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The Rev. Samuel Raymond acts as a foil to his son Taffy but also symbolises much more. He represents Q’s model cleric in being university educated, an upholder of established religion and theologically vague. Around him swirl the unstable forces haunting Q’s political imagination: a hedonistic and irresponsible governing class on one side, with on the other a leaderless working class, open to exploitation, fecklessness and sexual excess.
Samuel Raymond stands as a symbol of responsibility in matters of religion. As a symbol Raymond is very effective, as a character less so. His personality appears distant and lacking in genuine feeling. There is too little vice in his virtue for the reader to empathise with.
Samuel Raymond was born at Tewkesbury, attended Christ Church in Oxford, was married at 24 and served on the staff of Bodmin church. His services are secured in Chapter II of the novel by Squire Moyle, who holds the living of Nannizabuloe (Perranzabuloe) on the north coast. The Raymond family are conveyed from Bodmin to the Indian Queen inn, on the western edge of Goss Moor, aboard the Vital Spark, owned by J. Job.The Raymonds arrive in Nannizabuloe to find the religious element of the population catered for by Methodism, either in its Wesleyan or its Bible Christian form.
It is likely that the character of Samuel Raymond is based on two historical individuals – Robert Hawker and William Haslam.
Robert Hawker came to the parish of Morwenstow, near the Devon border, in 1834 and found it as indifferent to Anglicanism as does Raymond in Nannizabuloe. The parish had been evangelised by Bible Christians. Hawker opposed them, endeavouring to win them back to the Established Church and in consequence incited considerable opposition. although never of a violent kind. The parallel between Hawker and Raymond is clear.
William Haslam, the other model for Raymond, was also a controversial figure in mid nineteenth century Cornwall, but for very different reasons and was eventually forced out by the ecclesiastical authorities.
For more on Raymond and the real-life characters on which he was based, see the article ‘Samuel Raymond and Jacky Pascoe’.