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Our journey continues.......
On our second wander around Westminster we decided to visit St Mary's Church Lambeth and St John's Smith Square in more detail.
Charles Leonard Goldsmith married his first wife Elizabeth on 27th May 1871 and as a widower his second wife Clara Ann Selina Clarke on 13th May 1883. Clara was Gertrude's mother and Thalia's great grandmother.
Gertrude and the children of the marriage of Charles and Clara were all baptised in St John's Smith Square which was around two minutes walk from the family's home in MIllbank Street.
Both churches are no longer used for worship, St Mary's being the home of the Museum of Garden History and St John's a world famous concert venue.
On this plate the four towers of St John's can be seen over the Thames in the distance

St Mary-at-Lambeth Church is mentioned in the Domesday Book as being owned by Countess Goda, sister of Edward the Confessor. The Bishops of Rochester were later given the living, which in 1197 passed to the Archbishops of Canterbury. The church was rebuilt in the 1370s and again in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Philip Hardwick the Younger rebuilt the church in 1851-2 to match the tower. The church was badly damaged in the 2nd World War and was restored by Godfrey Allen. The church was taken over by The Tradescant Trust as the first museum of garden history in the UK.

My great, great grandfather, John DuSolle, was sent to London in 1845. As well as carrying papers for what would now be called the US Ambassador he was charged with setting up temperance organisations all over Europe. He presumably delivered the papers but was less successful with the other part of the project! At the time he was editor of the Spirit of the Times newspaper in Philadelphia. He wrote letters back to his readers describing his experiences. (There are large gaps for illness due to his insistence on drinking London tap water rather than following the local preference for ale!). On his return home in 1846 he published a short book of the letters - a very detailed and fascinating perspective of London through the eyes of a foreigner.

Urbana University have the only known copy and have digitised it - here's a link: Click to view

Contributed by Deborah Hicks who has ancestors buried in the churchyard

The original church of St John the Evangelist was built between 1711 and 1728 to the design of Thomas Archer. It was gutted by fire in 1742, restored and continued as a Parish Curch until 1941. Clara and the family continued to live in the area, it is unknown whether any of them worshiped there.In 1899 Gertrude attended the Baptist Church in Romney Street and in the same year her half brother William Charles was attached to Christ Church in Westminster Bridge Road, the south side of the river.
Charles Leonard died in 1930 in 69 Ponsonby Place and also his wife Clara in 1938 at the same address.
In 1941 the church was very badly bombed and stood as a ruin for over 20 years. Between the years of 1964 and 1969 it was restored to Archer's original design with the help of The Friends' Charitable Trust. It is a masterpiece of English Baroque architecture.

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