St. Swithun’s Church East Grinstead
Prominent Families
The Payne’s and Crawfurd's (Payne-Crawfurd's)
We see their family memorials on the
walls of our church on every occasion
we enter the church building.
However, do we really see them? Do
we know anything about the families
or the individuals mentioned?
This series of short articles is designed
to bring to life the people who have
played an important role in the
development of the building and more
importantly the awareness of the
church and its impact on the wider
community here in East Grinstead.
The first of the families to be featured
in three parts is the Payne’s and
Crawfurd’s. East Grinstead families
whose involvement with St. Swithun’s
church we can trace back to the
1500’s
Every time we take communion at the
high Altar we can’t help but notice the
Chancel is dominated by Memorials
and Grave slabs to the Payne and
Crawfurd families. Although separate
families they are inextricably linked through the marriage of Miss Anna Payne, last in the line of
the Payne’s who married Gibbs Crawfurd in 1760.
Prompted by the research I embarked upon whilst compiling the guided church tours we now
conduct, I became curious about these memorials and the people to which they referred.
There is evidence of the Payne’s worshiping in our previous church as far back as 1560. In the church
register an entry can be found of the marriage between Thomas Payne and Joanne Wood in that year.
Many members of the Payne family have worshipped and been buried at St. Swithun’s church since at
least the mid 1500’s.
Although there are a large number of memorials to the family in our present church, it is felt a
substantial number of them were lost during the separate destructions of the church tower in 1683
and 1785 along with the rebuilding of the church in 1789.
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The Payne’s were great benefactors of this church and have played a huge part in its day to day
activities and in its subsequent growth; the many memorials are testament to this.
As stated earlier the Payne and Crawfurd families joined when Gibbs Crawfurd of Saint Hill
born in 1732 and died in 1793, married in 1760 the last in the line of Payne’s, Anna Payne,
the daughter and sole heiress of Charles Payne who died in 1734.
We will cover in some detail the individual Memorials in a later article, but it is from this
point in time which we will focus upon for the sake of this article.
We will return to the Payne family in some detail in a future article, however for this
publication we will turn our attention to the Crawfurd side of the family.
Although most family members have played a significant role in the development of St.
Swithun’s to a greater or lesser extent there are three prominent members of the family
whose impact, I feel has been most significant.
Firstly Gibbs Crawfurd MP born in 1732 and died in 1793
Gibbs Crawfurd MP
In the chancel of the church there is a Memorial Inscription which reads:
"Sacred to the Memory of Gibbs Crawfurd Esq. Who died October 13, 1793;
Aged 61 Years, In the course of an active and honourable life, He was for
thirty years a Magistrate of this county.
At his death he was Clerk of the Ordnance, & one of the Representatives in
Parliament for Queenborough. This Marble was erected with pious &
affectionate Regard by Anna Crawfurd, his wife, who had the misfortune to
survive him."
Gibbs Crawfurd was the Member of Parliament for Queensborough in Kent,
lived at Saint Hill near East Grinstead and worshipped at St. Swithun’s church.
In 1785, the church tower was struck by lightning, and
collapsed.
Gibbs Crawfurd and others, obtained funds, aided by
an Act of Parliament passed for the purpose, to rebuild the church.
The clergy and parishioners presented a petition to
Parliament on the 4th March 1790. They stated that
since the tower fell there had been no religious
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services, and they explained that though they had exerted their utmost endeavours they
could not raise sufficient money, by voluntary means, to rebuild the church.
They begged parliament to pass a bill enabling them to make a rate for the purpose.
The house acted very expeditiously.
Parliament referred it to a committee, who called Mr. Gibbs Crawfurd before them and on
his evidence they recommended that a Bill should be brought in.
This was done on March 12th and by the 29th it had been read a second time and sent to
another committee. Following several amendments it was passed by the commons on April
26th and the Lords on May 18th, the Royal Assent being given on June 9th.
