Recently I have come across a number of old Church Guides and Histories for All Saints Church in Oakham- from 1932, 1972 and 1980. PDFS of these can be found on the History and Heritage page of the church website. There comes a time of course when old guides and histories become historical documents in their own right, revealing how the church was thought of and communicated at the time of writing, and in their description of their contemporary activities, give an indication of the nature of the church’s worship and other activities. This is particularly true of the 1932 guide – The Story of Oakham Church, School and Castle by the then vicar, A. Edward Fraser. In what follows I post just a few pages from this this guide – the adverts it contained for local businesses that paid for its publication. These are given below, and I suspect that Oakham readers will find them of considerable interest.
In 1996, All Saints church in Oakham, organised a flower festival. Some photographs from this event were deposited in the church safe for safe keeping, and I have recently come across these whilst searching the safe for other items. It seems to me that these photos are well worth sharing – both for the flower displays but also for the glimpse they give of the church from 30 years ago. Pleas click on thehotos below for larger versions of the pictures. The colours aren’t marvellous – they can only be as good as the prints, but they will be of interest to some.
Holy Trinity ChapelHoly Trinity ChapelNorth TranseptHigh altarSouth TranseptSouth TranseptSouth TranseptLady ChapelLady ChapelArea near north doorCentral CrossingCEntral CrossingNorth TranseptNear pulpitEntrance to Lady ChapelWest End
The Lady Chapel at All Saints Church in Oakham is to the south of the chancel and is entered from the south transept. It is a high roofed open space dating from around 1480, that has had a number of functions in the recent past – as a location for the organ, as a choir vestry, and as a small side chapel. Indeed there is still an altar with its associated communion rails at the east end of the chapel. It is currently mainly used as an area for after church coffee, small meetings etc.
The floor of the chapel consists of memorial slabs from the late 17th to the early 19th centuries, a number of which contain inscriptions indicating that there are burials beneath them. Thus it would seem that in the 18th century this area was an internal burial space of some sort. Why this area was used in this way and what determined who was buried in this area is not clear. Now over the years some of the memorials have been worn down very badly, particularly those between the priest’s entrance and the vicar’s vestry on the south side of the chapel and the entrance to the chancel on the north side. With its current use as a fellowship area, it is likely that the other memorial slabs will experience a rapid deterioration over the coming years. Thus the purpose of this post is twofold – firstly to record the current layout and inscriptions that are still visible, and secondly to try to come to some understanding as to why the area was used as a mortuary space.
The layout of the Lady Chapel
Figure 1 shows a view of the Lady Chapel from its entrance from the south transept, looking east. The altar and communion rail can be seen in the background. It can be seen that the floor consists of a regular grid of memorial slabs, separated by a pattern of tiles. In total there are seven rows of slabs between the entrance and the communion rail (which will be denoted by the letters A to G, with A being at the transept entrance. There are five columns of slabs, which will be denoted by the letters A to E, with A being on the south side to the right of the view of Figure 1. Thus, for example, slab AC is the one in the near centre of figure 1 – row A and column C. Most of the slabs are a soft brown stone, with the exception of AA and BA (to the right of the view in Figure 1) which are of a darker colour, although they are both badly worn.. The grid of memorials is regular in columns B, C and D, but the rows are displaced somewhat in columns A and E due to the presence of structural columns at the transept end.
Figure 1. The layout of the Lady Chapel
Figure 2 shows a view of columns B to D in rows F and G from just in front of the altar rail at the east end of the chancel. It can be seen that the rail cuts across a number of slabs, and there is a carpeted area that obscures part of columns B and D and all of columns A and E. Indeed very little can be seen of the slabs in row G, which extend beneath the altar. In this region the regularity of the grid in columns B to D is lost and the slabs become staggered – presumably to fit into the space available at the east end of the chapel beneath the current altar.
Figure 2 Detailed view of the slabs in front of the Lady Chapel altar
The memorials
The layout of the meorials is shown in Figure 3 below. The photos of the slabs are in roughly the correct position relative to each other, although the correspondence with the actual layout in the Chapel is not exact. They are identified using the notation given above. The discontinuity in the photographs of slabs FB, FC and FD indicates the position of the altar rail.
AABACADAEA
ABBBCBDBEBFB
ACBCCCDCECFC
ADBDCDDDEDFD
AE BECEDEEEFE
Figure 3. The layout of the memorial slabs
The inscriptions
In the inscriptions that follow, I have (deliberately) not reproduced the details of the typogrpahy on the memorials (capitalisation, punctuation etc.) but have tried to put them in a form where they are more easily read with modern typography. The texts in italics are not on the memorials.
AA. …Bradford….Widow of … of Henley in Ox… departed this life .. 20th May 1802 aged 66 years ….. Undecipherable verse AB. … body of …. 12th 1772…. AC. Here lieth the body of Mary Lawrence, late wife of Mr William Lawrence, dec., one of ye daughters of Mr William Maxon, who died March 5th MDCCLXXIV (1774) aged 39 years. Also the body of Anne Maxon…her sister who died February 2nd MDCCLXXIII (1773) aged XXXIII (33) years. AD. Sacred to the memory of Elizabeatha Doris Bullivant, wife of Thomas Bullivant who departed this life on the ….. 1798 aged 42 Years………. AE. … remains … Benjamin Cramp Esq. He served the office of High Sheriff for the County of Rutland in the year … departed this life on the 2nd February 1800 aged 59 years. Time flies; Eternity succeeds; of bliss or woe; according to our deeds.
