Vol 14; No 13, Chaplains of Hampton Court

[Les1949]

HAMPTON, AROUND AND ABOUT

Things you may not know, or didn’t know you knew!

No 13 CHAPLAINS OF HAMPTON COURT

Hampton & Richmond Borough FC is very fortunate to have had the services of Club Chaplain for a number of years. Until recently Paul was also to be seen around London Airport as one of their chaplains, but…. has he ever wondered if he could have been Hampton Court’s Chaplain. An appointment by the monarch of the day, an announcement in the London Gazette and traditional garb……….

The King has been pleased to appoint etc (in my dreams, would be Paul’s likely response!).

Here are a few Hampton Court Chaplains of the past 100 + years..

Revd Philip Cameron Wodehouse, Chaplain from 1869-1882 (also Vicar of Teddington). Philip came from a good family, third son of Philip, second son of 1st Lord Wodehouse. Philip died in August 1883, in Bordighera, Italy.

Revd Thomas Crossley was appointed in 1882, however he and the Housekeeper, Mrs Heaton, soon fell out. Mrs Heaton wrote to the Lord Chamberlain after a few months about a dispute as to who held the keys to the Chapel and the cupboard that stored the wine. In May 1884 the redoubtable Mrs Heaton was suggesting to the Lord Chamberlain that Crossley was ‘helping himself to the Communion Wine’ also that supplicants for communion were given very little wine whilst Crossley had ‘half a glass’.

Crossley died in 1886 and in his stead, Revd David Lancaster McAnally was appointed. Well, it didn’t take long for the formidable Mrs Heaton to ‘put the boot in’. Writing to the Lord Chamberlain she pointed out that both the organist, Basil Philpott and McAnally were both making ‘sad mistakes’ and was concerned that the Queen (Victoria) may get to hear of it. According to the Times newspaper in 1894, McAnally was badly in debt and soon after resigned due to ‘domestic trouble’. Apparently, McAnally was over £2,000 in debt.

McAnally was followed by Revd Arthur Ingram and Revd Walter Firminger before Revd Lewis Verey was invested in Westminster, Verey’s previous position had been in Sussex and in 1937 he had written a book about Rottingdean Parish Church. Prebendary H Harris took over in 1947 (he was also the Rural Dean of Hampton). After Harris came Prebendary Ward Cameron from 1961 to 1965.

Between 1965 and 1982, the chaplain was Revd Felix Boyse who was ordained in 1940 and served various parishes in Derbyshire, Surrey and London. Revd Boyse was married and had three children. Mrs Boyse commented, soon after they moved in, that the apartment was very cold (good for the soul?). Things slightly improved when the boiler was changed from coke to coal, but ‘it was still necessary to shovel hard to get a decent bath’. One wonders now, if there is such a thing as central heating in the Palace. It was announced in the Queen’s 1978 Birthday Honours that Revd Boyse had been made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order.



In 1982 the Boyses retired to West Sussex.

The current Chaplain is Revd Canon Anthony Howe who has been in post since 2015.


The Old Historian