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Arthur Browning 1901 – 1927

Vicar of Holy Trinity, Penn Street, 1901 – 1926.
Previously, Curate, Maidenhead and Cookham.

David Niven lived here between 1920 and 1922, as a ten to twelve year old, one of a dozen boys (who included two Persian princes and the young third Sir Philip Rose) in the crammer run by the Revd Arthur Browning. David Niven’s autobiography remembers a very pleasant interlude in Penn Street, despite the vicar – who was ‘a magnificent looking grandson of Robert Browning with clear blue eyes and white, wavy hair. He was uniformly adored by the parents and loathed by the boys, without exception, as an evil-tempered, vain old tyrant!’

In the 1911 Census, Arthur Browning desscribes himslef as “Clergyman-Priest General of England-Private Tutor”, and includes his wife Catherine, son Robert and daughter Esther, and four boarders: a private tutor from Sheffield and three students, from New Zealand, Calcutta India, and London, plus three domestic servants, from local villages.

(Photograph, The Sphere, June 25th, 1902)

King Edward VII visited Penn Street, January 16th, 1902.

The short and tragic incumbency of Revd. FJ Sibree

Very little is recorded regarding the short incumbency of the Revd. FJ Sibree.  The following is collected from various sources, Birth, Marriage and Death records, Census Returns and Electoral Rolls and Probate records and local newspaper reports.

The Revd. Sibree arrived at Penn Street in 1927, and resigned in 1928, intending to retire,  because of his wife’s illness, when he was replaced by Ernest Davies.

Francis Joseph Sibree was born in 1860 at Painswick, Stroud, Gloucestershire.  His parents ran a boarding school, Bussage House, with 20 – 30 teenage children, mostly boys, a few girls, and their own five children.

He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford.  At the ages of 20 and 30, Francis is shown as ‘tutor’, having joined the ‘family business’.

In 1894 he married Margaret Louisa List, after Banns at St Paul’s church Gloucester.  His occupation is shown as ‘Headmaster’ Bussage House School.

He trained for ministry at Gloucester Theological College, and was ordained Deacon in 1896 and priest in 1898.  His first appointment was as assistant curate, Chalford, Gloucester.  In 1901 he is listed asr, ‘Clerk in Holy Orders, School Master’, The Park, The Hall, Shipdham, near Dereham, Norfolk, in the parish of Shipdham, All Saints. The Hall was another boarding school with teenage boys.

It was not unusual for the vicar or curate to also tutor boarders. The Revd. Arthur Browning, Francis Sibree’s predecessor also ran a ‘crammer’ at the vicarage, for ten or so teenage boys, including the young David Niven.

1904-1912 he was vicar of St Mary’s, Portchester, Fareham, Hants, proceeding to Bexley Heath in 1912, and Wandsworth in 1916 and in living at 10 Rusholme Road, Wandsworth, presumably the vicarage of St Michael’s Church, Southfield.  His first wife Margaret died 2nd August 1923, they had no children.

In July 1924, he married a widow, Edith Eleanor Muirhead, née Dennett, at Kensington.  Edith had four daughters and two sons by her previous marriage.

Francis Sibree arrived at Penn Street in 1927, and tragically his second wife Edith died the following year, 20th September 1928, aged 63, only five years after their marriage.  Her Probate record reveals that she left £9219 7s. 6d. around £580,000 in 2020.

Only a short time before her death, Revd. Sibree had tendered his resignation because of his wife’s health and had made arrangements to leave Penn Street.  The Revd. Ernest Davies was been named as his replacement and was inducted as vicar of Penn Street in November 1928.

Francis Sibree undertoook clerical duties at Buckingham for a short time and was appointed  vicar of Westbury, North Bucks, in 1929, serving for 7 years, until his death 17 July 1936, aged 76, His funeral was unusual in that he was cremated at Golders Green crematorium before the funeral service at Westbury.

His obituary in the Buckingham Advertiser and North Bucks Free Press, 25th July, 1936, describes him as ‘an enthusiastic motorist’, and that ‘he played tennis into his 70th year’.  One of his achievements at Westbury was the installation of electricity in the church and vicarage.

His estate was worth £2661 11s. 6d. worth £200,000 in 2020.

