There are 11 memorials in the church to a large extended 18th century local family. I will do my best to explain the connections!! There are 4 Nicholls memorials (CH021, CH030, CH049 and CH069), 1 Beale memorial (CH045) and 6 for Newdegates (CH042, CH046, CH047, CH049, CH045). For the sake of clarity, and not wishing to cause too much confusion, I shall deal with the Nicholl family, the Beale family and Newdegate family in separate articles!
The Nicholl family lived at Uxbridge Common and were related by marriage to the Beale family of Hillingdon and the Newdegate family of Harefield Place.
The large memorial in the Lady Chapel is to Samuel Nicholl and two of his children John and Juliana, who all died from smallpox in the 18th century. John died in 1723 aged 19 and his father a few days later. Juliana died a year later age 24. Samuel’s body was buried at Elstree with his ancestors.
In the 18th century 300,000 people died every year in Europe from the smallpox virus. Smallpox is a deadly viral disease that has been around since ancient Egypt. A real breakthrough in fighting the virus came in 1796, when Edward Jenner carried out his famous experiment. He inserted pus extracted from a cowpox pustule on the hand of a milkmaid, into an incision on the arm of an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps. Jenner was testing his theory, drawn from the folklore of the countryside, that milkmaids who suffered the mild disease of cowpox never contracted smallpox. Jenner proved conclusively that contracting cowpox provided immunity against smallpox as well. He was quick to realise the enormous potential of vaccination. The wonders of science!
Samuel Nicholl Junior (John and Juliana’s brother) who clearly survived the smallpox outbreak, has a memorial which hangs in the chancel (CH030). He was a lawyer at Gray’s Inn and was married to Sarah (nee Jenkyn) whose memorial is in the south aisle above the L’Estrange brass (CH049). Samuel died in 1758 and Sarah died in 1766.
Margaret Nicholl, (died 1741) was the wife of Samuel senior and mother to John, Juliana and Samuel Junior. She is buried in the north aisle, you will have walked over her tomb many times on the way to the vestry or the loo (CH069)! She was the daughter of Robert Beale, (memorial in the south aisle CH045).
It is worth reminding ourselves that these folk are buried in vaults under the church floor but in the 1840’s reordering and extending, the memorial stones would have been moved from their original location.
Christine Bartlett