St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate, City of London, England, British Isles

St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate is in Bishopsgate [Map].

Around 1521 Robert Knollys (age 40) died. He was buried at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 28th August 1533. The xxviij day of August ded ser John [Haryngton] (age 36) knyght, of Rottland-shyre, with-in Saynt Ellens, Bysshopgatt stret, and from that day that he ded tyll he was cared in-to ys contray, was mas and dirige evere day songe; and Monday the iiij day of September, [he] whent in-to the contray in a horse lytter, with ys standard and ys penon of armes, and after ys horsse .... with iiij pennons of armes borne a-bowt hym, and with a goodly helmet gylt, with targett, sword, and crest, and a x dosen of schochyons, and x dosen of pensells for a herse, and staff torchys, and a herse of wax, and a fere mageste, and the walans [vallance] gylded and frynged, and so to Ware, and so (forwards.)

Note. P. 43. Funeral of sir John Harington. Sheriff of Rutland the year before his death, and grandfather of John, created lord Harington of Exton in 1603. See Wright's History of Rutland, p. 148.

On 8th May 1534 Thomas Benolt died. He was buried at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

On 13th October 1542 William Holles (age 71) died. He was buried at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

William de Morgan and his Wife Chapter 5. This Sir William (age 26), 'a Patron of the Arts,' however, whose fine tomb may be seen to-day in St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, had a remarkable career, to which space will not now permit us to do justice. His father was Knight-Marshal to Henry VII, and he early figured at Court, not always, according to history, in enviable fashion. For instance, in 1543, on the significant date of April I, we are told that he and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, were brought before the Council charged with the heinous offence of 'eating flesh in Lent ' and of 'walking about the streets of London at night breaking the windows of the houses with stones shot from cross-bows.' These misdeeds, which sound like the result of an inconvenient ebullition of youthful spirits, William at first denied, then confessed, and was forthwith imprisoned in the Tower. But later he acquitted himself with such credit as to erase the memory of that luckless 'All Fools' day, and after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, having amply proved his prowess both in the field and in the more subtle strife of the diplomatic world, he apparently designed to live quietly at his home, Pickering House, in the parish of St. Andrew Undershaft, London. Fate, however, was against his purpose, for we learn that, 'being a brave, wise and comely English gentleman,' he was seriously thought of as a suitor for Elizabeth's hand. The capricious Queen indeed showed him such marked preference that the ambitious courtiers with whom she was surrounded became alarmed. In 1559 we are told that 'the Earl of Arundel... was said to have sold his lands, and was ready to flee out of the kingdom because he could not abide in England if the Queen should marry Mr, Pickering, for they were enemies¹. Another chronicler with a note of venom relates that so imperious was the speech of Sir William, so overbearing his demeanour, and so lavish his expenditure on the rich dress with which he adorned his handsome person, that he thereby lent a handle to those who would fain have wrought his undoing. Nevertheless, although he excited much jealousy, he successfully avoided the pitfalls which beset his path owing to the too open admiration of the Queen, and eventually succeeded — no mean feat under the circumstances — in expiring peacefully with his comely head still intact on his shoulders and his neck unclasped by the hangman's rope. To Cecil he left his ' papers, antiquities, globes, compasses,' and his favourite horse.

Note 1. Cal. State Papers for For. Ser., 1559.

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On 13th March 1543 Elizabeth Scopham died. She was buried at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

Before 19th November 1550 Agnes m Judde died. She was buried at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 19th November 1550. The xix day of November was buried my lade Jude, ma[yress] of London, and wyff of sir Androw Jude (age 58), mayr of London, and bered in the parryche of saynt Ellen in Bysshope-gatt stret, for he gayff mony, gownes, and to the powre men and women ij C. gownes of mantyll ... and the Clarkes of London had the beryng of my lade, and then came ... with ij harolds a-for with iiij baners a-bowt her borne, and after my [lord] mayre and ys bredurne, and alle the stret and the chyrche wher hangyd with blake and with schochyons of ther armes, and a gret dolle and a grett [dinner.]

