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Rev. John Mendham


John Mendham was the Rector at Clophill from 1844 until his death in 1869.

His main achievement was the building of the new St Mary's Church in the High Street. Despite efforts to increase the capacity of the Old St Mary's on the hill, it was still not large enough to house the increasing congregation.

New church

Two charities, Clophill Church Estate & The John Mendham Charity, generate an income to be used by the churchwarden on maintaining the fabric of the church.

See Clophill United Charities

He was Assistant Curate of Clophill. The rector was William Pierce Nethersole.
He became Rector on March 14, 1844, having been presented by Earl Grey and instituted by the Bishop of Ely.
"As curate he appears to have made up his mind what he would do once he had the chance - the chance had now come! By January 1845 alterations to the rectory had been completed. They consisted of demolition, rearrangement, and the building of four new rooms facing south. Times change! In I955 the rectory is divided: the old kitchens on the west are sold, the east end is made into a flat, and the centre portion adapted as the rectory - an interesting sidelight on the social and economic position of the clergy!"
The Cleft In The Hills. Rev W.A.M. Grant.
"To but read the records is to feel the presence of a man of action. There has been enough talk, the rectory is completed, now there is a church to be built. July 9, Mr. Burrows is requested to draw up a plan; July 21, another meeting, result briefly stated 'nothing satisfactory'; October 1, a public meeting, with the Archdeacon in the chair, again 'Mr. James Crouch strong in opposition, but solely on the ground of expense', but agreement reached to have another meeting. Surely not a very promising start! November 7, another meeting, 'No very determined opposition-no very hearty upholding' (not unlike some meetings today!). Earl de Grey promised the stone and £200 beside; he was well pleased with the proposed site. The worst was over, the work would soon commence. Sir Albert Richardson has written that, 'The church had been built under the direction of Earl Grey, himself an amateur architect. In fact he was elected as the first President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. St. Mary's Church, therefore, is representative of the early Gothic revival. Silsoe Church is another example of the Earl's interest.' "
The Cleft In The Hills. Rev W.A.M. Grant.
"On November 13, 1847, the necessity and advantage of a new church, to be erected in the field opposite the rectory, was explained to a meeting, and the probable sum necessary laid before it. Various sums are recorded, including the Earl's gift already mentioned and £500 from the Rector and his wife, and others, also £150 from the Church Building Society, and, please note, by application of materials of the old church! This meeting agreed to go ahead on the understanding that a loan of £700, to be paid back in twenty years, could be acquired from the Public Works Loan Office. On November 15 this assurance was given."
The Cleft In The Hills. Rev W.A.M. Grant.
"The first stone of the new church was laid by the Archdeacon of Bedford on July 19, 1848, in the presence of clergy from a large number of neighbouring parishes. It is worth noting the following point from the specification of the building of new church: 'The Old Church. All the joiners work in the old church and chancel excepting two seats to belong to the contractor. A All the material of the Chancel and Porch to belong to the contractor; the old roof of the nave may be removed and replaced by another if the contractor see fit to do so. The contractor is bound to enclose the arch (i.e. chancel arch) with some of the materials, and repair lead gutters so as to make the church water-tight.' We are fortunate to be in a position to preserve something from this old church."
The Cleft In The Hills. Rev W.A.M. Grant.
"On Sunday, July 8, 1849, Mr. Mendham preached 'A farewell sermon to the old church' from the text Psalm 71: 9, 'To go forth in the strength of the Lord.'"
The Cleft In The Hills. Rev W.A.M. Grant.
