In 1793 the Town Churchyard was full, and no one could be buried in the new Green Street Cemetery who had not bought a grave. Yet from time to foreign labourers died in the Town or sailors on ships in the harbour or unknown bodies were washed ashore.
Strangers' Cemetery
The parish proposed to make a Strangers' Cemetery on Les Mielles, the sandhills west of the Town. These formed part of the Fief of Meleches.
The commoners agreed to surrender 50 perches for this purpose, and in 1800 this was confirmed by the Seigneur. For nearly 40 years burials took place here, but of the many tombstones, only one survives, that of Madame Elie, a French lady, and her little daughter Fanny, who were drowned in a wreck off Elizabeth Castle in 1825, a stone known to boys of the neighbourhood as 'the pirate’s grave' because it has on it a skull and cross-bones, the emblem of mortality.
The character of the neighbourhood changed. During the Napoleonic wars General Don levelled the sandhills to be a Parade Ground for the militia, hence its name, The Parade. When peace came, houses were built round it, and what had been waste land became a residential suburb. In 1832 there was a cholera epidemic, and an outcry was raised against burying victims, in front of these prosperous villas, and a new cemetery was opened further afield on Westmount.
The population of the Town had outgrown the church accommodation. The Town Church, though crowded with galleries, could not seat its congregation, and St Paul's and St James' - the only other churches, were private chapels, which could only he attended by courtesy of the proprietors. On 25 October 1832 Dean Hue called a public meeting, which decided 'to establish a Chapel of Ease in the western part of the Town in consequence of its increased population and the inadequate accommodation for the poor and middling ranks of life'.
Money flowed in freely. The States voted £200; Dean Hue gave £130; Lord Beresford, the Governor, £30; the Bishop of Winchester, £25; the SPCK, £25; the Queen, £27; the Duchess of Kent and the Duke of Gloucester, £10 each. Every church in the island gave a collection, the largest being the Town Church, £37, and St James' £27.
Then came the question of a site, and an offer from the Parish of the old cemetery was gratefully accepted. The foundation stone was laid by General Thornton, the Lieut-Governor, on 9 April 1834.
Then trouble began. The Impartial, a leading newspaper of the period, published a sarcastic article : 'A strong detachment of troops marched to the Parade armed to the teeth as though to repel an invasion. A considerable crowd wished to witness the ceremony ; but no one was allowed to pass, unless he was wearing white gloves, a well-brushed coat, a top hat, and freshly-blacked hoots. They alone were deemed worthy to approach the Temple that was to he dedicated to God'.
Impartial opposition
This was nothing to the storm that broke when building began. It was impossible to dig foundations without disturbing graves. The Impartial denounced this 'sacrilege '. 'Is this a civilised land ? Is this a Christian country? Who would believe that creatures exist barbarous and inhuman enough to scatter the dust of our dead. '
It printed columns of sob-stuff, including a letter from a heart-broken Frenchman (probably composed by the Editor), who had come to weep over the tomb of his dear ones, and arrived ,just in time to see his daughter’s skull being flung into a common pit. Other correspondents raised a scare that disturbing the graves would start a new cholera epidemic.
The work went on. The architect, J T Parkinson, designed the church to contain 600 seats, half to be free, the other half let to provide stipends for a chaplain and a clerk. The first services were held on 25 June 1835, in English in the morning, in French in the afternoon, by Helier Touzel, the newly appointed minister. On 9 September the church was consecrated by Bishop Sumner of Winchester, in the name of All Saints in memory of the dead who were buried around.
Next day the Bishop confirmed in the church more that 300 candidates. In 1836 Dean Hue endowed the Church with £500 consolidated securities, the interest to accumulate until it could produce an income of £70 per year, 'provided always that Divine Service shall be performed in French at least once every Sunday'.
The interest on this fund grew sufficient to be released in 1870.
All Saints Church started with an unfortunate nickname. It was popularly known as La Chapelle des Pauvres which suggested a kind of adult ragged school. The result was that the poor were too proud to enter it, while their more comfortable neighbours felt it beneath them to do so. Gradually, however, it outgrew this handicap.
Clameur de Haro
In 1848 fresh trouble arose over the bones of the dead. In broadening Saville Street, the parish cut seven feet off the old Cemetery. Dean Hemery was dying of consumption in Madeira but Frederick Godfray, his curate, saw to his horror cartloads of sand full of bones being taken to ships for ballast. He raised the Clameur de Haro, which brought the matter before the Royal Court, who postponed their decision until the Dean returned. He was then too ill to attend to business, and the matter was dropped, but the Constitutionelle newspaper unkindly suggested that the new street should be named Impious Road.
