New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-11-06
ENGLISH WASHINGTONS.
Purleigh Church as a Landmarks
american Neglect of Great Names.
London. October 20.


meeting Of Americans has been called at the
Mansion House next week behalf Of the
Washington Church. This is not the church
which is ordinarily known the burial place Of
the English Washingtons. 1t is not St Jamess.
Sulgrave. near the old Northamptonshire manor
house which Lawrence Washington bought
after receiving the lands Of priory by special
grant from Henry VIII in recognition OF his ser
vices TO the Crown and TO the shire. Nor is IT
ST. Mary's. Great Brington. where many Wash
fngtons also buried, and where the
mortal shield of the family. with the stars and
stripes pairly visible. is preserved in Of tho
mural brasses. This third Washington church.
for which American aid is now solicited at a
meeting held under the auspices of the Lord
Mayor OF London. is not in Northamptonshire,
but in Essex, on the east coast Purleigh
Church stands on a hill between Chelmsford
and the North Sea- near the Blackwater and It
dates from the reign of Henry II. when the
benefce was conveyed to a priory in Kent
After the dissolution OF the monasteries tho
benehce purchased by the Horsmanden
family, and subsequently by Oriel College. under
which II is now ordinary college living. with
the rector a residenr OF the parish Its title to
American remembrance as a Washington church
is based upon the fact that the Rev Lawrence
washington was its rector from 1852 to 1643.
This worthy rector. whose loyalty to the
Crown cost him the benefice In those troublous
times OF civil strife. was the great-grandson OF
the first master Of Sulgrave Manor who con-
ferred distinction upon the family. He was
the father Of the two Washingtons who emf
grated TO Virginia IN 1857 and consequently
was the grandfather of the Virgnian Law
renee Washington. who himself the grand
father OF George Washington. He was born in
Northanptonshire, was educated at Oxford and
was buried at Brington Church seven years
after his ejectment from the benehce OF Pur-
leigh His last years were passed In the mod
est little cottage in Little Brington now known
Els the Washington House 1t had been placed
at the disposal OF the Washington family by
Sir Robert Spencer. the master of Althorp,
when terrible reverses followed wealth and
prosperity and Sulgrave Manor was abandoned
IS the ancestral home It was the refuge for a
family overwhelmed with misfortunes. and re-
mains to this day the most Interesting relic on
Lord Spencers splendid estate From this hum
bic home seven years after their fathers death
the two emigrant Washingtons passed. to cross
the Atlantic and to rebuild the family fortunes
in Virginia These born while their
father was rector Of Purleigh Church and their
boyhood spent in the quiet little Essex
village near Maiden. No Washingtons
buried there. The bells rang when the rector
10 conduct the parish services for the vii
quaint tower is unsteady and needs to be
built from the foundations.
The connection OF Rector Washington with
this village church in Essex may seem slender
basis for an appeal to American sympathy and
support: but. after all. he the last OF the
English washingtons. and the fortunes Of a
famous family reached their lowest point when
he was turned out OF his vicarage With his
wife and five children he went back to the little
cottage the Spencer estate where his father
and grandfather had taken refuge when the
nortgaged Tudor house closed
against them; and his sons, when they came OF
age. despaired Of making their way in the Old
Country and crossed the seas. exies well as
soldiers OF fortune, without premonitions Of tho
glory with which the family fame to be
crowned in the course of a few generations. In
this way the tower OF Purleigh Church was the
landmark dividing the English and the Virginian
Washingtons; and Americans can properly be
asked TO rebuild it so that the bells can be heard