After Revd. Fitz Wygram’s death the popular
feeling was to appoint the Revd. Studholme
Wilson, who for three years had “most
faithfully discharged the duties of curate”.
However the Revd. and Hon. Henry Vesey Bligh was appointed instead.
At his induction, the Surrey Comet, of October 22nd, 1881, reports that
he “formally took possession
and rang the bell furiously for some time, after having been led to
the door-step by the Archdeacon".
Sunday School
The June 1885 magazine reported about the flourishing Sunday School:
“The numbers still continue to increase, and in addition to some
fifty older ones who attend classes at Mrs. Fitz Wygram's and at the
Vicarage, there are now two hundred and ninety two upon the books.”
Annual trips had been started in 1882 to places like Crystal Palace.
Some years the trip included nearly three hundred children with the
Hampton Brass Band meeting the party at the train station on their return
with flags and a parade. The annual Sunday School winter entertainment
was also very popular with prizes and a bun, an orange and a bag of
sweets given to each child. The February 1892 magazine reported:
“There
was an exhibition of dissolving views and comic scenes from the Vicar's
magic lantern. It would seem that the children never tire of seeing
the magic lantern, and although a great majority of the slides are shown
year after year, the continuous roar of satisfaction and applause never
ceased from the beginning to the end of the exhibition”.
Read the article Sunday
Schools.
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The first edition of the
Hampton Hill Parish Magazine
stated: "Its design is to place on record the
various little events of parochial life, which are especially
interesting to those who have taken part in them, or
have been otherwise connected with them; to give statistics
and financial statements of the various institutions
of the parish; to give notice of the services of the
Church, and of any parochial events which are to take
place; and to give the Vicar an opportunity of communicating
with his parishioners as occasion may require”.
Read the whole first
edition |
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The Magazine
The Hampton Hill Parish Magazine was launched in November 1884.
The
original aims were set out clearly in the first editorial (see right)
and they have not changed very much over the years. However,
the way in which they are achieved has changed a great deal with the
times and will of course continue to do so.
From November 1884 until January 1933 the magazines in the archives
are preserved bound together as hard-backed books, one or two years
in a book. Consequently, there is no record of the covers of these particular
magazines, which also means not many records of services and staff at
this time as they were mostly printed on the covers. Each magazine contained
the offertories, extracts from parish registers, hymns for the month,
church accounts, individually titled articles and the Church Calendar
showing the services, meetings and activities for that month.
The parish material was published in association with a nationally produced
inset, 'The Church Monthly',
"an illustrated
magazine for home reading", with the inset being described
as
"valuable in many ways, and particularly
in taking our thoughts further afield than our own doorsteps, alerting
us to wider issues and concerns, and making us more fully aware of what
the Holy Spirit is doing in the church and the world today."
It included articles about Christianity, "short" sermons (several
pages long), much poetry, many illustrations and a long-running serial.
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New
stained glass windows were added to the north aisle in
1889, “well executed by Messrs. Heaton, Butler
& Bayne” in memory of General and Mrs.
Hopkins by their “sorrowing daughter”.
One panel was the Centurion kneeling, 'Looking
unto Jesus' and the other
panel was Jesus carrying the cross, 'May
they rest in Thy peace'.
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In June 1885 the magazine reported:
“The
cost of publication is considerable, one penny and two fifths per copy,
exclusive of the trouble of delivery. As nearly 100 copies are supplied
to the members of the Provident Club at 1d. per copy, we are anxious
to obtain as many subscribers at 11/2d as possible, and so decrease
the amount of loss.” By 1892 the magazine had a circulation
of two hundred and the committee wanted to increase this, as reported
in the October edition:
“The price
is 2d. per number, reduced to Is. 6d. per annum if paid beforehand,
and Is. per annum to all members of the Provident Club. Intending subscribers
are requested to make application at the Vicarage, or at the Post Office.”
See the magazine
archives.
