Dotted around the church are several memorials. Some are very prominent while others are more low-key but all represent people who at one time or another sat in the pews we sit in today. So who were these people? Your guided tour begins here.

North East Wall – Revd François Baron

To the right of the main door is this impressive memorial to the man who was not only the first but also the longest serving minister of the church – 25 years. It was erected by his family and friends following his death aged 70 at Mortlake in 1895. Much has been written in the past about the enormous influence he had on the church and in the local area alongside his work as lecturer and leader of the Working Men’s Educational Union in London. Many years ago his granddaughter (then a very old lady) came to see the church which had been such an important part of her grandparents’ life.

South West Wall – Benjamin Scott FRAS

Chamberlain of the City of London for 34 years

On the south west wall and immediately opposite François Baron’s memorial is a plain, brass plaque in memory of this man. It describes him as ’The Founder and Promoter of this Church’. He was, of course, a very generous benefactor and without his influence the church would never have been built. In the roll of members he and his wife, Kate, are listed as nos 1 and 2. Benjamin Scott exercised considerable influence in the area and a few years ago he was named as one of the Elmbridge Hundred – a list representing 100 famous residents of the borough across the years. He and his wife died in 1892 when they both became victims of a ‘flu epidemic after moving to London. About three years ago some of their descendants came to visit the church, Kate and Benjamin Scott’s former home in Hanger Hill and their grave in Weybridge Cemetery.

South West Transept – Samuel Woods

This was the local builder who saved the day following the collapse of the spire on 29 October 1864 during the building of the church. His expertise was crucial in the subsequent re-building when he was appointed to oversee the work of the London builder who had
to re-construct the spire and part of the roof at his own expense! Samuel Woods and his wife, Emma, lived in Baker Street and were among the first people to be received into membership of the church in April 1865. Shortly afterwards he and Benjamin Scott were appointed as the first deacons (elders) – particularly significant posts in those early days of the church.  By 1875 the number of deacons had increased to cover the developing workload and when Benjamin Scott resigned that year Samuel Woods was appointed senior deacon.

North East (Choir) Transept – James Edward Fitzwater

This memorial is dedicated to a man who had the remarkable record of serving as organist for 46 years as well as church secretary for
13 years. He was a Master Baker who lived in Byfleet and was received into membership in 1870. He died at the age of 78 in 1928.

Communion Table – Harry Edwin Potter

This Harry Potter lived with his wife in York Road long before the fictional character was created. On the Communion Table is a small plaque commemorating his membership of the church from 1924-1932 and his service as a deacon. It has captured the imagination not just of children but also several visiting ministers!

Porch – Mrs Helen Bannister

This is the most mysterious commemoration because the memorial gift it refers to no longer exists. Only a small plaque remains in the porch making reference to a lantern above the pulpit. Why is the plaque in the porch? As part of the centenary celebrations in 1965 the front
of the church was re-designed involving the removal of the heavy, dark-wood central pulpit (over which hung the large, ornate brass lantern) and the adjacent choir pews. (All before the church was classified as a listed building.) The lantern was relocated to the porch where it remained until the church was completely re-wired in 2002. Helen Bannister was a member of the family who owned an outfitters and drapers with branches in Queens Road (opposite the church) and Baker Street. It specialised in ‘upmarket’ clothes for ladies and had as its slogan ‘Always smart and up-to-date’.  She lived in High Pine Close with her husband, Alfred, and was a member of the church from
1902-1951.

Pulpit – Mrs Nellie Cond

On the pulpit paneling is a small brass plate dedicated to the memory of the first woman to be elected as a deacon in 1948. It is difficult for us today to comprehend what a huge advance it was when this intelligent and elegant lady braved the all-male enclave. There had been an attempt several decades earlier to admit women to the diaconate but it was a step too far for the deacons who wished to maintain the status quo of a men-only diaconate. Instead they decided to establish a Ladies’ Committee to be responsible for the more domestic affairs of the church with the proviso that its members would be appointed by them! Nellie Cond was a member of the church from 1930-1962 and served as a deacon from 1948-1962.

Organ – Wilfred Rogers LRAM LTCL

This is the only memorial in the church with a photograph. Here you can see Wilfred wearing his Trinity College robes as he celebrated his diamond jubilee as organist – an occasion marked with a huge party in the church hall. Aged just 19 when he was appointed in 1927 he had the incredible achievement of serving as organist until 1993 and is remembered with affection by many in the congregation today. In 1994 he was made Organist Emeritus and retained this title until he died in 1997. An accountant by profession Wilfred continued his organ studies in London with the renowned Dr Harold Darke and frequently gave lunchtime concerts in City churches.

