St. Michael’s Church, Beaulieu-sur-mer
1894-Present – A paradise of nature
Queen Victoria’s entry in her diary for 1 May 1899 is expressive of the feelings of so many of her subjects, who returned year after year to spend their English winters in a balmier clime and amidst an abundance of flowers. The tablets in St. Michael’s Church bear eloquent witness to their colonisation of this coast. The earliest Anglo-Saxon settlers of the 1870s, like George and Sarah Baird in 1878, had found little more here than a small fishing village surrounded by olive groves; but the opening up of the coast road, and the arrival of the railway in the previous decade, had cleared the way for other visitors, who stayed at the only hotel, Le Beaulieu, before buying land from local smallholders and starting to building imposing villas in a place which was still without electricity or even a water supply.
Architecture: Exterior:
Four-columned portico; statue of St. Michael and the dragon in the niche above; rose-window; broken pediment; baroque square campanile topped by octagonal cupola; circular windows in the nave, arched windows in the aisles; apse without windows; pitched roof with green-glazed tiles. Set in small well-maintained garden.
Nave: barrel-vault, ionic pilasters with a deep entablature; north and south aisles; organ gallery at the west end. Apse: framed by ionic fluted detached columns; painted capitals, entablature and dado; dome painted blue with gold stars; white altarpiece with gold ornament, surmounted by three statues; door to sacristy in north wall under triangular pediment. The apse and first bay of the nave were redecorated in 2003.
Nave: barrel-vault, ionic pilasters with a deep entablature; north and south aisles; organ gallery at the west end. Apse: framed by ionic fluted detached columns; painted capitals, entablature and dado; dome painted blue with gold stars; white altarpiece with gold ornament, surmounted by three statues; door to sacristy in north wall under triangular pediment. The apse and first bay of the nave were redecorated in 2003.
Furnishings:
Nave: two-manual organ by Norman & Beard (1903), given by Sir Henry Samuelson in memory of his mother and sister; fifteenth-century Italian painted wooden statue of St. Michael overcoming the dragon, gift of Sir Henry Samuelson (1895); rose-window painted and presented by Canon Pleydell Bouverie (1911-13); seventeenth-century litany desk and lectern presented by the congregation (1894); seventeenth-century Italian carved oak pulpit, picked out in gilt, decorated with flowers and fruit and statuettes of the four evangelists, gift of Elsie and Barbara Tate in memory of Capt. H. Pennell Tate of the Royal Marines (1897).
Aisles: seventeenth-century marble font in north aisle, purchased by subscription (1894).
Chancel: seventeenth-century French carved oak chancel screen, presented by subscribers in memory of Miss Mildred Beresford-Hope, niece of the Marquess of Salisbury (1897); marble altar, gift of Miss Beresford-Hope (1894); credence table, gift of Rev. J.O. Stephens (1894); seventeenth-century reading desk purchased by susbscription (1894); Renaissance altar desk, gift of Rev. W.F. Latrobe-Bateman (1845-1926), Vicar of St. John, Norwood (1895); chancel chairs presented by Sir Henry Samuelson and by Rev. E.F.W and Lady Katherine Eliot; Spanish panel painting of the Crucifixion, gift of the Hon. Fitzroy Stewart (1895); above the altar painting of the Ascension by Prof. Bellandi of Florence, gift of Mrs. Fanning (later Mrs. Harry McCalmont) in memory of her husband (1897); painted plaster panels of four archangels executed and presented by Canon Pleydell Bouverie; seventeenth-century brass alms dish, given by Mrs. J.O. Stephens (1894); altar cross, brass candlesticks and vases given by Mrs. Stanley Dent in memory of her husband (1894).
Memorials:
The church contains tablets in memory of George and Sarah Baird, who in 1878 were among the first English settlers in Beaulieu; to William FitzHugh Whitehouse, † 1909; to Sir Henry and Lady Samuelson, † 1937 & 1930; to John Bond, founder of Bond’s Hotel, † 1933; to Col. & Mrs. Rivett-Carnac; and to Dr. Marc de Lavis-Trafford, † 1960. In the porch is a plaque commemorating the centenary of St. Michael’s in 1994.