Groups
By the mid 1880s the public houses became the meeting places for a number
of classes, clubs and societies, including Mrs. Fitz Wygram’s
bible classes of which there were separate groups for men, women, young
men and young women, as distinct from the Sunday schools for children.
There was also a local branch of the London Needlework Guild, a Working
Men's Club, the Middlesex Bee-keeper's Association and Institute, and
a Horticultural Society. Communicant Classes were held once a month.
About these the November 1884 magazine reported:
“their
object is to help Communicants to be regular in their attendance at
the Sacred Feast, and to induce others who are not yet Communicants
to become so. They are also meant to be an assistance in the due preparation
which is required of all those who come to the Lord's Supper. It is
intended that there should be a class within reach of all those who
have been confirmed”.
The village possessed its own brass band which was much in demand at
publicand church functions. In 1885 the band had an annual income of
£37. In the same year, a new temperance organisation, the Hampton
Total Abstinence Society, held weekly meetings and the cause of temperance
gained ground rapidly with twenty seven people subscribing to the Pledge
in one evening alone.
Read the articles Temperance
and Women and the Temperance
Question. A Married Women's Club, with Mrs. FitzWygram as
the Lady Superintendent, was formed in 1885 and three separate Mothers'
Meetings were held in different parts of the parish. The mothers brought
their work and their babies and an interesting book was read to them.
There was a religious reading and the meeting closed with prayer and
the singing of a hymn.
“Occasionally
the ordinary routine is interfered with by the introduction of a cup
of tea.” A company of the Church Lads' Brigade was started
in 1892
“When members know their
drill, they will be eligible to join the Seaside Camp in the summer.
We heartily commend this movement to the attention of our young friends.”
Read the article Mothers'
Meeting Supper.
The Church Building
Alterations and improvements to the church continued under Revd.
Bligh and for the first time Vestry records specify repairs to the roof.
These and all the improvements were paid for through subscription lists
although the marble pulpit was a gift to the church from Revd. Bligh.
New stained glass windows were gifted to the church in 1889 - see right.
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The
vestry door with detail
of the stone sculpture of an angel with a banner saying
'ALLELUIA' at the east end of the south aisle, above the
vestry door. |
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The vestry door was moved from the chancel to the south aisle in 1886
with the December issue of the magazine reporting: “
This
effects a great improvement in many ways. Some extra room is gained
in the chancel for choir seats, the plain and rough wall which hitherto
has disfigured the south aisle is greatly improved by the introduction
of the handsome carved doorway; and on the occasion of festivals the
clergy and choir will not be compelled to face all weathers in their
return from the heated Church to the vestry. The greatest gain, however,
perhaps is inside the vestry, which by the alteration has been rendered
capable of a far more convenient arrangement.” While this
was happening, work was also carried out on repairing and improving
the heating
“apparatus”.
Read the article Alterations
in the Church.
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The tower, with
three stages, a battlemented parapet, pinnacles
and corner buttresses, was made of mellow stock
bricks with stone dressings in 1887. This was topped
with a spire made
entirely of Portland stone, pierced with brick banding
and rising to 157 feet (approx. 48m) (Department
of National Heritage). The architects were Messrs.
Romaine-Walker and Tanner of 19, Buckingham Street,
Adelphi, the contractors were Messrs. Dove Bros.,
of Islington, while as much as possible of the labour
was provided by local men. The total cost was £2,425
and £1,325 was promptly subscribed by the
parishioners. Find out more about The
tower and spire
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To celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887 it was decided
to complete the church by building the tower and spire. Revd. Bligh
argued that the work was important for two reasons:
“first,
it would be taken in hand as an expression of loyalty . . . to the Queen,
and secondly, if they had a tower and spire which could be seen for
many miles round, attention would be drawn to the place . . . and people
would know they were approaching the village of Hampton Hill”.