Clock on Gallery Frontal – Hannah Elsley

Hannah lived in Brooklands Road and from the age of 12 she worked in her father’s laundry. She continued to do so until 1885 when she died aged 26 from the ‘black pox’ allegedly contracted from some infected linen sent for laundering. On her deathbed she asked that a clock be installed in her memory on the front of the new gallery which was to be built to accommodate the expanding congregation.  The clock, which was made by the London clockmaker Sir John Bennett but with a French timepiece, was installed in 1887.  On that occasion the Revd François Baron paid tribute to Hannah’s service to the church and to its Sandpits Mission in Waverley Road. Strangely there is no commemorative plaque on the clock.

Font – Harry Copelin (1894-1970) and Kathleen Copelin (1893-1983)

The inscription on the font reads:  ‘Loyal and Devoted Members of this Church’.  Harry and Kathleen Copelin were received into membership in 1924 and lived in Thames Street for many years. They served the church in so many ways but Kathleen was particularly involved with the women’s organisations while Harry was a deacon and Sunday School Superintendent. Some time ago an elder recounted how she became associated with the church as a child. Her mother shopped at J Sainsbury in Weybridge High Street where Harry was the provisions manager. To her he came across as a kind and courteous man who really cared about his customers. When she discovered he ran the Sunday School at the church she decided that was where she wanted her daughter to go. That small child remained part of the church community for her whole life.

South West Wall (rear windowsill) – James Passmore Russell

This plaque was erected as a personal tribute by James Russell’s widow and parents before the War Memorial was installed. James was in the 1^st Battalion the London Scottish Regiment and died aged 27 in 1916 in the Somme Valley. The inscription includes the words   ‘He was a brave and consistent Christian’.

North East (Choir) Transept – War Memorial

The July/August 2014 edition of the News contained an article by
John Smith giving the story behind the erection of this memorial to the six men in the congregation who died in the First World War.

Table by the Tower Door – James Nelson Hadlow

Possibly the best piece of furniture in the church this table is often hidden beneath piles of leaflets so that we are unable to appreciate the beauty of its wood and construction. Look carefully and carved along one edge you will find a dedication to this young boy. Jimmy was a chemistry enthusiast and keen on undertaking experiments at home.  In 1938 one of these experiments went disastrously wrong and sadly he died. Jimmy was a member of the Children’s Church and his parents had this memorial table placed in the south west transept in the area then known as the Children’s Corner. When the church was
re-arranged and the grand piano installed the table was moved to its new position. It also contains a secret carving – see if you can find the church mouse!

Small table by the Tower Door – Memorial Book

The most recent of the memorials is the book commemorating
the installation of the new door in 2009.  When the door was commissioned many people wanted to make a donation in memory of a family member or friend. These names together with personal dedications are listed in the Memorial Book which is opened at a different page each week.

These memorials represent just a few of the people who have served the church over the years. There are hundreds more for whom there is no memorial except that through their work and dedication the church is here today. Now we have all inherited that responsibility.

How much notice have you taken of the exterior of our church? 

 Look closely and you will see that it is elaborately decorated and carvings abound - people, angels, flowers, leaves. The Victorian stonemasons seemed to have been determined to demonstrate their skills to the glory of God. An article in an earlier issue of the News on the carvings inside the church (depicting John Milton and Isaac Watts) provoked considerable interest and prompted a decision to look at the exterior carvings. The church records contain details of just three of the carvings. We know that the heads on the labels on the arch of the main door and that shown at the base of the north transept window depict three of the nonconformist martyrs at the time of the Reformation and its aftermath - John Greenwood, Henry Barrow(e) and John Penry. The lives of these three men were very closely interwoven and they were all executed for their beliefs in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

To put their lives into context it might be helpful to have a quick look at the preceding historical events. We all know that after Henry VIII's  dispute with Pope Clement VII in 1529 over his desired divorce he declared himself Head of the Church in England and set about the Dissolution of the Monasteries. He executed Roman Catholics for refusing to acknowledge his supremacy in the Church as well as persecuting the more Puritan Protestants who felt that by retaining some elements of Roman Catholicism he had not gone far enough in his reforms. The young Edward VI adopted a more sober approach to church organisation but his sister, the devout Catholic Mary I, secured the restoration of papal authority and sanctioned the persecution of Protestants. Elizabeth I set about overseeing the establishment of a reformed Church of England with its doctrines enshrined in the 39 Articles. In 1559 the Elizabethan Prayer Book was introduced and the Act of Uniformity made church attendance compulsory.
Non-attendees were liable to be punished by fines or imprisonment! The increasingly authoritarian attitude of the Church at the time caused divisions among some of the clergy as well as others who refused to toe the line. This was the world (the Elizabethan 'Golden Age' of Shakespeare, Drake, Jonson, Spenser et al) in which the men of our carvings lived and in which they died for their faith.