The secret of this expedition possibly lay in the fact that Mr Abbott was then the Speaker of
the House of Commons. He resided at Kidbrooke, in Forest Row and being a worshipper at
St. Swithun’s took a great interest in the matter.
Among the loans made towards the rebuilding of the church one of £1,000 was made by Mr.
Gibbs Crawfurd.
It is a firm belief that without the efforts of Gibbs Crawfurd, at best, the rebuilding of the
church would have been significantly delayed.
Initially there was not enough money to complete the roof or to seat the church, so a flat
ceiling of plaster and whitewash was put in and the floor was paved, rushes were strewn
and the people brought their own chairs.
In the following century much work was done, not without controversy to complete the
works.
Almost one hundred years following the rebuilding a major refurbishment took place and
this is when the Reverend Charles Walter Payne Crawfurd came to prominence in the
church.
Revd Charles Walter Payne Crawfurd
Born 14th March 1826 in Saint Hill, near East Grinstead, Sussex, England.
Died 10th March 1909 in Ardmillan, East Grinstead, Sussex, England
The refurbishment wasn’t completed without opposition. A few opposed the granting of the
faculty, but all finally fell in with the scheme except for two people.
The work of restoration occupied no less than 12 years and of the 10 members on the
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committee at the beginning only four remained for the whole of the period.
The Reverend Charles Walter Payne Crawfurd spent some time on the committee and
contributed greatly to the raising of the £2,500 by voluntary contributions needed to
complete the works.
At his own expense he financed the restoration of the Chancel in St. Swithun’s Church in
which there is a Bronze memorial plate in his memory.
Additionally he financed the purchase of an oak lectern and the bell ropes and chiming
apparatus.
The Chancel
The Crawfurd family held their portion of the rectorial tithes of the Parish and their rights in
the chancel of St. Swithun’s by virtue of a deed dated 29 th June 1624 which was still
preserved under the title deeds by the Revd Charles Walter Payne Crawfurd in 1906.
The deed was a conveyance for the sum of £635, of a certain portion of the rectorial tithes,
and was made by Robert Cooper of Southwark (Who had quite recently purchased them
from the Dorset Family) in favour of Edward Payne, the younger, of East Grinstead and
Hanna his wife.
From a note in the deed we learn that the chancel of
St. Swithun’s was then in ruin and decay and Cooper
covenanted to indemnify Payne, his heirs and
assigned against all claims for present or future
repair of the said chancel.
It is an interesting fact, and one that brings out
clearly the continuity of our Parish annals, that these
same tithes, with certain rights in the chancel and the
Payne vault beneath it, had descended lineally through seven successive generations to the
Reverend Charles Walter Payne Crawfurd, while each successive landowner had been a
resident landowner in the Parish and buried in the chancel of St. Swithun’s until his father
Robert Crawfurd dying in 1883, was buried in the towns cemetery.
Having private means, The Reverend Charles Walter Payne Crawfurd assisted in running the
National Schools, the dispensary as well as his local church.
As a staunch conservative he was also involved in local politics and was remembered
among other things for his memorable, honest and engaging manifesto publications.
Finally to mark Queen Victoria’s jubilee, at his own expense he installed the Jubilee drinking
fountain in East Grinstead High Street and no doubt many other philanthropic projects not
mentioned here.
It is worth noting at this point that the strong family connection with the church in general
was continued with the ordination of three of his sons. His first son, Rev. Gibbs Payne
Crawfurd, became the vicar of Sonning in Berkshire; The 3rd son, Rev. Charles Hubert Payne
Crawfurd, vicar of Milborne Port, Somerset, and his 5th son, Rev Lionel Payne Crawfurd,
Suffragan Bishop of Stafford.
Finally this article would be incomplete if we did not include The Reverend Charles Walter
Payne Crawfurd’s daughter Janet Payne Crawfurd who served St. Swithun’s church for many
years before her untimely death at the age of 60 years.