"It was decided not to have the new churchyard consecrated, but on July 10, 1849, the new parish church of St. Mary's, Clophill, was consecrated by the Bishop of Ely in the presence of Earl Grey, Viscount Fordwicke and Viscount Boyle; Messrs. Barnard, Oliver, Chapman and Mendham; the Rev. Dr. Wray, the Bishop's Chaplain, the Archdeacon of Bedford, and the clergy from St. John's and St. Paul's, Bedford, the Infirmary, Biddenham, Elstowe, Great Barford, and Roxton, Kempton, Marston, Maulden, Ampthill, Ridgemont, Weston and Harlington, Tingrith, Pulloxhill, Flitton, Barton, Haynes, Campton, Silsoe, Gravenhurst, Shillington, Meppershall, Clifton, Henlow, Luton, the Rev. W. J. Turner 'and a clergyman from New York' (no name given). The morning sermon was preached by the Ven. Archdeacon Tattam from 2 Chronicles 7: 15, 16, and the evening sermon was by the Rector from Haggai 2: 95 'The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of Hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts.' A prophetic text! On Sunday 22 the sacrament of holy communion was first celebrated in this church, and there were eighty-four communicants."
The Cleft In The Hills. Rev W.A.M. Grant.
"The letter from the Secretary of the Public Works Loan Office acknowledging the full payment of the £700 loan that was required at the time of building the new church is in our possession. Mr, Mendham received it in 1868, the very year in which the Abolition of the Church Rates Act came into force! And at the last vestry meeting that he was to attend - that of 1869 - he was able to read this letter to the faithful people who had stood by him during a long and energetic ministry at Clophill. 'That, which had been the Assistant Curate's dream way back in 1832 was realized soon after his institution as Rector, and remained his inspiration and joy, the new church of St. Mary, now fully paid for, and in reality the parish church of Clophill."
The Cleft In The Hills. Rev W.A.M. Grant.
"There is a memorial to him within the sanctuary of the church on the north wall, and also one to his father, who had lived in the parish for many years."
The Cleft In The Hills. Rev W.A.M. Grant.
"His successor, the Rev. G. Bosanquet, still remembered by many parishioners, has left us an interesting appreciation of the Rev. J. Mendham and his work with the Sunday Schools in particular, 'The S.S. (Sunday School) boys and girls met at 9 a.m. in separate buildings, Mr. Mendham opened the boys' school himself. He then took the pence with the head boy, who called out in a loud voice as he took the register from the desk "panny Sir". Every child had a small ticket given it for attendance. The children then proceeded to say verses out of hymn-books, twenty was the supposed number of verses. They often began in the middle of one hymn and ended in the middle of another, regardless of sense or punctuation, sometimes ending at a comma. All teachers were paid, male 13s. a quarter; and female 5s. a quarter. After the verses the boys read the first and second lessons, and then, if time permitted, the psalms; the girls also repeated the catechism. At 10.45 they proceeded to church. All the girls had large straw bonnets tied with green ribbon, but no ribbon round them. They also had pink cotton tippets, and, the first class, print frocks. They looked very tidy as all of them had their hair quite short. It was cut by a woman once a month, some say with a basin to make a uniform length.
In church the boys stood during the ante-communion service, the master keeping order by the free use of the cane, with which he frequently and most audibly rapped the benches; occasionally, I think, Mr. Mendham walked down the church and personally administered justice. - 'In the afternoon the children assembled at 2 p.m. for school and proceeded to church at 3 p.m.; after church they returned to school to be called over, to have prayers, to receive chastisement, and be dismissed . . . the boys first and then the girls. Girls misbehaving in church were put to sit on forms in front of the church for a time, and their names were written down in a book, so that they might be scolded before dismissal. The boys who misbehaved in church stood in a row down the school with their hands out and Mr. Mendham walked down the line with a cane and gave one good stroke on each outstretched hand.
'If there was evening service all the children attended. The girls had to wear their bonnets on week-days too, and if Mr. Mendham saw them in anything else he boxed their ears. They also had to continue to wear them in church for a year after leaving Sunday School, if they came in any other bonnet Mr. Mendham pulled them out of the seat and sent them home.'
Mr. Mendham was perfectly devoted to the Sunday School, especially to the girls and one can hardly say whether they feared, loved, or worshipped him the most. Amongst the pages of an old register there is a scrap of paper. on one side some rough notes, on the other 'Sweet Angel - Most lovely Creature, M.' A hard disciplinarian, perhaps, but a tender and warm-hearted disciple of our Lord."
The Cleft In The Hills. Rev W.A.M. Grant.

Unless stated otherwise, © Colin Watt 2024. 
Last Updated: July 16 2021