# St John the Baptist, Hoxton

The Church of St John the Baptist, Hoxton, usually known as St John's Hoxton, is an Anglican parish church in the Hoxton area of the London Borough of Hackney.
In 1826, population growth in the East End led to St John's being established as a Chapel of Ease, within the parish of Shoreditch. In 1841 it became the church of a new independent ecclesiastical parish, though it remained part of Shoreditch for civil purposes.
Nearby is Silicon Roundabout, and also Aske Gardens, named after the parish's major benefactor, City alderman and haberdasher Robert Aske.

## Parish history

Dedicated to St John the Baptist, its name preserves the memory of a local priory dissolved by King Henry VIII.
Robert Aske's legacy still benefits the parish and associated primary school, while Haberdasher Street like Aske Gardens, remain in the memory of his original generosity.
One of the 18th-century residents of Hoxton Square, the Revd John Newton, composed the popular hymn "Amazing Grace". Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97), the writer and philosopher, was born in Hoxton. John Mander, an organ builder, lived at Hoxton and one of his sons, Noel Mander, founded Mander Organs.
In Victorian London the parish's work was recognised by social campaigners, such as the philanthropist Charles Booth, for its welfare work in a deteriorating inner-city environment. Many members of the church became missionaries in Africa and Asia, among them the first Bishop of Chota Nagpur, the Rt Revd Jabez Cornelius Whiteley, whose father, Chaplain to the Haberdashers' Aske's Hospital School formerly located in Pitfield Street was the Revd Edward Whiteley: to give opportunities to the "local poor", the parish's first vicar founded what became London's largest savings bank and St John's National Schools which still thrive in India.
The maternal great-great-great-grandfather of Kate Middleton (now the Princess of Wales), John Goldsmith, was married to Esther Jones at St John's Hoxton in 1850.
The present vicar, the Revd Graham Hunter, serves as an Assistant of the Haberdashers' Company and helps Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, pioneer the CofE's Health Inequalities Action Group (HIAG) bringing together faith leaders.

## Architecture

Completed in 1826, St John's is a Regency church in the classical style, and the only one built to the design of the celebrated architect, Francis Edwards, Sir John Soane's foremost pupil. A large example of a Commissioners' church, its original floor plan remains intact as well as notable galleries and décor, including a painted ceiling executed in the early 20th century by the architect Joseph Arthur Reeve.

## Pipe organ

Built and installed in 1915 by the firm of Thomas Sidwell Jones, the organ sits in the choir gallery retaining its original late-Georgian wooden case with an elaborate façade displaying the arms of William IV.
Last restored in 1934 by Henry Speechly & Son, St John's organ is known to voice the following stops:
Choir :
| Gamba | 8' |
| Dulciana | 8' |
| Lieblich Gedackt | 8' |
| Viol d'Orchestre | 8' |
| Flute | 4' |
| Piccolo | 2' |
| Clarinet | 8' |
Great :
| Bourdon | 16' |
| Open Diapason No. 1 | 8' |
| Open Diapason No. 2 | 8' |
| Clarabella | 8' |
| Dulciana | 8' |
| Principal | 4' |
| Harmonic Flute | 4' |
| Twelfth | 2.2/3' |
| Fifteenth | 2' |
| Mixture | 3' |
| Trumpet | 8' |
Swell :
| Double Diapason | 16' |
| Open Diapason | 8' |
| Lieblich Gedackt | 8' |
| Salicional | 8' |
| Voix Celeste | 8' |
| Principal | 4' |
| Mixture | 3' |
| Cornopean | 8' |
| Oboe | 8' |
Pedal :
| Open Diapason | 16' |
| Bourdon | 16' |
| Bass Flute | 8' |

## Bells

There is a ring of ten bells, cast at the nearby Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
Coat of arms of St John the Baptist, Hoxton :
* NotesArms and Crest of the Haberdashers' Company confirmed by Robert Cooke, Clarenceux King of Arms, 8 November 1570
* CrestOn a wreath Argent and Azure issuing from Clouds two naked Arms embowed holding a Laurel wreath all Proper
* EscutcheonBarry wavy of six Argent and Azure on a Bend Gules a Lion passant guardant Or
* SupportersOn either side a Goat of India Argent flecked Gules membered Or
* Motto"Serve and Obey"
* SymbolismCoat of arms of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers: patron of the advowson of St John the Baptist with Christ Church, Hoxton