ST MARY MATFELON, WHITECHAPEL

 
 
     
  The much-altered mediaeval "White Chapel" was rebuilt in 1875, and again after a fire in 1880, when nearly all the old monuments were lost. The Victorian church was bombed in 1940 and the ruins cleared away in 1952. (Gordon Barnes, Stepney Churches, 1967)  
  The church has now been airbrushed out of history by renaming the churchyard after a muslim martyr.  
  In 1917 Charles Crouch Hall FSG noted the following heraldic memorials (Society of Genealogists MX/M69):  
 
  1. Marble tablet in porch  
    William Davis late of Whitechapel, of Leytonstone ESS and of Brockhampton GLS*, died 19 Nov 1854 aged 87  
    Argent a chevron pean in base a lion rampant .... on a chief indented sable a canton ermine  
    Crest: A demi-lion issuant charged with the Roman fasces between the paws a bomb fired ....  
    *Sic for Brockworth, GLS. He was the patron of the nearby Gowers Walk Free School, which he founded in 1807  
       
  2. Brass on wall with three shields  
    John Cooke of London and Barborne in the parish of Claynes WOR merchant and Surveyor of Customs, brother to Sir John Cooke of East Acton MDX Kt and son of Thomas Cooke of Redmarley Oliver WOR; he married Mary daughter of Sir Edward Bathurst of Lechlade GLS Bt and was buried in Whitechapel 20 May 1684
Sir John Cooke Kt DCL third son of the above, Principle Official and Dean of the Court of Arches, married Mary daughter of Matthew Bateman of Whitechapel; he was buried 21 mar 1710/11 aged 42; she died 6 Oct 1709 aged 31
The Rev Thomas Cooke MA died 1731 and was buried at St Benets; he married Anne Holgate of Saffron Walden ESS, descended from the Rt Rev Laurence [sic for Robert] Holgate Archbishop of York; she died 1736, buried at St Benet
 
    This plate was erected by G Wm H Cooke of The Green in the parish of Stockton St Lawrence and his sister Mary Cooke in 1883  
    I Or a fess between two lions passant gules (Cooke); impaling: Azure two bars in chief three crosses paty or (Bathurst of Lechlade GLS)  
    II Cooke, impaling: Azure a fess embattled counterembattled between three crescents in arms of each a mullet all or (Bateman)  
    III Cooke, impaling: Or a bend between two bulls' heads couped sable on a chief argent two bars gules debruised of a crutched staff in bend azure (Robert Holgate Bishop of Llandaff 1537, Archbishop of York 1545; arms granted 1541. See Papworth's Ordinary)  
         
  3 Tablet in porch  
    Thomas Walker, Police Magistrate, Lambeth St Whitechapel; died in Brussels 20 Jan 1806 and was buried there  
    Gules a cross raguly between four lions heads erased ....  
    Crest: A demi-lion holding in paws a cross crosslet fitchy ....  
    Motto: Non est vivere sed valere est [vita]  
       
  Not noted by Crouch, but surviving in 2009:  
       
  4 A sarcophagus monument to the south-east of the church site  
    Arms: Per pale azure and gules two lions passant [or - Burke GA] (Maddock)  
    Crest: A demi-lion rampant  
    Inscriptions:  
    [South face] Sacred to the memory of | Mr Nathan Maddock who died Nov 6 1774 aged 44 years | and Mrs Eliz Maddock his wife who died Aug 12 1777 | aged 38 years and of | Miss Sarah Maddock his daughter who died | May 13 1776 aged 13 years | also of Mrs Eliz Maddock wife of Mr James Maddock | who died May 19 1791 aged 25 years | Mr Geo Maddock her son who died Ap 12 1800 aged 17 years
[North face] Sacred to the memory of | Richard Maddock Esqer | of St James Place Westminster | who died Jan 20 1801 aged 70 years | I know that my redeemer liveth XIX Job 25 | Mrs Troy Treacher sister to the above died 22nd March 1804 aged 79 | James Maddock died April 20th 1806 aged 19 | Miss Ann Strele niece of the above Richard Maddock Esqr | died 11th Nov 1810 aged 66 years
 
       
   

 
       
    Views of the Church:  
 

1860

1894

 
     
 
 
 
Webmaster: Andrew Gray

 

Edited: 30/08/2009