St Andrew's Church, Ham Explained

St Andrew's Church, Ham
Denomination:	Church of England
Diocese:	Southwark
Parish:	Ham, St Andrew^[1]
Deanery:	Kingston
Archdeaconry:	Wandsworth
Episcopalarea:	Kingston
Province:	Canterbury
Architect:	Edward Lapidge^[2]
Materials:	Bath stone dressings and London stock brickwork
Years Built:	1830–31
Archbishop:	Justin Welby
Bishop:	Rt Revd Christopher Chessun
Vicar:	Rev Alice Pettit
Location:	Church Road, Ham Common, Richmond TW10 5HG
Country:	England, United Kingdom
Coordinates:	51.4329°N -0.3033°W
Embedded:	Embed: yes Designation1: Grade II Designation1 Date: 10 January 1950 Designation1 Number: 1080847

St Andrew's Church, Ham, is a Grade II listed Church of England church on Church Road, Ham Common in Ham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

Architecture

The church was built in grey brick in 1830–31; the architect was Edward Lapidge. A south aisle with a rose window, designed by Raphael Brandon, was added in 1860,^[3] and a chancel in red brick, by Bodley & Garner, in 1900–01.^[2] The carvings of the screen and choir stalls are by John Harper.^[4]

The church has 32 windows; eleven with stained glass installed between 1901 and 1948, four of which are by Shrigley & Hunt. The three-light window at the west end by Hugh Ray Easton, installed in 1932, shows Saint Andrew in the centre, flanked by scenes of baptism and confirmation.^[5] The east window of the Crucifixion was designed by Sir Ninian Comper (1900) and was erected in memory of Harry Scott of Ancrum (d 1889) by his stepdaughters Violet Cavendish-Bentinck and Hyacinth Jessup. Surrounding the high altar are eight large paintings of prophets and evangelists.^[6]

There is a memorial stained glass window to Sir George Dance (1857–1932), a dramatist and theatrical manager, and his son Erik who died in a prison camp in World War II.

There are also funerary hatchments at the back of the church dedicated to Lionel Tollemache, 4th Earl of Dysart and his wife Countess Grace.

Notable interments

• Carlos Bovill OBE (1882–1938), a balloonist in World War I.
• Violet Hyacinth Bowes-Lyon (1882–1893), who died of diphtheria at Forbes House on Ham Common. Her father was Claude George Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and she was the elder sister of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, The Queen Mother.^[7]
• Major George Shannon Dockrell OBE (1886–1924) was an Olympic swimmer who competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in the men's 100 metre freestyle event for Great Britain. In 1914 he joined the Rifle Brigade, 9th Battalion, and was wounded in France in August 1915; promoted to Staff Captain in 1917 and to Major and appointed OBE in 1919. He died from lingering shrapnel wounds to his back at the Officers’ Hospital, Richmond, Surrey.^{[8] [9]}
• General William Eden (1768–1851), army officer who was awarded a gold medal at the capture of Java from the Dutch in 1811;^[10] he lived on Ham Common where Martingales Close is now built.^{[11] [12]}
• Joshua Field JP (1829–1904), Deputy Lieutenant for Surrey, who lived at Latchmere House, son of Joshua Field FRS.^[13]
• Samuel Joseph Gray (1849–1906), was a Colour sergeant in the Rifle Brigade. On his discharge in 1894 he became a Park Keeper and in 1899 a Yeomen of the Guard; he lived at Ladderstile Lodge.^{[14] [15]}
• Sir Walter Henry Harris C.M.G. (1852–3 March 1922) formerly Sheriff of the City of London, knighted in 1919.^{[16] [17]}
• Wilfred Hudleston Hudleston (1828–1909), English geologist whose epitaph records "An eminent scientist whose work and research did much towards the advancement of geology".
• Major Robert Bartholomew Lawes (1824–1907), hereditary Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.^{[18] [19]}
• Sir Coutts Lindsay, 2nd Baronet (1824–1913), artist and watercolourist.
• Captain Lauchlan Bellingham Mackinnon (1815–1877), captain in the Royal Navy who wrote three books about his experiences.
• John Minter Morgan (1782–1854), author and philanthropist who founded the National Orphan Home on Ham Common in 1849.
• Sir Richard Owen (1804–1892), biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist.
• Charles Gottlieb Pfander (1803–1865) of the Church Missionary Society. His epitaph reads that he was "a leading champion in the great controversy between Christianity and Mahommedanism."
• Admiral Sir Peter Richards KCB (1787–1869), Royal Navy officer who went on to be Third Sea Lord.
• Frederick G Rudler (1887–1936), twice Mayor of the City of Westminster 1933–1935.^[20]
• Henry Warren Scott, the son of Sir William Scott, 6th Baronet, of Ancrum who died on 23 August 1889 at Forbes House;^{[21] [22]} his wife, Louisa Scott (1832–1918) was the maternal grandmother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and the great-grandmother of Elizabeth II.
• Arthur Shadwell (1854–1936) British physician and author, specialising in public health, temperance, and wider problems of economics and politic. He lived on Ham Common.^[23]
• Hugh Colin Smith (1836–1910), Governor of the Bank of England from 1897 to 1899.
• Sarah Smith (1832–1911), writer of children's books under the pen name Hesba Stretton.^[24]
• Charles Smyth Vereker (1818–1885), Commandant of the Limerick Artillery Militia, author of 'Scenes in the Sunny South' (1871) about Algeria, and the novel 'The Child of the Desert' (1878). He was the son of Charles Vereker, 2nd Viscount Gort and Elizabeth, his second wife, who is also buried here.^[25]