On June 20th, 1887, the anniversary of the Queen’s accession,
local clergy and gentry, led by the choir chanting Psalm 84, ‘Oh
how amiable are thy dwellings’, processed to a platform on the
site of the tower for a short service. The pink granite foundation
stone, at the base of the southern wall, was laid by the vicar’s
only son, Edward. It was inscribed ‘To
the glory of God and in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary
of the accession to the throne of his servant Victoria, Queen of the
realm by public subscription on foundations laid by Fitzroy John Fitz
Wygram, first Vicar of the Parish. This stone was laid by Edward Bligh
on the 24th June 1887. Henry Bligh Vicar, W.C.B. Hall and A.E. Storey,
Churchwardens, Romain & Tanner Architect’. One each
of every coin in the country, from a farthing to a guinea, was placed
behind this stone. After the ceremony everybody went to the vicarage
grounds and “the rest of the day
was spent in general rejoicings”. At four o’clock
eight hundred children sat down to a “capital
tea” and each was given a special Jubilee medal. From
five to seven-thirty, one thousand and four hundred adult parishioners
had tea on the vicarage lawns and celebrations continued with “frequent
performances of Punchinello”, swings and races.
“A capital selection of music” was provided by
the Hampton Hill brass band and dancing continued until dark when
the grounds were “very prettily
decorated with Chinese lanterns and fairy lamps”. At
nine-thirty there was “a nice display
of fireworks” and later the crowd enjoyed a huge bonfire
on the common to end a day of rejoicing in which “all
classes and sects united harmoniously in the effort to make the celebrations
a success”.
The tower grew during the next few months and the opening of the
baptistry beneath the new tower took place after the usual Christmas
Eve service in 1887 with the clergy and choir processing to the baptistry.
Standing round the font a short service was held, including the 127th
Psalm and an original collect specially written for the occasion.
The spire was completed in the New Year and on January 3rd, the vicar,
Mrs. Bligh, the church wardens and other parishioners climbed the
scaffolding to the top of the spire. Mrs. Bligh placed the capstone
in position while the choir sang the ‘Te Deum’ up in the
new belfry. After the ceremony Mrs. Bligh delighted the crowds below
by throwing buns out of one of the windows. Climbing a staircase to
about eighty-five feet, then a ladder to the middle look-out, parishioners
could experience a spectacular view for sixpence. From the top on
a clear day this view extended as far as Henley, Harrow, Highgate,
Boxhill and beyond.
The font, 1887, with
a small inscribed brass plate in the new baptistry,
was given by Lady Ward in memory of her husband, Revd.
Fitz Wygram’s father-in-law, Sir Henry George
Ward, one-time Governor of Madras and Ceylon. Find out
more about the
font
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Money to pay for the tower and spire came in very slowly and caused
great anxiety, so in June, 1891, a “Fancy
Fair” lasting two days was held to clear the remaining
loan. The main attraction was an imaginative street of card houses
decorated with masks, flags and fairy lights. There were many different
types of entertainment: “coconut
shies, swings and palmistry and there were stalls of all kinds, even
‘galvanic shocks’ were dispensed at a penny - although
the receipts from this indicate that only thirty-odd were intrepid
enough to brave this hazard.” The local band, the Thames
Valley Orchestra, choirs and soloists all performed, and dancing continued
on both evenings until eleven o’clock. Read the article The
Proposed Tower and Spire.
With the debt paid off, the tireless committee immediately opened
the 'Clock and Bells' fund and in December 1893, the full amount of
£375 had been raised and the clock and bells installed.
Read the articles The Clock
and Bells.
The Churchyard
As the population of the new parish was growing, the original churchyard
surrounding the church was found to be too small. As the cemetery
at Hampton was thought to be impractical, in 1882 the vicar of Hampton
gave an acre of land in Park Road next to the church to be used as
the parish burial ground.
