First Church Minute Book

Pew number plaque

This is an old pew number plaque, presumably from the earliest days (1870s).

Anniversary Dates

September 4, 1865 - Arrival of William Rickard to work at Heath Street Home Mission
April 8, 1866 - First Sunday Service in Childs Hill in an upper room of 'The Model Laundry' in The Mead (later Granville Road)
May 20, 1866 - Launch of the Sunday School at Mr Elphick's Laundry in The Mead
January 10, 1867 - Mission Hall opened in The Mead
July 28, 1870 - Foundation stone of present chapel laid (by James Harvey)
November 17, 1870 - Chapel formally opened
June 12, 1877 - Formal founding of the Childs Hill church with the transfer of 63 members from Heath Street, Hampstead
June 24, 1877 - First pastor, William Rickard, formally received

Also note that it was in June, 1861 that the chapel in Heath Street, Hampstead, opened.

LBA Address

Cover for the printed sermon delivered by JSP Tuesday, January 10, 1911, to the Western Group of The London Baptist Association.

Close of Mr Poulton's Ministry

These two relatively uninformative sheets were used at the farewell service for Mr Poulton on Sunday September 30, 1928. Click to see full size.

The Poultons

A picture, probably from the twenties of Mr J(ames) Sylvester and Mrs Emily Poulton. The Poultons had six children - Percy Sylvester (1894) Lesley Ernest (1895) Reginald Charles (1897) Marjorie Rose (1900) Edith Josephine (1901) and Kenneth James (1908)

Pastor and deacons 1910

This picture was kindly sent to me from Australia. It was originally given to Miss Phoebe Edwards (as she then was) on November 26, 1910 by the then minister J Sylvester Poulton. He is seated in the centre of this photograph (presumably taken in his garden). The other men (the deacons) are named as Dickens, Howard, Wood, Nichols, Balfour, Higgins and Abbot .