King family memorials 1859-
/A series of six exceptional stained glass windows by Clayton & Bell in the North Nave Transept are dedicated to Walker King, Archdeacon of Rochester from 1827 to 1859. A mural memorial in the North Nave Aisle commemorates his son Captain Henry Kent of the 21st Fusiliers after his untimely accidental death two years earlier.
The son of Walker King, Bishop of Rochester, Walker was born in Marylebone on 24th May 1798. educated at Oriel College, Oxford and Rector of Stone, Kent. One of his sons was Bishop of Lincoln.
Capt. Henry King d.1857 North Nave Aisle, fourth bay from west
21st Fusiliers. 'Son Of The Venble. Walker King, Archdeacon Of Rochester', '...Preserved From Death, During The Siege Of Sebastopol, At Alma, Balaklava, And Inkerman, In Which Last Battle He was Dangerously Wounded, Was Drowned Whilst Bathing Off Fort Ricasoli , Malta, Notwithstanding The Strenuous Efforts Of His Brother Officers Several Of Whom Nearly Shared His Fate In Their Attempts To Save Him'.
Archdeacon King died Stone, Kent on 20th March 1859. The windows were dedicated the same year.
There are two tiers each of three lancets. Lower tier west, inscription 'Sanctus Philipus'. Above, figure of the Saint holding a book and a palm, under a canopy. Below, representation of the laying on of hands and inscription 'Imposuerunt Manus'.
Centre, inscription 'Dominus Jesu'. Above, figure of Christ as Saviour of the World with right hand held in benediction, and holding an orb surmounted by a cross in left hand, beneath a canopy, with three angels on either side. Below, a scene with six figures, including a saint in chains before a judge. Inscription (worn) 'Intendens in caelum'.
East - inscription 'Sanctus Stephanus'. Above, figure of the saint holding a palm, and stones in the fold of his robe, under a canopy. Below, a scene of Stephen being stoned, inscription 'Suscipe (S)piritum meum'.
Upper tier. West, inscription 'S Raphael'. Above, figure of Raphael holding a fish and a staff with a pilgrim's bag(?).
Centre, inscription 'S Michael'. Above, figure of Michael spearing the dragon, with a shield in his left hand. East, inscription 'S Gabriel'.
Above, figure of Gabriel holding a lily and in the other hand a scroll with the words 'Ave Maria'.
The windows were repaired in 1987.
Memorial to Captain Henry King, 21st Fusiliers.
North Nave aisle - north wall.
Compare the arms of Captain King in the centre of the trophy of arms with those of his grandfather, Bishop of Rochester (1809-27) which are painted on the north wall of the Quire.
ГОРО
AMANN
The Crimean Medal with four clasps, suspended from a blue ribbon with yellow edges, to which Capt.King would have been entitled.
Situated on the North Wall of the Nave (West End)
Erected by his Brother Officers in affectionate memory of
Ceptain Henry King, 21st Fusiliers
Son of the Ven'ble Walker king, Archdeacon of Rochester who, after having been by God's mercy preserved from death
During the slege of Sebastopol at Alma, Balaklava and Inkermann
in which last battle he was dangerously wounded, was drowned whilst bathing off Fort Ricasol1, Malts, notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of his brother
officers
several of whom nearly shared his fate in their attempts to save him,
on March 28th 1857
Aetat 23
* According to Thomas Shindler, The Registers of the Cathedral
Church of Rochester, , 1892, Walker King was educated at West_ minster School and at Oriel College, Oxford and became M.A. in 1822.
He was ordained the same year and became Chaplain
to his father, then bishop of Rochester. He was rector of Stone from 1822 to 1859, vicar of Frindsbury from 1822 to 1825, Priest in Charge of Bromley from 1824 to 1827, and vicar of Dartford in 1825 (he resigned the same year).
He was appointed Archdeacon of Rochester in 1827, but did not obtain his stall until 1832. He died at Stone in 1859.
For further information see 'The Whiston Matter', by Ralph Arnold, published Hart-Davis, 1961.
Captain Henry King, 21st.Foot.
Captain Henry King was born in 1834, the son of the Venerable Walker King, Archdeacon of Rochester, and grandson of the Rt, Rev. Walker King, bishop of Rochester 1809 - 27.
He was commissioned Ensign in the 21st.Foot, then known as the Royal North British Fusiliers, on 12th.June 1852, promoted Lieutenant 13th.Jan.
1854 and Captain 9th.March 1855.
He landed in the Crimea with his Regiment on 14th.September 1854, and was present at all the major battles of the war.
In addition to the British
Crimean medal with four clasps, he received the Sardinian Medal for Valour for his service with the 21st.Foot.
The following extract is taken from the 'Historical Record and Regimental Memoir of the Royal Scots Fusiliers', by James Clark, published 1885, a copy of which is held in the Library of the National Army Museum.
"The gallantry displayed by every man of the Regiment was beyond all praise.
Kinglake in his description of the Battle of Inkerman speaks of
them as
'those superb Fusiliers' and 'most magnificent troops."
During the action, when broken up into small parties, they held the most forward and important positions, and mere handful of them charged and repulsed large battalions of Russians.
The Regiment suffered severely in this action. Of 402 men who went
into the field, seven officers, six sergeants and 114 men were killed and wounded. Of this number Lieutenant King was dangerously wounded.
* Appendix to Clark's book Historical Record and Regimental Memoir of the
Royal Scots Fusiliers.
The Sardinian "Al Valore Militare"
Medal was also granted by the King of Sardinia who gave 400 medals to both British officers and other ranks. The obverse has the arms and crown of Sardinia and the legend "Al Valore" Militare", and the reverse has two laurel branches with the legend "Spedizione d'Oriente" and the dates 1855-1856.