Later, in 1888, the churchyard was completely enclosed in order to
try to keep children out and therefore avoid the damage that they
were causing. The magazine of May 1888 reported: “Our
Churchyard has been completely enclosed, and it is hoped that it will
now cease to be a playground. We regret that there seems to be among
the rising generation a very low opinion of the sanctity of God’s
acre.” However, the magazine of July 1890 reported: "Attention
has been called to the acts of wanton mischief and theft of flowers,
by which our churchyard has been disgraced, and the feelings of many
have been distressed by the want of respect shown to the dead. The
church wardens have offered a substantial reward of £5 to anyone
who shall give such information as shall bring any offender to justice
and secure their punishment according to law."
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The eagle lectern,
made of brass, was presented by Lady Ward. It is
supported by four bird-like feet and just above
these is an inscription ‘To the glory of God
and in memory of Emily E. Ward 1882’. Our
first two vicars married members of the Ward family.
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Services
All through Revd. Bligh’s incumbency there were Sunday morning
celebrations at 08.00 with, twice a month, an 11.00 celebration. Occasionally
there were also Sunday baptisms or children's services with catechising
at 15.30. There were at least two celebrations on Saints Days and
other special days with full choral evensong and address on some,
for example, Ascension Day. The Lord Bishop paid his first episcopal
visit to the parish on Friday, July 17th 1885, when one hundred and
twelve were presented to him for confirmation. “Of
this number sixteen males, including nine of the choir, and twenty
two females, were from Hampton Hill.” Read
the article Confirmation.
At the Harvest Festival in 1885, a 07.00 service was added
for the first time and was well attended, and from 1888 three weekday
services were introduced. Read the article Harvest
Festival. The numbers present at the Ascension Day services in
1887 were substantially increased from previous years with seventeen
communicants at 05.00, twenty-eight at 07.00 and twenty-six at 11.00.
On Easter Day, 1889 more than fifty communicants came to the 07.00
celebration and nearly eighty at the 08.00 choral celebration. A full
choir attended these services and for the first time an anthem was
sung at the evening service: “its
careful, musical and reverent rendering gave evidence to the careful
practice which had been bestowed upon it”. Read the articles
Easter Services and
Lent Services.
St. James’s undertook mission work and Advent Sunday became
its Mission Sunday. During Lent in 1885 Revd. Bligh sent a long letter
to all the working men and women in his parish “earnestly
inviting them to attend Sunday evening services to hear plain mission
addresses”. During the late 1880s Gospel Mission Services
took place. These were intended for the many who seldom, if ever,
entered a place of worship, and “thus
keep themselves beyond the reach of the Gospel message of salvation
which is continually being uttered from the throne of grace”.
It had often been found that those who could not be persuaded to come
to church might be encouraged to attend a less formal service. Such
services were held in the mission rooms in the Eastbank Road and in
the Pantile Fields and were intended to be a stepping stone to the
church. These services were short with prayers, hymns, a Holy Scripture
reading and an address. Sometimes some of the members of the Hampton
Hill Orchestral Society added some sacred music both vocal and instrumental.
“There is indeed plenty of room
for mission work in our midst, notwithstanding the efforts which are
being made to bring home the Gospel to all, there are many who are
practically living the life of heathens in our midst.”
The church choir in
1890 with Revd. Bligh and the organist, Mr.
F.W. Dawkins.
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Music
In 1892 the new edition of Hymns Ancient and
Modern was adopted by the choir and provided many additional hymns.
By 1886 the organist earned £30 and the organ blower £4
15s 6d, while the choir expenses were £14 13s. The summer of
1886 saw the first choir treat for the men, an excursion to Portsmouth.
"This was to show the parish’s
appreciation of all the voluntary work that they did in uplifting
the services." There were twenty men and eighteen boys
in the choir by 1889, and in addition to these, there was a second,
or afternoon, choir of twenty boys, which trained them ready for the
main choir. There was a practice every Friday evening, “at
which the boys are obliged to attend regularly”. The
magazine of May 1890 reported: “The
Choir mustered well and strong. There were over forty both morning
and evening. All of them, with the organist, seemed intent on making
the service as good as a large body of voices, well trained and kept
together, could make it. Their efforts were very successful, and the
anthem was especially well and carefully sung.” Read
the article Our Choir.
