Henry Hasted Victor was born at Southwick, Hampshire, in 1803, the son of John and Phillis Victor. He was baptized at St Andrew’s, Farlington, Hampshire, on 25th October 1803.
Henry Victor was educated at Clare College, Cambridge. He was admitted into holy orders in June 1828 at Chichester Cathedral and in August 1829 he was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Worcester. In 1839 he had two books published: The Worship of Imaginations: A Sermon in June 1839 and The Parochial Minister’s Manual for visiting the Sick in October 1839. The former was a sermon by Bishop Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626) who served successively as Bishop of Chichester, of Ely and of Winchester, and oversaw the translation of the King James Version of the Bible; it was edited by Reverend Victor who was Curate of Andover in 1839. At the time of the 1841 census, Reverend Victor was living at Bishops Court House, Bridge Street, Andover, which was a girls’ school.
It was whilst living in Andover that he met his future wife, Emily Heath, whom he married in 1843. Henry was appointed Perpetual Curate of Emsworth, Hampshire, in 1843. Their first-born son, named Henry Hasted Victor after his father, was born there in 1844, but sadly died early in 1845 aged just a few months and was buried in the churchyard at Alton, Hampshire, on 1st March 1845.
It was just a few days after this tragedy that the Victor family moved to take up residence in Badsey Vicarage. The burial register for Badsey reveals that Reverend Victor conducted a burial service at Badsey on 11th March. Newspaper reports of May 1845 report that “Rev H H Victor, MA, was appointed to the curacy of Badsey and Wickhamford”.
Henry and Emily had a second child, Phillis Maria, born later in 1845. The twelfth baptism that Reverend Victor conducted at Badsey was on 2nd November 1845 for his own daughter.
Reverend Victor remained for just over three years in the parish. During that time he performed the following number of services, the last being on 19th March 1848: baptisms (59 at Badsey, 10 at Wickhamford), marriages (5 at Badsey, 1 at Wickhamford), burials (26 at Badsey, 7 at Wickhamford).
From Badsey, Reverend Victor went to become Curate of Bitton, Gloucestershire. A daughter, Emily Mary (1848-1928) was baptized on 29th June 1848. In 1850 he was appointed Curate of Heyford, Northamptonshire; a daughter, Margaret Ellen (1850-1851), was baptized at Heyford on 20th October 1850. The following year they were living at Bussage, Gloucestershire, when a further tragedy hit the family. Two of Reverend Victor’s daughters died in November 1851 – Phillis Maria aged six and Margaret Ellen aged one – and were buried in the churchyard on 5th November.
The family moved again shortly after this, to Alton in Hampshire, where Grace Ellen (1852-1909) was baptized in June 1852. A son, Henry Ernest (1854-1929) was baptized at Shalden, Hampshire, in June 1854.
The family appears to have led a fairly peripatetic existence as in 1861 they were living at Munsley, Herefordshire, where Henry was now Curate. In 1871 they were living at Boscombe Chine, Hampshire, where Henry died on 14th November 1878. His widow, Emily, died ten years later at Boscombe.