Chelsea Old Church between the wars- an Illustrated guide published in 1932

This was probably Chelsea’s most famous tourist location between the Great War of 1914-1918 and the Second World War of 1939-1945.

Its history dated back beyond the time of Sir Thomas More. Its graveyard and interior had the tombs and remains of key people in the history of England and Chelsea going back many centuries.

The parachute land mines which blew up the Old Church and adjacent buildings on Cheyne Walk and Church Street in the early hours of Wednesday 17th April 1941 obliterated that history, though post WW2 reconstruction represents one of the most impressive architectural and church legacy projects of the Twentieth Century.

The Chelsea History and Studies project has located the 1932 illustrated guide to Chelsea Old Church which you could buy in the Church during the 1930s.

Chelsea Old Church: An Illustrated Guide to the Parish Chapel was originally written by the Rev. W.H. Stewart, M.A. who was the church’s vicar and incumbent between 1916 and 1926- the date of the first edition.

Oxford University Press along with Humphrey Milford brought out a ‘Revised and Reissued edition in 1932 which included a paper on the monuments in the church by Mrs Arundell Esdaile, various appendices and brilliant editing and introduction by Reginald Blunt of the Chelsea Society.

This book has been scanned so it can be made available to people today. This is Chelsea Old Church and the adjoining Petyt House which the Firewatchers killed in the bombing knew so intimately and were trying to protect during one of the worst nights of the Blitz on London.

Chelsea Old Church was eminently photographic and a hugely popular subject for postcard business as the slideshow display of examples produced before 1941 illustrates so evocatively.

Chelsea Old Church was also a favourite location for ‘Society Weddings’ as these Pathé news reports between 1935 and 1938 demonstrate so entertainingly.

The pavements of the Chelsea Embankment, Petyt Place and Church Street would be packed with sightseeers.

Huge Crowds attend the wedding of Dorothy Hyson in 1935

Dorothy Hyson, later Lady Quayle through her second marriage, was born Dorothy Wardell Heisen in 1914 and passed away in 1996. She was an American-born film and stage actress who had a star-level profile in 1930s England.

During World War Two she worked as a cryptographer at Bletchley Park. She was part of a team of twelve led by Patricia Bartley who broke the German diplomatic code, Floradora.

Her marriage to actor and director Robert Douglas, featured in this news report, ended in 1945 and in that year she remarried the actor and director Sir Anthony Quayle.

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Novel Chelsea Wedding in 1938 between Miss Aileen Deprez and Mr Percival Robinson

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British Pathé reported another Chelsea Old Church wedding in 1938- that of Mr John Ainsworth and his bride, Miss Josephine Bernard.

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Chelsea Old Church: An Illustrated Guide 1932

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 2 & 3

Preface from reknown Chelsea historian and founder of the Chelsea Society Reginald Blunt.

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 4 & 5

The original preface by the Rev. W. H. Stewart.

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 6 & 7

Showing the guide’s contents with page numbers.

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 8 & 9

Setting out the list of the guide’s illustrations and the first page of the new Introduction by Reginald Blunt which is dated February 1931.

The slideshow of all the guide’s photographs and illustrations

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 10 & 11

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 12 & 13

The introduction by Reginald Blunt is both a representation and endorsement of his qualities as an author and historian. In the section ‘Place aux Dames!’ his writing evokes and brings to life the people of the past. The monuments thus conjure the living ghosts of the personalities nd characters they have entombed over at least five centuries:

‘Here, beneath our feet, lies the dust of a whole constellation of lovely and lovable women; of Margaret, Sir Thomas More’s delightful and beloved daughter; of Magdalen Herbert, the mother of the poet and the cynosure of another great poet’s devotion; of Lady Jane Cheyne, the beautiful hostess of the Manor; of Mary Astell, the heroic prisoner of women’s emancipation; of Elizabeth Blackwell, the brave great-hearted wife of a luckless adventurer; of Elizabeth Mayerne, the girl companion of Dorothy Osborne and the betrothed of the gracious ill-fated young Earl of Huntingdon; and of yet another Elizabeth, that little daughter whose death robbed poor Smollett of his one treasured human affection.’

It is writing of this quality which marks so strongly the historical significance of Chelsea Old Church.

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 14 & 15

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 16 & 17

Beginning of Chapter One- Summary History

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 18 & 19

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 20 & 21

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 22 & 23

Beginning of Chapter Two- The Chancel and Choir

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 24 and Illustration of the Chuch’s interior- The Nave and Chancel

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 25 with Illustration of the Bray Tomb

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 26 & 27

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 28 & 29. Chapter Three- The Lawrence Chapel.

