Monday, 10 July 2023

Eton Wick History Group Meeting 12th July 2023 - Reading's Other Industries

 


Tough Assignment - Do You Remember?

In the story of any society there are numerous incidents too trivial or fleeting to fit into the more formal history. Yet they too are part of the rich tapestry of events and deserve to be recorded, if only because we still sometimes think back and laugh once again.

... the services of not so very long ago when every woman wore a hat - and the children who loved to try and fill the hat brim of the lady in front with matchsticks?

... Eli Carter and Charlie Wilkins and other local preachers who made the journey to Eton Wick on cycles in all weathers.

... Mr Clifton, a Baptist preacher, who visited the Sisterhood in the 1930s? He had a fantastic imagination and kept his audience in fits of laughter, much to the consternation of Mrs Chew - though just before the end of his talk he would remember to include the requisite spiritual message.

... the local preacher whose false teeth used to chatter, or the occasion when one local preacher pulled a handkerchief from his pocket - and also his false teeth which clattered down the pulpit steps?

... the speaker who came to talk to the Band of Hope bringing with him a piece of diseased liver in a glass tube?

... Mr Frank Styles who played the organ for services, but who could also make it sound like a hurdy gurdy?

... Ken Clifton and the hilarious times enjoyed by all at the fund-raising socials when he was fed blind-folded with cold custard?

... the gas lamps on either side of the pulpit and the disastrous effect of those preachers who tried to make a point by flinging wide their arms?

... the morning when torrential rain kept us all from going home and the spout of water that gushed through the wall near the spot where the present pulpit stands?

... the 1947 floods and how Eton Wick was cut off from the outside world for almost a week, except for one phone in Chantler's Stores? The Salvation Army Concert arranged to be held at the chapel had to be cancelled. ... the oil stoves which were used to supplement the heating during the 2nd World War, and how, on at least two occasions, clouds of thick, smelly smoke billowed out of the chapel front door when it was opened for morning service? The services were held up until the smoke had cleared.

... the time when one young lady came to preach and entered the pulpit clothed in a scarf, balaclava, mittens and a coat. A voice from the back of the congregation asked in a stage whisper " Is she stopping? "

... the long serving Sunday School official (who does not gamble) who bet one his scholars that he couldn't get his father to come to chapel .... and lost!!

... when the fusebox began to smoke last year and how the organ had to be replaced by the piano until the offending fuse had been replaced.

... when Moore's Lane was so narrow that coaches could not turn the corner from Alma Road. This meant that the coaches had to reverse into Inkerman Road and then back towards the chapel.

... that just after World War II when funds were low the Sunday School children had to choose between prizes and a Summer Outing?

... the old negro penny savings bank which belongs to the Sunday School and is still loved by the youngest children?

Ladies Club Cowboy Supper 1967 


The Eton Wick History Group is most grateful for the kind permission given by the Eton Wick Methodist Chapel to republish this history, Tough Assignment on this website.



Monday, 3 July 2023

Old Days of Eton Parish - CHAPTER XVII - THE LAST.

THE census of the town and parish in 1871 shewed a population of 3261; in 1881, 3169; in 1891, 2986; in 1901, 3154. In all cases the boys in College are excluded; the varying numbers may be largely accounted for by the time chosen for the census. The last two returns indicate some decrease of population. This is partly explained by the pulling down of cottages to make room for College houses, and the reduction in the town of in-habited houses from 635 before 1891 to 494 in 1901. 

The last twenty years of the nineteenth century were also marked by the migration of a considerable number of tradespeople from their shops in the High Street to more commodious homes in Windsor or Slough. This of course caused a corresponding decrease in the attendance at the Parish Church and left many gaps in seats formerly occupied by large families. The building of the Lower School Chapel also drew away some who hitherto could find no room in the College Chapel. 

The working class population, during those twenty years, was also driven for want of cottage accommodation to seek it elsewhere, and many regular workers in Eton lived in Slough, Windsor or at Eton Wick. A fresh opening for the artisan class was made just beyond Eton Wick. 

This came about indirectly by the action of the Eton Urban Board. More space was required for the Sewage Farm, and they accordingly purchased land in Boveney, and then finding that they had on their hands more than was needed, they offered the rest for sale. 

