home

History of St Augustine’s Church

St Augustine’s began in 1865 when the Rev Richard Chope, then curate of Holy Trinity Brompton, had an iron shed erected in his garden where they worshipped in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. Finding this shed inadequate, some members of the congregation approached the Church Commissioners later that to request the formation of a parish that was to be served by the church of St Augustine. They further offered a benefaction of £100 a year, stipulating that Fr Chope should be the first incumbent. This particular area of South Kensington was (and still is) very well provided with churches, and the Bishop at that time, A C Tait, refused to allow the parish to be formed. IT was not, therefore, until he became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1869 that a site was able to be purchased for the church and a parish formed.

The site chosen was, at that time, hard to access, as Queens Gate, had not yet been extended beyond Harrington Road to the north of the church, and so the site had to be accessed from the back. The Church was aligned with this access and not with the line of the proposed extension, resulting in the strange angle the facade of the church presents to Queens Gate.

The building was in Butterfield’s typical polychromatic style, with a brick exterior, and marble, coloured brick mosaics and glazed tile murals, a striking contrast with the white neo-classicism of Queens Gate and the surrounding area.

The design of the church was by William Butterfield, architect of many other churches such as All Saint’s Margaret Street, and Keble College, who became the Patrons of the parish, and was estimated to cost £18, 000. As there was not enough money to build it all at once, the nave and adjoining aisles were built first, being completed in 1871, and the sanctuary and chancel were built in 1876. The church was designed to seat 850 people.

Fr Chope served the church as it’s first vicar until 1916, when he retired at the age of 85. A public subscription had to be raised to allow him to retire. The second vicar was Fr Charles Ridgeway, appointed in 1916, and remaining until 1923.

In 1923 Fr Carrick Deakin was appointed Vicar, beginning a time of change and renewal for the church. Fr Deakin was one of the founders of the Anglo-Catholic Congresses, held during the inter-war years at the Royal Albert Hall a little to the north of the church. The church became a bastion of Anglo-Catholic worship, with the English Missal, a translation of the missal then used by the Roman Catholic Church, being edited by Fr Drew, an assistant curate at St Augustine’s from 1923 to 1931.

Mass was celebrated 3 or 4 times earlier on the Sunday, when about 140 people in all received communion in 1939, and there were 3 daily masses, and services of evensong and benediction, as well as the occasional service of vespers.
The church during this time was white washed, and a large number of pieces by Martin Travers were installed, including the stations of the cross, a lady chapel and a large Latin-American style Reredos and altar frontal. Service registers from this time record the celebration of High Mass at 11:15 with the number of communicants recorded as 1, a practice very much opposed outside Anglo-Catholic circles.

Fr Deakin was a popular vicar, and the few remaining copies of the parish magazine remaining from that time reveal a firm but yet gentle priest, seeking to guide and encourage the people of St Augustine’s to growth in their spiritual lives and worship. After his death, the parish raised money for a memorial to him, in the form of a statue of St Augustine, and his face was used for that the Saint.

Fr Deakin retired in 1949, and was replaced by Fr Roy Foster, until 1965. Magazines and minute books from this time record changes in worship following the Roman reform of the Eater Liturgy, and the introduction of the changes in the fasting rules prior to communion.

In the late 1960’s the church was also used as a chaplaincy centre for colleges of the University of London in the surrounding area, the students worshiping in their own service on Sunday morning before the church held it’s own services. When the chaplaincy moved out, they went to Imperial College.

In the late 1960's, the chaplaincy moved out and Fr Ken Hewitt, who had been priest-in-charge during this time became Vicar. In the early 1970's a restoration program began to restore the Butterfield designs which had begun to become apparent under the whitewash. With the Patronage of John Betjeman, later Poet Laureate, the money was raised and the whitewash removed where it could be. In many places, however, the whitewash had sunk so deeply into the brickwork that it was impossible to remove, and so the bricks were painted to resemble Butterfield's original designs.

In the early 1980's, the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art moved into some of the Hall space attached to the church, using parts of the hall as rehearsal rooms.

In 1995, after 30 years in the parish, Fr Ken retired, and was replaced by Fr Rob Marshal as priest-in-charge. Formerly Press Officer to the Bishop of London, Fr Rob combined his duties at St Augustine's with his work as a media relations advisor to, amongst others, the then Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope.

During this time proposals were put forwards for a link with the nearby Imperial College, resulting in the first chaplain to the newly formed Medical School there also becoming assistant priest at St Augustine's. This link was preserved when, in 2000, both Fr Rob and Fr Alastair, the chaplain, moved on to mew posts and Fr Charles Sargent was appointed as joint priest-in-charge and chaplain.

Under Fr Rob's lead, the restoration campaign began to repair the exterior of the church, and further fundraising took place under Fr Charles. Fr Charles left in 2004 to become chaplain to Brunel University.

In 2007, Fr Stephen Caple was appointed as Priest in Charge, as well as Area Director of Parish Evangelism. Along with his wife, Sister Eileen, it is hoped that the new appointments will breath new life into the parish when they arrive in September.