BA. Not readable BB. Beneath this stone rests he mortal remains of Mary Ann, daughter of the late Adam and Mary Ann Hicks of this place who died April 3rd 1835 aged 62 years, BC. Sacred to the mortal remains of Mrs Dorothy Twentyman, consort of Mr William Twentyman who departed this life February … 1809 in the ,,, year of her age after a very long and severe illness which…..Christianity can alone inspire. This stone is here deposited by an only child as the last but perishable memorial of one who has seldom been surpassed, as a tender parent, an affectionate wife and a virtuous woman. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord! BD. In memory of Mrs Elizabeth Whitehead, widow of the Revd William Whitehead MA, Rector of Stanground in the county of Huntingdon. She was ye youngest daughter of Andrew Love Esq. formerly of this place, and died on the 10th of October 1789, in the 75th year of her age. BE. …. Hind Gent who died February the 17th MDCCLXXI (1771) aged LXXIX (79) years. Likewise ….are buried the remains of Elizabeth …who was buried March …MDCCII (1702) Also five … sons if the above died…infants
CA. No inscription visible CB. Beneath this stone are deposited the mortal remains of Edward Hicks, Gentleman who departed this life December 3rd, 1812 aged 56 years. CC. In memory of Ann, daughter of Thomas and Ann Exton, who departed this life August the 22nd 1808 aged .9 years. Also in memory of Thomas Exton who departed this life April the 17th 1809 aged 73 years. Also in memory of Ann, wife of Thomas Exton, who departed this life November …18… aged 88 years. CD. Here lieth the body of Frances Davie, the wife of Thomas Davie Senior who died January 12th 1721 aged 67 years. Full happy man that dies in faith, His good works follow him…; …….are his saints …. to be; To live with Christ his face to see. Also the remains of Frances Ashby, who died September 6th 1792 aged 66 years, The sweet remembrance of the just … shall flow … they sleep….. CE. ….year 1706 .. year of his age ….peace
DA. No inscription visible DB. No inscription visible DC. No inscription visible DD. No inscription visible DE. No inscription visible
EA. …memory of ….. wife of … John Bellaers of Barleythorpe, who died the 12th May MDCCLXXXVI (1786) age 37 years, Her lies beneath…; A tender mother, a loving wife; A quiet neighbour, to the poor a friend; Happy is he who finds a …. Also in memory of John Bellaers who died the … of September 1787 in the 49th year of his age. EB. Here lies the body of John Bellaers who died August 18th MDCCCIX (1789) aged .2 years. Affliction … long time I bore; Physician skill was vain; Till Christ the chief sent me relief; And cured me of my pain. EC. Underneath are deposited the remains of John Healy, Gent.. who departed this life on 13th August in the year of our Lord 1767 aged 57 years. ED. Underneath are deposited the remains of Mr Mary Burton, wife of the Reverend Bartin Burton, who departed this life November 8th 1750 aged 47 years. EE. ……forti et constanti …….opptimiissii vertutis studies…..quibus finerlis est… obit aprilis …4th Anno Domini 1732…19…21. Recordare creatoris tin in oliebus. Juventulis tiroe……Jun 1815 (latin text very uncertain)
FA. Covered by altar rail and carpet FB. Part covered by altar rail and carpet. In memory of Martha Ades wife of …..this day .. year 1846 … years. FC. Part covered by altar rail. Sacred to the memory of Thomas …on the …. April … Aged 37 years. Vain in our pleasures…..; Bound on the wheel of time … and ….; Yet present wrong eternity repairs; The mighty empires and the …. of all FD. Part covered by altar rail and carpet. Here lieth the body of … Drury, Gent., who died January 15th 1775 ….. FE. Part covered by altar rail and carpet …lieth the body of William Pante the younger, Gent. who departed this life the second of June Ann. Dom 1672
GA. Covered by carpet. GB. Partially covered by carpet and altar. …. remains of Healy …. Edward Ealy…. GC. Mostly covered by altar. No inscription visible. GD. Parially covered by carpet and altar. Inscription not legible GE. Covered by carpet
When and Who
Two questions arise in association with the floor memorials. Firstly, when was the Lady Chapel used for burials and secondly what sort of people were buried there? To answer the first consider Table 1 below which shows the dates from the memorial slabs where they could be found. The pattern is not wholly consistent, but it is clear that the earlier graves are on the north side next to the chancel and the later ones on the south side next to the outside wall. The earliest grave of all – FE- dates from 1672, and the latest – FA – from 1846. The larger majority date from the 18th century. The pattern suggests that the early graves might have been a continuation of graves in the chancel. In the late 17th and 18th centuries, the chancel was configured very differently and was rebuilt in the restoration of 1858, so if there were similar graves there, the memorial slabs have been lost.
AA 1802
AB 1772
AC 1773
AD 1798
AE 1800
BA
BB 1835
BC 1809
BD 1789
BE 1702
CA
CB 1812
CC 1808
CD 1721
CE 1706
DA
DB
DC
DD
DE
EA 1786
EB 1789
EC 1767
ED 1750
EE 1732
FA
FB 1846
FC
FD 1775
FE 1672
GA
GB
GC
GD
GE
Table 1. Memorial dates
In terms of who is commemorated on the memorials, on the eighteen inscriptions where one might expect to find some designation, there are four identified as Gent., two as Esq. and two as clergy (not necessarily referring to the one who is buried). A web search revealed that there are the memorials of four High Sherrifs – William Lawrence 1765, Thomas Bullivant 1771, John Bellaers 1783 and Benjamin Cramp 1789. In addition William Twentyman was the Supervisor of Excise in Oakham Lordshold in 1787. Thus it is clear that those interred in the Lady Chapel were, as one might expect, members of the Rutland Gentry.