These silver medals are usually named in the centre of the reverse. They are sus-
Captain Henry King received the Sardinian Medal for Valour for his services with the 21st Foot in the Crimean War.
The 21st.Fusiliers.
The 21st.Fusiliers in which Captain King served was raised in 1676 by Charles, 5th.Earl of Mar, for the suppression of border lawlessness.
In 1694 1t was numbered
the 21st.Foot. It received its title Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1713.
In the army lists of the 19th Century 1% is
referred to as The Royal North British Fusiliers.
After
1881 it reverted to its old title of Royal Scots Fusiliers.
In the re-organisation of the nineteen sixties, the Regiment amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry and received the new title The Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment).
In the Crimean War the Regiment was particularly fiercely engaged at the Battle of Inkerman(n) and it was during this action that Captain King was severely wounded.
Inkerman has rightly been called a Soldiers'
Battle, for it was fought mostly in fog by isolated groups of soldiers without direction or guidance.
THE
ROYAL SCOTS FUSILIERS
THE OLDEST Fusilier Regiment and the second oldest Scottish regiment in the army.
In 1938 the Ist
battalion became a machine-gun unit. Badge: A fired grenade with the Royal Arms; Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit.
18099
190.7
WALKER
REEN 697
The Arms of Walker King, Bishop of Rochester, on the wall of the Quire of Rochester Cathedral. These arms, slightly adapted for a scion of the family, are to be seen on the memorial to his grand-son, Captain Henry King, 21st. Foot.
"Sable a lion rampant between three crosslets fitchee or."
The King family stems from Kirby Melthamdale, Yorkshire, where in the 17th Century they were small landholders.
At the beginning of the 18th
Century, one James King DD, St.John's College, Cambridge, married Anne Walker, heiress of John Walker of Herngrill, Speaker of the House of Commons. They had five sons, one of whom was Capt.James King RN, navigator to Capt.Cook on his third voyage and who completed the voyage after Cook's death, another being the Rt.Rev. Walker King, Canon of Wells, Bishop of Rochester and Secretary to the Marquis of Rock-ingham.
He married Srah Dawson and had five ekildren, three sons-
all of them clergymen.
The second son was the Ven. Walker King, Rector
of Stone and Archdeacon of Rochester.
He married Anne Hebenden, daugh-
ter of Dr.Hebenden, physician to George III.
They had ten children -
five of them sons, of whom, Edward the second son became Bishop of Lincoln (he wam prosecuted for carrying out ritualistic practices - see The Lincoln Judgment). The third son was Captain Henry King, whose memorial is in the north aisle of the Nave.
The dis
Left: The British attack on the heights of the Alma was the first major engagement of a British army since
Waterloo.
Conditions did not auger too well for
success - until the very hour of battle men were still dropping out and dying of cholera; the landing only six days before had given no chance of acclimatization. the men (still in "full scarlet") had had to endure wet nights in the open and thirsty days under cloudless skies, Fast-moving Cossack patrols kept the British march south in view all the time; and the Russians, with well-placed batteries on the heights beyond the Alma and prepared positions on the steep river-bank, had reason to believe they could hold on for three or four weeks. However, in spite of huge Russian reserves in the rear, it was all over in three or four hours, thanks to the dash of the French against their left wing and the amazing gallantry and stubbornness of the British against the centre and right, where they carried the fight to the enemy across open ground and every kind of impediment under merciless fire.
Above: The field of Alma after the battle, sketched o an officer of the 21st, North British Fusileers.
(Both pictures Illustrated London News.)
61
Inkerman
Above: The repulse of the Russians at Inkerman.
(Illustrated London News.)
Right: The Battle of Inkerman. Although Russian despatches tended to play it down as a "sortie" there is no denying the significance of Inkerman as a major battle and an allied victory. The British high command had evidence of an imminent Russian onslaught, but were surprised at the exact timing of it, in the early hours of a dark, foggy, drizzling morning on 5
November, across high ground above the Chernaya River near the ruins of Inkerman.
The difficult
conditions (for both sides), the huge numbers of Russian infantry, and the ravine-gullied terrain which split the fighting into several small "battles"-and which caused Inkerman to be known as "The Soldiers' Battle'
- made central direction extremely difficult, while the Russians certainly suffered from deficient planning. The fighting, which lasted over twelve hours before the Russians retreated back into Sebastopol, showed characteristics that recurred during the Crimean campaign -the solidity and doggedness of the British infantry (shown on the left) who took the first shock of attack, and the dash of their French allies (on the right) under General Bosquet.
(Illustrated London News.)
Memorial to the Venerable Walker King, Archdeacon of Rochester
The memorial to Archdeacon Walker King, father of Captain Henry King, is situated on the north wall of the north transept in the Nave. It takes the form of a stained glass window depicting Christ the lord.
Beneath the window is a brass tablet. For many years this had not been cleaned and until 1985 nothing was done to remedy this. Due to the efforts of Mr.Alan McLean this has now been rectified; the brass has been cleaned and is now readable.
It reads as follows:-
1
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF WALKER KING M.A.
32 YEARS ARCHDEACON OF ROCHESTER 1859
Thus three generations of the King family are commemorated in the Cath-edral, grandfather, the Bishop of Rochester, the father, The Archdeacon, and the son, the soldier Captain Henry King.
From the notebooks ‘The Naval and Military Memorials of Rochester Cathedral’ (1979)
by Roy Trett, OBE, TD,
Rochester Cathedral Chapter Library
Seventy-two brilliant stained glass windows were installed by prominent glaziers Clayton & Bell during the 1870s and 1880s.