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Janet Payne Crawfurd
Born 7th April 1868 in East Court, East Grinstead, Sussex, England
Died 22nd Nov 1928 in Kennedys, High Street, East Grinstead, Sussex, England
Janet Payne Crawfurd’s involvement in the life of St. Swithun’s church is best summed up by
repeating the letter of the then Vicar of the church the Reverend Golding-Golding Bird
written in the Parish magazine dated December 1928 following her death in November of
that year.
My dear people,
I write under our deep sense of overwhelming loss in the passing over of our late friend Janet
Payne Crawfurd. She lived for church and parish and none can realise all she did behind the
scenes to further God’s work amongst us. She was so loyal and true and as gifted as she was
willing. All, who have known Miss Crawfurd’s work, know how efficiently that work was done
and what time and thought was spent on everything she undertook. This magazine of which
she was secretary, month by month contained much of her work and what we shall do
without her I frankly do not know. I like to feel she is aware of my heartfelt gratitude. Very
touchingly in the last few days of her illness she said to me “ I did so want, if it had been
God’s will, to go on working for you in the Parish, but now I will work for you in the beyond”
– and it is good and cheering to remember this! Who can measure the help she may give us
from the nearer presence! And may the remembrance spur us to follow her unselfish
example and come forward and carry on her good work. We may apply St. Paul’s words to
our absent friend, “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain!”
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“Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and light perpetual shine upon her.”
Let that be our prayer.
Our warmest sympathy goes out to members of her devoted family.
Yours Sincerely, friend,
G. GOLDING-BIRD
Finally later in the same magazine the following extract is taken from the In Memoriam
section; the following words reinforce the Reverend Golding-Golding Bird’s comments:
“ From a background, if it may be so called, of strong attachment to family, a marvellous
power of friendship, there stands out prominently in her life a deep love of her Parish church
and devoted service given to it, intense loyalty to the Vicars under whom she worked, and
constant faithfulness to the posts which in the Parish were specially hers – those, for
example, of secretary for the S.P.G., and Superintendent of its junior members, the King’s
messengers, a local branch of which association she formed and for twenty years has carried
on with marked success. The present keen sense of loss felt by the children tells its own story
of this part of her work.
But far most beautiful and striking of all that marked her life have
been the patience and courage shown throughout the earlier
suffering and later distress of her illness, the trials of which were
again and again softened and even forgotten in the joys which
came to her through the countless gifts and kindness and love
tokens of scores of faithful friends, and the tender care of those
who watched.
With clear mind and brain, planning as far as was possible its
future, she quietly prepared to leave the work to which she had
been always faithful, giving proof to the last of her devotion to
East Grinstead, and to the church of her Baptism and many Holy
Communions.”
Grave stone at Mount
Noddy Cemetery
With 2014 being the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War it is appropriate to
mention here that the war Memorial chapel in St. Swithun’s church was created in 1920 to
commemorate the end of the War in 1918.
A further example of Jane Payne Crawfurd’s great generosity of spirit and devotion to the church
was the gifting of the new Altar placed in the Chapel which can still be seen in place today and used
for services several times a week.
This church which we try to serve and love as did Janet Payne Crawfurd and her ancestors
over the centuries will continue to flourish into the future due to the tireless service by its
good and faithful worshipping families like the Payne’s and Crawfurd’s.
This article focussed on just a few of the many family members of the Crawfurd family
involved in our church over the centuries, regrettably space prevents us from detailing them
all.
The next article will bring to our attention the major works carried out on behalf of this
church by the Payne side of the family.
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“I have gathered a posy of other men’s flowers, and nothing but the thread that binds them
is mine” – Montaigne
John Ellis
December 2014
Acknowledgements:
 Notes on East Grinstead… A new edition revised and enlarged by
A.H.Stenning - March 1885.
 The History of East Grinstead by Wallace Henry Hills – April 1906
 St. Swithun’s Parish Magazine – December 1928
 The Crawfurd and Payne family tree – by kind permission of Mr. Arthur
Crawfurd.
 East Grinstead and its Parish Church Guide – 1946 Edition
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