Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fenwicke, George
FENWICKE, GEORGE, B.D. (1690–1760), divine, born in 1690, was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, of which he was elected a fellow, 29 March 1710. He resigned his fellowship in March 1722, and was presented to the rectory of Hallaton, Leicestershire, which he held until his death in 1760, a period of thirty-eight years. Here, as a condition of holding certain land bequeathed many years previously to the rector, he had to contribute every Easter Monday to the edification and entertainment of the people a sermon, two hare-pies, a quantity of ale, and two dozen penny loaves. The provisions, after divine service and a sermon, were carried in procession to a mound called ‘Harepies Bank,’ thrown into a hole, and scrambled for by the men, women, and children assembled, causing no little disorder and some damage to the competitors (Nichols, Leicestershire, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 600). Another bequest of 500l. from Mrs. Parker, a widow, the rector expended in providing a home for three poor women or poor men of the parish. Fenwicke published a visitation sermon in 1736, one on the small-pox in 1737, and two other sermons in 1738. He was also the author of 1. ‘The Friendly Monitor for Rich and Poor.’ 2. ‘Help for the Sincere in Plain Meditations,’ 12mo, London, 1737. 3. ‘Thoughts on the Hebrew Titles of the Psalms,’ London, 8vo, 1749; new edition, 12mo, 1855. 4. ‘The Psalter in its Original Form,’ 8vo, 1759. In Darling's ‘Cyclopædia Bibliographia’ Fenwicke is styled ‘a Hutchinsonian divine.’ He died 10 April 1760, according to the inscription on a mural tablet which is placed outside the church against the north wall of the chancel.
[Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. ii. pt. ii. pp. 600, 606; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Darling's Cyclopædia Bibliographica; Baker's Hist. of St. John's College, Cambridge, i. 302, 303.]