ii s. vi. AVO. 17, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
125-
July 5th to September 27. 1823, inclusive.]
London : Printed and published by and for
J. M. Cobbett, 183, Fleet Street. 1823.
8vo, vol. xlv. pp. iv-832 columns ; vols. xlvi. and xlvii., each pp. iv-8^2 columns-4 pp. Indices.
Cobbett's Weekly Register. Volume XLVIIL From October to December, 1823. London : Dinted and published by C. Clement, No. 183, Fleet Street. 1823.
8vo, pp. iv-832 columns.
LEWIS MELVILLE. Salcombe, Harpenden, Herts.
( To be continued.)
ST. MARTIN'S -IN -THE- FIELDS AND THE ROYAL STANDARD.
(See 11 S. v. 487; vi. 106.) U*DER the title of ' The Admiralty Church ' an article appeared in The Army and Navy Gazette for November 12th, 1910, written by Rear-Admiral Sir R. Massie Blomfield. After referring to the annual commemora- tion service of Trafalgar Day. he traces the history of the church to the present time, and quotes the following from Allen's
' History of London,' vol. iv. p. 240 :
" That a church existed here in very early times is proved from a dispute having taken place in 1222 A.D. between William. Abbot of Westminster, and Eustace, Bishop of London concerning the exemption of the church from the jurisdiction of the latter."
Gwilt refers to this as being " only a chapel for the use of the monks of West- minster when they visited their Convent (Covent) garden, which then extended to it."
Henry VIII. bore the expense of the first church erected on the site, and from that time St. Martin's was in the gift of the King, until in recen* years it has become vested in the Bishop of London.
The first stone of the present church was laid on the 19th of March, 1721 by Dr Richard Wallis, Bishop of Salisbury, by order of George L, who took the greatest interest in its erection, and gave the work- men 100 guineas on the occasion. On the stone is a Latin inscription stating that the Bishop acted as the Bang's deputy. Admiral Blomfield states :
" Six months prior to the consecration of the church, which took place on October 20, 1726 the rector and churchwardens applied to the .Board of Admiralty presided over by James Earl of Berkeley, the new Whitehall office of wmch is m St. Martin's parish, and had just been completed, for a Royal Standard, with a view to s being hoisted at the flagstaff of the church on 3> \v C ^7l' ?, n the g 110111 ^ th t the Royal Palaces E Whitehall and St. James were also in the parish.
"The following is a verbatim transcription!
of the Admiralty order to the Navy Board :
24 May, 1726.
Application having being made to us by Dr. Pearce, the Vicar, and the Churchwardens of the Parish Church of St. Marti n's-in-the- Fields that they may be supplied with a Standard from H.M. Stores to be display'd on Holy days, in regard the Royal Palaces "of Whitehall and St. James are situate in the aforesaid Parish. We do hereby desire and direct you to cause a Standard to be prepared as soon as conveniently may be, and delivered to such Person as the said Dr. Pearce or the Churchwardens shall appoint to receive the same.
We are, &c., (Sin) JOHN JENNINGS, Knight
(Admiral). WILLIAM CHETWYND
(M.P. for Plymouth). (SiR) JOHN MORRIS, Knight
(Admiral)." Admiral Blomfield says :
" In all probability the initiative in this matter (the request being at once acceded to by the Board) had been taken by the King himself, who presented the church with an organ costing. 1,500?. It is quite possible, however, that the request was in accordance with time-honoured precedent, and that the flag shown on the tower in the engraving in Allen's history was a Royal Standard. It is doubtful if there is recorded another instance of a Royal Standard being pre- sented to a church under similar conditions."
Admiral Blomfield then warmly advocated that the privilege should be continued. The nation was looking forward " with loyal enthusiasm to the coronation next year of a fifth King George, who is not only our Sovereign, but a genuine sea-bred Admiral of his Fleet ; the time seems appropriate for the vicar and churchwardens of St. Martin's to endeavour to obtain a renewal of their ancient privilege, which would gratify us with the sight of the Royal Standard once more flying over the Admiralty Church on that auspicious occasion."
The appeal failed (see ante, p. 106), and St. Martin's Church is now no exception, to the order that the Royal Standard, being the personal flag of the Sovereign, shall only be flown from a building when the King himself is present.
Thornbury in his ' Haunted London ' (Chatto & Windus, 1880) says that the church,
" with all its faults, is certainly one of the finest buildings in London, next to St. Paul's and the British Museum ; but its cardinal fault is the unnatural union of the Gothic steeple and the Grecian portico."
Timbs records that in 1842 45 feet of the spire was struck by lightning, and had to be restored at the expense of 1,OOOZ. The ball and vane were also regilt. The latter is surmounted with a crown to denote that this is the parish of the Sovereign. A. N. Q.