The organ was first mentioned in the May 1885 magazine: “The
organ is a very good instrument, but somewhat old-fashioned in its
mechanical structure, and very much out of repair.” At
the cost of about £210 it was repaired and improved in 1885
by Messrs. Bishops of Norwich, and a pedal bourdon stop added. The
organ was ready for the Confirmation Service and
“the improvement effected by the
repair and additions is very marked. The rich soft tone of the Bourdon
pipes which form the western front of the organ is very pleasing.”
Read the articles Repairing
the Organ.
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The lych gate in
the 1890s
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Running the Church
An Annual Vestry Meeting took place in the church vestry every Easter.
This was the equivalent of the Annual Parochial
Church Meeting and was convened for the reading of reports, passing
of the year's accounts, and the election of two churchwardens, the
vicar's and the people's, and other church officers. From 1890 Revd.
de Ritchie was curate for three years. Mr. Chandler remained verger
and sexton but a large amount of parochial work was carried out by
an band of district visitors.
In February 1892, the Parish Magazine reported:
“It has been a sad and troublous
time these last six weeks. Never during its existence as a parish
has our death rate been so high. The number of entries in our Burial
Register is quite double the number recorded
for any similar period before. The influenza which has attacked us
again, has assumed almost the proportion and severity of a pestilence.
So many have been laid low, and so fatal in many cases has it proved.
There is scarcely a house which isn't mourning the loss of a relation
or a friend. And just when our own home troubles seemed at their worst,
there has fallen a blow upon the whole of England, we might almost
say, upon the world at large. This terrible disease has spared neither
poor or rich, high or low, and amongst its victims is the young Prince
Albert Victor, who, had he lived, would one day have been our king…….”
St. James's Church
in the 1890s
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Finance
In many reports the insufficiency of the amount of the weekly offertory
was referred to. In 1885 there was a “rub
with the Assessment Committee, and many are stiIl dissatisfied with
what they consider the unfair way in which this parish has been assessed……..
The heavy expenses of repairing, lighting, warming and cleaning the
church are met through the offertories alone. Besides the alms for
the poor and the urgent and pressing demands for our help and charity
from without, we still need a contribution for the funds of the School.”
The General Fund was started on 1st June 1885, in accordance with
a resolution of a General Meeting of the congregation held in May.
Before that, the offertory on each Sunday was devoted to a "special
object” and the deficit for church expenses was made
up by the Hampton Court Government Grant. The new assessment absorbed
the whole grant so the offertory had to cover all church expenses.
For a long time it had been thought that more provision should be
made for the needs of the parish of Hampton Hill out
of the continually increasing funds of the vicarage of Hampton. Hampton
Hill contained nearly half the population of the old parish but had
only received twelve acres of glebe towards its endowment. On the
2nd of August 1889 a dead of transfer was completed, by which about
eighteen acres of glebe land adjoining the vicarage grounds and churchyard
were annexed to the living of Hampton Hill. It was thought
that in time this land might be required for building purposes, and
its value largely increased. The magazine of October 1889 reported:
“By this means an endowment would
be secured to the living, and it would no longer be dependent upon
the somewhat objectionable method of raising funds by pew-rents.”
Read the article
Transfer of Glebe.
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The
Provident Club was an
old society closely linked to the church which, according
to the magazine of December 1884, “encouraged
thrift amongst our poorer neighbours, and helps them,
though mostly at their own cost, to provide a fund for
clothing and other Christmas wants. Members make weekly
payments of any amount they please to the District Visitors,
and the money, to the extent of some £30 or £40,
is deposited monthly in the Post Office Savings Bank.
Each year the whole is withdrawn in December and returned
to the depositors with interest of 1d. in the shilling,
but no member may receive more than 3s.4d. added money.
