Name/Title
1883/Hughes: St John the Divine, BalhamDescription
Two postcards in Kathleen's collection of St John the Divine, Bedford Hill, Balham.
This was a daughter church of St Mary and St John the Divine, Balham High Road, Balham. It was built to cater for the rising population in the Balham locality.
The Hughes family bible states that the first four Hughes siblings were christened at St John's, Balham, the first being Dorothy, born on 21 November 1881; the second being Francis, born on 8 January 1885; the third being Margery, born on 22 September 1987; the fourth being Humphrey, born on 15 April 1889. However, the foundation stone of the church has a date of 1883, so it is possible that either the bible's details for Dorothy's christening are incorrect or that she was baptised at the parent church, St Mary and St John the Divine.
It is not known why Kathleen was the only one baptised at the Church of the Ascension, Lavender Hill, Surrey (now London), which was also a new church, consecrated for worship in 1883.
After his ordination as a priest in 1913, Humphrey was for a while Assistant Priest at St John the Divine (dates unknown).
Kathleen married Leonard Urch at St John the Divine on 6 June 1917. After his early death, the photograph of the altar must have reminded her of that happy day.
ADDITIONAL INFO: St John's Church, Bedford Hill, Balham. Foundation stone laid in 1883. Additional work on the nave 1899-1900. Closed in 1983. It is now in secular use. (Photo of the foundation stone: London Churches in Photographs.)
