Henley-on-Thames
The Chapel: the Heart of Henley
Henley served as a place of rest and recovery for the Beuzeville family, offering relief from the pressures of London and the tragedies that struck their Mile End home. These seasons in the countryside became foundational memories for Esther, influencing her love of nature, reflection, and family connection.
The life of the Beuzeville family in Henley centred around the Independent Chapel. The origins of non-conformity in Henley date back to the 14th and 15th centuries.
For most of the time that the Beuzevilles were at Henley, the preacher was James Churchill (1807-1913). The names of Peter, Mary, Esther, Bridget and Marianne appear in the list of those who supported the invitation to him to minister to the church. Churchill was universally regarded as ‘a man of resource and enterprise’, and his ministry was strongly supported by the Beuzeville family.
In 1829, the Chapel was greatly enlarged at a cost of 957 pounds. It was demolished in 1908 to make way for Reading Road to be widened.
Left: Chapel (interior) after 1829. Photo of a painting hanging in the Vestry of the Congregational Church, Henley. (Library of Marion H Clark)
Right: Chapel (exterior). (Peters, G. "This Glorious Henley" 1950. Unpublished.)
Emma Mary Byles recalls visiting the Independent Chapel when she was four years old. She writes,
"I can still (today) feel the mystery and thrill of that moment, standing aloft on a red cushioned seat, gazing on the empty pews, the high pulpit and the memorial tablets on the walls, and sniffing up the peculiar 'odour of sanctity' which churches and chapels which are shut up all the week always seem to acquire.... Sunday after Sunday I stood on the seat with my mother's arm round me and holding a book I could not read before my eyes, and when the minister prayed knelt on a hassock with my eyes towards the seat. As my elders always leant forwards with their faces on the book shelf, I had a fine time picking out the dust from the buttons of the cushions and playing games of my own".
Notes & Sources
Family Notes" by Emma Mary Byles, 1926. Unpublished
Memorials: Above the Original Vaults & a Dedicated Garden
Left: Memorial Plaque set in the footpath above the burial vaults.
Right: Memorial Garden at the rear of the Church and Community Centre containing original gravestones of the Beuzeville and Byles families.
In 2000, when a Community Centre was built in the grounds of Christ Church the headstone of Mary and Peter Beuzeville, and others relating to our ancestors, were moved to a memorial garden at the rear of the church land. At that time a brass plaque to their memory was placed on the footpath above the original vaults where they are buried. At that time a memorial Plaque was placed in the street outside Henley church. The four Huguenot families mentioned on the Plaque are the Unwin, Byles, Beuzeville and Soundy families who were parishioners at Christ Church,
These four families are also genetically linked.