The purchaser saw his opportunity and soon covered the land with villas and cottages, which were equally soon filled with tenants, most of whom were working in Eton. A considerable population was thus created, and being far distant from their Parish Church of Burnham and. Burnham schools, the people found their way to Eton Wick Church and schools. This, and the general unsuitability of the Eton Wick school for modern requirements, brought about the erection of Girls' and Infants' schools close to the Church on ground granted by the Crown. The change was effected in 1888 at the cost of £1237. 

In 1881 the Eton School Laundry at Willowbrook was opened. Although inaugurated in the interests of the College, it has proved in many ways beneficial to the homes and lives of many of the working people in the parish. 

In 1894 the College Watermen were re-organized--a much needed reform, which has also contributed to the better interests of the parish. 

In 1887 was Queen Victoria's jubilee. 

The rest of the events up to the death of the Queen may be very briefly chronicled. 

In 1892 the old Porny school-room, which for some years had been a carpenter's workshop, was secured as a Parish Room, for holding meetings, classes and entertainments. This was carried out largely by the energy of the Rev. G. S. Clayton, Assistant Curate 1892 to 1897. 

In December 1894 the Urban District Council for Eton was elected, and superseded the old Local Board. 

At the same time the out-district of Eton Wick was constituted a parish for civil purposes, and five parish councillors were elected to manage their business. 

In 1892 a temporary arrangement was made with the Vicar of Burnham, by which the Vicar of Eton undertook the spiritual care of the growing population in New Boveney. 

In 1895, at Easter time, there was a large muster of volunteers, who were quartered in the various school buildings in Eton and the College. A special service was held for them on Easter morning. 

A year later, the Cemetery Chapel was newly floored, and the east end of it enriched by some marble work and a beautiful stained window. 

In the course of 1898 a piece of ground, presented by the College, was added to the cemetery and consecrated by the Bishop of the Diocese. 

A branch was started of the Mothers' Union in 1890, and a Company of the Church Lads' Brigade in 1899. Both of these have proved of signal value in the parish. 

In 1900 the parish sustained a severe loss by the death of the Vicar's Churchwarden, Mr. J. P. Carter. A processional cross was presented to the Cemetery Chapel in his memory, and a churchyard cross was erected by parishioners and friends, and placed just between the old and the new part of the cemetery. 

The outbreak of the Boer War, and the call of many Eton soldiers who were in reserve to leave their work and serve their country, marked the year 1899, and led to the raising in the district of a fund for the maintenance of the soldiers' wives and children, and to a pathetically memorable Christmas party given to them by the Queen at Windsor Castle.

A few months later, Victoria the Good had passed away, and Eton took its part in paying its last sad homage to a revered memory, and then in the year following (1902) there was the busy preparation for King Edward's Coronation, his unlooked for illness and happy recovery. 

In 1901 Bishop Stubbs also died, and Bishop Paget became Bishop of the Diocese. 

The only parish event of these years which needs to be added to our record was the inauguration in Eton of a representative Church Council to consider Church matters and advise the Vicar. 

With this we must close the last chapter of this story of the ups and downs of the town and parish of Eton. Many smaller incidents in these later years might have been included, and the names of many individuals, lay and clerical, might have been mentioned, to whose devoted work and example the parish owes a debt of gratitude, but to do so with due discrimination of worth would be a difficult and invidious task. Their labours of love will meet a full reward. We need only express the hope that those who read in these pages of the inheritance derived from the centuries past, will follow in their steps and bestir themselves in good earnest to uphold all Eton's best traditions, and will take their part in handing on to generations yet to come even larger benefits, and greater opportunities for good than they have themselves enjoyed. 

OLD DAYS OF ETON PARISH by The Rev. John Shephard, M.A. was published in 1908 by Spottiswoode and Co Ltd. The text has been copied from the original book that is now out of copyright.


Wednesday, 28 June 2023

T. H. FLINT - Royal Army Service Corps

John Henry Thomas Flint (Corporal/Acting Sergeant T/I27600) - Royal Army Service Corps

John, often known as Tom, was an Eton Wick boy and man. He was born on August 10th 1916 to John Ernest and Dorothy Flint, who were then living at Castle View Terrace, Victoria Road, Boveney. The family later moved to Northfield Road in Boveney Newtown. John was the only child of the Flints. His mother Dorothy was one of the large Bryant family and in fact her brother, Thomas Bryant, was Eton Wick's second Great War fatality, having been killed 21 months before John's arrival, at the age of 20 years.

It is believed John attended Dorney School in the early years of his education until at the age of 11 or 12 he qualified for acceptance as an Eton College Chorister. When schooling at the College was over, he attended Pitman's College in London, where he won a book prize as the outstanding pupil. It is not surprising he found employment on the clerical staff of the London Transport Company. In his recreational time John was a keen swimmer and was a member of Eton Wick's Tilstone Tennis Club during the 1930s. The tennis club had courts behind the Institute, now known as the Village Hall. He was also a member of the 20's Club, and the Windsor Badminton Club.

When war came in September 1939 he was 23 years old and, having no intention of waiting to be conscripted into the army, he quickly volunteered. Probably he was also influenced by the Bryant family's war service in the earlier conflict. Two months after the declaration of war John was in uniform. He obtained special Christmas leave the following month, enabling him to marry his fiancée, Marjorie Brentnall, of Alma Road, Eton Wick, on December 26th 1939. The officiating curate, the Reverend David Wingate of Eton Wick, regretted having to impose a double fee for the Christmas wedding, and later graciously returned the extra charge.

After completing his military training John was sent to France with the B.E.F. A few weeks later the German Army ended the long stalemate known as the "Phoney War" by making a powerful thrust and driving the allied armies back toward the sea. The French Army collapsed and the British were evacuated from the continent by every available means in the epic of Dunkirk. John however was not near the sea at this point. In fact, he was one of several thousand troops evacuated from Brest, St. Malo, St. Nazaire and Cherbourg, two weeks after Dunkirk.

Upon returning to England he told his wife how he had seen a rescue liner bombed and destroyed at St Nazaire. He little knew he had witnessed the demise of S.S. Lancastria and that an Eton Wick man, Tom McMurray, was one of the 3,000 men on board who perished. The date was June 17th 1940. Back in England Tom served near Guildford and Swindon for perhaps the next year. In 1942 he was in the Middle East and in May and June was again facing German might during the defence of Tobruk against Rommel and the Afrika Korps. Battered, bombed and shelled, the Libyan harbour finally fell to the enemy in June.

John was among the many who were captured and shipped to Italy as prisoners of war. It was a year later, on June 28th 1943, Marjorie received a letter from the R.A.S.C. Record Office in Hastings reporting the death of her husband on May 19th, nearly six weeks earlier. John's death was given as due to suffering from nephritis and pulmonary emphycema, while being a P.O.W patient in the Masarata City Hospital. Tragically delayed letters from John arrived after the late notifications of his death. He was 26 years old. His grave is in the Ancona War Cemetery in Italy, approximately two miles south of Ancona and near the Adriatic coast. It is located in Plot 3; Row B; No. 12. The cemetery contains 1,019 British Commonwealth graves: 590 U.K., 161 Canadian, 78 Indian and Pakistani, 77 South African, 44 New Zealanders, 12 Australian and 57 unidentified.

Marjorie did not marry again and now, over 50 years later, still lives in No. 4, Snowdrop Villas, Alma Road. Obviously in error the first initial of John's name not put on either village memorial. As T.H. Flint he is commemorated on the war memorial in the Eton Wick Churchyard and also on the commemorative tablet at the Village Hall. Having been an Eton College Chorister he is also commemorated on the walls of College Cloisters.



This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone  
and published here with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.

Monday, 19 June 2023

Photographic History of Eton Wick and Eton - The Horticultural Society

 

The Eton Wick Horticultural Society's float c1931, decorated with donated produce and about to leave Common Road to join the procession of the decorated floats, Fire Brigade, musicians, etc. taking part in the King Edward VII Hospital Parade. The route took the procession to Slough, Eton, up Thames Street hill and on to the Hospital. The horse and cart was traditionally supplied by Bert Bond, the village greengrocer. Parades ceased after WW2 when the National Health Service funded the hospitals.

On the float is Ted Bond. Standing, left to right are, Mr Benham, George Paget, Bert Bond, <r Hemmings (Secretary), Joe Clarke, Hugh Haverly, Ern Woodhouse, Bert Benham (not believed to be related to the Benham on the left) and Harry Young.

This article was first published in A Pictorial History of Eton Wick & Eton.

Monday, 12 June 2023

Tough Assignment - Memorials

Over the hundred years there have been many, many gifts to the chapel of money and items. Each and everyone has been appreciated, but neither the minute books nor the memories of the members can supply a complete list, and thus those shown below, although all are in use today, are but a small proportion of the total.

