Edmund Larken

Larken's father, Edmund Larken (1766–1831^[2]), worked for the East India Company. His sister Eliza married William Monson, 6th Baron Monson;^[3] his brother Arthur Staunton Larken (1816–1889), the third son, was known as an officer of arms, becoming Portcullis Pursuivant and then Richmond Herald.^[4]

Larken matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford in 1829, graduating B.A. in 1833, and M.A. in 1836.^[5][6] He was ordained deacon in 1833, and priest in 1834. At Oxford he considered himself a follower of Richard Whateley.^[7][8] He became rector of Burton by Lincoln, remaining there from 1843 to 1895; he was presented to the living by his brother-in-law Lord Monson.^[7] In an invasion scare in 1859, a Lincolnshire rifle corps was raised and Larken was chaplain in it.^[9] An unsuccessful campaign was mounted for him to become Dean of Lincoln in 1860.^[10]

Larken was interested in the socialist ideas of Charles Fourier, including an account of them with one of his sermons in 1842.^[11] He collaborated with John Minter Morgan on schemes for village settlement.^[12] In 1847 he became chairman of a building society, of which George Boole was a director.^[13] Larken and Boole also worked together in the 1850s on a plan to reduce the impact of prostitution in Lincoln.^[14] Other involvements were with the Leeds Redemption Society and a co-operative flour mill.^[7]

Larken worked with Matilda Mary Hays and Elizabeth Ann Ashurst on a project to translate George Sand's works into English. It came to an end in 1847 due to lack of support.^[1][15] He joined the Social Reform League in 1850 and the Association for the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge in 1851.^[16] He associated with the radicals of his time, and backed The Leader financially. At his house Thomas Archer Hirst encountered George Holyoake.^[17]

• Sermons on the Commandments (1837)^[18]
• A sermon preached at Horbling, Lincolnshire, in obedience to the Queen's letter in behalf of the distressed manufacturers, on Sunday, July 24, 1842. With an appendix containing a sketch of the industrial system of Fourier (1842)^[19]
• The necessity of toleration to the exercise of private judgment, a sermon (1847)^[20]
• The Miller of Angibault (1847), translated from George Sand, edited by Matilda Hays.^[21]

Larken's eldest son was a medical doctor in the Indian Army, dying at age 26.^[22] The third son (born 1844) was Francis Roper,^[23] who was the father of Vice-Admiral Sir Frank Larken^[24] and Hubert Larken, the Archdeacon of Lincoln.^[25] Other children included daughters Annie Frances^[26] and Henrietta.^[27]

• Francis Hill (1974), Victorian Lincoln; Google Books.