The interest and other small expenses of the club are
provided for by the Savings Bank interest and also by
Voluntary Subscriptions.” |
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Witness/Mission
The first Work Meeting was held at the vicarage on October 31st 1884
and continued throughout the winter months. These Work Meetings were
in connection with the Ladies' Association of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Read the article
Missionary Work Society.
The Hampton Hill Day Nursery was established in 1885 in the High Street
to take in the infants of poor women who had to go out to work. The
April 1885 magazine reported: “These
little babies often wither and fade from neglect, or the seeds of
ill health and suffering are sown, which mar the comfort and happiness
of life. It is hoped that with care and good nursing, in a warm and
comfortable room, many, who otherwise would be neglected, may grow
up into strong and healthy chiIdren.” However, the nursery
was closed in 1892 due to “lack
of support it received from the parents”.
Before the days of the Old Age Pensions and National Insurance, St.
James’s maintained a number of almshouses for the poor in the
parish. As well as caring for the old and sick, it was often necessary
to provide aid for those who were neither old nor sick. The magazine
of January 1891 recorded: “In consequence
of the unusual severity of the weather which has thrown so many out
of work and has caused much distress amongst the working classes,
a soup kitchen has been opened in the Fitz Wygram Working Men’s
Coffee Room with a view to mitigating, as much as possible, the suffering
which prevails”. The soup kitchen opened in December
1890 and a subscription list was started so that the soup could be
sold cheaply. It gave out 1,750 pints of soup and an equal number
of substantial pieces of bread. During this bad spell of weather Revd.
Bligh gave money out of his own pocket to the men who had no work.
He also organised some work for them and arranged for them to lay
the path running from the ‘kissing gates’ by Burton’s
Road railway bridge, alongside the railway line and coming out opposite
Fulwell Station.
The vicarage in
the 1890s
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Social Events
The Penny Readings came to an end during the 1880s, spoiled by “rowdyism”.
However they led to the introduction of the much more ambitious Winter
Entertainments which flourished during the following years. As there
was no hall suitable for any major events until the 1890s the public
houses and the schools became venues for these entertainments. Every
year the Winter Entertainments Committee, believed to have been run
by the ladies of St. James’s, organised a programme including
concerts with recitations, dramatic entertainments and parish teas.
Read the article Parish Teas.
The December 1884 magazine reported:
“One great advantage of this sort of Entertainment is that there
is no question as to who is to be invited or who left out. It is open
to all who like to take a ticket, at least to all who will behave
themselves with decorum.” St. James’s organised
a parish tea and entertainment for over one hundred and fifty people
in 1885. A few years later the magazine reported many successful “tableaux
vivants” with beautiful life-like magic lantern shows
and later still popular “Amateur
Theatricals”. Smoking concerts were held in aid of various
good causes and cases of individual hardship. Music and song was the
order of the evening and we read of one house after another acquiring
a music licence. Song was obviously a necessary adjunct to the “capital
meals” or “sumptuous
repasts” which seemed a feature of village life, particularly
as prosperity increased.
Around the same time the Summer Amusements Committee were advocates
of out-door games and athletic sports “we
must need admit that we are well supplied with clubs to promote such
like health-giving and innocent amusements”. There was
a Hampton Hill Lawn Tennis Club and several cricket clubs. The July
1889 magazine reported: “There
are few parishes better provided with the means for enjoying outdoor
amusements than our own. The new gate in the village brings Bushey
Park as it were to our doors, and a walk amidst its verdant green
and pleasant scenery may be enjoyed at any time. Our Common is always
available for the sports and pastimes of our young people, and over
and above these there is our Recreation Ground, which has been generously
made over to the parish, and which is kept in order by subscription
for the special enjoyment of the people.” In 1890 permission
was granted by the ‘Woods and Forests’ to use the ground
just inside the new gate into Bushy Park for cricket as well as football.
