Luke Morgan was (according to CCED) rector of Eversholt from 7 Nov 1742 to 17 May 1753, when he resigned. He’s the only Luke Morgan clergyman they list. On the day he resigned, he’s listed as appointed to the position of domestic chaplain to Herbert, Henry Arthur, 1st earl of Powis. Quite what this means is not clear, but it must have been good enough to tempt Luke away from his cosy rectorship.
Luke seems to have been buried on 20 May 1777 in the abbey church of Saints Peter and Paul, Bath.
Ancestry (subscription required) has a listing for “Mary Morgan, relict of late Luke Morgan, a minister of the chapel” being buried in Southgate Chapel, London, on 12 September 1775. If Luke was already late in 1775, why was he buried in Bath in 1777? Even murkier, there is also a record there of Mary being buried, with the same form of words, on 14 September 1779. Is the 1775 date wrong? It would make more sense if Luke died in 1777 and Mary in 1779. Anyway, Luke seems to have been minister of Southgate Chapel.
Luke Morgan married Mary Willis in the abbey church of Saints Peter and Paul, Bath, on 17 December 1749.
But! “The Reverend Luke Morgan” married Mary Denne in All Saints, Edmonton (the church that ran Southgate Chapel) on 24 February 1757, and listed himself as a bachelor then. Are there two Luke Morgans?
Here’s a Luke Morgan at Cambridge. Luke claims to have an MA when he is appointed rector at Eversholt. This would have him born in 1714, son of Nathaniel Morgan.
Name: Luke Morgan
Entered: 1731
More Information: M.A. 1749 (Incorp. from Oxford). S. of Nathaniel, of St Peter’s, Worcester. Matric. from Merton College, Oxford, Feb. 1, 1731-2, age 17; B.A. (Oxford) 1736; M.A. 1738. R. of Whitburne, Herts., 1753-77. P.C. of Christ Church, Southgate. Died Apr. 1777. Admon. (V.C.C.); as of Southgate, Middlesex. (Al. Oxon.)
That Luke was appointed rector of Whitburne, Herts, in 1753. Is that when he resigned from Eversholt? There is allegedly an obituary for him, but Ancestry does not have the text, and nor does google. The April 1777 date of death is consistent with the May burial in Bath. Ah, there is great confusion here, since there doesn’t seem to be any place called Whiteburne in Hertforshire. But there is a WhitBourne in Herefordshire. Does the Cambridge book have a misprint? CCED lists Whitbourne Rectors but does not list a rector for the time Luke would have been there.
That same Luke is recorded in French!
Luke Morgan, fils d’un «plébéien» de Worcester, est immatriculé à Merton College, Oxford, en 1732; il y a devient B.A. en 1736 et M.A. en 1738. Les deux sont incoporés à Cambridge, où il obtient un M.A. en 1749.
So, whether there is one Luke Morgan churchman, or two, and whether he married one Mary, or two, remains to be seen.