Thanks to Ron Saunders for searching out relevent newspaper cuttings.

Peter Strutt, 2020

Revd. Ernest Davies

The Rev. Ernest Davies was appointed by Eal Howe to replace Francis Sibree, who had only been in office a year, when he announced his intention to retire due to the illness of his wife Edith.

Ernest Davies appointment was announced in the Bucks Examiner 7th September 1928.


Revd. Davies Induction took place on 15th November 1928, reported here in the Bucks Examiner.

Frank Wankling 1967 – 1975

“How Holmer Green got its church”

Although the Rev. F. Wank­Iing and his wife and family were given an official reception when Mr. WankIing was inducted as Vicar of Penn Street and Holmer Green. at Penn Street Church recently, Holmer Green folk on Saturday arranged their own welcome and said it with flowers in the form of a delightfully decorated village hall and a bouquet for Mrs Wankling.  The Sunday School provided musical entertainment, the Young Wives organised the refreshments, and Mrs. S. Waller supervised the floral decorations.

Mr. F. W. Todd. who always reads the lessons at Holmer Green, gave the official verbal welcome on behalf of the villagers.

He recalled that just over a century ago the then Countess Howe decided she would like a church of her own at own at Penn Street. which necessitated a special Act of Parliament. taking away exist­ing parts of the parishes of Penn and Little Missenden. That was how the church at Holmer Green started.

Although the vicar lived at Penn Street there appeared to be much more work at Holmer Green where they were eventually hop­ing to enlarge.

In his response Mr. Wankling said he already realised how much work was involved at Holmer Green Green, where one of the main needs was the building of a Sun­day School, and he visualised a lot of work for Holmer Green people to do.

Bucks Examiner, Friday September 8th, 1967.

Editor’s Note: Frank Wankling went on to oversee the building of the Church Centre at Holmer Green, adjacent to the church, Christ Church, which was built in 1894.

Nigel Stowe 1976-2001

Nigel Stowe: (1936-2021), was born on the 29th April 1936 in the School House attached to the small village school at West Tytherley, near Salisbury in Wiltshire, where his father was headmaster.

At the age of 14, Nigel committed his heart and life to Christ following a talk at a well-attended school Christian Union meeting at Monkton Coombe school, visited by the evangelist Don Summers, who went on to have a world-wide ministry of evangelism.

Nigel’s spiritual growth began to take off when a fellow pupil invited him to help and teach at the small Sunday School at Midford Chapel in one of the nearby villages. In his last 2 years at school he played a leading role in the CU becoming its secretary and organising the Wednesday evening speakers.
Following National Service in the Royal Engineers as a training officer and almost full-time Chaplain confirmed God’s call and provided a wonderful training ground for leadership and teaching experience. In September 1959 Nigel returned to Clifton Theological College for 2 years ordination training, being appointed vice-senior student in his last year.

At Michaelmas 1961 Nigel was ordained by the Bishop of St Albans to serve as curate in the parish of Christ Church, Ware in Hertfordshire where he learned much about the administrative workings of a parish. Just after his third Christmas there he married Pauline Gray who was the PE teacher at the secondary school and heavily involved in the Young People’s work at Christ Church.

At the end of the summer of 1964 Nigel and Pauline moved to Reigate, Surrey where Nigel became senior curate at St Mary’s with Canon Peter Baker, whose son, Tony, had been at college with him and was his best man. These were very happy and fulfilling years.

In 1968, they accepted an invitation to the parish of St Jude’s Mildmay Park in Islington, consisting of 8000 people in a half mile square with the church at the centre, Newington Green and Hackney and Balls Pond Road on different edges. These were precious days of outreach and humbling commitment by the small dedicated congregation. The 8 years of ministry there provided several life times of parochial and human experience for Nigel and Pauline.

In 1976 they moved to the parish of Penn Street with Holmer Green, which was to be their home for 26 years. Nigel oversaw the almost total restoration of Holy Trinity Church, the parsonage house and much of Christ Church. He carried on to completion the facilities at Holmer Green provided by the new church centre main hall started by Frank Wankling, and then designed and built with the help of members of the congregation, first the extension to the front, the workshop and upper room and then, later, the games room to the rear. Pauline is remembered by many for the Sunday School she ran in the vicarage.