Some have been given in memory of chapel members. These include:

Electric light installation                                                  1948 Archibald and Clifford Chew

Organ                                                                             1966 Annie Chew

Flower vases                                                                  1973 Phillis Hutchinson

Curtain behind the communion table                             1980 Sylvia Chew

Bibles                                                                             1983 Marjorie Morris

Other gifts were given simply because they were needed, such as:

Flower vase                                                                   1943 Muriel Badder

Piano                                                                           c1955 Mrs Rye of Woodlands Park

Lamp outside the chapel                                             c1960 Leslie Hogg

Flower stand                                                               c1965 Eva Sibley (nee Lane)

Bibles for the Sunday School                                       1982 Katherine Lewis 

The Eton Wick History Group is most grateful for the kind permission given by the Eton Wick Methodist Chapel to republish this history, Tough Assignment on this website.



Monday, 5 June 2023

Old Days of Eton Parish - CHAPTER XVI - THE NEW PARISH CHURCH AND VICARAGE.

WE have seen how, for something like five centuries before the College was founded, the parish of Eton went through various changes and vicissitudes: first, for 300 years, served by clergy unknown by name, supplied chiefly by a great Monastic Order; then, for 200 years more, under the care of a succession of Rectors, like the ordinary Rectors of most English parishes. Then we learnt how in Henry VI.'s reign it entered on a third stage of experience and was under Rectors who held at the same time the dignified office of Provosts of Eton College and often other posts as well, and how during this period the Collegiate Church served as its Parish Church. 

This condition of things lasted from 1400 to 1875. In 1875 the Provost was relieved of parochial responsibilities, and the College Chapel ceased to be the Parish Church.

The fourth and last change came about in the following way.

In 1862 a Royal Commission sat to consider the condition of the great Public Schools of England and to suggest improvements. Among other matters that needed reform, the Commissioners found that for some years past the Provosts of Eton had practically ceased to act as Rectors. Several of them had never been instituted by the Bishop to the cure of souls, nor had they, except on the rarest occasions, officiated in the Chapel of Ease or undertaken any rectorial duties.

The care of the parish was practically left to two, or, after the building of St. John's Church, to three Conducts, who took their turns week by week to serve in the two buildings. Although one was styled the senior, in virtue of the date of his appointment, the three were virtually co-equal in authority ; each during his week of office took precedence of the others ; each had a portion of the parish under his care ; each had a department of the schools ; each worked in his own way and after his own methods ; and there was no head to counsel or correct, or to check neglect. Moreover, some of the Conducts held other offices as well. One acted as Master in College and was rarely available for any evening work; another was a master of a College boarding house; another had private pupils. Where these duties clashed the parish became a secondary consideration; and as no changes or new departures in work could be effected without the concurrence of the three, progress was necessarily hampered, and the condition of things was unsatisfactory. 

Indeed, this anomalous arrangement was almost as bad as that which existed in some few other parishes at that date, where there were three Rectors in one parish, each responsible for the Church services during their week. It was clear to the Commissioners from the evidence they received, that the want of a head was detrimental to the interests of the people, and the more so as there were no churchwardens to voice their needs and feelings, and no Easter Vestry at which grievances could be aired and remedies suggested. 

The marvel is that the system had worked for so long as well as it had, and that as a rule the three Conducts managed to discharge their duties without any serious friction in spite of very often a wide difference of opinion. 

The Commissioners issued their report in 1864 and made the following recommendations: "The Parish of Eton should be constituted a separate Vicarage and endowed out of the revenues of the College. The population of the parish, excluding the boys in the School, is stated to be about 2000. It is suggested that /600 a year should be set apart for this purpose, but this sum might be diminished, should the Vicar be provided with a house or adequate lodgings by the College." 

They also suggested that one of the Conducts should be appointed by the Vicar of Eton with the approval of the Provost and should act as a Curate of the parish of Eton. 

These recommendations were however founded on misinformation. The population by the census of Easter 1861 was really 3122, and the existence of Eton Wick was apparently overlooked. It was also subsequently seen that the suggestion as to the Curate was unworkable, and would not meet with the sanction of the College. 

Some years however elapsed before the Public Schools Act, which gave force to the scheme, was passed, and then their recommendations as regards the parish had to be submitted to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and laid before Her Majesty in Council. 

It was the fourth of February 1875 when the final Order in Council was gazetted. 