The school children gave excellent entertainments at Christmas with
one that included a musical drill and “quaint
little recitations” by the infants. The boys and girls
both gave musical drill performances and sang many “capital
songs”, the girls excelling themselves in their pretty
Japanese Fan Song, and the boys in the closing naval and military
performance. The teachers also gave some excellent glees and solos.
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The local
community was still overseen by the vicar.
There was a Lending Library with Mrs. FitzWygram as
the “Lady Superintendent”. A
portion of the Hampton Glebe, the ‘Common',
was set apart by the Vicar of Hampton for allotments.
The Hampton Hill Fire Brigade was formed in 1888.
A new arrangement for the delivery of letters was
introduced in 1892. Letters no longer had to pass
through the village en route to Hampton, and then
back again before the distribution could start. They
were, instead, sorted at the Hampton Hill Post Office,
and therefore delivered nearly an hour earlier than
before.
A Local Board for Hampton and Hampton Hill was formed
in 1890 and the village entered a new phase of parochial
life taking on “its arduous responsibilities”.
The drainage of the two parishes alone gave work and
anxiety for a long time. This was in addition to the
ordinary work of maintaining the roads and footpaths,
lighting and sanitary inspection.
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St James’s Day continued to be the most important celebration
of the year with many different services, including a special children’s
service. Read the article St.
James's Day and a later article
St. James's Day.
The church encouraged beekeeping around this time. According to the
August 1885 magazine: “Cottagers
should be encouraged to try what they
can do with bees, and see whether they cannot pay their rent by the
produce of their hives, and also store their cupboards with a sweet
which will always be welcome to the little ones.” In
1886 a clergyman gave a lecture on beekeeping which was advertised
as being for “cottagers, agriculturalists
and labouring classes” to “stimulate
a pursuit capable, not only of affording rational and profitable occupation,
but also a material increase to the income of the poor”. Read
the article Shall I Keep
Bees?
May Days were celebrated by
parades, as well as by games and competitions in Bushy Park. There
were teas and sports, followed by dancing and fireworks. Many different
concerts, parades and outings took place. An annual Flower Show in
the vicarage gardens was held together with the mother parish of Hampton
and organised by the local Horticultural Society. The attractions
included “manipulation of bees”
by a very experienced and successful bee-keeper and there were prizes
for fruits, vegetables, flowers, bee hives, honey and the best gardens.
There were Cottage Garden Competitions and an Exhibition of Home Industries
was held in conjunction with the Flower Show in July 1890. The August
magazine reported: “It
may seem invidious to mention particular exhibits, but we cannot omit
a word of commendation of the stuffed birds, the fretwork, a desk,
and neeedlework done by men and boys and a beautiful model yacht.
….. H. R. H. Princess Frederica was loyally received and the
band, which was present in full force, played God Save the Queen.
The Princess was conducted by a guard of honour of our Firemen in
their smart uniforms and glittering helmets….."
Read the article Our Flower
Show.
Schools
In 1882 the Schools’ Committee complained of the “continually
increasing demands of the Education Department for greater variety
of reading books and other book requisites” and indeed
the minutes show that demands continued to increase. In the following
year a “box of objects”
was suggested for the infants, with a demand for “occupations
of an interesting and instructive sort” and suitable
wall pictures. About twenty years after their foundation, in the mid
1880s, the schools were no longer the concern of the committee alone,
a local and parochial matter. They had to conform to what was becoming
a national system. Forms had to be filled in, registers meticulously
kept and teachers’ pay recorded. The Diocesan Inspectors, Her
Majesty’s Inspectors, School Attendance Officers, the Sanitary
Inspector all made reports, and, worst of all from the Committee’s
point of view, costs continually increased.
The boys' school
in School Road looking north.
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In 1892 the vicar announced that he had procured a music licence
for the boys’ school, "on
condition that the County Council’s rules were complied with".
The schools, together with the vicarage itself, actually served as
a centre not only for the children’s schooling but for their
social life and that of the villagers, gathering in their societies
and clubs.