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 30 & 31

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 32 with photograph of the Hungerford Monument

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 33- Chapter Four, The Nave with photographs of the Baldwin Hamey and Ralph Palmer memorials along with the Richard Guiford Monument

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 34 & 35

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 36 & 37

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 38 & 39

Chelsea Old Church An Illustated Guide 1932 Page 40 and the illustration of the Monument to Thomas Lawrence

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 41 and the photographic illustration of the Monument to Sir John Lawrence

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 42 and 43. Chapter Five- The More Chapel

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 44 & 45

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 46 & 47

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 48 and Photographic Illustration of the Monument to Sara Colville

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 49 and the Illustration to the Cheyne Monument

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 50 & 51

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 52 & 53

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 54 & 55

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 56 and photographs of the Chained Books and Font

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 57 and Photograph of the Dacre Monument and Illustration of the carved oak from the Duke of Winchester’s Pew

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 58 & 59. The Monuments In Chelsea Old Church- A Lecture given in the Church by Mrs Arundell Esdaille on June 11th 1931

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 60 & 61

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 62 & 63

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 64 and the Photograph of the More Monument

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 65 and the Photograph of the Northumberland Tomb

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 66 & 67

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 68 & 69

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 70 & 71

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 72 and the Photograph of the Stanley Monument

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 73 and the Photograph of the Holbein Capitals

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 74 & 75

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 76 & 77

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 78 & 79, Sculptors of the Monuments, and Appendix A Inscription on the tomb of Sir Thomas More (Plate 12)

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 80 & 81. Translation of the Inscription from Thomas Fuller’s History of Chelsea, 1820.

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 82 & 83. Appendix B Some Other Inscriptions and Epitaphs

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 84 & 85

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 86 and Photograph of Sir Hans Sloane’s Monument

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 87. Appendix C- List of Rectors and Incumbents

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 88 & 89

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 90 & 91. Appendix D. A Brief Bibliography of Chelsea Old Church.

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Page 92 & 93. Index.

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 94 & 95

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 96 & 97

Chelsea Old Church An Illustrated Guide 1932 Pages 98 & 99

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Retirement of Rev. W. H Stewart from Chelsea Old Church. Report in West London Press for 18th June 1926

FAREWELL- REV W. H. STEWART AS MISSIONARY

To mark the conclusion of his ten years’ incumbency of Chelsea Old Chuch, the Rev. W.H. Stewart, held a farewell “At House” at the Chelsea Town Hall on Wednesday evening.

Among those present were the Mayor of Chelsea (Alderman Seton Christopher), Archdeacon Bevan, the Rev H W Reindorp (Rural Dean), Lady Courtenay, Sir Edmund and Lady Phipps, the Dowager Lady Loch, Mr. J. W. Lea (Chaplain to the Guardians), Rev. M.C. Harland, Lady Orpon, Admiral Stokes-Rees, Mr. Aubrey T. Lawrence, Councillor J. E. Jefferson Hogg, Mr. J H. Quins, Mr Reginald Blunt, the Rev. Godfrey Evans, and about 500 members of the Old Church congregation.

Towards the end of the evening, Lady Phipps, in presenting Mr. Stewart wth a handsome illuminated book containing the names of its donors, spoke of the esteem with which he was held by his colleagues and congregation.

The volume is a work of art. The writing and illumination has been excellently executed by Miss A.B. Collin. The book bears Mr Stewart’s initials.

Mr Stewart who is leaving Chelsea next week, will, in the Autumn, take up an appointmnt in the ner East, probably Jerusalem.’

The Rev W H Stewart was later appointed Archdeacon at Jerusalem by the time of the new and revised edition’s publication in 1932.

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Special thanks to Karen White and Chris Pain whose families lived in Chelsea during World War Two, and Malachy John McCauley, also brought up in Chelsea, who have very kindly encouraged and assisted my research. Special thanks to Marja Giejgo for editorial assistance. Research and archive facilities from Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council library services, The Imperial War Museum and National Archives at Kew.

If you would like to protect the history and heritage of Chelsea do consider applying to be a member of The Chelsea Society which ‘was founded in 1927 to protect the interests of all who live and work here, and to preserve and enhance the unique character of Chelsea for the public benefit.‘

I am also a great believer in the importance of local libraries for preserving the memory of community and local history. Royal Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council library services were my refuge and temples of learning when I was brought up in Chelsea. They continue to provide outstanding lending and archive services, have been invaluable in my continuing research and writing about the people of Chelsea. I give tribute to all who work in them, use them and support them.

Congratulations to The Chelsea Citizen, a dynamic new hyper-local newspaper launching in the spring 2025. Founder & Editor Rob McGibbon, Chelsea resident for 30 years and 40 years a respected and campaigning journalist. This is a significant and important development in the history of newspapers and journalism in Chelsea. Whole-hearted support from Chelsea History and Studies. Sign up for the Chelsea Citizen Newsletter.

The research and writing for this project is not funded in any way. If you would like to assist covering the costs involved, do consider making any kind of donation and/or subscribing monthly or yearly using the form below. Many thanks for your consideration.

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