The following are some extracts from the Order. "The parish of Eton shall be severed from the Royal College of Eton, and the existing Chapel of Ease at Eton dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist shall thenceforth be the Parish Church of Eton and the existing Chapel at Eton Wick dedicated to Saint John the Baptist shall thence-forth be deemed to be a Chapel of Ease to such Parish Church and the College Chapel of the said College shall thenceforth cease to be the Parish Church of the parish of Eton, and shall be exempted from being used or dealt with as a Parish Church." "The parish of Eton shall become and be a benefice with cure of souls and a distinct vicarage, and the advowson thereof and perpetual right of presentation thereto shall be vested in the Provost and Fellows of the said College and their successors." "The person who shall be nominated, presented and instituted to the said vicarage shall be esteemed in law a Vicar and shall have within and over the said parish of Eton sole and exclusive cure of souls, and the Provost shall thence-forth be relieved from the spiritual charge of the said parish and from all liability to perform Divine Services in the said Chapel dedicated to St. John the Evangelist and in the said Chapel of Eton Wick." 

It was also ordered that "the Vicarage should be endowed with the rent-charge payable to the said College in lieu of tithes, in respect of all titheable lands in the said parish of Eton; this was taken to be of the net value of two hundred and ten pounds a year and that the bursar should pay out of the College revenues three hundred and ninety pounds." 

" The freeholds of the churches and burial grounds were also to be vested in the Vicar and his successors, and all fees arising in the said parish were to be paid to him." 

The first Vicar under this new scheme was appointed in 1875 and publicly instituted to the cure of souls in the Parish Church by Bishop Mackarness on March 19. He was a few days after inducted to the temporalities by the Rural Dean. 

As a visible proof that the Church in the High Street had become the Parish Church, the Parish Registers were in accordance with instructions received from the Registrar General removed from the College Chapel and placed in St. John's Church. By agreement with Provost Goodford, the early Registers (four volumes, 1598 to 1779) were to be kept for better security in the College muniment room, the Vicar reserving to himself and his successors the right of access and extract. On the election of the first churchwardens at the Easter Vestry, Messrs. S. Evans and W. Goddard, the Communion plate was placed in their charge, and on them now devolved the duty hitherto borne by the College of raising funds for the maintenance of the Church fabrics and services. 

St. John's was now in the eyes of the law the Parish Church of Eton, but it had yet to become so in the eyes of the people. At present their only idea of a Parish Church was the Church in Windsor. They now had to learn little by little that they had a Church of their own, in which they had their own rights and their own responsibilities. 

It devolved on the first appointed Vicar to lead them to recognize this, and various institutions had to be organized which would help to unite the people in a common work and to realise their new unity. 

But there were many special difficulties to be over-come, beyond those which exist in ordinary parishes. 

The population was composed of very various elements, each perhaps representing some phase of past history. There were those who had inherited a strong strain of Saxon independence and liked to be left to go their own way. There were others who were the product of Norman feudalism, and who were either lordly in their treatment of dependents, or cringing in their subservience to their masters ; there were those who had grown up under the old system, and objected to reforms ; there were many who inherited the prejudices of Puritan fore-fathers, and smelt Popery in every attempt to improve the Church Services or to carry out the Prayer Book system ; there were others who, on the contrary, were fired with the enthusiasm of the Oxford Movement, and were in a hurry to reach at a bound a higher level of Churchmanship. Then the great School in the midst and its special interests had also to be considered, and was not without its draw-backs from a parochial point of view. In so large a body, there are often boys who are reckless and lavish with their money, and some not always the best models in behaviour and manners. There were also difficulties to be en-countered, arising out of the customs and traditions of an old institution. Some of these were venerable, and could not be lightly disregarded, but others presented obvious abuses, which called for active reform. Further there existed in the parish strong class feelings, and numerous cliques and interests; there was a contingent of waterside loafers fond of drink and disinclined for regular labour, living but a short distance from highly-trained scholars and dignified members of the Cloisters and College. Further still to be taken into account was a vast number of hard-worked domestic servants, with scant opportunities for spiritual privileges during term-time, and three times a year left more or less without control ; also a consider-able body of women compelled by the idleness of their husbands to earn by manual labour sufficient to maintain their children and their homes, and many others living leisured lives, and needing opportunities to discover them-selves and to find their happiness in helping their neighbours. With all these various elements, within a small area, there was room for much patient work, if anything like true parochial feeling was to be created, and if those whose lot was cast in one place were to be induced to recognize their common interests and their common duties, and to regard not only the common good of the parish itself, but their relation to the Diocese and their brotherhood in the Church at large. Much necessarily of the efforts of the first Incumbent under this new system had to be bestowed on mere spade work. As a pioneer he had to break the ground and to clear the road and get rid of the most obvious obstructions and disarm opposition. 