Finally it is worth noting that the family of Rev Bartin Burton, whose wife is interred in ED, also has a wall memorial in the south transept (figure 4). It may be that Burton himself and his son are also interred in one of the plots in the Lady Chapel with an illegible memorial inscription.
In a post “A possible Anglo-Saxon church group at Oakham in Rutland” from May 2024, I noted that All Saints Church in Oakham, and Our Lady’s Well to the north east were on what could be a mid-summer sunrise / mid-winter sunset solar alignment. I went no further than simply noting this, and didn’t speculate further about what it might imply. One always needs to be cautious about such alignments – they can be simple coincidences, and, if they are being looked for, can be found in the most unlikely places. For example from Borrowcop Hill in Lichfield, possibly an ancient burial mound, there was until recently a perfect alignment with the medieval spires of Lichfield Cathedral and the cooling towers of Rugeley power station, the latter sadly now demolished, which can hardly be of ancient origin. That being said, a reader of the May 2024 post sent me some further information that suggests that a cluster of Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age remains have been found to the north east of Our Lady’s well that could also be on the same alignment. Looking at this further, I realised that several kilometres to the north east of that, and again on much the same alignment, we have Alstoe Mount, another historic monument. These are all shown on the Ordnance Survey map extract of Figure 1 below. The nature of this possible alignment, along the axis of the mid-summer sunrise and mid-winter sunset is discussed further in this post.
Figure 1. The possible alignment. The sites are shown as red circles – from the south west to the north east these are All Saints church in Oakham, Our Lady’s Well, the historic monuments and Alstoe Mount.
The sites
All Saints church, Oakham
All Saints Church is Oakham (Figure 2) is a twelfth century church with thirteenth to fifteenth century additions. Internally it is pure Victorian, having been restored by Gilbert Scott. However it almost certainly stands on the site of an Anglo-Saxon church, and a church in Oakham is mentioned in the Domesday book. A compendium of historical information is given on the church website.
Figure 2. All Saints Oakham and Oakham Castle (photograph by the author)
Our Lady’s Well
Our Lady’s Well is a historically well-attested pilgrim site to the north east of All Saints church – see Figure 3. To quote from Leicestershire and Rutland’s Holy Wells by Bob Trubshaw from 2004;
Our Lady’s Well was once famed for curing sore eyes – providing that a pin was thrown in first. In 1291 indulgences could be obtained by visiting Oakham Church during its patronal festival and, for a price, joining a pilgrimage to Our Lady’s Well. In 1881 it was visited by the future Queen Alexandra. The well is to the north-east of the town, in a somewhat overgrown area between the Cottesmore road and a modern housing estate (NGR SK:866095).
It’s current condition is no better, and it is now impossible to access the well, in an overgrown plot of wasteland, which seems a shame.
Figure 3. Location of Our Lady’s Well from the 1880 Ordnance survey Map (All Saints church is at the bottom left, and the well at the top right.)
The Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age monuments
The material I was sent concerning the Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age monuments came from “Land off Burley Road Oakham, Vision and Delivery Document” produced by Pigeon Investment Management with regard to a proposed hosing development. Figure 4 is taken from that document and shows the location of Our Lady’s Well and the relevant monuments.
The monuments are listed as follows, where the numbers are those on the Historic England National Heritage list.
MLE5587 – Possible Mesolithic site west of Burley Road MLE5592 – Late Iron Age/Roman site west of Burley Road MLE5593 – Bronze Age burial, west of Burley Road MLE5594 – Neolithic pit circle site west of Burley Road
Alstoe Mount
The substantial mound of Alstoe Mount (Figure 5) is described on the Ordnance Survey map as a Motte and Bailey. That is almost certainly not true. It was probably the Moot location for Alstoe Hundred. Details of the mound and the surrounding deserted village are given in the Historic England list entry.
Figure 5. Alstoe Mount (photograph from Historic England by Alan Murray-Rust, 2016)
The possible solar alignment
A current mid-summer sunrise / midwinter sunset direction from Oakham is 47.5 degrees east of north (from SunCalc). However obtaining a precise value to compare with the possible alignment shown in Figure 1 is difficult for two reasons. Firstly the actual direction of sunrise and sunset has varied over the millennia – and as things stand, we have no date for which a calculation can be made. This change is however small – of the order of 0.2 to 0.5 degrees. Also the apparent direction from any point depends upon the precise topography of the horizon over which the sunrise / sunset is observed – and as we know nothing about the observation point or the direction of observation, this is again not possible to specify. This again results in an uncertainty of around 0.5 degrees. So all we can probably say is that we are looking for an alignment of 47.5 +/-1.0 degrees east of north.
The actual directions between All Saints Oakham and the other sites is as follows.
Oakham to Our Lady’s Well – 46.3 degrees Oakham to Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age monuments – 47.1 degrees Oakham to Alstoe Mount – 47.8 degrees
Again there is uncertainty here – particularly in the specification of the precise site at Our Lady’s Well of any structure that might have been visible from All Saints, and similarly the precise position of any relevant structure in the monument field. The location point for All Saints (taken as the centre of the building) could be around 10m to the east or west. This can have an effect of the bearings of Our Lady’s Well and the monuments by around 0.25 degrees. Considering these uncertainties the above bearings and a sunrise / sunset direction of 47.5 degrees seem broadly consistent, and thus there does seem to be some evidence for all four sites lying along a solar alignment of some significance.
But there is another issue – that of elevation. A cross section along the proposed alignment is shown in Figure 6. From this it is clear that Alstoe Mount would not be visible from Our Lady’s Well or from the Monument field, and would only just be visible from All Saints if any observation platforms that existed there and at Alstoe were raised off the ground by a metre or so. Beacons however would have been visible.
