History 1904-2004

FOUR VICARS IN 24 YEARS
From 1904 onwards, four Vicars followed each other in quick succession. This must have been a turbulent period for St. Mark’s, as it was for the world at large.

Maurice Frederick Bell (1904-12) was a talented musician and composer. In collaboration with Percy Dearmer (Vicar of St Mary’s, Primrose Hill) and Ralph Vaughan Williams he helped to create ‘The English Hymnal’, published in 1906. Despite reports of an increase in church attendance in the parish magazine of 15 October 1908, the overall trend was downwards, a fact borne out by the removal of the remaining galleries in the same year. Bell left St. Mark’s in 1912 and eventually converted to Roman Catholicism.

Bell was succeeded by Herbert Deedes Barrett (1912-21), the man who saw St. Mark’s through the political turmoil leading up to the First World War, the horror of the war itself and its painful aftermath. Sadly any Roll of Honour commemorating the lives of parishioners killed in the war was lost in the total destruction of 1940.

In 1921 Rupert William Mounsey (1921-24) became Vicar of St. Mark’s, after serving as Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak,  and Geoffrey Hodgson Warde (1924-28) succeeded him three years later. Like Galloway, Warde had been a curate of St. Pancras Church. He was incumbentat St. Mark’s for four years and went on to become Dean of Gibraltar and later Suffragan Bishop of Lewes in the Diocese of Chichester.

FROM TEA PARTIES TO FIRE BOMBS
In 1928, with Britain in the throes of the Depression, the incumbency of Hugh Stuckey began. He was to oversee not only something of a Golden Age, but also experience the near financial ruin and destruction of his beloved church in 1940 . It is almost entirely due to the unceasing efforts of Stuckey that we have the St. Mark’s we know today.

Stuckey was also something of an innovator and moderniser. In 1930 he had the original idea of opening up the church gardens for tea parties on the Summer Bank Holiday Mondays for visitors to London Zoo. Starting on August Bank Holiday, the parties were an instantaneous success. “But there was more to it than tea”, to quote Hugh Stuckey. The parties made substantial sums of money and aroused the interest of the Press, so that St. Mark’s became known as “The Zoo Church”. After tea the visitors were shown around the church, and some would stay for an organ recital before setting off home.

Another source of revenue was the parish magazine which continued until 1967. In spite of these revenue-raising schemes  hardship was never far away and Stuckey predicted near financial ruin in the 1939 edition of the parish magazine. However, the beautification of the church was never compromised and one of the most beautiful modern altar-pieces in London was created by Sir Ninian Comper in 1938.

When disaster did finally strike it took a different form. On 21 September 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, St. Mark’s was set alight by incendiary bombs. Much damage was wrought including the destruction of the Comper reredos, although one parishioner described how the church clock went on striking the hours. Five nights later the church was again hit, this time by a high explosive bomb which fell in the chancel, “and the ruin was complete”.

The destruction of the fabric of the building did not mean that worship ceased. Within eight hours of the first bombing the usual Sunday morning Communion was held at Turner House in Chalcot Square, a Church Army home for blind women. St. Mark’s was allowed to use the chapel for three services each Sunday and four weekday services until July 1941, at which time the ruined church porch was used, followed by the still standing vestry. By 1943 a ‘hut’ chapel was constructed in the grounds which, despite discomfort, served the congregation until 1957.

The Second World War saw the destruction or damage of some fourteen thousand churches. St. Mark’s was the first Anglican church in London to be completely rebuilt. But this was not achieved overnight. Seventeen weary years were to be struggled through before the church was restored. In true form Hugh Stuckey wasted no time in opening an appeal fund. By 1946 progress in the planning of the new church had advanced to the point where an architect was required and Arthur Knapp-Fisher was appointed. However, another 11 laborious years were to pass for him and Stuckey
before the church was consecrated on 5 October 1957.

From contemporary reports we get some idea of the occasion. “The church was packed to capacity, more than fifty of the clergy took part in the ceremony, which was performed by the Bishop of London. Although over 93, Sir Ninian Comper attended and took part in the procession.” His new High Altar reredos was to be completed two years later. It was due to the fine taste and the tenacity of Hugh Stuckey that St. Mark’s arose out of the ashes of Thomas Little’s original building. The new church is his monument.

A PERIOD OF ENHANCEMENT
When Michael Dean accepted the living in 1964 he inherited a handsomely restored church with a small congregation. The years without a permanent building and the exertions of restoration had taken their toll.

Michael Dean had served as a priest in parishes of a Catholic tradition, and he brought to St. Mark’s a knowledge and love of ordered ceremonial and musical performance of a high quality. With his organist, Geoffrey Hanson, he appointed four singers to lead the worship, a tradition continued to this day.

St. Mark’s became known for its excellent music, in particular the Advent Carol Service begun in 1966. Geoffrey Hanson nurtured this musical life by writing Mass settings and anthems and by organising concerts with his London Ripieno Singers.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the congregation grew – by 1977 the membership was over one hundred. The Vicar continued to make all sorts of improvements to the church to enhance the worship. The two candlesticks on the high altar (a number favoured by Comper) were increased to the traditional six, a thurible was made for the incense, new altar rails were installed and further candlesticks commissioned to replace those stolen from the All Saints’ Chapel. It was in the early 1970s that the sad decision was first taken to keep the church locked when unattended.

Much that Michael Dean achieved is still evident in the life of St. Mark’s today. The fine liturgical and musical tradition is maintained using many of the material additions of his time, including the beautiful Latin vestments that he brought with him from St. Stephen’s, Bournemouth. In this way he is still remembered, as the ‘Church Times’ remarked on his retirement in July, 1981, “for liturgical standards beautifully maintained”.

THE SECOND TRIAL BY FIRE
As one who loved music and had a great knowledge of the fine arts Tom Devonshire Jones creatively built upon the achievements of Father Dean, nurturing the already strong choral tradition and exercising a sensitive care of the church.

Primrose Hill was fast changing, increasingly favoured by writers, artists and those working in film and television. Tom’s gift of friendship and remarkable memory for names and faces served to strengthen the Christian presence in the local community and welcome new church members. This period saw the establishment of the daily Nursery School that still flourishes in the Crypt – where also, each week, the children of church families enjoy Sunday morning activities.

Having survived Hitler’s Blitz, St. Mark’s was threatened once again during Tom Devonshire Jones' incumbency, this time by an unknown arsonist. On 12 November 1994, the eve of Remembrance Sunday, the church was set alight. The Fire Brigade was able to put out the fire before any serious structural damage was done, but the effects of smoke and water were considerable: the heart of the fire in the All Saints’ Chapel destroyed the altar, a quantity of furniture, and the organ and electrical system were badly damaged. The many who worked the next morning to make it possible for the Remembrance Day service to be held have described the black river running down the nave and the acrid smell - and the sense that history was repeating itself.

The next year saw the work of restoration, the total cost of which amounted this time to £220,000. On 1 October 1995 a splendid Sung Eucharist celebrated the re-opening of the restored church. The Vicar preached to a packed and even more beautiful St. Mark’s.

In March 2000 Tom Devonshire Jones retired, handing over the reins to Peter Baker, the tenth Vicar of St. Mark’s.  Under his guidance the church celebrated its 150th anniversary  in 2003, and a short but extensively illustrated booklet tracing the history of the building was published to mark the event.