But if there were difficulties to be overcome, there was also much to encourage. Churchworkers were forthcoming on all sides, and many both in town and College supplied funds as well as personal service with great liberality, and soon many of the old barriers were broken down, and those who had stood aloof from one another found themselves working side by side in a common cause. 

Almost the first step taken was the appointment of sidesmen, to assist the Churchwardens and to form with them a council, in which the Vicar could discuss plans for the better ordering of the Church and services. One of the early decisions thus arrived at was to declare all sittings free and open to all at the Evening Services. 

A further step was the better organization of charity in the parish. Enquiry had proved that there was great overlapping in aid given, and that while many families were being pauperised, others in real need were in danger of being overlooked. This led to the establishment of a branch of the Charity Organization Society and the appointment of a relief committee. A central soup kitchen was also organized, to which the broken food from College houses could be sent, and cooked, and distributed to carefully selected families. 

In 1876 a branch of the Church Temperance Society was introduced with the hope of checking the excess which at that time largely prevailed and was the ruin and disgrace of many a home.¹


It proved the means of raising public opinion among all classes in the parish, and reached its climax of influence when a meeting was held in Upper School in Easter week 1888, at which Bishop Temple was the chief speaker. 

Two important results were the permanent outcome of this movement: first the establishment of a coffee tavern which for many years was run in connection with the Society; secondly, the establishment of allotment grounds, which have perhaps done more than anything else to benefit the working men of the place and give them and their belongings wholesome interests. Both these branches of work owed much at the outset to the energies of Mr. Frederick Drew (an Assistant Master), who died in 1891. 

By the willing co-operation of the Eton Poor Estate, another valuable institution was started in 1883, viz. the appointment of a Parish Nurse to care for the sick and suffering, and in 1896 the same Trust set on foot pensions of 5s. a week to a few aged people. 

To raise the spiritual tone of the people a parochial mission was held in 1880 after careful preparation, and it was followed up by the institution of a Guild of Communicants, and by other like measures.

But before this or any such work could be attempted, it was necessary to provide a house for the Vicar, large enough for classes and meetings of workers, and it was obvious that it would be in all ways an advantage if this could be placed in the centre of his work and within easy reach of the Parish Church and Parish Schools. 

A site was given by the College in Sun Close, with an approach by an occupation road from the High Street. Owing to the low-lying nature of the ground, considerable expense was incurred in the foundations. A mass of concrete had to be laid under the whole structure to secure it from damp, and special measures had to be taken to raise the rooms well above flood level. The design was prepared by Mr. E. B. Ferrey and the total cost was £3292. Of this £2290 was raised by subscription, and £1000 borrowed by the Vicar on the living, the loan being spread over thirty years and to be paid off, together with 4 per cent interest, by annual instalments. 

Thus again, after a long lapse of years, the parish was provided not only with a Parish Church of its own, but with a Vicarage house for its Vicar. 

The foundation stone, with the motto Nisi Dominus,'² was laid by the Archdeacon of Bucks (now Dean of York). on September 29, 1877, and the house was ready for occupation in the following August. 

In 1878, the Eton Parish Magazine was started with the purpose of interesting the people in what was going on in their parish. It has been carried on continuously ever since. 

One incident connected with the new constitution of the parish should not be omitted.

After the building of St. John's Church, although it was only a Chapel of Ease and the College Chapel was still the legal Parish Church, the local authorities took it for granted that marriages could be lawfully solemnized there, and between 1858 and 1875 as many as 223 took place.

The Diocesan officials in this latter year discovered the error, and one morning when the people of Eton opened their newspapers, they were startled to see that on the previous night the Bishop of Oxford had introduced a Bill into the House of Lords for the purpose of legalising the marriages which had been solemnised in St. John's Church, Eton, previously to its becoming the Parish Church. Little had any concerned dreamt of this flaw in their marriages.

The Bill was carried through both houses with such speed, that if there was anyone who would have liked to have availed himself of the loophole, he had no chance of so doing. 


Notes

1 At that time there were twenty-three public houses in the parish. 

2 Psalm cxxvii. 

OLD DAYS OF ETON PARISH by The Rev. John Shephard, M.A. was published in 1908 by Spottiswoode and Co Ltd. The text has been copied from the original book that is now out of copyright.