Figure 6. Section through the proposed alignment (from Google Earth Pro.).
Discussion
So what does the above analysis lead to. Firstly I think there is plausible (but far from conclusive) evidence for a mid-summer sunrise / mid-winter sunset alignment, at least between the Monument field / Our Lady’s Well and All Saints, and possibly between Alstoe Mount and All Saints. but the available evidence gives us no chronological information as to when the alignment might have been of significance. Our Lady’s Well is first mentioned in the late Middle Ages and All Saints and Alstoe Mount can only be said to become of important in the pre-conquest period. There is no evidence at all, except in the monument field, for the other sites being important in the Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age. So in my view it is probably better to stop at this point – acknowledging that there may be a solar alignment, but not taking speculation any further. The boring, cautious approach I guess, but I don’t think there is much more to be said.
A compilation of some of my blog posts from the past few years about St Michael’s church in Lichfield.
Saddlebacks and serendipity. A brief post that identifies the occupant of the notable Saddleback grave in St. Michael’s churchyard (3rd January 2025)
The changing face of death. A blog post introducing a statistical analysis of the interment records and monuments of St Michael’s churchyard in Lichfield from 1813 to 2012, looking at the changes in funerary patterns over that period. (February 24th 2023)
The St. Michael Chalice of 1684. A very brief blog post with a photograph of a 1684 communion chalice from St Michael’s Lichfield, sold in the 1850s to pay for something more modern. (December 30th 2020)
Some summer reading – a compilation of a few of my blog posts about the history of Lichfield.
Lichfield – a pre-conversion pagan cultic centre? A post that considers the early history of the city of Lichfield, and argues that it might have been a place of cultic significance before the Christian era. Some of this is very speculative, but may be of interest
“That way madness lies” – the search for solar alignments in Lichfield The city of Lichfield lies on a rough midwinter solar alignment with the Bronze Age site at Catholme. This post investigates this further to see if this alignment is intentional or merely accidental. (April 12th 2020)
Lichfield’s First Station Master. A post that looks at the career of Lichfield’s first Station Master and church warden of St. Michael’s, William Durrad. (January 15th 2021)
All Saints church in Oakham is not particularly well endowed with memorials to individuals and events, and there are no spectacular carvings. However some of those that do exist enable interesting stories to be told. In this post I present a number of these, with links to more information, and highlight those memorials that require further investigation. The post is very much a work in progress, and I will edit it as more information becomes available.
Note – to read some of the inscriptions below readers may well need to magnify them. Even then, some will take a little patience to read, particularly the brasses where it is difficult to take photographs without reflections obscuring the text.
Vestry
I have discussed the wooden memorial of the Lady Harrington bequest – money for the relief of the poor and a donation of a Parish Library – in two blog posts here and here. The memorial is in the vestry on the south side of the church and is not usually publicly accessible.
Chancel
A transcript of this plaque in the Chancel is given in the post From Oakham to Mandalay and a little more information is given on the career of Henry Jerwood.
Lady Chapel
A transcript of this plaque in the Lady Chapel is given in the post Kinetic Water Power, and information is given there about Richard Tryon and (at some length) the Kinematic Water Power apparatus.
The life and times of long term organist of All Saints church and the founder of the Oakham Choral Society are well described in a blog from the Rutland County Museum.
Pulpit
The pulpit has a dedicatory plaque, very low down near the foot of the steps. It reads as follows To the Glory of god and in remembrance of Charles Knowlton Morris, who was born in Oakham March 18 1841 and died there April 4 1905. This pulpit was erected by his widow Judith Emily in accordance with his wish expressed during his lifetime. Charles Morris was a brewer and a coal merchant. A window in the church has a similar dedication from his wife and is described in the following way Depicting Endurance, Humility, Innocence, Love, Principle, Sympathy, Fortitude, Charity and Justice, as mostly portrayed by scenes from Jesus’ life. The badge of the Vale of Catmose lodge of the Independent Order of Oddfellows is at the bottom.
South Transept
This difficult to read memorial is to Benjamin Adam (1808-1890?), his wife Sara (1816-1895?) and their son Reginald Brookes Adam (1846-1871?). We are told that Benjamin and Sara were worshippers at All Saints for over 50 years, and that Benjamin was Clerk of the Peace for the County (a legal officer) for over 40, and that he also held other important positions.
The Church of England Clergy database reveals that Bartin Burton was born in Oakham and served as Curate in the parish of Rockingham, Rector at Oxendon (both in Peterborough diocese) from 1728 to 1729 and Vicar of Ravenstone in Buckinghamshire (Lincoln diocese) from 1747 to 1764.
North Transept
These four memorials in the north transept are placed one above the other in the order shown to the left. The top one commemorates William Keal, a surgeon (d1824?) and his wife Sara (d1825). The one below it commemorates the lives of Thomas Stimson (1756-1810), his wife (relict) Jane (1760-1835) and their daughter Elizabeth (1788-1832).
The third is in Latin and commemorates John Abraham Wright (d1690) aged 79, vicar for 30 years, during and after the Commonwealth period. In the first instance he served only one year (1644-5) before he was and replaced by the parliamentary favourite Benjamin King. He took up his post again after the Restoration in 1660.
The lower memorial is to three generations of Vicars of the parish – John Williams (d1781), Richard Williams (d1805) and Richard Williams (d1815). More details of their appointments at Oakham and elsewhere can be found in the Church of England Clergy Database.
South Aisle
This Boer War monument is now above the choir vestry in the South aisle and not easily accessible – or indeed to photograph. The expertise of a military historian is probably required to unpack and present the stories of those listed here.
