Edward Garrard Marsh

Edward Garrard Marsh (1783–1862) was an English poet and Anglican clergyman. He was the son of composer John Marsh. He was a good friend of William Haley and contacted him and William Blake. Marsh attended Wadham College in Oxford, and upon graduation became a scholar at Oriel College in Oxford. He was a curator at Nuneham, and then bought a chapel in Hampstead. He became the resident canon in Southwell. He was Vicar of Sandon, Hertfordshire, and then Aylesford, Kent. He was a Bampton lecturer in 1848. On July 7, 1813, Marsh married Lydia Williams (Gosport, England, January 17, 1788 - December 13, 1859) in Southwell, England. She was the sister of Rev. Henry Williams and Rev. William Williams. Their grandfather, Rev. Thomas Williams, was a priest in the congregation. While he had connections with non-conformist family members, Marsh's beliefs followed the beliefs of low church evangelical Anglicanism. He was also in 1821 the pre-Benderite of Woodboro, Nottinghamshire, a ministry that was closed in 1841 by church commissioners. He was a member of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and was described as “influential” in the decision of Henry Williams and William Williams to go to Anglicanism in February 1818, and then join the CMS.