St Mary's Church, Islington

Pre-Reformation

The first recorded church building was erected in the twelfth century and was replaced in the fifteenth century.^[3]

Before his consecration as Bishop of St David's in 1509, Edward Vaughan served as vicar.^[4] Robert Browne, who authored the founding principles of Congregationalism, served as lecturer at St Mary's until around 1578.^[5]

C17

John Webster the Elizabethan dramatist, married his heavily pregnant 17-year-old second wife, Sara Peniall, at St Mary's in Lent 1606, by special licence.^[6] William Cave became vicar in 1662, at the age of twenty-five, and held the office until 1689. He was subsequently buried at the church, having died in Isleworth in 1713.

C18

On 24 July 1738, the Vicar of St Mary's, George Stonehouse, invited Charles Wesley to "take charge of his parish, under him, as his Curate."^[7] He did not, however, possess any licence to do so from the Bishop of London. Wesley's journal lists many occasions on which he preached, and his regular praying at the church.

Wesley's preaching proved unpopular for some and within a year he and George Whitefield were expelled from the pulpit at St Mary's. On 27 April 1739 he noted, "At Islington vestry the Churchwardens forbad my preaching: demanded my local licence. I said nothing but that "I heard them." Scions was very abusive; bidding me shake off the dust of my feet, &c.; and said, "You have all the spirit of the devil," mentioning Mr. Whitefield, Stonehouse, and me by name."^[7] From this point on Wesley joined his brother John and George Whitefield in field-preaching. Following a series of meetings with the Bishop of London, he decided to leave the city and to join his brother in Bristol during August 1739.

The church fell into "very ruinous condition" and the Islington Church Act 1750 was passed to enable it to be rebuilt. The new building was consecrated on 26 May 1754, designed by Lancelot Dowbiggin.^[3] In 1759, Philip Quaque, son of the Fante king Birempong Cudjo, was baptised at St Mary's, having attended the church with his brother for four years. He was the first black African to be ordained priest in the Church of England and returned to Ghana to minister as a missionary.^[8][9]

Richard Smith, a West India merchant, purchased the advowson for St Mary in 1771.^[10] His eldest son, also Richard (1739–1772), was Rector of Islington.^[11]

C19

The Revd Daniel Wilson (1778-1858), served as vicar from 1824 until 1832, when he became Bishop of Calcutta.^[3] In 1831 he was one of the founders of the Lord's Day Observance Society. The Islington Clerical Conference, founded by Daniel Wilson, ran from 1827-1983 and was held at St Mary's.^[12] Wilson's son, also Daniel, served as vicar of the church for fifty-four years, during which time many new parishes were created as the population of Islington soared.^[13]

Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the linguist and first African Anglican bishop, came to Islington in 1826 and attended the church and parish school. He was ordained by the Bishop of London and went on to serve in West Africa, later becoming Bishop in Nigeria. He returned to Islington several times and ordained his own son, Dandeson, in St Mary's Church in 1870.^[14]

William Hagger Barlow became vicar on the death of Daniel Wilson the second. He built the Bishop Wilson Memorial Hall (subsequently rebuilt as St Mary's Neighbourhood Centre) and the vicarage, which is still in use.^[13]

C20

An extensive portico of Portland stone was built at the west door in 1904, to a design of Sir Reginald Blomfield. It includes a relief of the Nativity.^[15]

Donald Coggan, later Archbishop of Canterbury, served as curate from 1934-7. David Sheppard, later Bishop of Liverpool, played cricket for England while an assistant curate at Islington, 1955-7.^[2]

On the third night of the London Blitz, at 10.20pm on 9 September 1940, a bomb destroyed the majority of the church, leaving only the tower and spire intact.^[16]

The church was rebuilt following an appeal by the incumbent, The Revd Hugh Gough, and dedicated in 1956 when Maurice Wood was vicar. The architects, Seeley and Paget, created an ambitious design which attempted to create a space suitable for a "renaissance of evangelical worship".^[17] The main worship space is vast, with a volume of over 5000 cubic metres, and features deep clear windows which allow an unusually high amount of more natural light. The east and west ends have murals by Brian Thomas. The original church's lectern, baptismal font and Royal Arms all survived the bombing and can still be seen.^[18]

In 1962, George Carey became curate and, among other innovations, pioneered links with local council departments and founded a new Boy's Club.^[19]

In 1967, with the support of Revd Johnson brothers Dr Majeeb Chowdhry, Najeeb Chowdhry, Waheeb Chowdhry and their friend Emmanuel Din started the first Asian Christian Church in the UK, at St Mary's Church. Revd Daniel Gill became the first Pakistani Minister to lead an Urdu service in the UK, though he was not an ordained minister in the Church of England. This British Pakistani Church inspired the growth of similar 'Urdu Fellowships' across London and eventually the UK. Sadly with the movement of the Pakistani Christian diaspora to less expensive areas of London the Urdu fellowship ended in the 1990s.

St Mary's role in British Evangelicalism waned as the Islington Clerical Conference (of which the vicar had been ex-officio president) ended in 1983.

C21

In 2003, the then vicar, Graham Kings and others founded Fulcrum, which seeks to renew the evangelical tradition at the centre of the Church of England.

From the 1990s, as Islington became a more fashionable place to live and Upper Street developed a significant nightlife, St Mary's retained a concern to serve the widening range of people in the locality. The crypt beneath the church was radically transformed with an innovative regeneration programme and, in 2009, the St Mary Islington Community Partnership was formed to deliver and expand the range of community services that take place in the crypt and neighbourhood centre.