The monument above was both difficult to photograph (to avoid reflections) and difficult to read. It is shown in two forms – as originally taken, and with an attempt made to remove the effect of perspective. It commemorates the 100th anniversary celebration of the Sunday School movement, which around 1000 people attended, and commemorates its founder, Robert Raikes of Gloucester.
North aisle
These three monuments are placed above each other in the north aisle in the order shown. The top one is too small to read easily from ground level. They all refer to the Freer family from the early 19th century. The bottom memorial is to Thomas Freer, a doctor, who died in 1835, his wife Martha who died in 1827, and his third son, Edward Gardner who fell in action in the Pyrennees in 1813 aged 20. The second memorial commemorates Thomas and Matha’s youngest daughter Ann (d 1844), their fourth son Thomas (d 1834) and buried in Leicester, and their eldest daughter Martha (d 1835). Finally the upper memorial describes in very small text, Lt. Colonel William Garner Freer who died in Corfu in 1836, whilst commanding the 10th Infantry Regiment. His long military career is outlined, including the loss of his right arm at the storming of Badajos. He is buried in Corfu.
The Freer’s are also commemorated in two tiles in the nave aisle – much faded as they are on the main thoroughfare through church. They are dedicated to Ann and John who, as far as I can make out, died in the early 1800s.
West End
More details of the Vicars of Oakham can be found in the church guide. The Church of England Clergy Database also includes records for both vicars and curates of the parish, and of the surrounding chapels from the mid-sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries.
All Saints Church in Oakham is a long term supporter of the Church Mission Society (CMS). It has recently been allocated two new mission partners, both working in Myanmar (formerly Burma). CMS have requested that the church does not publicise these links, as the partners work in a dangerous and sensitive situation. Nonetheless we pray for them and support them as best we can.
Very recently, after a service of Morning Prayer in which the mission partners were remembered, I happened to look at a plaque on the wall of the chancel just behind the pulpit, over one of the clergy stalls. The plaque’s location, and the plaque itself are shown in the photographs below.
The typography of the plaque makes it quite difficult to read, which is presumably the reason I have never done so in the past, despite the fact that I have sat in front of it on numerous occassions. But on reading it, I noted that the church in 1906 already had a link with Burma. The plaque reads as follows.
To the glory of God and in memory of Henry Arthur Jerwood, scholar and prefect of Oakham School; a faithful and beloved curate of this parish and a zealous missionary. The lamps in the chancel and sanctuary are erected by his schoolfellows, friends and parishioners. He died serving in obedience to his Master’s call at Mandalay on March 26th 1906.
Mandalay is the second largest city in Myanmar, 600km north of the capital Yangon (formerly Rangoon) and is the centre of a largely Buddhist area. Our current mission partners are thus not the first links that the church has had in that area.
Henry Arthur Jerwood
Can we say any more about Henry Jerwood? His basic biographical details can easily be traced on Ancestry. He was born in 1878, the eldest child of Rev. Thomas Frederick Jerwood (1846-1926), Rector of Little Bowden and Dorothea Elizabeth Longsdon (1853-1942) who were married in Yorkshire in 1877. The couple had a number of other children, amongst them Helen Dorothea Jerwood (1880-1965), who will be mentioned below, Rev. Frederick Harold Jerwood (1885-1971) who was to become Chaplain at Oakham School, amd Major Hugh John Jerwood MC (1890-1918) who was killed in action. The latter had a son, born in 1918 after his death – John Michael Jerwood (1918-1991), a businessman and philanthropist, who was to become a significant benefactor of Oakham School, and a number of the school facilities bear his name.
St. Nicholas, Little Bowden, Northants
Oakham School
Henry Arthur attended Oakham School, as his father had done before him, and his brothers were later to follow him there. He matriculated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1897, taking his BA in 1902 and his MA in 1905. He took some time out just before he graduated to fight in the South African (i.e. Boer) War from 1900 to 1902 with the Suffolk Regiment.
Clergyman and Missionary
After graduation, Henry Jerwood attended the Clergy Training School in Cambridge (the early name of Wescott House) and was ordained deacon in 1902 and took up the curacy at All Saints church in Oakham, a town with which he would have been very familar from his schooldays. The chronology of his training and ordination as deacon and priest is not wholly clear from the sources. In 1905 he applied to become a missionary to Burma. We can trace his short career there through the pages of the Quarterly Paper of the Rangoon Diocesan Association (RQP), a nationwide organisation that supported the work of missionaries in Burma, and was affiliated to the Society for the Promulgation of the Gospel (SPG). These are all available as pdfs in the SOAS missionary archive. As an aside, those who, like myself, dabble in historical matters, are hugely indebted to the patience and the perseverance of the archivisits who made such material available. In RQP 34, June 1905 we read the following under the heading Reinforcements, which says something of the military mindset of the organisation.
…….The Rev. Henry Arthur Jerwood, B.A., of Sidney Sussex ‘College, Cambridge, and the Clergy Training School, was ordained in 1902, to the Curacy at All Saints, Oakham, in the Diocese of Peterborough……
The Rev. A. Jerwood, at present an assistant Curate at Oakham, will join Mr. Fyffe at Mandalay~ a man stout and , vigorous in body and stout of heart, who went to South Africa when the war broke out, and did his part there man fully, and will carry to his work in Burma the same vigour he gave to South Africa and Oakham.
In the next edition (RQP 35, September 1905) we read that, as a consequence of Jerwood’s departure, Rev H J C Knight, the Commissary of the Rangoon Diocesan Association (who recruited for the Association and was living in Jesus Lane in Cambridge), preached at All Saints on Sunday July 30th. The collection of £3 4s was given to the R.D.A.
