Saturday, 29th February, 1772: the Rev Nowes Lloyd, vicar of Enborne, has travelled the 65 miles from his home in West Berkshire to Vine Street, in London.
His journey is an important one as he has come to discuss a commission for a new monument from the celebrated sculptor, Thomas Scheemakers.
Scheemakers is the youngest member of the family who had already made their reputation with monuments to the great and the good throughout England, including the statue of Shakespeare in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey. Thomas’s uncle, Peter Scheemakers was the sculptor responsible for the elaborate monuments to members of the Jemmett Raymond family in Kintbury church and so this proposed new work – to the memory of Jemmett Raymond II who had died in 1767 – is anticipated to be something equally grand and imposing.
A monument by the Scheemakers will come at a price – nothing like the work by local Berkshire masons, so it is important that Rev Lloyd gets the details of the inscription correct. Furthermore, this monument is not just to the memory of a prominent and wealthy parishioner: this monument is also to the memory of Elizabeth, nee Staples, formerly wife of sometime Governor of Carolina, Charles Craven of Hamstead Park and latterly widow of Jemmett Raymond II of Barton Park, Kintbury. Furthermore, Elizabeth was Nowes Lloyd’s mother-in-law.
Nowes Lloyd and Martha Craven had been married in 1763. He must have heard stories of the difficult relationship she and her sisters had with their mother, and how her elder sister eloped with a horse dealer to get away from home. He may even have heard that some people referred to his mother-in-law as “Cruel Mrs Craven”. Nevertheless, the Craven family were influential and could control the appointments of several parish priests at that time; Rev Lloyd had become Domestic Chaplain to William Craven, 5th Baron of Hamstead Park in 1764 and had recently become Rector of Enborne.
In the same year in which Nowes and Martha had married, Martha’s sister, Jane, had married Thomas Fowle, the vicar of Kintbury – another parish in which the Craven family had influence. And it was in Kintbury church – the parish in which Barton Court was situated – that the new Scheemakers monument was to be placed.
In London, Rev Lloyd takes a sheet of paper – still a fairly expensive commodity at this time – and a pen. The bottle of ink is by his arm on the table. In the formal manner of the time, he begins his letter, “Dear Sir…” although it is directed to Rev Thomas Fowle, vicar of Kintbury, and Lloyd’s brother- in- law.
He writes,
“I have told our Brother Craven what you desire (and ) about the inscription for the monument..”
Despite addressing Thomas Fowle, as “Sir” at the commencement of the letter, it is the custom to refer to one’s spouse’s siblings as “brother” or “sister”. John Craven was the brother of Martha and Jane and so, in writing to Thomas Fowle, Nowes Lloyd refers to him as “our Broth” – “our Brother.”
He continues,
…and as I find from Mr. Scheemakers that He waits for it I have sent you on the other side of this Paper an inscription which if you approve of (??) will send any other I will take care to deliver it to Scheemakers as I have given him reason to expect this inscription next week I shall be glad to have an answer to this by return of Post & if I can be of any service to you or Yrs here you will let me know at the same time. Remember me to all your family and believe me Yrs affectionately, N. Lloyd
Rev Lloyd turns over the page and carefully outlines the inscription which will, after all, soon be set in stone:
Sacred to the Memory
of
Jemmet Raymond Esq & Elizabeth his wife
He was the Son
of
Sir Jemmet Raymond, Bart
She was the Daughter
of
The Hon Col John Staples
and
The Widow of the Hon Charles Craven Esq
Sometime Governor of South Carolina
In the reign of Q Ann
He died August 9th 1767 at the age of 79
She died on April 27th 1771 at the age of 71
When the ink is dry, Lloyd carefully folds the paper such that the letter’s contents are hidden inside and carefully writes the address on the front. It is not, however, an address as we would recognise one. He writes:
To
The Revd Thms Fowle
at Kintbury
near Newbury
Berks
To be left at the Blacksmiths Shop near Kintbury
Rev Lloyd turns the package over and seals it with sealing wax. The letter is ready to be sent by mail coach from London, along the Bath Road to the west of Newbury where it will eventually be left at the Blacksmith’s shop near Elcot. From here one of Thomas Fowle’s men will collect it and pay for the cost of postage. The journey will take at least a day, and the return of post by which Rev Lloyd requests an answer will add another day at least to his time in London.
Over two hundred and fifty years later, the monument to the memory of Jemmett Raymond II and his lady, Elizabeth is still in Kintbury church. The inscription is as Rev Lloyd outlined in his letter and there are two busts, one of Elizabeth on the right and Jemmett Raymond on the left, presumably taken from contemporary portraits and – most probably – long lost.
Originally, the Scheemakers monuments were placed either side of the altar; this is where they would have been when Jane & Cassandra Austen visited Kintbury leading me to wonder if their friends, Eliza Fowle or Martha Lloyd ever pointed out to them the face of their grandmother staring sternly down from her marble likeness.
Today, the Scheemakers monuments are in the north transept from where Elizabeth Raymond, formerly Craven, nee Staples – and Rev Lloyd’s mother-in-law – still stares down. .
(C) Theresa A. Lock 2026
Kintbury and Beyond 