The Vicar
Introducing The Reverend Max Bayliss
Before I trained for Holy Orders at Westcott House I grew up in rural Cambridgeshire. I went on to be ordained in St Albans Cathedral, serving my curacy at All Saints’ Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. During my title post I read a master’s degree in early modern history at Oriel College, researching wit and wordplay in the early modern sermon. There I met my wife, Alice, a classicist and ancient history graduate. I was the treasurer of the MCR and she the bar manager and together we made an undefeated croquet cuppers duo. After she graduated, Alice spent some time living in Venice and then moved to Battersea, which is why, in the summer of 2020 at one of their superb supper clubs, I proposed to her in a quiet corner of the Chelsea Physic Garden.
Before we came to Chelsea I was Chaplain, Fellow and Tutor at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where I also got stuck in as Senior Treasurer of the Boat Club and the College Union, the Honorary Padre to the Cambridge University Officer Training Corps, a university vocations advisor and assistant priest at Little Saint Mary’s.
Now, alongside my duties at Chelsea Old Church, I keep some academic interest alive by writing a PhD on John Donne. I have swapped my blades for gardening shears and particularly prize roses and shrubs which generally behave themselves.
I’m profoundly honoured to have been appointed as the 75th Incumbent of this parish. Supported by your prayers and aided by the Holy Spirit I hope to continue the ministry of Chelsea Old Church by seeking to go further into the heart and mind of Christ. Together we can do this by extending our ministry of hospitality and strengthening connections in the community; by deepening our worshiping life which is so beautifully enhanced by the ministry of music; and by engaging intellectually with the Christian tradition.
Previous Vicars:
The Reverend Prebendary Clarke Edward Leighton Thomson 1951-1992
The Reverend Doctor Peter D Elvy 1992-2006
The Reverend Canon David P E Reindorp TD DL 2006-2021
Further Back
Rectors:
Reginald de St Albans 1289–90 to 1299
Sir Robert de Starandone
Roger de Berners 1316
William de Bray 1316 to 1318–19
Nicholas Hosbounde 1318–19 to 1348
Martin de Moulish 1348
William Palmer 1368
Thomas de Preston 1368
John Basset 1368 to 1371
John Wright de Stansted 1371 to 1372
John de Foydon (v. Foxdon) 1372 to 1374
Richard Mokynton 1385
Richard Everdon 1385 to 1388
John Beaugraunt 1388 to 1392
John Bishop 1392 to 1394
John Balsham 1394 to 1394–5
Robert Orum 1394–5
John Cambridge 1406
Peter Hynewyk 1411
John Abbey 1411
Robert Broun 1413
Richard Cosyn 1413
John Scarburgh 1433
Geoffrey Medewe 1433 to 1435
Alexander Broun 1435 to 1442
Thomas Boleyn 1442
William Walesby 1450
William Lilly 1450 to 1451
Thomas Shalers 1451
William Fideon 1451 to 1454
John Pennant 1454 to 1455
William Hebbing 1455–6 to 1456
William Massanger 1456 to 1469–70
William Mille 1469 to 1481
John Mardelay 1481 to 1486
Thomas Machey, A.M. 1486 to 1492
George Percy alias Gard 1492
William Ingelard 1502
Robert Tunstall 1502 to 1503
Thomas Loworth 1503
Robert Dandie 1530
John Larke 1530 to 1543
Robert Richardson 1543 to 1554
James Proctor 1554
Richard Myers 1554 to 1558
Matthew Myers 1558
Robert Richardson Restored
John Churchman 1569 to 1574
Thomas Browne, S.T.B.1574 to 1585
(fn. 2) Richard Ward 1585 to 1615
George Hambden, A.M.1615 to 1632
Samuel Wilkinson 1632 to 1669
Adam Littleton, D.D. 1669–70 to 1694
John King, D.D. 1694 to 1732
Sloane Elsmere 1732 to 1766
Reginald Heber 1766 to 1770
Thomas Drake, LL.D.1770 to 1775
W. Bromley Cadogan, M.A.1775 to 1797
Charles Sturgess, M.A.1797 to 1805
Hon. G. V. Wellesley 1805 to 1832
1819 St. Luke's takes over as parish church and Chelsea Old Church becomes a chapel of ease
John William Lockwood, M.A.1832 to 1836
Charles Kingsley, M.A.1836 to 1860
A. Gerald W. Blunt, M.A.1860 to 1901
Archdeacon H. E. J. Bevan, M.A.1902 to 1916
From: 'Appendix: Rectors and incumbents', Survey of London: volume 7: Chelsea, part III: The Old Church (1921), pp. 84-85
Incumbents:
John Rush, LL.B. 1832 to 1855
Robert Henry Davies, M.A. 1855 to 1908
Sherburne Povah Tregelles Prideaux, M.A. 1908 to 1912
Malcolm Stuart Farmer, M.A. 1912 to 1916
Weston Henry Stewart, M.A.1916 to 1927
A. W. Deakin 1927
J. H. T. Maude-Roxby 1927-1934
Ralph. E. Sadleir 1934-1946
David H. A. Williams 1947-1950
C. E. Leighton Thompson 1950 - 1951
Chelsea Old Church regains its status as a parish church in 1951
The Vicarage