Rev Sutcliffe Sowden was the son of Samuel Sowden.
Baptised 6th October 1816.
He went to St Mary Magdalene's College Cambridge.
He was assistant Curate at Cross Stone [1839] to Rev John Fennell. He was the first Vicar of Hebden Bridge when the new parish of Hebden Bridge was created in 1841.
It is said that he was appointed as vicar because Rev J. A. Rhodes was impressed after hearing him give a sermon at Cross Stone Church, and recommended him to the Vicar of Halifax to succeed Rev P. C. Nicholson. When Sowden heard this, he went to Rhodes and explained that the sermon in question was not original, to which Rhodes replied
We will give you credit for making a good selection and let the matter rest where it is
He was a popular and much-loved figure in the district. He was noted as a geologist and a lover of nature.
He was a friend of Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls and Branwell Brontë. In 1854, he performed the ceremony when Charlotte Brontë married Rev Nicholls at Haworth church.
He never married.
On 8th August 1861, a stormy night, he drowned in the canal at Hebden Bridge [aged 45]. He had been visiting Edwards Binns at Multure Hall, and left around 10:30 pm, Binns walking with him a part of the way home. It is said that an illness 2 or 3 years earlier had left him subject to fits of dizziness, and it was believed that one of these led to his death. His body was found just below the iron bridge opposite Whiteley's mill. His body lay on the bank and his head was in the water. His watch had stopped at 11:15.
He was buried at Hebden Bridge Parish Church with his siblings.
Rev Nicholls conducted the funeral service.
There are memorials to him in the font at Hebden Bridge Parish Church, and the middle light of the East window and the candlesticks on the High Altar.
He was succeeded, as Vicar at Hebden Bridge, by his brother George
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