Henry Machyn's Diary. 14th April 1561. The xiiij day of Aprell a-for non was cared from sant Ellens in London, owt of a howse [where once] lyved old Clarenshus master Benolt the kyng at a[rms in the] tyme of kyng Henre viij. ser Arthur Darce (deceased), and cared [to saint] Botolffe with-owt Algatt [Map] to (be) bered by my lade ys [wife, with] a xx clarkes syngynge, and then cam the standard ... of armes and ys cott armur, ys target and sword and helmet, ... and ij haroldes of armes, on beyryng the elmett and nodur [the coat armour;] and the chyrche hangyd with blake and armes and raylles, [and the place] with blake and armes, and then cam the corse and vj of ys [servants] that bare hym, and mony mornars in blake; and he had a pall of blake velvett, and with armes of bokeram; and master Beycun dyd pryche ther.

In January 1565 William St Lo (age 47) died suddenly in the company of his brother Edward St Lo (age 46). He was buried in St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate. Given that he had been suspected of poisoning William's wife Bess of Hardwick (age 38) five years before it is possible Edward had poisoned William. Edward St Lo contested his brother's will unsuccessfully.

On 21st November 1579 Thomas Gresham (age 60) died of apoplexy. He was buried in St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

All About History Books

The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

On 22nd March 1610 John Spencer was buried at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

On 16th July 1650 Martin Lumley 2nd Baronet (age 22) and Anne Langham (age 12) were married at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

Samuel Pepys' Diary. 18th October 1666. At noon with Lord Bruncker (age 46) to St. Ellen's, where the master of the late Pope's Head Taverne is now set up again, and there dined at Sir W. Warren's cost, a very good dinner. Here my Lord Bruncker proffered to carry me and my wife into a play at Court to-night, and to lend me his coach home, which tempted me much; but I shall not do it.

Samuel Pepys' Diary. 14th November 1666. So took up my wife, her brother being yet very bad, and doubtful whether he will recover or no, and so to St. Ellen's [St. Helen's], and there sent my wife home, and myself to the Pope's Head, where all the Houblons were, and Dr. Croone¹, and by and by to an exceeding pretty supper, excellent discourse of all sorts, and indeed [they] are a set of the finest gentlemen that ever I met withal in my life. Here Dr. Croone told me, that, at the meeting at Gresham College to-night, which, it seems, they now have every Wednesday again, there was a pretty experiment of the blood of one dogg let out, till he died, into the body of another on one side, while all his own run out on the other side². The first died upon the place, and the other very well, and likely to do well. This did give occasion to many pretty wishes, as of the blood of a Quaker to be let into an Archbishop, and such like; but, as Dr. Croone says, may, if it takes, be of mighty use to man's health, for the amending of bad blood by borrowing from a better body.

Note 1. William Croune, or Croone, of Emanuel College, Cambridge, chosen Rhetoric Professor at Gresham College, 1659, F.R.S. and M.D. Died October 12th, 1684, and was interred at St. Mildred's in the Poultry. He was a prominent Fellow of the Royal Society and first Registrar. In accordance with his wishes his widow (who married Sir Edwin Sadleir, Bart.) left by will one-fifth of the clear rent of the King's Head tavern in or near Old Fish Street, at the corner of Lambeth Hill, to the Royal Society for the support of a lecture and illustrative experiments for the advancement of natural knowledge on local motion. The Croonian lecture is still delivered before the Royal Society.

Note 2. At the meeting on November 14th, "the experiment of transfusing the blood of one dog into another was made before the Society by Mr. King and Mr. Thomas Coxe upon a little mastiff and a spaniel with very good success, the former bleeding to death, and the latter receiving the blood of the other, and emitting so much of his own, as to make him capable of receiving that of the other". On November 21st the spaniel "was produced and found very well" (Birch's "History of the Royal Society", vol. ii., pp. 123, 125). The experiment of transfusion of blood, which occupied much of the attention of the Royal Society in its early days, was revived within the last few years.

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On 7th July 1670 Henry Booth 1st Earl Warrington (age 18) and Mary Langham Countess Warrington (age 18) were married at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

On 7th February 1677 Charles Edwin was baptised at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

On 1st October 1678 Stephen Anderson 2nd Baronet was born to Stephen Anderson 1st Baronet (age 34) and Judith Laurence Lady Anderson (age 30). He was baptised at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate on the same day.

On 26th January 1692 John Lawrence died. He was buried at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

Before 5th July 1703 John Eyles died. On 5th July 1703 John Eyles was buried in St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

On 5th June 1716 Francis Eyles 1st Baronet was buried at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.

On 1st November 1768 John Haskins Eyles-Styles 4th Baronet (age 27) died unmarried. Baronet Eyles of London extinct. He was buried on 5th November 1768 at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate.