The Parish Church of St James
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St. James's Road, Hampton Hill, TW12 1DQ (Parish Office 020 8941 6003)
 
THE HISTORY OF St. JAMES'S CHURCH
Section Contents: The History of St. James's Church | 'Birth and Growth of Hampton Hill' | Church Records | Churchyard Records | Past Events at St. James's | People of St. James's | Spire Magazine Archives | Through the Years
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People of St. James's Contents: The Rev. Fitzroy John Fitzwygram | The Hon. & Rev. Henry Bligh | The Rev. Charles Robert Job | The Rev. Richard Coad-Pryor | The Rev. Frederick Pearce Hope Harvey | The Rev. Rupert Hoyle Brunt | The Rev. John Nicholas Chubb | The Rev. Prebendary Dr. Brian Leathard | The Rev. Peter Vannozzi

People of St. James's - The Rev. Frederick Pearce Pope Harvey, A.K.C.

The Rev. Frederick Pearce Pope Harvey was the incumbent from 1923 until 1950. There was great dissension in the village on his preferment from being curate of All Saints’, Hampton, where he had conducted services in a manner considered “high” by St. James’s standards. As a result of a public meeting there was a deputation to the Bishop of London, and a parish canvass was held, but, nevertheless, his appointment was upheld. On coming to his new parish he gave a public undertaking to hold services in a manner acceptable to St. James’s, and this he was scrupulous in doing. After this stormy beginning he settled down to a comparatively uneventful twenty-eight years.

 
In his time the Churchyard was again extended and the Parish Hall was acquired. There was fresh dissension when Mr. Harvey declared his intention to sell the Vicarage grounds which bordered on St. James’s Road and with the money gained from the transaction to demolish the old, rambling and uneconomical Vicarage and build a new one more suitable to the times and to his purse.

Most of his incumbency was overshadowed by acute money worries. The parish could no longer afford a curate and dilapidations to the church accrued until the most urgent ones—much needed repairs to the spire— were carried out as the result of a parish-wide collection in 1947.

Mr. Harvey revived the Communicants’ Guild, instituted a freewill offering scheme and constantly reminded his dwindling flock to attend the church festivals. Mr. Harvey’s wife and four daughters worked very hard in the parish as Sunday School teachers, guide captains and social organisers. His only son was killed in the Second World War.

He was a kindly, comfortable, pipe-smoking man—a familiar short, stocky, figure as he cycled about the village waving genially to his parishioners as he met them. From the late 1940’s his health deteriorated and a great deal of the work of running the parish fell on the laity and in June, 1950,. after a long period in which he had been unable to carry out his duties, he retired, to be replaced after a somewhat lengthy interval by the present Vicar, the Rev. Rupert Hoyle Brunt, B.A., A.K.C.

Source: The Birth and Growth of Hampton Hill (Margery Orton)

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