In 1650 the Parliamentary Commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of ecclesiastical benefices, reported that Knightsbridge Chapel, in the parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, belonged to a Lazar-house there; that twenty years before the date of inquiry it was re-edified and enlarged by public contributions; and that Henry Walker, the minister, placed there on probation by order of Parliament, received £10 per annum from the inhabitants. The Commissioners afterwards allowed him £40 per annum. [60]
Among the records of the Dean and Chapter is a petition from John Glassington, surgeon, dated 1654, praying to be admitted Governor of the Hospital, which his ancestors had always rented of the church at Westminster; which petition is accompanied by a certificate of Sir John Thorowgood, one of the Commissioners for Middlesex, and an active public officer in this locality at the time of the Commonwealth; but I infer the application was unsuccessful for a time, for in the next year Henry Walker was presented to the curacy by Cornelius Holland and George Reeve, joint-governors of the Chapel. John Glassington was, however, Governor in 1659.
In 1699, Nicholas Birkhead, who was then lessee of the Chapel, rebuilt it, and the present building is mainly his work. In 1789, it was enlarged by its front being brought in a line with the adjoining houses, a grass-plot eight feet deep having previously occupied this space. The present front, galleries, &c., were then erected. At the end of the last century Dixon Gamble, Esq., became lessee, but now it is held direct from the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, who nominate the incumbent. There is an endowment of £30 per annum payable by them, but the income is derived chiefly from the pew rents.
The Chapel is as plain an edifice as possibly can be; there is no ornament of any kind about it. It is built of brick, and is 53 feet long, by 30 feet broad. The gallery is round three sides of the building; the organ, built by Hancock, 1770, being on the south side. The communion-table is at the north end. The front terminates in a pediment, over which is a small cupola containing one bell, thus inscribed—
“Mrs. Mary Birkhed gaue me, 1733.”
In the brickwork are let in three stone slabs, the centre of which is inscribed “Knightsbridge Chapel, 1789;” that on the right is inscribed, “Rebuilte by Nicho Birkhead, Gouldsmith of London, Anno Dom. 1699;” the left or western one has the following emphatic dedication cut in it, [62] “Capella sanctæ Indiuidux Trinitatis.”
The Communion Plate consists of five pieces, all of silver; they are inscribed as follows:—
The Large Chalice.—Sanctæ et Indiuidæ Trinitati—Rest to the Lord:—Mary Birkhead (about 1708.)
The Paten.—Sanctæ et Indiuidæ Trinitati.—The Guift of Arthure Duck, Docter of the Ciuell Lawe and Chancelor of London (1628 or 1629).
The Small Chalice.—Sanctæ et Indiuidæ Trinitati.—The Gift of the Right Honbl. and Right Reverent Willm. Lord Bishop of London. [63a]