Edmund Larken

Edmund Roberts Larken (1809–1895) was an English cleric and Christian Socialist, a patron of radical causes and author on social matters. Along with other unconventional views, he was noted as possibly the first parish priest of his time to wear a beard.

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

Larken graduated B.A. from Trinity College, Oxford, (M.A. 1836) and was ordained deacon in 1833, and priest in 1834. At Oxford he considered himself a follower of Richard Whateley. 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. In an invasion scare in 1859, a Lincolnshire rifle corps was raised and Larken was chaplain in it. An unsuccessful campaign was mounted for him to become Dean of Lincoln in 1860.

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

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. He joined the Social Reform League in 1850 and the Association for the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge in 1851. He associated with the radicals of his time, and backed The Leader financially. At his house Thomas Archer Hirst encountered George Holyoake.

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