The cemetery also contains the graves of three war dead: Irene Daisy Collett of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (d 1943), Ronald Oswald Dibben of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (d 1942) and William Samuel Hudson Palmer of the Royal Flying Corps (d 1917).^{[26] [27] [28] [29]} Also the grave of Dr. Frederick Carson who was a captain in the R.A.M.C. in WW1 and was awarded the Military Cross in 1918.^[30]

Members of the Shafto family are buried in the cemetery.^[31]

Activities

The church has a service on Sunday mornings, a Sunday School for children between the ages of 3 and 11 years and a youth group for older children.

On the initiative of a German-speaking congregation established in 1979 by parents of pupils attending the German School nearby in Petersham, Lutheran services in the German language have been held at St Andrew's since 1980. The services are held twice a month on Sunday afternoons, with a concurrent Sunday school. There are also regularly scheduled ecumenical services shared by the Anglican St Andrew's congregation and the German-speaking Catholic congregation^[32] (which holds services at St Thomas Aquinas, Ham).

Gallery

Churchyard tombs

External links

• • Surrey Churches Index

Notes and References

1. Web site: Kingston Deanery: Ham, St Andrew . . Where We Are . 26 March 2015.
2. Book: The Buildings of England – London 2: South . . . 1983 . London . 472 . 0-14-0710-47-7.
3. Web site: A Brief History of the building . St Andrew's Ham Common.
4. Book: Greenwood, Silvia . History of St Andrew's Ham Common . 1982 . Ham Library.
5. Web site: Stained Glass Windows at St. Andrew . Robert Eberhard . 31 March 2015. January 2015.
6. Book: Reading Saint Andrew's Church through its Art and Architecture . St Andrew's Church, Ham . Kip Waddell.
7. Book: Hugo Vickers. Hugo Vickers. Elizabeth: The Queen Mother. Arrow Books/Random House. 2006. 978-0-09-947662-7. 7.
8. Web site: Rouse . John . October 2009 . Dockrell, George Shannon . 31 October 2023 . Dictionary of Irish Biography.
9. Web site: 5 November 2010 . Dockrell, George Shannon, O.B.E. Major. Rifle Brigade, 9th Battalion. . 31 October 2023 . The Great War (1914-1918) Forum.
10. 27 August 1814 . Horse-Guards May 25 1814 . The London Gazette . 16929 . 1730.
11. News: 1 June 1851. Death of Gen Eden. Lloyd's Illustrated Newspaper. British Library Newspapers.
12. Book: Lang, Paul Howard . Ham & Petersham through time . Amberley Publishing . 2018 . 9781445673301.
13. January 1904. Joshua Field. Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 157. 374. 10.1680/imotp.1904.16538. ICE Virtual Library.
14. News: 24 November 1906 . Park Keeper's Funeral . 8 . Surrey Comet.
15. Web site: Norton . Bill . 17 July 2023 . Gray, Samuel Joseph . 3 November 2023 . The King's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard.
16. Book: Walford, Edward . The County Families of the United Kingdom . Dalcassian Publishing Company . 1920 . 618–619 . Google Books.
17. News: 8 March 1922 . Deaths . 15 . TheTimes . 4 April 2023 . The Times Digital Archive.
18. News: 15 November 1907 . Death of Major Lawes . 5 . Dover Express . British Library Newspapers.
19. Web site: Kennedy . David A . 27 March 2017 . KINGSTON HILL PLACE: HISTORIC MANSION OF HANDSOME ELEVATION . 3 November 2023 . Kingston History Research.
20. News: 23 May 1936. Mr. F. G. Rudler. 16. The Times. The Times Digital Archive.
21. News: 26 August 1889. THE LATE MR HARRY SCOTT OF BALGAY. Dundee Courier. 13 July 2021. British Library Newspapers.
22. News: 27 August 1889. Deaths. 1. Times. 13 July 2021. The Times Digital Archive.
23. News: 23 March 1936 . Dr. Arthur Shadwell . 21 January 2024 . The Times . The Times Digital Archive.
24. News: 12 October 1911. Deaths: Miss Hesba Stretton. 11. The Times. 15 May 2020. The Times Digital Archive.
25. Web site: Bassett . Troy J. . 15 December 2022 . Author: Charles Smyth Vereker . At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837—1901.
26. Web site: William Samuel Hudson Palmer (1896–1917). 10 October 2014. 5 April 2021. Ham Remembers.
27. Web site: Graveyard. St Andrew's Church, Ham Common.
28. Web site: Cemetery or Memorial: Ham (St Andrew) Churchyard . Commonwealth War Graves Commission. 5 April 2021.
29. Web site: Ham (St. Andrew) Churchyard . Commonwealth War Graves Commission. 12 July 2020.
30. News: 18 November 1938. Dr F Carson. 6. The News Letter. Belfast.
31. News: 21 July 1904 . Arrangements for this day . 7 . Morning Post.
32. German Lutheran church "hidden in Ham" . Ham and Petersham Magazine . Autumn 2010 . 23.