The fine Lady Chapel in the south transept was the generous gift of the late Captain Boyd Richardson, Royal Navy., as a memorial to his mother, and was dedicated by the Bishop of Salisbury in 1936. The designs were by Sir Charles Nicholson.
The Story of the Font and the Lady Chapel Window
The font, and the stained glass window in the Lady Chapel deserve close inspection, as they reveal the names of several related families who were important to St. Faith’s church in the 19th Century. These were the Mountains, the Hinchcliffs, the Granvilles and Mrs. Pigott (nee Granville).
Elizabeth Hinchcliff and her daughter, Anne, came to live in Havant in about 1825, to be near Anne’s sister, Katherine, who was married to Reverend George Mountain. Mr. Mountain was Rector of St. Faith’s from 1825 to 1846 and the memorial wall tablet to his mother, Elizabeth, shows that his father was the late Lord Bishop of Quebec. According to CJ Longcroft in his ‘Hundred of Bosmere’, the Rector achieved an enormous amount in his time at St. Faith’s. The church was re-pewed, the tower repaired, the nave rebuilt and an organ purchased. The parish and infant schools were built and the church at Red Hill was erected and endowed. The weekly services were increased and clothing clubs were established under his care. The plaque at the foot of present font states that it was ‘erected by a contribution of the inhabitants of this parish, as a memorial of their affection, esteem, and veneration for the Reverend George Robert Mountain, who having for a period of 20 years with zeal and kindness, and untiring diligence, ministered to the temporal and spiritual necessities of those committed to his pastoral charge, died on the 25th June 1846, in the 57th year of his age’.
There is a Hinchcliff family tree at:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=m-zx7FWMnRQC&pg=PA108&dq=Havant&lr=#v=onepage&q=Havant&f=false
The wife of Robert Mountain, Rector of Havant was a Miss Hinchcilff and the two families donated a lot of money to the restoration fund in the 1870s and are memorialised in the Lady Chapel window.
When George Mountain died his widow moved from the Rectory to Langbrook, an eight-bedroomed flint house in Langstone (demolished 1965). This house was built on land already owned by Mrs. Mountain and was almost opposite her sister Anne’s large flint house, Woodfield. From about 1865 Mrs. Mountain’s nieces, the Misses Granville, were also living at Langbrook. Mrs. Mountain died there in 1877.
The Granville’s recently widowed sister, Georgiana Pigott, is in the 1871 census at Woodfield with her aunt, Anne Hinchcliff, and four servants. Woodfield had been owned by the family since at least 1838 and Mrs. Elizabeth Hinchcliff died there in 1844, aged 88. The house, which has been a school, a hotel, and is now divided into flats, is situated at the top of Langstone Road, though its grounds have largely disappeared under housing. In 1881 Elizabeth’s daughter, Anne Hinchcliff, died at Langstone, aged 89. Her obituary stated that she ‘interested herself in every good work of the parish and was a large subscriber to the first restoration of St. Faith’s in 1826 and one of the largest in 1875’.
Georgiana Pigott died in 1889, ‘late of Langbrook,’ where she had lived for some years. She was described, in the Hampshire Telegraph, as having ‘identified herself with most of the charities and philanthropic work of the town. She was the widow of the late Captain Pigott RN and the daughter of the late Mr. Granville, banker, of Chester. Mrs. Pigott was buried in the family vault in St. Faith’s churchyard.’ The mourners at her funeral included Generals Williams, Oldfield and Napier, Admiral O’Callaghan, Mr. ER Longcroft and Sir Frederick Fitzwygram MP. There were a dozen carriages in the funeral procession. Interestingly, my great-great-uncle Sir Robert George Raper, a Chichester solicitor, was one of Mrs. Pigott’s executors. Georgiana Pigott is significant because she caused a large stained glass window to be erected on the south side of the Lady Chapel in St. Faith’s church. Under it is a brass plate, put there by her ‘sorrowing brother’, Robert Creighton Granville to commemorate her death in 1889. At the bottom of the window, itself, one can just see the names of deceased members of the related families.
George Augustus Shawe and Richard Grant erected the SE chancel window, in memory of Reverend George Mountain. Mr. Shawe’s daughter Eliza was living at Southbrook, Langstone, at the turn of the 20th Century. She died at Hambledon in 1922, aged 98. Her obituary states that she was the last person to be buried in St. Faith’s churchyard, as all the vaults were then filled.
Researched by Anne Griffiths (ASGriff@hotmail.com)
The Rootsweb at:
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dovey-mountain&id=I3780
shows the whole family tree and census information. It confirms that Charlotte Milnes Mountain was the Rector of Havant’s sister and shows the relationship with the Arabin family.
A Brother’s Account of the Funeral of Reverend George Robert Mountain,
Rector of Havant 1825 – 1846
There are two wall memorials at the west end of St. Faith’s Church to members of the Mountain and Arabin families who were related through the marriage of George Robert Mountain’s sister, Eliza, to Frederick Arabin.
