Williams. Their grandfather Rev. Thomas Williams was a Congregational minister.

While he had connections to non-conformist family members, Edward's beliefs followed that of low church evangelical Anglicanism.

He was also from 1821 a prebend of Woodborough, an office suppressed in 1841 by the Church Commissioners.

He was a member of the Church Missionary Society and was described as 'influential' in the decision of Henry Williams and William Williams to convert to Anglicanism in February 1818, and then to join the CMS.