London No. 40 / Southwark

A letter and drawing by Edward John Carlos in the April 1840 issue of the Gentleman's Magazine (N.s. XIII: 367-368) illustrate the misadventures of the baptismal font from the Parish Church of St. George, Southwark, "removed from the church on its being rebuilt in 1736. It is composed of two blocks of stone, one forming the pedestal, the other the basin; and previous to the year 1838 they were disunited and used in the parochial workhouse in the Mint for the purpose of beating oakum upon, which then formed a part of the employment of the paupers"; with the implementation of the Poor Law Ammendment Act the old bowl came into disuse and "was thrown aside among the discarded rubbish" and would have neded as construction material had it not been salvaged by a Mr. Griffitths, "a gentleman who takes a lively interest in the history of the parish"; this source ends up by reporting that the font was left in the care of Mr. Griffiths at the time. Blatch (1995) informs that "the present font [at St. George's] is modelled on an earlier dating from the time of Henry VIII [1509+] which was used in the local workhouse for heating oakum [for caulking]. It was rescued and is now in the chapel of the Old Palace School at Croydon." The font is described thus in the 1840 source above: "The general form of this font is octagonal, and from the appearance of the shaft, which is square at the base, and ingeniously formed into an octagon by mouldings at the angles, it had originally, in addition to the present members, a square plinth. The basin has a panel in each face inclosing a small flower, the mouldings are simple, and less expense appears to have been bestowed on it than usually seen in old works. The date of its construction may be about the reign of Henry VIII". The Survey of London (vol. 25, 1955) notes: "The font from the old church was for many years submitted to the ignominy of being used for the beating of oakum in the parish workhouse. [...] The existing font is contemporary with the building. It is made of greyveined marble and has all its surfaces tooled vertically. It was moved and raised on a step during the recent restoration when more space was made for the baptistery by the removal of two rows of pews. The font has an octagonal pedestal and base, the pedestal having attached shafts at each angle. The bowl is circular and is scalloped inside and out."