These are the principal raised cenataphs and mural tablets in this ancient churchyard.
ERECTION OF AN ORGAN.
On the 22nd of January, 1818, the following resolution was unanimously carried at a meeting in Vestry assembled:—“Resolved that this meeting sensibly feels the propriety as well as the necessity of an organ being placed in the parochial Church, and that the best means to effect this desirable object will be by voluntary subscription, and that it be immediately entered into.” A committee was appointed to carry this resolution into effect, and Luke Thomas Flood, Esq., was requested to become the treasurer, but, although a great many contributions were received, the aggregate sum was insufficient for the purpose, and the money was tendered back to the subscribers. This failure, and the offer made, occasioned considerable amusement amongst some of the parishioners, and many laughable squibs were printed and circulated. The most ludicrous of these was a poetic effusion, written by a gentleman of education and who was not altogether a stranger in literary circles. It was entitled “The Organ in the Suds,” and embodied much of that wit and humour which is so frequently displayed in “Punch.” Sometime afterwards, however, the effort was successfully renewed, and an organ was purchased. The two principal candidates for organist were Mr. Goss, then comparatively unknown in the musical world, but who has since risen to eminence as a composer, and is now organist at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Mr. Ling, who had become a great favourite with many of the subscribers. The feeling amongst the friends of these gentlemen was very strongly manifested, and the proceedings on the day of election were characterized by much excitement. Mr. Ling obtained the greatest number of votes from the subscribers, and consequently was elected. Mr. Goss, however, was appointed organist of the New Church, when it was completed, by the Church Trustees, agreeably to the decision of Dr. Crotch, Mr. Attwood, and some others, who were requested to decide on the relative qualifications of the candidates. There were a great many parishioners present on this occasion.
From the Report of the Old Church Organ Committee, dated Feb. 16, 1819, a copy of which is now before me, it appears that the entire amount received was £325 4s. 6d.; that the organ cost £200, and that the expenses altogether were no less than 125 4s. 6d., including £24 4s. for a Faculty, and £25 to Mr. H. Bevington, for removing the organ and keeping it in repair for twelve months, as per agreement. The remaining expenditure was for necessary alterations in the gallery, and for fittings, &c. The organ had been previously erected in a private mansion, which will explain the charge for removal, and the sum paid for the organ was considered at that time to be a great bargain.
The singing, prior to the erection of the organ, was indeed very bad, being almost entirely confined to the school children, who were placed in galleries specially erected for them, at the extreme western part of the church, and so close to the ceiling that a grown person could scarcely stand upright in them.
SPRING TIDES.—TAKEN TO CHURCH IN A BOAT.
A circumstance occurred at the church, about the year 1809, of a singular character. There had been some very high tides during the week, and on the following Sunday morning the waters rose several feet against the southern boundary wall, which rendered the employment of a boat necessary to convey those of the congregation who resided in the neighbourhood near to Battersea Bridge to the western entrance of the church. Although there have been some very high spring tides since that time, I am happy to say, the congregation have always been enabled to walk to the Old Church without the least fear of being drowned on their way to it! The raising of the road, and other alterations, have no doubt checked such overflowings at this particular spot.
DOING PENANCE.
The next event is one of unusual interest. The statement may be relied upon as authentic, and the circumstance of its not having gained publicity has been owing to the few persons who witnessed it and the secrecy enjoined, but after nearly sixty years have elapsed, and the individuals concerned being long since deceased, the particulars may now be fairly disclosed without any breach of confidence.
A short time after the conclusion of Divine Service, on a Sunday morning, a gentleman alighted from a carriage and proceeded to the Vestry Room, where two others were waiting his arrival. As soon as the congregation had dispersed, the parties, with two or three parochial officers, &c., went to the entrance of the middle aisle, and the inner door being closed, the person especially referred to hurriedly knelt down. A paper was then placed in his hand, which was a recantation of certain opprobrious epithets that he had applied to a lady in one of the streets in the parish, stigmatizing her publicly by a term which the reader can easily supply. When he recited the offensive words he laid particular emphasis on them, evidently in a spirit of bravado and not of contrition. Penance and penitence were not in any way, apparently, considered by him as synonymous terms. There is scarcely an individual who would suppose that such an event occurred, at so comparatively recent a period as sixty years ago, in the old Parish Church of St. Luke, Chelsea.