Church Heritage Record 823009

The first record of a chaplain being specifically employed by Gray’s Inn dates to 1400, in a court case brought by the ‘Chaplain of Greyes Inn’ against an assailant. In the sixteenth century, the Inn began to employ full-time and permanent priests, which is a post that has been filled virtually continuously until the present day. Included in the list of holders are some notable names that have been involved in wider events to do with developments in the religion of the country, especially during the turbulent years of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Among their number are archbishops, royal chaplains and even a brother-in-law of Oliver Cromwell.

The first to be appointed was William Charke (or Cherke) in 1574 , who remained until 1581. Charke was a fervent Puritan, whose career exemplifies much of the religious tension in Elizabeth and early Jacobean England. While a fellow of Peterhouse College, Cambridge, he preached a sermon claiming that the Devil had introduced episcopal hierarchy into the Church, in an attempt to subvert true religion. For this he was expelled, despite arguing for his defence that he only desired the Church of England to closer emulate the scripture. His zeal did not decline after his appointment to Gray’s Inn, and the Bishop of London both tried to subdue his extreme views and to have him sent to convert Catholics in the far reaches of the kingdom. He also resolutely rebuffed a pro-Jesuit pamphlet, essentially arguing that any anti-Protestant sentiments amounted to an attack on the common good of the kingdom itself. He eventually moved to preach at Lincoln’s Inn, during which time he was even involved in the imprisonment of Catholic priests.

In 1599 Roger Fenton began to preach at Gray’s Inn, although informally at first. Like Charke, Fenton was a prolific scholar and even dedicated his first book ‘to the right worshipfull his [Fenton’s] singvlar good patrones, the readers of Grayes Inne’. The Inn funded Fenton as he studied for a Bachelor of Divinity degree, and formally instituted him as preacher in 1606. He too was an advocate of a strict form of Protestantism, whereby Christians should use misery as a means to live closer to God and should admonish and repent sin. Perhaps his most lasting contribution to modern Protestantism was his involvement in the publishing of the authorised King James Bible. He worked to translate the epistles of St Paul and the canonical epistles from Greek to English. The driving force behind this endeavour were Puritans who saw numerous inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the older English translations of the bible. It is likely that Fenton’s strong, almost Puritanical views meant he was viewed as an ideal candidate to participate. The King James Bible effectively became the standard bible in use in the Church of England, and did much to encourage conformity of worship.

Fenton’s successor was Richard Sibbes, who has been described as ‘a reformer, but a cautious reformer'; 'a puritan, but a moderate puritan’. His early career was based in Cambridge where he was so popular that a new gallery had to be installed at Holy Trinity Church in order to accommodate those who wished to see and hear him preach. On Fenton’s death, Sibbes was secured the position at Gray’s Inn, probably through the influence of Henry Yelverton, a prominent lawyer and attorney-general, whose father had been a treasurer of the Inn. Just as at Cambridge, Sibbes was such a popular preacher that the auditorium at Gray’s Inn had to be enlarged. As he grew in fame and reputation, he was offered and accepted the position of master of a Cambridge college, although he continued in his post at the Inn. He worked extensively to ensure that the Church of England was filled with devout and moral clergy, and was part of a self-funded group who raised over £6,000 to fund eighteen preachers in eleven different counties, to ensure ‘the maintenance and relief of a godly, faithful, and painstaking ministry’. In 1627 he was called before Archbishop William Laud for advocating the raising of aid for destitute ministers in Bavaria – he was reprimanded not on religious grounds, but because his actions were viewed as an intrusion into state affairs and as a criticism of government inactivity.

The careers of these three early preachers at Gray’s Inn provide an illustration of how the Church of England developed its status and teachings in the decades after the Reformation. After the prosperous reign of Elizabeth, the Church was in a position to stabilise itself and consider the ideologies of various strands of Protestantism. Gray’s Inn chapel turned out to provide three men who were instrumental to and who encapsulate this process.

The chapel has been rebuilt at various points throughout its history – in the 1690s, the 1860s and, most recently, after it was destroyed during the Blitz. As such, it architecturally retains very little features of historic significance, other than a couple of fifteenth- or sixteenth-century windows. The chapel was rebuilt according to designs by the architect Sir Edward Maufe, who also designed Guildford Cathedral. While the rebuilding was taking place, services were conducted in a room in the Common Room building of the Inn.