Local & Community History Month: Which residents of Middleton Hall have burials or memorials at St John’s Church, Middleton?

St John’s Church in Middleton village contains a number of significant memorials and burials that relate to the owners and residents of Middleton Hall.

The oldest of these memorials is the brass effigies on the floor of the chancel for Sir Richard Bingham, Justice of the King’s Bench, who died on 22nd May 1476, and his wife Margaret (de Freville/Willoughby), who died on 8th January 1492/3. Margaret had inherited the Middleton Estate from her brother.

Brass of Sir Richard Bingham and Margaret, 2015. Photograph taken by Debbie Jordan.

The floor of the sanctuary of the Church, including under the altar and in a vault beneath it, is the resting place of many members of the Willoughby family. In fact, it is uncertain how many members of the family are resting there. Burial records of the Church confirm that buried there were: Thomas Willoughby, 1st Lord Middleton, on 17th April 1729 (died 2nd April); Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas 1st Lord Middleton, on 6th February 1735/6; Emma, the daughter of Francis 2nd Lord Middleton, on 25th April 1735; and Henry Willoughby, 5th Lord Middleton, on 21st June 1800 (died 14th June). However, none of these have a known memorial in the Church and, moreover, Henry has his memorial in St Leonard’s Church at Wollaton in Nottinghamshire.

Another early monument in the chancel is a small brass plate with a black letter Latin inscription for Dorothy Fitzherbert, the daughter of Sir Henry Willoughby and wife of Anthony Fitzherbert, who died 5th November 1507. Above it is another plate bearing a shield of Fitzherbert impaling Willoughby.

On the south wall of the chancel is the substantial Ridgeway memorial for Edward Ridgeway, the second son of Thomas, Earl of Londonderry, and brother of Cassandra Ridgeway the wife of Sir Francis II Willoughby. He died 19th September 1638. Displayed either side of the memorial are his helmet and gauntlets, which were recovered when his remains were discovered about 200 years later in the moat at Middleton Hall. His remains were buried at that time, but they were buried in the churchyard as an unknown knight. The identity of the remains were only discovered in the 1920s.

There is a floor slab memorial in the chancel to Lettice, who died 1st January 1651/2. She was the daughter of Bridget and Percival Willoughby and the wife of John Byrch of Leacroft, Staffordshire. John Byrch was steward of Middleton Hall when it was owned by Sir Francis II Willoughby.

On the north side of the chancel is the large black and white marble Willoughby Monument, commissioned by Thomas Willoughby, 1st Lord Middleton. It commemorates Sir Francis I Willoughby, who died 7th December 1665, his wife Cassandra, who died 15th July 1675, their son Francis F.R.S., who died 3rd July 1672, and his son Francis, who died 13th September 1688. All of them were stated to have been buried in the Church as was Emma, the wife of Francis F.R.S., who died on 16th October 1725.

Funerary monument for Sir Francis I Willoughby and his wife Cassandra, Francis Willughby FRS and his son Francis, 2015. Photograph taken by Debbie Jordan.

The tenant of Middleton Hall, John Peel, who died 2nd April 1872, and his wife Esther, who died 27th November 1887, were buried and have a gravestone under the golden yew in the churchyard. In the nave of the Church, the window depicting the Ascension was commissioned in memory of John Peel and the window depicting Paul, Peter and Barnabas was commissioned in memory of Esther. Furthermore, the west window depicting the Annunciation, Nativity and Epiphany was commissioned in memory of Anne, their daughter, who drowned in a sailing accident on 18th August 1875.

Mabel Emily Barclay, the elder daughter of Hanbury and Adeline Barclay who were tenants of Middleton Hall, died on 20th November 1878, aged 8, and was buried in the churchyard.

In the churchyard, on the south-west side of the Church, is the de Hamel grave and memorial. The de Hamels were tenants of Middleton Hall from 1886 to 1924. The grave memorial is for Ernestine de Hamel, who died 21st May 1922, her husband Egbert, who died 24th January 1925, their son Egbert Alexander, who died 30th June 1959, and his wife Evelyn Violet, who died 15th August 1984. In the Church there is also a brass memorial plaque to Egbert’s nephew Heriolte Bruno Felix John de Hamel, a British navy midshipman who died whilst serving on the HMS Leviathan on 11th July 1905.

Grave of Ernestine, Egbert, Egbert Alexander and Evelyn Violet de Hamel, 2015. Photograph taken by Debbie Jordan.

There is also a memorial for Arthur White, who is mentioned on the brass Second World War memorial in the Church. He was a tenant in one of the cottages in Middleton Hall and died on 14th September 1941.

Further reading:

L. F. Salzman (ed), "Middleton", A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 4, 1947. pp.156-160

"About Us - St John the Baptist, Middleton", A Church Near You, https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/7315/about-us/

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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