Chapel Next the Green (the history of Twickenham Congregational Church) index page
Benjamin Kluht was born in 1816 and grew up in the Wesleyan church. As a lay pastor he served the Independent chapels at Twyford, Berks, and Emsworth, Hants. It was then suggested to him that he would benefit from college training and this he undertook at Hackney College. On completing his course in 1840 he was invited to become the first pastor of ‘Lady Shaw’s Chapel, Twickenham’, where he was ordained. He lived in Hampton Road, in a house rented from a Mr Emanuel.
Evangelical magazine 1841, p.252
“On Wednesday, March 10, the Rev B.H.Kluht, late of Hackney College, was publicly ordained to the pastorate office of the Independent Chapel, Twickenham….
At the close of the morning service, a number of ministers and friends dined at the George Inn. Sir Robert Shaw presided; and his excellent lady was also present. …”
Evangelical magazine 1843, p.409
Twickenham: The foundation stone of a new Independent chapel was laid at the above place, on 10th April 1843. The ceremony was performed by Sir Robert Shaw, Bart, acting for his excellent lady, who has been the principal means, under God, of introducing and sustaining the gospel in the neighbourhood, and who, beside giving the ground on which the chapel will stand, contributes liberally towards its erection.
The service was commenced by an appropriate hymn from Dr Leifchild’s Original Hymns, which was given out by the Rev B.H. Kluht, the pastor of the church, for whose accommodation the building is being erected; the Rev J. West of Sunbury read Psalm cxviii; the Rev J. Churchill of Thames Ditton, gave a brief history of the rise and progress of the Independent interest at Twickenham; the Rev J. Leifchild, D.D., of London, addressed the spectators on the doctrines and discipline of Independent churches; and the Rev W.Collins, (Baptist) of Kingston, concluded with prayer. The Rev Messrs Lord, Stevens and Hedges took part in the service; and notwithstanding the unfavourable state of the weather the attendance was very numerous.
The drawing below shows the first chapel on the left and the schoolroom on the right
Evangelical magazine 1848, p.205
“The Rev B.H. Kluht late of Twickenham, has received and accepted a cordial and unanimous invitation to the pastorate of the Independent Church, Billericay, Essex …. Prior to his leaving Twickenham a public tea meeting was held at which a present of a valuable publication was given to him in the name of the teachers of the sabbath school. At the same time a number of his ministerial brethren expressed their great respect for Mr Kluht, and regret at his leaving the neighbourhood.”
Mr Kluht ministered in Billericay and the surrounding villages until February 1856. One of his early tasks was the founding of a British School to provide elementary education for the poor. This first met in a hired cottage then in a purpose-built schoolroom, now the Rose Hall. He moved to Gravesend where he died in 1868 at the young age of 52. His son, Alfred, became pastor at Billericay in 1876.
THE FIRST TRUST DEED 1848
This document, dated May 30th 1848, is referred to in the later (1866) trust deed, and a copy is held by the Public Record Office (Link). Because of its length I didn’t get to study it in detail.
As already mentioned, the recital of title states that the property was placed in trust for Lady Shaw at the time of her marriage and adds that the first chapel was erected on her initiative. The deed was executed at her request, conveying the chapel and its site to ten trustees, most of them Congregational ministers. The terms on which the chapel was to be held were set out in great detail. The trustees accepted responsibility for a debt of £550, “incurred in the erection and fitting up of the said chapel”.
The deed confirms that the north of the site was bounded by the “school house and premises belonging to the said Dame Amelia Shaw, commonly called Lady Shaw’s school (and) on the west by gardens belonging to the dwelling house in the tenure or occupation of Dame Amelia Shaw or her servants …“
Most of the terms of the Trust were concerned with ensuring the Church was run on Congregational principles. Rules for the mode of appointment (and dismissal!) of a pastor, what beliefs he was to hold and teach, and much more were set out. Deacons, elected by men and women, were to collect pew rents, pay the pastor and meet other expenses, and keep the accounts. Perhaps because of the proximity of Lady Shaw’s house there was an express prohibition on internments, reinforced with the injunction that “in case any such interment or interments should, notwithstanding this regulation, be made within or under the said meeting house or chapel and such premises, the said deacons . . . shall as soon thereafter as conveniently may be, cause the body or bodies so interred to be taken up and removed to be decently buried elsewhere“. As far as is known the deacons were spared this task!
TWO SHORT PASTORATES
The history of the next six years is very uncertain. According to a manuscript note in the Church archives, quarrels between Lady Shaw and Mrs Lichfield led to the closing of the Chapel in 1849. More probably the closure (see Appendix 1) was connected with the death of Sir Robert Shaw. The CYB 1849 confirms that Edward Tasker was minister during that year but the next edition shows him living in Twickenham “without pastoral charge”, the Church being shown as vacant.
In 1851, a religious census was held, which showed that more people were attending Chapel than Church (C.E.). The return for the “Independent Chapel, Twickenham” survives in the PRO. In the old chapel there were apparently 250 free sittings and 125 other (presumably rented) sittings.
On the census date, Sunday March 30th 1851, 68 adults and 56 children attended morning worship, and 196 adults were at evening worship; the average attendance over the last five months had been 75/60 and 170 respectively. The returns were signed by Samuel Hayward (Minister), 20 Trafalgar Square (Twickenham) . He recently returned from sixteen years of missionary work in British Guiana and was a regular preacher for a period, though not as minister . A notable preacher that same year was Dr Leifchild, minister of Craven Chapel, Bayswater.”
In 1852 the Rev Philip Kent, Metropolitan District Secretary of the Bible Society since 1848, assumed part time charge of the Church; again this arrangement appears in one Yearbook only. In 1854 he went to Canada as a deputation speaker.