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Records are available of the incumbents of All Saints Church from 1306. The first was Jo Gossyl who was appointed by the Bishop of Norwich and served the parish from 1306 to 1310.
Reverend Evan Baillie
In 1856 the Lawshall rector, Rev. Evan Baillie, received a substantial legacy and spent over £3,000 on the restoration of the church. This enabled the chancel to be demolished and rebuilt. However, only nine months after the church was restored Rev. Baillie resigned his post and became a teacher at the Roman Catholic Chapel on the Bury Road. This apparent change in religious affinities has not been explained, but the Rev. Baillie did publish a collection of twelve sermons which he claimed were not contrary to the doctrines of the Church of England. They were dedicated to Thomas Sargeant, one of his churchwardens, who had stood by him in his "time of trial".
Reverend Barrington Mills
Rev. Baillie's successor in 1858 was Rev. Barrington Mills who proved a strong influence on the village. His habit of visiting every parishioner who failed to attend Sunday service would certainly have helped increase attendance. With the aid of Mr and Mrs Frost he started daily services in the church. Mrs Frost was head-mistress of the school and Mr Frost the organist. The school provided the choir and any boys failing to attend had a fine docked from their annual retainer of £1. The Rev. Mills did have a generous side to his nature, and when on a seaside holiday he would arrange for a cart load of fish to be delivered to the village for his parishioners.
Canon Algernon Ogle Wintle
In 1923 Canon Algernon Ogle Wintle became rector of Lawshall. He played street pianos for charity in Bury St Edmunds and became well known to shoppers in the town. A radio broadcast led to a succession of small barrel organs being sent to him for repair. Canon Wintle set up a piano organ works and provided employment to many local people in the village in the depression years of the 1930s. The barrel pianos and organs represented a resourceful business for Canon Wintle who bought the used organs, renovated them and resold them under his name. He is recalled as a rotund, grumpy man with a workshop full of barrel pianos. Ladies of the village used to trundle them up to his house, with the pins pulled out ready for him to put in the latest tunes. He gave talks on BBC Radio and in 1954 met the Queen and Queen Mother at Sandringham House.
References:
1. Lawshall Village Appraisal Group, ed. (1991). Lawshall: Past, Present and Future - An Appraisal. Appraisal Group.
2. "BIOS Reporter - April 1997, Volume XXI, No.2 - Experiences with Barrel Organs". The British Institute of Organ Studies - John Budgen. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
3. Hilary Bradt, ed. (2010). Slow Devon & Exmoor. Chalfont St Peter: Bradt Travel Guides. ISBN 13:978 1 84162 322 1.