By 1889 the schools were in financial difficulties and the committee
threatened to close the schools and open Board Schools unless more
money was forthcoming. The committee and many others objected to the
new Board Schools as religious teaching was to be undenominational,
and the schools were to be supported from the local rates which would
have to be increased to cover this. The vast majority voted for the
continuance of the Church Schools and against the opening of a Board
School. Subscriptions were promised and donations given. Although
disappointed by the small monetary response, the committee decided
to carry on the schools and to seek donations from the Hampton Water
Companies, as many of the children were those of Water Company employees.
The first subscriptions from the companies were not made until 1896.
In 1891 Lord Salisbury’s government passed an act making education
free in the state schools and permitting the voluntary schools to
follow suit. Under the Free Education Act the government still gave
the old grant, and also a new one, in lieu of the children's pence,
but it left all the rest (about one quarter) to be provided for locally
as before in the form of subscriptions, bequests, rents, and other
sources or else by a rate levied by a School Board.
“We wish to point out to our subscribers that they are only
asked to supply half-a-crown out of each pound that the school costs.
If through failure to sustain our voluntary effort we are driven to
a School Board, we shall not only lose in most part the real religious
education now afforded to our children, but shall have to pay largely
for all the increased cost of Board management. In addition to this,
too, there must be a heavy expenditure for new buildings at the Hampton
end of the School Board District, and towards this we shall have to
pay our full share.” Read the
article Our Schools.
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The End of Revd. Bligh's Incumbency
Revd. Bligh, who for some time had been suffering from the strain
of over-work, went abroad for a rest and change in the winter of 1891.
He and Mrs. Bligh travelled to Paris, Rome, Naples and Egypt. However
Revd. Bligh decided to leave the parish altogether in 1893 for Fareham,
hoping that the climate there would be better for his wife’s
health and that “the duties would
be rather less exacting than the very numerous offices that fell to
his lot at Hampton Hill”. He had become so popular that
over a thousand parishioners signed a petition appealing him not to
go.
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This was described by the Surrey Comet as “a
Valentine from the good people of Hampton Hill to their Vicar which
said with a thousand tongues Don’t Go”. However,
he remained firm in his decision and left Hampton Hill. The parish
presented a precious and handsome grandfather clock to him. Various
groups gave other gifts and a testimonial from the Communicants class
consisted of three altar vases, an altar desk and altar book for the
vicar's new church of Holy Trinity, Fareham. Read more about this
in the article Vicar to Leave.
Revd. Bligh returned from Fareham for the tower and spire dedication
service held on December 23rd, 1893. He preached a sermon about the
texts on the bells. He then “set
the clock in motion by pulling a tassel, which liberated the pendulum
and immediately the sweet-toned chimes were heard”. After
a short peal of bells the choir sang ‘To Thee O God, we dedicate
our bells now raised on high’. By starting the clock and the
first chime “which delighted everyone
within receiving distance”, Revd. Bligh completed the
work he had begun with the building of the tower.
Revd. Bligh died in April 1905, aged seventy, twelve years after
he left St. James's. After retiring from his church in Fareham, he
lived for a few years at Winchester but after his death was buried
here in the churchyard. The April 1905 magazine reported: "Besides
his own relations a great number of his old parishioners and friends
from far and near were present to show their regard for him and their
sympathy with those who had suffered the loss. He dearly loved the
Church and the people of Hampton Hill. I believe it was one of the
greatest joys of his life to help to improve and beautify St. James's
Church. His genial disposition, and his great kindness of heart, will
always be remembered by those who knew him. The tokens of regard which
covered a large space in the Churchyard showed the estimation in which
he was held. The tower and spire, in the erection of which he took
such a prominent part, stand forth as a striking memorial of his devotion
and zeal." Revd. Bligh was buried
in the churchyard and 'St. Mary' was one of the windows erected in
the baptistry as a memorial to him.
