William Mompesson

William Mompesson (1639 – 7 March 1709) was a Church of England priest whose decisive action when his Derbyshire parish, Eyam, became infected with the plague in the 17th century averted more widespread catastrophe.

The earliest reference to him is in Alumni Cantabrigienses; he was baptized at Collingham, West Yorkshire on 28 April 1639,[1] attended school in Sherburn and went to Peterhouse, Cambridge University, in 1655, graduating BA 1659 and MA 1662.

[3] After a period of service as chaplain to Sir George Saville, later (1679) Lord Halifax, he came as Rector to Eyam in 1664,[3] with his wife Catherine (daughter of Ralph Carr, Esq., of Cocken, County Durham).

Mompesson did many things to help the village during the plague including preventing its spread by filling pockets drilled in the Boundary Stone full of vinegar for trading.

"Mompesson's Well", listed at Grade II by Historic England,[12] is a substantial well on the edge of the village and another site for the exchange of payment for food and other essentials left by neighbouring parishioners.