The Revd Daniel Wardell: Fareham in the Early Georgian Age

The Revd Daniel Wardell served as Vicar of Fareham from 1721 to 1738, a ministry of seventeen years during the reigns of George I and George II.

Little securely documented biographical information survives about Wardell himself, but the years of his ministry place him in an important period in the development of Fareham and the neighbouring naval towns.

When Wardell arrived in 1721, Britain was still recovering from the South Sea Bubble of the previous year. The collapse of the South Sea Company’s share price had ruined many investors and caused a major political scandal. The company itself was also connected with Britain’s participation in the transatlantic slave trade through its contract to supply enslaved Africans to Spanish America.

Closer to Fareham, Portsmouth Dockyard was expanding rapidly. Major programmes of enlargement and improvement were under way during the 1720s, and the dockyard was becoming increasingly important to Britain’s growing naval power.

That expansion mattered to Fareham. The town was already a market centre and working port, with vessels using Fareham Creek to bring in coal, corn, salt and other goods, while timber, leather, grain and local produce were shipped out. The growth of Portsmouth created increasing demand for food, timber, tradesmen, transport and housing across the surrounding district.

Wardell’s ministry also coincided with the rapid growth of Portsea beside Portsmouth Dockyard. New streets and houses were being built for dockyard workers and their families, and in 1733 a naval academy was established at Portsmouth to train future officers.

At St Peter & St Paul, however, the rhythms of parish life would have remained familiar. The vicar baptised children, conducted marriages, buried the dead, preached each Sunday and administered Holy Communion according to the Book of Common Prayer.

Wardell’s seventeen years in Fareham also spanned a change of monarch. George I died in 1727 and was succeeded by George II. Britain was becoming increasingly commercial, maritime and outward-looking, while the communities around Portsmouth Harbour were being shaped more and more by the Royal Navy.

Daniel Wardell’s own story may now be difficult to recover in detail, but his ministry belongs to a period when Fareham was becoming ever more closely connected with the naval and commercial world that would shape the town for generations.