In his Memoirs and Letters, Colonel Armine Mountain gives a moving account of his brother’s funeral in 1846. Armine was unable to reach Havant before Robert died but states that his last words were ‘I have no pain but I am weary. Why don’t I go to my rest?’ He continues, ‘I have seen him to his grave, knelt beside his coffin and our mother’s coffin in the narrow vault. It was an affecting sight to see the coffin placed in front of his pulpit, where for twenty years he laboured faithfully in his Master’s Service. Everything was neatly arranged; there was no hearse, no coaches, no heartless pomp. The coffin was borne by men: six of the neighbouring clergymen were the pall bearers ….. In the road outside about sixty of his principal parishioners, headed by Sir George Staunton and all dressed in mourning, formed a lane and followed after we had passed. The schoolchildren, about a hundred in number, preceded the coffin and on arriving at the church gate opened out into a lane through which we passed. I saw the teachers and many of the girls sobbing as if their hearts would break.
The church was full and all along the road were groups of poor people, many dressed in mourning for the occasion. The shops have had had half-shutters closed since the body came down (from Blackheath) and are so still.
He desired in his will that there should be no funeral sermon and no unnecessary expenses for his funeral but he could not prevent the universal testimony of feeling and it is a meter tribute to his memory and a higher testimony to his worth than any pomp or public panegyrise.
‘Sunday: I have been to church and prayed. The whole congregation attended in mourning and there were 154 communicants, being at least half of the whole – a striking instance, both of respect to his memory and of the effect of his teaching.’ George Robert Mountain was born in 1791 at Buckden, Hunts. When he was two his father, Jacob Mountain, was appointed the first Bishop of Quebec and the family moved to Canada. Robert joined the 75th Regiment and served in the Peninsular War and at the forlorn hope of San Sebastian. He resigned his commission in 1819 in order to enter the ministry of the church. He was vicar of North Kelsey from 1820-1825. After his death the parishioners donated the present St. Faith’s font in his memory. In 1874 his widow laid the foundation stone for a major restoration of the church.
Researched by Ann Stilwell Griffiths November 2007. Email asgriff@hotmail.com
The Seal of Jacob Mountain First Anglican Bishop of Quebec
This description of Jacob Mountain’s seal is shown below. He was the father of George Mountain, Rector of Havant, and Charlotte Mountain, who lived in the Pallant. Lt Colonel Arabin (there is a wall memorial at West end of St. Faith’s Church) was George Mountain’s brother-in-law. Charlotte is in the 1851 census as a house proprietor and has two of the Arabin children living with her. They were orphaned and aged 19 and 14.
THE SEAL OF JACOB MOUNTAIN FIRST ANGLICAN BISHOP OF QUEBEC
by Daniel Cogné Associate Member of the Académie internationale d’héraldique
Among the most interesting ecclesiastical seals in Canadian collections is the seal of Jacob Mountain, first Anglican Bishop of Quebec. This rare impression is affixed to a document issued at Quebec on 18 October 1812, certifying that John Gunter has been admitted into Holy Orders (National Archives of Canada, MG 24, J 3, p.1. Photo C132124).
The shape of the seal, pointed at the top and bottom, goes back to the Middle Ages, and has always been favoured by the English clergy. On the dexter side is a shield ensigned by a mitre are found the arms of the Anglican See of Quebec: Per fess wavy Azure and Gules in chief a book open proper clasped and ornamented Gold upon the book a crozier in bend Or in base a lion passant guardant also Gold holding in the dexter paw a key erect Argent on a canton also Argent a cross Gules between four crosses patty fitchy Sable.
The Records of the College of Arms observe that the “Lion of England in the base supporting a key indicates the sacred confidence reposed by the Sovereign as Supreme Head of the Church, in the Bishop, and the undulated line is a symbol of the transatlantic situation of the See”. The black crosses patty fitchy remind us that Bishop Mountain was a Sufragan of the Canterbury See. These arms were granted by Letters Patent of George III on 8 August 1793. The lower section of the Diocesan arms was borne without authority by Quebec City from 1833 to 1949.
On the sinister side of the shield are displayed the arms of Jacob Mountain which were granted by the English Kings of Arms on 3 August 1793. He bore ‘Ermine on a chevron Azure between three lions rampant guardant Sable each supporting between the fore-paws an escallop erect Gules a mitre on each side a cross crosslet fitchy Argent’. On a riband placed on the edge of the seal is inscribed the legend THE SEAL OF JACOB MOUNTAIN D.D. BISHOP OF QUEBEC 1793. George Jehoshaphat Mountain, son of Jacob Mountain and third Anglican Bishop of Quebec, had a superb seal engraved by the Wyons, which was very close to that of his father.
(Reference: Heraldry in Canada/L’héraldique au Canada – Speakers Journal, Vol. XXIII, NO. 5, December 1989).