Then in RQP 36 from December 1905 Jerwood’s arrival in Burma is noted, under the heading News from the Front, again another military metaphor.
The newcomers have arrived, and are settling down to work, the Rev. H. A. Jerwood and Mr. Hart with Mr. Fyffe at Mandalay, the Rev. R. J. Stone at Bishop’s Court as Chaplain, the Rev. R. G. Fairhurst at S. Luke’s, Toungoo, and the Rev. W. H. C. Pope at Rangoon .
We also have the following description of the work in Mandalay,
The Buddhist Field – The Winchester Brotherhood has been founded at Mandalay, on the general lines of the Indian Community Missions, for systematic study of Buddhism and work in the field. The Head, Rev. R. S. Fyffe, has at present only one Brother (Rev. H. A. Jerwood). These two men are the only English Clergy for Missionary work in the chief town of Upper Burma, a city of 180,000 souls. They need at once two men of (if possible) a studious type, of patience, hope, and brotherliness. There is work to do while learning Burmese. The Brothers have passage and outfit paid, maintenance, lodging together, and £40 a year.
The mention of Jerwood in RQP 37 for March 1906 is very brief and simply says that he had taken over the role of Principal at the School run by the Winchester Brotherhood from Mr. Hart, who arrived in Burma at the same time as he did. Jerwood died on March 28th 1906. We read his obituary in RGA 38 June 2006, written by the Commissary Rev H. J. C. Knight.
Though most of our readers will have read the Bishop’s notice of Mr. Jerwood in the Mission Field for June, our R. Q. P. ought to have some notice of him. He was born on February 25th, 1878, the eldest son of the Rev. Thomas Frederick Jerwood, Rector of Little Bowden. He must have owed much to his home. On hearing from Bishop Montgomery that he had fallen asleep, his father was able to write “we hope to send another son.” and assuredly in homes that can speak thus:
“The father’s passion arms the son, And the great work goes on, goes on.”
All his school days were spent at Oakham School; thence he entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. While yet an undergraduate he served in the S. A. war. On his return he graduated, entered the Clergy Training School, and was ordained to Oakham in 1902. Last autumn he went to Burma, calling at Delhi {where his sister was working under S. P. G. in the Cambridge Mission), and other Brotherhoods, and joined Mr. Fyffe at Mandalay in December. On the 28th March last he passed from us. The cause of his death was a rare type of paralysis – nothing climatic. The Bishop and the Rev. R. J. Stone, who was with him at the C. T. S., were in Mandalay at the time. His body rests near the graves of the Colbecks.
We had looked for great things from his ministry in Burma. His qualities of simple manliness, unaffected and robust piety, a very-single-hearted devotion, unselfishness, courage and affection, drew men to him. These, and his unfailing cheerfulness, promised much for our Winchester Brotherhood. He went out “for life,” and so his home gave him. His letters from Mandalay were always touched with humour, and were full of hope and determination. It is easy to pray “Thy will be done,” while we have no disappointments or reversing of our purposes; but it is hard really to bow to the surrender of such a man. When Bishop Maples was drowned on Lake Nyassa. on the very day of his arrival as Bishop of Likoma, Augustine Ambati wrote, “God liked to take him, to make white (i.e., consecrate) so the waters of the lake.” Even so may Mr. Jerwood’s death in Mandalay be one more consecration of the city. To his friends – there and here – it will be one more tie binding us to the missionary spirit, and the forward march of the Church. It is good to know that Mr. Garrad, whom God has moved to carry on his torch, will be, we believe, in every way a brother to Mr. Fyffe. Those who loved H. A. J. will pray “The Lord bless his going out and coming in. ”
H. J. C. K.
The sister in Dehli that is referred to is Helen Dorothea. At the time she worked for the Cambridge Mission of SPG, but was later to work for the East India Company in Dehli. She remained in India all her life, dying in 1965.
Some final thoughts
Interesting as it is to find that All Saints had a link with Myanmar one hundred and twenty years before our current one, and to read Arthur Jerwood’s interesting and ultimately tragic story the aspect that has struck me most in the preparation of this post, is how very different our current Christian culture is to that of 1906. As noted above, military metaphors are often used in the RQP, and indeed the whole publication shows an extremely ordered and extensive organisation that itself has a military flavour. The form of Christianity that one finds in its pages is a very muscular and forceful one and whilst one can admire the earnestness and zeal of those determined to bring the gospel to those who had never heard it, the tone of the publication reflects the colonial era of its time, and the implicit superiority of European (and particularly British) civilisation and culture to that of the “natives”. Howerver, whilst I find this aspect more than a little repellent, I do wonder if we have lost something over the last century, in terms of our zeal and enthusiasm for the mission of the church, both at home and overseas. The words of Revelation 3.15-16 come uncomfortably to mind.
ANNE Barroness HARRINGTON, by Indenture bearing date 20th June 1616 assign’d a Rent Charge upon he Manor of Cottesmore in perpetuity for the annual payment of THIRTY-TWO pounds to the Vicar of the Parish Church of OAKHAM, and the Overseers of the Poor of the said Parish being Tenants or under Tenants of any of the Lands parcel of the Manor of the said LADT HARRINGTON in Oakham Lords-hold payable at the four usual quarterly days, in the south porch of the said Parish Church of OAKHAM. – The said LADY HARRINGTON gave a small Library for the use of the Vicar.
The inscribed board in the vestry of All Saints church in Oakham (photograph by Richard Adams)
Anne, Lady Harrington
Anne Keilway was a daughter of Robert Keilway of Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire. She married John Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton, in 1573. After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, she was appointed as a Lady of the Bedchamber and was made Governess to Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of James 1, travelling with Elizabeth in 1613 to Heidelberg for her wedding to Frederick V of the Palatinate. Anne died in May 1620. The younger Anne is depicted on a memorial to her Father in Exton parish church (right).
The Harrington bequest
In 1616 Lady Anne Harringtom made a two part bequest, which is recorded on a an inscribed wooden board in the vestry of All Saints Parish church in Oakham shown above. This involved an annual bequest of £32 to support the poor of the township of Oakham Lordshold, and the bequest of a small library for the use of the vicar of All Saints church. This post describes the second part of the bequest – what was to become known as the Oakham Parish library. The support for the poor of Oakham is addressed in a related post.
The Oakham Parish Library
In 1616 Anne bequeathed a collection of books to All Saints Oakham, and these formed the core of the parish library. a number of volumes were added to the library over the years, mainly service books and bibles, This collection, numbering 115 volumes was transferred in October 1980 on indefinite loan into the custody of the Department of Special Collections of Nottingham University Library. The Oakham Parish Library is well described in the paper “Oakham Parish Library” by Anne Herbert. This paper is however not easily available (unless one has a University Library access or is prepared to pay £35 for a copy), so I quote below the most relevant passages.
……Until their removal to Nottingham the books were housed in two oak presses 176 cm. in height, 183 cm. in width and 39 cm. in depth, with three shelves apiece and a central vertical divide of a later date. The craftsman ship is rather crude and lacking in decoration with the exception of a single strip of carving along the top of each press……
…..Oakham parish library …… comprises almost exclusively works of theology with a sprinkling of history, mainly ecclesiastical, and canon law…… It is strongest in the Greek and Latin fathers-Athanasius, Chrysostom, Epiphanius, John of Damascus, Origen; Augustine, Gregory, Hilary, Jerome, Tertullian……. But the medieval schoolmen, the Protestant reformers and pre-Reformation theology and law are also represented….
…..The books were originally shelved with the spines innermost but there is no evidence to suggest they were ever chained. All but the late additions to the library have fore-edge numbers and some also have author and title information on the fore-edge…..
…..A printed book label, which survives in 46 of the volumes, pasted at the base of the title-page, commemorates Lady Harington’s bequest and bears the inscription ‘Ex dono Dominae ANNAE HARINGTONAE Baronissae….
…..The books are for the most part fairly uniformly bound in calf decorated only with fillets round the edges of the covers. The incunables and early sixteenth century volumes, however, have blind-stamped leather bindings over wooden boards…..
….Oakham parish library seems to have been rather neglected durng the subsequent centuries. There is very little documentation relating to its establishment or history-no extant loan records and little evidence that it was ever used by the incumbents of Oakham for whose benefit the books were originally given…..
In an appendix to her paper, Herbert lists 67 books that belong to or were contemporary with the Harrington bequest, the remaining items being later additions to the library. The library is also discussed by Aaron T Pratt “A Baroness and her books” which contains a photograph of the printed book label shown to the left, and also some examples from elsewhere that show how the books might have looked on their shelves.
The library at the University of Nottingham
81 items from the Oakham Parish Library are listed in the Nottingham University Catalogue. As Herbert states that 115 volumes were transferred in 1980, it is likely that some catalogue entries relate to multiple documents – most likely those referring to bibles or prayer books.
ANNE Barroness HARRINGTON, by Indenture bearing date 20th June 1616 assign’d a Rent Charge upon he Manor of Cottesmore in perpetuity for the annual payment of THIRTY-TWO pounds to the Vicar of the Parish Church of OAKHAM, and the Overseers of the Poor of the said Parish being Tenants or under Tenants of any of the Lands parcel of the Manor of the said LADT HARRINGTON in Oakham Lords-hold payable at the four usual quarterly days, in the south porch of the said Parish Church of OAKHAM. – The said LADY HARRINGTON gave a small Library for the use of the Vicar.
The inscribed board in the vestry of All Saints church in Oakham (photograph by Richard Adams)
Anne, Lady Harrington
Anne Keilway was a daughter of Robert Keilway of Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire. She married John Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton, in 1573. After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, she was appointed as a Lady of the Bedchamber and was made Governess to Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of James 1, travelling with Elizabeth in 1613 to Heidelberg for her wedding to Frederick V of the Palatinate. Anne died in May 1620. The younger Anne is depicted on a memorial to her Father in Exton parish church (right).
The Harrington bequest
In 1616 Lady Anne made a two part bequest, which is recorded on an inscribed wooden board in the vestry of All Saints Parish church in Oakham shown above. This involved an annual bequest of £32 to support the poor of the township of Oakham Lordshold, and the bequest of a small library for the use of the vicar of All Saints church. This post describes the first part of the bequest. The library bequest is addressed in a related post.
The Harrington Charity
As set out on the board in the vestry of All Saints church shown above, the original bequest was for £32 per annum to the vicar of All Saints and to the Overseers of the Poor, to be distributed to the poor in the township of Oakham Lords-hold. The distinction between Oakham Lords-hold and Oakham Deans-hold is an ancient one and in well described by T H McK Clough in “Oakham Lordshold in 1787”. The distribution was to be made on the quarter days from the south porch of the church. In 1915 the administration of the bequest was formalised by the Charity Commission. The Trustees of the Charity were to be the Vicar of All Saints, and four others appointed by the (then) Urban District Council. Procedures for meetings of the Trustees and for their appointment are also set out. The income is specified as £32 per year from the Earl of Gainsborough, which shall be spent as follows
As set out on the board in the vestry of All Saints church shown above, the original bequest was for £32 per annum to the vicar of All Saints and to the Overseers of the Poor, to be distributed to the poor in the township of Oakham Lords-hold. The distinction between Oakham Lords-hold and Oakham Deans-hold is an ancient one and in well described by T H McK Clough in “Oakham Lordshold in 1787”. The distribution was to be made on the quarter days from the south porch of the church. In 1915 the administration of the bequest was formalised by the Charity Commission. The Trustees of the Charity were to be the Vicar of All Saints, and four others appointed by the (then) Urban District Council. Procedures for meetings of the Trustees and for their appointment are also set out. The income is specified as £32 per year from the Earl of Gainsborough, which shall be spent as follows.
I. Grants or contributions for or towards the the provision of Nurses, and of medical and surgical assistance for the Sick and Infirm, including medical and surgical appliances, medicines, and comforts or necessaries : II The supply of (a) Clothes. Linen. Bedding, Fuel, or Food or other articles in kind (b) Temporary assistance in money by way of loan or otherwise. III Weekly allowances. being in no case, except with the approval of the Charity Commissioners, less in value than 1s 6d a week or more than 3s a week, during the pleasure of the Trustees, to or for the benefit or persons qualified, as aforesaid, and not in receipt of Poor-law relief other than medical relief, who have attained the age of 60 years, and become wholly or part unable to maintain themselves by their own exertions, in augmentation of any means of support possessed by the beneficiaries – which shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Trustees to be reasonably assured. and to be sufficient, when so augmented, to enable the beneficiaries to live in reasonable comfort.
The Minute Book 1925 to 2000
A minute book for the Harrington charity has recently come to light, during a clear out of old financial documents. this runs from 1925 to 2000, and contains some interesting information on the development, and the running down of the charity over that period. In this section we will look at the general trends over that period. In the following section we will look in more detail at the entries for 1925.
The annual entries in the minute book are largely routine, reporting the appointment of trustees, and giving a list of those to whom payments were made. Each year from 1925 to 2001 the total payments were close to the income of £32. There were a few other points of interest however. In 1933, it was decided to make payments directly to individuals rather than requiring them to congregate in the Church School – which had replaced the south Porch of the church as the distribution centre at some point. In 1935 grocery vouchers worth 2s 6d and redeemable at G. W. Peesgood, were also distributed alongside the cash dole. In 1954 enquiries were made as to whether it was possible to support those outside the Lordshold area, which seem to have been inconclusive. No meetings were held in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and the final meeting in 2001 discussed the possibility of amalgamation with the Morren charity. It also resolved to request the last three years payment from the Exton Estate (still of £32 / year). How these two issues were, or were not resolved is not recorded. Note however that the distribution in this form is not a good match with that specified in the 1915 document – and indeed there are no indications that regaulr weekly payments were made over the period.
The minute book also enables us to look in more detail at some aspects of the dole. The figure to the right shows the number of recipients of the dole over the years. It can be seen that this falls from just under 90 in 1925 to around 60 by 1930, and remains at that number until 1960, when a gradual decline sets in. Up until 1930, different amounts were given to different people – either 2s 6d, 5s, 7s 6d or 10s. From 1933 a standard amount was paid. this was 10s to each recipient to 1960, and then increasing gradually as the number of recipients fell from then on. In the mid 1990s £8 was paid to each four recipients.
The number of recipients of the Harrington dole from 1925 to 1997
Value of the average dole between 1925 and 1997 in today’s prices, using three different inflation measures.
But how much were such payments worth in todays prices? There are various ways of calculating this as set out by the Measuring Worth website. The right hand figure shows the value of the average dole payment from 1925 onwards at today’s prices, as calculated using price inflation, labour cost inflation and income inflation. The last two are probably the most relevant to this study. These show that the average dole payment in the 1920s and 1930 was worth somewhere between £100 and £200 in today’s terms – not a massive amount, but perhaps something like the Winter Fuel allowance.
Using the same method, the value of £32 in 1603 when the charity was set up was £127,000 based on labour cost inflation and £228,000 based on income inflation. On the assumption that there were around 100 recipients of the dole, this gives the worth of an average payment of between £1000 and £2000 in today’s terms, which would be quite substantial.
The 1925 Dole
We now look at the information for the 1925 payments in more detail. This year is on the limit of the 100 year period usually applied to the release of individual names, and the entries in the minute book may be of interest to Family Historians.
The 1925 pages have been scanned and transcribed, and both the scan and the transcriptions are shown below in pdf viewers. The original writing is not easy to read, so I can’t be certain about the accuracy of the transcripts – but I have done my best! In general terms, the large majority of the recipients were women, usually identified as Widows.
Brooke Rd Cold Overton Rd Cross St Crown St Gaol St Gas St John St Johns court Jubilee Buildings Mill St Mount Pleasant New St Northgate St Park Lane Pullins Yard Simper St South St Westgate
1 7 3 5 4 7 10 7 3 3 2 2 5 1 1 10 5 10
A breakdown of the streets where those who recieved the 1925 lived is given to the left. Most of these are shown on the map from 1910above. Some of these streets no longer exist, specifically those streets in the area between New St., Melton Rd. and the railway line – Cross St., Gas St., and Simper St., with John St. being much curtailed. Others cannot be precisely located – Pullins Yard and Johns Court, although they are likley to be in the same area. Bedehouse Row on the map is referred to as Westgate in the minute book. In total 58 of the dole recipients (around two thirds of the total) lived in the area bounded by South St, Gaol St., High St., Melton Rd. and the railway.
Engineering, history and ecclesiology 