Touzel only remained a year. Then John Meadows ministered for nine, and Charles Robinson for seven. Then came Edward Heale, who worked for 18, until in 1870 he was accidentally drowned while bathing.
In 1868 an Order in Council made All Saints an independent Chapelry (no longer merely a Chapel of Ease to the Parish Church) with a district of its own, extending from Great Union Road to Millbrook.
In 1869 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners endowed it with £200 a year, and pew rents were abolished, with the proviso that they could be resumed if ever the collections failed to meet the church expenses.
The next Vicar, Richard Bellis, had been for 15 years Incumbent of St James. He was a Hebrew scholar, well-read in theology, a botanist, geologist, and archaeologist, and Vice-President of the Societe Jersiaise. In 1871 he built the wooden Mission Church on Mont Cochon that eventually developed into the present St Andrew's.
French service ended
In 1893 the French Service, which for some time had been poorly attended, was discontinued, and the trustees felt bound to withhold Dean Hue's endowment. Toward the end of his life, Bellis became blind, and an operation failed to restore his sight. In 1894 he died.
Under his successor, Minton Senhouse, the work went on quietly for five years. Then came a distressing interlude. The next Vicar seemed for a time almost too good to be true. A Doctor of Divinity, he had been incumbent of a large parish in Birmingham. His powerful preaching filled the church. He formed a surpliced choir. He lectured in public halls on such subjects as the Origin of Man. It looked as though All Saints would become the leading church in the Town.
But the old gentleman was nearly 80, and soon began to show signs of senile decay. One form which this took was neglect to pay his bills. Twelve times in twelve months he appeared before the Petty Debts Court. In other ways he was clearly unfit to have charge of a parish. Both the Dean and the Bishop tried to persuade him to resign, and promised him a pension, but he was obstinate and refused; and as he had been appointed for life, he seemed irremovable.
Vicar suspended
Then one day a couple came to be married. He did not want the bother of going to his church, so, though they had no licence, he read the marriage service over them in his study, telling them to come to the church next day to sign the registers. They arrived with only one witness: the Vicar entered an imaginary name on the second line. This brought him within the grip of the Criminal Law and the Royal Court fined him £20 with 48 hours imprisonment. His two churchwardens and 104 of the congregation then petitioned the Ecclesiastical Court to remove him, and, he was suspended for ten years, but allowed to draw a quarter of his stipend, so that he should not be destitute.
His place was taken by a Cambridge graduate, Leonard Foster Ward. This was a very happy appointment. Assisted by a strong choir, which under Mr Marguerie, the organist, became the best in the Town, the church was again crowded. The choir excursions were a great event in the church life. One year they went to Dinard, the next to Guernsey. Ward was enormously helped by his devoted wife. They re-established the Sunday School, and secured as premises the Ragged School in Cannon Street.
But he was only Curate in Charge. The Vicar had merely been suspended, not deprived. The Court had expected that ten years’ suspension would get rid of him for good ; but at the end of the time he was still alive, and, though 88, determined to resume his old position; and there seemed no way of preventing this. It looked as though Ward would have to go, and all his work be undone. But at the last moment nature intervened: the old gentleman died, and Ward was appointed Vicar.
Now great improvements were carried out in the church. The barn-like building, entirely devoid of architectural beauty, was skilfully transformed into a place of real charm and seemliness;. A granite font was bought in memory of the congregation who fell in the First World War. A copper cross and candlesticks were placed on the Holy Table. A pulpit was given; then an oak screen in memory of Mrs Ward; then a reredos.
Earthquake
More than £1,000 was raised for the work of restoration, and this scheme was not seriously checked. The earthquake of 1927 shifted the roof, and caused great additional expense. Yet the congregation did not become self-centred. It supported liberally three missionary societies and the Winchester Diocesan Fund, public charities like the Dispensary and the Blind Society; it maintained a child in one of the Waifs and Strays Orphanages ; and in addition there were frequent collections for such objects as rebuilding a Flanders village, Japanese earthquake relief, and Russian refugees.
In 1928 the Royal Court sanctioned the alteration of Dean Hue's trust deed so that the interest could again be used for All Saints, though there was no French Service. In the following year part of the old parish of St Andrew's was added to All Saints, when St Andrew's was moved from the Weighbridge to First Tower. In 1937 a new schoolroom was built on a site adjoining the church at a cost of £2,300. Mr Ward died in 1943 leaving many happy memories.
Today, All Saints, with its 5,335 parishioners, has almost the largest population of any parish in the island. Only the Town Church exceeds it. Under its new Vicar it is facing its task of making these 5,000 Christians.
