St Margaret Churchyard
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St Margaret Churchyard

Rochester, Medway Unitary Authority, Kent, England

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  • Get directions Rochester, Kent, England
    Coordinates: 51.38494, 0.49936
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Although St Margaret's does not boast many celebrities in its history, there have been one or two. In the north gallery there is a memorial to Captain John Moore Mansfield who commanded HMS Minotaur, one of the Nelson's ships at Trafalgar, in which he distinguished himself by capturing an enemy ship. He owned land in the parish. One of Canon Thorndike's daughter's – Sybil, who taught in the Sunday School – made an international name for herself as an actress, and from the same talented family came Russell, famed for his books for children. Lastly we can make a small claim on the anti-slavery campaigner and hymn-writer John Newton. [Amazing Grace is the hymn for which he is probably best remembered.]

He was married here in the old church on February 12th 1749 [1750 new style*] to a Chatham girl, Mary Catlett, known as Polly, daughter of George (Customs Officer in Chatham Dockyard) and Elizabeth Catlett. Elizabeth was a cousin of John's mother (also Elizabeth) who had also been born in Chatham. The close family ties of the Catletts and Newtons had meant that John and Mary had been childhood sweethearts, and had been besotted since he was seventeen, and she no more than fourteen.'

The origins of St Margaret's are fairly obscure. The list of vicars begins in 1272 with William Telefus, but a church is known to have existed here before then, the earliest record of it being in a charter of Bishop Gundulph in about 1108. Canon Wheatley (Vicar of St Margaret's 1915 – 1947) suggested that it might have started life as a Chapel of Ease to the Cathedral, which was itself in the process of being rebuilt around that time.



Although St Margaret's does not boast many celebrities in its history, there have been one or two. In the north gallery there is a memorial to Captain John Moore Mansfield who commanded HMS Minotaur, one of the Nelson's ships at Trafalgar, in which he distinguished himself by capturing an enemy ship. He owned land in the parish. One of Canon Thorndike's daughter's – Sybil, who taught in the Sunday School – made an international name for herself as an actress, and from the same talented family came Russell, famed for his books for children. Lastly we can make a small claim on the anti-slavery campaigner and hymn-writer John Newton. [Amazing Grace is the hymn for which he is probably best remembered.]

He was married here in the old church on February 12th 1749 [1750 new style*] to a Chatham girl, Mary Catlett, known as Polly, daughter of George (Customs Officer in Chatham Dockyard) and Elizabeth Catlett. Elizabeth was a cousin of John's mother (also Elizabeth) who had also been born in Chatham. The close family ties of the Catletts and Newtons had meant that John and Mary had been childhood sweethearts, and had been besotted since he was seventeen, and she no more than fourteen.'

The origins of St Margaret's are fairly obscure. The list of vicars begins in 1272 with William Telefus, but a church is known to have existed here before then, the earliest record of it being in a charter of Bishop Gundulph in about 1108. Canon Wheatley (Vicar of St Margaret's 1915 – 1947) suggested that it might have started life as a Chapel of Ease to the Cathedral, which was itself in the process of being rebuilt around that time.



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  • Added: 11 Sep 2009
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2322755