Aisles: seventeenth-century marble font in north aisle, purchased by subscription (1894).
Chancel: seventeenth-century French carved oak chancel screen, presented by subscribers in memory of Miss Mildred Beresford-Hope, niece of the Marquess of Salisbury (1897); marble altar, gift of Miss Beresford-Hope (1894); credence table, gift of Rev. J.O. Stephens (1894); seventeenth-century reading desk purchased by susbscription (1894); Renaissance altar desk, gift of Rev. W.F. Latrobe-Bateman (1845-1926), Vicar of St. John, Norwood (1895); chancel chairs presented by Sir Henry Samuelson and by Rev. E.F.W and Lady Katherine Eliot; Spanish panel painting of the Crucifixion, gift of the Hon. Fitzroy Stewart (1895); above the altar painting of the Ascension by Prof. Bellandi of Florence, gift of Mrs. Fanning (later Mrs. Harry McCalmont) in memory of her husband (1897); painted plaster panels of four archangels executed and presented by Canon Pleydell Bouverie; seventeenth-century brass alms dish, given by Mrs. J.O. Stephens (1894); altar cross, brass candlesticks and vases given by Mrs. Stanley Dent in memory of her husband (1894).
Memorials:
The church contains tablets in memory of George and Sarah Baird, who in 1878 were among the first English settlers in Beaulieu; to William FitzHugh Whitehouse, † 1909; to Sir Henry and Lady Samuelson, † 1937 & 1930; to John Bond, founder of Bond’s Hotel, † 1933; to Col. & Mrs. Rivett-Carnac; and to Dr. Marc de Lavis-Trafford, † 1960. In the porch is a plaque commemorating the centenary of St. Michael’s in 1994.
Seasonal Chaplains
1891-1902 : Rev. J.O. Stephens 1901: Canon C.B. Trotter 1903: Canon C. Oldfield 1906: Rev. W.D. Fanshawe 1911-13: Canon the Hon. B. Pleydell Bouverie.
Resident Chaplains: 1921-34: Rev. E.F.W. Eliot 1934-52: Canon H. d’Albertanson 1952-55: Rev. W.H.W. How 1955-57: Rev. G.R. Waldron 1958-97: Canon Brian Matthews, OBE 1967-69: Rev. Tom Rider 1997-2000: Canon Geoffrey Grant. 2000-10: Canon Roger Greenacre 2010-13: Rev. Peter Bustin: 2015 – 2024: Rev. Anthony Ingham Sources : St. Michael’s church archives. Papers of Rev. J.O. Stephens in possession of his grand-daughter, Lady Aldington. New York Herald, Paris, 18 December 1903. The Anglo-American Gazette, 21 December 1903. H.J.C. Knight, The Diocese of Gibraltar, a sketch of its history, work and tasks, London 1917. E.F.W. Eliot,
St. Michael’s Church, Beaulieu, 50th anniversary leaflet, 9 December 1934.
Resident Chaplains: 1921-34: Rev. E.F.W. Eliot 1934-52: Canon H. d’Albertanson 1952-55: Rev. W.H.W. How 1955-57: Rev. G.R. Waldron 1958-97: Canon Brian Matthews, OBE 1967-69: Rev. Tom Rider 1997-2000: Canon Geoffrey Grant. 2000-10: Canon Roger Greenacre 2010-13: Rev. Peter Bustin: 2015 – 2024: Rev. Anthony Ingham Sources : St. Michael’s church archives. Papers of Rev. J.O. Stephens in possession of his grand-daughter, Lady Aldington. New York Herald, Paris, 18 December 1903. The Anglo-American Gazette, 21 December 1903. H.J.C. Knight, The Diocese of Gibraltar, a sketch of its history, work and tasks, London 1917. E.F.W. Eliot,
St. Michael’s Church, Beaulieu, 50th anniversary leaflet, 9 December 1934.