Nigel and Pauline retired in 2001.

Grand Bazaar at Penn House to raise funds for a church at Holmer Green

Princess Christian

A report in the Bucks Herald dated May 31st, 1890, gives details of fund-raising for the erection of a church in Holmer Green.  The important person who opened the Bazaar, Princess Christian of Schleswig Holstein, was, before her marriage, Princess Helena, the third daughter of Queen Victoria. The following extracts give a flavour of the florid reporting of the time.

“Honoured by the presence of Royalty, the grand Bazaar which was opened on Thursday afternoon at Penn House, Amersham, in aid of the fund for building a church at Holmer Green, was a great success.  The beautiful grounds at Penn were never seen to greater advantage than beneath the bright beams of the summer sun which favoured the gathering by its presence, and we are sure that the genial weather had a great deal to do with the great interest and enjoyment which those present appeared to feel in the proceedings. . . . The object for which the Bazaar was held was a laudable one.  The want of a church in Holmer Green has long been seriously felt, and with the concurrence of the Vicar of Penn Street (the Rev. J. J. Lindeman) in whose parish Holmer Green is situated, the Countess Howe with her usual generosity and kind-heartedness, decided to hold a bazaar at Penn House, with the object of raising funds for the erection of a Church at Holmer Green.   We learn that promises of £550 in money has already been given, and Earl Howe has already given a site.  It is estimated that a suitable building would cost £800, but it is desired, if possible, to form, in addition, some kind of endowment fund which would support a clergyman to minister to the spiritual needs of the inhabitants of the  hamlet.”

The Bazaar was held in an enclosed portion of the park on the right of Penn House, where several tents had been erected.  A large one was devoted to stalls with a great variety of items for sale, a second one housed tea and light refreshments and in the third one a variety of entertainments went on during the afternoon.  All the tents had boarded floors and there was a boarded path from the house into the bazaar tent, covered in red baize.  The approach to the ‘Bazaar’ tent was lined with palms in pots.

Shortly before two o’clock Her Royal Highness Princess Christian of Schleswig Holstein accompanied by her husband, daughter, the Earl and Countess Howe and other house guests, left the house and went to the ‘Bazaar’ tent while the band of the Grenadier Guards played the National Anthem.  Rev Lindeman spoke briefly of the necessity to have a church in Holmer Green, which had a population of 480 and was two miles from Penn Street.  After this the Princess declared the bazaar open.

The many stalls were in the charge of Countess Howe, assisted by the Princess, and other titled and well-connected ladies (details in Bucks Herald link below) except for the Parish one which was in the hands of Miss Brine.  Our reporter goes on to give a description of the items for sale:

“The articles upon offer were of the most extensive and beautiful description, each stall being loaded with a wealth of fancy articles, handsomely embroidered cushions, wicker tables, beautifully hand-painted screens, brackets, sticks, umbrellas, dolls (some most beautifully dressed), portraits of Lord Curzon, and views of Penn House, and needlework, terra-cotta ornaments and costly bric-a-brac of every description, which we have not space to particularise.  The stalls were elegantly draped in various coloured art and Indian muslins, and looked exceedingly pretty.”

During the afternoon, the Band of the Grenadier Guards played a selection of popular music.  The entertainments in the third tent included Professor Overton, a ventriloquist, and performances by Professor Johannes Wolff, “the celebrated violinist to the King of Holland”.

A contingent of County Police was also in attendance and the bazaar continued the next day.

Looking ahead, the church was opened in 1894.
Footnote:  In 2017 £550 and £800 were worth £71,140 and £103,476 respectively.

Hilary Hide, Holmer Green Today

Holmer Green Church ealry 20C

The original much longer article from the Bucks Herald, May 31st, 1890,
with details of attendees and musical entertainment, May 28th and 29th 1890.

