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From the Archives
(01) The Communion Plate at St Paul's Church
by John Sawkill, January 2008
The Birmingham Group of NADFAS, the National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies, has documented all of the silver at St Paul’s Church in “The NADFAS Record of Church Furnishings 2003”. One copy of this record is kept in the Church, and others go to the Library at NADFAS headquarters, the National Monuments Record Office at Swindon and a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum.(1)
The most important item listed is the 18th century silver communion service by the London silversmith, Hester Bateman. That this silver was valuable had been recognised for many years. Hearsay has it that Canon Ralph Stevens variously kept it in the Church safe, a bank vault, and under his bed at home. In 1983 he and his churchwardens deposited the valuable silver, together with some Sheffield Plate, with the Guardians of the Assay Office for display. In 1986 the Revd Denis Claringbull, together with his churchwardens, David Snape and Barbara Greatrix, formalised this arrangement with the Assay Office through a “Document of Record”. The purpose of the document was “to record the ownership” of the following items:
Two flagons-Hester Bateman
Two lidded Chalices-Hester Bateman
Two fotted patens-Hester Bateman
Two small Sheffield plate patens
Four candlesticks, Sheffield plate- Matthew Boulton
It was agreed that:
1. "The items listed in the schedule hereto are held by the Guardians on behalf of the Church; the Guardians being at liberty to display the same. No payment or other consideration has been asked for or made to the Guardians in respect of this service and the Church expresses its appreciation.
2.This arrangement may be brought to an end by either party giving to the other not less than 14 days notice and on the expiry of such notice the church will arrange for the items to be removed from the possession of the Guardians.”
The agreement was signed on 24th March 1986.(2)
It was not long after this agreement that Sotheby’s valued the Hester Bateman silver. On the 16th November 1987 they valued the items as follows:
“A pair of George 111 flagons, Hester Bateman, London, circa 1780, of classical ewer form: £25000
A pair of George 111 chalices and covers, Hester Bateman, London 1780: £15000
A pair of George 111 salvers, Hester Bateman, London, 1780: £2,500
We value the foregoing items for the purposes of Insurance at the sum of £42,500.00, a figure based, where indicated, on the actual purchase price and otherwise on the probable cost of replacing the items in the condition in which we saw them with comparable items in similar condition by purchase in the normal retail market. These figures do not represent our views as to the value for sale or for any other purpose.” (2)
How did the Church acquire this treasure? It has generally been supposed that we had a generous benefactor, but otherwise it has remained a mystery for many years, with no record of how it was acquired and seemingly with no one with any knowledge of it.
After the death of Canon Stevens, Jean Stevens was bequeathed a large collection of his papers. One particular batch was of newspaper cuttings, and in looking through it a cutting from the Birmingham Post of sometime in June 1979 was found. It was of the “200 years ago- 100 years ago-50 years ago” variety and the “200 years ago” part read :
“Birmingham…The Lord Bishop of the Diocese has appointed Wednesday next for the Congregation of St Paul’s Chapel in the Town. The Rev. Mr. Archdeacon Fotheringham is to preach the Confederation Sermon, after which a collection will be made to enable the Trustees to purchase a Service of Plate. - Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, June 1779” (2)
The Church was consecrated on the 2nd of June 1779, and here we have the Trustees trying to raise the money to buy a set of silver, for that is what it means. Did they succeed? Was this the Hester Bateman? A crucial indicator would be the date of it. According to the NADFAS Record and Sotheby’s the hallmark date is 1780. This is convincing evidence that the Trustees bought the Hester Bateman Communion Plate.
Under the Act of 1772, the Trustees had to build two churches. St Mary’s was the first to be built and was consecrated in 1774, followed by St Paul’s, consecrated in 1779. If the Trustees were even handed they would have also purchased Communion Plate for St Mary’s. Because of the need for land for the General Hospital, under an Act of 1925 St Mary’s was closed pending demolition. The subsequent sale of the church land produced some £20,000, which was used to build another St Mary’s at Pype Hayes.(3) An examination of their history (4) showed that they had some 18th century silver in the Assay Office. A visit to the Assay Office Museum established that they had had from St Mary’s a set of Communion Plate similar to that from St Paul’s, namely, two lidded chalices, two salvers, two flagons, all bearing the hallmark 1774, the year of consecration of the original St Mary’s.
So the Trustees had been even handed, and today the Assay Office Museum displays, within a few feet of each other, the two magnificent sets of silver. One, from St Paul’s, is by Hester Bateman of London, and the other, from St Mary’s is by Boulton and Fothergill of Birmingham. Why did the Trustees not choose Boulton and Fothergill for St Paul’s? It is possibly because losses in silversmithing led the partners to reduce production dramatically after their peak year in 1776-7.(5)
And who were the Trustees? The Act names some of them.(6) They are Peers of the Realm and Gentlemen; Mary Weaman, who gave land and £1200 for the building of St Mary’s (there is still a Weaman street near the site of the demolished church); Charles Colmore, who gave land and £1000 for the building of St Paul’s, (Colmore family names were used for some of the streets around St Paul’s). But the real builders were local citizens who, having subscribed £30 or more, became Trustees, and in the words of Henry Kempson, “accepted responsibility”. We know some names, such as John Cottrell, a pattern maker, who collected the subscriptions for St Mary’s; Henry Kempson, a surveyor, who became secretary to the Trustees and had the unenviable task of collecting the subscriptions for St Paul’s; Daniel Winwood, who chaired the group dealing with St Paul’s; George Holloway, through whom Colmore was consulted, and more.(7) They saw to the building of the churches. Their legacy is St Paul’s Church and the two sets of Communion Plate.
Perhaps at our Patronal Festival we should recall some of those names, and visit the Assay Office Museum to see the two great works that were wrought.
Notes and References:
(1) Davis, Margaret. Nadfas Recorder. Private communication. 2008.
(2) This document is retained in a file on the Communion Plate in the church archives.
(3) Foster, Andy. Birmingham. Pevsner Architectural Guides. New Haven and London. Yale University Press, 2005: p293.
(4) Religious History: Churches built before 1800, A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7: The City of Birmingham (1964) pp 364,365.
(5) Quickenden, Kenneth. Silver and Jewellery-Production and Consumption since 1750. Ed Kenneth Quickenden and Neal Adrian Quickenden. UCE Birmingham. The Article Press, 1995: p25.
(6) Diocesan Records Office. Birmingham City Archives. St Mary’s Box
(7) Kempson, Henry. Memorandum Book. Birmingham City Archives. Copy of the pages in the archives at the church.
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