 John Greenwood

There is no record of when or where John Greenwood was born but it is known that he entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1577 as a sizar.  In 1581 he gained his BA degree and was appointed chaplain to Lord Rich at Rochford, Essex.  He was ordained deacon and (later) priest but soon renounced his ordination when he adopted strong Puritan ideas. Early in 1586 he became one of the leaders of the informal group of Separatists in London many of whom had been imprisoned for their activities several times since 1567.  Greenwood was arrested in October 1586 and was sent to prison.  Whilst there he wrote controversial tracts in conjunction with his fellow prisoner Henry Barrow (see below).  By the autunn of 1588 he was out on bail and in September 1592 he was elected as Teacher of the newly-formed Separatist Church of Southwark. The Pastor there was the Revd Francis Johnson who was assisted in his work by the Revd John Penry (see below) despite the fact the latter had 'a price on his head' at the time.  The authorities soon pounced on them and both men were arrested while conducting services in the Fleet Street lodgings of a haberdasher.  Before long 56 members of the new church were also arrested and thrown into three of London's notorious prisons - Fleet, Clink and Newgate.  In December 1592 John Greenwood was arrested again and the following March he and Henry Barrow were tried at the Old Bailey. They were charged and condemned to death for 'devising and circulating seditious books'.  After two respites (one at the foot of the gallows) they were hanged on the 6 April 1593 at Southwark.

Henry Barrow(e)

Henry Barrow was born in Shipdam, Norfolk in 1550. As a student at Cambridge he led a rather dissolute life but eventually became a lawyer at Grays Inn in London and was a regular attendee at the Court of Queen Elizabeth I.  In his professional capacity he visited the Revd John Greenwood in prison in 1586 and was intrigued by Greenwood's nonconformist views.  These not only challenged the established Anglican Church but also advocated forming independent churches separate from secular authority. Barrow was arrested and thrown into prison but both he and Greenwood refused to deny their beliefs. Whilst in prison they detailed their views on scraps of paper which were smuggled to Holland for printing. It is thought that Barrow may have been involved in preparing seven well-publicised pamphlets which attacked the hierarchy of the Church of England. The first one appeared in 1588 and was widely circulated among a population already 'on a high' following the defeat of the Spanish Armada. During a period of freedom Henry Barrow continued his campaign but was soon imprisoned again.  He stood trial and was executed in 1593 along with John Greenwood. (see above)

John Penry

John Penry was born into a Roman Catholic family in Wales in 1559. He matriculated in 1580 at Peterhouse College, Cambridge and after completing his BA degree he went to St Alban's Hall, Oxford where he gained his MA in 1586. By that time he had become a Protestant holding strong Puritan views and even though he did not apply to be ordained he was licensed as University Preacher.   Around this time he also undertook preaching tours in Wales. Penry was indignant that even though an Act of Parliament in 1562 made provision for the translation of the Bible into Welsh not enough copies were printed to enable every parish church to have one. In 1587 he published a pamphlet calling for fair treatment for the people of Wales in this respect.  The Archbishop of Canterbury (John Whitgift) was angry at the criticism and Penry was brought before the High Commission and imprisoned for a month.When he was released he got married and moved to Northampton.  He set up a printing press in 1588 producing a number of widely-circulated tracts. This press was operated in several different  locations around the country (including East Molesey) until it was seized in August 1589. In January 1590 his house was searched and all his papers removed but he escaped to Scotland and continued to publish controversial tracts. On his return to England in September 1592 he joined the Separatist Church at Southwark and was a regular preacher there after the arrest of the pastors.  He was arrested in March 1593 and imprisoned while attempts were made to find evidence for a capital charge against him.  All these efforts failed and a charge of sedition was brought instead after a draft of a critical petition to Queen Elizabeth I was discovered among his papers. He was found guilty by the Queen's Bench on 21 May 1593 and hanged at Southwark eight days later without being allowed to see his wife, Eleanor, and four young daughters, who had the unusual names of Deliverance, Comfort, Safety and Sure-Hope.

John Greenwood, Henry Barrow and John Penry are three of the six known Congregational martyrs of this period. Unlike them the other three were not university graduates but men in quite ordinary jobs. John Copping, a shoemaker, and Elias Thacker, a tailor, were hanged together at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. They had endured seven years of being in and out if prison for their nonconformist views and were eventually found guilty of circulating subversive religious books. These books were burned in front of them at the scaffold. Around that time another nonconformist, William Dennis, was hanged in Norfolk for his unacceptable views.

Now to the carvings on the exterior of the church - we don't know anything about them apart from the three people already named.  Some of the figures are rather worn, some are well-preserved.  Could they represent other martyrs or perhaps the Pilgrim Fathers or are they simply people known to the stonemasons themselves?