General Sir Francis Warde, KCB

PENINSULA/WATERLOO

TO THE MEMORY OF
GENERAL SIR FRANCIS WARDE
KNIGHT COMMANDER OF THE MOST HONOURABLE ORDER OF THE BATH,
WHO DIED AT READING MAY 1879, AGED 89 YEARS

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
ANNABELLA ADEANE
OF BABRAHAM HALL IN THE COUNTY OF CAMBRIDGE,
THE BELOVED WIFE OF GENERAL WARDE, THE ROYAL ARTILLERY
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE AT WOOD SIDE LODGE,
THE 28TH JANUARY 1864, AGED 72

Their pedestal memorial stands at the front of the church in front of the South Transept.

General Sir Francis Warde:

Francis Warde was born c.Dec 1790, Westerham, Kent,
almost certainly at Squerryes, the Warde family seat.
Warde Family Tree: (From www.kentarchaeology.com)
Francis married Annabella Adeane 14 December 1832 at St Marylebone (Middx).
1841 Census: Living in Shooters Hill Plumstead.  His wife, Annabella, is described as “Ann Ward”, His Occupation is “Army”. Both showed their birthplace as “Kent”.

12 May 1866. Made Colonel Commandant Royal Artillery,
1871 Census: Widower, with a manservant at Cambridge Terrace, Paddington,
Occupation: Lieutenant-General (Retd.) 15th Brigade Royal Horse Artillery.
May 1873: Knight Commander of the Bath.
Died at Reading, May 1879. Aged 89, Buried, Holy Trinity, Penn Street, Bucks.

Annabella Adeane:

Parents: Robert Jones Adeane (1763-1823) of Babraham Hall, Cambridge.
High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire, 1822-23.
He married, 26 August 1785, Annabella, daughter of Sir Patrick Blake, 1st bt,
of Langham Hall (Suffolk), four children:
I. Charles-James, b. 14 June, 1786; d. young.
II. HENRY-JOHN, heir to his father.
III. Annabella, (1787-1864), baptised at Langham (Suffolk), 1 July 1787;
married Lieut.-Gen. Sir Francis Warde, 14 December 1832,
at St Marylebone (Middx), no children;
IV. Louisa, m. Rev. William Barlow, Prebendary of Chester.

Annabella Adeane died 28th January, 1864, at Woodside Lodge,
now known as Woodrow High House, Amersham, Bucks..

General Sir Francis Warde: Military Career

2nd Lieut 4 March 1809. 1st Lieut 8 March 1812. 2nd Captain 3 July 1830.
Captain 15 June 1840. Bt Major 9 November 1846. Lieut Colonel 7 May 1847.
Colonel 13 September 1854. Major General 8 March 1860.
Lieut-General 24 August 1866. General 15 Apr 1877

Served in the Peninsula War, June 1812 – Apr 1814.  (Between Napoleon’s empire & Bourbon Spain for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars). (Brigade Major 6/9th Brigade April- October 1813.
Assistant Adjutant-General, October 1813 – April 1814).
Present at siege of Cadiz.

Present at Waterloo, 18 June 1815 in Lieut Colonel Sir Hew Dalrymple Ross’s Troop & with the Army of Occupation.
Served in Malta 1830 -­1832.
Colonel Commandant Royal Artillery, 12 May 1866.
Knight Commander of the Bath, May 1873.

From ‘Wellington’s Men Remembered, Volume 2’

Waterloo 200

June 18th 2015 at 11 am officers and soldiers from the 1st regiment – Royal Horse Artillery based at Larkhill, gathered at Holy Trinity Penn Street to lay a wreath in honour of General Sir Francis Warde, who fought in the Battle of Waterloo. This wreath laying mirrors the act of remembrance by the Royal Artillery exactly 100 years ago on 18th June 1915 despite WW1, and the wreath is the same design, featuring laurel, corn-flowers and red roses. The ceremony was conducted by Lt/Col Nick Launders, who spoke of the Battle of Waterloo when Wellington led a united international army from a number of European nations fighting against the ambitions of a dictator wishing to control Europe. The event was coordinated with the help of Stuart Reid of the High Wycombe branch of the RA Association.

Penn Street & Holmer Green church newsletter 5/7/2015.

Countess Georgiana Howe

Article from: The Shields Daily News, Saturday July 12th, 1919.

