Rouquet, James (1730–1776)

James ('Jemmy') Rouquet was a descendant of Huguenot refugees to England. He was converted to Methodism through Whitefield's influence and matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford, in 1748. He was appointed by JW as Master of Kingswood School between 1751 and 1754. He was ordained deacon in 1754, and served as curate of Sandhurst briefly. He then took a short stint as a Methodist traveling preacher (appearing only in the 1755 Minutes; see Works, 10:273). In Sept. 1756 he married Sarah ('Sally') Fenwicke in London, and from 1757–60 was chaplain to Henry Scott, 4th Earl of Deloraine. Rouquet was finally ordained priest in 1765, and served parishes in and around Bristol the remainder of his life. His wife died in May 1768. See Alumni Oxonienses; CCEd; DEB, 56–57; Ives, Kingswood, 45–47; A. Barrett Sackett, James Rouquet and His Part in Early Methodism (Bankhead Press, 1972); and Vickers, Dictionary, 301.