Lady Georgiana Elizabeth Howe, née Spencer-Churchill, born 14th May 1860, daughter of 7th Duke of Marlborough, and sister of Lord Randolph Spencer-Churchill, Winston Churchill’s father.  Married Richard George Penn Curzon, 4th Earl Howe, 4th June 1883.  Lady Georgiana died 9th February 1906, following a long illness and was buried in Congerstone churchyard in Leicestershire, near the family’s estate at Gopsall.

Photograph: Illustrated Leicester Chronicle, Saturday September 20th, 1919.

In 1918, Lady Georgiana’s widower George, 4th Earl Howe, moved his main residence to his Buckinghamshire seat at Penn House, having sold the Gopsall estate to Sir Samuel Waring, of Waring and Gillow.

Lady Georgiana Howe’s body was exhumed in July 1919 and reburied in Penn Street churchyard.

George Howe also resided for part of the time at a house called Woodlands, near Uxbridge, as well as using Curzon House, the family’s London residence in Mayfair, whilst in London.  His mother, Isabella, widow of the 3rd Earl Howe who died in 1900, divided her time between Penn House and the family’s London residence at Curzon House in Mayfair, where she died in 1922.  She is buried with Georgiana and other members of the Howe family in Penn Street churchyard.

The 3rd Earl Howe, Richard Curzon-Howe, (1822-1900) was the son of  the 1st Earl Howe and inherited the title when his elder brother died in 1876.   He was a professional soldier, joined up at the age of 16 and reached the rank of full general.  He was the present, 7th Earl Howe’s great grandfather.

Addendum from Earl Howe, May 2020, not only was Lady Howe removed, but also the Howe monument as well as the entire Lych gate leading to Congerstone church.

They were re-erected in Penn Street churchyard where they rest today.


“Earl Howe has caused an obelisk to be raised twelve feet high, mounted on a three-step pedestal, to be erected over the newly-built vault in Congerstone churchyard (Leicestershire), where , little more than a year ago, the remains of Countess Howe were interred. On the front of the second step are engraved the family arms and motto, “Let Curzon hold what Curzon held.” and near the base of the obelisk is the inscription, “To the beloved memory of Georgiana Countess Howe, wife of Richard George Penn, fourth Earl Howe.  Born 1860, died 1906; daughter of John Winston, seventh Duke of Marlborough.” At the side is also inscribed, “The bitterness of death only touches the living.” At the head of the obelisk are four bronze figures, standing in niches, representing Loyalty, Love, Courage and Truth, and the whole is surmounted by a bronze cross.”
South Bucks Standard – Friday March 8 1907.

Curzon motto,
“Let Curzon Holde what Curzon Helde”(Click images to enlarge)
Poem: from ‘Break, Break, Break’
by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanish’d hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!

 

Sir Alan Hughes Burgoyne MP

Lieut-Colonel Sir Alan Hughes Burgoyne, was MP for Aylesbury, and died in office in aged 45, 26th April 1929.  His funeral and burial at Penn Street was held on 1st May 1929, The Revd. E.M. Davies (Vicar) and his predecessor, the Revd. Arthur Browning officiated.  Sir Alan’s wife, Lady Irene Victoria Easor, died just 9 months later, 12th February 1929, aged only 48.

Sir Alan and Lady Burgoyne lived at Finchers in Beamond End, and had a London town house at 33 Eaton Terrace.

A brief biography from the Australian Newspaper Archive: Trove:

“Sir Alan Burgoyne was born in1880 and completed his education at Queen’s College, Oxford. He was a man of varied interests and was prominent in parliamentary, scientific and naval spheres, and was a great traveller. He published several works on phases of the war, under the sea and on land, and founded the Navy League Annual in 1907. It was while in Port Arthur, in 1903, that he was arrested by the Russians on a false charge of spying. He was director of several commercial interests, which included the Australian Wine Importers, Ltd. He owns considerable property in Australia. During the war he served in France, Italy, Palestine and India, and was made a Lieut.-Colonel in 1918. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a skilled engineer, and a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society Council. He married in 1906, Irene Victoria Easor, second daughter of Earl Macdonald.”

There was a comprehensive full page report on Sir Alan’s life and work in The Bucks Examiner, Friday May 3rd, 1929. (PDF file 900k, opens in a new window) .

The striking Celtic Cross memorial stands at the rear of the Church.